• 283: Shadow, fire, and water

And then, after repeating exchanges between Mirack-chan, Celestis-chan, and I that would make one’s brain go limp, it felt as if there was no end in sight.

“I want to say ‘I love you’ to Sasae-chi and Hyue-chi…” (Celestis)

“How about writing a letter?” (Mirack)

*Knock *knock

The door of the dressing room was knocked, and one girl enters the room.

“Karen-sama.”

“Ah, Doraha-san.” (Karen)

Dark skin and black hair; a girl that looked as if she had crawled out from the shadow of the ground itself.

“Ah, this girl…” (Celestis)

“The girl that we normally see at the Light Church…” (Mirack)

Celestis-chan and Mirack-chan are people that come pretty often to the Light Church even when they don’t have much of a business there, so they remember Doraha-san.

“Karen-san, I have come to give you a report. At the goods corner, after the Phalaris goods were sold out, the Celestis goods were sold out as well.” (Doraha)

“Seriously?! Yay!!” (Celestis)

The very first one to raise a hurray after hearing those news was Celestis-chan herself.

At the moment the sales began, they were making a killing.

It was lacking behind the Phalaris goods by a lot, but I am glad to see that her idol hero bill of sale was able to stay afoot.

“In reality, when the sales were over, the remaining goods were all bought by Captain Vesage…though.” (Doraha)

“Ah, so that person came as well.” (Karen)

His pay got better after being promoted, but is his money going to last if he does such reckless buys like that?

Let’s believe in the possibility that the remaining goods of Celestis were few.

“Rather than saying he came here, it is more like, he was part of the production staff.” (Doraha)

Eh?

“Eh, didn’t you know, Karen-chi? Today’s live was made possible by the cooperation of the Aurora Knights, the Fire Militants, and the Stream Marines. Acquiring the venue, the production, the management of the sales and customers…” (Celestis)

This is the first time I heard of this.

Even in those areas there’s the cooperation of the Churches?

“My idol activities should have already been separated from the church, but this time only, it was a sudden live, so it is a special case. The light and fire people were using this chance to gather information on the know-hows of the water’s production team.” (Celestis)

““Hm?””

This not only confused me but Mirack-chan as well.

“Hey hey, by the way, Karen-chi.” (Celestis)

Celestis-chan calls me with a voice as if sounding me out.

“I have been thinking about this since a long time ago but, who’s that girl?” (Celestis)

“Who do you mean by that girl?” (Karen)

“As I said, that girl. That darkish girl that looks like she has been surfing in the summer!” (Celestis)

When she pointed that out, I immediately realized she was talking about Doraha.

Now that I think about it, have I even done a proper introduction of Doraha-san to everyone?

…I feel like I haven’t.

Doraha-san being in the Light Church is due to special circumstances, so it is pretty hard to talk about that to other people though…

“T-Then, this is a good chance, so I will be introducing her, okay? This person here is Doraha-san!” (Karen)

I place my hands on the small Doraha-san and introduce her.

“Yeah.” “Okay.”

“…”

“…………”

““That’s all?!””

Mirack-chan and Celestis-chan raised their voice together.

It can’t be helped, you know! There’s no more information I can talk about Doraha-san!

Doraha-san was originally born in the Dark Underworld Country that prospered more than a thousand years ago.

When the Underworld country fell, she turned that anger into wrath and had her power run berserk, and ended up turning into a fiend that could swallow the whole world, so she was sealed and has lived like that until this modern era.

We ended up meeting Doraha-san by searching for the mystery of the Dark God Entropy, and fought a fierce battle. With Haine-san’s power that erases everything, her berserk state was resetted, and she managed to return to the surface world after more than a thousand years.

After that, with nowhere to return to, Yorishiro-sama took over the care of Doraha-san. Now, she is the personal guard of Yorishiro-sama and a part of the Light Church.

And all of that…

“I have no confidence in properly explaining this.” (Karen)

And that’s how it is.

It was so out of norms that even if I were to say it as it is, they wouldn’t be able to understand what I am even saying.

It is not as if Haine-san and Yorishiro-sama have told me not to say anything, but it must be because they knew that even if I were to speak about it, no one would believe me.

That’s why I will persevere in the silence.

“Closing the shell? There should be no more secrets between us, right? It is fine, so spit out all you know.” (Celestis)

“Isn’t it faster to directly ask this girl rather than asking Karen? Oi, Doraha, try to introduce yourself. Where were you born in and how you ended up joining the Light Church?” (Mirack)

The two have changed their target to Doraha-san herself?! How is this going to turn out? To tell the truth, I haven’t been able to properly gauge the personality of Doraha-san…

I don’t know how she will act when interacting with people of other nations.

Just what in the world will happen?!

“Don’t talk to me so casually, you filth.” (Doraha)

…The air stiffened.

“Worshippers of lower Gods like Nova and Coacervate are trying to be friendly towards Karen-sama and I? Know your place.” (Doraha)

Uwa, so it has come to this.

Now that I think about it, the Underworld Country Doraha-san lived in was destroyed by tribes that are currently the Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire Churches.

Even though she is so polite to Yorishiro-san, Haine-san, and I.

So Doraha-san was an extreme case of xenophobia.

• 284: Details of shadow

“I am truly sorry.” (Karen)

I apologize for the impoliteness of Doraha-san as her guardian.

At the same time, I now had to explain why Doraha-san hated the other churches so much, so in the end, I had to reveal her incredibly uncommon circumstances.

“Eh…so this girl is from an ancient civilization?” (Celestis)

“That explains the transient feeling this girl gives out.” (Mirack)

Celestis-chan and Mirack-chan show no unpleasantness in having being insulted.

I am stroking the head and chin of Doraha-chan who was still going ‘grrr’.

“Eh?! You believe that story just now?!” (Karen)

It is weird for me to be saying this but, it makes me worry about the health of their brain!

“Well, this would be a scenario where, normally, I would check for the alcohol levels of Karen-chi, but…” (Celestis)

“We have witnessed the outrageous power of this girl personally after all. In order to acknowledge something like that, there should be an outrageous explanation to balance it.” (Mirack)

Ah.

That was a pretty good while ago. When we met Sasae-chan for the first time.

We ended up battling Sasae-chan due to various crosses, but the one who held down Sasae-chan was not us but Doraha-san.

Using the shadow power that she obtained in the Underworld country and is now lost in the modern era.

“Golem-ready Sasae was a strong opponent even when going three against her. And yet, she overwhelmed that kind of opponent all by herself, so I thought she was not your regular chum from way back then.” (Mirack)

“She uses a strange power like that of Haine-chi after all. Why is it that the weird people stick to the Light Church?” (Celestis)

H-Haine-san is not a strange person, you know!

In the first place, he is always doing the tsukkomi role. Being the guy that retorts is proof that he has common sense, right?!

“The Underworld Country huh. Hydra Ville has advanced decently in history research, but I have never heard of that ancient civilization.” (Celestis)

“In terms of history research, the Light Church is the number one after all. That part should be trusted…… And so, the Underworld Country was destroyed by the five Churches in the past, so she hates us as their descendants?” (Mirack)

In reality, the Light Church wasn’t involved in that, so it is actually the other four Churches though.

Doraha-san went berserk at the indignation of this, became shadow itself, and was trying to swallow the whole world.

Due to the long time she was sealed, she lost her memories, but the emotions that are in the depths of her heart are driving her to hate her past enemies without a clear memory of it.

“Looks like the path of Doraha-san adapting to society is still long, Yorishiro-sama.” (Karen)

Honestly, I thought that her coming to another nation was a big step forward.

Since returning from the Underworld Country, she has always been at the side of Yorishiro-sama, or if not, at the side of Haine-san. That’s how unstable Doraha-san was in the past.

After one to two months of living in Apollon City, she got used to this era little by little, and I thought that maybe she was already okay without following Yorishiro-sama and Haine-san.

Even the other day, it was out of necessity, but she guarded the unconscious Haine-san on her own.

Maybe it is finally the time to challenge travelling on her own, is what Yorishiro-sama decided.

She entrusted Doraha-san to me the day before she left together with Haine-san.

{I say that, but there’s still anxiety remaining in leaving her alone, so I want to leave her in your custody, Karen-san} (Yorishiro)

Yorishiro-san told me this with a tone like that of a mother.

{We can’t bring Doraha to the place we will be heading to, and right now she is an important fighting force of the church. In the time Haine-san and I are away, if Doraha were to be gone as well, I would be worried about the security of Apollon City.} (Yorishiro)

And she added.

{Doraha is pretty attached to Karen-san as well, so if Karen-san stays by her side, I would also be able to have peace of mind-desu wa. In the time Haine-san and I are absent, please protect Apollon City together with Doraha.} (Yorishiro)

Then left! Together with Haine-san!!

And they are still missing!!

I don’t know where they went, but that’s unfair Yorishiro-sama! What happened to the agreement of loving Haine-san together?!

…There are a mountain of things I want to complain about, but right now I have to swallow it and worry about Doraha-san.

Doraha-san is currently being stroked by Mirack-chan and Celestis-chan on her head and chin, but even with that, she was still intimidating them with a ‘grrrrr’.

“Hnng…” (Doraha)  

Eh?

“Grrrrrrr!!” (Doraha)

As I thought, Doraha-san was growling. But is it my imagination that I heard her sound in pleasure?

“But I am surprised that Karen-chi has brought such an important fighting force all the way here together to Muspelheim.” (Celestis)

“True. If I remember correctly, that Haine and the Founder Yorishiro are absent from the Light capital, right? On top of that, if you were to come here to reinforce us with this girl, wouldn’t Apollon City be completely empty?” (Mirack)

“In our side, we had Sarasa stay, so we left the protection of the city to her and I myself went to assist in the reinforcements…… Ah, the Light nation also has their previous hero, right. Sunny…something, right?” (Celestis)

No…

Sunnysol Ates is also a complicated matter though.

It is true that it was hard to decide how much of our forces to send to the Fire Church’s request for reinforcements.

Even if Doraha’s mind and body have stabilized, there’s still insecurity in leaving her alone. But if we take into consideration the protection of the Light capital, it would also give more peace of mind if one were to go reinforce Muspelheim while the other stays.

When I was at a lost with that, the Aurora Knights’ new General, Grades-san, scolded me.

{Those Demon Lords are opponents outside our common sense. Even if we were to do our all, we wouldn’t even have a one in a billionth chance, but we would be letting that small chance escape if we don’t do our all.} (Grades)

{If they have appeared in the Fire capital, we should use all our strength to crush them. It is fine for the Light capital to have the minimum preparations. I will take the command of the defense. You people should use your all and do your own job.} (Grades)

And so, Doraha-san and I were able to head to Muspelheim.

It was practically over by the time we arrived though…

“Hoh… The new Aurora General was a guy that could make such a momentous decision like that huh.” (Mirack)

Hearing my explanation, Mirack-chan gives out a male-like impression.

“The previous General was so bad even we heard about him after all. Does that mean the Aurora Knights have finally caught up to the light hero-sama and have become a proper army?” (Celestis)

Celestis-chan was half-teasing as she congratulated the reformation of the Aurora Knights.

It is true that there were a variety of tribulations, but after overcoming them one by one, we are slowly growing more organized.

We are properly preparing for the upcoming battle.

But if I had to point one problem, it would be Doraha-san.

Being stroked by Mirack-chan and Celestis-chan…

“Hnng…” (Doraha)

Isn’t she really moaning in pleasure there?

• 285: The future

“Grrrrr!” (Doraha)

She is intimidating them?

Doraha-san hates all churches aside from the Light Church, so even if Mirack-chan and Celestis-chan both stroke her, her hostility is not lowering.

Her head is being stroked and her chin is being tickled…

“Hnng Hnnnng…” (Doraha)

Or maybe her hostility is decreasing?

“Eii! Stop it!!” (Doraha)

WIth a thunderous *Dooon!* sound, Mirack-chan and Celestis-chan were blown away.

Doraha-san’s special ability, controlling the shadows.

With that power, Doraha-san expanded her own shadow and blew them both away.

“Uoo…” (Mirack)

“Ouch ouch. I hit my butt. There’s no need to suddenly blow us away. Geez.” (Celestis)

The impact of the shadow must have been weak. Mirack-chan and Celestis-chan don’t seem to be in that much pain.

“Fool! It is you heretics’ fault for being so sticky! If you do that again, I will use all my shadow techniques to kick you to death!!” (Doraha)

Yeah, this is no good.

The world is moving to an era of harmony, and the Light Church is adopting this, and yet…

“Doraha-san.” (Karen)

“Karen-sama! These people were rude! Even though they are worshippers of lesser Gods, they touched my body without permission!” (Doraha)

“Punishment.” (Karen)

I hit her head as lightly as possible.

“You can’t say things like ‘lesser Gods’. There’s no higher or lower in the Gods that people believe in. All of them are important Gods that look after us humans.” (Karen)

“Karen-sama… But…” (Doraha)

Her homeland was destroyed.

That anger, that hatred still continued to stay in the heart of Doraha-san even after a thousand years. The size of her indignation is not something I can even imagine in this short 16 years life of mine.

But…Doraha-san has lost her past memories, and has even forgotten the reason why she hates those Gods. To drag that hatred in that condition, there’s no way it is good.

“Yorishiro-sama is endorsing the reconciliation of the other four churches. And yet, if Doraha-san hates everyone so much, it would get in the way of Yorishiro-sama.” (Karen)

“Yorishiro-sama…” (Doraha)

I do think that it is underhanded to put it in this way to this girl that loves Yorishiro-sama, but in order to make her reflect on it, there’s no other way.

…Telling someone to do something is hard. I feel like I will have it hard when I am a mother in the future.

“…That’s not good. I have to be of use to Yorishiro-sama.” (Doraha)

“In that case, you have to get along, not only with Yorishiro-sama and Haine-san, but also the people of the other churches. And so, first of all, let’s apologize to Mirack-chan and Celestis-chan.” (Karen)

I hold the shoulders of Doraha-san and make her face the two.

“…I am sorry for blowing you away.” (Doraha)

““……””

Mirack-chan and Celestis-chan maintained silence for a while. It was as if they had lost breath, and then…

“Cuuute! This girl is cuuute!” (Celestis)

Celestis-chan was the first to hug Doraha-san.

“It is as if this girl is a doggy! She doesn’t get along with other people aside from her owner and when she gets scolded, she gets all depressed! Cute cute, she is too cute!” (Celestis)

“Holding a human and calling them ‘doggy’ is no good, you thoughtless idol.” (Mirack)

And Mirack-chan continues.

“But…in this battle against the Demon Lords that continues,  a hero level force is truly important. Just like Karen, I will be counting on you as well.” (Mirack)

Is what Mirack-chan said as she stroked the head of Doraha-san to a level that felt it could make smoke.

I am so glad…

Looks like it will go well with these two and Doraha-san.

If things go well with Sasae-chan and Hyue-chan as well and she is able to get along with many others, Yorishiro-sama would be a bit more relieved.

After indulging plenty in animal therapy, Celestis-chan seemed to suddenly notice something.

“Now that I think about it, I am surprised that she was able to participate in the production of today’s event. This time it was a cooperation between three nations, right? Were there no problems happening with the fire militants and our stream marines?” (Celestis)

…Now that she says it…

Doraha-san has absolutely no problem with the Light Church and can get along with anyone of the Light nation.

But any other nations, it is just as seen now. In a venue where there’s light, fire, and water people all over the place, I don’t think things would go smoothly.

Since arriving to Muspelheim, Doraha-san has been together with me the whole time and didn’t create any scene, but maybe it was bad to let her go outside alone?!

“…Ah, yes. When I went to check the state of the venue, some insolent heretic spoke to me.” (Doraha)

“‘Hey you, aren’t you cute. If you have the time, how about having tea with me?’ he said.” (Doraha)

“Trying to pick you up?!” (Karen)

“And so…” (Doraha)

Doraha-san said this in a natural tone.

“I kicked him.” (Doraha)

“““Hiiiiiiih!!!”””

We all let out a scream.

“And then, what seemed to be his comrades were gathering one after the other, and said ‘what are you suddenly doing?!’ and it was getting noisy, so…I kicked them all.” (Doraha)

“““Hiiiiiih!!”””

There was no time to wait.

Mirack-chan, Celestis-chan, and I kicked open the door and dash towards the venue.

“In the first place, who was the one trying to pick Doraha-san up?! Isn’t that a legit crime? There’s no excusing that!” (Celestis)

“Let’s leave killing him for later! Right now what’s most important is to grasp the situation! Hurry!” (Mirack)

“Doraha-san! Please don’t leave my sight for a second until Yorishiro-sama returns, okay?!!” (Karen)

So, when we actually arrived at the place, in this venue where the customers had already left, there’s a lot of light knights, fire militants, and stream marines with their heads piercing the ceiling.

“““GYAAAAAAA!!”””   

There’s no doubt they were all kicked into the ceiling by Doraha-san.

It is a complete slaughter.

‘Why even the light knights that are supposed to be allies?’, is what I thought in my confusion, but at any rate, in order to save the people that have their head piercing the ceiling, we had to diligently work as if we were harvesting fruits.

The battle had finished, and yet, we had a lot of things to do and our exhaustion accumulated.

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