Chapter 183: Farewell. And...

"Good-bye... Baskerville-sama, and I wish you all the best...!"

That day, I leave the capital of the Maafern Kingdom with my friends.

The only one who came to see me off was Ryuna. Shakuna was down on the bed and never got up.

Surprisingly... it seems that the younger sister is stronger at night.

She may seem fragile, but she is as tough as a whore at night. To tell the truth, I was almost beaten a few times.

"See you later. Tell your sister my regards."

All I said to Ryuna was a simple goodbye.

I had already said what I needed to say in bed. There was no need for more.

Then, with a quick wave of my hand, I got into the dragon carriage without looking back.

"We are leaving now."

The dragon carriage pulled by a sand dragon departs.

The palace had prepared the coachman, and this time he was probably not a bandit in disguise.

In addition, the dragon carriage is a splendid one with luxurious decorations, and the temperature is kept comfortable with the air-conditioned magical equipment.

The dragon carriage also had a guard of soldiers riding on sand dragons, and the guests were treated as if they were state guests.

"Unwillingness...not like you."

Although it is possible to teleport to the entrance of the desert in an instant using the 'Feather of Horus,' I chose to return to the dragon carriage.

I stayed in the Maafern Kingdom for less than a month, but a lot of things happened.

I had the rare experience of traveling in the sky without my friends, and I had a new woman. But I also lost a man I called my friend.

There have been good things and bad things.

To be honest, I think I had a much more valuable experience than the battle against the Evil God.

"Farewell! I will never forget your kindness!"

Ryuna's voice echoed throughout the dragon carriage as it started to run.

She might have been pleased if I had shown my face through the window, but I didn't dare to do so in order not to leave any more unforgettable memories.

"Are you sure, Zenon-bocchama?"

Levienna, sitting opposite me in the spacious dragon carriage, asks me.

I shrugged my shoulders and answered her question.

"No need. I can always meet her if I want to."

With the teleport item, I can get to the Maafern Kingdom in an instant.

So, it's not like we're saying goodbye to each other in this life, and I'm not that reluctant to say goodbye.

Also, I'm sure Ryuna won't blame me for being so indifferent. She must know that I'm not the kind of man who would be sad about leaving her.

"Besides, she's my woman now. She can understand that I am such a man. And that's what it means to be a companion to a champion."

"٩(๑`^´๑)۶... A powerful rival has emerged. Two... no, three at the same time, desu~no!"

Urza looks at me with a sullen expression on her face.

But although Urza is sitting right next to me... her eyes are on the petite woman sitting on the opposite side of me.

"......"

Sitting to my left, silent and expressionless, is Miura Agares.

She is a demon monster that I summoned with the 'Zodiac Small Key'.

The demon in the form of a red-haired gothic-loli somehow remained present even after the battle was over, and naturally took up a position beside me.

"This is a pinch, desu~no. A sense of crisis... a loli other than Urza is standing next to Goshujin-sama...! This is a serious situation, desu~no!"

"Don't call yourself a Loli... and why don't you disappear?"

Summoning by magic or items lasts until the end of the battle.

Once the battle is over, the summoned monster disappears. That should have been the rule.

But Miura is still here on earth, even after the battle is over. She was sitting next to me like a child.

"......?"

Miura looks up at me with red eyes and tilts her head.

She was cute... but I had no idea what she was trying to say. Could you please speak clearly?

"Cute... I like you..."

"No, that's not what I want you to say!"

"I like you... angry, but so cute..."

"...Was that all you could say?"

Really, why is she saying all those things?

All she said was "like" and "cute" and not a word to the point.

"Oh... Do you mean you want to follow me because I'm cute and you like me? Even going to the trouble of going against the time limit of the item."

"......"

Miura doesn't answer.

Instead, she takes my left arm and hugs me.

"Noooooo! Why are you sneaking in, desu~no!? You're a thieving cat, desu~no!?"

"......"

"You're selling me a fight! I have no choice but to fight, desu~no!"

"......"

While Urza is making a lot of noise in the carriage, Miura is silent.

Her pretty face was expressionless... but I felt her eyes looking back at Urza were provocative as if she was saying, "How about it?"

"Calm down, don't get wild in the dragon carriage!"

""٩(๑`^´๑)۶.... Goshujin-sama is angry with me, desu~no...!"

I scold him and Urza gets teary-eyed and starts to fuss at me.

"Urza is trying hard too... Even after Goshujin-sama left me... but why Goshujin-sama only cares about new girls, desu~no...? The used Urza is thrown away..."

"Hey... can you stop talking about new and used girls? Seriously."

I scrunched up my face in disbelief.

However...it is true that I have caused a lot of trouble to Urza and the others in this case. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to give them a little compensation.

"Huff... I can't help it."

"Uhh..."

I patted Urza's head.

I stroked her white silky hair and combed it carefully.

"You did well. Wait for your reward when we get back home."

"Really? Is it true? Will you give Urza a reward, desu~no? Will you let me give birth to Goshujin-sama's little ogre?"

"...That's out of the question. Don't get carried away."

"Of course, you'll give me a reward too, won't you, Bocchama?"

Levienna leaned forward from the other side.

She is smiling calmly, but her eyes are shining like a predator's. Please don't do that, I'm afraid.

"If I could, I want to give birth to at least two ogres, desu~no."

"Stop, how can a child like you give birth? I promise I'll take care of you when we get back home and settle down. Seriously, no matter how many we have done it, you can never have enough..."

I sigh and look out the window of the dragon carriage.

Outside, the land of sand spreads out. The familiar view of the desert will soon be over.

In a few days, I will return to the Slayers Kingdom. Life at school and the life of the 'Baskervilles' will begin again.

"Aeris and Nagisa will be waiting for our return... Oh no, I feel like I'm going to die."

I have to take care of Urza and Levienna, and the two who have been staying at home.

These four beautiful women will come at me hard. Far more terrifying than the Evil god of ancient times.

I'm afraid to go back to the house. The day I returned might be my last night.

"I don't want to go back... maybe I should have stayed in this country after all...?"

Feeling homesick, I stared at the scenery outside in a daze.

Then I heard a disturbing sound coming from outside.

'Ngyaa, ngyaa!' '

"Hmm...?""

I was staring outside, trying to escape from reality, when I heard what sounded like a baby crying.

At the same time, there is a knock at the door of the dragon carriage from outside. The knocker is a soldier from the Maafern Kingdom who is accompanying me as an escort.

"Uh... May I ask you a question?"

"What's wrong?"

The soldier, astride a sand dragon, runs alongside the dragon carriage and opens the door of the carriage with a puzzled look on his face.

"Excuse me. A strange bird has been flying over the carriage since a while ago, and it has something like a letter on its leg... Ah!"

'Ngyaa, ngyaa!'

A bird flew into the dragon carriage while the soldier opened the door.

It was a black bird similar to a crow, but it had a lizard's head from the neck up.

A strange creature, as if a crow and a lizard had been forcibly glued together.

"Is this... a messenger of the 'Death-eating bird'?"

It was a messenger crow used by the Death-Eating Bird to communicate.

As a necromancer, she has created an undead monster, a chimera that is a glued-together carcass of two different creatures, just as it looks.

"...The only time she uses it is for emergency communication. Did something happen in Slayers Kingdom?"

A letter was attached to the leg of the crow.

When the letter is removed from its leg the crow crumbles to ashes.

Suddenly, the mysterious creature vanished in ashes, causing the soldiers guarding it to exclaim in surprise.

"What!?"

"Ah, forget it. Get back to work."

"Y-Yes... I understand."

The soldier closes the door of the carriage with a puzzled look on his face.

Once again, only the three women and I are left in the carriage.

"Hmm..."

I open the letter and read it.

I finish reading the badly written words of the 'Death-eating Bird'... and my expression becomes distorted.

"Zenon-bocchama, what's wrong?"

Levienna, perhaps noticing my unusual behavior, calls out to me.

The Loli girls on either side of me also looked up at me curiously.

"......"

I read the letter again to make sure it is correct, and tell my friends the contents.

"The hero—Leon Brave has dead. He was killed by the Demon King's minions."

The hero is dead.

While I was away from the Slayers Kingdom, the only man who can defeat the Demon King seems to have lost the game.