CH 33

“Two Damagumo in front!”

“I’ll take care of it!”

I found a jet-black, foot-long black ball lurking in the shadows in the dense forest, and in my words, Waffer ran towards him. Naturally, Damagumo sensed him and tried to stab his long leg into Waffer, but that level of attack would not work on Waffer, who was certain to eventually become the Hero.

“Sweet!”

Waffer, reading the movements of the opponent’s attack, dodged the random thrusts made by the legs, gliding through them with minimum movement necessary. He then dived into the chest and struck Damagumo’s small body with a right palm strike.

“Waffer!”

Instantly, the back half of Damagumo’s body popped off. The impact was transmitted to its body and it was blown up from the inside.

“You’re next! Wafuu!”

It took two of them to fight us, but still they were unable to do anything and if one of them was knocked down, the other one was helpless. The remaining Damagumo’s body was blown off, and the battle was… still not over.

I felt a tingling sensation on my neck. A third Damagumo, moving silently through the trees with its long, dexterous legs, poked its leg out at me from above my head, a blind spot, but I was prepared for it.

“Humffff!”

When [Invisible] was activated, I won’t even get a scratch if I get hit by anything, but that didn’t mean that I had the right to hit the target, either. I slightly turned my head and the Damagumo’s leg went past the side of my face, and I grabbed it with both hands and slammed it into the ground.

“Sorry, sorry. It was too good of an opportunity to miss. Well, I’ll leave you at that.”

The impact of the slam momentarily halted Damagumo, taking advantage of this, I stomped on it with my left foot and thrusted my sword into it. With this, all three were killed, and this time truly the battle was over.

“You’re amazing, Ed!”

“No, no, not as much as Waffer-san. You are much strong after all.”

“Wafufu! Not so much!”

Waffer smiled bashfully while wagging his tail when I praised him. He looked proud with his small body bent, but he was actually good at what he did. Well, he was a candidate for Hero.

“Ahh, So cute … I want to cuddle and mooch …” Tia said.

“Ugh! Well, that’s not good. If anyone knew that I was stroked and fondled by a hairless man, they would look down on me.”

“Tia, hold it down. It’s just common sense, okay?”

“I know! Oh, but I want to use that “hunting certificate” thing! May I?” Tia asked

“Wafu? I don’t mind. Here”

Waffer was a little taken back by Tia’s prey-like eyes, but still, at Tia’s request, he took off the hunting certificate from around his neck and handed it to her. Taking it, which was made of a strange, shiny material like an insect shell and was large enough to fit in the palm of her hand, Tia hurriedly approached the Damagumo that she had knocked down.

“Hey, Ed, what do I do with this? Do you stick them together?” Tia asked.

“I don’t see the need to touch it directly. Just bring it a little closer to it and… See.”

“Ooooh!”

Tia brought the hunting certificate close to Damagumo’s corpse, and soon after, a black mist-like substance was sucked into the hunting certificate from Damagumo’s body. After about five seconds, the absorption stopped, and Damagumo’s body crumbled into pieces and vanished without leaving any trace.

“It’s strange. Is this really a living thing?”

“Uh, I don’t know. For the time being, it seems to be defined as a living thing because it’s moving. Even if you don’t use the hunting certificate on the corpse, it would disappear after 10 minutes if left unattended because it’s just pitch black inside, and it doesn’t have any internal organs or muscles.” I said.

“Kuronuri is not a life born naturally, but an existence conjured up by the Demon Lord. That’s why they don’t do much other than attack people.” Waffer told her.

“Is that so? Then, what about food and sleep?”

“Hmm? The only thing the Kuronuris do when they find you is either knock you down or run away, so no one bothers to look into such things.” Waffer said.

“Hmmm… Ah, thank you for this.”

Tia, curious about everything, returned the hunting certificate to Waffle, shaking her head thinking about Kuronuri. After absorbing the black mist, we could take the hunting certificate back to the hunting shack and immediately know what and how many animals we killed. It was very convenient.

But, we would not get any meat or materials from the Kuronuri, so there would be no secondary profit to be made… Still, it was overwhelmingly advantageous as there was no need for dismantling and transportation.

Well, that was only because I’d been to several different worlds. In this world, this was common sense, so there was nothing convenient about it.

“Now then, let’s move on to the next one! When we return, you will be rewarded with delicious bone meat!” Waffer said.

“Meat on the bone! Let’s go for it, yay!” I said.

“Oh … but wouldn’t it be easier to eat if the bones were removed?”

Tia, who had no idea about what we were talking about, tilted her head lightly, but regardless, the hunt went on smoothly after that. After finishing the job, I gobbled up the meat and the next day, we officially formed a party with Waffer… 

Three days after that.

“Hmmm, it’s about time Kuronuri’s numbers start to dwindle. …”

Unlike the first round, I was strong and Tia joined me, and by utilizing [Auto-Mapping], we were able to efficiently hunt all the Kuronuri. On the third day, we had almost completely hunted down all the Kuronuris in the area.

Of course, the Kuronuri were not like normal animals, it was impossible to wipe them all out, and if left unchecked, they would multiply on their own from somewhere, but even so, it wasn’t like they multiplied by the hundreds every day. If they did, the World would have fallen into the hands of the Demon Lord long ago.

“This is not training. It’s much earlier, but we have to figure out how to get to the next town,” Waffer said.

“Waffer-san, may I have a word?”

I called out to Waffer, who was muttering to himself. As a matter of fact, this situation was created by me, and its purpose was to make this proposal.

“Actually, I know a place that’s perfect for training … if you’d like we can go there.”

“Wafu?! Is there such a place?”

“Yes. It’s a place where people usually don’t come to, so making money… is impossible to do like we are doing right now. But if you use the traveling expenses earned here to buy food and other things and train there, I’m sure you’ll become very strong.”

“Wafuu! That’s great! I would love to go!”

“I see! Then, I’ll take you to the next destination, we can leave at…”

“Tomorrow! Tomorrow is good! I want to train as soon as possible and become as strong as possible!”

“I understand. Then we will leave tomorrow before noon.”

“I’m looking forward to it!”

At my invitation, Waffer wagged his tail and laughed. Fufufu, unlike some princes, Waffer was still a simple … no, no, he was a straight and honest Hero. Now, the second step has been accomplished. Now, if we could improve our abilities there, we would be able to reach our final goal as well. …

“… … I feel like Ed is about to do something evil.”

“What? Don’t you talk to me like that, Tia! I’m just doing my best to be helpful to Waffer-san!”

“Hmmm? Well, I certainly don’t think Ed would really do anything to trick and trap people. But then you’d better do something about that grin of yours, don’t you think?”

“Noo!?”

Tia’s slender, white fingertips poked the tip of my nose, and I involuntarily put my hand on my cheek. It seemed that the corners of my mouth had turned up without me knowing it, but――

“I can’t help it, you know? If my hard work leads to a happy ending, then of course it’d make me smile.”

“Fufufu~. As expected, Ed is still Ed.”

“Hey, what are you two doing! Let’s quickly get out of here today and get ready to leave tomorrow!” Waffer called out to us.

Beyond Tia’s gentle smile, Waffer, who had started heading back to town before I knew it, waved his hand and called us both.

“Yes, We’re coming! Let’s go, Ed!” Tia said.

“Yes, yes. You are a very impatient Hero,” I said.

I grabbed Tia’s outstretched hand and we started walking again. The goal this time was… to get a head start again, right? (T/N: Tia is Waifu, period)