“Eh? Hajime-kun? Wait, Nagumo-kun? Eh? What? What do you mean?”
Kaori’s ecstatic shout made Shizuku, who was by her side, confused and looked alternately between Kaori and Hajime. Apparently, Kaori was able to see through the white haired, eye-patched, black-coated person before her as Hajime with just a single glance, but Shizuku was still unable to recognize him.
However, when she saw the boy’s face who was looking back over his shoulder with a wry smile, it immediately overlapped with Nagumo Hajime in her memory, and Shizuku, with widened eyes, raised a surprised voice.
“Eh? Eh? Really? Is he really Nagumo-kun? Eh? What? What’s really happening here?”
“Well, just calm down, Yaegashi. Aren’t calm, cool, and collected your main selling point?”
The chain of events happened after she, Shizuku, just like Kaori, was prepared to die which made her perplexed and she forgot her pain. Admonishing her as he said Shizuku’s name, Hajime suddenly looked overhead, feeling their presences. Thus, the falling blond-haired girl, Yue, was caught by him in princess carry style and he carefully let her down, next he received the rabbit-eared girl, Shia, who jumped down the same way.
The last to jump down was a boy dressed in black, Endou Kousuke.
“Na-Nagumoo! You-! I was blown away by that! Wait, what was that just now!? It suddenly pierced the dungeon’s floors…”
Endou looked at the surrounding, started complaining. Then, he saw his best friends and the others together with a group of demonic beasts. After noticing that he was being watched by his stiffened classmates, “Nuoh!,” and released a strange shout. To Endou, they voices were half-filled with joy because of their reunion, and anger because he came back.
“”Kousuke!””
“Jyuugo! Kentarou! I’ve come with help!”
Reacting to “I’ve come with help,” Kouki’s party and the demon race woman finally returned to their sense. Then, they once again stared at Hajime and the two girls. However, not minding the gazes of those in his surroundings, Hajime quickly ordered Yue and Shia with a slightly irritated expression.
“Yue, sorry but please protect those people gathered there. Shia, please look at the condition of the fallen man in Knight’s armor there.”
“Nn… leave it to me.”
“Roger~!”
Yue calmly walked without caring about the surrounding demonic beasts, while Shia used her marvelous jumping power to jump overhead the group of demonic beasts and landed beside the collapsed Meld.
“Ha-Hajime-kun…”
Kaori once again called Hajime’s name with a shaking voice. Her tone was probably filled with joy due to the reunion, yet there was also sorrow. It was because she thought Hajime had came here to die. Although Kaori didn’t know the details, her expression was telling him to immediately get away from the place.
Shrugging his shoulders, he returned Kaori’s gaze. Hajime briefly said, “It’s okay now, so just wait there.” After saying that, he activated “Light Speed” which greatly improved his perception. Then, he took out three Cross Bits from “Treasure Box” which surrounded Kaori and Shizuku like shields.
The floating cross-like objects that suddenly appeared from empty space surprised Kaori and Shizuku. With his back before the two, Hajime made a proposal towards the demon race woman whose appearance could be seen as nothing but arrogance. It was his mercy since the demon race woman was still not his enemy.
“The red-haired woman over there. I won’t do anything if you leave immediately. Just disappeared quickly from here if you don’t want to die.”
“…What did you say?”
It was not a remark that could be said by an ordinary human while being surrounded by demonic beasts. It was the reason why the demon race woman inadvertently asked back. As a response, Hajime repeated himself with an amazed expression.
“Prompt decisions are needed in battlefields. That’s why I said, just disappear from here quickly if you don’t want to die. Understand now?”
Knowing she did not hear it wrong, the demon race woman erased her expression and ordered the demonic beasts while pointing at Hajime, “Kill him.”
This time, the too abrupt situation—— especially the dead of her treasured Ahatd due to an unknown attack made the demon race woman lose her calm and make a fatal mistake.
Even if Hajime had his own objection, the woman was too enraged by Hajime who by the course of events treaded on Ahatd, a demonic beast she didn’t want to lose since it was given to her by her revered superior. In addition, there was the confusion due to the unbelievable situation where the dungeon’s ceiling had been destroyed just because he wanted to go downstairs. In any case, she would have been able to make a more careful judgement if it was the usual her. However, the glove had been thrown out.
“I see… So, I take it that you’re an “enemy”, right?”