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“…Hoo.”

The black-haired girl sighed deeply as she shook her head while gazing at the battlefield.

“It’s a failure, Demon Lord.”

[You say you failed?]

As the orange earring hanging from one of her ears glimmered, another voice emerged from within.

[That’s impossible. The plan was perfect!]

“It was perfect. If not for that strange variable.”

[Is that so…?]

The voice of Satan, the Demon King.

“The Sorceress of Crimson Lotus interfered. Just before I could take a shot at the Magic King, she pulled the trigger and immediately drew her waist!”

[You mean she reacted to the gunshot? No way. In a battlefield where orcs are squealing like pigs, and with the chaos of them firing energy cannons, she could actually detect the sound of magical bullets from afar?]

“If she hadn’t noticed it, she wouldn’t have been able to draw the Magic King so smoothly. She even seemed to have some leeway. If it were urgent, she would have just yanked it, but she managed to dodge while pulling her waist!”

[…Well, if she aimed for the head, she’d have shoved him or pulled his hair if she were in a hurry. Do you have any idea what her motives are?]

“I don’t.”

Neither Satan nor the girl had any clue how she had detected the long-range sniper shot.

“I don’t know how she felt it, but it seemed like we made eye contact.”

[That’s absurd.]

Satan’s voice was filled with disbelief.

[We’re kilometers apart. Unless the Sorceress of Crimson Lotus has supernatural eyesight, there’s no way you’d make eye contact. You’re being overly sensitive.]

“Is that so…? Well, maybe she does have some sort of supernatural vision.”

The girl was positioned at the very front line of the Grand Anari Principality, where the ‘Dragon Tail’ was visible.

In the woods.

“…My camouflage was perfect. Maybe there’s a long-range detection magic or something.”

[That’s a possibility.]

Rising from her spot, the girl brushed off leaves sticking to her and stepped back.

“So what should we do, Demon Lord? The orcs are being fried in real-time right now. Should I help?”

[Those are not orcs. Orcs are formidable warriors. We can’t have those who didn’t pass the harsh training process in our ranks.]

“Then?”

[We abandon them. We understood that one of the enemy’s offensive measures is gone, and we learned that long-range sniping won’t affect the Sorceress of Crimson Lotus. Losing 2,000 useless orcs turned out to be a beneficial exchange after all.]

“Just as planned.”

The girl yawned and shook her head.

“When the Magic King makes his move, I’ll shoot him with a sniper… Hmm, if this fails, what’s next—”

[Stop. Don’t carelessly talk about the operation out loud.]

At Satan’s urgent voice, the girl frowned.

“Why not?”

[It’s something my ‘mentor’ said. Always think that there’s someone who will listen to your words, whether they be heroes or anyone else. Daytime words are heard by the sun, and nighttime words by the Moon Goddess. You know that better than anyone, right?]

“…Isn’t that being overly paranoid?”

[Isn’t it better than regretting later, thinking, ‘How did they figure that out?!’]

At the words of the Demon King, Satan, the girl shrugged her shoulders.

“…You sound just like my old folks. Always telling me to keep quiet whenever and wherever. How do you know them better than me, who spent time in the Intermediate Realm? Did you get secretly summoned and then chased to the Demon World somehow?”

[…Grr. If my subordinates in the Demon World knew about your attitude, you surely wouldn’t survive.]

“But you don’t have them, do you? You definitely need my help to bring them back, right?”

[You insolent girl.]

Although a tinge of anger slipped through, there was amusement in Satan’s voice.

[If you weren’t the daughter of that guy, I’d have killed you by now.]

“Even without being his daughter, you can’t just deal with me however you want. You brought me in as an officer of the Demon King’s army asking for help; you can’t just disregard that!”

[At first, I thought you were a polite young lady, but you immediately showed your true colors. Tsk.]

Like a grandfather having fun with his granddaughter.

[The sniper is a failure. Since it failed once, wait until the enemy’s guard is down.]

“Wait? Hmm… Can’t we just keep shooting even after failing?”

[No. The Sorceress of Crimson Lotus will be on high alert. If you really want to shoot, go over towards the Empire. You can trigger those foolish guards over there.]

“The Empire? Is that okay? I don’t mind, but isn’t the Empire our ally?”

[The Emperor would think it merely a constant factor following the secret alliance between the Demon King and the Empire. It wouldn’t be strange for guards at the border facing the Demon King’s army to drop dead.]

“Hmm, is that so…”

The girl pouted.

“Guess it’s no fun if I have to play guessing games. I’d rather meet another Demon King, or a hero… or perhaps a saintess.”

[If Liriez appears, you can aim for her as well.]

“Hmmm, understood. Then I guess… I’ll just sit back, sip tea, and wait for orders.”

Clink.

The light from the earrings faded.

The girl, who had just been playfully smiling, suddenly turned serious as she unclasped her earrings and clenched them tightly in her hand.

“…Wait for the next mission. Sigh.”

The girl licked her lips as she looked at the orc horde engulfed in flames.

Flames.

The numerous fire pillars rising from the ground were dazzlingly brilliant.

Within the green shield, the red-haired woman wielding her staff, the Sorceress of Crimson Lotus, was burning orcs while constantly remaining vigilant around her.

An acquaintance.

If it’s truly her from 500 years ago, while I have never met her personally, there is a certain connection.

“…If it’s really her, what should I do…?”

‘We definitely made eye contact.’

I’m not sure if the Sorceress of Crimson Lotus is truly that figure from 500 years ago, but at the very least, that flame conjurer, appearing in this era, is definitely not an average sorcerer.

Perhaps.

I may have to reveal my ‘true self’—

“…Ugh, I really don’t know.”

Clank.

The girl threw the magic sniper rifle, which was twice her height, into the air.

Soon, the rifle vanished into an alternate space, and she licked her lips as she looked up at the sky.

“…It’s as blue as the day my father died.”

FLASH.

“On the day that Demon King died… the sky was just as blue.”

The girl’s wide-open eyes looking up had a yellow hue, with pupils slit vertically.

“I will definitely reclaim… my father.”

Flap.

Black wings unfolded behind the girl.

Neither angelic nor avian.

Wings like those of a bat or pterosaur.

*

“I almost died.”

Not me, but Mammon.

“…A ridiculous long-range sniper shot. How on earth could this happen…?”

“If you’ve got a rifle, then there can be sniping rifles to shoot from far away. However, if you can shoot from that distance, piercing through the protective shield you created, you must be an exceptional master.”

Although I think of it as a sniper rifle because of the rifle and because the bullets fired were ‘magical bullets’, I can’t tell if what I saw was a sniper rifle or a magically crafted staff.

“Out there, you can shoot beams as powerful as stabbing a holy sword with just a finger.”

“Is that something Satan said?”

“No, it’s a human story.”

It’s a tale from one of the macho party members I once traveled with.

“By the way, have you ever seen a little girl who looks like this?”

I projected the illusion of the girl I identified using mana to see if Mammon recognized her.

“…No, I don’t know her. Never heard of her…”

But Mammon seemed completely clueless.

I dispersed the illusion with my hand and continued showering flames toward the orcs.

“She’s a Half-Dragon.”

“…A Half-Dragon?”

“Yes. The Half-Dragon of the Black Dragon with whom I have an ill fate.”

“Oh, you don’t mean…?”

“…….”

What could I say?

“Wasn’t there a Black Dragon that the Demon King killed and seized 500 years ago…?”

“That’s right. That Black Dragon was the last of its kind. It left no bloodline as a dragon.”

But it did leave a half-dragon.

And of course, the Half-Dragon is the daughter of the Black Dragon I defeated and took the body of.

To be precise, a half born out of a relationship with a human.

“Excuse me, Witch. What should we do? The fact that there’s a Half-Dragon among the enemy, and that such an enemy conducted a long-range sniper attack was not part of the plan…?”

“It seems the appearance of the Half-Dragon is a significant variable?”

“…If it wasn’t for you, Witch, I might have nearly died pathetically.”

Mammon looked pale.

“By a Half-Dragon of all things….”

“Don’t casually belittle her. There are more powerful beings out there than just the heroes of holy swords.”

Whoa—!

Cheers erupted from behind.

“Oh no, we need to stop this—”

“Since we’ve failed once, we won’t recklessly shoot again. We just need to defend ourselves to ensure we don’t suffer again.”

The soldiers, dressed in military uniforms and wielding magical rifles, all wore the insignia of the Anari Principality. They rapidly advanced while seeking cover, charging toward the remaining orc remnants.

“…Even if they knew the Magic King was sniped, would they still advance?”

“Witch, immediately address the sniping situation….”

“Don’t worry, I’m handling it. I may have noticed the shot the moment it was fired, but now that I’m aware of it, I can shoot it down while it’s flying.”

“…Can you manage that?”

“Of course I can; I’m a Great Sorcerer.”

There’s nothing impossible with magic.

It’s just that this body lacks enough mana to utilize all those incredible spells.

“We managed to take the Dragon Tail, but I never expected a Half-Dragon performing long-range sniping to emerge here….”

Well.

From their perspective, we might feel like a variable as well.

“…Though I guess it’s better than a variable suddenly popping up like a hero as an enemy.”

Probably.

 

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