Kuro no Maou

“And then senpai said ‘you do the rest’! And left all the work to me! Isn’t it cruel!?”(Nyarko)

“I see, it’s certainly cruel. So Nyarko can you please let me eat in peace?”(Kurono)

“Listen to me properly Kurono-san!!”

I think I have gotten quite close to this Guild’s newbie employee Nyanko (T/N: kitty cat), no wait, Nyarko.

Even I have started calling her without any honorific. Nyarko uses polite speech as default since she is an employee but now she talks about work less and more idle talk. By the way, complaints are also included in idle talks.

As usual I am just a listener; once again she was barging my meal with her machine gun talk. How should I say this, don’t you have some work?

“I’ll be eating this, delicious!”(Nyarko)

“ah, oi!? Don’t eat so much!”(kurono)

Two pieces of meat disappeared from my plate and in her mouth.

“It’s fine, one or two bites ..”

“Your one bite is too big! Look, the proportion of bread with the dish has been completely destroyed!”

“How rude.. You talk as if I eat too much——“

“Stop idling around, Nyarko!”(pine)

And with an angry shout, the one who was the subject of Nyarko’s complaints, Pine-san appeared while raising her fists.

“Ouch!? Senpai you are so cruel—- I was only trying to help a serious adventurer like Kurono-san who wanted to hear about jobs even during meals—-“(nyarko)

“No, this was all one-sided from you.”(kurono)

“Wait Kurono-san!? You betrayed me!?”

“I don’t remember being your ally though?”

“Well then Kurono-san, I’ll have this girl return to troublesome filing of documents, so call me if you want to take on a quest.”(Pine)

“Got it. Bye Nyarko, work hard.”(kurono)

“gurono-zaaann!! You’re heartlezz–!! (Nyarko)

With a pitiful cry resounding in the lobby, Pine-san dragged Nyarko away by her weakness that was her tail.

With this, my peaceful lunchtime returned again.

In the quiet lobby, I peacefully drank tea——

“Oi, you’re Kurono right?”

Suddenly, some random guy came and sat on the chair in front of me where Nyarko was sitting till now. Just when I thought I could finally eat calmly...........

“Yes, I am Kurono but—“

The person who sat in front of me was also a cat-human (werecat) like Nyarko.

Wearing light armour and a sword, he was clearly an adventurer. Behind him stood 3 people who were probably members of his party.

The werecat in front of me was a swordsman, a lizardman who had a spear, a harpy with a bow and a lamia with a long staff.

I could easily guess their races from their different bodies.

The werecat, similar to Nyarko, also had human-like hair on his head and also walked on two legs.

Lizardmen possessed more of their animal traits, so they had no hair and gave off a monster like feel.

Harpies have an upper body of a human and lower body of a bird. And the most special feature was that both their arms were wings but they still possessed hands as well.

Lamias have the upper body of a human and lower body of a snake. If not for the latter, they looked pretty much like normal humans. But, the long and narrow pupils and the tongue split at the end that appeared now and then gave off a more snake-like feeling.

I have never conversed with the people of this diverse party but, I have seen them a lot of times in the guild. I think there name was.......

“Rank 2 adventurer Party [Irz Blader] needs something from me?”(Kurono)

“Oh, so you know about us? Looks like we’ve become a bit famous.”(lamia)

“Stupid, don’t say useless things Aten!”(catguy)

The cat swordsman suddenly shouted at the lamia magic warrior.

“So, what business do you have with me?”(kurono)

It looked like they’ll start getting noisy among themselves, so I quickly asked their purpose.

“You, don’t hit on Nyarko-san while she is working! You’re bothering her!”(catguy)

“.......?”

For a second, I couldn’t understand what the hell he was talking about.

“That was Nyarko-san—“(kurono)

“Don’t give excuses-nya!!”(catguy)

Did he just shout with a ‘nyaa’ at me?

“It’s not an excuse. Besides saying that I was hitting on her is just groundless——“(kurono)

“Agh irritating. Stop talking in such a roundabout manner! Adventurers aren’t guys that talk in such a refined manner anyway!”

I was again faced with an amazing complaint.

But if he is saying to stop talking politely then fine

“Sure, this suits me better anyway. You may know my name, but I don’t know yours so how about you start with introducing yourselves first?”

Trying to act cool I might have been a bit too rude but I can’t treat adventurers similar to normal people. It’s necessary to show some attitude to not be underestimated by the other party.

“.......”(catguy)

“I am Aten, a fellow magic warrior. Nice to meet you.” (lamia/aten)

Ignoring the cat swordsman’s serious silence, the lamia girl quickly introduced herself.

“Aten!? Again you are doing things by yourself——“(catguy)

“It’s fine leader. At least tell your name. Rude guys aren’t popular.”(Aten)

“guh...”

“I am Harry.”

“My name is Claydor.”

After her, the Harpy and lizardman also named themselves respectively.

“.......I am Nino, leader of Irz Blader.”(catguy)

“Nice to meet you as well, you already know but I’m Kurono, a black magician who is also a new adventurer.”

A weird atmosphere hanged in the air.

I got their names, but I still don’t understand what they need from me.

“So, what were you saying about Nyarko?”(kurono)

“That’s right! You’re acting too familiar with her! And don’t call her without any honorific!!”

“If I had to say, it was Nyarko who is acting over familiar.”

“Like I said, stop making excuses——“

“What is it? Do like Nyarko or what?”

“Wha......Why do you know that!?”

Ah, shit, I just said that randomly. Didn’t think it was actually correct. So that’s why he has been shouting Nyarko this and Nyarko that.....

Even the other members are making a ‘so it was obvious’ expression.

“Ah, well,......sorry.”(kurono)

“Shut up!”

Having said that, he fell flat on the table.

“Anyway, I like human women so I have no intention to make a pass at Nyarko. You can be relieved.”(kurono)

“I knew it. We also said that a lot of times but this idiot just didn’t listen to us.”(Aten)

“Stop. Don’t say anymore than that.”

Nino who was still lying without any energy was somehow able to object Aten who had a teasing sadistic smile.

“Well leaving Nino aside, Kurono-san, could you cooperate with us?”

“Meaning? Aah, sit down first. No need to keep on standing.”(Kurono)

Harry asked with a serious face. So this was the main topic.

Anyway, I got to sit together with another adventurer party for the first time.

“You do know about the luggage carrying quest we have given out, right?”

“Aah, right, there was that quest as well. You want me to take that quest?”

“Basically, yes.”

“neee please Kurono～please carry our luggage～”(Aten)

“Aten, I’m trying to seriously trying to negotiate here. What’s with your asking style—“(harry)

“Alright.”(kurono)

“Eh?”

“I was also thinking of teaming up with another party. Also, I wanted to see how an actual party functions as well.”

“I see. Then please, we look forward to it.”

“Same here.”

I firmly shake hands with Harry. With this the contract is sealed.

“Wait, Kurono’s a human. Wouldn’t a beastman or an orc be a better choice?”(nino)

Finally revived, Nino interjected after all this time, but his logic wasn’t wrong.

No matter how much of a good body build I had, as a human my physical power would be lacking in comparison to other races. Of course, under the effect of the experiments, I could display beast-like strength even without magic but only Lily is aware of that.

“You don’t have to worry about that leader. Kurono-san can use spatial magic.” (harry)

“You’re well aware. Did you hear it from old man Kische?”(kurono)

“Yes.”

As expected, after all I used it frequently only in the item shop. Calling him old man, I think I have gotten quite unreserved with him now.

But still, that old man is definitely a sly fox, as expected of a merchant.

I’ll try selling him something like a suspicious item one day.

“Really?”(Nino)

Nino looked at me doubtfully. Does this guy hate me?

Maybe he still thinks I am a rival in love. Beastmen, whether for good or bad, have usually simple and straightforward personalities.

“Look at my feet—–“(kurono)

At times like these, it’s best to show directly.

From near my feet, Shadow space opened, and I randomly brought out a potion.

“”ooh!!””

The shadow swayed like water and the bottle of potion came out.

“I saw spatial magic for the first time～”(Aten)

Maybe because she was also a magic warrior, Aten’s eyes were shining with curiosity and interest.

“How much can it hold?

Harry coolly questioned.

“Weight is irrelevant, as for size—-enough to hold all of 5 you inside.”(kurono)

“That’s amazing!”

“Convenient, right?”

Fufun, I boast a little.

Probably because she could also use it Lily wasn’t that surprised. These reactions really make me happy.

“With this even leader can’t complain right?”

“I wasn’t really complaining in the first place, if he can do it then it’s fine.”(nino)

“Well then, I’ll go and take the quest then.”(kurono)

“Yes sure. We will wait here so we’ll explain the details afterwards.”

“Got it.”

Closing the shadow space, I left my seat and went towards the reception where Pine-san was.