CH 164

[One-Horned Oni]

“This is…”

When we arrived at the oni village, what greeted us was the ‘vestiges’ of the village that once had been here.

There was no sign of people around, only dilapidated houses covered with greens. Their owners seemed to have abandoned them for quite a long time.

“Um, is this the right place?”

To Magmell’s question, Phinis-sama nodded, “Yes…” and said, “the village of the oni in my memory is here… but it seems that they have moved away…”

“Hmm, that’s a problem. Can’t you look for them with your ‘eyes’?” Arca asked Shiva-san.

“There’s nothing I can’t look for, but my ‘eyes’ have their own restrictions. I can’t see a place I’ve never seen, and if I were to look for the oni, I’d only be able to look for ‘close relative’ of the only oni I’ve met—which is to say, Elysium.”

“By close relative, do you mean that old man’s dad or something?” Ophir asked.

“Yes, his sibling works too. Should I give it a try? Though knowing Elysium, I think the chances are slim.”

“Yes, please do.” I naturally nodded upon being asked by Shiva-san.

Sure, given what Elysium was doing and trying to achieve, it was unlikely that he still had living close relatives as they might become his weakness, but maybe, just maybe, one of them was still alive.

It would be well worth a try.

“Okay, I’ll start,” Shiva-san said, taking off the cloth around her eyes and opening both of her mysteriously glowing eyes.

A few moments later, it seemed that she got something, as she exclaimed, astonished, “My, this is a surprise. I can see a young female oni.”

“Ha, who would’ve thought that an old man who always had a scowl on his face would be a pervert.” Ophir grinned impishly.

But Magmell immediately retorted while directing an exasperated gaze at her, “What are you imagining in your head? Shiva-san said a close ‘relative’, didn’t she? Aren’t you the pervert here instead?”

“I-I’m not!? I’m not a pervert!? I mean, I don’t wanna hear that from someone who secretly wears erotic panties every day?”

“P-please take back your misleading remark!? I-I wear proper underwear once in a while, too!?”

“Doesn’t that mean you wear lewd underwear almost every day…?”

Uwaa~, as Elma wore a cringed look, Shiva-san laughed amusedly and said, “You guys seem to be having fun, but can we get back to the topic?”

““……Please do.””

After Ophir and Magmell nodded embarrassedly, Shiva-san continued, “The young woman has one horn broken, or perhaps it has been like that from birth. Her features are masculine, and at a closer look, she does have some semblance with Elysium. And this is, a graveyard, I think? She seems to be tending it by herself.”

“Hm, that’s admirable. So, where is this graveyard located?” asked Arca.

“Not too far from here. Judging from the distance, I think it’s this village’s graveyard,” said Shiva-san.

“I see. In that case, let’s try to have a talk with her. Can you show us the way?” I asked.

“Sure, let’s go.” Shiva-san nodded.

◇ ◇

“Mm? Who are you?”

As Shiva-san said, waiting for us in the place that looked like a graveyard was a female oni with a big part of her left horn missing.

Demi-humans tended to live longer overall, so I thought she was probably older than Tirna, but appearance-wise she looked to be around 20 years old.

Certainly, she was a beautiful woman with masculine features.

“I’m sorry for surprising you. I’m Exa and these are my wives. We were looking for the oni village because there’s something we’d like to find out regarding a certain oni. Does the name ‘Elysium’ ring a bell?”

“Elysium? No, never heard of it.”

“Huh? Really?”

At the unexpected response, we all wore bewildered expressions.

But according to Shiva-san, this person should be Elysium’s close relative…

Perhaps because she saw our confusion, the woman looked at one of the graves, “…Well, it might be unrelated, but—” and said, “The human woman who is resting here is said to have married an oni, which caused her and the baby in her womb killed by other humans. I learned it only through word of mouth, so I don’t know the exact details, but the oni whom the woman married is perhaps that ‘Elysium’ you’re looking for.”