“Sir Alus’s stratagem of following one mortal blow with another is indeed formidable, but Lord Boldow was able to both dodge and counter the attack. His ability is truly abnormal, to say the very least. We ourself would be hard pressed to overcome him, even at the height of our power.” Zag’giel’s respect for Boldow, it seemed, was only growing greater. By this point it was already stratospheric.
“But I gotta say...” Boldow said, “What the heck was that spell at the end?! That was wild! It’s not fair! I wanna cast spells like that toooooo!”
“I fear it would be impossible, father. You have no magic power whatsoever.”
“First the militia, and now you...” Boldow grumbled. “But I won’t give up! As long as I hold hope in my heart, one day my wish will be granted!”
“Hah...” Alus sighed with exasperation at his father’s passionate declaration before turning to face Kanata. “Sister,” he said.
“Uh-huh?” Kanata asked.
Alus passed his wooden sword over to Kanata. “Kindly give our fantasist of a father a taste of reality.”
“Huh?” Boldow’s face went white. “A-Against my darling Kanny? But I wouldn’t have a chance!”
“Okay!” Kanata chirped. “I’ll do my best!”
“Please, Kanny!” Boldow begged. “Listen to me!”
Kanata gave the sword a number of practice swings before rushing straight at her father.
“N-Noooooooo!” cried the man the Demon King Zag’giel held in such high esteem, as Kanata sent him spiraling through the air.
“Mistress is extraordinary...” Elizavett marveled.
“Way to go, Lady Kanata!” cheered Fenrir.
“Kanata’s power is in an entirely different dimension,” said Zag’giel. “There is simply no explanation for this.” He turned to Alus, who had sat down with the three fluff balls, leaving his father to Kanata. “And although you lost in the end, we must say you were splendid as well, Sir Alus.”
“You do me an honor, Sir Zaggy,” said the boy, bowing his head before the black furball.
Zag’giel truly did think highly of Alus’s prowess, although he couldn’t help but worry whether the boy, with all his talent, had developed an inferiority complex from spending so much time around his father and sister. “Tell us, Sir Alus. What do you think of Kanata and your lord father?”
“I respect them a great deal,” came Alus’s immediate answer. “When I followed in my older sister’s footsteps and went to attend school in the Royal Capital, the students and faculty spoke of my family often. My father and mother have both made significant contributions to this land’s well-being, and my sister outshines them both in sheer achievement.”
“We can but imagine that you were compared to them often...”
“I was. But that also spurred me to work harder myself. I don’t feel bitter at all. After all, my father and mother and sister really are that extraordinary. I know that better than anyone. It holds my pride in check, you see. Otherwise I might have developed something of a big head.”
“We see...” Zag’giel nodded. Alus had been blessed with a good family, he thought. His easygoing father, his kind mother, and his sister, who was an undeniably strange person, but reliable and decisive when she had an objective in mind. Alus himself was growing up to be a wonderful, purehearted boy.
“Besides, I know what my family is like very well,” Alus continued. “I believe there are things I can do to support them as well. After all, you’ve met my father and sister...”
“Y-Yes, we see...” Zag’giel repeated. Knowing his master Kanata, he understood all too well what sort of help she and her father might need.
“And my mother looks all right at first glance, but she isn’t without her troubles in that area as well...” Alus continued.
“Hm? Indeed? She seemed to us to be a kindly, maternal lady...”
“Oh, yes,” said Alus. “Come to think of it, Sir Zaggy, you should know of this. The truth is...”
But before Alus could reveal whatever it was about his mother that was such great trouble, the woman herself appeared before their eyes carrying a large picnic basket covered in cloth, no doubt containing a home-cooked meal made by none other than the Archsage Aleksia herself. “Good job, everyone!” she said. “Now, mama has some delicious refreshments for my hardworking warriors!”
“Oho!” Zag’giel said, perking up. “That would be welcome indeed! We are certain everyone has worked up something of a hunger with all that training. We, too—”
“Sir Zaggy, I ask you to wait just one moment,” Alus said, stopping him. “Mother,” he asked, “did you perhaps prepare that meal yourself?”
“I did indeed!” Aleksia replied with a smile. “And this time I gave it even more of my all than usual!”
“I see,” Alus said, his expression turning dark. “Even more of your all than usual, you say...”
“Sir Alus, what is the matter?” Zag’giel asked. “Are you not happy that your mother has prepared a homemade meal for you? For our part, we would be inclined to accept it with gratitude.”
“Well...” Alus said, grasping to find the right thing to say. “Rather... You see...”
“Hm? But the meal your mother prepared for us last night was most delicious, was it not?” Zag’giel asked.
“Well, yes...” Alus managed. “I am sure it will be delicious. It’s just...”
Zag’giel tilted his head in confusion. It was rare for Alus to struggle with his words like this.
“Ahhhhhh!” Kanata cried, struck by Zag’giel’s adorable little gesture. “Zaggy’s head tilt was just so cute!” she exclaimed, squeezing her father tight around the side as he lay limply on the ground.
“Oh, there you are!” said Aleksia. “Kanny! Boldow! Come eat with us! I made all sorts of things today!”
“Huh?!” said Kanata. “Mom...did you make that yourself?!”
“Yes I did!”
“I see...” Kanata sighed, looking as dismal at the prospect as her brother did.
“K-Kanata too...” Zag’giel said. What in the world could possibly be inside that basket? The Demon King’s mind was racing furiously.
“All right, everyone!” Aleksia said. “Come dig in!” She spread a cloth on the ground in front of the rest of the family, and uncovered the basket.
Inside was nothing short of hell.
“Wh-What is this?!” Zag’giel balked. Viscous, poisonous-looking bubbles rose from the frothing swamp in the basket. There were strange plants with human faces, moaning with low rumbling voices as the wormlike creatures coiled around the putrid mess throbbed and pulsed with life. And something was trying to burst out from deep within.
Truly, it was hell itself in miniature.
“E-Even the Dark Continent where we were born held nothing so grotesque!”
“Aren’t they cute?” said Aleksia.
“C-Cute?!”
“I really think I nailed it this time!” she said, seizing hold of a clump of leafy greens and pulling it triumphantly out from the hell basket. In the fresh air, Zag’giel could see that the root had an unmistakably human figure. “Here you go!” she said.
“Geeshashasha!” the thing cried.
“H-Here you go, did she say?!” Zag’giel repeated.
Meaning, that Aleksia intended them to eat this thing—this sinister magic beast that had emerged from her basket of nightmares—raw. Alus looked more perturbed than Zag’giel had ever seen him. He held his head high, but could not bring himself to look. Kanata was looking, but her face was grim. Neither of them seemed like they were going to come forward with a way out of the situation. The other two furballs were clinging to each other, trembling with fear.
“H-Honored mother...” Zag’giel said. “What, may we ask, is this mons—” He cut himself off. “This dish?” he finished, correcting himself.
“Carrot salad sandwiches!” Aleksia declared proudly. “They’re cute when they’re squirming like that, don’t you think?”
Sandwiches, it need not be said, ordinarily do not squirm at all. Moreover, the creature flailing its humanlike limbs was clearly not a sandwich. Indeed, by all appearances, it wasn’t food at all. Far to the east, there were lands where people ate raw fish and the like, but even they would never dream of touching something so grotesque.
“Here you go, Zaggy!” Aleksia said brightly. “Say aah!”
Did he have to eat it? Was refusal not an option? Zag’giel thought back over his entire relationship with Kanata’s family. He considered the strange mood that had come over the training grounds. And he made up his mind.
“No!” he said. “We will not flinch from this! Gh—!”