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

◆Goddess of Wisdom and Victory, Rena

「Have Shirone and the others left for the Ariadya Republic?」

「Yes, Rena-sama . My subordinates should be meeting up with them right about now . 」

Nier told me the hero’s current situation .

Three days ago, Labrys’ familiar had suddenly showed up in Elios and left immediately after handing over a magic crystal to the angel at the gate . Clueless as to what to do, the angel handed it over to Oudith .

Oudith, who had no way to ascertain if the crystal was dangerous or not, entrusted it to Heibos, the God of Technique for examination . Heibos deemed it to be a harmless crystal with a verbal message and some images stored inside .

As Heibos messed around with the crystal, an image of Reiji and his companions trapped inside the labyrinth popped up as the voice uttered, 「I have captured the Hero of Light . If Goddess Rena refuses to become my wife, I’ll kill the hero . You have one month’s time . Choose wisely!」 .

After getting to know the crystal’s contents, Oudith gave it to me . Now, I’m worried sick as to what to do about this matter . Other than Oudith and Heibos, the angel also went around and reported to the other Gods . By the time the crystal reached my hands, the entirety of Elios knew about the crystal’s contents! If only Oudith had imposed a gag order, it wouldn’t have turned into such a huge problem, but he wasn’t sensible enough to pass such an order . Thanks to that, I was being monitored by the other Gods who were against me going to Labrys’ place . I could sense their subordinate angels surveilling me 24/7 . It was extremely troublesome .

In the first place, why do I need to become Labrys’ wife to save Reiji? Good grief, there’s a limit of how stupid can you be… the more I think about that incompetent Reiji, the more by blood boils with anger . To be honest, I just wanted to say “Let him die then . ” The world would be a better place if he just died anyway .

However, since everyone in Elios is now aware of this matter, it’ll hurt my reputation if they find out that I let him die and didn’t do anything to help . After all, I’m reputed as a ‘Kind Goddess’ amongst the gods of Elios . I’m definitely not the kind of goddess who’d let her summoned hero die without trying to rescue him .

So, naturally, I descended to the mortal world to inform Shirone and the others of the situation while continuing to monitor the situation . I didn’t want to worry them so I didn’t reveal his demands though .

But then, what do I do now? Oudith is the only one from Elios who can beat Labrys . No other god, including me, can beat him . I’m at a complete loss! I cannot find any solution to this .

I heaved a sigh .

「Rena-sama . As I thought, you really are worried about Reiji, aren’t you? 」

She probably thought I was worried because I sighed .

「Do I look like I am, Nier? 」

「Yes, I feel as if you’re rather under weather ever since the Hero got captured . 」

「I see……… . 」

I wanted to tell her “TO HELL WITH REIJI!” . The reason for my current mood was Kuna . Ever since I dreamt of the scene of her getting done in by Kuroki until she couldn’t move anymore, I couldn’t sleep at all! Even now, I become aroused at the thought of it . I wanted to tell him “So sly, why did you only do that with that girl!” I wanted Kuroki to do the same things to me as well .

「You really love Reiji-sama, don’t you, Rena-sama?」

For some reason, everyone in Elios treated Reiji and I as if we were a match made in heaven . It’s extremely troublesome when the other Goddesses ask me to introduce Reiji to them . Just what in the world are they planning to do by asking me to introduce Reiji to them if they think he’s mine?

On top of that, all the other male gods, including, Thors, were hostile towards Reiji . All the male gods inside and outside of Elios who’ve tried to court me and make me their wife hate Reiji because they think that he’s a hindrance to their love for me . Though it’s not like I care as long as nothing happens .

Thus, I felt that letting Reiji die would be the best choice . Because If I saved him, Thors and him might get into a fight .

Thors is the beloved son of Faeria-sama . If something happened to that mama’s boy, it would lead to chaos . That’s why it was better not to let Reiji and others too close to Elios .

After all, Faeria-sama might as well be the scariest goddess in all of Elios . Even God King Oudith was no match for her in terms of the influence and power she held . Even though she had no fighting power whatsoever, many of the Elios’ gods were indebted to her, so there are only a few people who could go against her .

Faeria-sama was also the one who raised me after the death of my mother, Melfina . That’s why even I couldn’t bear to go against her . And not just me, practically all of the second generation gods belonging to Holy Mother Mina’s bloodline and her grandchildren were indebted to her .

Thus, all of them also inherited Faeria-sama’s hatred towards Nargol . And this ended up being the cause of the Volgas incident . Even though she was usually a gentle person, her caring personality went to the drain when it came to Nargol, including the allies in his faction . Casa was probably the only exception, it seems as if even Faeria-sama couldn’t bring herself to hate Casa .

But she hated all the other gods belonging to Nargol’s bloodline, even if they had allied themselves with Oudith, especially Modes . However in Modes’ case, it was more of a fear than hate . Faeria-sama was extremely afraid of Modes, who was even more powerful than Nargol . After all, according to rumours, if Modes felt like it, he could easily destroy Elios .

All of the first generation gods held the same opinion regarding it so I had no other option than to believe them . However, many gods belonging to the same generation as me didn’t believe the same, since they had never seen Modes going all out . This was an extremely dangerous train of thought .

After all, all the first generation Gods along with Faeria-sama became extremely vigilant whenever they allied with Modes . However, I believe that their worries were merely needless anxiety .

If you ask me, it’s simply because Kuroki is MINE . I mean, it’s possible as long as I use my beauty . After all, Kuroki, might be able to defeat Modes .

In the first place, as long as I have Kuroki, Reiji is a JUST-A-USELESS-PIECE-OF-JUNK . Thus, when I heard the rumour about Reiji and I being in love, my first thought was 「Ha~h, are you kidding me?」

「Reiji and I are kindred souls in terms of defeating the Demon King, nothing more or less than that . 」

I shook my head, brushing off her words .

「But, Rena-sama… . . Uhhm……」

Nier looked down at my belly .

「Yes, you’re right about that… . You can’t help but think that I’m lying to you with my stomach looking like this . But, your anxiousness for me, a goddess who fought against the Demon King is needless . 」

I replied as I gently brushed my stomach .

I’d never expected THOSE events would lead to this kind of situation . Everything’s Kuroki’s fault . I’ll have him take responsibilities for all the things he did to me and to think that the valkyries from Nier thought that Reiji was the cause of my current situation . It’ll be bad for my reputation if they get to know that I got intimate with the Modes’s Dark Knight, someone who was regarded as my enemy . That’s why I never told Nier about my relationship with Kuroki .

「My deepest apologies, Rena-sama . To think that you’ve already planned this far . 」

Nier bowed to me . She had dedicated herself to me ever since my childhood, looks like she was really worried about my condition .

「I’m okay, Nier . Regarding this matter, Reiji and others aside, you must never tell anyone about this, okay?」

The Male Gods who were courting me for my hand in marriage would raise a ruckus once this matter was discovered . That’s why I had to keep this matter secret .

「Yes . I understand, Rena-sama . For a human to do these kinds of things to a goddess is… . I will make sure that no one knows about your condition . This matter is a secret between Rena-sama and I . 」

I nodded at Nier’s words . This matter could only be disclosed to my most trusted Valkyrie . That was how no further problems would arise from this matter, maybe .

I caressed my belly again . No one would be able to find out about my condition as long as I wore loose clothing, seeing as it wasn’t that apparent yet . Soon enough, within a month to be precise, I would be able to give birth by using magic . In the first place, a divine race’s gestation period was faster than a human’s . Thus, it wouldn’t be a problem .

「Good grief… . To make me suffer like this . Come into being quickly, my little hero . 」

◆Demon King Modes

My vassals were gathered inside the throne room . This Demon King’s castle was something that was built by Volgas and Heibos back when he was still alive . The castle was a lavish one, made of black marble and magic jewels which wouldn’t lose to Elios’ palace in terms of splendor .

The throne room of this castle was spacious and magnificence . Whenever I see this splendour, I just can’t thank Volgas and Heibos enough .

Now then, the retainer bowing in front of me was Lord Diehart . He wasn’t supposed to be my retainer though . In fact, he only had to bow and call me ‘Your Majesty’ when we were in a formal setting .

If it was him, I wouldn’t mind even if he called me by my name . However, some of my subordinates wouldn’t consider it to be a pleasant matter . If I didn’t act properly, it would create unnecessary conflict . This is why I allow Lord Diehart to do so, since even he didn’t wish for any unnecessary conflicts .

「Nut was captured by Reiji and the others? 」

I nodded at Lord Diehart’s words . Heibos told me that Nut was captured by the Hero’s party . He realized this because Nut’s figure was caught in the recording that was sent to Elios . It seems as if he was captured by one of the girls in his party . Thus, he got stuck with them in Labrys’ labyrinth as well .

When he was caught, Nut didn’t have the communication magic tool with him, probably discarded by him in fear of getting discovered by the Hero’s party . That’s why it was already too late by the time we noticed his situation .