The Matter of My Party Members Being Aware of My Desire to Be Banished - Chapter 29

“Kukuku… So you put the brat to sleep with magic, huh? Pointless…”

While Rokuto softly snores, Diabell crudely presses down on his head, grinding it in while… sneering with a filthy smile towards the three of them.

“Putting him to sleep won’t stop my curse. My curse will work just fine, because it’s special and I have many kinds. As long as he exists, my powerful curse can be activated anytime. Kukukuku… Now it’s your turn to weaken gradually.”

Diabell laughed merrily, his throat rumbling.

He seemed to still be in a state of ease and overconfidence.

—Unaware of the changes in the three in front of him.

“Could you—stop pressing down on Rokkun with those filthy hands? Rokkun isn’t an object.”

“This brat is a hostage. If you want me to stop, then scream, prostrate yourselves—…Eh?”

While smirking, Diabell shifted his gaze from Honoka to Rokuto…

And noticed that Rokuto, whom he had been pressing down until just a moment ago, was gone.

“!”

Diabell turned towards Honoka in panic.

In her arms was Rokuto, the hostage who should’ve been suppressed until just a moment ago.

“Kukuku… I didn’t hear your footsteps or the motion of picking him up. What kind of magic is this?”

“I do have stealth magic, but this was just physical ability.”

Honoka informed with cold eyes.

“Such physical ability…”

Surprised, yet Diabell still looked like he believed he had the upper hand.

“I can’t beat Honoka in physical ability.”

“Hehe, you don’t say. Shi-chan chopped off his arms right when I snatched Rokkun.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Huh?”

Confusion painted Diabell’s face at their conversation.

Then, Diabell looked at both his arms, which had been pressing down Rokuto’s head until a moment ago.

Not just his hands… The arms themselves were gone.

There was no sensation of his arms, which should have extended from the shoulders, both were missing.

All that was there… was spurting, dark red blood like a splash of water.

“!!!! GAHHH!!?”

The moment Diabell began to writhe in pain from the loss of his arms…

“《Ice Sword》”

“GAH!?”

Following up… both of Diabell’s eyes were impaled with ice spikes.

It was ice magic, cast by Shion.

Pinpoint accuracy, and without hesitation, she aimed for Diabell’s eyes.

“You must look at your target with those eyes to cast a curse, right? So… it’s okay to destroy them?”

A phrase uttered after already having crushed both of Diabell’s eyes.

——There’s no holding back against you.

“!”

Though Diabell couldn’t see their expressions, his body began to tremble, feeling their overwhelming pressure.

Looking even more pitiful, Diabell’s face twisted further.

“Well, it’s not like we’re going to end it here.”

Though Shion’s mouth smiled, her eyes did not. With a snap of her fingers… the ice spikes began to dig deeper into Diabell’s eyes.

Blood bubbled and flowed from both eyes.

“GAGA, GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!”

Pain and suffering unlike anything he had ever experienced relentlessly assaulted him.

An unknown, ceaseless terror.

It felt… like a curse.

“GWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

Diabell screamed in agony, but no one came to his rescue.

No one was interested to.

His eyes, impaled by the ice spikes, pushed further in.

Struggling in pain, he reflexively tried to cover his eyes with his hands… but his arms no longer existed.

Without arms, he couldn’t remove or stop the spikes.

With his eyes destroyed, no one could see through them, and he was unable to cast his proud curses…

He could do nothing but writhe in agony, helplessly.

The being that used to enjoy watching humans suffer leisurely, Diabell, was now in a far more miserable state than anyone else.

“…”

“…”

“…”

The eyes of the three looking on had lost their sparkle, feeling nothing but coldness.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH. DAMN ITTTTT!!! AAA… ME, A commander of the Demon Lord! Capable of casting any curse! Reduced to this by merely three people!!!”

Somehow bearing the pain, Diabell squeezed out all of his voice.

Then, the action Diabell took next was…

“If it comes to this…”

He pushed off with his only functioning legs… charging towards the wall of the room at a tremendous speed.

“Heh heh…”

From his despicable smile, it was easy to guess his thought.

He intended to break through the wall to escape outside.

Away from those dreadful three, to take anyone from the Yuni or the Yurie, anyone in this mansion, as a hostage.

Fortunately for Diabell, he still had his ears.

With just those, Diabell could grasp where people were.

But—this was a far too late realization.

Just as Diabell’s body was about to break through the wall…

Thud!!

“Ah!?”

A dull sound rang out.

Instead, Diabell let out a pathetic voice and was pitifully bounced back.

Slowly getting up, Diabell… was trembling.

“Why… WHY! My super charge should be able to break through anything!!!!!”

Diabell’s ease, overconfidence, and sleazy smile were gone…

He screamed with a face filled with panic.

“What hit you wasn’t a wall, but a defensive barrier. Thanks to Rokuto-san buying us time, we were able to set up a more substantial defensive barrier… around the entire room.”

Marn finally spoke up quietly.

“The entire room…? The entire…?”

Even then, Diabell, now blind, couldn’t see what state the room was in.

So, what’s happening?

What adorned the room walls were numerous complex magic circles, constructed with refined magical power.

For someone like Diabell, breaking through the defense magic was impossible.

Meaning, from this room filled with powerful and vicious three… there was no escape.

He had no other choice but to quietly accept death.

“Why… WHY! Why have I been cornered like this…!”

The eternal pain and blood that poured endlessly.

In a situation so absurd it could drive one mad, Diabell finally seemed to realize.

“Heh… Looks like my hunch was right… Don’t underestimate a porter.”

Diabell’s mind flashed back, as if in his final moments.

The boy he had taken as a hostage. The brat… the very brat he had looked down on was now mocking him.

It all started then.

From that moment, the plans that had been going smoothly began to unravel.

“Run, now!!”

The very brat he deemed as the weakest, had used a smoke bomb to fill the area with dense smoke, allowing the others to escape, thwarting his curse.

Then, those peculiar three started to move.

One immediately rescued the hostage boy.

Another took both his arms and eyes, rendering him unable to cast his proud curses or even retaliate.

And the last one used a powerful defense barrier not as protection but to imprison, trapping him within the room.

All the events that unfolded… started from the moment he took the Rokuto brat as a hostage.

He finally seemed to understand.

—He had stepped on a landmine.

“…What the hell… what the hell are you guys!!”

One of the Demon Lord’s army, chosen for his strength. And now, Diabell, in fear, could utter nothing but terrified words.

His adversaries were—

“Just a party of adventurers with a porter. And you… dared to threaten our beloved person. —《Lock》”

The moment Marn chanted, the defensive barrier covering the entire room began to shrink.

Heading towards—Diabell.

The defensive barrier, clinging to Diabell’s body, twisted and converged.

“Ah, Gah!?”

Like being trapped in a tight box, Diabell couldn’t move.

“—Farewell. Please, never appear again.”

With Marn’s cold voice… the defensive barrier sticking to Diabell swiftly compressed.

Crushingly.

Easily shattered from the face to the skull, his robust body was crushed in an instant.

“《Release》”

“—ah…”

Splatter…

The lifted defensive barrier revealed Diabell, bloodied and unrecognizable.

His face and torso flattened, yet… still twitching slightly.

“Disgusting…”

With a contorted face, Honoka drew her dual swords and sliced Diabell’s face and body into pieces.

“It’s unpleasant to look at any longer. —《Fire Boar》”

With a smile gone from her face, Shion cast fire magic, burning the pieces to ash.

Without a death rattle… the Demon Lord’s commander Diabell turned to dust, and eventually, even the dust disappeared… He was dead.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Silence enveloped the three for a while… but Marn sighed and spoke up.

“We didn’t fight as calmly as usual, it turned quite rough. Such a sight… we cannot show to Rokuto-san. It might scare him more than the enemy did.”

Marn chuckled lightly.

“…That’s true. If he had seen us now, Rokkun would be more than scared, probably utterly shocked. But on the other hand, he might just find it amazing like he usually does, thinking how awesome our combat is, right? Rokkun seems to like overwhelming battles.”

Honoka’s voice brightened up.

“It’s possible Rokuto might react like that. But maybe we should keep this kind of fighting a secret from Rokuto for now. When it comes to Rokuto, we… tend to lose our restraint and resort to one-sided slaughters. For Rokuto’s sake. And… for our sake moving forward.”

Shion summarized.

The three exchanged glances… and shared a light laugh.

Just when they thought the matter was settled…

“That guy from before, he said he was a commander of the Demon Lord, but it wasn’t a big deal, huh? Considering he’s a commander of the Demon Lord… Huh? Demon Lord, commander? Ahhh!”

Honoka exclaimed.

Then, looking flustered, she turned her gaze to Shion and Marn.

“What should we do, Shi-chan, Ma-san!”

“What’s the matter, Honoka?”

“Is there a problem, Honoka-san?”

Seeing Honoka so panicked, both of them became concerned.

“We defeated a commander of the Demon Lord! A commander of the Demon Lord! We’re not even officially a hero party yet! …Being promoted to a hero party because we defeated a commander isn’t happening, right?”

At Honoka’s words, Shion and Marn looked at each other…

“We came to the royal capital to scout the royal guild and evaluate candidates for hero parties… and now we’ve inadvertently taken on the role of such a party?”

“Ara ara. We were quite careless, weren’t we?”

“Careless? It was more like full-on murderous intent.”

This was the true nature of the three who were deeply in love.

When it comes to Rokuto… their priorities and judgment drastically change.

“I wonder if this is okay, Shi-chan? We did defeat a commander of the Demon Lord.”

Honoka’s gaze turned anxious as if to provoke Shion’s decision.

“Well… to become candidates for a hero party, I think we need to undergo proper trials and meet certain conditions… But if defeating a commander of the Demon Lord counts as one of those trials or conditions, that’s another story.”

Shion pondered, hand on chin.

“A commander of the Demon Lord is certainly a significant target for subjugation. However, defeating a commander of the Demon Lord is ultimately just part of the journey to subjugate the Demon Lord… The final target is the Demon Lord himself. Ultimately, a party that stands out the most is the one that defeats the Demon Lord.”

“Also, it seems a considerable reward is given when you defeat a commander of the Demon Lord. You will need funds for various things in the future, right? Like that wedding you mentioned earlier?”

Suddenly, Shion remembered what the guild master had told her.

It was a strangely convincing word that persuaded her to put the matter of becoming hero party candidates on hold.

Shion chuckled and spoke up.

“Maybe it’s all right. We only defeated a commander of the Demon Lord… not the Demon Lord himself.”

“If that’s the case, then that’s a relief.”

Honoka breathed a sigh of relief.

This conversation itself was unique from an outsider’s perspective.

“Shall we report the defeat of the Demon Lord’s commander to the royal guild?”

This time, Marn inquired.

“Right. Besides, the series of events in the Alves family were essentially caused by that commander of the Demon Lord, so we have to report it. But, above all…”

Clearing her throat, Shion said,

“Let’s be glad everyone’s safe.”

“That’s true! Wow, I’m glad everything ended safely~!”

“Yes, I’m glad everyone is safe.”

Finally, the conversation returned to something more fitting for ordinary adventurers.

The three smiled at each other… and then gazed down at Rokuto, who had been moved to a canopy bed.

“…zzz”

Still sound asleep, Rokuto… was unaware of the intense love filling the three around him.

“By the way, Shi-chan. You know something else about Yuni-chan, don’t you?”

Honoka asked.

“But… I thought she was a noble. Moreover, the Alves family…”

Shion was the only one who didn’t call her Yuni, instead often mentioning the Alves family and its background, something that Honoka had always been curious about.

“I guess it’s obvious.”

Facing Honoka and also Marn’s gaze… Shion shrugged and slowly opened her mouth.

“The Alves family is… a marquess family. And it’s a bit special in terms of lineage. That’s why I thought things might get a bit tricky after solving this case.”

What Shion referred to as “after solving this case”.

The four of them had saved the daughter and the inexplicably ill mother of the Alves family, and even the Alves family itself from the commander of the Demon Lord… truly benefactors.

“I wonder if we can politely decline their gratitude without attracting too much attention.”

Saying so, Shion unusually… scratched her cheek, looking troubled.