It was late afternoon one day.
　I was relaxing in my beach chair out in the yard, as I always do.

　As I relaxed, I fed my dog in the yard and threw a ball for him to play with.

　And so, I pass the time.
　I glance up at the sky.
　It's only mid-morning, judging by the position of the sun.

　Time seems to be flying by fast today.

"Hermes.

　She just poked her head right over my head.

"Oh, my God!

　I screamed and involuntarily fell off the beach chair.
　The dog immediately ran up to me and licked my face with a perturbed look.

'Oh my gosh, are you okay Hermes?'
Don't surprise me, sister.
'I'm sorry about that. For that matter, Hermes, what's wrong with you?
'What?　What?

　I sat down on the ground and tilted my head back to look up at my sister.

'You seem to be fidgeting a lot differently than usual, don't you think?
Fidgeting?
'Yes. You look like a little boy when it's your first date with her and the other person doesn't come to the rendezvous point for any length of time.
What do you look like?

　I shouted out and plunged in.

　And I was a little horrified.
　At my sister's ability to observe.

　It was a funny analogy, but she was essentially saying the same thing.

　And it couldn't be that she was the kind of person who was just guessing or a joke.
　It's not just a matter of guessing, it's also not a matter of being a joke.

　You could say I'm being played a joke on you.

　Anyway, I've given up and decided to talk.

"Erica's not here yet.
Erica?
Yeah. I got a call that they'd be here this morning, but they still haven't shown up.
Oh, my God, is that why you're in love?

　She put her hand over her mouth and looked as happy as she could.
　She looks like a schoolgirl at the moment she hears a love story.

　If I poked around there, the conversation would go off to the side in a big way, so I went through it.

'It's not. This kind of thing has never happened before. If you say you're coming, Erika will come - even if you don't tell her, she'll come. On the other hand, I've never been late when I said I was coming.
'Indeed. And as far as I know, Lady Erica seems to be desperately trying to make time to see Hermes.

　What do you know, too, I decided not to ask.
　Because it looks like if you poke around in the bushes, you'll get a dragon, not a snake, but a dragon, that's my sister's.

'If you get a call that it's coming, I'm sure it'll be here on time, no matter what. I wonder what's going on.

　The sister said that and turned around behind her.
　In terms of direction, the direction in which the Calamba Kingdom is located - the direction in which Erica is coming.

'That's right, Hermes,'

　She turned to me, clasped her hands together and looked as if she had a brilliant idea.
　I have a bad feeling about this.

'Why don't you pick him up?
To pick you up?
Yeah.
You're coming for me.

　I've been thinking.
　A pick-up.
　I had a bad feeling about it, but it wasn't such a bad idea.

'Yes, it is. Since Hermes took care of Erica-sama last time, shouldn't he be able to repay her at least that much?
It's...

　Maybe.
　Maybe, but that's what's getting me into more and more trouble.
　And even if I said that, you wouldn't get through to your sister.

　And, well, I know that's usually the place to thank someone for their help.
　I'm not sick, but it's almost the same as nursing a patient, so you should thank them.

No, no, it's fine.
Oh, is that so?
Yeah.

　I nodded and went back to my beach chair and laid back down.
　My sister stood beside me, holding her windblown hair and looking up at the blue sky.

　I tried to relax, with the wind blowing in my face as well.

　.........
　.............
　..................

　I stood up.

'Oh, what's the matter, Hermes?

　She turned to me.

"I'm going to go buy some Dorayaki.
Yes, have a good day.

　I returned the smile of my sister, who seemed to see through everything, with a wry grin on her face as I left the house.
　As soon as I stepped out of the yard and left the grounds, I jumped up into the air with a whimper.

　In the blink of an eye, it left the city of Pindos and flew right over the street.

　Even as we were flying, our eyes were fixed on the road below us like a plate.

　I stared at it with such force that I didn't miss a carriage, or even Erica walking or in disguise.

　After about ten minutes of pondering, we had completely left Pindos and come to an empty field.

''--!''

　I gulped.
　I found the familiar carriage being attacked by a monster.

　The carriage is surrounded by monsters.

　The guards are fighting that monster.
　Some of the guards have already been killed, and the battle situation is not good.

　I flew up to speed and landed in front of the carriage, between the guards and the monster.

''That's it, reinforcements.
Don't panic, I'm here.
Oh, you are.
Darling!

　Erica jumped out of the carriage.
　She jumped out of the carriage and hugged me like she was going to tackle me, and then she clung to my neck.

　Oh thank God, she was perfectly fine.
　Not a scratch, not a single injury.

　I was a bit relieved.
　But I still asked him, just to be sure.

"Are you okay, Erica?
'I knew you'd come!　That's why I love you darling!

　I didn't answer the question, but I knew I was fine and that there didn't seem to be any injuries anywhere, so I was okay with that for now.

"Ka, Master Cano. Please take His Majesty alone and run away.

　Erica's bodyguard said in an urgent voice.
　It's a loyalty that I looked up to, even in times like these.

　I guess that's why my guards gaped at me when they came to see me in private, in private, in secret.

I'll be fine.
What?

　I looked around.

　Distant monsters, five of the twenty of them are defeated guards.
　If we were doing this normally, we'd just be slowly annihilated by the difference in strength - well, no problem.

'Erica, stay back.'
'Yes!　You're seeing how cool Darling is.

　Erica honestly backed away from me.
　Unlike the guards, she trusts me completely.

　I drew the ragged sword at my waist - the sword of the first head of the family.
　As it is, I slash at the monsters.

　I'm not going to annihilate the monsters with my warriors.

　I took a tactical approach to defeat the fighting guards and the monster, seeing an opening from the side, where they were fighting.

　There were too many witnesses.
　If I took them down normally with this, I'd get another rating.
　So I dare to be like a hyena and take down the monsters.

　After a while, the monsters were wiped out.
　When it was done, the guards were taking a breather and starting to patch up their fallen comrades.

'Yay, darling, awesome!'

　Then Erica hugs me.
　She glances at the guards, halfway, with a disgruntled look on her face.

　She gives me a look that says, "Let's get off to the side.

　Okay, okay, that's it.
　That's the kind of flow I wanted.
　I took him down, but it was a hyena act that took advantage of my allies, so it's no big deal, it's rather cowardly.

　It's a perfect flow.

　The rest of the time, the other side would let me get frustrated on their own, so I left that one alone and turned to Erica.

'Is Erica okay?　Are you hurt in any way?
Not at all. My darling.
Okay.

　Erica's "thanks to my darling" also gathered a good amount of frustration from the guards.
　Alright, that's good--the next moment I thought.

　The situation took a further turn.

　Right after I heard a pop, a white smoke exploded out of the ground.
　What I saw right in front of me was the scene of one of the monsters exploding and smoke billowing out of it.

''Is this........hypnotic gas!

　I breathed in a bit of smoke and understood that it was so (,).
　A little later, the people around me were coughing and guffawing and falling one by one.

　Some of the guards were standing, others were down and receiving medical attention.
　All of them are equally gassed by the gas and fall asleep.

''Da, Rin.''

　Erica was no exception, letting go of her consciousness.

'Oops.'

　I hold Erica's body before she falls to the ground.
　I look at her - yeah, she's just sleeping.
　It doesn't seem to have any side effects or anything, it's really just a normal hypnotic gasp.
　Relieved, I gently lower Erica to the ground.

'Ho, it doesn't work?'

　I heard a man's voice.
　As I turned towards the voice, a man appeared from the smoke that was slowly clearing.

　The man - he was leading a monster.

'Who are you?'
"Laszlez Meir.
I don't know. Never heard of it.
I'm a trueborn son of the Duke of Calamba.
"The Duke of Calamba?

　I glanced at Erica.
　The duke of Calamba means he's Erica's vassal?

　No, no, no, that's not right.

"What's this Calamba nobleman got a monster on his side? And why did you attack Erica?
'Hermes Cano. You're in my way.
What?

　What the hell is that?
　He didn't answer the question either.
　Do all Karamba people have a habit of not answering questions?　I thought for a moment.

　The man glares at me with an even more hateful stare.

'If it weren't for you, Erica-sama would be mine.
...Oh, yeah, like that.

　Somehow it made sense.
　So there you go.

　It's the kind of resentment that comes with side-longing.

I figured, Erika-sama is still young, and she has a fever. I don't think she would listen to me, no matter what I said. So-

　Laszleth was getting more and more worried about me.

"We'll get rid of this guy.
....

　What can I say - yes.
　There's a high level of recrimination.

　That's where the elimination of the other person - you're bringing a monster with you, so you're eliminating him or her from this world, or in other words, eradicating him or her.
　Kicking off a love rival is common, but it's not often that the thought leaps to "extermination" there.

'So you brought a monster with you.
'Yes, because Erica-sama will be more and more stubborn if she finds out I've got my hands on her. An unforeseen accident of being hit by a monster. Then me and Erika-sama will all be happy.

　Well what about me?
　I mean, usually there, Erica would be sad first.

　I thought a lot of things, but I didn't say anything.
　Because I realized that this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

'Well, that's enough chatter. I'm going to kill Erica before she wakes up. You see, I have chosen a monster with a very strong will to kill, and you will die quickly and painlessly.
Are you going to take me down with them?
Take it easy. We saw what happened with those guys back there. Without that kind of strength, without a wall of flesh, it's a dead end.

　I know I'm the one doing the hyena thing, but here we are with a wall of meat.

...was that your doing, too?
Yes.
To lure me out?
Hmm.
I see.

　A quiet anger rose up from the depths of my stomach.

'I'm going to have to punish you for that,'
Ha, ha, ha.

　Laszleth laughed.

'That's the extent of my ability to show Erica-sama that I'm good at what I do. These guys are enough to make change.
....
Come on, do it!

　At Laszleth's command, the monsters attacked all at once.

　A flash.

　A single flash of the sword that had been pulled out and left out.
　Then, the monsters that jumped at me in a group of about ten, were collectively cut down both sides from the middle, up and down.

''Nah........bah, blah, blah.''
I'm sorry to hear that.
What?
I wasn't really into it yet, you know?
....

　Laszleth was immensely disappointed.
　He was speechless with a look on his face that said, "You're not talking to me.