A small carriage was running along a road lit up by the sun.
There were three people, one man and 2 women who were crammed up in the coach driver's seat, which could be said to be anything but spacious.
Seated in the middle is the Shadow Mirage, one of the 4 Heavenly King of the Demon King's army, a black-haired man wearing a strange mask.
He was pressed from both sides, his arm which held the reins was tight, and even though his expression behind the mask could not be seen, it certainly would be a fed-up expression, as it can be felt in the atmosphere emitted around him from his whole body.
「Hey Tart, you opening the documents here is a total pain in the butt, why don't you move back into the carriage? It should be hard to shuffle, with this little space. 」
「I'm small, so it's fine. I think that Raffa's self-assertive wings are in the way, so please step back into the carriage quietly or do you want to sit next to Mirage-Sama so much? 」
A winged red-haired little girl, Rafa, sitting on the left side of Mirage, demanded the little girl with silver-horns, Astarte sitting on the other side to move back into the carriage with her thump pointing towards it.
However, Astarte replies coldly to Rafa, while checking the paper on her lap.
Mirage group of three, appeared in the place where they reached last time, using the transfer magic, and then proceed further North-East in a horse-drawn carriage, but one problem had arisen.
Originally Mirage and Astarte were the only ones supposed to travel and the necessary goods could be brought using Transfer magic, so they only had minimum baggage to put on the carriage.
As a result of which they decided to bring the smallest carriage in the Shadow castle.
On the first day the carriage had been transferred together with them to the magic mark placed by Mirage near the Wolf demon's territory, but to conserve---- Mirage's known---- magic power, Mirage and Astarte had left the carriage in the open and returned to the Shadow castle.
Since there was just an addition of one companion, Mirage decided not to change the carriage, but Astarte and Rafa began to argue about who will sit in the coach driver's seat.
On the pretext of being able to do her work on the road, Astarte insisted on sitting next to Mirage with efficiency in mind, while Rafa insisted that she was the one who will be useful in case of an attack and so neither of them conceded.
Considering Astarte's actual personality, it is natural for her to avoid such useless fights, but as the opponent was her childhood friend, Rafa, the children's quarrel broke out here again.
Eventually, they did not decide which one of them will pull back, seeing the endless struggle of the two, Mirage half-heartedly suggested both of them to sit in the front, which resulted in the current situation.
By the way, Mirage made this proposal with the intention of pulling himself back into the carriage, but it seems that Astarte and Mirage had interpreted it as all of them sitting in the driver seat.
「N, it is nothing like me wanting to sit next to him! Don't link me with such strange vulgar conceptions of yours! The Wolf demons are Fast and strong, I am sitting here to protect this black bean sprout against a sudden danger. 」1
「It doesn't matter to me what Rafa believes. I wonder which of the 4 Heavenly kings was the one who challenged such Black bean sprout-Sama and was defeated after that...... If I remember correctly, it was the Dragon Demons unusually muscle-headed Miss....., the one with the exaggerated alias of Swift wind. 」
「I've been training myself since then, so I will not lose now! But Mao-Sama has banned any sort of duel so I can just reluctantly endure or else I would have a good rematch immediately. Even then, Tart, I can still beat you to a pulp for your impudent talking. 」
Mirage can't help but giggle when he hears Rafa's comment.
Aside from his real ability, Mirage, who had a thin body frame and preferred a magic-based fight, was considered to be a very weak person in close combat inside the Demon King's army.
At the time when he First met Rafa, she called him a black Bean sprout as he looked very similar to that.
His hair was black, his cloak black, his clothing black and he had a thin body with a fair-skin, so his nickname matched perfectly with his appearance.
The thing about Rafa's defeat against Mirage, was before them becoming the 4 Heavenly Kings, Rafa had thought nothing much of Mirage who looked naïve, but was defeated as a result of this, Mirage didn't care about that much, but for Rafa who hates losing couldn't accept that and since then he has been entangled with her somehow or other.
Since, the Demon King Lilith, has forbidden duels between the 4 Heavenly Kings, saying that it was too dangerous, Rafa tries to compete with him in other things.
Of course, Mirage who disliked trouble did not take it seriously, but his attitude was taken as a sign of complacency, as a result of which Rafa more heatedly competed with him.
「He laughs at being called black bean sprout, as one would expect of the perverted masked man Mirage-Sama. I have a boss who is delighted when people speak ill of him, I think I am the most unfortunate adjutant in the Demon King's army. No, the most unfortunate one is the Dragon Demons Adjutant. I feel uncomfortable just imagining myself serving the Heavenly king who leaves her own work and sticks her head in things that have nothing to do with her. 」
Today, Astarte's Attacks--- verbal attacks--- are shaper and even more sophisticated than usual.
But is that really so?, upon hearing Astarte's remark, Falsa recalls the other Heavenly Kings and their adjutants. Thinking about the pervert in the south was out of the question, then he had a strong impression of the adjutant of the child who manages the west and likes to work at his own pace, as that guy always had to clean up after that child.
「Tart-Chan, I don't know what to say myself, but I think that I am very nice compared to the other 4 Heavenly Kings. In the first place, I find it strange as to when did we become the topic of the argument. 」
「Hey you all, you are saying as if I am not good! In the first, you all similarly care too much about the small details. I think it would be much easier to make them submit with my fist. 」
Rafa's words may seem tyrannical, but most of the Demons believe that power is everything, so this is not surprising to understand.
Up until the Demon Army was formed, the members of the Demon race were mostly primitive groups, that were fighting for territory with each other without even trying to communicate.
This is because they had a longer lifespan and were physically superior to the humans, and they had many magical powers and had peculiar magic unique to their tribe, so they never felt the need to cooperate with other tribes.
However, Mao-Lilith, who thought that the survival of the Demon race will be Jeopardised like this, gathered and united the demons and eventually the gathered demons formed an organization called Demon King's army.
Although the number of demons who started interacting with other tribes has increased recently, they are still limited to a small part of the demons, and this does not reach the ideal of the Demon King Lilith.
But it would be unthinkable for those who knew Demons of the past to see Mirage of the Shadow tribe---- to be precise half-blood of the shadow tribe---, Astarte of the evil demon tribe and Rafa who is of the Dragon Demon tribe coexisting with each other despite arguing.
And the Wolf Demons, whom they are going to negotiate with, kept refusing to join the Demon King's Army, based on the old ideology of Demons.
They are a very belligerent and proud family, who may eventually submit in front of force as Rafa said earlier, but it will take, god knows how much time and how many lives will be lost in the process.
That's why even after having repeated skirmishes with the Wolf Demons, the Demon Army has refrained to use large numbers to make them forcefully submit.
This is likely to be a trap, but if the Wolf Demons join the Demon army, it will have a significant impact on other demons like them, that is why it is an important task worthy of dispatching a Heavenly King.
「........I think it's useless talking about it here. 」
「 I guess they're the guide, I think we'll be on foot from here. 」
「 I haven't finished talking...... hey. 」
In front of the carriage was a great forest, with several Wolf Demons waiting at the entrance.
From the outside, the road extending into the forest is narrow, and it seems difficult to travel in a carriage.
Mirage pulled the reins, moved the carriage to the side and stopped there.
Astarte and Rafa both descended first, followed by Mirage, who while facing the Wolf Demons before him, was vigilant of his surroundings.
Similarly, like Mirage's group, three demons came forward from the Wolf Demons side and were equally vigilant of Mirage's group, they stopped before the carriage and checked their surroundings vigilantly.
「Are you the messenger of the Demon King? You came earlier than we thought. I am Robert of the Wolf-Demon tribe. Just in case, I am the representative of the head of the tribe, well, I hope to get along with you. 」
「I am Mirage of the 4 Heavenly Kings of the Demon King's Army. Similarly, hope to get along with you. 」
The Wolf Demon, called Robert and Mirage step forward to greet each other.
Robert was taller than the relatively taller Mirage, perhaps nearly two meters high, his arms and legs were covered with brown and black hair, and his features very much resembled that of an animal wolf.
He held out his right hand with a broad grin, showing his canines, Mirage similarly held out his right hand for a handshake as a reply. And as they shook hands a dull groan was heard in their surroundings.
「Ho, you are one of the 4 Heavenly Kings, as expected of the so-called strongest in the Demon Army. I was going to crush that hand thinking that you were fooling us wearing that mask, but it seems you are the real deal. 」
「 I'm used to this kind of response. . . By the way, have you prepared those people hiding in the forest to test us out? To be honest, I don't want to spend too much time, so I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from such unnecessary action. 」
Hearing Mirage's blunt reply, Robert whose smile was getting wider and wider, changed to that of surprise and then he began smiling again.
「Kukukuk,ahahaha! It seems you are the real deal to have noticed the wolf demons, who are hunting for wild monsters and animals like usual. Oi, you guys, you seem to have been discovered, so come out here! 」
When Robert shouted towards the forest, Wolf demons came out of the forest in succession and stood behind him.
They were about thirty, all armed with weapons, and still ready for battle.
And perhaps because their presence was easily noticed, they looked at Mirage's group sharply as if glaring at them, they had an atmosphere as if they would immediately jump out to fight on any cue.
「Hunn, I don't care what you are so displeased about, but if those small-fries hiding around here are your companions then you are still underestimating us too much. I can tell you that it is useless to have a lot of people. 」
「We came here to negotiate but........ now if you act like that, we are not afraid to deal with you. If you want to be beheaded, then please help yourself. 」
On Mirage's side, Rafa bumped her fists once, before taking his stance and Astarte slowly swings her big sickle, to provoke her opponent.
Perhaps the two people's provocation had crossed the limit of their endurance, as some of the Wolf demons rushed forward and began attacking Mirage's group.