Black Iron Magician

「This is bad. Hey, what should we do? I think this wolf is stronger than Lily-shishō.」

「Yes. But judging from what it did, we can’t say for sure yet that it’s our enemy….」

「Huh? Hey, that wolf mentioned Rimudo-san and Maria-san’s names just now, right?」

However, even when being stared by such a terrifying white wolf, the three didn’t feel nervous more than necessary. Confusion of the mind will lead to death, so they wouldn’t do stupid things like that. They have been living extraordinary daily live, so their bodies and minds will naturally do their best to stay alive even when there’s such an overwhelming being next to them.

「Hou…. You didn’t get shaken at all when facing me, huh? You have great courage.」

「No, I’m really shaken, you know? The appearance of someone as powerful as the Great Eight Demons here is too unexpected.」

「Um, I don’t know the relationship between you and Elderado, but we have no intention of antagonizing you. I hope you could overlook us….」

「Ah! Could it be that you’re Rimudo-san and Maria-san’s acquaintance…!? Excuse me, would you like to have a little match with me!?」

「「Haruna!?」」

The three reacted in different ways. Then, the white wolf laughed, probably thinking that the three were amusing.

「Kukuku. You’re interesting people. The last time I felt this pleasant was at that time. The nostalgic smell that I could smell from you guys, those are from Nell, Deris, and Alezel, right?」

「Eh!? Do you know our masters!?」

「Yeah, I know them. Especially, I know a lot about Nell. But, I see. Masters, huh? Mankind sure grows up really fast. To think that they are now in a position to teach others.」

The white wolf begins to tell old stories in her own tone. She picked up an abandoned baby, Nell, and raised her as if she were her own child until the end of her childhood. When she was thinking about letting Nell become independent, Deris and Alezel, two very interesting and unusual human and elf, appeared at just the right time. In order to have Nell live as a human in the future, she entrusted Nell to Deris and Alezel. The white wolf seemed to have a good memory, and she told the girls the details about how Deris and Alezel reacted at that time. She told them everything, including the very embarrassing stuff that Deris probably didn’t want the girls to hear.

「That said, I only learned their names from their conversation, so I don’t know whether those are their real names. They could have used an alias.」

「No, those are their real names. But still… no, it was when they were about the same age as us, so it’s understandable even if they lost their composure.」

「Danna’s unknown past…! I’m getting excited!」

「He was training on the continent of Dai when he was about the same age as us, huh? As expected of Shishō! I must learn from him!」

「Hm? This smell of magic power…. I see, they are not nearby, but they are watching from somewhere, huh?」

Perhaps noticing someone’s gaze, the white wolf looked up at the ceiling and narrowed her eyes.

「Um, White Wolf-san? Is something wrong?」

「…… No, nothing. Don’t mind it.」

By the way, Deris, who was watching the war situation, was writhing in embarrassment, and Vakala was laughing out loud next to him. On the other hand, Nell seemed to be exchanging glances with the while wolf when she was looking up.

「For now, tell me about you guys. I can guess it from the smell, but I haven’t had a proper conversation in a long time. I want to hear it from you.」

「Okay! My master is Deris-shishō!」

「I’m the disciple of Nell-shishō.」

「Hmm, I see. Then, you’re Alezel’s disciple, huh?」

「Ah, judging from the flow, it might be like that, but she’s not my master. My master is the Great Eight Demons Lilyvia-shishō.」

「Lilyvia? Hmm, that’s a name I don’t know. I have been out of touch with the world for a while.」

「Eh, you don’t know about her? It’s not strange if you don’t know about Hund since he became the Great Eight Demons not long ago, but Lily-shishō has been the Great Eight Demons for quite some time, you know?」

「After I left Nell to Deris and Alezel, I was sulk―― I mean, I was hibernating. So, I don’t know what happened during that time.」

「H-Hibernating!?」

「In a place like this!?」

「Also, the time you slept was too long for a hibernation, you know!?」

It was a raging of comebacks.

「Yeah, I was hibernating. Unfortunately, there were bad rumors about me going around the humans at that time. There were times when subjugations unit came at me because of that. So, I decided to sleep for a while and let time pass. As long as there was no strong person coming near me, I would be able to continue sleeping. It wouldn’t bother me no matter what the low leveled humans did. The last time I woke up was… ah, that’s right. I woke up near Carmine’s border for some reason. The humans at that time brought me in front of the undead executive. I was irritated, so I rampaged for a while. After that, I moved somewhere and went into hibernation again.」

「Ah.」

Chinatsu realized something. She remembered the story of Elderado bringing a powerful monster that Ōkuni told her at the consultation office. The situation in which the white wolf woke up and the situation in which the monster that Elderado brought rampaged were so similar. If that monster was the white wolf, then it would make sense when Ōkuni said that the monster was far stronger than him.

(Then, when Ōkuni-san said that there was someone who looked like him, did he mean the researcher-like person just now? But, there’s no resemblance… ah, maybe it’s because he was so skinny and looked like a skeleton?)

「Then, Elderado’s people found you again and brought you here, huh? How should I put it, you sure are bold.」

「I wish I could be that bold when I sleep.」

「No, don’t do that…」

「To be honest, I woke up just now because you were getting close. I was irritated when I woke up, so I unintentionally killed the human just now. How careless of me.」

「If you was careless, then it can’t be helped!」

((She was careless…!?))

It was a terrible carelessness.

「S-So, you’re saying that you weren’t acquainted with the person just now?」

「Yeah, I don’t know him at all.」

「That bastard, I don’t know how could he count her in his fighting force…」

「The best way to interpret it is that he had already guessed how to wake White Wolf-san up, and it was the only way he had at that time, I guess?」

「Oh, I know. That’s the example of a fine line between stupidity and genius, right?」

「Haha! That guy is over if Haruna says that about him!」

By the way, it seems that Touko had lower academic grades than Haruna. After that, the girls explained how they had come this far to the while wolf, and they confirmed each other’s situation.

「Hmm…. I see, I understand the current situation. Thank you.」

「No, more importantly, White Wolf-san, what are you going to do now? Are you going to leave Elderado?」

「No, there are things I have to do before that.」

「Oh, are you going to fight with us?」

The white wolf slowly stood up and raised her tail that’s covered with pure white scales. Then, the tip of her tail split into several pieces. Flames began light from there, and――

「You’re the disciples of my daughter and someone I trust, so I will ascertain your strength with my own body. Now, prepare your weapon.」

「「Why it became like this from the flow of the story so far!?」」

「Yaaay!」

――She’s somehow going to fight the girls.