CH 46

I have been trying to imitate Butler’s gait since a while ago.

Butler is clad in a suit underneath the hooded robe I lent him, and he is wearing leather ankle boots — a simplified version of riding boots, it seems. He is dressed like that, and yet his hems are dirt-free as he walks through the woods. Well, his boots are dirty — that’s to be expected — but it’s not as much as mine.

By the way, Butler, Chris, Ash, Retze, Dean and I all have our boots dirtied, but that’s the order of severity, starting from the cleanest.

Dean is also wearing rugged boots as he firmly stepped on the ground, so they might have differences in their gait based on what’s important to them, but there’s no mistaking that I’m walking clumsily.

Butler’s weapon is a slender sword that’s kinda geared towards aesthetics. He’s wielding it so elegantly like a rapier, but the sharp, hard blade didn’t even bend when it pierced the game.

Dean and Chris are the main guys who slew the monsters, just like what they said earlier, but a weasel jumped towards us while they were preoccupied, probably frightened from the noise of the fight. Butler displayed his skills, piercing the weasel from its eye straight to its throat.

That’s quite harsh.

My fighting method is closer to Dean, so I should probably learn from him, but I’m envious of Butler’s clean hems! And so, Butler’s manner of walking it is.

「 There are many wolves just ahead of us. They are weaker than bears individually, but they move in packs! Do not rely on us, you can flee or fight, but you have to protect yourself. 」

「 Ye~s. 」

I replied to Chris’s warning.

「 Mm. 」

Ash, too.

Chris has that slightly stifling personality and he might seem to be brimming with nonsense, but he’s not bad when it comes to looking after people, and he’s caring, too. Still, Ash and I carried Chris and Dean’s sacks because there’s a high probability of a bear appearing.

Yeah, it’s really a sack. Feeling like Santa? There’s nothing more uncomfortable to hold than this, although it’s not heavy. It’s troublesome, so I made a net from strings so that I can hang it on my shoulder. It’s fine, nobody in this world knows about tortoise shell binding, after all.

「 — Can you teach me that method of knot-tying? 」

Butler, who had a constant thirst for new knowledge, asked me once again.

「 Me too, please! 」

Retze said.

In the end, everyone tied their stuff in tortoise shell bindings — how surreal. I’m not a bad influence, not at all.

「 Oh, it’s a pack! 」

Dean was staring straight ahead at a pack of six wolves.

They were eyeing us warily while slowly closing the distance between us.

I thought it’ll be a one vs one match as I stared at them, when the wolf who seemed to be their leader suddenly kicked the ground, and all the other wolves attacked their targets.

So why did it have to be three of them against me? Maybe it’s because I’m riddled with openings, or maybe I looked too weak, huh. In any case, it’s like the carnivorous hunters targeting the children of the herbivores, so that’s understandable.

「 Jean! 」

「 Yes, yes. 」

I replied to Retze’s tense shout, then started to deal with the wolves. I stepped down, then struck from the ground upwards, slashing the throat of the wolf while it was still in mid-pounce. I immediately whirled around and slew the wolf who landed on the spot right beside me. The last one leaped towards me, and I cut it down with the right timing.

I’m not using 『 Zanzenken 』 so I’m worried about the nicks on the blade. I’m cutting them by relying on power and speed, after all. Although I aimed for the neck, all I managed to cut was the bones on their backside. Maybe it’s better to wait for them to pounce at me and aim for the soft windpipe?

「 ….Wait a sec, you’re really strong!?」

「 Twilight….So the reason you’re full of openings was because there’s no need for you to be vigilant! 」

Chris praised me excessively, but that’s wrong.

I’m not used to being wary, it’s as simple as that.

「 You look like you’re not used to fighting, and that display of sword strength, really, I feel swindled by that impression of yours. 」

Dean looked astounded. He’s right about me not being used to it.

I rely on my physical speed as a coping mechanism— just kidding, I just try to cope with what I see so I can make it in the nick of time. But I keenly feel the need to study a lot of things, like anticipating the movements of enemies that are faster than me even before they appear.

My life in Japan was void of any danger, so it’s hard to stay vigilant while moving around.

Chris and Dean slew the remaining half of the wolf pack.

「 Chris is also using a beautiful sword, huh. 」

「 Hm, are you praising it? I thank you for that! 」

I thought Chris would wield a flashy sword, but it was unexpectedly delicate, or should I say his style was a no-frills swordsmanship.

「 Be it Ash or Jean, you’re all greenhorn adventurers and yet you’re like this. I’m going to lose confidence, you know. 」

Retze agilely gathered the horns as he muttered.

The fact that he can readily do his job despite being shocked is amazing, I think. Not only the two silver rank guys, the senior adventurers are really awesome.

「 Wolf monsters are drawn to the smell of blood, so we should get going. 」

Butler said as he put the horns he collected inside his sack.

「 Mm. 」

Ash picked up the sack thrown off earlier, and she hung it on her shoulder as she nodded.

It was different from the time Ash and I hunted wolves; there are many of them living in this place. Actually, 【 Search 】detected a lot of the same presence. We must hurry up and leave this place, just like what Butler said, or else we won’t have a choice but to keep on fighting.