Volume 6 Chapter 20 (2/2)

Stolas and I were close, but even then, there should be some resistance in Rozelitte's mind about entrusting her master over to another Demon Lord. After all, if I wanted to, I would be able to get rid of Stolas without any hassles.

Moreover, there was the question of how the dungeon would function without Stolas for a full month.

For these reasons, Rozelitte's decision as Stolas's representative was required.

”I'd like to say yes, but… what do you ask in return? My answer would depend on that.”

In truth, I haven't thought about it until she asked me.

”Let's see. For now, just remember that you owe me.”

”Is that really all you want?”

”Well, Stolas is my friend, after all. Besides, thanks to her invitation, I was able to get 15 A rank monsters. In a way, that could serve as a reward by itself.”

An A rank monster was a very precious being that was made with 2 A rank medals. It wasn't that often that a chance to obtain many of them at once was going to come.

And yet, I had gained 15 of them in this [War]. Doing a little bit of service in return was nothing.

”We will take you up on your kind offer, then. Thank you. Sorry to say, but all we can offer in return is our thanks… that and Stolas-sama's body. I think you'll find her appearance and her personality to be fine, to say the least. But most of all, she's the devoted type. Do enjoy your time with her. If she's carrying an heir by the time she returns to us, that would be extremely great.”

”Stop kidding around!”

”Fufu. But seriously, we, the [Wind] monsters, will never forget our gratitude to you. If ever you're in a dilemma, trust that we will come to your side at once and risk our lives. I'm sure Stolas-sama feels the same.”

Rozelitte said so and smiled.

She's a really a good subordinate.

”Well, moving on. Procell-sama, is it alright if one of us came along with Stolas-sama?”

”You're coming as well?”

”No, I can't also be away while Stolas-sama is unavailable. The one I would like you to take is Enlil. If he stays in this form, he wouldn't be a hindrance. Plus, he can also fight for you.”

>

The kitten-sized Enlil said so while sticking very closely to Stolas. If one tried to pry him away, he would surely rampage. In his case, he literally would since his [Berserk] would activate once he was far enough away from Stolas. Worst case scenario, he might even destroy her dungeon.

Furthermore, as Rozelitte said, in the case that Avalon was attacked, he could fight to protect Stolas.

”Understood. We will take care of the two.”

”Thank you.”

Like that, Stolas's [War] was truly over.

Just in case of an attack from the [Black] Demon Lord, I told Duke to leave behind the 15 A rank monster we had just gained.

Since the [Black] Demon Lord could not directly provide the [Blade] Demon Lord with monsters, it was unlikely that there were some [Black] monsters mixed in with the [Blade] Demon Lord's forces. If that was so, the [Black] Demon Lord would not have any pretense to attack Stolas.

Nevertheless, we had to be careful as he could still deploy his artificial heroes to attack Stolas's dungeon.

If that were to happen, Stolas's monsters and the 15 resurrected A rank monsters would at least be able to buy enough time for me to provide support.

With those things in mind, it was better to return and begin Stolas's treatment as soon as possible.

”I feel like I'm forgetting something.”

”Master, you've stationed Kuina-chan and the others to guard the crystal room. They must be feeling left out.”

After hearing Aura, I remembered that I left Kuina and some others in Stolas's crystal room as insurance in case there were monsters that could somehow slip past us like one that could expertly erase its presence.

”…Oh, yeah. They've been on standby all this time, right? I hope Kuina doesn't get upset.”

Mere moments before we left, Kuina decided to come along with us despite being put within my [Storage] which she hated.

She bravely did so because she said she wanted to show me the new special technique she had gained through her special training, but before any chance for her to do so appeared, the war had ended.

”My lord, considering Kuina-sama's personality, I would say it's certain that she's upset. Might I suggest that you offer to buy her lots of sweets after we've returned.”

”Yeah, I think so too. And, since she has grown recently, her old clothes don't really fit anymore. She did say she wanted to buy new ones, so if you buy it for her, I'm sure she'll be happy.”

Kuina's sullen face appeared in my mind, and I laughed. Even when she's mad, she's adorable.

”Yeah, I guess I'll buy her a lot of things for her reward this time. Duke, Aura, if you have something you want, we'll go buy them as well.”

While thinking of the angry Kuina, we walked toward the crystal room.

Thanks to the [Blade] Demon Lord's last act of tenacity, I was finally able confirm that the mastermind was the [Black] Demon Lord.

He had tried to harm not only Marcho, but now, Stolas as well.

At this point, any hopes for a peaceful resolution were out the window.

That guy was undoubtedly an enemy. He might try to dangle some kind of sweet bait in front of me on our meeting, but it would not matter.

Resolving myself so, my hands formed tight fists.

I preferred going on the offensive than being on the defense. On our meeting, I would try to expose as much of his weaknesses as I could… for I was sure he would try to do the same to me.