Black Iron Magician

「I did it, I did it!」

「Yeah, yeah. Save your tears until you’re done seeing them off.」

Thank you for the manly lines, Nell. I may look uncool, but it’s great to be alive!

「Then, contact me when you’re coming. See you~」

「Now, I guess it’s time for me to act as Demon King and get back to the front line. I got a fresh Dullahan, so I’m looking forward to it! Goodbye!」

「Fuhahaha! Deris-dono, I’ll send you the video at a later date! Look forward to my editing technique!」

「I will send you the tickets later. If you’ve decided on the number of people, just tell Owner. Deris, do your best as a henpecked husband~」

「I will say it again, congratulations. But, don’t think you can relax your guard. After all, I’m more fired up now! …… Then, I’m going back to the mansion first.」

「My~, I thought I was going to die~. But it was fun so it’s okay! The next event is waiting for me, so I will take my leave. See you!」

「I’m truly grateful to you for inviting me today. It was a wonderful reception. I hope you two――」

The Great Eight Demons said whatever they want and left. Each of them has their own unique personality so I was worried, but it somehow turned out okay. I want to thank everyone for their cooperation.

「Shishō, you can leave the rest to us, so please return to the mansion first.」

「That’s right desuwa! Leave everything to this Therese Batten!」

「Maybe it won’t be much… but I will help too….」

「Yeah, I’ll do it for Chinatsu too. Also, there’s something you need to do when you go back, right…?」

I’m very grateful for your words. But, Touko, I don’t know how to reply if you say it while blushing! Well, I will do it, though.

「Then, I will take your offer and go home.」

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I could see the sun setting a while ago, but it has become dark when we left the knight order’s headquarters. The preparation surprisingly took a lot of time. Walking with Nell will make us stand out, so we are walking through the back street. This kind of street is normally dangerous at night even though it’s not the slum, but thanks to Nell, only a few people who do bad things outside the slum and they are just ignorant fools.

「…… Hey, we are a married couple now, right?」

「Hm? Yeah, that’s right. When I first met you, I never thought we’d get married.」

「Hey, that’s rude.」

「You, how old do you think we were at that time? You were about ten years old and I was in my late teens, you know?」

At that time, I didn’t have any feeling of love. If I had to say, I was more of a babysitter. Nell always followed me, and Alezel always made fun of me about it. To think that the teasing came true, I wonder what face will the young me make? I’d probably stop thinking for a while. But don’t worry, me in the past. She will gradually grow up to your liking, and you will cross the line when you are drunk.

「Are you thinking about something awful?」

「Hahaha, I have no idea what you are talking about.」

Also, her intuition will be sharper than Haru, so be careful.

「Well, it was an encounter between a youngster, who came from another world and didn’t know the common sense of this world at all, and a girl who grew up in the wild after all. It was too unprecedented, and I couldn’t predict it.」

「The bad thing about you is that you get too caught up in that common sense.」

「Is that so? I thought I have been having a more unprecedented life than usual, though?」

「In my opinion, it’s just the beginning. Still, that name sure is nostalgic. That’s the name of our party in the past, right?」

Uh-huh, I didn’t intend to say the party name, I just said ‘unprecedented’ as an extension of the conversation. But still, it sure is nostalgic.

「… At that time, you probably only saw me as a kid, but I have been in love with you from the beginning, you know?」

「W-What brought this on?」

「I just want to tell you how long I waited for this day. It was love at first sight, you know? It was really a long time.」

Nell looked up at the night sky from between the houses in the back alley. I can see that the stars are shining brightly today.

「If it was love at first sight, I wish you hadn’t bitten my hand when we first met….」

「T-That was my way to hide my embarrassment!」

「Put yourself in my shoes. It was so hurt that I thought my fingers were torn off.」

「Muu….」

I’m being a little mean here, but it’s actually my way to hide my embarrassment. When she’s blushing and being meek like that, my heart is being shot by the gap.

「Deris.」

「Hm?」

「Am I really that severe?」

「…… Do you mean toward me?」

「Toward Chinatsu!」

I thought that she became a little gentler now that we’re married, but it turned out that it’s for her disciple, not her husband…. Chinatsu collapsed midway after all. I was thinking about how to support her, but it seems that Nell also has something on her mind.

「Are you worried about what happened today? It’s so unlike you, who’s known for your spartan training.」

「How rude, even I would be worried too! You see, our environment was harsher than those girls’, right? So, I can only teach them like that…. I’ve been trying to set the limit like you, you know? But even so, Chinatsu collapsed. So, I’ve been wondering if it’s really okay as it is.」

「I-I see….」

「Hey, why are you dumbfounded?」

W-Well, I was taken aback by the fact that Nell was so worried about it. It was a shock that Chinatsu would be deeply moved if she hears it.

「If you’ve been thinking that much, why don’t you hold back a little more? But I guess I’ve been burdening Chinatsu too. After all, the more hardship she has, the more she grows. She will improve by solving problems, enough to be a match for Haru.」

「I know, right!? You think so too, right!? That’s why, even though I understand it, I can’t stop!」

I can’t help but agree with this. In terms of Skill composition, Chinatsu is the exemplar model of someone who will grow by racking her brain. Hang in there, Chinatsu. That’s your fate. Don’t worry, I will support you as much as I can.

「… About training at Maria’s place, let’s put it on hold. Let’s have them train at Alezel’s place beforehand.」

「Eh, Alezel!?」

「What’s with that face?」

「No, I just remembered that you’re quite a savage, too. Alezel is no good, you know?」

「Wha!? If you say that, then Maria is definitely worse than her!」

「She is fine~」

「Damn you… I will make you cry today!」

「Try it if you can!」