"...Do you mind repeating that last part?" - Noire

"I said, neither we nor Lord Revilas and Lord Gravippa will not tolerate the threat that you people's Babel organization and-!!" - Indigo

*Crash*, *Crash*, *Crash, *CRASH*!!

As Indigo was about to explain her ridiculous statement in detail, I heard four loud sounds from behind me. After the dust settled, I saw 3 persons + 1 spider head-first into the rocky ground. And the worst thing is..., one of them isn't wearing pants.

"IIIIIIKKK!!!" - Indigo

Indigo screamed when she saw the corpses(?), or perhaps she just isn't used to seeing a male in all their glory. Bleu is still unconscious even after I treated her wounds from Gugalanna's charge, so I couldn't see her reaction. Tch. It would have been excellent blackmail material. 

Leaving my bound sisters in the care of Gugalanna, who I couldn't dismiss just yet today, I went over to the reverse-planted bodies and kicked the idiot who was still not wearing any clothes. He can handle some extra pain...right? Hmm? ...Taking out the blunt gold arrow from the Extra Trial treasure hunt, take some steps back, and...

*Swish*, *bonk*, *muffled screams of pain for a thousand years!!*

With a scream fitting of the Banshees that Revi likes to summon now, Grangron busted himself out of the ground looking no worse for wear. His head had nothing too important inside it, so the fall shouldn't have affected him that much anyway.

"*Cough, cough, COUGH*!! If it's not smoke or crazy reptiles, then there are hits below the belt..." - Grangron

"Are you awake now?" - Noire

"*COUGH*!! Just a second... NOIRE?! Why are you here?!" - Grangron

"That is my question." - Noire

"Huh? ...Crap! Guys!!" - Grangron

Having recovered from his train of physical traumas, Grangron turned his attention to the three who were still buried. How are we supposed to dig them up? I do not possess any shovels or pickaxes-

*CRASH!!*

...Did he just pulverize the ground with a single punch? The two friends of Grangron..., I've forgotten their names. Anyway, those two and that crazy spider, Lunatic, got out of the newly-created crater while dusting off their clothes. One look at Grangron was all the female ogress needed before taking some clothes from her bag and giving them to him. 

"Are you people okay?" - Noire

"I have been better, but we are used to this type of treatment by now." - Shen

"Grangron and trouble is a package deal..." - Sei

If you say it like that, it sounds like the ogre and Garami are related. On a different note, the spider Lunatic is still seeing stars. It will be a while until she wakes up. Ah, sweet stillness~.

"How did you end up like that in the first place? Did the snake knock some sense into your smoke-filled skulls?" - Noire

I remember Grangron mention a "crazy reptile", so the giant snake is my first guess as to who that may be-

"Not him! It's that crazy blacksmith of yours who knocked us into the air using the snake as some baseball bat!" - Grangron

...And I had my expectations beautifully betrayed.No, could it be said that I was halfway right?

"Your lizard companion must have been affected harder by the smoke than the rest of us. When our minds returned to us, we saw the black knight having been punched with such force that he left a knight-shaped hole in the walls of the buildings he crashed into." - Shen

"...Buildings, as in plural? By that Flint?" - Noire

"Correct. After that, Mr. Flint, still in a smoke-induced rage, grabbed the giant serpent when the latter tried to take revenge for the black knight, I assume, and slammed him into the ground. Be honest with me, where does that man gain that ridiculous strength from?" - Shen

"How should I know?" - Noire

I do not spend my time looking into the skills of everyone else in the Guild. Then again, multiple people have said that Flint would make a wonderful Berserker. Maybe he finally realized that while we were separated?

Looking over to the HQ, I could see several pillars and bursts of flames erupting. If Flint is on the loose, that drunkard undead Regina may be joining him on his rampage. And do I recognize Blaze's golden-ish flames there?

"The whole island must feel like an oven." - Noire

"True. All the Fire users are located there now when you include Lord Flamel." - Shen

Will we find the three robots and the Black Baron melted when the heat dies out?

"HAH! You have shown your true colors, Babel!" - Indigo

Right, I forgot about those two. 

"What colors?" - Grangron

"I don't think she means it literally..." - Sei

"True. And aren't ya one of the gals who worked with the knights!? You're the bad guys here!" - Grangron

"No way! We are working to defeat the Fire Champion, unlike your organization!" - Indigo

"SAY WHAT!? ...No, seriously. What is she saying?" - Shen

"Is she delirious?" - Sei

"Feel like she's a true idiot." - Grangron

"Wha-!?" - Indigo

Being called an idiot by an idiot? How far you have fallen, o sister of mine. Or should I give Grangron a higher evaluation?

I explained what I had heard from my foolish sister in simple words so even Grangron, who may not be a complete idiot, could understand it.

1. The sisters are working for the knights, as expected. They met one day when the sisters were defeating monsters near the border of the Avalar Kingdom.
2. The knights are referring to themselves as being part of the "Fairy King Faction".
3. The "Fairy King Faction" is led by the 2nd generation king of Avalar.
   • 2nd? Even when the first king died somewhere around 300 years ago?
   • Even I cannot understand how a "fairy king" is possible in a human-supremacy country such as Avalar, so there must be something big going on over there.
4. In addition to the "Fairy King Faction", there is also what Indigo calls "the Fire Champion Faction". She heard about it from the knights.
   • It seems that the human-supremacy rules of Avalar are their brainchild, not the "Fairy King Faction's". 
5. The two factions are hostile to each other, despite the rumors in the south saying that the Fire Champion is working for Avalar and acted as a spy in Solomar to destroy the country for the sake of Avalar.
6. And the strangest bit of all, in the north (as in Avalar), there are similar rumors about the Fire Champion. Except here, they say that the Fire Champion is a secret leader for the Babel organization, who is working alongside Solomar in secret to destroy Avalar.

"...My head is hurting here." - Shen

"Me too..." - Sei

Me three. What does this woman's intent with all these cover stories?

"Hmm? Ain't that simple?" - Grangron

Grangron looked at all of us, even glanced toward Indigo who was looking as confused as the rest of us after overhearing our discussion that included information from our side (the south). 

"That Fire girl wants a big brawl! That's why she's playing warmonger on both sides!" - Grangron

So the ogre says with a confident face, but...

"Is that true?" I asked the smarter-looking ogre.

"I, I don't know, but all the evidence seems to point toward that conclusion..." - Shen

Right. No way these guys will understand what is going on in that "crazy Champion's" head. Is being extremely unorthodox a requirement for becoming a Champion?

No matter. Comprehending what crazy people think about isn't my job. I will leave that part to the crazy people. 

Speaking of crazy "people", Lunatic has finally come around and is pulling my wings. Stop that, it hurts! What, is there something over in that direction? ...Isn't that where the Irritation Lord was sent flying towards?

"Something's up?" - Grangron

"No, Lunatic here seems to have noticed something...I think." - Noire

"That's easy to check! Hey, Shen!" - Grangron

"Yes, yes..." - Shen

Grangron took a position as if to throw something, then the smart-looking ogre jumped onto Grangron's open hand and was thrown into the air. What are they doing here? Playing around? 

While in the air, the smart-looking ogre used what looked like a spyglass and looked over in the suspicious direction Lunatic is worried about. Grangron caught the smart-looking ogre right before he crashed into the ground for a second time today.

"Welcome back!" - Grangron

"I am back. And with bad news." - Shen

"UGH! I hate this turn of events!" - Grangron

"Who doesn't? A gigantic summoning circle is being constructed on an island a few kilometers from our position. It is shabbily camouflaged, but using a half-decent scouting skill should make one notice it." - Shen

"Summoning circle?" - Sei

"Of the kind that summons devils from the Underworld." - Shen

The Irritation Lord!! He is trying to call on his friends! 

"Did the cow scare him to call on more help?" - Sei

Whoops. That might be the truth. My sister said she knew nothing about the Scamming Lord currently possessing his majesty Loitan, so they must work with the Irritation Lord. But Gugalanna may have gone a little too wild when I had him take care of Bleu...

"Then it's simple." - Grangron

Before I could even protest, Grangron grabbed me and Lunatic and jumped onto Gugalanna's back in one leap. 

"Shen, Sei, guard those two there and stay safe." - Grangron

"Okay." - Shen

"Have fun." - Sei

"Wait, hold it-!" - Noire

"FORWARD!!" - Grangron

Gugalanna, despite being MY summoned divine bull, listened to Grangron's order and started to walk toward the location of the hidden magic circle. 

"...There. I can see it now." - Noire

While I am not satisfied with the current events, except for the part that we are going to attack that Irritation Lord, I still did my job of trying to locate this supposed concealed ritual ground.

And I say "supposed" in the fact that it is completely visible to the bare eye. The outer borders of the magic circle seem to be protected by a barrier that blocks the influence of search-type skills, but the Lord doesn't seem to have thought of legwork strategies.

Also, the pest himself is completely visible. He is trying to keep the magic circle active even as Gugalanna approaches his location. 

"So, what is the plan?" - Noire

"*Aggressive spider noises*!!" - Lunatic

"Lunatic is right! No plan is needed! Just charge ahead!!" - Grangron

"*Happy ox noises*!" - Gugalanna

Eu tu, Gugalanna!? Then again, if it means I can crush that stupid helmet and the devil's face alongside it, I have no reason to complain about this otherwise seemingly brainless course of action. 

Crossing the last island between us and the magic circle with a jump, Gugalanna landed with enough force to cause small cracks to appear in the island...cracks!? 

"Hurry, get on safer land!" - Noire

I urged Gugalanna to move. My golden ox managed to evade falling into the Demonic Sea alongside the broken-off pieces of the island. When I looked back, I could see several creatures with alligator-like heads and bodies made out of dirt falling into the sea along with the rocks. 

That bastard... He tried to make a trap for Gugalanna by creating this obvious magic circle-*BOOM!!*-whoa-!?

An explosive blast of magic hit Gugalanna's side, causing him to fall into the ocean anyway! The two bullheads who suggested this ridiculous "strategy" jumped off and landed on the island while I took to the sky. Down below, more of the rocky creatures appeared and engaged combat with the two muscleheads who sacrificed my dear bull in a plan that I was in 0% agreement with!

"BWA-HAHAHAHA!! Hook, line, and SINKER! And in this case, the sinker is a gigantic golden beef!" - ???

...This voice...!

"Irritation Lord!" - Noire

"CORRECT! There are no prizes though." - Irritation Lord

I looked above me and saw that ****ing devil who truly lives up to his title. In that case...

"Ah, you are curious about my little imp friend? With my talents as a Shadow-based transporter/summoner, and Sound-based illusion powers, summoning a familiar and disguising them as this wonderful me is a walk in the park~!" - Irritation Lord

I fired arrows of high lethality for demons at the walking bucket-head, but he just evades using those vibration blasts that are the origin of how he is capable of staying in the air. If you want to fly, get some wings like a proper fiend! Not there are any proper demon species in this world! Just look at Garami or Filyn and you will have your proof!

"BWA-HAHAHA! You thought I needed to summon my friends from the abyss? NON! With my power, and that of my ally-*COUGH*-!?" - Irritation Lord

What now? The ****ing devil started coughing up blood. Just like last time, now that I think about it.

"Dammit! Curse that Fae! Next time I see her, I will feed her to the maggots of the abyss!!" - Irritation Lord

"Fae"? He mentioned something like that last time too..., not that it matters. A good arrow in his heart, head, and possibly a man's most crucial weak spot, plus a few hundred dozen after that again, will settle things for good. 

But how is he capable of both coughing up blood AND dodging my attacks at the same time!? I am starting to lose my confidence here! 

"You think that is the worst of your problems? Do not joke with me! I will have you turned into a pincushion before the Scamming Lord arrives!" - Noire

I mentioned the Scamming Lord in an attempt of making him believe I do not see the magic circle down below as a threat. If I manage that, he might not focus his defenses around it, which should allow the two nutjobs down there to crush it after defeating all the stone mobs.

"Me? A pincushion?! Sorry, but I don't even sew. Instead, how about I introduce you to my newest 'friend'?" - Irritation Lord

The Irritation Lord snapped his fingers which caused the rocky roof of the Demonic Sea to shake. As if there is an earthquake occurring, limited to just the roof. 

"Now, how about we play a game, my rude little runaway angel? You will be given two hints, and based on them, try to deduce the identity of my friend?" - Irritation Lord

"What? It is not a complete douchebag such as you?" - Noire

"BWA-HAHAHAHA!! That is soooooo off the mark that it is ridiculous to hear a self-proclaimed archer say it!" - Irritation Lord

Okay, that's it. I will stuff his head and place it in the garbage area.

"First hint, and this is connected to your leader. What is the most distinctive trait of the Disaster she has faced?" - Irritation Lord

Hmm? My leader, as in Garami? She is always talking about the...whatever-Disaster she fought whenever she wants to pout, but I cannot remember anything "distinctive" about that long list of complaints. 

"Second hint. Are you familiar with the type of items commonly known as [Companion Creature]?" - Irritation Lord

......A what-creature???

"Not that there is anyone in the world who would know that except his majesty, the Demon King, and his close aides! My friend is the prototype of those accessories after all! BWA-HAHAHAHA!!" - Irritation Lord

This guy is horrible at quizzes.