A single dragon walked through the snowfield.

As promised, Jessica became a mount on the way back instead of Marion.

「I couldn’t do it the last time, but I’m participating this time! Alright, bring out the cards!」

Marion was in high spirits.

Iris had no objections. She only learned the rules recently and haven’t played enough.

「Fine, come at me」

「Let’s start with Old Maid!」

Having said so, Marion shuffled the cards.

「Eh……Old Maid, huh…….how about something else……?」

Sheryl was on the verge of crying.

After all, Sheryl is a person who wears her emotions on her face.

Her personality was extremely unsuitable for Old Maid.

「Sorry  Sheryl…..however…..I’ve always wanted to play it since the time you started playing it on my back!」

「I-If you say so…..please be gentle…..」

「I won’t hold back. It a serious match!」

And so it begins.

The last place fell into Sheryl’s lap once again….or so it should’ve been.

There was one more person who wore emotions on his face.

The initiator, Marion.

「Yay! It’s my first time winning in Old Maid!」

Sheryl rejoiced with the biggest smile possible.

Although 『victory』 for her didn’t mean obtaining the first place but not obtaining the last place.

Even so, she felt like the biggest winner.

「Gununu…..I thought I could win against Sheryl!」

「Fufu. Marion has always been rather weak at Old Maid. Was there ever a time where you actually won?」

「You don’t have to tell them that! Even I won before……about three times!」

Marion screamed.

However, Marion should be fifteen years old.

Even so, she only won three times in fifteen years……

「By the way. Marion. Did you claim first place those three times or simply didn’t lose?」

「…..Latter」

Marion answered in a whisper to Iris’ question.

Sheryl’s eyes sparkled as she clasped Marion’s hands and brought her face closer.

「I have a sudden feeling of camaraderie with you! Let get along even better than before!」

「Y-Yeah….」

「So let’s go for another round!」

Does she think she’s on the winning streak?

Sheryl intended to stage a comeback.

Unfortunately, the last place was obtained by none other than her once again.

「I-Impossible…..」

「Fufu….I’m starting to feel that camaraderie you were talking about」

「O-One more!」

「You are asking for it!」

A battle that could only happen between the two of them.

As if wanting to prove something, the two launched an all-out war on each other.

Even when Iris and Eclipse got bored, the two continued on their own.

「Hey, let’s forget about those two and play something else~」

While idling, Eclipse put her head on Iris’ lap and spoke somewhat annoyed.

「Might as well…..the two finally discovered a worthy rival for themselves……I feel bad getting in their way, so let’s ignore them」

Muttered Iris as she rested her head on Punigami.

「Mu. You are my pillow so you can’t move~」

「Can’t you use Punigami too?」

「I don’t feel like it today~」

Having said so, she climbed on Iris.

However, she wasn’t heavy at all.

She was nothing but adorable.

「What a beautiful sisterly love. This Mistress doesn’t have a sister and a bit jealous of you. This Mistress shall grant this duty to Katie」

「Eh, me!?」

Hearing something unexpected, Katie dropped her glasses.

She poked her cheeks in an embarrassing matter before saying 「e-excuse me」 in a mosquito-like voice and dropping her head on Muriel’s lap.

「Umu. This is a comfortable weight. This Mistress shall pat your head」

「A lap pillow from a goddess……wawawa what an honor……!」

As a member of the Great Temple of Divine Will, Katie had a great deal of heartfelt respect for the gods.

Being patted by Muriel was enough to send her heart racing.

「This Mistress only recovered her power because you pointed us in the right direction. Don’t hold back. By the way, Katie. How would the Great Temple of Divine Will treat this case? Would they acknowledge Gashe as an evil god?」

「…..Who knows. Gashe-sama didn’t harm any human beings directly, only sealed Muriel-sama’s power. In other words, it was a matter between two gods. There were no casualties, so he probably won’t be recognized as one. Well, his evaluation is bound to drop a few degrees」

「I see. That Gashe, even though he finally made it all the way up, his reputation will be in tatters down here」

Muriel sighed as she looked up at the sky.

「Punipunipuni」

「That act helped him to ascend though, perhaps it was fated to be……or so he says」

「Ah, I see. Punigami is an intelligent slime. Still, why did he want to ascend so badly? It’s quite an achievement but This Mistress thought she knew Gashe better than that. This Mistress doesn’t remember forming any grudges. Was there a reason to sacrifice me for power?」

Muriel didn’t feel hatred towards Gashe even now.

Iris even though she felt nothing about it.

However, that might’ve been her putting up a strong front.

「Muriel……come here to be spoiled~」

「Can’t help it, I’ll do it too」

「Puni」

「M-Me too……!」

「No ja……you can’t do that all of a sudden…..it tickles」

Muriel wiggled to resist the tickling.

After all Iris, Eclipse, and Katie went all out patting her head while Punigami touched her neck since there was no space on her head for more patting. Which was quite ticklish.

「Oh my….what are you doing on my back? I want in」

Jessica said the same thing as Marion.

As expected of her relative.

「I’ll let you later. Just walk straight for now, Jessica-san」

「It’s a promise」

「Are we doing this again!? It’s too embarrassing」

「But I feel bad for leaving only Jessica-san out. You can do that sneakily when no one’s looking if you’re so embarrassed……」

「Ara. It sounds like we are about to do some bad things. Fufu……」

「Hey, Iris. Don’t give her the unnecessary ideas!」

「Sorry…..」

Iris apologized, but, in the end, it was nothing more than patting. It wasn’t particularly shady.

「No ja…..This Mistress is a Guardian Deity. And Jessica is one of the residents of Silverlight Barony despite being a dragon. Which means, I can’t ignore her wishes. You are free to pat This Mistress later!」

Muriel said with a lot of determination.

「Ufufu, I look forward to it」

Jessica introduced some dancing steps into her walking.

And when a dragon does that, things start to shake.

As well as those riding it.

The shockwave assaulted everyone’s rears.

Everyone clung to Punigami in a panic to lessen the shock.

「Punini」

In a matter of shock absorption, Punigami was the undisputed number one in Silverlight Barony, this much of an impact was nothing to him.

「Don’t suddenly go on a rampage, mother. I’ve almost won against Sheryl!」

「No no. It’s me who was winning….that being said, please stop skipping!」

With their match interrupted, Marion and Sheryl joined the others on Punigami.

From Iris’ standpoint, their match couldn’t have been more irrelevant, but the two were serious about it.

「Ara, sorry. Muriel-chan is so cute and I couldn’t help myself…..ah, I want to adopt her~」

「Stop! I alone am enough! I’m your only daughter!」

「Mmm, Marion is such a spoiled child. You would always be my cutest」

「T-That’s not what I’m talking about!」

Being told as such, Marion turned red as an apple.

No matter how you put it, Marion is definitely Jessica’s favorite.

That being said, Iris could only imagine her feelings since she was born in a capsule.

However, Iris at least has a father.

He is the Great Demon King with an uninspiring expression, good-looking face, and splendid horns.

What is he doing right now? Iris remembered her relatives and hometown first time in a while.

At that moment.

A sudden lightning bolt came down from the clear sky.

And it wasn’t a normal one.

It headed straight for Jessica.

Even before landing, it emitted dense magical power from it.

In other words, it was an offensive spell.

「「…….!」」

Iris and Eclipse simultaneously reacted and wrapped Jessica in a magical barrier.

Their field of view was full of blinding light.

Accompanied by a tremendous boom.

「Iris, this is……」

「Yes, it’s not your average lightning. Not an average offensive spell either. It took too much effort to block!」

Yes.

This lightning bolt packed quite the punch.

Strong enough to fry Jessica if it could land a hit.

What kind of being could possibly release that lightning bolt?

Why did it target Jessica?

Everyone looked up.

They saw a single man in his thirties standing there.

He had a long cane with a gold orb on its tip.

Tremendous magical power radiated in the air.

Mostly from the man himself than his cane.

「….Gashe!?」

Muriel screamed as she stared at the man.

Gashe.

Roshe’s father, previous Guardian Deity of Cunningham Viscounty, the god who should’ve ascended to Heaven long ago as well as the reason behind Muriel’s seal.

「Muriel, it’s been a while. I’ve always wanted to see you again. If only you could stay powerless. You just had to tell an inquisitor about my deeds. Aren’t you simply forcing my hand? 」

The orb released a bright light.

Followed by another lightning strike.

This time they saw it coming and had no trouble conjuring a barrier.

That said, they couldn’t keep this up forever as their magical power wasn’t limitless. ¹

Gashe might run out of magical power first, but Iris wasn’t a fan of battles of attrition.

Too much of a hassle.

「Gashe-sama! Why are you doing this!? You are covering your face in mud!」

Katie screamed in resolution.

Gashe answered her with a snort.

「Yeah, something like that. My reputation will fall to the ground. That became an inevitability once you discovered that I used radiant magic stones to fuel my power. Fortunately……only you know about it. As such, disappear. None of this shall make it to the Great Temple of Divine Will’s archives. Am I correct?」

「Gashe……are you trying to erase This Mistress for your own fame!?」

「Please reconsider, Gashe-sama! You’ll become an evil god if you kill us!」

「I’m killing you precisely because I don’t want to be recognized as one!」

A sea of lightning emerged from the orb falling downwards intending to burn everything.

However, Gashe picked a fight with a wrong opponent.

Only Muriel and Katie caught his eyes.

Even though Silverlight Barony had two more Pillars supporting it.

「Eclipse. He’s all yours」

「I know, big sis Iris」

No matter how adorable she looked, no matter how gentle her personality was, no matter how much she loved chocolate.

Her body housed the power of a biological weapon.

In other words, the power of Eclipse.²

A wave of magical power spread from her body turning the day into night.

Complete darkness void of even the moonlight.

「What!? My lightning was destroyed!?」 ³

Gashe was apparently more concerned with his magic than natural abnormalities.

This was the true purpose of Eclipse’s ability.

As long as you stay in the darkness, your magic would be disassembled and absorbed by Eclipse.

Both, the barrier and offensive magic disappeared in a moment.

A cheat that allows Eclipse to power up the moment her enemy tries something.

The moment it’s used the fight becomes a pointless struggle.

However, this ability has a number of drawbacks.

First, Eclipse can only disperse the magic power outside the body.

Eclipse has to have direct physical contact in order to absorb the magical power within.

Second, her absorption capacity isn’t limitless.

On most occasions, this limit doesn’t count as a weakness.

It was only discovered due to Iris’ absurd amount of magical power.

Presently, even Gashe’s divine lightning couldn’t resist disappearing.

Thus, Gashe couldn’t overcome her ability and had no choice but to retreat.

However, Iris had no intention of giving him enough time to think about something like『retreat』.

「With projectiles dispersed, nothing stands in my way now」

Iris unleashed her black wings and appeared behind Gashe.

「Wha….!?」

The moment Gashe tried to turn around it was already too late.

The power difference was too great.

Apparently, Iris’s magical power was stronger than that of a god from Heaven.

On top of that, Gashe was in a state of panic due to Eclipse while Iris stayed calm since the beginning.

A right straight full of magical power heavily collided with Gashe’s cheek.⁴

Just in case, she held back.

So he won’t die.

He only fainted with his eyes rolled back.

「He’s falling our way!」

The unconscious Gashe rammed into Jessica’s back to his own misfortune.

He might’ve been able to wake up and escape had this been a snowfield.

「Now to suck up all the magical power」

Eclipse touched Gashe’s shoulder.

Upon contact, his magical power began flowing from him to Eclipse.

「Goeeeee!」

He immediately woke up from the suffering of his magical power being drained before fainting again from magical power exhaustion.

「……It ended as suddenly as it begun」

Spoke Muriel as she poked Gashe with her finger.

「Well, that’s what happens when you pick a fight with Iris and Eclipse」

「Fufufu……as expected of Eclipse-sama and Iris-chan!」

Said Marion and Sheryl with a smug face as if they contributed to their victory.

「I’ve had the opportunity to witness a battle between the gods! I have to properly record it once I go back to the headquarters…….!」

Katie was excited to the point of nearly dribbling saliva as she fixed her glasses.

1. I don’t think his either but okay.
2. Italic Eclipse is a skill name from now on.
3. GG.
4. Suddenly remembered this moment.