A solitary stone statue, missing its head.
More than half of its body had long since been ruined, green plants clinging all over it, as if dressing her in a coat to cover her shame.
"The lord's statue—it looks somewhat familiar, especially that balance scale."
Himmel stroked his beard as he sized it up. He kept feeling he knew who this statue was meant to depict, but just couldn't place it.
Nanoda glanced at the statue of the victim, Aura, and fell silent.
"It's too quiet." Yuna gripped her staff tightly, tense. The deeper they pressed, the more profound that spine-chilling sensation within her Mana Perception became.
The source of the Mana was clearly right ahead in the lord's manor. After defeating Böse, all the way through the inner city there had been no obstruction, and the corpses that had crawled up from the ground back then hadn't reappeared either.
"Shall I take the lead?"
With Paradox Magic on hand, Nanoda wasn't afraid of an ambush, and she was quite eager to meet the being that had dealt Aura such a heavy blow.
"You look pretty relaxed?"
"I've kept a trump card in reserve."
In response to Nanoda's answer, Himmel studied the Mana constantly swaying about her and nodded thoughtfully.
Leaving Yuna behind to watch over the unconscious Linie and to keep directing the monks in surrounding the lord's manor, Nanoda led Himmel inside.
The tightly shut doors of the lord's manor were pushed open.
A gust swept in from outside, scattering the stale odor within.
The first floor had originally been a banquet hall. During Aura's tenure its opulent décor had been stripped away and converted into a simple reception room, which by now had long since fallen into disuse.
Stepping onto the stone floor, each footfall stirred up a layer of dust.
The furnishings within were all coated in a hazy gray, and a few strands of cobweb swayed between the chandelier and the ceiling.
"Does someone really still live here?"
Himmel's voice echoed through the room.
Catching the look Nanoda shot him, he belatedly stroked his beard and gave a smile.
"Never mind—we tipped our hand long ago anyway. The fellow here is awfully confident."
After making such a racket, neither side had bothered to conceal anything for a while now.
Within her Mana Perception range she sensed no trace of any magical traps, and the source of the Mana blanketing all of Kinton sat motionless up on the second floor.
The staircase to the second floor was wooden. Long neglected, it seemed to have been gnawed on by rats, riddled with little holes that creaked underfoot, giving the feeling of being about to collapse.
The human and the demon quietly arrived at the doorway of a room.
"Himmel, get ready to fight."
After whispering the warning, Nanoda kicked the door open without hesitation.
The door panel crashed to the floor, kicking up clouds of dust. Amid the enormous noise, Himmel with his sword drawn and Nanoda gripping the broken horn darted close to the massive bed inside the room.
The enemy offered no resistance at all—an unexpected turn of events.
"Mmnh~ mmnh~"
A strand of purple hair drooped down. The demon, hugging an oversized white pillow, tightened her arms, her two little feet shifting slightly on their own, breathing softly and steadily, still fast asleep.
Contrary to the imagined impression of an incomparably savage Great Demon who commanded the undead, she looked like nothing more than a sleep-loving loli demon.
Was this reasonable?
Beaten all the way back to her home base and still sleeping this soundly—an unshakable quality of sleep.
Nanoda noticed, however, that in this dust-covered room, only this bed was utterly spotless, as if magic had been set upon it in advance.
"What now? Want me to give her a slash to wake her up?"
Himmel joked from the side.
"She really is an opponent that catches me off guard."
For a moment Nanoda didn't know how to make her move—this was, after all, the "Great" Demon who had defeated Aura.
Aura, who habitually did every manner of evil without even realizing it—Nanoda had wondered: what if the war had broken out over hatred and misunderstanding with Aura? Wouldn't it be a bit of a waste to simply kill her outright?
Then she saw the somewhat tattered map laid beside the bed.
That was a map of Gaderia; she couldn't be mistaken.
The map Yuna had lost on the road ten years ago!
During their idle chats while combing their hair each morning, Nanoda had explained the reasons for her disappearance, as well as the story of how, upon returning, she'd immediately dealt with the Golden Land and then set out to seek news of Yuna.
Yuna, too, had told Nanoda about her own growth and experiences over these years, the most dangerous of which was the encounter on the road back to Gaderia.
Now, all the stories were converging.
The one who created the undead in the mist and the undead surrounding Kinton were both the work of the same demon!
Whether intentionally or not, the being before her was one that had harmed Yuna.
And it was precisely because of this incident that she had missed the chance to meet Yuna face to face.
"What is it?" Watching the slight change in Nanoda's expression, Himmel was still wrestling with a decision inside.
Should he kill this demon or not?
He couldn't be fooled by appearances. Judging from his experience entering Kinton, this was without doubt a walking natural disaster to humankind. Eliminating demons for the safety of humans—this was what he and Frieren had always done.
But he had met Nanoda, and before setting out he had promised this strange demon that he would leave the fate of the demon to her.
"Hold off for now—there are some things I want to ask her."
It was time to wake this little sluggard. Nanoda very much wanted to know whether this had anything to do with the "devil" Wilhelm had spoken of back then.
The way she and Yuna had been made to miss each other was probably also part of a so-called "scheme." For these ten years, Nanoda had never worked out what exactly that sense of wrongness had been at the time, nor had there been any news of the "devil."
Perhaps it had achieved its goal and wanted to hide its identity, or perhaps it was arranging an even larger scheme.
In the end, Nanoda reached out her hand, grabbing toward the head of the bed.
The instant before she touched the smooth surface, the exquisite, soft bed radiated a dazzling white light throughout.
She snatched away the map at the head of the bed, but the loli demon before her vanished without a trace in that flash of white light.
"Careful, Nanoda!"
Himmel looked up toward the ceiling.
"Haaah~ ahh~"
Floating like a cloud, the purple-haired loli demon lay sprawled atop a levitating pillow. As her fair, rosy face and delicate, adorable features all trembled, she yawned as though just waking from a dream.
The stagnant Mana began to stir; under the Great Demon's aura, the Mana started to radiate fully.
"?" As if sensing something, the loli Great Demon puffed out her cheeks—her fury like a hissing kitten.
"Humans! You're all so terribly cruel!"
Groggy from just waking, she mistook even Nanoda—whose broken horn was hidden by a hairband—for a human.
Her collection had been destroyed by humans yet again!
"Let me ask you—where did you get that map?"
Nanoda held up the map she'd seized, her tone somewhat cold.
Himmel, sword in hand at her side, observed the situation without making any move. He trusted his companion's strength and honored the promise made before setting out.
"You recognize it? Ah, so you're in league with that villain too! I'll make you all into my collection!"
The languor fully melted away, replaced by an angry yet innocent bloodlust.
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