17 Confrontation with childhood friend (1/2)

Dark Knight Kroki

That was easier than I expected.

No one has ever been able to resist the magic of sleep so far. I put every human I encountered to sleep before I came.

With this, I wondered if I didn't have to put on the Dark Knight's armor. I was also thinking about the possibility of a fierce battle.

Shaking my head, I couldn't let my guard down.

If I open this door, it's a room with an altar, this is where Raina should be.

I order Spartoi and the others to skip consciousness and not to let anyone enter this room.

When I opened the door and entered, the room with the altar was very large and lit up in places with magical lights.

In the center of the room, there is a huge magic circle painted on it.

And at the four corners of the magic circle were what looked like stone lanterns that were slightly taller than he was.

The stone lanterns are the same ones that Modes had seen when he summoned himself. It was undoubtedly an auxiliary to the summoning technique created by Haybos, the god of craftsmanship.

And there was one woman in front of that magic circle with her back to him.

''Did you capture the intruder, Priestess?''

Raina asked without turning around.

'I'm sorry, I'm not the head priestess.

At her own words, Raina turns around.

'The Dark Knight ....... No way, Dihardt!

Raina rushes to speak her magic.

'Transference (teleportation)!

However, the magic did not activate.

''Sorry, I blocked the movement-type magic when I invaded this temple. I don't think transfer magic can be activated in this whole area.

Raina looks surprised.

I've heard that magic that cancels out the opponent's magic won't be activated if the difference in magic power is large. I guess the magic power of Lehna and myself is not that different.

If you can't seal it off with this, there was nothing you could do. I'm relieved that it seems to have worked.

As I approached, Raina stepped back and looked around to search the area.

She is probably looking for a weapon.

But there doesn't seem to be anything here that can be used as a weapon.

''Is it me you're after: ......

I shake my head and then wipe my helmet.

I can hear Raina gasp for air.

'Nice to meet you, Goddess Raina. I'm sorry to barge into your temple like this.

Then he holds his helmet under his arm and bows.

I am anxious to see if I have bowed well.

I followed Modes' etiquette for the gods of this world. The etiquette of this world is a necessary part of my journey through this world.

The etiquette of this world was not much different from the world I was from. I heard that there are countries with similar cultures even though they have no contact with the original world, so maybe it's the same.

The reason I thanked her was because it wasn't actually decided that Raina was bad.

You can't be rude without being bad.

I look up and see Raina, there was a much more beautiful face there than I saw in the video.

Raina is staring at her face.

I waited for Raina to speak.

But Raina just looks at her face and does nothing.

'Goddess Raina......?'

I call out fearfully to myself.

'Hah ...... eh ......'

He finally came to himself. Raina is a bit flustered.

''It seems that your aim is not me. What is it, dark knight?

Raina laughs a little. You can't help but admire that smile.

She's relieved to know that her life is not the target.

'Goddess Raina. I have something to confirm to you.

Is this ......?

'Yes. I thought you were going to summon another one from the same other world as you ......?

This is not a lie. Because I can't rule out the possibility of a new summons, rather than bringing back Syrone and the others.

''Oh, so that's what you mean: ....... No, it's not, Dark Knight Dihardt.''

Then go to ...... what?

'It's for the return of our brave friends. Isn't that convenient for you?

Raina thinks that she and the brave men are hostile to each other. He thought it would be more convenient for him to have fewer of his brave friends.

''Our strength will only decrease, the summoning of those from the other world was forbidden in the divine world. It's definitely not a summoning.''

'Are you sure?　It's funny, because as far as I know, it should be difficult for the summoned to return to their world with that technique ......?

'Oh, you've heard from Modes: ....... But you'll have to believe me. It's really not a summons, sir.

'I understand. But wouldn't that put our brave friends in a lot of trouble?

'Indeed it is. But I'm sure it's none of your business.

When I heard those words from Raina, I put my helmet on.

I'm done checking.

'The Dark Knight ......?'

Raina sounded puzzled as her own behavior changed.

Questions and answers are no longer necessary.

I drew my sword as I jumped up and slashed one of the summoning aids from the upper level.

''Nah what .......''

Raina's surprised voice.

The upper portion of the auxiliary tools fall at an angle with a gobble.

He continues to fly and slashes two or three of the auxiliary tools.

He slashes the fourth and final one and points his sword at Raina.

Then he looks at Raina.

'What are the brave men to you?'

I say, with suppressed anger.

The sound of her voice unnerves Raina. Her face was a little frightened.

'You were ...... right, weren't you ....... You are the one who has been summoned, too.'

Raina says, a little mistakenly.

'Why would you do something like that to fool a brave man: ......

I say to myself as I point my sword at Raina.

'It was a lot of work, the work of creating ...... summoning techniques was ......

Raina says bitterly.

Apparently, they didn't have time to make even a return technique.

''That said, ......,''

'You can't blame me, it's disgusting. I can't believe that ugly Modes is making an alter ego of me and doing weird things: ......

Raina says, looking away.

'I tried to get rid of him, but ....... I can't believe you did that.'

The words make it impossible to say anything.

Raina's physiological aversion to Modes is the cause of the conflict. And they themselves were summoned for that conflict.

Honestly, it's disempowering.

But if you think about it, the cause of the conflict might be an emotional thing like that.

Still, it hurts my head to think that if Modes was the kind of man that women liked, nothing would have happened to cause a conflict.

The story about the demon king kidnapping the princess and the brave men and knights going to save her is neatly arranged, but isn't it actually a headache?

In the first place, if the Demon King is beautiful and liked by all women, there is no need to kidnap him and there will be no conflict. Rather, it would be a matter of why they are fighting.

It's not mentioned in the story, but the princess may think the demon king is a creepy, disgusting man and should die. I've never heard of a supposedly kind-hearted princess sparing the defeated Demon King's life.

However, that's no reason to deceive Sirone and the others.

I have to tell Sirone and the others the truth. The best way to do that would be to get Raina to help them.

'Goddess Raina. Tell the brave men the truth.

I thrust my sword further into Raina.

Tension hangs in the air between you and Raina.

'...... hey you. Would you like to be my knight?

But Raina's words were unexpected.

What?

I make myself sound bareheaded.

'It's funny that someone like you would serve Modes. You should be my knight.

What is this goddess saying?

Then what happens to the brave ones? That's when I was about to ask.

One shadow pops out of the open door.

''Deyaaaaaaah!

The shadow comes running in and slashes at you.

I duck back and duck the attack.

'Glad you're safe, Raina!

The shadow was Cyrone.

'Sorry I'm late. There was a spartoy on the way. ......

Syrone points his sword at Raina, shielding her behind her back.

''Cowardly man. Pointing a sword at an unarmed woman!''

Cyrone turns an angry look on him.

Honestly, I don't want you to look at me like that.

'Run, Raina!　I'll take care of the rest!

'Ah yes, ...... Okay, Cyrone, I'll take care of the rest: ......

Rayna goes to the door, pushed by Cyrone's attention.

'Wait ......!

As I tried to chase after him, Shirone stood in front of me.

'I'm not letting you pass here! I'm the guy!

Kuroki's childhood friend, the swordsman Shirone

I can't let Rage-kun fight.

Seeing Sahoko desperately trying to stop Rage-kun, I couldn't let her hurt him any more.

So I jumped out of the way.

Rage-kun is our hero.

The first time I knew about Rage-kun was in middle school. At that time, I was just aware of someone who was cool.

One day, an incident happened.

That day I was asked by a junior kid to help me because my friend had been taken by someone with a bad gala.

I was confident in my skills because my family ran a dojo, and I was often asked for help by junior girls.

So I went to help my friend with a wooden sword.

There were three girls at the scene and five men surrounding them. The men must have been high school students, they were large and smelled of violence.

I had never been beaten by a boy before. If I could only hold a wooden sword, I should have been able to win.

But that day was different.

One of the men, enraged by the wooden sword, struck me with an iron pipe.

I was struck by the blow with my wooden sword. It was a tremendous shock. At that moment, my hand went numb and I dropped the sword.

The men looked at me in mock horror as I lost my weapon.

It was then that Rage-kun came to me. The juniors were calling for help not only from me, but also from Rage-kun.

I remember well the way Rage-kun moved at that time. The opponents were armed, but Rage was bare-handed, and he easily took out five of them.

Even though he was bigger than you, he was able to fight and win without fear, even though he was armed with a weapon. He was the hero of the story.

When I was hobbled by fear, he smiled gently at me. I almost cried at the sight of his smile.

During the fight, he had an injury in his right hand. The juniors and I decided to take care of him until the injury healed. I would protect him if anything happened to him.

That's when I met Sahoko and Chiyuki.

Some people ridiculed us for being cronies to Reiji.

I was annoyed by that. It was good for me, but I couldn't forgive them for saying bad things about Reigi.

Rage has done nothing wrong.

I got into a fight with my childhood friend, Kuroki, about it. Kuroki didn't say anything directly, but he was obviously not happy. To me, that was very annoying.

No, it was probably because it was Kroki that it made me even more angry.

I feel that I said many terrible things to Kroki at that time. I think that Kroki was despondent after being said terrible things.

I felt a little bad about it. But you're a hero, and I wanted Kuroki to recognize that.

That Mr. Rage is a hero in this world.

It reminds me of an anime I used to watch. It's about a brave man from another world who defeats the demon king. The current situation is very similar to that story.

I used to play a game of the anime with Kuroki. I was the hero and Kroki played the role of his minion's antagonist. I don't remember the name of the antagonist, but that doesn't matter.

I think Kuroki also wanted to play the role of the brave man. But he didn't budge and I was always the hero.

But the real brave man is Rage. I'm not me.