Black Iron Magician

「Pfft! My~, you made me laugh, and you showed me something good~. After all, it’s rare to see Deris on the verge of death~」

「You are laughing at me again…. How many times are you going to do it until you are satisfied?」

The one who has been laughing for who knows how many times in front of me is Alezel, the famous black belly elf. She was supposed to arrive together with the ship tomorrow around this time, but for some reason, she was already in that town. To explain how things got this way, I have to talk about my foolishness.

『I’m sorry, Goshujin-sama. You see, I’m a clumsy maid, right? Tehepero.』

After the good-for-nothing maid Lilyvia blurted out the secret that was supposed to be carried to the grave, I tasted the blizzard and hellfire. Yeah, it was a terrible tragedy.

What was coming at me from behind was Nell’s sword, and I sacrificed my clothes to get out of it, half-nakedly escaping the inn where the demon lived. I went out in the middle of that blizzard, naked. It’s not an exaggeration to say that being naked in the middle of that blizzard was life-threatening and was more than enough for punishment. However, the wrath of the demon that grew the horns of fire didn’t settle down.

『Deris, will you explain it?』

『I just did! Well, let’s calm down first and put away that flaming sword! O-Okay!?』

『Don’t waste your breath!』

How unreasonable. She was the one who told me to explain. After that, I ran through the town to the mountain road, and when I came back to the town, I happened to pass by Alezel.

『Hm? If it ain’t Nell with her gorgeous hair. What a coincidence. Whatcha doing?』

『I’m burying a cheater.』

『… Ugh.』

『Whoa!? Deris!?』

…… To be precise, I was caught by Nell in the mountain, tied up with a rope of fire, dragged to the town, and being buried in the most conspicuous plaza in the town. At that time, even the black belly elf looked like an angel.

「Anyway, Alezel, why were you in that town before the scheduled date? You have the impression of being fussy about time, you know?」

「That’s why. I knew from Zex’s weather forecast that a storm was gonna come around that day. We have a branch office in this country, so I came earlier to do some inspection as well. You could get away with that much because I was happened to pass by. Deris, you should be grateful, kay?」

My debt has increased, but I was saved thanks to Alezel’s mediation. By the way, thanks to me showing such a shameful sight, which Alezel found amusing, I succeeded in getting the airship to change its departure schedule. You can’t predict what will happen in the world.

「By the way, Nell, how long do I have to stay like this?」

「For now, until we reach our destination.」

I forgot to mention that I am currently being tortured by Nell. There’s this ‘stone-holding torture’ thing in the Edo period, right? The one where you sat on a jagged board and stones were piled up on your knees as the weight. It’s a modified version of it, with Nell sitting on my lap instead of the weight. It’s truly a demonic treatment. If I accidentally uttered the word ‘heavy’, there’s no telling what she would do to me. What a horrible treatment….

「You are just flirting, right…?」

Alezel gave a sharp retort. Yeah, to be honest, it feels good. My shins hurt a little, but more than that, it feels good.

「Even after the thing that happened yesterday, I’m surprised you can flirt like that. I respect you for that.」

「Is that so? Well, I think it’s been like this since a long time ago.」

「That’s right, it’s like an extension of our marital quarrel.」

Nell is not the type of person who is jealous forever. If she vents it on the spot, she will calm down for the time being. Still, the thing yesterday was harsh.

「Hmm. Now that you mention it, I guess so. In the past, Nell left the meat to be enjoyed last and Deris ate it, thinking that Nell didn’t want it. Nell was crying while burning Deris, right?」

「Aah, there was something like that. Nell was still wild at that time and she really tried to eat me. I was really panicked.」

「That was a long time ago! Also, even I wouldn’t eat you! I was just pretending, you know!」

「I got it. It’s that, right? You wanted to leave something like a kiss mark to claim that he’s yours, right? What a precocious child.」

「No! It was a punishment! I was punishing him in my own way!」

Was she hiding her embarrassment? She denied it so much, but I remember that she left the tooth mark considerably….

「Well, Lily-han was the origin of the affair, but are you not gonna punish her? She’s been leisurely like that, y’know?

Alezel pointed at Lilyvia, who’s elegantly enjoying a cup of tea at the window of the airship. That said, she’s been in the Great Eight Demon mode since Alezel came. She has to act as the Great Eight Demons.

…… Well, Alezel has known Lily for a long time and she knows what she is like, so I think there’s no need to act. It’s probably a matter of how she feels about it.

「Of course, I will punish her later. It’s later, not now. If I punish her when she’s not showing her true nature, I won’t feel refreshed. That thing is, in a sense, a different person now.」

「That’s definitely on the level of a different person.」

「Pfft! That’s right. Oh, the time sure passes quickly if we have a fun chat. We’ve arrived at our destination already.」

The destination of the airship was the snowy mountain where Haru and the others were headed. We decided to pick them up since the airship was already here. Fortunately, I can roughly see their location through the Book of Hawkeye. When I checked a while ago, they were playing with local animals. They are probably done playing with the local animals. When they see this airship, I’m sure they would be surprised.

「The weather is nice today, and we can find them right away since the visibility is good. Look, we can see them~. …… Hm?」

「What’s wrong?」

「What’s wrong, you ask? Look, there’s a black mountain mixed in the white mountains.」

「Ha?」

‘Hey, just keep the black only inside your heart,’ while joking in my mind, I also stare at our destination in the distance.

「… It’s black, huh.」

「It’s a black mountain.」

Among the snow-covered mountains, there’s one black mountain, so black that as if it had been covered in charcoal. Moreover, the color is poisonous-looking.

「Hey, the ones at the foot of that black mountain are Chinatsu and Haruna, right? There’s Zeta too.」

「What? Zeta? Are you talking about Zex-han’s subordinate? Why is she in such a place!? Hey, hurry up and prepare the 『This is but a humble gift』! The young executive of Made in Zex is coming!」

‘This is but a humble gift’, you’re completely engaged in business, huh…. Still, a young executive at Zex’s place, huh? Is she similar to that of Hund-kun’s Four Heavenly Kings of the Sea Demons? They are not young, though.

「Deris, Nell, are you ready to get off? Your disciples won’t mistake the airship as an enemy and attack it, right?」

「Even they won’t do that. …… By the way, what’s that paper bag you’re holding, Alezel?」

「This is but a humble gift!」

What a perfect example of a business person.