Guardian: Greetings, my dear readers! It is Yours Truly, the Magic Swordmaster, Guardian! As you may have guessed, if you are reading this, this means a warm reminder. This time, this chapter contains a character in LN Vol. 13, even though he didn't have a visual, and only appears in that volume; I figured I should let you know this in advance. After all, this chapter only contains info. about the character, namely his name (duh), species (probably), what magic he specializes. To be honest, this chapter won't spoil you that much about the content in LN Vol.13, but then again, it is your choice to read this chapter or not.

Iris: Hey (Nee) Onii-chan~

Guardian: *waves at Iris* Hey Iris! Would you like to say a few words to our beautiful readers as well?

Iris: Yes please (Hai, dodemo)! Hello everyone (Konichiwa Minna-san), I would like to thank you for keep on reading this story!

Black robed man whose identity is about to be revealed: *yells in the background as he pointed at Guardian* Hey you, fight me!

Guardian: *makes a face at that black robed guy* Rejected!

Black robed man whose identity is about to be revealed: Inferno!

Guardian: *activates Water Absorb Shield and absorbed the skill* Hey I said rejected, you dumbass!

Black robed man whose identity is about to be revealed: *kept on casting Inferno*

Guardian: *cast Sacred Thunderbolt after absorbing Inferno multiple times* Fk you!

Something breaks in the background*

Black robed man whose identity is about to be revealed: *ran away*

Guardian: *runs away as he chased that black robed man* Don't you dare run away from me after all this shit! Get back here!

Iris: *looks at Guardian running towards the distance then look back at the readers afterwards* Well then, please enjoy the following chapter: A Duel for this Black Robed Man!

Iris: *runs after Guardian* Onii-chan~!

"Now who the hell are you?" I asked the black robed man.

A large ball of fire shot out from his hand as he cast Fireball without warning.

"Shield change, Pegasus to Dragon!" I activated the Water Absorb Shield and absorbed the Fireball.

After a while, that robed man got his hood removed, as I used Sacred Thunderbolt to remove the hood through intricate calculations.

And under the hood was an an androgynous yet pretty handsome face (Pun not intended).

"Well, aren't you pretty handsome." I joked, but then I received stares from everyone, the look in their eyes gave out the message "Dude, seriously?"

"O...Onii-chan..." Iris muttered as she facepalmed herself. She blushed so hard that her ears were red as well, most likely because she felt embarrassed for me.

But then again, she was shivering as well, so I guess she was trying her very best to hold her laughter too.

Well, let me be extremely honest with you, if Iris found that funny, I don't care anymore.

"Jokes aside, who are you?" I pulled my sword out and pointed at him as I asked his identity once again.

"My name is Duke, I am specialized in fire-aligned Advanced Magic." The black robed man introduced himself.

"I have heard a lot about you, Magic Swordmaster." Duke continued as he maintained a poker face. "I have heard your strength is on par with that of a Demon King General."

Really, what was he saying? That strength was the systems', not mine. I could be strong, but it is nearly impossible for my strength to be on par with that of a Demon King General. I still have much to learn to protect Iris, you know.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I pointed my sword towards Duke.

"What...?" Karu muttered to himself.

'Oh right!'

Back in the Demon King's Castle...

"My lord, this is the report regarding the Magic Swordmaster and the Princess."

"That was unexpected."

"Isn't that right? That immense power of his posed a threat to your army, my lord."

"That's not it. How could he kill people like that? That was not something I would expect from him."

"You have done a great job. With their strengths analysed, our chance to win the war will be higher!"

"Thank you, my lord!"

'Yeah... That's my problem here... But who cares anyway? I can bring this powerful party to my Goddess once the Magic Swordmaster and the Princess are gone.' Karu thought to himself as he understood why Duke said that.

Meanwhile...

"Fight me!" Duke shouted as he chanted Inferno at Iris.

"Water Absorb Shield!" I dashed in front of Iris and muttered as a blue Absorb Shield appeared on my right bracer.

The magic spell was absorbed in a few seconds.

"Are you ok, Iris?" I looked back at Iris as I asked her.

"Yes, thank you Onii-chan!" Iris replied with a smile as she thanked me.

I channeled some of my mana into the sword and lunged at Duke.

"Flashwind Flash Sword (Senpu Senko Ken)!" I shouted the skill as I spun my sword like a lightsaber.

"Interesting." Duke said as he dodged my sword. "Just like the analysis said. You really are an interesting fella, Magic Swordmaster!"

"What are you, a stalker? Just to let you know, I am not interested in-"

"Wha- What are you saying, you imbecile! We angels and devils are asexual, so we aren't interested in romance." Duke said like a flustered teenage girl.

"Wait. Did you say 'We angels'?" I asked.

"No I didn't."

"No you definitely did."

After two minutes of me and Duke fighting like kids...

"Like I said, I didn't say that!"

"Aw yes you did!" I shot back with a voice that is similar to Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants.

"O... Onii-chan..." Iris muttered as she facepalmed herself again.

"Give me a sec!" I yelled agitatedly as I signaled Iris to come closer. "I am going to the police station and get the lie detector thing back here! Don't you dare run away!"

'What the fk...' Karu also facepalmed himself as he thought to himself.

Another two very boring minutes later...

"We are back!" I returned with Iris as I raised the lie detector up in the air. "Now, are you ready for your defeat?"

"That's my line!"

"We'll see. Did you say angels and devils are asexual?"

"No-"

-Ring.

"See?!" I said triumphantly as I showed him the magic lie detector with a Will Smith style show off pose.

"Noo!" Duke shouted in disbelief and agony as he put his hands on his head.

All of a sudden, a crow flew towards us and landed on Duke's arm.

He read the letter and his face was a bit pale, maybe the letter wrote 'What the fk are you doing? Leave before shit hits the fan!' and scared him.

"Hmph! We settle this another time. Don't you dare forget me, Magic Swordmaster!" Duke turned around and left us alone.

"By the way, who is he again?" I whispered to Iris as I looked at his rear profile.

In the Operational Base...

"You guys go ahead and take a seat. I am going to make dinner for you guys." I said as I walked towards the food storage room.

"Onii-chan, can I help you with the cooking?" A voice asked all of a sudden as I grabbed the dragon meat and a pig stored in the food storage room.

By the way, I know you might say the dragon meat was obtained two months ago, but the thing is, I requested the workers to remodel a section of the room as a meat locker, so the dragon meat didn't even rot a bit.

Anyway, back to the story. When I turned around to see who was there, Iris' head popped out of the side of the food storage room's doorway, as if she followed me here and peeped on me.

"Well, I would say 'Nah, it's ok' at first, but I will just leave the decision up to you. After all, this is the first time we have dinner here." I answered as I kept grabbing ingredients for the meal.

"Then, I would like to help you!" Iris answered without any hesitation as she put on a shining expression.

"Alright then, just to remind you, cooking is harder than it looks. So be careful and don't get injured, OK?"

"Yes, I understand Onii-chan!"

I couldn't help but smile as I was overwhelmed by Iris' heartwarming tone. I couldn't see her expression due to the fact I was grabbing the ingredients, but I was absolutely certain it was a beautiful sight for me to behold.

"Ok, Iris, can you help me grab some coal and sticks please? Get them outside the house. But careful, it may dirty your hands, so wearing a pair of gloves beforehand." I asked Iris as I pointed at the bag of coal and sticks leaning against the corner of the room.

"Of course!" Iris answered as she carried the bag of coal and sticks towards the exit of the Operational Base.

I followed her as I carried a pig (dead of course) towards the exit.

"Ok, hold this for me." I requested Iris to hold the pig as I started to demonstrate how to start a fire.

"I am going to teach you something what I learned back then. It takes three things for the fire to burn, namely fuel, which is the coal in this case; temperature and oxygen, aka air." I begun as I started to stack the coal pieces into a well-shaped structure. "This is called the Burning Triangle." I continued as I chanted Tinder.

"So remember, leave some space between the pieces of coal to give it some air to burn." I looked at Iris as I was still casting Tinder.

The stack of coal started glowing as I kept chanting Tinder to light it up, which a fire came out momentarily.

Then, I thrust the sticks into the ground and placed the skewered pig onto the sticks and started to spit roast the pig.

"Are you interested in trying to spit roast a pig?" I asked Iris with a smile as I pointed at the skewered pig which was being spit roasted at the moment.

"Yes please!" Iris answered as she took over the spit.

"Remember, don't turn it quickly, okay? It needs even heat to be delicious. The skin will turn brown and crispy once it was cooked." I informed Iris about spit roasting the pig before I brought out the cooking set and started cooking the dragon meat.

"I understand (wakarimashita)!"

Meanwhile, in the Operational Base...

"Seriously, does anyone know are they dating?" Karu asked the trio as he pointed at us, who were cooking outside the base.

Loby shrugged as Chris and Yunyun were chatting, ignoring the duo.

'If they were dating, I would make a novel out of them.' Karu thought to himself as he looked at us.

24 minutes later...

"Well, onto the final touches." I muttered to myself as I add a pinch of salt onto the dragon meat like how Salt Bae did.

"Onii-chan! It's done." Iris said as she mimicked what I did to Duke before, showing the perfect spit roasted pig with a Will Smith style show off pose.

"Bravo!" I said cheerfully as I applauded her.

"Onii-chan, did you mean the military alphabets or what?" Iris asked as she slightly tilted her head in confusion. (Note: B is called 'Bravo' in the military phonetic alphabet)

"No, I am complimenting you." I answered as I tried my best to hold back my laughter. "Never mind that, let's go!"

Then, we carried our dinner into the Base.

"Alright guys! Dinner's ready!" I said as I kicked the door open.

Then Iris and I put the food on the table.

"Time to dig in. Thank you for the meal (Itadakimasu)!" x6

"So... I have received a message from Informant Sierra." I begun briefing my party members as they started to enjoy the dinner Iris and I made.

"Really?" Iris asked after she swallowed a piece of dragon meat. Meanwhile, Chris, whose face had a carefree expression, turned into a solemn one after I said that.

"Yeah, let's hear it out." I replied as I played the communicating device.

"*walkie-talkie rustling* Sierra to Commander Zulu. I have found the location of the cult that worship Volras, the God of Darkness and Death. The Cult took over the fallen kingdom Norse as their base, which was destroyed by the Mobile Fortress Destroyer before.*walkie-talkie rustling*" Saki, aka Informant Sierra's voice came through the communicating device.

"They chose Norse probably because it got abandoned for some time and became spooky because of that. But then again, it is most likely to be false. *walkie-talkie rustling*" Informant Sierra continued.

"*walkie-talkie rustling* I have successfully infiltrated the Cult. It made me more convincing that I would like to join the Cult because I am a lich and I emit a cursed aura, which they recruited me before I could ask whether or not can I join them. Which reminds me, I hope Charlie wasn't pissed about the fact I became a lich due to the curse from Volras. Speaking of which, is currently with his followers. Also, please stay alert. Followers of the Cult have infiltrated both the Belzerg Kingdom and the Demon King's Army, according to the head priest during one of the meetings. He mentioned they dressed in normal clothes when someone's around, but will dress in black robes when alone as well. The most important thing is, the Cult has received a message from Volras, so they changed their current objective, from taking out both the Belzerg Kingdom and the Demon King's Army to capture Commander Zulu alive." Informant Sierra continued to give out intel she collected from her infiltration of the Cult.

"But I haven't found out the source to his power or his abilities. I will stay there and see what I can find. By the way, Commander Zulu; thanks to your plan, the Premonition of Death cast upon my family was lifted. So I will give in my all and do gather more intel for you. Sierra, over and out." Informant Sierra concluded before she turned off her communicating device.

"That would be all the intel we obtained for now." I said as I put my communicating device back on to my belt.

"Onii-chan, what are we going to do?" Iris asked me anxiously.

"Hold up!" Loby raised his hand.

"What is it?" I asked. "It seems like you know a thing or two about the Cult."

"Well, I... probably know his abilities." Loby said.

"The Crimson Demons once fought Volras before, we gained the upper hand at a point, yet... we failed to seal Volras away, as... he was too strong to be sealed." Yunyun continued.

'Probably because the chuunibyou tendencies of your fellow clansmen bought him time to escape...' I mentally interjected as I maintained my poker face.

"At any rate, I have heard from my dad that there is a book that recorded Volras' abilities, hidden in the Crimson Demon Village." Yunyun mentioned a piece of crucial info. we could not miss.

"Wait a second, who's your dad?" I asked. "Also, please don't expect us to know who your dad is, since we aren't Crimson Demons, you know."

"M... My dad is the Village Chief of the Crimson Demons." Yunyun answered shyly.

"Well then, let's go to the Crimson Demon Village when we are ready to move out." I said nonchalantly. "Pack your equipment properly and stay alert to your surroundings. As Saki said, the Cult has followers infiltrated here and they could be anywhere. So try not to come here alone, albeit I know how strong you guys are, in order not to attract attention and alert them. We will meet here three days later. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" x4 (Karu refused to say that, even though I don't know why.)

On our way home...

"How's the dinner?" I asked Iris with the usual smile on my face.

"It was great! By the way, Onii-chan..."

"Hm?"

"Aren't you scared? I mean, you are being targeted by unknown enemies..."

"To be honest, I am not scared... is a lie, if I have to say." I answered.

"Onii-chan..."

"But don't get me wrong. I am not concerned about myself. Your safety is what I am concerned of. After all, you couldn't use any of your powerful abilities as you need to keep your identity a secret, so I fear you may get injured because of that." I continued.

"I am scared that you may get injured because of that. On the other hand, I really want you to come with us." I expressed what I thought to Iris as we continued walking through the secret passageway. "But then again, it is you who should make the call here." I fidgeted as I kept on talking.

"Onii-chan, I am really happy that you cared a lot about me. But even if you forbid me to come with you, I will still go with you." Iris answered as she gave a warm smile.

"Is that so? That's good to hear." I answered as I couldn't help but smile at her answer.

"So... do you want to pack things with me or I do it for both of us?" I asked.

"Um... I really want to, but..."

"If that's the case, you take lessons from Rain. At the same time, I will ready our equipment."

"Yes sir!" Iris answered as she saluted.

Of course, I returned the salute.

In the palace...

"Sweet dreams, my dear Iris." I smiled before I closed her bedroom door.

"You too, Onii-chan." Iris returned the smile before she slept.

'With that done, let's-'

I ran into Claire after I turned around.

"What the hell are you doing here?" x2

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed the story!

Stay tuned for the next chapter. :)