Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~

「The Dark Knight who defeated Alphos, eh… Sure enough, I am definitely unwilling to face such a terrifying opponent. Fine, let’s postpone our match for the next time!!」

Thus, Giltar flew away from this place. The other Evil Gods followed suit, they didn’t think it was good to stay in this place anymore. Naturally, they didn’t forget to throw some parting words fit for their 3rd rate villain statuses. I was really surprised by their swift reaction just by hearing that the one who defeated Alphos was coming.

「Dammit, Hero!! Don’t think that you’ve already won!!」

Harsesh was the last one to leave, leaving us behind in this place.

「WAIT, REIJI-KUN! THERE’S NO NEED TO ESCAPE, IT’S KUROKI!!」

Naturally, Shirone tried to stop us from retreating.

「Shirone, even I would have never expected that man to be this dangerous… We have to get away from here ASAP.」

Nier trembled non-stop as she spoke. What in the world had she seen in that battle?!

「GAOOOOOO―――――OOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!」

Suddenly, an adorable cry of a beast resounded in the entire area.

「OH NO, HE’S COMING!!!」

The moment Nier raised a cry, we looked at the direction of the roar. At that moment, we saw… a giant TEDDY BEAR making its way through the forest toward our location.

The head of the teddy tear, whose height was around ten meters tall, could be seen amongst the trees. Though it tried to be as threatening as a real bear, it looked like a giant teddy bear no matter how you looked at it.

「WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT ADORABLE CREATURE!!!」

Now it was Rino’s turn to raise a joyous voice. The teddy bear seemingly had a hard time going through the forest.

Yeah, they couldn’t come so easily.

「GAOOOOOO―――――OOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!」

The giant teddy bear raised a roar. An extremely adorable roar with zero threat.

「An adorable creature is coming…」

Nao, who had transformed back to a human, muttered so.

「Seriously, what is it… It’s so adorable.」

The teddy bear walked slowly toward our direction. Even the way it walked was so adorable.

「CHIYUKI-SAN LOOK!! THERE’S AN ADORABLE PINK PIG ON TOP OF THE BEAR’S HEAD!!」

It’s just as Rino had said, standing on top of the teddy bear was a hammer wielding pink pig.

HOW FANCY!!!

Or rather, what in the world are they?

「WAIT RINO!! LOOK AT WHAT’S FOLLOWING THEM!!」

Reiji was pointing at the Dark Knight on the black dragon flying behind the teddy bear, they had obviously come together.

Flying around the black dragon were the daemons riding on wyverns. No doubt about it, that was Shirone’s childhood friend.

「Reiji, rest assured. You can withdraw now.」

Reiji nodded when Rena said so.

「Understood, everyone retreat.」

Reiji shrewdly hopped onto Rena’s ship. We also followed in a hurry.

「Wait, Reiji-kun. There’s no need to escape from Kuroki.」

「THAT’S RIGHT!! AN ADORABLE BEAR IS COMING FOR US!! WE HAVE TO GET TO KNOW IT!!」

Shirone and Rino opposed Reiji’s decision.

Well, honestly speaking, I wanted to see the teddy bear from up close too.

「I agree, Rena-chan!! I’m also interested in the Dark Knight who defeated Alphos!!」

For some reason, Ishtar had also boarded Rena’s ship. I mean, why did you not board your own ship, you walking striptease.

「Fufufu, the Dark Knight who defeated Alphos. I wonder what kind of man is he?」

Ishtar licked her lips as she spoke.

Shirone’s face changed the moment she saw Ishtar’s face.

「OKAY! TIME TO GO BACK! EVERYONE WITHDRAW!」

「Eh? Shirone-san? Why are you in such a hurry?」

Even Rino couldn’t hide her shock upon seeing Shirone’s sudden change of attitude.

「RIGHT AWAY, SHIRONE!! NIER, PREPARE TO MOVE IMMEDIATELY!! TOTONA, YOU HOLD THE OTHER SIDE!!」

「Understood, Rena…」

「Eh, what’s the matter, Rena-chan?! And why did you flank me too, Totona-chan?!!」

Both Rena and Totona seized Ishtar’s shoulders as if to prevent her from moving from that place. Their coordination was perfect. Weren’t they supposed to be on bad terms?

Thus, Rena’s ship and Ishtar’s ship started to move away from the giant teddy bear.

In this way, we withdrew from the battlefield.

◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

We arrived terribly late at the sweet castle. Reiji and co had withdrawn the moment I arrived. Thanks to that we didn’t have to clash. Thus, everyone was safe and sound.

Datie seemed to be really delighted.

「DEAR GRANNY, YOU’RE SAFE!!」

Polen was rushing toward Heqat.

「Yeah, I’m okay, ribbit ribbit. Never expected this crybaby to come to save this old granny though. All I did was have some fun with them. Never expected that I’d be so grateful for this.」

Heqat brushed Polen’s head as she praised her. She looked really happy. It seems that she was also worried about Polen, who always locked herself in her own room. Her face just now had shown a relieved smile, she had finally seen her granddaughter all grown up.

「You have my gratitude. As expected of the strongest Dark Knight. I never expected you to be able to make my crybaby grow so much.」

「It’s no big deal, Heqat-dono. I just gave her a simple push. The rest is Her Highness’ own will.」

I replied humbly as it was a matter of fact. I mean, all I did was truly give her a few pushes and left her to decide on her own. It wouldn’t have amounted to anything if I was the one who moved while Polen did nothing.

「YOUR EXCELLENCY――――!! YOU CAME TO SAVE ME RIGHT ――――!!!」

Datie came closer, her large build was honestly nauseating. I moved away and hid behind Kuna immediately. It might look miserable but what choice do I have?

Kuna stood before Datie to stop her.

「Datie… Don’t make Kuroki feel troubled.」

「Yes…」

When Kuna commanded her, Datie retreated with a disappointed look on her face.

I only felt a pang of guilt though.

「Haha, it’s good to see you safe Datie-dono. But, you should show your gratitude to Her Highness. Her Highness is the one who worried about you after all.」

I looked at Polen as I said so. Datie then headed toward Polen.

「Thank you very much, Your Highness. About the art, the delivery of Elios’ Handsome Gods Nak–MGHGHGHGH!!」

「WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

Datie’s mouth was blocked by Polen when she was about to thank her.

What’s the matter I wonder?

I didn’t know what she was about to say since her mouth got blocked by Polen.

「What’s matter, Your Highness?」

A voice could be heard from overhead. It came from Petina, who transformed into a giant bear.

This was my first time seeing her transformed form, but no matter how I looked at it, her transformed form was clearly that of a plushie. I mean, I would have never expected her transformed form to be this adorable. I was holding back my desire to squeeze her into a hug and pet her.

「Good grief, I guess some part of her will never change.」

Heqat shook her head upon seeing the interaction between Polen and Datie.

「What actually happened? And those fellas are…?」

Kuna was also dumbfounded.

「Your Excellency. We’ve already confirmed Heqat-sama’s safety. Let’s go back since His Majesty has been worrying non-stop.」

「Yes, I understand, Lord Guno. And thank you for coming this far as our reinforcement.」

「We’re just fulfilling our duty.」

Despite what she said, Guno looked really delighted.

The front of the sweet castle was as boisterous as usual. But well, since we achieved our goal, I guess we should go back to Nargol right now.

At least, Polen should go back.

Modes must be really worried about her right now.

Was what I thought as I looked towards Nargol’s direction.