CH 245

Chapter 245 : Green Foxes

Today, Celine and Ester came to my house before noon, and after we had an early lunch together in the garden of my house, we decided to go to the forest to hunt Green Foxes as planned.

「Before we go, I want you guys to listen to me. Please be very careful. You know that I can’t use my fire spells in the forest, right? So, I won’t be able to help much. Of course, if any of you guys were in danger, I would save you even if it would burn the entire forest, but please be careful so that doesn’t happen. Do you guys understand~?」(Celine)

「Understood.」(Mark)

「Alright~!」(Ester)

「Okay~!」(Nicola)

Today, Celine is the leader. I don’t know if she was serious about burning the entire forest to save us if we were in danger, but one thing we need to keep in mind is that we need to be vigilant while we’re in the forest.

After leaving my house, we headed north until we reached the river.

If we cross the river and keep heading north, we will be in the habitat of Arrow Dodging Birds we hunted a while ago.

Therefore, we didn’t head north this time. The habitat of Green Foxes is in the forest far west of the village, so we headed west, walking down the river.

Actually, Green Foxes were harmful back then. They were ferocious monsters with sharp claws and fangs who liked to attack people. However, because the villagers regularly exterminated them a long time ago, they became afraid to go near the village.

That’s why I’ve never seen them since I came to this village.

They are now living while staying away from the village, so the farther away we are from the village, the more likely we will encounter Green Foxes.

「Hmm, I don’t think there are any Green Foxes around here. Let’s keep moving~!」(Celine)

Nicola, Ester, and I were following Celine, walking through the forest silently.

The trees around this area aren’t that dense, so it’s brighter than other areas. Thanks to that, we can see the surroundings clearly.

Still, because there are a lot of trees, I can’t use my detection magic very well.

Nicola’s detection ability doesn’t seem to have a problem with the number of trees, though.

After walking for about ten minutes from the village, suddenly, a gust of wind blew through the trees, causing dead leaves to fly in the air.

「Geez. It’s a little windy today.」(Celine)

Saying that, Celine frowned and brushed off the dead leaves that were stuck in her hair.

At that moment, Nicola made a serious expression and looked up at the sky.

『The wind is noisy today…』(Nicola)

After sending that telepathic message, she glanced at me, as if waiting for me to reply to her.

Guess I have no choice but to play along…

『This wind is weeping just a little…』(Mark)

*/TL : Those lines came from one of the most hilarious scenes in the gag manga/anime Daily Lives of High School Boys (Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou)

Anime scene : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObZlm6QP6hM

『Did you find something?』(Mark)

Nicola nodded with a satisfied-looking face and turned her gaze to Celine.

「Celine onee-chan, if we keep going this way, we will encounter two Green Foxes.」(Nicola)

「Is that so~? Your detecting ability is impressive as always! Alright then, we should move with caution from here.」(Celine)

After nodding to each other, we reduced our speed and started walking slowly through the forest.

After walking for a few minutes, Celine stopped and pointed her index finger to her left.

When I looked in that direction, I saw two fox-type monsters with green fur and a size that was as big as a large dog standing by a big tree.

It seems that they haven’t noticed us yet.

They are within the range of my Stone Bullet, but I can only shoot one of them from here because some trees are in the way.

「Ester, can I leave the one on the left to you?」(Mark)

「Alright, leave it to me.」(Ester)

Ester seemed to know what to do.

Now that I can trust her to kill the one on the left, I can focus on killing the one on the right.

As Ester dashed toward the Green Foxes, I shot a Stone Bullet at one of the foxes.

It hit the Green Fox’s chest and killed it instantly.

Seeing its partner suddenly collapse, the other Green Fox realized it was in danger.

When it saw Ester approaching at high speed, it tried to protect itself by attacking Ester with its sharp claws.

However, Ester nimbly dodged the claws with a quick side step and immediately delivered a fast counterattack by swinging her danger vertically.

ーSLASH!!

The Green Fox, whose neck was cut off, collapsed to the ground and died instantly without even having a chance to cry.

Ester stared at the two lying fox-type monsters for a moment, and after she confirmed that both of them were dead, she turned to us and made a big circle sign with her arms.

「Well done, both of you~! Ester, your physical ability is impressive as always! And, Mark, you adjusted the power of your Stone Bullet, didn’t you?」(Celine)

「Yeah. I did it to improve the accuracy.」(Mark)

「I see, I see! You did great!」(Celine)

Celine smiled and stroked my head.

There are a lot of trees here, and I didn’t want to miss my shot, so I sacrificed the firepower to increase the accuracy.

「Hee~ That means Mark’s Stone Bullet normally is stronger than the one just now?」(Ester)

Ester returned while dragging two Green Foxes’ bodies and asked Celine about my Stone Bullet.

「Yeah. He can destroy a boulder with his Stone Bullet with normal firepower, you know?」(Celine)

「Whoaa… Mark, you really are amazing!」(Ester)

Ester complimented me, but from my point of view, she is also amazing.

Her quick movements remind me of Jack’s older brother, Luck. She will surely become a quick fighter when she becomes an adventurer in the future.

「Ester, you’re amazing too. You moved so quickly yet so quietly to get close to the Green Fox. You were even able to avoid its claws attack and immediately deliver a counterattack. I would never be able to do something like that.」(Mark)

「Hehe, thanks~」(Ester)

After smiling shyly at me, Ester swung her dagger that was covered with blood with all her might to remove the blood. She then inserted it back into its sheath.

A cute shy girl with a blood-covered dagger… What a gap…

『Hey, Onii-chan, praise me too so that Ester-chan thinks that I’m useful!』(Nicola)

Suddenly, I heard Nicola’s voice in my head, asking me to praise her.

「Ni, Nicola, you did a great job too for finding those Green Foxes. My detection magic is not as great as your detecting ability. You’re amazing as always.」(Mark)

「Ehehe~ Thank you, Onii-chan!」(Nicola)

When Nicola replied to my flat-toned praise with a smile, Ester looked at her with curious eyes.

「Now that you mention it, Nicola, you’re amazing to be able to find them from far away. How did you do that?」(Ester)

When Ester curiously asked, Nicola answered with a big smile and sparkling eyes. She looked so happy that Ester was curious about her.

「It’s my gift! I can detect the presence of people and monsters within a certain radius!」(Nicola)

「Hee~ What an incredible ability. So, you siblings are both Gifted, huh? That’s wonderful!」(Ester)

Ester’s expression looked natural when she complimented Nicola, and I didn’t feel the usual wariness she showed whenever she talked to Nicola.

I hope Ester and Nicola can get along better after this.

While hoping so, I put the bodies of the Green Foxes into my Item Box.

「Alright. To make a blanket, we still need one or two more Green Foxes. Let’s continue our hunting~!」(Celine)

The three of us nodded to Celine and started following her again to go deeper into the forest, looking for more Green Foxes.