Chapter 424: Warming Up

In the courtyard in the center of Crocus Castle. This garden, where one can enjoy the beauty of nature, is known as a place of peace and tranquility, a favorite place of Queen Clarius Crocus. You will feel refreshed by listening to the murmuring of the water flowing through the waterways and the rustling of leaves of the trees, and admiring the colorful flowers. It is said that Clarius, who was busy with her daily political duties, used to visit this place every time she took a break to enjoy a moment of peace and quiet.

However, that is an old story now. Currently, there is only one color that stains this garden, and it is red no matter where you look. The red flowers are in full bloom, the liquid flowing through the waterways is like blood, and the rustling of the leaves of the trees and plants sounds like the laughter of the devil. The crimson garden is thrilling both visually and audibly.

「Landing…! (Low voice)」

「Me too…! (Low voice)」

「You’re already in covert action, huh…. (Satisfied)」

The three who descended to the garden were Haruna, Touko, and Chinatsu. Even though they came down from a high altitude, the landing was very quiet and no impact or sound was emitted. This is the result of them slowing down properly by kicking the air and barriers during the descent, and Haruna softened the impact by manipulating gravity just before they touched the ground.

After confirming that everyone is safe, they checked the garden if there was an enemy. They were checking it repeatedly during the descent, but it’s best to be too careful since there’s still the other monster in the castle.

「…… There’s no one. I don’t feel that terrible response with my detection skill so far, so I guess we’re safe for now. That said, we’re still in the red zone.」

「This place is relatively better for a super-dangerous area, right? We still need to brace ourselves, though.」

「Yes. We shouldn’t let our guard down. By the way, Chinatsu-chan, you look really satisfied, huh?」

「…… Not at all.」n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

(There was a pause….)

Now, the three of them begin their Crocus liberation activities in earnest. Roughly speaking, the task assigned to Haruna and the others this time is to reduce the enemy’s force. Specifically, the main goal is to take out the high-ranking vampires, who are being considered as the Great Eight Demons candidates, while avoiding and hiding from the enemies that they can’t beat, such as the monster that’s currently engaged in a fierce battle with Zex in the sky. Still, in the list of enemies they can fight that Deris told them, there are those who are superior to them. In order to defeat as many of these powerful enemies as possible, the three of them would have to work together.

「Then, let’s go! Chinatsu, where is the nearest point from here?」

「Jeez, you should remember it properly. Let’s see, if this is the courtyard in the center of the castle… it would be near the kitchen on the west side of the castle. Around that area is the territory of the fifth sister of the vampire sisters, Riara Irygal.」

「The kitchen! I want to take a peek at the ingredients they keep in the royal castle!」

「No. You can wait until after we free Crocus. We have to accomplish our goal first!」

「Ah, you’re right. We have to defeat strong enemies first!」

「I feel like they are not on the same page…. Well, it’s a trivial matter. Okay, let’s go!」

「Touko, keep quiet. It’s dangerous if we don’t do it silently.」

「That’s right, Touko-chan. We’re in the middle of a covert operation, you know?」

「You guys were talking in a loud voice just a while ago, weren’t you?」

After exchanging some light jokes to relieve the tension, Haruna and the others run to the vicinity of the kitchen, which they have designated as their target.

「Still, it’s really red everywhere. It hurts my eyes….」

「You heard it from Deris-san, right? There’s a reason why Castle Crocus is red.」

「Let’s see, if I’m not wrong――」

Haruna and Touko try to remember Deris’s words while running sneakily. Looking at them, Chinatsu smiled wryly.

『The red color that dyes everything in Crocus Castle is the same as the barrier that covers Crocus. It’s all over the castle, the plants, and everything else. I don’t know if it’s Maria’s way of showing consideration, but the buildings and nature won’t be destroyed by a little battle. Well, Nell’s attack probably can destroy them, though.』

Haruna and Chinatsu remembered that it is an environmentally friendly barrier, despite its appearance. They clapped their hands at the same time and made a face saying that they just remembered.

「It seems that you remembered it. Thanks to the fact that the world was dyed red, though I don’t know if it’s okay to say it like that, we can go all out without worrying about the surroundings. But on the other hand, we can’t make a hole in the building to make a shortcut, so we have to be careful.」

「It seems that we can make a hole if we really try it, but Shishō said that it would consume a lot of stamina and magic power.」

「We’re sneaking in, but we can only enter through the door or window normally unless it’s an emergency. It’s a hassle that we can’t break it…」

「Touko, that’s what sneaking in is about, you know? Also――」

Chinatsu stopped her words and sent a sign to the two that there are enemies just around the bend.

「Yeah.」

「Roger!」

It seems that Haruna and Touko had already noticed, and they immediately sent back an okay sign. Without slowing down and without making any noise, they change the place they’re running from the floor to the wall. The timing was right when the enemy turned the corner.

「Still, Riara-sama sure is problematic. How can a vampire get drunk because of drinking too much blood?」

「Shh! Y-You’re too loud. What if――」

The enemies are in sight. A man in a butler outfit and a woman in a maid outfit. Both have vampire wings and fangs, and from the content of their conversation, the girls judged them to be the sisters’ subordinates. Before the enemies could notice them, Haruna and Touko kicked the wall and approached them. Then, they began kicking the enemies with gravity and ki on their feet. It’s unknown whether it’s a weak point for vampires, but they mainly attacked the vital points of the human body. In order to mow down the vampires’ consciousness, they kept kicking many times within a split second.

「――Okay, stop. More than that is dangerous.」

Chinatsu, who had been behind the vampires before they knew it, caught the two before they fall to the ground after being knocked out. At the same time, she lightly checked whether they were in life-threatening condition. They were beaten up severely, but they are not in any serious condition. They were beaten up severely, though.

「Judging from the felt, I’d say they are level 7 vampires. That’s too bad, Haruna.」

「But I think it was a good warm-up!」

「Why don’t you carry these guys while you’re warming up? If they sleep in the middle of the passage, they’ll be a nuisance to the others.」

「Y-Yeah…?」

Chinatsu showed the kindness (?) of moving the unconscious vampires to the end of the passage so that they won’t get in the way. It seems that Chinatsu’s excitement is still a little high.

After that, the three continued to run toward the kitchen while defeating the high-ranking vampires they met along the way. On the way, there were times when the ground rumbled from other places, but they decided not to worry about it, as there was no point in worrying about it. And a few minutes after the start of the mission, Haruna and the others arrived at the kitchen.

「Hic! …… Ara, ara ara~? There’s something that smells good~?」