The Deities of Hell

Several large snails stuck to Ria.

They were even on her face, making her unable to even scream.

Since she couldn’t see anything around her, it became difficult to burn the snails with the sun.

“You!”

Pomkichi pounced on some of the snails, trying to peel them off of her.

However, they clung to her tightly and wouldn’t get off with Pomkichi’s strength.

At that time, an arrow flew from a distance and pierced one of the snails.

“An arrow?”

In the direction where the arrow had been shot, Kanata stood holding a bow.

While sweating slightly, he showed a slightly relieved expression.

“I recovered,”

Kanata said, casting away his bow, picked up an arrow and avoided the snails on the ground to lunge at the snails sticking onto Ria.

“Get off her! You!”

Using the arrow, Kanata stabbed snail after snail with a frantic expression.

Several snails started clinging to Kanata.

He forced the snails down to the ground and crushed their shells.

Pomkichi also took advantage of this and jumped around like crazy.

Matter of fact, Pomkichi’s action was nothing but useless.

Still, he caused a small vase nearby to fall down and salt poured out of it as he jumped.

The snails near it curled up to removed themselves from it.

“What? The snails are avoiding it?”

“It’s a vase with snow. Are they bad with cold?”

“It’s not snow! It’s salt!”

Kanata hurried to pick up the vase and pour the salt over the snails sticking to Ria.

The snails started to curl up to flee from it.

“Phew!”

Finally having the snails peeled off of her, Ria spat before taking a deep breath.

“Now!”

Taking advantage of the weak spot of the snails, Kanata carried Ria, trying to run away while limping.

His appearance looked pitiful as he ran, his expression panicked and his eyes tearing up.

He was just that tormented by fear and despair.

“Kanata! Let’s run into that room!”

“Please open!”

Pomkichi rushed into the open room.

He hurriedly closed the door and sat down with his back to it, trying to catch his breath as he hoped the snails wouldn’t come after them.

Ria and Kanata hugged while looking at each other with weary expressions.

“It’s alright, they won’t chase after us. There’s no crevices in this room, so you can relax,”

Pomkichi said after confirming their safety, and jumped into Ria’s embrace.

Then, he cuddled closer to Ria with a worried look.

“Pant… Pant… Ria, are you okay?”

“I-it was scary… I thought it was all over…”

Ria said, crying and trembling.

Seeing her like that, Kanata got just slightly relieved.

It was true that Ria was safe, but it was a relief that Ria had the same feelings as himself.

(She usually acts all noble to make herself look bigger, but… She’s just a normal person.)

He was relieved that, although Ria had wings sprouting from her back and could make suns, she was a normal 14-year-old.

That truth reinforced Kanata’s resolution and sense of responsibility.

(I want to protect her.)

It was the first time he thought something like that.

Cherishing this emotion, he took out a handkerchief from his backpack to wipe Ria’s tears.

“Thanks… For saving me,”

Ria said, still afraid.

There was no trace of the earlier haughtiness she had shown the first time she met Kanata.

“If we didn’t have a contract… I’d probably have left you behind. So it’s actually me who should be thanking you. Thanks to your contract, I managed to overcome my cowardice a little… So, thank you.”

“Kanata is the handsome hero of justice, huh… I thought you were just a wimp, but it turned out that I was the one.”

Ria said exasperated while wiping the fluid on her face and neck, then hugged Pomkichi.

“I’m not the handsome hero of justice… If that’s the case, I’m the opposite. Besides, you’re not a coward, Ria… It’s a normal reaction.”

Kanata averted his eyes, troubled.

“So you’re not handsome… Then, let me confirm,”

Ria said, but it was clear from the outward appearance.

Kanata definitely didn’t have a handsome face, he had dark circles around his eyes, and he had a sickly pale skin.

A sickly appearance couldn’t be said to be good looking.

“That’s fine, but… What do you mean by confirming? Do you mean my personality?”

Kanata asked, and, with worn-out eyes, Ria pulled down his pants and stared.

Kanata shook off Ria’s hand in a fluster and took a startled step away from her.

“What are you doing!?”

“Huh? I wanted to look at your sword…”

“Sword? You mean my crotch?”

“Yeah.”

“S-so there is another person who thinks like Ritsu, huh…”

“Who?”

“My sister’s husband, who makes weird introductions like you and call the crotch a sword.”

“Ritsu? Is that a human name?”

“Yeah… He’s a self-proclaimed handsome hero of justice. In actuality, he’s a good person, but he’s pretty eccentric.”

Ria and Pomkichi made eye contact.

They seemed to realize something.

“Ria! Do you think—!”

“Yeah, I’m sure of it,”

Ria and Pomkichi both said, having realized the same thing.

“What? Do you know him?”

“No, I don’t know him at all.”

“No, I don’t know him at all.”

“Then why are you looking at each other like that!?”

Kanata raised his voice against the two of them.

“Well, the name is familiar. The person who told me to look at a person’s sword to find out if they’re handsome had that name… I’m sure he was the protagonist in a picture book. Or a manga or movie. It was such a long time ago, I don’t remember clearly.”

“I don’t want to watch a protagonist who calls his crotch a sword.”

“So show me how big you are.”

“Pomkichi, is Ria a pervert?”

Kanata asked Pomkichi, seeing Ria approaching him with the intent to pull down his pants.

“No! She’s just too pure!”

“If you reach the peak of purity, you turn into a pervert.”

“Give up!”

“Stop it—!”

Shivering while covered in snail slime, Ria pounced on Kanata.