“Now, then.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Zesta’s voice was completely calm; Serena shivered up in the tree.
“Perhaps you’d be so kind as to answer Master Kazuma’s questions?” He sounded so collected. Serena looked back and forth between me and him.
“I want to know about the Demon King’s army,” I said. “How many enemies are left at his castle, and what are their weaknesses? Oh, and fill me in on the king himself, too, of course.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“By today, the Demon King’s daughter will have already left the castle at the head of the king’s forces. In other words, there are no generals defending the castle. But of course, there’s a reason for that.” Serena spoke as calmly as she could, considering she was still hanging from the tree. “A long time ago, Wiz attacked the castle, right after she became a Lich. She forced her way through the barrier around the castle—just blew it right open with her magic. After that, the longest-serving general retired and took over the job of guarding the castle gate.”
“Sounds like someone who must be pretty damn strong. Who are they, and how do they fight? And what’s their weakness?” I asked.
Serena, who had become awfully forthcoming, said, “‘Pretty damn strong’ is right. This person has established a magic circle within the Demon King’s castle that draws power directly from the demon realm. The catch is that they can’t leave the magic circle. But while they’re in it, they wield immense power. The constant flow of magical energy means every wound inflicted heals immediately, and the guardian is surrounded by a powerful barrier of their own so that normal attacks can’t touch them. They’re a powerful wizard in their own right, after all. If you try to come at the castle head-on, they’ll smash you with magical attacks powered by an endless stream of magical energy, and that’ll be it for you.”
Ugh, this guardian didn’t sound like any fun…
“So how do we take them down? Any way to just slip past them?”
Serena somehow managed to shrug despite being tied up; it was kind of impressive. “You can’t take them down. You can’t get through their personal barrier without serious firepower, and even if you did manage to injure them, you’d never be able to keep up with their healing abilities. Even if the castle wasn’t surrounded by a magical barrier, this guardian is like…maybe if all the members of the Crimson Magic Clan attacked at once, relentlessly, they might manage something. As for getting past… I don’t know. I guess a small unit might be able to sneak in, but the kind of magic you’d need to get through the barrier would call attention to you. Either way, the guardian finds you and blows you away.” Her attitude seemed to be that it was pretty hopeless.
So getting through the barrier would call attention to us. But what if Aqua opened a hole in the barrier?
“I guess you could say this guardian is more dangerous than the Demon King himself, in a way,” Serena said. “As far as I know, he’s the most powerful wizard in the entire world.”
That got a shiver out of Megumin.
So as long as this guy was in that magic circle, they were more powerful than Wiz? Well, I’d think of how to deal with it on the way. Right now, I had something else to worry about…
“Okay, now the important part. The Demon King…”
“Uh-uh.” Serena seemed set on refusing that particular request. “You’re going to kill me anyway, right? I’ve told you everything I’m going to tell you. Or, what—want to make a deal like last time? Here’s the conditions: You let me get away. You promise that, I’ll tell you about the Demon King.” And then she smirked again.
“You think you’re in a position to negotiate? Use your brain. I’ve got a whole crowd of religious nutjobs behind me just itching to bash your head in. We have ways of making you talk…”
“I’d like to see you try. Torture doesn’t work on me. It bounces right back on whoever inflicts it. Now, if you’re going to kill me, then kill me! I’ll take that information you want to my grave!” she crowed. A grin appeared on her face, but if you looked closely, you could see that she was trembling ever so slightly. She was putting on a tough act, but she was probably desperate to survive.
I was just trying to decide what to do when Darkness stepped up and said, “Why don’t you leave this to me, then?” Her cheeks were flushed, and she was clenching and unclenching her hands in excitement.
N-no way… Is she going to…?
“My indomitable will can’t be overcome by a little pain! I’m going to give you the full course now, and the first one of us to make a squeak is the loser! Maybe a little heat would help… N-no, I think first—”
“H-hey, stop that, you pervert! Hey! Why are you taking off my shoes? …Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you want with my toes? What is that, a brick? Where’d you get that from? Stop, I see the corner of that thing! Just what do you have in mind?!”
Serena was growing ever more frantic as Darkness approached. But at that moment, Zesta, who’d been watching the scene silently, suddenly exclaimed: