Zarxys, the god of death.

What do you mean? Say it again!　Zarxis!!!!

　He grabs me by the neck and lifts me up.

'Let go ...... Lavrus ....... I'm going to die ...... in agony .......

　Moving and struggling.

Hmph!

　Lavrus looks distressed and throws down in a way that doesn't seem to be amused.

''Guffaw!

　He is lowered to the ground and grunts pitifully.

I told you ...... that's right. I heard that Raina has found a lover. It's called the Brave Man of Light: .......

　The man in front of me shakes with anger when he hears this.
　He is a normal human being, if only in appearance.
　The muscles rise in his bare hands and feet, his neck is thick and his jaw is large. It is as if he has forced violence into human form.
　However, although Lavrus takes on the form of a man, it is a temporary form. His true form is far from human.
　This man is not a human being. He is a man of a god race that does not belong to Elyos and is called an evil god by the gods of Elyos.
　He returned from the land of Rox, the land of humans, and told Lavrus what happened there.
　At first Lavrus seemed uninterested in listening, but when I told him about the brave men of light, he suddenly grabbed me by the neck.

''d*mn it!　Raina belongs to this Lavrus!　You mess with my girl and I'm going to kill you!

　Lavrus's angry voice.
　Hearing that, I wonder.
　When did Raina become this man's property?
　Lena is one of the Three Beautiful Gods, one of the most beautiful goddesses in Elyos.
　Although not as beautiful as Modes, Lavrus's true form is also ugly. There is no way Raina would flinch.
　Not only this Lavrus, but many other male gods are courting Raina.
　And everyone is fighting with each other under the surface, claiming that they are the love interest of Raina.
　It seems that Elyos is in an uproar over the fact that Raina has a boyfriend.
　Her lover's name is Rage. He is a human who is called the brave man of light.
　I don't know where this man came from. However, his power is tremendous, and he is on par with Odis.
　He is also very beautiful in appearance. He is rumored among the goddesses of this world, not only by Elyos, but also by the goddesses of this world.
　Perhaps because of the existence of that brave man of light being holed up in the labyrinth, Lavrus didn't know about it until now. That's why he's angry now.

''It's an order, Zarxis!　Bring that brave man of light up here!

　Lavrus says arrogantly.
　Why should this Zarxis listen to this man's orders?
　I'm angry. It's not that I'm under this man's command in the first place.
　But I want to keep Lavrus, who does not belong to Elyos and is hostile to Modes, on my side.
　Besides, right now I'm hiding in this labyrinth, it's hard to say no.
　This is the deepest part of the underground labyrinth in the plain of Minon.
　The room in which the throne of Lavrus is located is large and magnificent.
　Frankly, it's not worthy of this rough god.
　But the power of this labyrinth is immense. This labyrinth, built by a master dwarven craftsman, gives Lavrus his power. The labyrinth is made of special magical materials and the magical skills of the dwarves, which makes it strong.
　In this labyrinth built for him, he cannot use magic from his own realm.
　That is why the strong but cowardly Lavrulus does not want to leave the labyrinth.

''You want me to bring you here instead of leading you to a brave man?''

　Lavrus does not want you to go and kill the brave men of light, but to bring them to this labyrinth of land that is advantageous to you. How cowardly he was.

'Yes!　Sorry, Zarxys?　I'm supposed to be invincible in here!　I don't know if you're a brave man of light or what!　I'll cut you down with my axe!

　Then he takes his own axe.
　It is a huge magical axe called the double-edged axe of Lavrus. This man's holy seal is also a replica of the double-edged axe.
　Lavrus swings the axe and slashes the sky.
　The impact-breaking that emanates from the axe shakes the labyrinth.
　Even if you don't take the axe properly, this impact break alone should be enough to destroy your half-rotten body.
　Touch this half-rotten body. I've managed to exist by siphoning off a large amount of the life force of those living on earth.
　The traitor Modes nearly destroyed my body.
　I managed to survive, but my body was damaged and broken, and I was slowly crumbling.
　I want to regenerate my body at all costs, but it takes a lot of life force to do so.
　It sucks the life force from humans, but no matter how much power it sucks from lower life forms, it can barely sustain the body. It is very inefficient.
　An angel can gain a lot of life force, but as long as he is an adversary to the gods of Elyos and the Modes, he can't stand out.
　For the same reason, they can't target other divine races.
　Therefore, they have no choice but to put up with inferior creatures. They mainly target humans.
　Humans, a race loved by the hostile Elyos gods, must be destroyed.
　They have destroyed several human nations, sucking the life force out of them, and have used another demon as a sacrificial sheep to escape the eyes of the gods of Elyos.
　The one incident in Rox wasn't even his own doing, and he was going to blame it all on Striges.
　But when he ran into the dark knight under his command, the Dark Knight, Modes found out that he was alive.
　And the brave woman of light also saw himself. In other words, Elyos found out too.
　Why were they really in that place? I don't know why. But what we can say for sure is that it will be hard to get life force from here on out.
　But if we don't suck the life force out of others, we will eventually perish. What should we do?
　It's a bad idea to suck the life force out of your body.
　The only way here is to get a large amount of life force at once and regenerate the body.
　It reminds me of the brave man. I could sense a powerful life force from him.
　Can we take away his life force?
　Then I will be able to regenerate this body.
　So I will listen to Lavrus's orders.

All right, all right. "All right, fine, I'll lure the hero into this labyrinth. Because in this labyrinth, Modes is the only one who can beat you in this labyrinth. ......
Don't say the name Modes!

　Lavrus yells loudly.
　I can see that he is emphatic but frightened. Apparently, he's still scared of Modes.
　When I look closer, I see that he is shaking.
　Lavrus, who is much bigger than me, looks smaller.

I've been thinking, "Well, how about if we capture a brave man and use him as bait to lure Raina into this labyrinth? That way, you'll have Raina as your own.

　He suggests luring Raina to Lavrus to cheer him up. We need Lavrus to fight that traitor again.
　The only person in the world who can fight Modes, aside from those from Elyos, is Lavrulus.
　We must get him to come out of the labyrinth again.

'Good for you, Zarxis!　Yes, that goddess is exactly what this Lavrus deserves.

　Lavrus stops shaking as he remembers Raina.
　Seeing this, he sighs. Now how do I lure the brave man in?




Black haired wise man Chiyuki

　We move from the magic city of Saria to the Republic of Ariadia.
　The gryphon carrying us flies through the wind.
　The weather is nice and the wind is pleasant.
　Sahoko is riding with me on the griffon. Sahoko is riding with me, clinging to my back.
　Beside me, a gryphon is flying with Não and Reno on board.
　And in front of us is Rage on the Pegasus.

"It's a pretty good ride, Chiyuki-san.

　Nao laughs as she flies to the side.

'Really, why didn't I think of that earlier?'

　It wasn't until he fought the Dark Knights in Nargol that he came up with the idea of riding a flying demonic beast.
　When I saw the Dark Knights fighting on a wyvern, I wondered if I could do the same thing.
　However, the wyvern is only in Nargol. Looking for a replacement magical beast, he reached the Gryphon and Hippogriff.
　It was a challenge to tame them, but it worked.
　We laugh when we remember that. It's a good memory of what we all struggled with.

'What are you laughing at, Chiyuki?'

　As we laugh, Rage, who was flying ahead of us, comes toward us.
　Rage is riding alone on the Pegasus. Reno wanted to ride with me, but I let him ride alone because of Sahoko and Nao.
　Sahoko and Nao always refrain from doing so. So to be fair, they decided not to have anyone ride with them.
　The Pegasus that Rage rides is not a tame magical beast, unlike the Gryphon and Hippogriff that we ride, it's not a tame magical beast.
　The Pegasus was given to me by Raina. It seems that the Pegasus is a valuable thing that only holy knights are allowed to ride, but it was specially given to Rage.
　It seems to be an apology about the Roxx Kingdom.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it work. It's frustrating, but it looks good on you.

'I was talking about the time I tamed a magical beast.
Oh, you mean that time. That's a tough one.

　Rage laughs briskly. Then everyone around her laughs too.
　It was hard to get a griffon or hippogriff to be used as a mount.
　It wasn't that hard to capture them, but it was a constant process of trial and error to figure out how to turn the magical beasts into a riding machine.
　First, I came up with the idea of turning the gryphon into a messenger.
　A creature that becomes a witch can use its master's ability to some extent and becomes stronger than before it became a witch.
　However, in order to turn a creature into a witch, the master sorcerer must have much higher life force or magic power than the creature to become a witch.
　In other words, a sorcerer cannot turn a creature of the same rank or stronger than himself into a witch. Also, even if they are weaker than you, if the difference between them is small, they cannot be turned into a witch.
　A human wizard can only turn a dog or a cat into a wizard, and not a big beast.
　I heard that elves can turn fairly large beasts into wizards.
　However, even elves that are much stronger than humans can't turn humans into their witchcraft.
　The only people who can turn a human into a witch is the angels, or those who have the same or greater power.
　However, if a human is turned into an angel, they are not called an angel, but an apostle.
　Griffons are powerful monsters, so it's difficult for elves or even angels to become a messenger, but it's possible for us, who are stronger than the angels.
　However, for some reason, we gave up on turning them into charms.
　The reason is that a creature that becomes a witch will only love its master who has made it a witch.
　And I don't know how to turn back a creature that has been turned into an errand boy.
　That was the problem.
　Once before, Reno turned a prince of a certain country into a messenger, in this case an apostle.
　The prince, who became an apostle, only loved Reno, and it was a big deal.
　According to Reno's story, the prince asked him to make him an apostle.
　In other words, the prince had been hitting on Reno in a roundabout way, and Reno made him an apostle for fun.
　The prince is also a prince for hitting on Reno despite having a fiancée, but I think Reno is also a problem with Reno.
　I looked for a way to break the jutsu then, but I couldn't find it, so I'm putting it off.
　I'll have to do something about it eventually, but honestly, my head hurts.
　Well, since that happened, we decided not to create a messenger unless we had to.
　Instead, Reno and I used our magic to make it a riding machine. It's a good thing that you don't have to use it as a messenger, because it's not a problem.
　This is how we managed to tame the gryphon and hippogriff.
　We headed for the Republic of Ariadia, chatting with each other.
　According to Talabos, there seems to have been a problem in the Republic of Ariadia, and he wants you to hear the detailed story there.

''Speaking of which, I wonder if Sirone and the others are in good hands?

　Sahoko worries about Sirone and the others.

'I don't know. But aside from Kyouka-san, Kaya-san is with them. I think we can stop Shirone-san from going off the rails.

　I reply.
　I was the one who attached Kyouka and Kaya to Shirone. I thought it would be dangerous for me to be alone with Shirone. If I was alone, I might have to ride into Nargol alone.

''Shirone-san, do you think you can get your childhood friend back?

　This time Reno looks at Nargol and says.

'That's going to be a bit tricky, Reno.

　Rage looks at Reno and says.

'Oh, why? Mr. Rage?
Think about it, Lino. He was following the Demon King. You have no idea how many people in this world have been hurt because of the Demon Lord. Even if you're not in your right mind, that's not forgivable. I'm sure he'll just disappear, never to be seen again.　Yeah, I'd do that if I were in his shoes.

　Rage says with a rare serious look on his face.

'Oh no. ....... I just got to see my childhood friend again who wanted to meet him.
'Yes, Mr. Ray. Mr. Cyrone wanted to meet his childhood friend.

　Reno and Sahoko say ruefully.

'I'm sorry ....... He's going to have to take responsibility for that. He doesn't want to involve Shirone in paying for what he's done. We'll just have to sit tight here and watch.

　Rage says, nodding his head yes.
　I hear Rage's words and shove them in my mind, "That's your wish.
　You just don't want Shirone's childhood friend to show up in this world, and you don't want her to possibly leave you, do you?
　But I do understand a little bit of what you're saying, Rage.
　The people of this world are suffering from demons. The ruler of these demons, the demon king, is an unforgivable existence.
　According to Sirone's story, her childhood friend, he is a good person. You may feel guilty about being the Demon King's advance guard.
　But I don't think it's a good idea to leave Cyrone's presence. That won't reassure Cyrone. Otherwise, it wouldn't be funny.
　Rage may not like it, but we should welcome him as one of us.
　So we have to say that the only bad thing is the Demon King.
　The forest below where we are flying now may be inhabited by demons.
　I heard that if we defeat the Demon King, the damage caused by the demons will stop. That should make this world a lot more fun.

''Wait, guys!

　Rage stops everyone as they are flying.

'What's up, Rage?'
I hear a woman scream.

　Rage said and flew the pegasus in a different direction from its destination.

'What do you think, Nao?'

　I look at Nao.

''That's awesome, Rage-senpai ....... This Nao-san just noticed it too: ......

　Nao, whose sensory abilities are extremely high, says as she looks at Rage's back.

'I'm going after you, guys!

　Everyone nods when I say it.
　This is the only part of Rage that I can count on. Maybe it's the beautiful woman who is definitely in a pinch.
　We too hurriedly followed Rage.



◆Sizfe, the freedom fighter girl.

Sisyphe!

　My sister Kayna calls my name.

'I know!

　Then I look in front of me.
　There is a lone orc there.
　The giant pig stands up like a human, its figure bigger than me.
　Its eyes, wet with lust, look down at me as it licks me around.

''Don't lick it!

　He glares at the orcs and I raise my sword.
　No help is needed. My companions are fighting another orc. I will have to kill the orc in front of me.
　This will not be the first time I have fought an orc. But then there was only one orc, and it was a friend who would fight with me.
　But this time there was more than one Orc that attacked me. I'm not sure of their numbers.
　We were on our way back to the Republic of Ariadia when we were asked to escort them.
　This area was supposed to be an easy job, as there are few monsters in this area.
　However, we were ambushed by orcs on the road, and without being able to confirm our numbers, we were in a battle.
　This is the first time we've fought multiple orcs.
　Normally orcs, unlike goblins, are not supposed to form groups. But now the orcs are attacking us in groups.
　This is something that has never happened before.
　Half of the freedom fighters who were guarding the carriage were already killed by the orcs' attack.
　Only my companion Kayna and a few freedom fighters are left.
　If this were true, I would have already been killed as well. But I'm still alive because I'm a woman.
　The orcs are trying to capture me unharmed as a woman. They are a disgusting bunch.
　But there's an opening.

'Yah!

　I deliberately swing my sword slowly.
　The orc laughs and swings his club to play the sword.
　He's going to flick the sword off and get me unharmed.
　Now!
　I lower my sword quickly. The cudgel cuts the sky as it is.
　It worked. I'm confident in my swordsmanship alone.
　The swinging orc loses its stance. I don't miss it.
　I kicked the ground and got into my opponent's bosom and plunged my sword into the orc's heart.

''Gu?!''

　The orc looks down at me with a look of disbelief.
　That's probably true too. Normally, my arm strength would not be able to give a single scratch to an orc.
　The skin of an orc is hard enough to be used for leather armor and leather shields.
　The only way to scratch an orc is to be a highly trained warrior.
　And there is no way a slender-armed seventeen-year-old lass with no particular muscle tone could defeat an orc.
　But the magic sword I carry makes it possible. This sword, a memento of my father who was a freedom fighter, is the reason I am able to do what I do as a freedom fighter.
　Orcs fall with their swords intact. I was rewarded for underestimating the importance of being a woman.
　I try to pull out the fallen sword.

''Huh?!''

　I can't get the sword out. Shit, I put too much pressure on it.
　I was just about to pull it out, when suddenly my body is lifted.
　I turn around and see the face of an orc right near me.
　Shit, I didn't notice it approaching me from behind.

''Bu-ho-ho-ho-ho...''

　Orcs are smiling happily. Something cold runs down my spine.

'Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

　I scream as hard as I can.
　The orc carries me in his arms as he tries to carry me into the forest.

'Help--!　Help me, I hate it!

　He rages, but he can't get out of the orc's arms.
　I don't want to be the first orc to die. I wouldn't want to be the first orc to die.
　It was then that the sky would shine.

"What?

　I can't help but meditate.
　Then suddenly I am lowered to the ground.

'What is ......'

　I open my eyes and turn around to see a headless orc lying on the ground.
　I look in the direction the light came from.
　A horse is flying in the sky. The light from the horse goes through the orcs one by one. In the blink of an eye, the orcs were all toppled.

''Beautiful......''

　I can't help myself.
　A man on a celestial horse descends before us from the sky.
　His figure is luminous and divine.
　The man who descended from the heavenly horse stands in front of me.
　The man who rescued me was more beautiful than any man I had ever seen before.
　His well-formed face and slender body, his light hair shining in the sun.
　His beautiful face smiled gently at me. I can't speak as I admire that face with its hot cheeks.

'Are you okay?'

　He calls out to me, but I can't help but fawn over him and stand there in a daze. What was I thinking when I was in danger earlier? I can't think straight because something unbelievable has happened.
　But it's rude to not say anything at this point.

Haha, yes, that's a relief!　I almost got kidnapped by the orcs.

　I thank him sullenly.

'I heard a call for help as I flew through the air, though, so I came as fast as I could. Looks like you made it in time.

　Then he holds out his hand.
　I take his hand and am pulled up.
　As it is caused, the man's face is close to mine. It smells fresh, unlike the oak.

'I'm Rage. Can you tell me your name, miss?
Cizferia. ......
Hon!

　Suddenly, I heard a coughing from behind Rage-sama.
　Before I knew it, someone was standing behind Rage-sama. I didn't notice it because I was only looking at Rage-sama.
　I let go of my hand in a hurry.

'What is it?'　Chiyuki?

　Master Rage looks back. 'I'm sorry I can't see your face anymore.

'Sorry to interrupt your intake, but can I have a word with you, Mr. Rage?

　I look from Rage-sama's back to the woman called Chiyuki, who is the voice's partner.
　So I take a breath.

'Beautiful......'

　I mutter to myself. Second word of the day.
　The woman named Chiyuki was very beautiful.
　Her white, well-defined face and beautiful, slit eyes. Her body is sleek, and where it comes out, it comes out. Especially beautiful is the black hair that reaches to the waist. It reflects the sun's light and sparkles.
　I feel a little depressed when I see it. It's a good thing that he is so cool, there is no way the woman would leave him alone. It was a short love .......
　The woman named Chiyuki is looking at me somewhat unhappily.

It's a good idea to have a little talk with them.

　She's beautiful, but the cold stare makes me feel uncomfortable.

'Yes, sir. What is it?!

　His voice rises as his beautiful eyes stare at me.

'There were twelve orcs that attacked us. Are you sure this is the right one?
'Well ...... no ...... I don't know either. I couldn't confirm how many orcs attacked me because I was attacked so suddenly, so ......

　I reply sullenly.

'Yes ....... 'Then I don't blame you. ......'

　The woman named Chiyuki sighs.

'What's wrong with your orc numbers, Chiyuki?'
''There were twelve dead orcs, and this is the one you killed all of them, Rage. Strangely enough, there don't seem to be any top orcs among those twelve. This is very strange.

　The woman named Chiyuki has lost interest in me and ignores me and continues her conversation with Rage-sama.

'Any sign of other demons in the vicinity?'
'In the meantime, though, I've had Reno-san and Nao-san search for another demon nearby. I don't feel like I'm hiding.
Well, ....... Maybe it's a result of the incident the vice-president of the Sorcerer's Society mentioned. Maybe it's something we can find out if we go to Ariadia and ask for more information.
That's certainly true too: ......

　The woman named Chiyuki nodded at Rage-sama's words.

''Also, we still don't know how many people were injured. But now that Sahoko is using her healing magic, everyone should be safe.
'Right. By the way, are there any girls among the injured?
'What ......? None of the girls seem to have been injured. ......
Yeah, that's a relief.

　Hearing those words reassures me as well as Rage-sama. Apparently, my companions are safe too.

''Why do you only worry about the girls anymore ......
That's the role of a brave man to protect a fragile woman.
'Oh my God, ...... be the protector of all of them if you can.'

　As the two of us are talking, someone approaches us.
　The person who approached was the woman who was the subject of our escort, Atrana.
　We have been hired to escort her, a merchant, and her goods to Ariadia.

'Thank you. Thank you for your help, brave lady.

　Ms. Atrana is bowing to Lady Raige.
　It is very graceful to see Miss Atrana, a gracious and oddly aged lady, bowing.

'And you?'
'My name is Atrana, and I am the leader of this troop of merchants. If you hadn't come to me, my brave friend, we would have been in a lot of trouble.
'No, I'm glad I could protect someone as beautiful as you.

　Master Rage curtsies to Atrana. 'This one is quite graceful too.

'Well, you're pretty good at it,'

　Atrana smiles. Unlike me, she has plenty of room to maneuver. Maybe this is the difference in experience.
　But the woman beside me, who says Chiyuki, looks even more unhappy at the sight of it.
　I feel that I am somewhat out of place.
　The conversation was about to get long, so I left.

'Looks like we're both safe, Sizfe.

　When she leaves Rage-sama, sister Kayna comes to her place. She was a woman like herself, so she seems to be safe.

'Yes, Sister Kayna ......, she seems to be safe somehow.

　Despite being attacked by a pack of orcs, he survived. It is a miracle.
　We rejoice in our safety.

"But it's still amazing: ....... All those orcs were killed in just one second. Is that what the Hero of Light is all about?
The Brave of the Light?
You don't know, Sisyphe. Well, it's still famous around here: ....... I've been told that he is the strongest person east of the continent beyond the Central Mountains. It's said that he was the favorite of the goddess Raina.

　Sister Kayna looks at Lady Rage and says.

''You're a brave man, beloved of the goddess. ......

　His power is truly something worthy of being called a brave man. Hearing sister Kayna's words, I stared passionately at Rage-sama's back.