CH 30

Dearest Mother, it seems this world often eclipses my imagination.

“You’re Puipui-chan?! Don’t scare me like that!”

“Up close, it’s cute~”

“… it’s the same as the orbazards. It only has molars…”

Zuuooo… zuuooo…

I appreciate the children’s sense of adaptability – they’d already begun to interact with the Orbazard King they were so scared of only a minute ago. I stared at the three of them as they climbed onto the Orbazard King, folded their arms over the chests as they laid down, and came down as if they were playing on a slide.

“This proves the theory that Orbazard Kings are the adult form of orbazards…”

“Let’s present this at the next conference…”

If I told that stubborn old man nicknamed “Doctor”1, who was investigating the local ecology, about our current situation, he’d definitely be jealous. Doctor, looks like there’s a gentle one among the Orbazard Kings. Or maybe it’s because it’s Puipui-chan?

Ludo-san was also watching the children, Puipui-chan, and Himeko with dismay as they bounced around.

“Fikar easily gets a dragon to be his follower, Sumire makes an Orbazard King nostalgic… You guys really are out of our league, aren’t you?”

“No, no, I wasn’t aiming for anything…  I didn’t expect Puipui-chan to evolve into something so spectacular.”

“But it’s still amazing. Maybe this is your talent as an adventurer.”

Ludo-san patted my head, and I looked up unintentionally. But by the time my head was fully raised, he’d already started walking towards the children, clapping his hands to round them up.

“Come on, you guys. If you keep playing around, you’ll fail the mission.”

“Ah! I forgot!”

“Aah~ yeah, we have to hunt…”

“If we hunt, won’t Puipui-chan get mad?”

The three of them reluctantly jumped back over the river, leaving the tension palpably low.

The completion requirement for today’s request was to bring back one orbazard meat per person, so if we didn’t bring back anything, the request would be failed. There was no penalty for a failed request and you could always retry another day, but the guild kept track of your success rate over time and, if it decreased too much, you might be denied higher-ranked requests. 

“True. It’d be awful if it went berserk as soon as we start hunting.”

“Right… Umm, Puipui-chan, we came to hunt orbazards for food…”

I tried talking to Puipui-chan. Although not as intelligent as dragons, magic beasts tended to be more intelligent than ordinary animals, able to remember the names of themselves and certain others. If we hunted without killing needlessly, there probably wouldn’t be any reason for an Orbazard King to show up, and it would be great if it didn’t go on a rampage.

Puipui-chan brought its nose, which had roughly the same diameter as a volleyball, up to mine, blew out a puff of air, and let out a quiet zuuooo~. When Puipui-chan was small, it sounded so cute, but its voice got really low now that it was all grown up.

Does that mean you understand? As I was wondering that, the bushes rustled with a rush and, one by one, little orbazards poked their heads out and walked over to us.

The orbazards, who looked strangely small after seeing how big Puipui-chan was, waddled all the way to our feet. They scratched themselves against our legs, then flipped onto their backs. In their terribly defenseless positions, they began making little pui-pui-pui noises, staying completely still.

Ludo-san was horrified.

“Oi… these guys… are they trying to get hunted?…”

“No, no, no, no!! Puipui-chan! So selfless and cruel!!”

Marth, Liliana, and Leonardo were panicking over the orbazards’ determined attitudes that could’ve come straight from a book of faith. Just who was Puipui-chan to be able to make the orbazards behave like this? Well, being an Orbazard King probably helped.

That ‘It’s my destiny to be eaten…’ feeling threw us into a flaming pit of guilt.

“Are we really going to kill them?”

“It’s impossible~… I can’t eat them.”

“… But I ate bird meat today. Was it hunted like this, too?”

Leonardo gazed down at orbazards and whispered to himself. His parents were adventurers, so he had likely seen them processing the meat of hunted animals on a regular basis.

“Dad always tells me that we live off the lives of living things…”

Saying that, Leonardo gripped his knife tightly. His voice quivered and faded out at the end, but it looked like the message was properly received by Marth and Liliana.

The children cried and cried and cried, but they picked up their knives nonetheless.

I cried, too. Ludo-san’s eyes were red. The himekoryuu drank some water.2

“Everyone did a good job today…”

After crossing the river and finishing our work, we headed back to town. It was a total funeral march. The himekoryuu weaved between the three children, worried about how sick they looked, and Puipui-chan walked slowly beside me.

As we neared the edge of the forest, Puipui-chan stopped. I turned to face Puipui-chan, who stared quietly at me, and hugged the tip of its long nose.

Puipui-chan had been there for me when I was living alone, lonely. It had been hurt by human greed and selfishness. And yet, Puipui-chan saved me. Even if it got bigger in size, it was cute when it wagged its tail. And it was Puipui-chan who let us hunt the little orbazards.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I said, and I heard the sound of grass swishing under its swaying tail. Its skin felt lumpy on my cheeks and it hurt a little.

“See you soon, Puipui-chan.”

I hope I’ll see you again someday. And, I don’t want to hunt orbazards anymore. I’m sure that an Orbazard King is always watching, even if they don’t show themselves. On this side of the river, at least.

Puipui-chan, walking slowly, soon disappeared into the forest.