Ankoku Kishi Monogatari - Chapter 91.2

Chapter 91.2: Clown

I was born in a rather wealthy family, so it was natural for me to have learned to read and write. Thus, my job was something akin to being the clerk of our mercenary team.

Nevertheless, I never gained recognition for doing this kind of job.

Charis was the one who complained about my treatment.

By the way, there were other people who could read and write in our mercenary team previously, but they all quickly quit due to the poor treatment.

「No, it’s okay Charis. I really don’t mind about my current status.」

I hurriedly stopped Charis.

The warriors in our mercenary team would surely oppose her so doing this wouldn’t do any good for Charis’ status in our mercenary team.

「Well, if you say so…」

She finally calmed down, albeit with an obviously dissatisfied look on her face.

Maybe I’ll have to do something to fix her mood.

「Oh right. I got my hand on a really nice book yesterday. Shall I read it for you? It’s a really interesting book you know.」

「Really?!! Then, please do so.」

Charis’ eyes shone the moment I said so.

Charis, who couldn’t do anything but fight, seemed to be really interested in the stories written in the books I found.

She had this curious nature that kept her interested in something in this world that she never knew or heard about before.

Just like a child.

Thus, we got really close with each other as I taught her about the contents in the books.

Charis sat by my side.

Since she wore attire with an extremely high degree of exposure, my heart felt like it was about to burst open when her hands touched mine.

But, I set my worry aside since Charis was clearly dying to know about the contents of the new book.

I couldn’t help but keep staring at such a lovely Charis.

◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

The curtain of darkness which signalled the coming of night enveloped the Velos Kingdom.

They’d built a bonfire in the plaza in front of the Velos Kingdom Royal Palace and food stalls were lining up.

The situation made it look like it was a festival.

The warriors who were gathered in the plaza that I saw from the balcony of the royal plaza were fooling around as they enjoyed the food and liquor.

They were the source of a great deal of trouble for the knights and soldiers who were patrolling around to maintain public security.

Eclas, the king, was currently looking at the situation along with his escort. That’s why he wasn’t with us.

By the way, we received a warm welcome and were staying in the royal palace.

We were welcomed with a gorgeous dinner, various kinds of liquors, and beautiful dancers as eye candy.

The minstrel was singing praises to the hero.

All of this treatment enabled us to enjoy the liquor and lavish meal.

「Thanks for your hard work, Shirone-san.」

I called out to Shirone-san to thank her after she finished her match against Charis.

「Yeah, it’s more tiresome since I had to be very careful to not accidentally hurt my opponent.」

Shirone spoke as she drank the cider in her mug.

Come to think of it, Shirone was really bad at holding back.

Was Charis okay?

「Hey, is that girl okay?」

The moment I was pondering over the matter, Rino voiced out the worry in my mind.

「Yeah, I’m worrying about he~r. She might’ve already died by now you know~.」

「W-W-Wait, what are you two talking about!! She’s safe and sound you know!」

Shirone corrected the two in hurry.

Thus, Rino and Nao revealed an impish smile on their face.

I smiled lightly along with them. Well, Shirone’s flustered appearance was hilarious after all.

「Poor Shirone, even Rino and Nao are teasing you now.」

Reiji rebuked the two girls while receiving the cider from the waitress.

”
”
「Yeah, Reiji-san!! Please tell them off more!!」

Shirone was sulking.

「That girl will be okay. I believe in your skills, Shirone.」

「Reiji-kun…」

Shirone looked like she was deeply moved by Reiji’s remark.

Good grief, his glib tounge was truly troublesome.

I took the prepared light meal with chopstick.

I picked up some white fleshed fish fritter too.

Its fried coating batter was crunchy and delicious.

Suddenly, all of us snapped out of our merry mood due to the commotion in the outside.

When I looked outside, I saw a troupe of clowns doing an acrobatic show in the middle of the plaza.

Were they summoned by Eclas?

「Wa~. It seems to be so much fun.」

Rino pushed out her body from the balcony to see the show.

「Hee, they move really well eh.」

Reiji was praising the clowns’ movements.

The clowns were jumping up and down so many times in the air. That movement was clearly impossible for a normal human. They must’ve been training for a really long time to achieve that.

「Eh? Something is coming out?」

When Nao pointed that out, a clown with a black costume and a clown with a white costume appeared from within the audience with a sword in their hands.

And lastly, the two were being followed by a clown with the most gaudy costume who came out as he sang loudly.

His voice sounded really nice.

「The devil’s army comes with the black sto~rm. They were led by the noble Dark Kni~ght♪」

And then, the black clown began to dance.

That clown might represent the Dark Knight.

「The hero of light tried to stop them~♪ Only to get beaten black and blue by the Mighty Dark Knight~♪」

The white clown then moved as if he was beaten to the ground by the black clown.

The white clown was trying to escape from the black clown in an extremely amusing and ridiculous manner.

The audience was laughing aloud upon seeing the white clown’s funny act.

「Wait a minute!! This is!!」

Shirone who saw the improptu performance of the clowns shouted the moment she realized the content.

Yes, those clowns were clearly making fun of Reiji.

「The escaped Hero of Light is chased around by the noble Dark Knight~♪」

The gaudy clown sang that part with an amusing voice.

And then, the black clown was chasing after the white clown in circle while the gaudy clown stood in the middle of that circle.

The white clown was running around while making an extremely pitiful look on his face.

「What’s that!! Aren’t they just making fun of Reiji-san!!」

Rino screamed with enraged voice.

「Calm down everyone!! I understand your anger but who in the world are those clowns?!」

Reiji jumped down form balcony, heading toward the clowns. I went after him in hurry.

The audience in the plaza quickly dispersed, making a room for us upon seeing us descend.

The clowns stopped their performance after they saw us.

「If it isn’t the Hero of Light-sama. It’s nice to meet you~. I’m Zand, the Clown. Did you enjoy our impromptu performance~?」

The gaudiest clown came out to greet us.

「That’s quite a performance, isn’t it? So, what’s the meaning of this?」

Reiji asked with a smile on his face.

This was a smile saved for when he was enraged.

「You’ve already kno~w, right. To make a fool of you~.」

Reiji drew his sword the moment Zand spoke.

The next moment, Zand’s head had already been separated from his neck.

The audeinces raised a scream upon seeing that.

「WHA-WHAT ARE YOU DOING, REIJI-KUN!! YOU CAN’T JUST SUDDENLY KILL HIM LIKE THAT!!」

Now we’d lost an important source of information.

「Such a cruel ma~n. Cutting off my neck out of nowhere like tha~t.」

But to my surprise, the clown picked up his head and placed it on his own neck again as if nothing had happened.

Which reminded me that there was no blood shower either. In short, he wasn’t a living being.

「AH!! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO’VE BEEN TAILING US ALL THIS TIME!! I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS DISGUSTING PRESENCE!!」

Nao pointed her finger toward Zand.

He turned out to be the one who was tailing us all this time.

So he finally decided to appear before us.

「Inde~ed. You never came~ after a~ll. Kuna-sama is really pissed off you kno~w. Hyahahahahaha.」

Zand was laughing which made me wonder what he was laughing about.

「Kuna… Hmph, so that means you are that girl’s familiar, isn’t it?」

Shirone came forward and drew her sword.

Though I couldn’t see her face since I stood behind her, I knew that she was pissed off from her voice.

「Kukuku, that’s ri~ght. Kuna-sama is my Godde~ss. Hahahaha~, All hail Kuna-sama~.」

His head was dancing happily in the air. To be honest, that spectacle was nauseating.

「It’s disgusting, Chiyuki-san.」

Rino said so as she hide behind me.

「Yeah, I agree with you.」

I was looking up at the clown called Zand. To make such repulsive fella like him into her subordinate.. as expected of the wicked Silver Witch.

「Kuna. The Silver-Haired girl from that time huh. It’s an honour to have such beauty wait for me. Worry not, I shall go for a visit immediately.」

Reiji revealed a daring smile. Now he looked like he was completely enjoying the situation.

「Of course, you have to~. We even prepared a lot of sweets for you~. But, things might get really messy with this kingdom if you delay your departure aga~in. Kyahahahaha.」

After saying so, Zand and his subordinates, the other clowns, flew into the sky.

The rising clowns then swell up.

The audience below moved away immediately.

And then, the clowns’ bodies burst open like crackers, sending rains of ribbons from inside their bodies.

So none of those clowns was living beings huh.

「Come quickly~, I’ll be waiting for you over there~. Kyahahahahahaha.」

Zand’s figure vanished, leaving behind his voice which resounded in the sky.

All of us could only watch that with a dumbfounded look on our faces.