――Gush!
"Agyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?"
After mercilessly crushing the face of the man who appeared to be a demon, I—
"Get your ugly mug away from Zana!"
――BAM!
"Gugeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!?"
—threw a strong kick into his abdomen.
The man was sent flying while spinning. Paying no attention to him, I hugged Zana's body, who had suddenly gone weak in the knees.
"E…xa…? Is it truly you…Exa…?"
"Yeah, it's me. Sorry I'm late."
When I smiled at her, Zana buried her face in my chest and cried as if her emotional dam had burst. "Exa… Exa…"
"It's okay. I'm here, so you can rest easy now."
With that, I gently patted Zana's small head.
"Sob… I… I was… I was really scared… But I… I have to protect everyone…"
"Yeah, I know. But everything's okay now. Leave the rest to me."
"Mm… mm… sob…" She was always so calm and stout-hearted. Yet here she was weeping and trembling.
Just how scary was the experience she had gone through?
Just thinking about it made me feel like my insides were going to boil all over again, but I tried to hold my calm as best as I possibly could, then I scooped Zana up in a princess carry and went to bring her over to Phinis-sama.
As I approached, Iris opened her mouth, trying to say something to me, "E-Exa-san, I… I…"
At a glance, she appeared to be uninjured, but her face was really pale. I dare say she was emotionally hurt in some way.
So, to assure her, I said with a smile, "You did really well, Iris. Thanks to your stalling for time, I was able to save Zana. Thank you very much."
"Exa-san… No… No… I should be the one thanking you… I wasn't able to be of use at all…" Iris shed large drops of tears, seeming regretful.
"That's not the case," I softened the corners of my mouth.
I'd like to pat her head if possible, but I got my hands full, so I decided to leave Zana to Phinis-sama first. "Phinis-sama, may I leave Zana to you?"
"Yes, of course…" Phinis-sama nodded.
After entrusting Zana to her, I went up to Iris who was still bawling and gently hugged her petite body. "Zana didn't give in to that man until the end because you were there. And because Zana kept holding on, I was able to make it in time. You were useless? No, you were nothing but useful. So, stop blaming yourself. You'll mess your cute face, otherwise."
With a smile, I wiped Iris's tears with my fingers, but that seemed to cause her to be unable to stop her tears for a different reason, "Exa-san…"
After giving her a last pat on the head, I turned to Phinis-sama again. "I'm sorry, Phinis-sama. That guy has gone overboard, I can't forgive him. Right here and now—I'm going to kill him."
"Yes, I understand… I should be the one to apologize for being unable to protect these girls… I actually know it in my heart… Even though they were made from those children, they weren't them… So don't worry about me, just do what you want…"
"Thank you. Hearing your words assured me. And, I'm sorry for making you feel conflicted." After bowing my head down, I asked Phinis-sama to look after Zana and Iris, "Well then, I'm entrusting the both of them to you. Please go hide in a safe place with the elves. I don't want them to see what's going to happen, if possible. Of course, that includes you, Phinis-sama."
"Yes, I understand… Good luck…"
After a nod, Phinis-sama took Zana and Iris to the inner part of the village.
Iris was anxiously looking at me until the end, but I was glad I managed to keep smiling until she disappeared from view.
――Crackle.
Because I was already my limit.
――Crackle, crackle.
At suppressing the flame of anger that swirled all around my body.
"Gh, gah…. M-my face~…"
"Quit your shitty acting. It's annoying."
"..."
In response to the words I had spat out, the man went silent for a moment before flabbily raising his body like a mollusk and said, "Ah~, you caught me. You're no fun."
Well, it doesn't matter, though, the man behaved as a clown did—staying true to his outfit—and bowed his head, "My name is Kitezh. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Savior."
"No, I don't need to hear your name. Because this will be our last meeting."
"Kishishi, what an interesting thing to say. Despite how I look, I'm ranked quite high, you know? As proof, look. My face that you crushed just now has regenerated and tougher even, see? Actually, the latter is not limited to just my face."
Ta-da! Kitezh showed off the patterns on his body, which appeared slightly different from before.
"Now, do you get it? I'm not immortal like Yomi-san, but after I receive an attack once and regenerate… oh my, oh my—the same opponent's attack will no longer work on me the second time, the third time, and so on! Hence, your attacks won't… wait, huh?"
Thump, having his viewpoint lowered out of the blue, Kitezh was stunned.
In the meantime, I dematerialize the sword I had just swung and said, "You sure blabber a lot. No wonder Iris was scared."
"H-huh? How did my legs get cut… huh?"
Perhaps he couldn't make sense of the situation, Kitezh casually rolled over. After looking alternately between his burning lower legs and me, "M-my leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeegs!? My leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeegs!?" he screamed with a ghastly white face.
"Why are you making so much noise? Didn't you say my attacks wouldn't work on you?"
Slash! The next thing that flew into the air was, of course, his arms.