Translated: Sei, MTL-sensei-tachi
Edited: Sei, Grammarly no Danna
Source: Syosetu

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TL Notes:
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Chapter 342


Arc Fifteen Begins.

This chapter will be told from El’s perspective.

——— read on seireitranslations.blogspot.com ———

　After finishing that hellish training exercise, we were given about two days off after returning to the city in no time by running all the way back.
　It seems one purpose was to let us recover from the mental exhaustion caused by the exercise, but Usato and the others also seemed to have some business to take care of, and immediately after returning, he headed to the central mansion where the Demon King-sama was staying.

"Still, none of that matters now...!!"

　I was betrayed.
　By that hateful Healing Mage and his familiar, the vampire.
　The sense of loss and sadness I felt was beyond anything ordinary, as if my chest had been gouged out.
　How should I get my revenge for this grudge...!!

"That bast*rd...! How dare he deceive me!"
"You’re really upset, El-san."

　As I flailed my legs on the bed, venting my anger toward Usato, Nono called out to me with a carefree look on her face.

"Aren’t you upset about it?!"
"Eh? About what?"
"About Nea disguising herself as Lynn!!"

　Why is she so carefree?
　Doesn’t she have anything to say about that training that destroys both your mind and body without mercy!?

"I have Shawn, so I don’t really mind."
"I’m an idiot for asking you!!"

　That’s right, she was an idiot!
　Her trust in her dragon partner is on another level.
　Vina is an utterly hopeless pervert, but Nono is also a dangerous person in her own way.

"Don't you have any concerns about this unit!?"
"If I say I do, will I be able to leave this place?"

　When I pressed her about it, she gave me an incredibly empty look.
　I was the one who brought it up, but let’s drop this subject...
　Silence continued, and each of us went on with our own time.

"...He looked tired."

　I suddenly remembered what Usato had looked like earlier.
　That monster of stamina was unusually exhausted.

"Eh? Do you think so?"
"It’s hard to tell just by looking, but he’s definitely exhausted."

　Since Koga also knew about it, I assume it was something the Demon King-sama had requested, but that doesn’t matter to me.
　What I can say for certain is that he had been fighting those who are called Devils.
　I heard it during my conversation with Koga, so there’s no doubt about it.

"Then now is the perfect time for a surprise attack."
"I’m sorry, but are you in your right mind...?"

　I feel like this is the first time Nono has ever insulted me.
　I guess it really is a bad idea.
　Even though a day has passed, I don’t think he would recover that easily.

"Even if the surprise attack succeeds, what are you going to do?"
"It’ll make me feel better."
"..."

　I feel like this is the first time Nono has ever looked at me as if I were an idiot.
　But even if I have to endure that look now, I won’t be satisfied unless I get my revenge.
　That’s how furious I am.

"But if that’s the case, wouldn’t it be easier to go after Nea-san, who was disguised as Lynn?"
"...That's impossible."
"Eh? Why?"
"Even though she deceived me, there’s no way I could do something horrible to Lynn...!!"
"I’m sorry, but are you sick?"

　Even if she had been deceiving me, it was thanks to Lynn that I was able to keep my sanity during those ten days.
　There’s no way I could do anything to a girl like that...!!
　Faced with my intense inner conflict, Nono lost interest and casually responded.

"It’s infuriating, but I don’t think the training itself was all that wrong. It really is infuriating, though."
"...That’s another thing that makes me angry."

　We had underestimated monsters.
　Living in this land known as the Demon King's Territory, there are few people who have not had some involvement with monsters.
　That was precisely why we understood the threat posed by ferocious monsters and how to deal with them.

"When you think about it, even if it’s called training, since we’re doing it within the Demon King’s Territory, there’s no way monsters on the level of those found in monster territory would appear. Haa, that first thing completely threw me off and made me lose my composure."

　I had completely lost my composure because I was so pissed off when Koga dropped us all off the cliff.
　...Could it be that all those downright vile actions were all for the sake of that...?

"I never even imagined that we would be made to fight monsters that we had created ourselves... Ah, this is really ridiculous."
"We couldn’t figure it out until the very last moment. It’s unbelievable to think that we were all driven into a corner, afraid of monsters that didn’t even exist..."

　With Usato, nothing would be surprising.
　I think we also had that preconception because of all the crazy training we had been through up until now.
　Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that we were completely fooled.

"...Speaking of which, where’s Vina?"
"Areh? She’s not here. I wonder where she went?"

　When I casually looked around the room, I noticed that Vina was nowhere to be seen.
　No wonder I thought the room was so quiet, but it was a little strange for her not to be here at this hour.

"Could she be wandering around the streets at night...?"
"No way she would do something like that..."
""...""

　The two of us fell silent.
　The impression that, in a sense, that pervert was just as capable of doing anything as Usato, albeit in a completely different way, had been deeply etched into both Nono’s and my minds.

"I’m going to get permission to go outside for a bit and look for her..."
"I'll help too..."

　We can’t exactly let the people living in a city that is trying to build peace become scarred by the fear of a pervert.
　Putting my revenge against Usato aside for now, Nono and I decided to head to the nearby lodging where Usato and the others were staying to get permission to go outside.

"Vina is quite a mystery, isn't she?"
"Yeah. To be honest, this is the first time I’ve ever met her, too."

　We had that conversation as we walked along the streets at night.
　Vina is really such an eccentric that you’d wonder where she even came from.
　She says she used to belong to the First Corps, but you’d think we would have at least heard some rumors about someone that strange... Could it be that she had been hiding her true nature?

"Well... I don’t think she’s a bad person. She is an utterly hopeless pervert, though."
"The fact that she’s a pervert is already her biggest flaw, though..."

　Aside from that, she’s basically someone we can talk to quite casually.
　It’s just that the blissful expressions she sometimes makes completely ruin that impression.
　If that were all there was to it, Nono and I would have kept our distance from her by now.

"...The lights are on."
"Ah, then that's perfect."

　The fact that the lights were on on the first floor of the lodging meant that someone was still awake.
　Usato might already be asleep, but it would be helpful if Hannah or someone like her came out.
　For now, I raised my hand to knock———,

"Then, I have one condition from my side."

　Hearing that voice faintly, I stopped my hand just before I knocked.
　...Was that Vina’s voice just now?

"El-san, what’s wrong?"
"Shh, be quiet. It looks like Vina is here."

　Isn’t it strange for Vina to be here at this hour?
　Could they be discussing something important?
　... I know I shouldn’t, but as her colleague, I’m curious too, so let’s take a little peek.

"I'll look inside through the window."
"Eh~..."

　We moved away from the door and walked along the wall of the building toward the window where light was spilling out, peeking inside together with Nono.
　There, we saw Usato, Nea, and Hannah sitting at the table... with Vina sitting across from the three of them.

"...What’s the condition?"

　A heavy atmosphere.
　Usato, looking somewhat wary, had his arms crossed as he turned a gaze tinged with slight hostility toward Vina.
　W-what exactly is happening?
　Did Vina make Usato angry? No, to begin with, I think you’d have to do something pretty serious to simply make that guy angry...
　Then, without a word, Vina got down from her chair and sat on the floor.

"Hn?"

　As I tilted my head at her strange behavior, she placed her hands on the floor———,

"Please become my master!!"

　She said those words with such intensity that it felt like she was putting her whole heart into them.
　I felt as though I heard the hallucinated sound of the air freezing solid with a crack.

"...Uwaah..."

　I witnessed Usato, whom I had wanted to beat the hell out of just moments ago, making the most disgusted expression I had ever seen on him.
　Rather than making me feel better, seeing his face almost made me sympathize with him, because what Vina had just done was that terrible.

"...Hn?"

"Ah, crap..."

　Then, Usato suddenly turned his gaze toward us, and our eyes met.
　Perhaps this was punishment for trying to sneak a peek so casually. We might have gotten ourselves involved in an unbelievable situation.

——— read on seireitranslations.blogspot.com ———

Author's Notes:
This is the moment when Usato was the most utterly appalled since coming to this other world.