CH 106

Meanwhile, lunch was over, and as each left the room, only Aerial and Phalanx remained there.

「What can I do for you, Aerial…」

「Father, I would like to ask you about the people of Sadyka, who brought Alfiris and the others here.」

「Ahh, it’s a complete violation of the code. Too bad they will have to be sanctioned in some way.」

「It seems so…」

Aerial slumps. Her expression is dark, and although she is not a cheerful person to begin with, her mood seems to be too gloomy and depressive.

「What’s the matter, Aerial? That’s not seemed to be your problem.」

Phalanx was perceptive. After living with Aerial for so many years, it seems that he has noticed that there is something out of the ordinary about Aerial.

She is hesitant about something, which is unusual for a bold Aerial. However, she raises her head as if she has made up her mind. Her expression is filled with strong determination.

「Father, there’s actually something I’d like to discuss with you.」

「That’s fine, but… Aerial, has the tornado outside stopped already?」

「Huh? No, it’s not supposed to be yet.」

「We have someone approaching here.」

「What!?」

Aerial puts the consultation out of her mind and flies out to look for signs of life. Her eyesight is many times better than that of an ordinary person. At the edge of her field of vision, she caught sight of something coming toward her.

「What is that…? You think a tornado is going to walk toward us?」

That man… Or rather, wrapped in a robe, it is not clear whether he’s a man or not, but even from a distance he is quite large and muscular, so it is safe to assume that he is a man. The direction in which the man was walking was as if he was walking through a tornado.

In fact, that was not the case, but he was quite a madman just walking leisurely in the midst of this tornado’s wildly moving winds. Aerial felt a sickening sensation of something rising up from the pit of her stomach at her utter disregard for her own life.

「Aery, what’s the matter?」

Before she knew it, Alfiris is coming to Aerial.

「Something is… walking straight toward us.」

「In the middle of this tornado!?」

「Yes… I don’t know what it is, but I have a very bad feeling about it. He’s still 5km away, but get everyone ready to intercept… Huh?」

When she thought Aerial was filled with astonishment, she silently pushed Alfiris down and away from her as if she was rolling in place. Alfiris did not know what had happened, but she found herself standing in front of a tremendous giant of a man.

He must have been at least two meters tall. Although he is clad in jet-black robes, he is already quite ragged, and his body is visible here and there. His body is unusually well-trained, with tremendous muscles in both the upper and lower body… No, what’s sticking out of those pants is…

「…Wai— Nooooooo! Is this person a pervert!?」

「Who are you calling a perveeeeerrrrttt!?」

「You—!」

「Where’s the perveeeeeerrrrtttt!?」

「Cover your bottom half!」

「Hiding things from the world is not a man’s business!」

「That’s not the same thing!」

Alfiris is arguing back with a red face, but Aerial is having none of it.

「（That’s ridiculous… He was definitely 5km apart just a few minutes ago. And he packed that in an instant? How many legs does this person had? And that presence, that sense of oppression… I can’t believe it feels bigger than the largest Gigantosaurus on the prairie… This person is dangerous.）」

Aerial’s instincts are doing their best to warn him of the danger, and he can’t stop breaking out in a cold sweat. But despite the aerial, Alfiris and Dragleo are arguing with each other.

「Damn, girl. I’ll prove I’m not a pervert!」

「N–Noooo! Get away from meeeeeee!」

Alfieres, red in the face, is yapping. She is in a complete panic, and the option of fighting seems to have disappeared from her mind. Dragleo tries to get close to Alfiris. Some footsteps approaching there.

「You bastard!!! What are you trying to do to my Alfie with your ××××!」

「Take this!」

Nia delivers a two-stage leaping kick in the air to Dragleo’s face and throat, and when he is out of position, Miranda opens up full force and slams her mace into his face. As expected, Dragleo was blown away.

「Are you alright, Alfiris?」

「What’s with that obscenity displaying pervert? Someone call the neighborhood watch!」

「I… I–I… I’ve never seen that before… Awwwhh…」

Alfiris is completely teary-eyed from the psychological damage. For now, it looks like she’ll be useless for a while, so they decided to leave her to Fenna and bring her down to the rear, leaving Nia, Miranda, and Aerial to deal with the situation.

「Did you get him, Miranda?」

「I wonder? It was a tough enough fight, but …」

「…That’s not enough.」

Miranda and Nia looked at her when she said it Aerial, but as she said, Dragleo woke up as if nothing had happened.

Then Miranda and Nia noticed for the first time that the man was clad in jet-black robes.

「Miranda, that robe…」

「Yeah, it looks like something from those boys we met at Zea…」

「You mean those ridiculous people you met before?」

Aerial had heard the story, as well, and had an idea; when Aerial asked the two of them, they nodded silently.

「If that’s the case… it could be bad.」

「Oh, can we beat him?」

「My senses is telling me… it’s impossible.」

They were surprised to hear Aerial make a weak statement for the first time. However, Aerial’s expression had begun to change from pale to earthy.

Then Dragleo slowly opens his mouth.

「The power… what is that?」

「Hah?」

「What did you say?」

「…」

None of the three answered. No, rather, not even close. Dragleo’s mood is clearly different from earlier. It seems that he has been beaten up and is now ready to fight.

「Power is…」

「「「（Gulp.）」」」

「Is Poweeeeeeeeerrrrr!!!」

「It’s not exactly like that!!」

Alfiris, who was behind them, retorted, but the three vanguards were under unusual pressure and were unable to do anything about it.

「Uruaaaahhh!!!」

Then, with a yell and a scream, Dragleo rushes in. The screams alone make all of them shudder. The deadly energy emanating from Dragreo’s body swells even more, and his figure is even larger than it appears, giving the illusion that a giant beast larger than a Giganotosaurus is right in front of him.

As it is, Dragleo raises his right hand toward Nia. Dragleo was just trying to release his right fist with all his might, but Nia, who was targeted, was unable to move due to the excessive pressure.

「Ah…」

Dragleo’s approaching fist seemed very slow.

「（This is… bad.）」

They say that just before you die, the sight appears slower, but faster than Nia thought so, Aerial was jumping sideways to hug Nia. If Aerial had been willing to fight back from the start, Near would not have had a life.

Then Miranda went for the face again with her mace to counter. And it hit him squarely in the face at the perfect moment…

「Patieeeeeennnnccceeeee!」

「What!?」

With a scream, the Dragleo comes charging through, pushing back the mace that was received in the face. Miranda is pushed back by the force and rolls to the ground.

And then——

「Eat thiiiisssss!!!」

「!」

Dragleo’s fist is swung down toward Miranda. The force of his grip is so intense that it seems as if he is clutching not only the sound of the mesh-mesh, but also the air around him.

「（I’ll get hit!?）」

Just as Miranda was about to take a defensive posture out of instinct, even though she felt inwardly that it was futile, something red ran overhead.