Kuro no Maou

On the 4th day of the month of Gloom, at evening, when he was reading the Spada newspaper and relaxing on the dormitory’s lounge,

“Brother! I can’t deal with this person anymore!!”

Simon, who had come back from Latifundia forest came clinging in tears.

“O-oi, Simon, what happened?”

Simon shouted with rage and teary eyes, without even letting him say ‘welcome back’.

“What happened?! Look at this!!”

Simon turned over his beloved dimension poach and a long lump of scrap iron came falling out. And it had the shape of 6 long tubes bundled up–

“Wait, this is the Gatling gun, isn’t it?! Why is it snapped in half?!”

“And this isn’t even all!”

He shook his poach once again. And again, a junk of steel came out falling on the floor. It looked like a rifle at first glance. However, that long barrel’s tip was burst out like a trumpet.

“Even the prototype rifle... Oi, Simon, exactly what did you do to break it like this?”

“Just listen! That person is really bad! Ahh, so frustrating!!”

And just when he was about to start explaining how her beloved weapons died a horrible death in the battlefield,

“Wait a bit, this is really just some unfortunate events piling up on one another—really just a very unfortunate incident and nothing else....”

A sorrow filled voice was heard and along with it, Simon’s partner, the mysterious strong female adventurer Sofie, came in quietly.

“Uwah, here she comes!”

As if he had just seen a monster, Simon quickly hid behind me. his reaction was cute enough to make me wonder if he had regressed into an infant but it seems like he is being quite serious here.

“C-come on, you don’t need to hide...”

“Don’t come any closer! My guns will break again!”

“I won’t break them, I’m telling you, come on.”

“I will never forgive you if you even break Yatagarasu!”

Simon roared like a mad dog. Although from his appearance, he only looked like a Pomeranian, it seems to have dealt some psychological damage to Sofie.

I could tell her beautiful face was painted with sadness behind that magic veil.

“Listen to me, I never meant to—”

“Yea, yea, just leave it at that now.”

Lily made a gallant entrance, waving her small hands. It’s really like her to save me from these scenes of carnage and chaos all the time.

“Sofie, retreat for now.”

br>“Kuhh, but, however....”

“I don’t know of the details but, to make Simon this angry, you are quite something, you know?”

“T-that is... an unfortunate crossing of paths...”

“I will listen to your excuses all you want later. We will have a reflection meeting now, alright?”

“Gnnn....”

And like that, Lily pulled on Sofie’s robe’s sleeves and took her away.

“That’s not it—by going through a rough situation, I was—”

“Geez, it’s cause you get greedy like that—”

My sharp ears heard something along those lines from the hallway but it seems like it would be best not to listen in. I don’t know where that is heading but it looks like that reflection meeting will go on for a while.

“Well, I don’t know what happened but it must have been tough, huh..?”

“Yea, really, it was so tough....”

And that’s how I had to listen to Simon’s story filled with a large amount of complaints.

He actually headed towards the dungeon to test the Gatling gun in action and his prototype rifle’s battle endurance and what not but it seems they only encountered consecutive completely unexpected troubles.

Like Sofie bringing a huge horde of goblins, or Sofie breaking the super tough alloy made Gatling gun with her superior ice magic, or Sofie going to sleep beside him when it’s her turn to lookout at night which ultimately led to them being surrounded by a huge army of slime. But that didn’t even matter as Sofie just annihilated the whole army of slime with one shot of her original ice magic and the after-math of it broke his prototype rifle. There’s more—Sofie did this, Sofie did that—Well, in short, it’s all Sofie’s fault.

“–And like that, we were finally able to return today.”

“.....You’ve worked hard.”

As he finished telling his story, Simon sunk into the chair, completely exhausted. So I tried brewing tea like Nell and handed it over to him. For now, have some tea and calm down.

“Even still, isn’t it great that the Gatling gun did good?”

If his crank type Gatling gun which can fire up to 200 rounds a minute operated properly, it means that Simon’s equipment have reached that level of America’s weapon during the civil war time period.

All the infantry would be blown to bits with just one round of this.

“Well, yes. I am glad I made it in time.”

He held the cup of tea and tried to take a but then realized it was too hot for him and decided to put it down for a while. I gave out a sigh.

“....It seems like you already know.”

“It would be impossible to not notice. It’s my 2nd time feeling the tensed environment of war.”

Being a pure Spada, Simon had experienced the previous war—The 4th Galahad war. It was exactly 10 years ago. Simon had just turned 7 then. But even his young mind could feel the tension.

At that time, Emelia had also just turned 18 years old so after graduating from theological school, she was rounded up as a knight. However, thanks to the war, she took the first step towards becoming a young general.

“Are you not, scared?”

“No, I think I am fine now.”

‘But I don’t about when I actually go into the battlefield and am about to die’–Simon said, half joking, half serious.

However, I clearly remember Simon revealing that he was afraid of wars when I visited him after he started theological school.

And so, I told him that it’s fine if he didn’t fight, it’s fine if he just made weapons. And he actually did end up making weapons. But even still, he plans on going to the battlefield with those weapons. Because I asked him so.

“Sorry, Simon. You can still—”

“I said it’s fine, didn’t I?”

Simon said softly with a smile, to not make me worry. His emerald eyes looked into mine.

“I will fight too. Even like this, I am still a man of Spada. Besides—”

Even while carrying sorrow and grief, his eyes shone with determination.

“I will take revenge for Sousse.”

“.....I see.”

“Yes.”

I have no reason to stop him anymore.

I don’t know if the 11th apostle will appear in this war but even still, it’s enough reason to fight against the crusaders.

“I understand. Then let’s beat the apostles together.”

“Leave it to me, I am good at shooting.”

Far from the front line where we will be fighting, Simon’s job is to shoot just once. That’s if Sariel really stands out.

Of course, even if the apostles don’t appear, fighting the large crusader army head to head is risky. There’s no absolute safety in the battlefield.

“But, even though I complained that much, there’s no mistaking that Sofi is a really strong ice mage so I think I will be fine. I am worried about you, brother, since you will be at the front line.”

“It’s not like I am not scared, alright?”

Now that I am rank 5 adventurer, my strength is guaranteed. However, there’s no guarantee that I will not die just because I am strong. Rather, I will have to take risks befitting of that strength. And fighting the apostles would be the riskiest of it all.

And so, I too am scared of dying.

“But, I can’t not fight either.”

There’s something I am even more scared of than dying. Something that I do not want to lose even if I die.

“Don’t be too reckless, alright?”

Having such carefree conversation with Simon like that, I spent the last peaceful night in Spada.

The preparations for the war are complete. I had also said my farewells to the people of Spada.

Finally, tomorrow, I—no, we, the Element Masters, will be heading out for Galahad fort.

br>

Month of Gloom, day 9. As if to bless us on our journey, the morning was splendidly sunny.

Under the clear blue sky, we, the Element Masters, quietly left the dorm and headed for the main gate of the royal Spada theological school to get the horses.

Lily and I got on Merry. And thanks to Merry’s younger sister, Mary, didn’t show any sign of shock or fear seeing her completely changed sister, Fiona was able to ride her and silently follow us.

Riding on the horse was gentle. Because just beside us, Simon also tagged along to see us off from the main gate.

“Sorry, I am the only one departing late.”

“Don’t worry about it. You have no choice until your necessary equipment are done.”

Because Sofie’s right hand completely destroyed the Gatling gun—that wasn’t all there was to it. No matter how much of a virtuoso Reghin is, there’s a limit.

As ‘The Grid’ prioritized on finishing our weapon first, Simon’s one ended up getting late.

More so because the anti-Sariel sniper had to be specially made from scratch.

“I will probably make it in time for the 2nd battle.”

We will be heading towards Galahad fort as the fourth squad, ‘Gladiators’.

As soon as the information of the crusaders advancing was received, the first once to move was king Leonhart with the first squad, ‘Brave Heart’ and then Spada’s standing army, second squad ‘Tempest’, lead by Simon’s elder sister Emelia.

The king and the elder sister’s army had already reached Galahad fort and was eagerly waiting for the crusaders’ arrival. As they met up with the third squad ‘Rampage’ which was on stand by there, the whole army of Spada had gathered in one fort.

Among all that, since the ‘Gladiators’ were formed after the war with the crusaders was confirmed, it is only natural for us to be late in departing compared to the standing army. And even though there are some adventurers of Spada who want to participate in the war, there are also a lot of them still in dungeons for quests and haven’t received the information.

As the news of Spada going into war had spread to the neighboring cities and states, they would know if they just get to a city. Even today, there were many adventurers seen hurrying back to the city to take part in the war.

Either way, because of these reasons, ‘Gladiators’ was broken into several portions and were to be sent to Galahad fort in order. As we are the 4th squad officially, we were a part of the army and so were moving in formation. Although it would be a violation of order if someone were to rush ahead, it seems most of it is tolerated.

As the adventurers—or the Gladiator members now gathered, we departed for the fort and were also defending the war provisions heading there. The enemy isn’t just the crusaders. Even though we weren’t crossing any dungeons, when you are apart from the city, there will be wild monsters so the provisions need to be guarded.

“Even when we reach, the crusaders’ attack probably won’t start. So you won’t be departing late or an—hmm, looks like something is going at the main gate.”

We had reached the main gate while I was talking with Simon but a crowd of people seems to have gathered in front of it.

“Did they all gather to see you off?”

“Eh, really? Are we perhaps really popular—”

“A lot of the adventurers from the adventurer course will be participating as well after all.”

“Well, I guess that is true...”

Destroying my expectations right after raising it, my glass heart got slightly hurt. There are a lotta adventurers except us who are heading for the Galahad fort. Just as Fiona had said, quite a few people from our adventurer course will be participating. After all, the school was filled with topics like ‘who will go and who will not’ these days.

Although it is a very prestigious act to go and fight for one’s country, there’s no one who can really be happy from the bottom of their heart sending people to war. Everyone would leave their precious people and head for the battlefield. There’s no one not prepared for a final farewell.

As we got even closer to the main gate, I could spot many people seeing others off with teary eyes.

Everyone from the adventurer course are not necessarily young boys or girls but generally, there are more young people. Although you could understand both parties’ standing from their appearance, the atmosphere there felt like that of a graduation ceremony.

Looking at a magician girl gather up in a circle together with her female friends and crying or looking at a large man in full armor silently shake one of the male students hand, my tear glands were stimulated.

It was when we were just about to cross the main gate of the school,

“Fuuhahahaha! The time for war has come! The curtains rise on the 5th fateful war in Galahad and it is finally time for the Nightmare Berserker to go up to the stage called the battlefield! Tonight, the legendary 2nd page will be drawn, only second to that of Iskia—”

Spada’s second prince had appeared, shouting out lengthy substance less phrases.

With a perfectly arranged hairstyle and a newly bought monocle shining in the sun. He was wearing a black blazer and had a red cloak fluttering behind. He was grandly standing in front of the main gate.

Ah, he was completely waiting for this, wasn’t he?

“Haa.... that’s a lotta things you messed up, Will...”

It’s not like he can’t read the atmosphere. No, it might be precisely because he read the atmosphere.

“Hm, Kurono. Spada’s royalty never shows tears to the knights heading for the battlefield.”

That’s right, my friend—no, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him my best friend at this point, Will. I have to say farewell to him as well today.

“But, thanks for coming to see me off.”

“Obviously, you are going into war to protect this Spada. I can’t call myself your sworn friend if I didn’t see you off here, could I? No, it’s probably not enough to just see you off, since I can’t stand next to you in war because I am royalty....”

Will was in charge of quietly staying in Spada, without going to war. Although there are plenty reason for him to not go to war—like him being completely unreliable in battle or because of him still being a student, the number one reason was to preserve the royal blood.

As the king and the first prince is taking part in this war, it is only appropriate to prepare for an unexpected situation. It’s only natural for them to decide to put the 2nd prince in a safe place.

Even if Will were to try and sneak out of the castle with a rifle to go to war, he would be restrained and taken back. By Celia, the guard maid, who was quietly standing behind.

Of course, as Will is smart, he knows his position and his skills and that’s why he came to see us off.

“As such, I have gathered all the people who are also praying for your triumphal return! Now, everyone, it is time for legendary departure of the Element Master lead by Nightmare Berserker Kurno! We will see them off with a grand applause!”

The moment he spread out his arms, looking up at the sky like in a drama—a thunderous applause could be heard.

All the students surrounding us clapped and cheered for us.

Telling us to ‘protect Spada’.

br>“Will, the people gathered here, are they perhaps...”

“Hmm, they are the students you saved in Iskia.”

When I looked around closely, I could spot some familiar faces.

I didn’t speak with them in Iskia castle or in the celebration party so I thought they might be avoiding me but it seems that isn’t the case. It was probably just hard to approach me.

The ones I have talked to here are probably only Eddie and Shenna, who were standing in front. They somehow end up facing unfortunate situations but I want this childhood couple to be happy.

Ah, now that I look closely, I could even see my number one fan, to whom I gifted my sign. She had a small figure and was being crushed by the crowd but still looked up at me with shining eyes. I should work hard enough to not be hated by my fan.

Now that I think about it, I don’t even know her name. I completely forgot to ask her. No, not just hers, I could have asked the names of everyone gathered here.

I could have become a friend from a saver if I walked up to them and talked. To think I would realize this after all of them gathered up and cheered for us. I somewhat feel pathetic.

“Thank you, nothing could make me happier than this. I will definitely protect Spada.”

Although I have slight regrets remaining, in my heart, I could feel courage seething out. They are the people I protected for the first time. I will protect them again, for the 2nd time, for the 3rd time, no matter how many times it takes.

“Hmm, that’s very much like you. Those are strong, reassuring words. With that, we can stay back here with a piece of mind as well.”

As Will was nodding, Simon went behind him and pulled on his cloak.

“Now, now, Will. You shouldn’t keep them here long. They need to make it in time for assembly.”

“Hm, right, sorry. Although I am reluctant, you should go now, Kurono.”

If I stay here any longer, it will be harder to leave. I, too, feel reluctant but I must move forward.

“Yeah. See ya, Will, Simon.”

And just when I was about to move ahead again,

“Wait! Kurono!”

A female student jumped right in the middle of the front gate. An angel like figure, with wings spreading from behind her. There’s no way I could mistake her or her voice.

“Nell...”

Avalon’s first princess and one of the few friends I made in Spada. Nell Julius Elrod. She also came out here to bid me farewell.

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