Chapter 10 (1/2)

Its ident.i.ty exposed, the gargoyle used the wings on its back to fly into the air.

Identifying us as enemies, he used the intermediate magic 《Dark Gatling》 from the air to attack us. A countless number of dark magic bullets rained down from above. I instinctively ducked behind a tree to avoid the bullet storm.

“Just as I thought, you’re a real gargoyle! What’s up with that Guardian Deity bulls.h.i.+t, you’re just a monster!”

If that gargoyle continued on his rampage, the villagers were bound to notice. If they did, it’d mean all sorts of trouble. I needed to defeat him before he caused pandemonium.

Even though he was flying, I’d have no trouble shooting him down with my magic. Then, as I was thinking about taking him down, I noticed s.h.i.+ek was no longer by my side. Huh, where’d he go?

I knew how strong s.h.i.+ek was, and one gargoyle wasn’t enough to bring him down. I looked at my surroundings and soon located s.h.i.+ek. Using the myriad of trees to his advantage, he agilely jumped from branch to branch.

s.h.i.+ek may have had wings, but they were useless for actual flight.

That subject was taboo to speak of around s.h.i.+ek, so we never brought it up. That’s why he was jumping instead.

Then, getting behind the gargoyle, without even using the dagger in his hand, he delivered a swift axe kick.

The fact that the gargoyle had stone skin didn’t matter one bit, and just that one attack ended it. The poor gargoyle fell, smack, right onto the ground. The final blow was s.h.i.+ek making a perfect landing right on top of the creature.

“That’s a win for me~”

His smile was so adorable, any ShotaCon that saw it would have definitely had a raging nosebleed. Not being a ShotaCon myself, it didn’t much matter to me.

“Captain~ Whadaya wanna do with this guy~”

“Hmm.”

We were the ones who readied ourselves for battle in the first place, so I should probably see if we can talk with the guy first.

“Hey you, can you speak? You’ve got some questions to answer.”

With s.h.i.+ek still standing on top of him, the gargoyle gave us a glare full of hate.

“Come now! If you are going to kill me, then just kill me.”

He replied in a pretty calm and defeated voice.

“O~kay!”

“W-w-waitaminute s.h.i.+ek!”

s.h.i.+ek was serious, and already had his dagger ready for a swift downward swing on the gargoyle’s neck, so I hastily stopped him. We hadn’t gotten any information out of him yet, so knock it off!

“You have not come to slay me?”

“What, weren’t you the one that attacked us first?”

Well, it was probably our bad, since we were the ones that had prepared for battle, however…

He admitted fault, lowered his head and apologized. Looks like words didget through to this guy.

“s.h.i.+ek, get off him.”

We might be able to come to an accord, but we wouldn’t get anywhere with the current status-quo.

s.h.i.+ek hopped off the back of the gargoyle. The gargoyle then righted himself and ma.s.saged his shoulder.

“Hmm, I apologize for my rudeness earlier. Not only did you know my true ident.i.ty, you were also having a suspicious conversation about the Demon Lord’s Castle. As you lot prepared for battle, I felt I had no choice but to attack.”

So if we hadn’t done anything, we could have started off on the right foot.

“Sorry about that. So, why is a gargoyle like yourself hailed as the Guardian Deity of a village?”

They were normally a monster that guarded ruins and castles, not villages.

“If it’s you lot, I believe I can tell you. Yes, it is a story that occurred several hundred years ago. I was born to protect a certain ruin, so I protected it. But there was not a single treasure in the ruin, thusly it held no appeal to humans.”

That’s true, if there was no treasure to be had in the ruins, I certainly wouldn’t go there.

s.h.i.+ek wasn’t particularly interested, and began to yawn.

“Since no humans ever came to attack, I was bored every day. After a while I realized I was just sleeping most days.”

“Same as the Captain~”