Kuro no Maou

Then, the first thing Simon asked was,

“Huh, Onii-san, why is your left eye red?”

It was something that even I myself had forgotten about, the change in my appearance.

Leaving the detailed explanation about Mia’s Divine Protection etc aside for the time being, I first greeted him after meeting him after a long time.

“——sorry, I couldn’t meet you any sooner.”(simon)

As I greeted, Simon gave words of apology but,

“No, you had your own problems, right? Don’t worry about it.”

Giving a safe reply, I was trying to conceal my surprise at Simon’s current appearance.

That’s because Simon, who should be a girl, was wearing the boys uniform. (T/N: Kurono, you dense motherfucker!!)

After coming to Spada, I had seen a lot of students in the black blazer-type uniform of the academy so I was sure Simon would appear in the red tie and checked design skirts till I opened the door.

But even then for some reason, Simon was wearing slacks, what boys would wear.

Could it be that Simon was actually a guy?

True, this uniform does suit him and looking closely like this again, he does look like a bishonen in middle school.

And I had been unable to decide whether Simon was a guy or a girl when we first met as well after all.

No, wait, think again, Simon is an adventurer along with being a student. Then, it’s not impossible for Simon to fake his/her gender.

Due to the existence of magic and martial arts, there’s no kind of discrimination due to gender but still, one would not be underestimated if the person was a man so I did hear that sometimes women would fake their gender.

Also, to not ask about anything regarding it was also a part of the rules and manners of adventurers like how they don’t delve into the past of others.

Alright, I got it Simon, if you’re faking your gender by wearing a guy’s uniform then I’ll accept that without a word!

After satisfying myself regarding the problem of Simon’s gender, I concentrated back to the main topic.

“So you really are a student here, are you free right now?”(kurono)

It was the morning currently. In terms of high school, lunch break would start after two hours so students should be in class right now.

“It’s fine. I still have many things to prepare for so I won’t start attending classes until after 2-3 days.”(simon)

Then it’s fine. That means we can talk leisurely without any time constraints.

After entering Simon’s room, just like that time, I sat on a chair and Simon on the bed.

This room wasn’t overflowing with items like that storage shed laboratory, not yet at least.

A writing desk and a chair, a bed and closet; only the minimum required things had been set in here but I guess that’ll change soon.

After all, the room Simon was using in Alsace’s adventurer guild room was also filled with numerous things.

“For the time being, let’s start with reporting each other’s current situation, alright?”(kurono)

As Simon affirmed, I began to talk first.

.

.

It’s a common thing but there are many powerful nobles that exist in Spada.

Here, especially, the most influential are the 4 great noble houses.

One of them is the Bardiel household.

Their origin went to over 3000 years back, to the first and the strongest knight of the Ancient Demon King Mia Elrod, a person called Freesia Bardiel.

No, rather than a person, I guess I would have to call them as one the pillars of the [Black Gods] of Pandora.

[Dark Knight Freesia]’s DP was limited to only inside Spada but there were quite a lot of those who had received it so it could be called as a major God.

And, with this ancient great knight that climbed to the throne of Gods as an ancestor was the household of Bardiel.

But, whether they were actually the drirect descendants, no, did they even have even a single drop of the same blood was unknown due to the ‘Dark Ages’ that exists between the Ancient era and the current era. Thus, there was no was certain proof to that fact.

At least, the previous ancestors of the Badiel family who built the household did claim that they were Freesia’s direct descendants.

Considering that this self-proclamation was also an event that happened over 300 years back, surprisingly the weight of history increased and now presently, the Bardiel family held even more authority and power than ever.

And, Simon was invited to this family as an adopted child.

Thus, Simon’s full name was Simon Friedrich Bardiel, a really exaggerated name with even a middle name.

“is, is that so........”(kurono)

After finishing my own report, I heard about the family situation of Simon whose elder sister was a general.

And this was the explanation I got.

But still, for someone like me who hadn’t spent a year in this world let alone Spada, I couldn’t really understand the greatness even if someone told me about nobles and such.

I really could only say, ‘I see’.

“So, why was such a big noble working as an adventurer in a village like Alsace?”(kurono)

Even with my knowledge of the modern world, I knew nobles would be high class people.

At least, I doubt they’d have a personality that’d allow them to do something dirty like collecting herbs.

“that’s, umm, it’ll take some time to tell though......”(simon)

“No, it’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it, alright?”(kurono)

The manners of an adventurer, but, Simon shook her head.

“No, I want Onii-san to hear about it.”

That made me happy. It seems she does have some trust in me.

If she says that much, then I’ll also carefully hear what she has to say. Maybe, it might explain why Simon was dressing like this as well.

“I, from the time I was a child, wanted to be a knight of Spada.”

That was probably the time, 10 yrs back when she was adopted into the family.

“The Bardiel household had produced numerous excellent knights till now also, Lia-nee—-um, Emellia, it’s the person that came to pick us up back then, do you remember?”

He asked me.

That black full plate armour that was even taller than me, there’s no way I’d forget that incredible presence.

I see, so that person’s name was Emellia.

“That person is a bit special even among the Elves and was incredibly strong already by the time I was adopted.”

At that Emellia was 12 yrs old, the youngest age at which one could enrol in the Royal Spada Academy , in easier terms, basically in 6th year of elementary school.

From that time onwards, she could easily destroy swarms of rank 1 monsters and with proper equipment, she was skilled enough to even take on a rank 3 monster alone.

Certainly, that’s a pretty fearsome elementary schooler.

“That’s why I admired strong knights even more, but—–“(simon)

Simon’s face darkened a bit and he continued.

“I did not have that talent. Not just that, I didn’t have the ability even a normal elf would have.”

The Elf race was famous for having superior magical energy.

Thus, since battles mainly depend on magic, even while using martial arts, rather than physical ability enhancement, they specialise in enchanting their attacks with elemental attacks.

“It would have been fine if I simply didn’t have magical energy, but, I couldn’t even grow into a big body like Onii-san either. No matter how much training I did, I gained no muscle at all.”(simon)

Unlike Dwarves, Elves weren’t the type that gained lots of muscle, and even among them, Simon had a thin physique.

There were even humans that looked younger than their age, for example my dad (T/N: See prologue if you’ve forgotten how Kurono’s dad was like), but that was even more characteristic in elves.

I heard this now for the first time but Simon was actually 16 yrs old, only a year younger than me.

But, his appearance was of the same level as girl Lily, a child in middle school.

“But even then, I worked hard in both magic and martial arts.”(simon)

“Could it be, is that why you are so knowledgeable in magical methods and techniques?”

Simon nodded.

Alchemy was completely devoid of magic. If Simon had been learning that from the very start, he might have been able to make something like that ‘machinegun’ by now.

“I still remember techniques, chants, and magic circles and I can even read one part of ancient letters as well. But, no matter how matter how well my technique is, how good my chant is, how well drawn the magic circle was, I could never activate it without magical energy.”(simon)

Those who possess enough magical energy to activate magic, though it varied from race to race, but still, such people were definitely the minority.

Even among the elves that specialised in magic, that number would be a little more than half of the total.

As a normal person, it wasn’t necessary to use magic to live on but it was a fatal disadvantage for someone aiming to be a knight.

Even more so if he/she did not have the skill with a sword either.

“After coming to the Bardiel household, it took me 5 years before I finally realized that I would never be able to become a great knight from this family.”

It was then that Simon started learning alchemy which was unrelated to magic.

“I am an adopted child, I have three older brothers and one older sister, so I am lucky that I had a comfortable position unrelated to succeeding the family.”

If Simon had been adopted for the reason of succeeding the house, then it would have meant that he would have been unable to answer to the ‘expectations’ of the noble family of Bardiel.

“But at least I wanted to become independent enough so that I could return the favour to those who took me in and cared for me so I took admission in this academy and left the home at the same time.”

I see, and now she was here.

No wait, I still don’t get why she was working as an adventurer.

“Ah, that’s umm, it’s a bit embarrassing but I wanted to pay for my school fees myself but my savings weren’t enough also, I was too concentrated in my alchemy as well so........ahaha it really is embarrassing!”(simon)

I, who was looking at Simon as her face went read till the tip of her pointed ears felt more embarrassed right now though.

As I faked a calm expression while summarizing what Simon had said till now, basically, to pay her school fees and to concentrate in alchemy, he took leave from the school and became an adventurer which was a convenient job.

At the same time, she had also taken permission from the current Bardiel family head, that is, her father as well.

But,

“Lia-nee, how should I say it, she’s more stubborn and strict than even stepfather. That’s why she had been harsh from the very start but after I gave the path of knight, she became even harsher and is always asking me to stop my alchemy. Even at the academy it took a lot of trouble to convince her to let me take the magic engineering course instead of management course. If I had told her about leaving school——-“

I would be killed. So Simon decided to work in Deadalus outside of her sister’s reach, Simon somehow said that half angry and half scared.

“I see. You really had it tough, or rather, you had quite a lot of complicated circumstances, huh.”

I couldn’t say anything more than that.

It’s unfortunate to have to carry such family burdens but that’s not something an outsider could easily point out like that.

It’s just that the head of the family, her father, seems to be on good terms with her so the Bardiel house is still a proper home to her fortunately.

But still, to think there was such a discord with her sister.......

Completely different from my elder sister, Kurono Mana, who had looked after me since I was a child, I could only sympathize with Simon who didn’t get such a gentle sister.

“If ‘that thing’ hadn’t happened, I would still have been leisurely concentrating on alchemy in that storage shed in Alsace right now..”

“That thing, huh.”

“Ah, sorry, I shouldn’t have—-“

Simon tried to smooth over while panicked, somehow, it seems I really made her considerate towards me.

“No, it’s fine, it’ll be a lie if I wasn’t affected but I have already sorted out my feelings so you don’t have to be so considerate of me.”(kurono)

“I...see........”

Now that I recall, I still hadn’t told Simon about how I met with the remaining villagers and also about the Divine Protection either.

It seems I made her worry so I should explain about my thoughts and other things in detail next.

After all, Simon also talked about things that she wouldn’t have said to strangers.