CH 13

My journey with Ril began.

First stop, the country of the dwarves.

“What’s the country of the dwarves like?”

Did Ril not hear about it from her grandfather?

“It’s apparently at the foothills of a mountain with lots of mines. They became prosperous through mainly crafting weapons and armor from iron.”

“Doesn’t sound like there’ll be much good food.”

She looks a little disappointed… but it’s not just an industrial city.

“I can’t say it’ll taste good or bad before we actually get there, but it’s also a trading city, so there might be delicious food from other countries.”

“Then I’m excited.”

Ril starts wagging her tail again. I feel like her personality’s changed more than just a bit from when we first met…

“Ril, haven’t you changed quite a lot?”

“I wouldn’t say I’ve changed, but rather that I get to just be my true self.”

“Your true self was that childish?”

“Well, yeah. Being a princess has its own difficulties, you know? I have to be all proper in front of everyone and pretend I’m fully independent and never rely on others.”

“And what about now?”

“I wanna be spoiled by you while being lovey-dovey!”

She says, latching onto my arm.

Um, Ms. Ril, something soft is sticking to my arm, you know? And I won’t point it out cuz I like it, ok?

Not knowing what dirty thoughts I’m having, she continues to stick to me.

Now that I think about it though, this doesn’t seem too far off from usual.

I often slept with her as my pillow, where she would curl up and rub cheeks with me.

The only difference is that now, with her in human form, our size gap has reversed, and so things feel a little different.

“Hey, stop right there!”

Ooh, it’s a person! The first person I’ve seen in a long time!

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“Leave all of your possessions here!”

Around 10 men surrounded us.

“Are they your acquaintances?”

“Oh no, these people are what you call mountain bandits, and they go around taking others’ possessions for themselves.”

“Oh. Are they cool?”

“Not at all.”

“Hey, what are you talking all relaxed! You know what’s gonna happen to you?”

Said bandit A.

“Boss, let’s just go ahead and strip them naked of their belongings!”

“And sell the girl as a slave!”

B and C add.

“You’re right. Get’em, you lot! Kill the brat! Not the girl though!”

“YEAH!!!”

The whole gang of bandits came at us.

“What do you want to do, Ril?”

I ask. Not that I don’t know what she’s going to say.

“If they’re trying to kill us, let’s go kill them as well.”

“Got it~.”

And so I used my [Increased Physical Attributes] skill to punch the nearest bandit to me with all my might. More specifically, I punched his chest. To stop his heart. And he stopped moving after that.

“What did you do!”

I went on to do the same for about half the bandits, feeling it would be bothersome otherwise. It was at that point that they seemed to realise my strength.

“He, he’s strong!”

“Should we take the girl as hostage?”

Now they’ve done it… They’re laying their hands on Ril.

Wait, how’s her fighting prowess now that she’s in human form?

I guess I’ll just watch for now.

“Don’t touch me, you lowly beings.”

Aa, she split them up into pieces with her usual slicing attack.

It’s the attack she’s best at, combining her claws and wind magic.

It was apparently created by her grandfather, and every fenrir is capable of it. Ril is particularly strong with it though, and she can outperform even her grandfather when it comes to this attack.

And with that, the remaining bandits were all wiped out.

“Humans are so weak… Also, what are you stealing from them?”

“Money of course. I think we deserve some sort of compensation for being attacked.”

“Bad guy, Ryu, you’re a bad guy.”

“Do you not like me anymore for this?”

“No no, I love love love you!”

“Then there are no problems.”

————-

And with that, it’s three days until these two make it to the country of the dwarves.