Black Iron Magician

「Wee-chan is fine….」

「Oh my, so Wee-chan and the others are the heroes of Adelheit!」

「You didn’t have to say it again….」

After that, Haruna and the others were guided to in front of the throne and have an audience with Queen Clarius. By the way, Oda is severely injured and is currently being treated by the dwarven priests.

「Oda-sama has told me about everyone. I heard that you are all very skilled and talented. After the alliance is formed, I’ll be counting on you.」

「We will do our best to meet your expectations.」

「We will do our best desuwa!」

「Ufufu.」

Sitting on the throne that could seat three large adults, Clarius is talking happily. Her innocence seems to represent the character of the country of Crocus.

「You also look strong!」

「H-Hey, Haruna….」

The queen’s expression didn’t change even when Haruna made such a direct and straightforward remark. It seems that she finds Haruna’s honest words funny and she keeps giggling.

「Ufufu, it’s fine. Even though I’m still inexperienced, I have a responsibility to lead everyone in this country. As the queen, I will not neglect my efforts to make Crocus a beautiful country and to train myself to physically defeat the enemies that will cause harm to us.」

「P-Physically, is it?」

「Yes, physically.」

……… Her physical strength seems to represent the national character of Crocus.

「But recently, we have been having a hard time. I have been confronting the enemy general who calls himself the Four Heavenly Kings of the Sea Demons, but it’s quite hard to settle…. The moment we realized it, he said it’s time and then retreated from the battle. We are dwarves who live with the earth, we can’t chase them into the sea and the stalemate continues.」

「I see. The nature of the Demon King’s army seems to be the same even here….」

「Ara, did you already know? Did the Demon King’s army also appear in Adelheit?」

「Ah, no. Actually, before we visited here, we were in Tazarnia――」

Chinatsu explained the outline so far to Clarius. The information about Gustus being captured was also included and Clarius was listening to it with sparkling eyes. At the end of the story, Clarius excitedly stood up from the throne, rushed toward Haruna, and shook her hands.

「Oh my! Haruna-sama defeated him? You are powerful, aren’t you!?」

「Ehehe, thank you very much.」

「May I have your autograph?」

「Ah, do you have paper or something?」

「「You can ask one!?」」

Fuchi and Mani are surprised at the same time. In the meanwhile, Haruna is smoothly signing the paper that the queen presented.

「Well, Haruna was a celebrity in that field after all. She was asked a lot of autographs for magazines and such. There was also a time when my relative asked me to get one.」

「I didn’t know that…. Katsuragi-san is amazing…!」

「Ufufu, thank you very much. I’ll treasure it forever♪」

「Don’t mind it, I hope we could get along from now on!」

Clarius was satisfied and returned to the throne.

「Fufu~♪ *Cough*…. I’m sorry, let’s return to the topic. This time, we will form an alliance of heroes with the purpose of defeating the Demon King’s army. The truth is I wanted you to take a little more time to prepare for the battle. However, we can no longer take our time, so I proposed to the kings of each country to form the alliance as soon as possible.」

「You did?」

「Yes, that’s right. A moment ago, I explained to you that the battle with the Demon King’s army is in a stalemate, right? The war situation is still the same. However, during the battle with the Demon King’s army the other day, we received a letter from the Four Heavenly Kings.」

When Clarius gave a signal with her eyes, her subordinate took something out of the pocket and handed it to Haruna and the others. It looks like a letter and is carefully folded.

「Is it inside?」

「Yes, please look inside.」

Haruna and the others spread the letter and checked the inside.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

―――― Dear Jiba Continent Countries

How are you doing in this cold weather? Let me make this short and to the point. I’ve heard that even the Four Heavenly Kings of the Sea Demons, whom I’m proud of, are having a hard time with your unexpectedly strong resistance. My main objective is to take control of the entire Jiba continent, and it is not my intention to further expand the battle and spread the fires of war. Thus, I would like to set up a place for a short decisive battle. I already know that you are gathering heroes to form an alliance. Then, at the following date, time, and place, let’s settle the battle only by myself and those heroes, and the powerful people of both armies. I believe that you heroes will accept this challenge. Now, as for the details――

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

The handwriting is very good. At the end of the sentence, it says, ‘Hund Lind of the eighth rank of the Great Eight Demons, the Domination Craver’.

(Is this a latter of challenge? No, the last sentence is more important than that…!)

The Great Eight Demons. Such a thing is written next to the name of someone that seems to be the demon king.

「This is a challenge to the heroes, right? And about the Great Eight Demons, is it that Great Eight Demons?」

「If so… it’s bad….」

Everyone, who had kept their own pace, begins to get nervous. However, only Mani who doesn’t seem to know about it and he’s tilting his head.

「Um, I’ve never heard about the Great Eight Demons….」

「… As for me, I’ve heard it only from the rumors. Can someone please explain it?」

Mani raises his hand apologetically and Fuchi follows suit.

「Then, as someone who called everyone here, I will explain it. To put it simply, the Great Eight Demons refer to the existing eight highest-rank Demon Kings. One of the Four Heavenly Kings that I fought is powerful enough to call himself a demon king. However, the power of the Great Eight Demons would be incomparable. There are countless nations that have been destroyed by one of The Great Eight Demons, and it’s said that the Great Eight Demons’ strength is such that even if you gather all the heroes in the continent, it’s still doubtful whether it can finally be called a battle….」

「Whoa, heroes from all over the continent…!? Hmm, so this letter is not too far off the mark, huh.」

「That’s right. It is a blessing in disguise that the enemy is the last rank of the Great Eight Demons. I heard that even among those monsters, there are ranks based on ability.」

Claris said so, but for Chinatsu, who knows the power of the Great Eight Demons within their group, the matter is despairing enough. Looking back, there were times when she suspected that the demon king might be the Great Eight Demons. Still, the shock is great that the worst case scenario has become a reality.

(I know that there is no way the instructions given by them will end up being normal, but to think that it’s like this….)

If it’s Nell and Deris, they probably would tell them to defeat it as if telling them to go shopping.

「Chinatsu-chan, it’s the Great Eight Demons! The Great Eight Demons! It is worth defeating!」

「Yes, it’s worrying for me, though….」

The reactions of Haruna and Chinatsu toward the Great Eight Demons are in stark contrast. However, Chinatsu has a strange feeling of being encouraged when seeing such Haruna.

(But well, they never gave us impossible tasks so far, so it will be fine this time too… probably.)