Chapter 17 - The way of hope

The way of hope.

Several dragons looked at the human girl in amazement.

It was a line of white lightning.

Under the mountaintop of the sacred mountain where the foothold is bad. In that narrow space, the incarnation of white thunder is sewing through the gaps between people and running.

The figure is humanoid.

You can judge it's barely human-shaped, but it looks like a line because it's too fast.

The reason why it can be judged as a humanoid is that when the incarnation of white thunder attacks, movement stops only a little.

It was a stop that could not be called a gap, but thanks to that it was recognizable as a person.

「Waa--!」

The screams of the Mousegg soldiers were rising.

It is a hit by Merea, the incarnation of white thunder.

A single palm from high-speed movement.

Once he strikes he disappears again.

It was bad, it was like a ghost.

It's terrible, at the time when the palm strikes, it has enough power to sent people flying and it's difficult to grasp the appearance of the attacker,

It's too fast.

「Ku.. Wa--!」

A muffled scream went up again.

they could not capture the appearance of Merea, just being insecure and suffering super speed palm strikes.

The Demon Lords are staring at this from the mountaintop.

A white light runs, people fly.

It was just that repetition.

◆◆◆

「-- Wasn't he a Demon Lord that used artistic techniques?」

The Demon Lord that was talking with [Sword Empress] Elma before the light gun flew, was stunned as if he was stuck staring at it.

「No, that white thunder is probably due to a technique, but the skill of fighting close quarters is really impressive.」

Her eyes, with being called the close combat [Sword Empress], barely captured the movements of Merea.

There was a thought that it would have been impossible to catch the movements of Merea at close quarters.

It is only possible to see it because it's by looking down from above in the distance.

The Mousegg's artistic soldiers, barely able to do so, pulled the sword that had been sheathed and was now swinging.

Although it is not aimed at anything, if several swords are swinged casually with that narrow footing, it is a threat.

However, he did not scrape Merea in any way.

In an exquisite position Merea slipped through the swords and slipped past the truth, the [Sword Empress] was chasing with her eyes like seeing even unbelievable things.

「-- Wh- haha」

From the mouth of such [Sword Empress], in the next moment, laughter gets out involuntarily.

「If it's me, if it's me that is a Demon Lord, 『that』 is what it is. -- I got frustrated, now I have 『hope』.」

「I don't know how to feel, I have a similar feeling, that I felt in the bottom of my stomach.」

Red haired Lilium appeared there and was calling out to [Sword Empress]

Lilium had a bird of flame on her right shoulder, and seemed to be in a war-ready state.

「-- I climbed the sacred mountain to find 『Another way』 to escape or get away, I didn't think what I would find here would be the 『road of hope』.」

The [Sword Empress] said that while pursuing Merea's Virtuous appearance with a fragile gaze.

「His strenght is hope for us, but I also feel terrible here, because the way he gives us hope is a terrible and dirty road.」

「-- Well, will you give it up?」

「... No, we do not have that option anymore, you see, he's trying to support the front line fight alone, I guess it's time for us to decide.」

「The sword empress is also a swordsman, I was trying to act as a decoy for the others, I was only going in a roundabout way.」

「-- Oh, so there is no choice to give up after all... I'm an 『uncool Demon Lord』 who has been fleeing, but an 『uncool man』who betrays those who are living for me, is something I don't want to become -- I really don't want to be, is what I thought now.」

「-- so」

To the theory of the men the Sword Empress says, to the theory of the man, Lilium returned sharply without saying, she made light of a strong will sway in her eyes.

The eyes of the two face downwards at the same time.

The Mousegg artistic soldiers were trying to get an operational technique's formula to cope with Merea's unusual speed.

It's likely to avoid being individually destroyed by Merea's speed which is out of the ordinary.

It's possible to erase the blind spots like this, and at the moment of Merea's attack the Artists inside the crowd are likely to counterattack.

Mousegg is Mousegg, so they will manage somehow.

They thought so.

And when Mousegg carried countermeasures against Merea, the hearts of [Sword Empress] Elma and [Flame Empress] Lilium made a decision.

After such interaction, the two were moving.

[Sword Empress] strikes her cheeks with her open hands, and goes down the mountain.

The destination was a crowd of Mousegg's artists knitting a technique.

Lilium orders the flame bird stuck in her shoulder and attacks the Mousegg soldiers who were trying to counterattack Merea.

They decided to fight.

Not all feelings were bounded, but now on this occasion, following the man named Merea, "let's do as much as we can" they thought.

And as we follow the resolution of these two people,

「I will-- have to go too.」

「Damn, what do you want? Are we not full of Demon Lords survivors?」

「Don't say that, that Merea that showed me the way of hope is bad.」

「That's unreasonable.」

「It's true」

Respectively, after the two came out, other demons started to rush down the sacred mountain with a self-fleeting and a bit bitter smile.

Starting with the pioneer Merea, following the charge of Elma the [Sword Empress], Lilium and other demons.

There was a flor towards resistance born there.

◆◆◆

「Well, what shall we do?」

「I don't want to go out on the front lines, can't it be solved with money?」

「Do they look like those who will spare you if you offer them money, those soldiers of that Mousegg Kingdom? 」

「--hmm...」

[Alchemy King] Shaw was looking at [Maid] Mariza's eyes.

The battle of the soldiers of Mousegg and other Demon Lords has begun.

「Perharps I would be killed after paying money」

「Please don't ask me if you already know the answer.」

「You can never go wrong.」

Of course, I knew.

Once you take what you need, then you will kill the Demon Lord.

The kingdom of Mousegg is a country that had done such things.

Although I don't like it at all, when considering the situation of this age that began to be swallowed by the swirls of war, it may be correct in some ways.

Anyway, I knew that I couldn't solve it with money, but I did a joke with the intention of lightening the tone of the conversation. --It didn't work at all.

「isn't it better to go behind the strong Demon Lords and take the easy way?」

「You will, I have the iron fist of the Maid.」

Mariza returned [Alchemy king] Shaw's words, which he said with a shabby smile, indifferently.

「The maid that I aim for is a perfect maid, one that is able to protect her master even on the battlefield.」

「Who... is your master?」

「That's Merea.」

「how did it get to that?!!?」

「It's because he put his body on the line before anyone else. I think that protecting a master as 『dangerous』 as that will lead to an improvement on my manners as a maid, and there is no use for a master that can do anything.」

「It's a mysterious principle... But even though I do need to escort you, I don't know if I can do anything, but at least for the moment it seems to not be dangerous.」

One man to whom Shaw points to, wears white thunder and jumps the battlefield at high-speed.

Even if it's an amateur he can see that, that one person in the main fighting force on the battlefield.

Mariza gaze was accurately tracking that man.

「-- Well I think strong is good, unless you are stronger than me, than as a master you're no good.」

「You, that's different from the thing you said a while ago.」

「That's right, stronger than me during a battle, somewhat dangerous, yet is more like a wooden doll to fool around when not in combat, this is the best master.」

「That is a lot of thing for a maid to order for her master!」

「Because I'm also a 『Demon Lord』, so there are a lot of things to consider in carious ways, I really was born under inconvenient blood.」

「Haa...」

Shaw sighed heavily, once he was out of words.

After that, Shaw's line of sight was directed to the battlefield.

Looking at the war situation Shaw's face had changed to a serious one compared to before.

Apparently he seemed to be analysing the situation calmly.

As if opposed to Shaw, Mariza moved her eyes to a different direction com Shaw's

Marisa saw someone murmuring 「Everyone is okay, not injured.」, while tying hands like praying -- it was the [Heavenly Devil] Aizu.

Like the figure of a saint with little change in facial expressions, Mariza had wide eyes.

Mariza momentarily stood the rigidly like time stopped still, then she open her mouth immediately.

「-- In addition, I decided to balance my maid skill training by looking over her as a master too.」

「Eh?」

Mariza was spinning such words while watching Aizu.