CH 45

The Approaching Otherworlder

The next morning, after we finished our breakfast, we gather at the place where the slave traders are gathered in preparation to continue the journey.

Anyhow, since we’re going to swap our post then, or so I thought, so we the rear guard team go to the front guard place, and the one there is Leila-chan who is playing by crushing the lumbers that were used as bonfire and have turned into charcoal with her hand, and woman B who is sitting in shiver while hugging her knees with a pale expression.

It’s something I somewhat have predicted, but I still look at the surrounding to grasp the situation. And then, I immediately find the reason.

The ground behind Leila-chan is dyed in dark red. And, from the fact that I don’t see man J and woman A, perhaps they were eaten by Leila-chan, weren’t they? And then woman B accidentally saw that scene, or something along that line, right?

First of all, since she’s too pitiful so I come to where the woman B is, and calling out to her.

“Umm, are you okay?”

“Hii…! No, no no no no…. I’m sorry… I’m sorry… please, please don’t eat me… I don’t want to die… no, no…!”

Ah, it’s hopeless, she’s already beyond remedy.

“Ah, Kitsune-kun! Morning!”

And then, noticing my appearance, Leila-chan greets me while smiling. As if a human.

And when Leila-chan who is approaching me sees the sitting woman B before me, she floats a face that say she just remembered about something.

“Umm, last night, I ate both of them before I went to your place, Kitsune-kun… and seems like she saw it, you see~… so, to gloss that scene over, I had a chat with her all night long, but she somehow became like this… ufufu.”

“That isn’t a laughing matter, dammit.”

That means… after seeing her comrades, her beloved one got eaten, she sat all night long together with the one who ate them, huh. Her spirit surely was shaved off and crumbled, wasn’t it? While thinking about when she might get herself eaten, she had to accompanied Leila-chan who was always came talking to her all night long, after all.

At that state, it may be a bit too pitiful to let her at the same group as Leila-chan again today, right?

“Umm… hello?”

“Hiiiii!!”

“…what would happen if I use ‘Eerie Constitution’ at her right now, I wonder….”

“As expected of Kitsune-san! Very nasty!”

“It’s been a while since the last time I heard your abusive words, isn’t it, Finia-chan?”

How should I put it, since it seems like Leila-chan has carved quite a deep trauma upon her, I doubt she’d be able to live as an adventurer any longer. At this state, seems like it’s even impossible for her to continue this guarding request.

Well, that’s a matter of course, losing all of her comrades, moreover to be at the same group with the one who killed them, there’s no way she’d be able to do her job properly, right? Moreover, right now, she has no even an acquaintance at this place.

“Hmm… it can’t be helped then, today I’ll take Leila-chan and Finia-chan to guard the front side. Rishe-chan, sorry but could you please guard the rear side again together with this girl?”

“Well, it can’t be helped. I don’t mind.”

“If possible… well, please try to encourage her. Lulu-chan, too, could I ask you to do it?”

“Yes, understood.”

Since man J who is supposedly act as the leader has gone, inevitably, I, as the party leader, must take the command rein over.

And after I think about it, I decided to separate Leila-chan and woman B. Appointing Rishe-chan as the temporary party leader, I place Lulu-chan there, too. Since it seems like woman B won’t be any help, so perhaps the rear guard would be only these two, though.

However, if I put Finia-chan at the center of the wagon, then she’d be able to immediately back them up when needed. As for Leila-chan, as long as I’m there, I doubt she’d go anywhere, and if there’s something appears then I’d simply ask her to handle it.

“Well then, since it has been decided… for the second day, let’s do our best.”

At my word, everyone nod their heads. Except woman B.

◇　◇　◇

Today, a different man than the yesterday slave merchant is sitting at the coachman seat. I sit next to him, and Leila-chan is sitting between the space of my legs and leaning her body on mine. This coachman seat, actually is pretty spacious. It’s spacious enough to have three person sit on it, but the seat part is pretty deep. Perhaps that’s why, if I sit deep enough and spread my legs, there would be a space wide enough for a person to sit there. Knowing this fact from yesterday experience, Leila-chan takes this seat positioning, right?

“Ufufufu… we’re alone together, Kitsune-kun.”

“Ah, yes yes, you’re right.”

“You look frail but as expected you sure are still a young male, right? You’re tougher than you look.”

“Well, thank you.”

From a moment ago, Leila-chan is always shifting her neck to face me and comes talking to me. I ignored all of it, but this girl sure is cute, she has a nice scent, and her body is also soft. I can even occasionally see her cleavage from behind. And the coachman man is also stealing glances at Leila-chan bare legs; that are stretching out from her black dress; like a cat.

Since this girl is only wearing a short black dress, her shoulders are exposed, and her bare legs that are stretching out from her cuff are also fascinating. Her collarbone and nape are plain visible, I can even somewhat see her chest, since black sandals are wrapping around her bare feet, so she sure looks like has an excessively high exposure rate.

I’m good since I know that she’s a demon, but to anyone that don’t know about it and think her as a mere normal girl, I’m sure she’s very popular among numerous male.

Honestly, what a deplorable cutie.

“Hmm… Leila-chan, that direction… can you see something there?”

“Hmm? Hmm… ah, there are several magical beasts there… moreover they are coming this way.”

I point at a direction where my new skill ‘Intuition’ somewhat feels a bad presence from there, and when I ask Leila-chan about it, I understand that magical beasts are approaching, just as I expected.

Since she’s a demon, her presence perception is beyond human capability. Moreover, since that isn’t a skill, it shows just how unworldly she is. There are people who has a sixth sense-like ability that isn’t a part of skill, but as expected it’s inferior to demons’, right?

“How many of it?”

“Let’s see… around three, I think.”

“Haa….”

My ‘intuition’ tells me that it isn’t that much of a threat, but it doesn’t change the fact that there’s a danger of the approaching magical beasts’ attack. We have to handle it quickly.

“Finia-chan!”

“Yes! What’s it? Kitsune-san! Does that lustful demon do something to you? … Ah! Why are you sitting before Kitsune-san!!”

I call Finia-chan who is watching out both sides at the center point. In doing so, Finia-chan immediately flies toward me. Looking at the fact that she immediately suspects Leila-chan, it seems like they can’t get along well as expected.

“Yes, seems like there are three magical beasts coming from that direction. Can I ask you to handle it?”

“I don’t mind, but… u~….”

“Ah…Leila-chan, you also go there.”

Finia-chan readily accepts my request, but she is surely uneasy about Leila-chan who sits and leaning on me.

That’s why I ask Leila-chan to also go with Finia-chan. In doing so, she immediately turn her face at me and a floats a mischief smile.

“Then, kiss me.”

“Uwah, how bothersome….”

Leila-chan is fully aware that she isn’t a part of my party. That’s why, she has no reason to obey my order, and she also aware that she has the right to ask for compensation in return.

Moreover, her nature is the worst. She has the right to ask me something as compensation for obeying my order. Like what she just said, she’s even able to ask for a kiss. Furthermore, I feel like the more important my order is, the more higher she’d ask me in return.

If I don’t send Leila-chan out right now, I’m sure that Finia-chan won’t be at peace, right? As far as I’m concerned, I don’t want to send out Finia-chan at that kind of mental state, though.

Be that as it may, to move Leila-chan, I have to give her the promised kiss. Once a day, what a troublesome promise I made back then.

“…got it.”

“Yaaay. Ehehe, then… chu…”

“Mumumumu…!”

Finia-chan is looking with a very resentful gaze, but Leila-chan is ignoring it and presenting me her lips while closing her eyes.

Come to think of it, isn’t it the first time that I become the one kissing?

It makes me a bit nervous. Even if she’s a monster, she does have a cute face, after all, so it can’t be helped if I feel that way, right?

“Haa….n.”

“N… haaa… as I thought, you sure are the best, Kitsune-kun…! Well then, I’ll do my best! Let’s go, Finia!”

“Don’t call me like we’re friends!”

Finishing the kiss quickly, Leila-chan stands up fully motivated, and then runs toward the approaching magical beasts alongside with Finia-chan while showing an intense energy.

And then, perhaps Finia-chan is really unhappy about seeing we did a kiss, she flies there with a somewhat angry expression.

And then, perhaps those magical beasts have come quite close to us, so soon after Finia-chana and Leila-chan left, I can hear an intense groan, as if a chicken that got its neck tied. I’m sure it’s an instant kill, isn’t it? I bear quite a sympathy toward any magical beast that receive the crash of Finia-chan’s outburst of anger and Leila-chan’s intense energy.

“Adventurer bro….”

“Hmm?”

And then, the coachman next to me comes to talk at me.

“You are… quite popular, aren’t you…?”

“…if possible, I want someone to take my place, though….”

“…please do your best.”

“Thank you.”

At first the coachman man is looking at me with a somewhat envious expression, but when I answer him with distant eyes, perhaps he presumes something and gets sympathy on me, he shortly cheering on me.

I feel like I finally feel someone’s kindness after a long time.

◇　◇　◇

—around the same time, at Grandile kingdom.

The hero, Serizawa Nagi steadily increased his strength.

He absorbed everything they taught him as if a sponge, and he’d immediately corrected and improving any mistakes they pointed out. He, as a hero, possessed a natural gift in accordance to his duty to fight.

The moment he was summoned as hero, he realized that his physical ability was increased. He already had an excellent physical ability at his former world, but as expected it wasn’t something that surpassed humanity level.

Nevertheless, ever since he came to this world, his physical had abnormally increased. He could run faster than a galloping horse, his light jump could easily surpass several meters height, he even could shatter a large rock into pieces with only one punch. That was just how much strength he got.

His initial spec was several times higher than normal. With the guidance of the kingdom’s knight, it was a matter of course that he had become far more stronger.

If we used Naginata Kitsune’s skill to peek at his status, then it should be around like this.

◇Status◇

Name                        : Serizawa Nagi

Gender                     : Male Lv. 57

Strength                   : 8340

Stamina                    : 9010

Resistance               : 300

Agility                       : 6560

Magic Power          : 2400

Title                           :『Hero』

Skill                            : 『Sword Art Lv.6』『Body Reinforcement Lv.4』 『Swift』『Overpower』 『Magic Manipulation Lv.3』『Natural Gift』

Innate skill              : 『Ray of Hope』

PT Member             : Cecil (Human)

◇

Just around a week ever since he was summoned to this world, he had become absurdly stronger compared to Kitsune. That strength, in adventurer term, it would be approximately about A rank. Even inside this Grandile Kingdom, his strength had been known as the top class across the country.

Moreover, as a young man with handsome face and overflowing sense of justice, he had become intimate and could talk freely with numerous people even inside the castle.

Not just hero in tittle, he had been recognized as a ‘hero’ in its truest meaning.

“’Red Night’?”

“Yes… the name of an A rank demon that is the closest one to reaches the S rank, demon lord, domain.”

“Hmm… what to do with it?”

And that hero, Serizawa Nagi, was currently chatting with Cecil who was always at his side to support him.

The topic was, “Red Night”… that means, about Leila Vermilion.

Of course, they didn’t know about the real identity of the “Red Night”, nor the fact that she had become an S rank demon.

“You see, at the neighboring area of Grandile kingdom, there is country named Miniera.”

“Yes.”

“There was an information that said that around one week ago “Red Night” appeared at a forest close to Miniera.”

“…then?”

“Luckily, it seems like it doesn’t make any movement since then, but… with one week time has passed, it won’t be weird if it’s suddenly appeared at Grandile kingdom’s dominion, or so the possibility I thought.”

At Cecil’s words, Nagi thought about it.

He was sure that around this past one week, the one he spent his time the most with would be none other than Cecil. Therefore, she was the one he trusted the most, the one he depended upon the most.

Till his training as hero finished, no matter how long it was prolonged, she would surely wait for him, and would presented him towel every times the training finished. If he had any troubles about this other world then she’d surely help him, even when he was nervous in the audience before the king, she was there to soothe him.

Such mindful and devoted Cecil, for the current Nagi, she had become a partner he could trust the most. Not in romantic way, to the utmost, it was akin to Kitsune and Finia’s supporting each other relation.

And such Cecil said that, perhaps even for a hero like him, it wasn’t something he could easily defeat, he could easily understand that.

“And then… what kind of demon is this ‘Red Night’?”

“I do not particularly know about it myself, but… it is nocturnal and has red eyes. Its body is concealed by a darkish miasma, and no one ever saw its real body… however, it could kill anything it encountered, so there is a high possibility that it is out of normally strong….”

“I see.”

Heard that, while slightly feared about that unknown demon, Nagi was slightly interested in it. Perhaps that could be said as trembling in excitement, his body is trembling, and he thought that he wanted to try fight it. If he could defeat that demon then he thought that he could become even more stronger.

“…Cecil, don’t worry?”

“…about what?”

“Even if that ‘Red Night’ appeared, I’ll definitely protect this country! I’m a hero, believe in me.”

Nagi lightly smiling. While caressing Cecil’s charming hair, he reassuringly said so.

Cecil strangely felt as if she received a great sense of security from that word. And then, her cheeks slightly blushing from the smile he floated at her.

“…I, I… belive in you, Nagi-sama.”

“I see, thank you.”

At Cecil’s fragile words, Nagi was shy.

And then, Cecil’s face blushed more and she hung her head because of Nagi’s smile and him caressing her head.

Even the words she just mustered up her strength to say it had sleekly gone away, she lost of words.

However, Cecil thought.

It was because he was kind, strong, although a bit thickheaded, but he would always advancing forward while shouldering everyone’s expectation, that she wanted to accompany him.

Grandile kingdom, it was a military country that had summoned the hero and put its most strength to subjugate the demon lord. Inside that country, the hero had deepened his bond with the miko who was always together with him.

However, a person who would become a great existence for the hero… the similar otherworlder, Naginata Kitsune, was taking along the just mentioned “Red Night”… and had approached him till a very close distance.