746 – The Carnage in Ardesia (side: Nina)

The Kingdom of Ardesia has been facing a period of upheaval.
The royal family died one after another to accident and disease, leaving only the young Princess Chris as the sole heir.

But, that Princess Chris had been replaced by the Demon Lord.
In fact, the Demon Lord was already involved since the beginning of the string of deaths in the royal family.

The leader of the Holy Country of Liarm, a country friendly to Ardesia, Saint Lilixira, quickly saw the truth of the situation and came to the royal capital Alban.
As a result of her activities, the monsters that controlled the palace were ousted.

Due to the loss of the royalty, it was thought that Ardesia would soon fall into chaos, but thanks to the intervention of Liarm, a council of prominent nobles was established to take control while the selection of a new king was ongoing.

That much was well and good, but when Saint Lilixira vanished while pursuing the remnants of the Demon Lord’s forces, the council lost much of its authority, and Ardesia was once again wrapped in tension.
Seeing a chance to expand their influence without the interference of the Saint, various nobles prepared to set plots in motion.

But then, as the swirling plots were about to reach their peak, a giant black monster appeared.
It had the appearance of a gigantic spider with three heads.
Its was an exact match for the Demon Lord Baal who had once brought the world to ruin, as described in the scriptures of the Holy God religion.

The Demon Lord Baal cut a path straight to the royal capital, scattering giant spider monsters as it went.
All the functions of the kingdom were shut down within a day.
The only saving grace was that the Demon Lord appeared before the conspiracies could come to a head.

The royal palace with its tough walls had become a shelter for the citizens of Alban, but even those hiding inside knew that its walls were no more than a comfort against the power of the Demon Lord.
Outside, the sound of collapsing walls and human screams fill the air as the Demon Lord’s subordinates rampage.

“What in the world is happening…?”
“Wasn’t the king of monsters only supposed to appear once every few hundred years!?”
“Alban is cursed… It’s all over…”

The citizens taking refuge are at their wits end.

Among them is the cat-eared Felis Huma known as Nina.

“It’s over… It’s over… Nina’s going to die here…”

A long pink ear drapes over Nina’s shoulder as though to encourage her as she clutches her head in worry.

“Pefuu…”

The ear belongs to Nina’s friend and peach ball rabbit.

Both Nina and the peach ball rabbit were saved in the desert of Harenae by Irushia, and experienced a strange journey together with him.
After parting with him, they arrived in a town in a remote region of Ardesia, and began to live and work in a small bar called the Cat-Ear Pavilion.

They were told by the proprietress to visit Alban, with the excuse of scouting out recent trends in the restaurants and bars of the capital, and had only recently arrived.
The proprietress hoped that Nina, who knew little of the outside world, could broaden her understanding, but the timing of their arrival couldn’t have been worse.
The day after they arrived, Alban became the centre of the destruction wrought by the Demon Lord Baal.

“We’re out of food… Someone go outside and find some!”
“That’s suicide!”

Angry shouts echo through the hall.
The feelings of entrapment and the fear of the monsters has frayed at the minds of those taking refuge.

“Beastwoman! Let us eat that fat ball rabbit!”

“Pehuu!?”

Pointed at, the peach ball rabbit’s ears shoot up.

“N-no! Tama-chan is registered with the adventurer’s guild as my familiar… Besides, it was Tama-chan who healed all the wounded and kept everyone clean!”

The peach ball rabbit has the [Rest] and [Clean] magic skills.
Moreover, its adorable appearance helped to soothe their fears.
But of course, as a non-humanoid, it inevitably became the first target once concerns about food became more pressing.

“Just because it’s a little useful doesn’t mean we should keep it fed! Eating it now gives us one less mouth to feed!”

“P-please! Don’t eat Tama-chan…! Tama-chan is an important friend…!  I-if you let Tama-chan go, you can eat Nina instead!”

Nina desperately holds the ball rabbit.

“We can’t eat a person, even if you are a beastwoman! Hey, someone, lend me a knife! I’m going to butcher that fat rabbit!”

A moment after the man raises his voice, the wall next to him collapses in a thunderous crash.
A spider twice the size of a human appears standing in the hole, a twisted face on its back.

In an instant, the head of the man threatening Nina is bitten off by the monster.
After a moment of silence, the hall erupts in screams.
All those inside begin to run away at full speed.

Nina clutches the ball rabbit even tighter.
Despite knowing that she must run, her legs are frozen in fear.

“OOOOOOOOOO…”

The face on the spider’s back screams as it looks down at the pair.

“Aah… I wish I could have seen dragon-san one last time…”

Nina mutters as she looks up at the spider monster.

“[Shockwave]!”

A slash comes flying from outside the walls, cutting through the spider.
The spider splits in two, black blood spurting from the halves.

A tall silver-haired man appears beyond the wall, a golden sword held in his hand.

“I-I’m saved…?  Thank you.
Umm, who are you…?”

Still holding the ball rabbit, Nina stares in wonder at the silver-haired man.
She had seen humans drive back the smaller spider monsters, but never one of such a large size.

“I’m the Dragon Hunter Volk.
I’ve come to deal with the spiders attacking the capital.”

The silver-haired man says as he swings his sword to clear the blood from it.

“Have you come from outside the city? I can see that you’re strong, but… Those spider monsters… They’re not something that humans can fight.
Please look outside.”

Nina walks to the destroyed wall and gazes out over the city.

“OOOOOOOOOO…”
“OOOOOOOOOO…”

A spider far larger than the one Volk destroyed is laying waste to the capital.

Further in the distance, a spider with the heads of a toad, a cat, and a crowned man can be seen.
It is the Demon Lord Baal.
Currently it is just watching over its subordinates, but if it were to take action, all those in the capital would soon all be dead.

Nina could tell that Volk was an incredibly skilled human who probably stood at the peak of what could be achieved.
But even so, she could only think that his coming to Alban was an act of self-destruction.

“Don’t worry, I’m just an accompaniment.”

The moment after Volk speaks, the largest of the spiders rampaging in the city explodes in a spray of black blood.
At the same time, giant claw marks appear, gouging through the ground where it stood.

“No way… What…?”

As Nina stares in amazement, the Demon Lord Baal’s cat-like head twitches and looks up at the sky.

Suddenly, huge claw marks cut through Baal’s body.
The Demon Lord flies backwards as though slammed by something, losing its balance.

A giant black dragon appears at high speed, smashing its tail into the Demon Lord’s side.
The ground quakes at the impact.

The dragon’s scales are rugged and dark red, and its horns are curled like a devil.
A pale mane runs from the back of its head.
Its wide wings have a strange eye-like pattern to them, and its thick tail ends in an eyeball-like crystal.

“Wh-what is that dragon…”

It is attacking the Demon Lord Baal.
Nina could see that much.
But even so, that was no proof that it was on the side of humans.

But, for some reason, Nina felt a strong sense of relief despite its terrifying appearance.
The devil-like dragon seemed somehow familiar to her.
She herself couldn’t make sense of her own feelings.

“Pehu..?”

The peach ball rabbit too stares at the dragon in wonder.