Volume 1 Chapter 4 (2/2)

Still, a present What does Darkness like in the first place?

“It’d be easier if we knehat she liked”

“What Darkness-san likes… How about asking someone that she’s close to?”

“Yeah Maybe we should ask Kazu or two about her preferences”

“Moi will continue watching fro future, the devil who sees all, Vanir, so declares!”

“I’m a little worried about Vanir-san’s words, but… I also want to gather information, so let’s do our best!”

She’s definitely ardless of her claiirls will always be interested in matters of romance

Maybe I should put some effort into this as well

“Umm, can you please place an order already? And please keep it down”

The waitress who interrupted our conversation had a vein clearly popping on her forehead, only barely hiding her anger behind a stiff smile

Oh yeah, this was a cafe, wasn’t it? I coot about it in our conversation

“S-sorry! Err, can I get three of your recommended items?”

“What are you saying? Don’t just order forme, but if that’s the case I’d rather have a beer at a more respectable shop Oh, by the way, I don’t have anyto ask me to pay up”

“Moi am also broke thanks to a certain incompetent shop owner I don’t intend to accrue any unnecessary expenses Thinking about it, rather than buying food from this trendy and overpriced shop, it’d be better to buy the ingredients and prepare a meal myself”

Listening to me and Sir’s honest words, the vein on the waitress’s forehead popped She took a deep breath, glared at us, and shouted,

“Please leave!”

Part 5

A few days later, we

Since Yunyun said that we couldn’t use the cafe we used before, we had to use a different place as our gathering point– that’s the general store I’m so familiar with

Sir Vanir is busy running his store, so he will meet up with us later

“I’ation, but it doesn’t seeu that she would ould be so But she has already received ar’s General, so I don’t think it’ll be very effective”

“Oh, is that so?”

Yunyun is really serious about this Even though it doesn’t concern her, she seeate

Perhaps it’s because she hardly had the chance to be relied upon, Yunyun was in high spirits as she announced the results of her investigation

“Also, it see called Lalatina So make sure not to refer to her by her real name”

“Ho~, nom nom”

“Hey, Dust, don’t steal my side dishes!”

“Stop being petty, oldsince yesterday, you know!?”

Seriously, getting angry just because you lost a portion of your side dishes is unbeco of you I really wish you would becoly offer food to a starving young man in front of him

“It doesn’t seeoods would be very effective on her, so I think we should go with gifting her flowers There isn’t a girl ouldn’t be happy to receive flowers”

“Hmm… I’ll take that!”

“No you won’t!”

Daly nie this well inside a cramped and narrow store

Ti my adventures Let me show you the difference between our levels

I launched several consecutive attacks on the side dishes in his lunch box But, aledthe distance between us

“I fight with shoplifters and troublesome customers every day, so don’t underestimate me”

“You’re pretty good, old et serious about this”

I shuffled forwards, closing the distance betweenhis lunch to the death

I can’t find any openings in his movements Could this old man be a former adventurer?

“What are you doing? Are you even listening to me?”

“Can’t you tell by looking? I’ht now, so leave that till later”

“Don’t treatspot You do this every day I don’t have a single grain of rice to offer to you”

After the old round!

“You bastard! My precious energy source!”

“Stop spouting nonsense, everything here isyour life if you beco, so you should hurry up and distance yourself from Dust”

The old entle smile that sent chills down my spine and placed a hand on Yunyun’s shoulder… That’s sexual harassment

“T-Thank you for your concern But, err, technically, at least in name, we are friends, so…”

“Dust… I always knew you were trash, but what kinds of horrible things did you do…”

He pointed at aze colder than anything I’ve seen before He completely misunderstood the situation

“Hey, don’t get the wrong idea I’ her friend because she’s always alone and seems so lonely!”

“Ojou-chan, this ing out with hier your personality warped, so be careful”

“Right, old man, let's take this outside I’ll fix that rotten personality of yours!”

“If I’e that you haven’t already turned into fertilizer”

Just as the oldheads, Yunyun forced her way between us See the both of us

“Oh, please cut it out!”

“You sure are lucky, old o today”

“That’s ladly welcome you if you come back alone, Ojou-chan”

The older Because Yunyun was dragging eneral store

As the two of us walked down the main street, I turned back and saw Yunyun’s cheeks puffed up like that of a squirrel Are you hiding food in there or so?

“Geez, why do you always cause probleo, Dust-san!?”

“I don’t cause probleo”

“You don’t even realize it, seems like it’s terminal…”

Geruys really like to shoot youryou a proper spanking right about now

Ah, but this girl is still a kid She’s pretty well developed, but I’m not a lolicon like Kazuma

“U rude?”

“Don’t worry about it Anyere you saying?”

“Like I said, did you learn anything new about Darkness-san? You did look into her, right?”

“Ah, that I was too busy trying to flatter a treat off Kazuot about it”

“You got Kazuain?”

“He’s very vulnerable to flattery Kazuma’s very free with his enerous people are the ones worth being friends with”

“I don’t even have the energy to comment on that any from Dust-san”

Don’t get so depressed You almost make it sound like I’m a useless person You should care less about the little things and live a more carefree life

“Oh, have I missed the chance to taste some dark emotions?”

“Oh, Sir, are you done with your work?”

He’s dressed in an eye-catching way, as always

His white gloves go ith his tuxedo, but thata pink apron over it

Nore looks, but the residents of this town are already used to it, so no one seems to mind

“I gave her a taste of my Vanir style death ray, so there won’t be any issues”

“It feels like it’d be a big issue…”

“If that was enough to kill her, Moi wouldn’t be having so many problems”

Oh, yeah, that owner of the ic item shop is beautiful, but I’ve heard that she’s inept Fro away the reat Devil like Sir has his own troubles

The three of us continued walking while chatting about various trivial subjects, and before I knew it, we found ourselves walking down a back alley

The local thugs often have fights in such places, and occasionally soood stuff is thrown out around here, so I often frequent this place Seems like I subconsciously led us here

“Hah!? What are you planning on doing by takingto force yourself on me just because we’ve become friends? I’m not that easy of a woman!”

Yunyun had a scared expression and grabbed her body as if to protect herself

“What nonsense are you saying? I’ to lay a hand on brat without even a shred of sensuality!”

“Ah! You called umin, you know!? Please take that back!”

“What a troubleso to her too!”

In response to my words, Sir Vanir tilted his head and placed his hands on his chin, as though he was deep in thought

Then, as though he had some kind of revelation, he slammed his fist into his hand

“Hone on ahead in the arena of ro pretty well for her lately”

“Y-you’re lying, right? What do you one?”

“Are you serious, Sir? Kazuma, that bastard, does he intend to cross that line before me?”

Hearing Yunyun and rin appeared on Sir Vanir’s face

Wait, this is…

“These dark emotions are truly delicious Worry not, that man always chickens out at the critical juncture, so that kind of development wouldn’t happen that easily”

“T-That’s a relief If she got a k-kiss or so to me about it”

“You’re worried about a kiss?”

“It’s quite cos over, but if you genuinely meant it, then it’s really unbelievable”

“Eh? Eh? Did I say soe?”

“Ignoring the kid for a moment, please tell me more about Kazuma’s develop-”

“Wh-what do you guys intend to do!?”

A woh the back alley

It waswoman’s voice

“That came from over there!”

“Right!”

I i over to the source of the voice Sir Vanir and Yunyun chased after me

“How unexpected I didn’t think that Dust-san would rush to help without a moment’s hesitation”

“Yes,involved in such troublesome matters”

“One of these days, I want to hear how exactly you two see me Isn’t this natural? We are in the back alleys, you know? She’s either being attacked by sos or a molester, either way it’s definitely a criirl and, if all goes well, even get the chance to hit on her Plus, I’ll also be able to keep anything valuable the thugs have on the two birds with one stone”

“W-Wow…”

“You truly are the best kind of person a devil could want, the ideal thug”

I stopped behind the corner and stealthily peeked around it to look at the source of the voice

A single woman is surrounded by several men who covered their faces withshort swords, and a third wielded a spear The woman as surrounded had no weapons or armour, and had a fearful expression… fearful… Hey, wait, that’s a joyous expression She’s really elated right now

… What is Darkness doing here?

“A-Are we not going to help-”

“Shh, let’s watch for a little while longer”

“It’d be inelegant to barge in now Moi will simply observe from the sidelines”

I covered Yunyun’s ht up from behind

There are too many people present She doesn’t seem to be wounded, so there’s no need to hastily rush in

Sir Vanir would probably be able to handle thehting In the first place, Sir Vanir is a devil who only acts on his ohims, so it wouldn’t do to rely too much on him

No one see

“What’s theof this!?”

“You are Lalatina-sama, yes?”

“You dare accost !?”

“Well, you can ask your father about that later… Now, coain”

ThisDarkness despite knoho she is, then it could only be so her for ransom

“…How troublesome”

“Eh? Did you say so?”

Oops, I accidentally voiced ood will co involved in the squabbles of noblenore this

“What do you intend to do if I follow you!?”

“Heheheh, that depends on what you do”

“Don’t tell me that in order to use me to coerce my father, you intend to forcibly strippictures of the entire process?”

“… Huh?”

“Then, in order to prevent , you intend to tie a rope around my neck and make me crawl around the town of Axel in an almost naked statel, don’t you? What a despicable plan!”

“…Eh?”

Even though I couldn’t see their expressions, I can clearly tell that they are taken aback Those poor things are all flustered and unsure what to do next

They probably didn’t expect that the noble lady they was planning to kidnap would be such a person

“Should we really step in?”

“…Who knows?”

“Moi can sense feelings of joy co from that Crusader who’s been worried about hoell-defined her abs are lately”

I’m of the same mind as the perplexed Yunyun Plus, if what Sir Vanir says is true, then there’s really no need to save her…

Though, leaving her peculiarities aside for the erous situation indeed

It’d cause a commotion if she were to end up kidnapped And I do owe Kazuma after he treated me all those times There’s no way I can just abandon her

“Ae of by unknown ht, I cannot yield to you that easily!”

The second part isn’t convincing anyone

Looking at Darkness’ sparkling eyes and the drool spilling fro lips… I feel my desire to save her slowly slip away

The masked men also seem at a loss When the cornered Darkness took a step forith both arms outstretched, the masked men instinctively stepped back

Is it okay to call this a fierce and precariously balanced battle?

I feel like it’d be fine to leave things as it is, but I reood side to Darkness

“What’s wrong? Is that all you’re capable of? A frail girl is standing defenceless in front of you! Isn’t it only proper to attack!? Show me your pride as a villain!”

Just who exactly are you calling a frail girl?

“Hey, is she really the lady of a noble house?”

“She looks exactly like the girl in the photo I was given, but… It’s possible that she’s just a lookalike”

The masked men became beset with doubt Still, I underesti out with her is the height of madness

“Why are you so scared of a single unarmed woman!? Don’t tell me that you wish for me to prove that I don’t intend to resist with my actions!? Do you wish for me to strip off my clothes one by one!? Should I start with my shi+rt, or my shoes!?”

Wait, if you are going to do that, I can hold off rescuing you for just a bit longer

“No, we aren’t really interested in that”

“You’re a little too mature for my tastes”

“Yeah”

What’s up with those guys? They are all suddenly calm

Darkness, as in high tensions earlier, also cal about her delusions

Both parties stared at each other, and a strange atmosphere descended on the scene

“Can we go home now?”

“H develop from those men This is… displeasure”

“Er, a girl is in a pinch, you know? Kidnapping is a really big deal, you know”

Yeah… It’d be fine if it’s some kind of sexual play, but I can’t just turn a blind eye to an atte Can I take this chance to doo of them?

“I’ bad, please help me”

“I’m fine with that, but… wouldn’t it be faster to take theic?

“If you do that, then I won’t be able to show offbad, wait till the lastto do, Sir?”

“It would be boorish for ”

Yeah, I expected that

Taking advantage of how thein the face of Darkness’ actions, I jumped out and smacked the twothem out

“Wha-When did you get here?”

“Dust?!”

“Hey there, I came to save you”

“…just a little while longer…”

I gently waved to the two I could hear Darkness’ s, but that’s to be expected at this point, so I just ignored it

The nored Darkness and pointed his spear at me

A long spear, huh? It’d be hard to use such a long weapon in a narrow alley, but since there isn’t any space to dodge, if he repeatedly attacks me with it, I won’t be able to close the distance… That’s probably what he’s thinking

“Don’t interfere, or I’ll run you through with this spear!”

He crouched into a pretty decent battle stance Seems like he’s pretty confident in his skills

I casually walked towards hi over my shoulder

“Seems like you have a death wish!+ Yaah!”

With a scream, he thrust that spear towards me I deflected it with my sheath

How unfortunate If you weren’t using a spear, youme down

I couldn’t see his expression behind thefrom his raised eyebrows, he must have had a pretty surprised expression on his face

“Boss!”

I reflexively threwflying through the air behind me

An arrow grazed past round

Looking back, three new masked men have appeared from a different side alley!

“Good ti! Take care of this man!”

“crap I shouldn’t have let et the better of me”

It’d be pretty tough to take on this number of people head on I would run, but they have me pincered from both sides

And itat hly skilled warrior with them?

Should I seek help fro that she’ll steal all of lory

“Seems like you wanted play the hero Well, too bad for you”

He’s probably s his infuriating voice gave me a clear impression of what kind of expression he had underneath

Now, then, what should I do? Can I leave a better i my skills?

“Heh If you guys turn tail and run away right now, Iyour lives”

“Huh? Do you not understand the kind of situation you’re in? Even the two guys who you knocked out should be… Hey, hurry up and get up!”

“Grr, you’ve got souts to do that…”

The two ainst one isn’t just tough, it’s completely impossible

I glanced at Yunyun as peeking around the corner and signalled to her to help me out, but she just casually waved at me as if to cheer me on

She doesn’t get it at all! Is this why she can’t make friends? Because she can’t read the mood?

Oh screw this! I can’t rely on Sir or that little brat I’ll just have to find some way out of this by myself

“Don’t worry about me, just run! Ah, I alanted to say that line Yeah, that felt pretty good”

Sorry to ruin your fun, Darkness, but there’s no escape route I can take in this situation Then, there’s only one thing that I can do

“Who do you think I a’s General and took down that Destroyer! That’s right, I’m Kazuma!”

I boldly declared Sorry, Kazuma, let me borrow your name for a bit

“Boss, I’ve heard of him before There’s an adventurer in this toho defeated one of the generals of the De’s army, the Dullahan Beldia”

Theto each other Yeah, these guys aren’t locals I’uys don’t recognise me at all, they must be from out of town

Then if I make use of Kazuma’s deeds to scare them a little…

“Wait, hold on, didn’t Lady Lalatina call him Dust earlier?”

“…You’re i it”

“No, I definitely heard it”

crap! Yeah, come to think of it, Darkness said my name earlier, didn’t she? shi+t, I really messed up!

“In other words, you’re lying”

“Did you really think that’ll work? Bah, it doesn’t matter Hurry up and take care of him”

This is really bad Coet out of this!

“Right over here! This way, officer! The ruffians are over there!”

“What? Ruffians?”

Thethe voices of a young girl and the policemen

Heaven is really watching overcare of the over the police allows et it after all

Yunyun burst into the alley, followed closely by three policemen

“Tsk, Retreat! Hurry up and run!”

The masked men immediately turned tail and ran I think I’ll let the police handle theo after them

I couldn’t feel that dangerous gaze on me anymore, so I suppose it’s fine to relax now

“Hah, I’m exhausted I really shouldn’t do stuff I’m not used to”

“Dust, it’d have been fine if you waited a while more, but you did save et up to all kinds of stupid things with Kazuood side too”

“Surprisingly is a little unnecessary, but you’re welcome”

Even though she’s a noble, she can properly bow and thank someone I really wish the other nobles would learn a little from her

“Dust-san! Are you okay?!”

Yunyun rushed over to uess I should thank her

“Yeah, thanks to you calling the police over That really saved me”

“Ah, that was a trick I didn’t call the police”

“No, wait, aren’t there three police officers standing over there?”

The three unifor in a row No matter how you look at them, they are definitely cops

“Ah, that’s Vanir-san”

“Moi has assumed the form of policemen”

The voice co from the officer in the middle is definitely Sir Vanir’s, but what about the other two?

They look exactly alike Just who are they?

“And these are formed from the shells I shed Because their limbs are connected to me by a thin rod, I can make them move in unison like so”

The officer in the middle raised his hand, and the two officers around him followed suit… That’s a pretty handy skill

“Thanks, Sir”

“If so dark emotions were to die, Moi would be quite troubled”

“Hehe, don’t praise et embarrassed”

“Does that… really count as praise?”

I ignored Yunyun who tilted her head, and looked towards where the masked men have run off to

There’s no sign of any of the has also vanished

I guess you can call this a closed case It’s a bit of a pity that I didn’t get anything in return for all that effort, though Oh, wait,her?

“Hey, Darkness, as thanks for saving you-”

“Please go out with Dust-san!”

Darkness’ jaw dropped in front of me

I probably had the same expression… Just what the hell is this little brat saying?

“W-What do you mean, Yunyun? And you were here too, Vanir?”

Darkness’ eyes widened as Sir Vanir reverted back to his usual form

“The truth is, Dust-san has always liked you, Darkness-san He’s been searching for a chance to confess to you today as well, just before we just happened to chance upon this situation”

Wait, wait, what!? Does this kid still think that I want to go out with Darkness? No, wait, hold on,I really don’t want to get involved with her anymore

“Eh? Is that so… Do you really feel that way about me?”

Don’t fidget and blush like that! Stop stealing glances at me!

And you little brat, don’t give reat!

“I-I’m happy that you feel that way, but, uh, I have someone… No, that’s not it! I mean, I’ what they’ll get up to if I leave the and such right now”

Why a rejected? I didn’t even confess!

“There’ll always be another chance! Let’s keep at it!”

Stop! Don’t encourageit seem like I’m actually depressed!

Darkness, don’t give etic look! Seriously, cut it out!

“Oh, and, eneral, you should work on how you usually behave”

Why aiving me advice?

“Yeah, you should pay more attention to your conduct and your finances”

Great, now Yunyun is getting on my case too She’s the one who started this wholeher mouth off

“Fuhahahaha! I didn’t expect such an a development to take place!”

“Sir, you’re way too happy!”

Grah, this is just pissing me off!

“Stop fucking with me! Who would fall in love with a masochistic pervert with such well-defined abs like you!? And you, you don’t even have any friends to talk about ro about relationshi+ps! You got all your infor books!”

I feelyou really shouldn’t bottle up The two of thehtened to speak?

“Hey, say that again Who exactly has well-defined abs?”

“Romance… Friends…”

“Wa-Wait, sorry, I said too much Calm down Really, calm down Please put down tha