Konjiki no Moji Tsukai

Since Shinobu suddenly asked for a duel with Hiiro, Hiiro naturally asked for a reason. For which Shinobu presented her side of the argument.

[Actually I dont know if youll understand this or not, but I applied for the Uchira Army]

[......and so?]

[Well, I thought that you would understand all this with a big head of yours Okamura-chi, but as I thought it doesnt seem like that.]

That might be so. Even though the Demon lord has approved of their existence, but still the two of them are still heroes. They belonged to party which attacked this country and tried to subjugate the Demon Lord.

Therefore it is impossible to immediately write-off all that has happened and get along.

[And so, we have been training here every day but..]

[Were you by any chance bullied.?]

Although Hiiro went ahead and asked the question, Shinobu immediately denied it by shaking her head.

[Umm, it is actually the opposite, the people of Uchira army avoid coming near us and act as if we are some kind of a tumor.]

I see, its probably because the soldiers are perplexed on how to treat the heroes. Although they are under observation, the soldiers probably think that the ability of the hero is something that is way beyond the usual understanding from their past experience.

The soldiers think that they might do something bad, and therefore they run away from these two thinking that they (Shinobu and Shuri) might do something to them.

Therefore they try not to associate more than necessary with these two. Although this is not running away, nor does it look like bullying the newcomers, but its just their attitude towards stronger existence.

[.......You two, arent you misunderstanding something?]

Hiiro spoke those words with an annoyed expression while his eyebrows were raised.

[Mi-misunderstanding?]

[Thats right, if you think about your position, you can understand why the people here have such an attitude towards you, and from where you are standing now it cannot be thought anything short of abnormal.]

[Th-that is.]

[This treatment is because of the Demon lord. Normally the two of you would have been executed long ago, arent you thankful for that?]

To the words of Hiiro, Shinobu and Shuri had nothing to refute them.

[Moreover since you are the Heroes of the Human race, the soldiers are wondering whether you two really entered the army for the sake of [Demon (Evila)] or maybe they think if you two would really do something to contribute to [Demon (Evila)] right?

[Uu~u]

[Oh, did you two wish to show off your strength to them with a match against me?]

[..........]

Silence was the confirmation.

[Well, according to you, if I take up your request and fight against you two in front of the Uchira army then it means that I acknowledge you two to be my opponent in this friendly match which will change the attitude of the soldiers right]

According to the looks of agony on their face the two of them seemed to have received a critical hit and looked at me as if asking for no more.

[I will say this again, dont get me wrong. I will admit this in front of your right now, I dont like fighting. You can understand this if you think about this a little, but you're still naive. I did tell you that this will not be very easy.or have you forgotten?]

[We! We did not forget! We-we just wanted to do something to prove ourselves...]

Shinobu turns her head away with a *mirumiru* sorrowfully.

[Oka-mura-chi is correct. All of it is .. correct, we thought that the two of us joining the army would increase the chance of us helping others out.]

Hiiro nodded with a *as i thought* look.

[But even so we made sure to have gone over this with Eve-chi]

Demon lord yo, I wonder if it is really fine calling you that...

[We also know that we are a pain to Ionis-sama, the Uchira-army and we even cause trouble to Shublarz-sama]

Oioi, youre referring to the Demon lords subordinate with a -sama suffix, but to the demon lord...just how close are you with the Demon lord..?

Unintentionally Hiiro was widely amazed at the futility and the incapability of the Demon Lord

[Knowing the wishes of the Uchira army, we will not mind being treated like that. We are rather truly happy]

Shinobu laughs with a *Hoho*, and turns towards Shuri. And this time Shuri was the one to speak.

[Of course, we also desire to realize our dreams. But, before that we would like to give back our thanks to the Demon (Evila) -desu]

[Repay, huh?]

[Yes, Even though we are Heroes the Demon (Evila) still took the two of us in and gave us a chance to stand up again. Therefore, we are very thankful for that. And thats why, we would like to be useful and help others with the power that we possess.]

When Hiiro peered into their eyes, he could see their eyes burning with resolve, and he felt that he should look forward to what they do.

But Hiiro was quite surprised when the two said that they liked the hospitality of the Demon (Evila). But well, Hiiro was convinced since even he was quite pleased with their hospitality.

[I see, I understand what youre saying. But I am not going to fight you here, because there is nothing in it for me.]

Hiiro was getting quite tired, while he was wondering why he should move for the sake of these who he doesnt even know that well.

When Hiiro said so, with one look you could see the depressing feeling coming from Shuri and Shinobu.

[Is there any other way to convince this person here.hm?]

Ionis pulled the sleeves of Hiiros attire while he was speaking.

[....what is it?]

[Being their opponent..is it no good?]

[As is said earlier, its a pain and there is no merit in doing so.]

Rather than doing that I would rather spend as much time as possible at the Library.

[......is that so..]

When looking at Ionis eyes one could feel a sense of disappointment coming from them.

If you look at me with such a face, for the people who are looking at us it would look like I am bullying a child.

[Hey Hiiro, its fine even if its just a 1000m race.]

This talking monkey, Ten, never lets go of chance to add extra things to the talk.

[Then why dont you go ahead and compete against them? wouldnt it be a wonderful thing for a [Sprit] such as you]

Hiiro wove the disgust in to his tone.

[Your tone is completely different to your words! Moreover, the two Jo-chan here want to fight against Hiiro right?]

[If you want the people here to recognize you, wouldnt be fine if its someone else? Even if they do accept to fight against you, you can still talk to them and spend more time with them]

[Ah, Hiiro is such an Idiot..but i guess its alright, why dont you try what he said for a bit]

Indeed as Ten said, if Ornoth was here then Hiiro would have needed an opponent to try something with. But since Ornoth had left already, he had already switched to his reading mode.

[Other than that, you can all try going against Nitoryuu later on]

[N.then I will be your opponent in place of Hiiro]

Camus answered with a Dead-pan expression, at that time, when everyone was about to give in to the unwavering will of Hiiro,

[Ara~ everyone what are you doing~?]

Shublarz appeared with her mature appeal and a smile on her face. When she saw Hiiro she clapped her hands with *Pachi* while thinking this was a very good thing.

[If~ itsnt~ Hiiro-kun~. N~...........did something happen~?]

When she looked at the faces of Shinobu, Shuri and Ionis they all had a sinking expression on it.

[Actually what happened was..] Ionis explained the proceedings to Shublarz.

[N~ so thats what happened~, so Hiiro-kun wont fight against them no matter what?]

[I dont want to. I would pointlessly get exhausted]

[Oh yeah, since Hiiro-kun is a guest we cannot impose such a thing on him ne~]

Hiiro thought that although she was weird she had good sense along with her personality. Then, Shublarz closed her eyes, as if thinking really hard about something, and put her hands together while her huge breasts rested on her arms,

And then she put her closed fist on her opened arm with a *Pon*,

[If thats the case then its good~. I had something that I wanted to request that only involves the two of you]

Shinobu and Shuri look towards her direction. Not just the two of them but all of the people focus their gaze on Shublarz with a *Kyoton*. {TN: astonished SFX}

[Actually ne, I heard that the stock of fishes and the shellfishes were getting lower and lower and so I wanted you procure it from [Azazel Sea]. Usually this kind of task would have been left to the Herb Collection squad~, but since you were trying so hard to earn our trust why dont you give this a try?]

The [Azazel Sea] that she mentioned is the nearest ocean to this country. Sea food for the country is mainly procured from there.

As the sea is in contact with the Demon continent, the Danger Level is really high and therefore a lot of troops need to be deployed, and Shublarz wanted to do something to help Shinobu and gang, this seemed to be a perfect opportunity for them to prove themselves.

[Isnt this a good thing~, since this mission requires both trustworthy and capable units to accomplish this task, correspondingly you will obtain equivalent trust~. Alright then I guess there is no need for me here anymore~]

Just when I thought that i could finally leave this place,

[Wait just a moment Hiiro-kun~]

[Hm?]

Suddenly Shublarzs voice sounded out asking for me to stop.

[Actually~, I wanted Hiiro-kun to go along with these two no~]

[........What are saying?]

Hiiros mood instantly turns bad. No matter in which way he thought he didnt see any reason to go along with them so wondered what could be the purpose behind those words.

[Its like this ne~, there is a happiness shark in that ocean there...]

[Alright, I will definitely make sure to catch it.]

[[[[[...........................................................eeeeehh?]]]]]

Hiiro became determined and made a closed fist which gave off the feeling [Leave it to me~]. But this sudden change in Hiiros mood and his answer left everyone staring and wide-eyed.

Even Ten was looking with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide. Everyone was dumbfounded at Hiiro accepting Shublarz proposal within moments.

[Aa, that is, umm..is that ok?]

[Yes, its fine, we shall leave as soon as possible.]

[Um, is.. that so? Eh eh, I would be very glad~ if you do~]

Looking at the palpable motivation burning fiercely in Hiiros eyes, Ten approached Shublarz and asked,

[Was this your aim?]

[Yes~, although I had planned many things to make him accept if this failed~, I never would have expected that he would accept it without causing any troubles at all ha~]

[What do you mean?]

[Actually it was Moosun (the chef). Hiiro-kun would accept it as long as it was matter concerning food and ingredients. Apparently this was something that Hiiro-kun said that he had wanted to eat again if possible since he had it in the past.]

[Haa~, and so?]

[It seems to be about the Happiness Shark no~, Hiiro said that to Moosun that the Happiness Shark that he had eaten previously was really delicious and so Moosun said that he knew to prepare many delicious Happiness Shark dishes, and Hiiro-kun had asked for Moosun to cook it again if there was ever an opportunity~]

[Ah~ and so..this changed behavior]

Ten nods as if confirming the fact about Hiiros sudden change in Motivation.

[Even so..Even though he was extremely stubborn until just a while ago, with just a mention of a food ingredient... such a simple guy]

[Fufufu~, Ara~, I actually find this side of Hiiro-kun really cute~ yo? And with this no matter what happens, Hiiro-kun will be with those two kids, so isnt that two birds with one stone.]

Even now the stunned Shinobu and Shuri were looking at Hiiro.

(Seriously~, Hiiros character is so very easy to understand at the same time so very hard..well, thats what i find really interesting about him anyway)

Ten gives a toothy grin. Then ran from where he was and jumped onto Hiiros shoulders.

[Alright! Lets head to the [Azazel Sea]]

[Absolutely! I will definitely catch it and obtain that delicious dish]

He raised his fists to the sky like a kid showing their enthusiasm. Ten and Camus also join in doing the same gesture with an [O~~]