Chapter 118: Female Hero and Strolling

Chapter 118: Female Hero and Strolling

Early morning of the next day―

「We’ve arrived. This is my hometown and the port city of Usalda Pekura kingdom―〝Pekura?.」

Ciel spoke to Aria and co. as she spread her arms and pointed at the land across the ship deck.

Port city Pekura, even though its size couldn’t be compared to Labyrinth city’s, it was a flourishing city with many visitors or fishermen who regularly came to the market in the morning.

Most of them had rabbit-like ears growing from atop their head.

It seemed that the majority of the citizens in the city were from the rabbit-eared race like Ciel.

「Oi look, it’s Ciel-sama!」

「She’s still beautiful today~」

Such compliments appeared from the people around Aria’s group as soon as these people saw Ciel.

As expected of a hero, her status was close to a celebrity.

「Let’s have breakfast in this city today. We’ll head toward the royal capital tomorrow. The labyrinth which seals Demon King Belphegor is close to the royal capital.」

Ciel spoke to Aria and co. while waving at the citizens of Pekura.

Aria and co. followed her.

◆

「Fufu… are you still sleeping, Tama?」

As they sat inside one of the stores in the market, Aria patted Tama, who rounded his body and slept on top of Aria’s twin melons.

「Mu~h, only Aria got that treatment, so sly!」

Stella shouted her dissatisfaction as she enviously glared at Aria and Tama.

At this time, Ciel had finished ordering the breakfast.

However, her line of sight kept wandering back and forth toward Tama.

Her rabbit ears rhythmically moved at times.

Considering that she formed a contract with King and her gaze often wandered to Tama, anyone could easily guess that she loved animals.

（Yup, it looks good! No one seems nervous at all!）

May pondered about the situation as she looked around at the others.

Her appearance might be that of a cute, naive girl, but she did her best to understand her comrade’s condition.

It was as expected of the girl who crossed the river of time from the future to change the past and who was the daughter of the female hero and the archmage.

Unknown to her, Cedric and Vulcan were secretly observing her.

「That appearance and the air around her…」

「Nyeah… a carbon copy of Maiya-chan.」

The Archmage, Maiya, was a powerful person, but he was also a kind and gentle man who treasured his friends and comrades.

And May’s expression just now made Vulcan and Cedric recall that best friend of theirs, Maiya.

May was the splitting image of her father.

「Wa~!」

「Deliciou~s!」

A few minutes later, Lily and Faeri let out joyful cheers upon seeing the dishes being carried to their table.

Grilled fish, soup, salad, etc, etc…

Although the fish dishes here used different fish than the ones caught by the fishermen of Labyrinth city and were cooked in different ways, all these dishes looked absolutely delicious.

After they finished their breakfast, the party headed toward the inn recommended by Ciel.

◆

An hour passed by.

（Uhm, it seems Master and co. are already asleep.）

Tama looked into the room from the window.

Aria and co. had decided to take naps since they had arrived so early in the morning.

Tama also wanted to sleep… but, his curiosity got the better of him. He leaped out of the room from the gap between the windows to stroll around the city.

As he beautifully landed from the window of their room on the second floor―

「Oh my! Are you going to take a walk, Tama-chan?」

Tama’s ears perked up when a voice called out to him.

He looked in the direction the voice had come from and saw Ciel standing right there.

And just like that, she slowly walked toward Tama.

「Nya~?」

Tama let out a puzzled cry.

Because Ciel had lifted him to hug him.

「Fuh… even though the monster I tamed is also cute, it’s still hard for me to resist the cuteness of an adorable kitten like you.」

Ciel gently looked at Tama… On her face was an expression she had never shown in front of Aria and the others.

Then, following Aria’s example, she stowed Tama in between her twin mountains.

Even though they could be barely noticed because of the cloak she wore, her twin melons’ were outstanding in terms of size.

The reason Tama noticed this was that he felt his body being enveloped by an extremely soft and tender feeling.

Besides, he also sniffed some sort of perfume aroma from Ciel’s body.

Tama sniffed the smell of a berry coming from the nape of Ciel’s neck.

It was a refreshing, gentle, and reassuring smell.

「Since it’s just right, let’s stroll together.」

Ciel spoke these words, then walked out the inn while brushing Tama’s head.

◆

Tama and Ciel took their time to walk toward the beach where they could see the beautiful sea.

「Please forgive me for involving you guys in this mess, Tama.」

Ciel suddenly spoke to Tama, who was starting to enjoy his rest in between Ciel’s twin melons.

「N… nya~?」

Tama wondered ‘what in the world is this girl talking about?’.

After dropping Tama on the beach, Ciel sat next to him and continued.

「Properly speaking, this kingdom’s force and I should be dealing with this matter. However, the other party is the demon king from the future. His strength is unknown… According to May, my power alone is far from being enough to defeat it.」

Tama nodded as he heard Ciel speak while looking at the sea.

「Fuh… you really are a wise cat, aren’t you…」

Seeing Tama’s gesture, which gave the feeling that he understood what she said, Ciel smiled before continuing.

「While it might be true that Aria and co. are powerful, they’re still too young and inexperienced. Moreover, I honestly worry about them for having to rely on an adorable kitten like you. Though, May told me that it will be alright, just in case…」

Ciel didn’t complete her sentence.

「Nya~~~n!」

Tama let out a loud cry toward Ciel, leaped on her shoulder with a PYON!, then rubbed his head on her cheek.

「… What a surprise! I never expected that a day when even a kitten will worry about me would come like this.」

Ciel let out a gentle smile when she saw Tama’s human-like gesture.

Tama nodded to Ciel and vowed in his heart.

（It’s okay, I’m a knight. I’ll protect Master and the others. And naturally, I’ll protect you too.）