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“Let go of milady—‼︎”

With a roar-like scream, Mina charged forward.
Reaching Ekaterina in the blink of an eye at an inhuman speed, she lunged at Vladforen with a dagger she must have been concealing somewhere.

But the dagger cut only empty air.
Dodging the attack faster than even the battle maid Mina could follow, Vladforen was already standing in midair again, Ekaterina still held in his arms.

“You bear the blood of monsters, it seems—but do you know who it is you face?”
“Shut up!”

With the face of a wrathful demon, Mina leapt.
Astonishingly, she jumped several meters without a running start—and reached them. But just as Mina’s hand stretched toward Ekaterina, Vladforen escaped to an even greater height.

“Milady!”

Oleg and the knights rushed over, along with the hunting hound Regina, but they could only grind their teeth at the distance beyond their weapons’ reach. With Ekaterina in his arms, they couldn’t even throw their weapons. Regina, perhaps compelled by the blood of a magical beast to submit to the Demon Dragon King, couldn’t even howl and writhed in distress; the other hounds lay flat on the ground, seemingly unable to move.

“Hmph.”

At Vladforen’s bored mutter, a chill ran down Ekaterina’s spine.
Was he displeased by the humans? Might he decide to eliminate them? The Demon Dragon King breathed fire—and even in human form, he might possess equivalent destructive power.
Ekaterina leaned forward in Vladforen’s arms.

“Mina! Sir Oleg! I have received an invitation, and will therefore engage in conversation with this lord for a short while. Everyone, remain where you are and do not move. That is an order!”

It was the first time Ekaterina had ever spoken the word *order*. Mina and the knights all froze in place.

Taking that as his cue, Vladforen ascended even higher.

“MILADYYYYY—‼︎”

Mina’s scream, torn from her throat like blood, grew distant—and then vanished.

.

*Zzz—.*
A noise like static rang in her ears, and when Ekaterina realized she was floating somewhere completely different from the roadside they’d been on just moments before, her eyes widened.

Where—⁉︎

Looking around frantically, she concluded they were midway up the slope of one of the highest mountains in the Jurnova range. ….maybe.
Below them, mountain after mountain stretched out, blanketed in green forest. The vegetation told her they were still within Jurnova territory.
Even so—it was an entirely different place.

Was that teleportation⁉︎
Did I just experience instant movement, like in manga and anime from my past life⁉︎
Amazing—‼︎

“…You seem oddly delighted.”

Ah!

Coming back to herself, Ekaterina glanced up at the person carrying her in a princess carry—
—and immediately looked away.

This is bad. Something dangerous has entered my field of vision.
The god of death had been devastatingly beautiful too, but that was at night, under moonlight, and his beauty had been otherworldly—so I managed to stay fairly calm.
But this is broad daylight. And he’s this close.
This is bad. My thoughts are blasting past the stratosphere.

“Why do you not look at me?”

Aaah—even his voice is incredible!

Now that her awareness had caught up, Ekaterina screamed internally.

Onii-sama has a low, pleasant voice too—but the Demon Dragon King’s is even lower. If I classify it with my choir knowledge from my previous life, Onii-sama would be a baritone, while this would be bass… or maybe bass-baritone.
Don’t talk this close! It resonates straight through my body!

No—this isn’t the time to panic. Get it together, me!
Remember—even if he’s handsome, my strike zone lies elsewhere.
My ultimate strike is—my dear Onii-sama‼︎

Clenching her fist to steel her resolve, Ekaterina turned a determined gaze toward Vladforen.
Perhaps her expression amused him; that peerless beauty curved into a faint smile.
…Ekaterina quickly looked away again.

“Um… please put me down.”
“You are light enough.”

Oh—how polite.
Honestly, this person—well, not a person, but still—seems aware of the effect his appearance has on humans and to be enjoying it. Maybe he hasn’t been completely isolated from humans until now.
Could I reason with him?
Ah… this reminds me of Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi saying “We can talk this out,” right before being shot during the May 15 Incident. No, no, don’t compare—this is fine. He’s a capture target, after all.

“With all due respect, in our customs, women are not permitted to touch so closely with men outside their family. I cannot settle myself so. I would appreciate it if you would put me down.”
“I see.”

Vladforen chuckled softly.
Then he glided through the air.

Whoa.

By what logic is he floating, anyway? Fascinating.
Though come to think of it, I once read that even dragons shouldn’t be able to fly scientifically—too massive relative to their wing surface area.
If they can fly anyway, then floating in human form probably isn’t worth being surprised over.
He’s probably doing something with magic, but I can’t quite grasp what it is…
…Yeah. I’m absolutely escaping reality right now.

Descending onto a rocky outcrop halfway up the mountain, Vladforen seated Ekaterina on a rock of comfortable height.
The view was spectacular, overlooking the surrounding mountain ranges. Someday, it might even become a famous scenic spot for mountaineers.

“It seems I acted against your customs. My apologies.”

Oh?
I’d thought he was an arrogant type based on images from my past life—but apparently not.

“There is no need for apology. Thank you for heeding my request.”
“You are calm. Most humans scream as though they’re about to be killed just from being lifted into the air—unless, perhaps, in your other world, humans can also fly?”

Well, not exactly, but—
There were airplanes. Paragliders and hang gliders. Aerial footage from drones on TV and online was commonplace.
And besides, I’ve always been good with heights, in both lives. I loved roller coasters in my past life, too.
—No, stop with the inner comedy routine and get to the point!

“Um, esteemed Demon Dragon King. May I ask why you know that my soul came from another world, that I possess memories of a previous life?”

When she asked, Vladforen answered plainly.

“The god of death and his consort came to visit me, and spoke of you.”

I knew it!
Of course! No one else in this world would know that!
Even the mountain god only said I had a ‘strange soul’—it didn’t seem to occur to him that I was from another world!
But they went out of their way to visit and told him themselves?!
Why—?! Seriously, why?!

“You seem to have been quite favored. They were concerned for you. —Do you normally live in the imperial capital?”
“Yes… that is correct.”
“The god of death cannot enter the capital. Too many humans have each drawn in the gods they worship, leaving it saturated.”

Ah.
Now that you mention it, I once heard a story about how they tried to build a new temple and summon a god, only for the god to appear in a dream and say, ‘It’s already full. Can’t get in.’ (Paraphrased.)
…So that story was actually true.

“The god of death is not weak. Even I, as a living being, find him difficult to resist. However, because he is no longer worshipped and acts contrary to the principles he governs, he is weakened by the standards of the gods.”

Ah—that must be about Selene. Being together in the living world with someone who has died does indeed run counter to the laws of death.

“He likely judged that he could not aid you should something happen in the capital, and thus sought to draw me in.”

The god of death must be wary of the Creator God, worried about what might happen to me in the capital and, made his move for my sake… That’s—far more concern than I deserve.
…Though, honestly, this situation he created feels more like a crisis than anything.

“I have lived long enough to converse with gods, but their affairs do not concern me. I dislike the imperial capital. When I see humans swarming together like that, I feel the urge to burn it all away.”

Please don’t. That’s not even remotely funny.

“But your story—of a girl with memories of another world—interested me. I have lived for about three thousand years. Once, I traveled this world and saw much. …But I grew bored. I am long since tired of the frozen plains at the northern edge, and the eastern horizon where the sea meets the sky. Yet you know a completely different world. And for the first time in a long while, I found myself interested. What kind of place is your world? Tell me about it.”