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Act 1-19.2 : Raid
「Nao-san, the Spartois’ summoner should be around the vicinity. Try to look for a magician-like presence amongst the intruders.」
Chiyuki immediately asked Nao to search for the main culprit. If Spartois were present, then it meant that a summoner was close by. They could aim for the summoner as their main target and the Spartois would vanish once he was defeated.
「Roger that!」
Nao sharpened her five senses even more, expanding her search capacity.
「I’ve found someone with a different aura from the others…」
Nao had found another intruder she had previously missed, he was different from the Spartois in both power and attire.
「That one is most probably the summoner. We can put an end to this commotion as long as we beat that person.」
Reiji let out an evil smile.
「This figure is the Da—- No way, is that the Dark Knight from before?」
Everyone was equally surprised upon hearing Nao’s voice.
「From before? Could it be that you’re referring to the one who injured Reiji. That Da–」
「Most probably… Rino-chan.」
Before finishing her exclamation, Nao had cut off Rino with a distressed reply.
「Could it be that he’s… aiming for Rei-kun?」
Color drained from Sahoko’s face.
「No, he might be aiming for someone else.」
Reiji reached out for his weapon as he solemnly stated.
「Wait a minute, where are you going?!」
「Rena’s life might be in danger!」
Reiji tried to rush out of the room as he left those words behind. The timing of the Dark Knight’s raid was too coincidental with Rena’s descent, so his target was most probably Rena rather than Reiji. Rena was currently in the middle of her preparations for tomorrow morning’s ritual to send back Chiyuki and Shirone to their original world. She was probably unaware of the danger approaching her.
「No, you can’t win against him!」
Sahoko desperately clung to Reiji, trying to stop him.
「Yes, that’s too reckless! You might die if you go now!」
Even Chiyuki felt that Reiji shouldn’t go as far as risking his own life for Rena. But, Reiji shook his head in response.
「I cannot ignore Rena when she might be in danger. I have to go save her. I would do the same if it was anyone of you in her place.」
Reiji will always be the same Reiji, a knight in shining armor for any damsel in distress. It was a charm that had made them all attracted to him, which is why they had decided to stay beside him. However, it was exactly this charming personality of his that was making Chiyuki and the others extremely worried right now.
「No, you absolutely must not go there!」
Sahoko put even more strength into her arms, fiercely clinging to Reiji. Yet, he still ignored her pleas. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, but he was troubled by the current situation as he couldn’t seem to tear Sahoko away from him.
「Sorry, but can you let go of me, Sahoko? After all, we won’t be able to go back to our world without Rena’s help.」
「Wouldn’t be able to return… you say? That’s definitely troubling but, what will you do if you die?! Can you return then?!」
Chiyuki screamed at the man before her. She couldn’t understand his logic. He was clearly struggling with Sahoko who, in terms of strength, was the weakest in their group. He couldn’t even shake her off, let alone fight against the Dark Knight.
His body had just recovered from the deadly wound inflicted by the Dark Knight in their previous battle, he was in no condition to fight.
That’s why Chiyuki felt that they had to stop Reiji at all cost.
「I’ll go!」
Suddenly, Shirone offered herself to go.
「I’ll protect Rena! That’s why please, wait for me in this place with everyone, D*ick Head-kun!」
「SHIRONE-SAN!」
By the time Shirone said those words, she had already left the room.
◆
Shirone felt that she couldn’t allow Reiji to fight. When she saw how desperately Sahoko tried to stop him, she felt that she had to do something to stop him as well. That’s why she had quickly departed to fight the Dark Knight before he could do anything about it.
Shirone had joined Chiyuki’s group at the start of her first year of high school. At the beginning, it was not her intention to be close friends with them; rather, the only reason she joined was to fulfil her aunt’s request.
Her aunt’s family had been the Midou family’s escorts for generations. It had nothing to do with Shirone’s family to begin with as it was her aunt’s family’s duty to uphold. Yet, her aunt had requested her little sister, Shirone’s mother, to send Shirone as the Midou Family’s son’s escort.
Her aunt had not been blessed with children, therefore the family had no heir to carry on their mantle. It was why she asked Shirone—who happened to be the same age as the Midou family’s son—to be his escort.
The Midou family was a famous conglomerate, her aunt worried that devious girls would approach him to latch onto both him and his family’s glory. Thus, Shirone’s job was to prevent those kinds of women from approaching him
According to her aunt, the son of the Midou family was a special child, that’s why he had to be protected at all costs, and her job was to approach him, form a close relationship with him, and then secretly escort him. Though she had no idea what her aunt meant by “form a close relationship” and how far she wanted her to go, she still felt that it was the best method.
After hearing her aunt’s request, Shirone felt troubled for a while, that was until she heard more about the Midou family’s son—apparently, he was very handsome, dangerously handsome at that.
Naturally, Shirone’s interest was piqued. She was at the age where she couldn’t help but have an interest in good-looking men. She had henceforth decided to accept her aunt’s mission and get closer to Reiji.
She had immediately revelled in such a situation.
Reiji was kind to girls and never forced himself upon them. He had a natural charm that attracted many girls and, peculiarly enough, made them all get along with each other well. You could see no blatant rivalry or hate among the many suitors that surrounded him. However, it was for that very reason that Shirone had started to doubt her mission as her escort.
Many of the girls who surrounded him were ones he had previously saved, Shirone being one of them. He was far more powerful than her to the point where she felt that her assignment was useless. It felt like she was the one being protected instead.
Reiji was the type of guy who could get fired up and rush into battle when he encountered a damsel in distress. He was, however, by no means considered reckless as he had the ability to uphold the justice he pursued. Watching him for such a long time, Shirone felt that he was just like a hero.
–No, he was a real hero.
On a certain day, an incident had occurred.
Shirone was having a day like any other until she was asked by her junior to save the latter’s friends from thugs. It was not the first time for her to encounter such a request from her juniors as many knew how powerful she was due to her training at her home dojo. Shirone was confident with her combat skills as well, that’s why she always acquiesced, and this time was no different. She had rushed to save her junior’s friends, wooden sword in hand.
When she arrived, her eyes had encountered the scene of five men surrounding three girls. The five men were most likely high school thugs.
Until that very moment, Shirone had never lost to a man her age even once. She always came out victorious as long as she had a wooden sword in her hand.
But, her luck had run out that day.
Upon seeing Shirone arrogantly pointing a wooden sword at them, the men were enraged and quickly attacked her with iron pipes. Upon receiving their swings with her wooden sword, Shirone immediately blanched—the impact from their attacks was far too terrifying. She had instantly lost her wooden sword from her enemies’ momentum. As she watched her sword drop far away from her, she became visibly flustered. Those men sneered at her current shivering figure, who could do nothing without her weapon.
It was at this time that Reiji had appeared to save the day.
Upon witnessing Shirone fail to subdue the thugs, her junior had rushed to Reiji and quickly implored him to go and save Shirone and her friends.
Reiji’s action at that time had made a positive impression on Shirone and had elevated his status in her heart—he was now a very important existence in her life.
Even though his opponents were five thugs armed with an iron pipe each, all with burly physiques, Reiji easily defeated them with his bare hands and gloriously came out victorious. His figure as he stood before her bore an exact resemblance to the heroes one hears of in fairy tales.
The hero had flashed Shirone, who still quivered with fear, a refreshing smile. But, even though his smile was dazzling, Shirone did not fail to notice the injury on his right hand.
Even a hero couldn’t escape from injury.
From that moment, Shirone took her escort job more seriously and with devotion. That’s why she always hung out with Reiji and the others almost all the time.
However, one thing that Shirone couldn’t stand were the voices of criticism in their surroundings, all aimed at Reiji.
Though she was fine if people criticised her, she couldn’t forgive anyone who badmouthed Reiji.
This was also the main reason behind her big quarrel with Kuroki. Though Kuroki had always done it in a roundabout way, he had clearly complained about Reiji many times, which enraged Shirone.
No, it was probably the way she defended Reiji that had triggered Kuroki’s fury.
（Even though I only wanted Kuroki to understand that Reiji is a hero.）
Shirone recalled her childhood friend, Kuroki.
Her childhood friend, Kuroki, was an introverted child, he couldn’t bring himself to talk properly to other girls aside from her.
He was a boy who was always by himself, a loner.
It was precisely this shy and introverted Kuroki who had a huge quarrel with Shirone because of Reiji. It was probably because he was jealous of Reiji, or so Shirone thought.
（Could it be that he lost his confidence? But, of course, it can’t be helped if he felt that way. Reiji-kun is special after all.）
It was just as her aunt had said, Reiji was special.
He was tall, lean, and handsome; he had both brains and beauty. There’s no way Kuroki could compare to Reiji. But still, Shirone felt that Kuroki’s face was quite handsome, so he should’ve been more confident in himself.
Reiji was a hero, a fact that didn’t change even in this world. He was hailed as the hero of light by so many people. The hero who will defeat the Demon King and bring back humanity’s golden era.
Shirone was really proud to have such a comrade.
Or rather, it was what she used to feel… until the appearance of the Dark Knight.
The sudden appearance of the Dark Knight who confronted them in front of the Demon King’s castle had changed everything. It was at that time that she was strongly reminded of her original duty as she witnessed the Dark Knight almost kill Reiji.
It was also then that she realized about the shallowness of her insight.
Shirone remembered Shako’s face back then.
（Sahoko-san was desperate. She desperately used her healing magic to save Reiji-kun’s life.）
For Sahoko, Reiji was the same kind of special existence as hers.
（Since Reiji can’t fight. It’s my turn to be the vanguard.）
This was the reason why Shirone thought that it was time for her to accomplish her original duty, why she leapt out of the room before anyone could stop her.
（But still, my burden is too heavy…）
It was why she had decided to resign from her post as Reiji’s escort and go back to earth.
（I’ll report this matter to my aunt when I return.）
There was a rule in her line of work: if anything major happened during her duty, she had to immediately report it to her aunt.
（Moreover, I miss Kuroki too.）
Shirone rarely hung out with Kuroki ever since she took her escort duty. Moreover, she always regretted the huge quarrel she had with Kuroki right before they were all summoned to this world.
Shirone wanted to patch things up with Kuroki since she really missed him.
All her musings were cut short as two Spartois came out of nowhere and blocked her path.
「Out of my way!」
Shirone drew her sword and charged towards the Spartois.