Volume 3 - CH 8.1

Act 3-8.1 : Land Dominated By Ogre 1

Shirone unleashed the wings on her back as she flew to the northern direction. Following behind her were Kaya and Kyouka, who were riding on the Hippogriff’s back.

Shirone had almost gone to the north by herself, she didn’t want to trouble everyone with Kuroki’s matter. She felt that she had to save Kuroki, who was captured by the Demon King, even if she had to do it by herself.

Shirone was really happy when she and her friends were summoned to this world. She had so much fun traveling and having adventures with them around the world. It was truly enjoyable since Reiji, Chiyuki, and the others were here with her.

Naturally, it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine, there were also times when they faced difficult crises, but she had managed to come out victorious from these crises by working together with her comrades.

She then started pondering about Kuroki’s situation.

In her eyes, Kuroki was a normal person. A person who had nothing to do with adventures or exploration. He was fundamentally different from Reiji, he was a normal and boring person who preferred having a peaceful life. That’s why she couldn’t forgive the culprit who brought Kuroki forcefully to this world and forced him to fight.

These thoughts filling her mind, she flew at her highest speed to arrive faster, even if just by a second. But, the speed of the Hippogriff behind her was way too slow. She wanted to go even faster than now,but she couldn’t complain to the two who volunteered to come along with her.

Shirone glanced at the Hippogriff from over her shoulder.

The Hippogriff was a demon beast similar to a Griffin, it was a cross-breed between an eagle and a horse. Though weaker than a Griffin, it was more obedient and suitable for a flying mount.

The luggage loaded on the Hippogriff’s back were clearly overloaded, most of them belonging to Kyouka.

Though having such a demon beast as a mount was already luxurious enough, their party had actually tamed a few more of these flying mounts. Since the other mounts were used by Reiji and the others, Shirone, Kaya, and Kyouka had no choice but to use the Hippogriff.

And yet, even the Hippogriff was having a hard time following Shirone’s flying speed with all the luggage on its back.

「Shirone-sama! It’s about time we take a break.」

Shirone nodded and then lowered her flying altitude upon hearing Kaya’s remark. They landed the Hippogriff in an open space in the forest.

「I think we have to rest for the remainder of the day. Let’s look for a suitable place to spend the night.」

「EH?! We haven’t advance that far though, according to Chiyuki-san the limit is…」

In fact, they had long since passed the time limit imposed on them. The reason Chiyuki had given them such a time limit was to prevent Shirone from looking for her childhood friend for longer than necessary. The limit was one week, more than that and Chiyuki would summon them back. Shirone had agreed with Chiyuki’s condition, that’s why she was currently in a hurry.

「Any more than this is impossible. The sun has set, traveling during the night is too dangerous. The Hippogriff can’t fly during the night too.」

「I know that, but still…」

Hippogriffs couldn’t fly during the night since they would turn blind during that time. But Shirone was different, she could fly even during the night. If she had kept flying at her maximum speed, she might have already arrived at Algore or Velos around this time.

「I’ll repeat this again, Shirone-sama… Please stop charging recklessly by yourself.」

Kaya who saw through Shirone’s plan gave her a strict warning.

In the first place, the one who had asked the two to go with Shirone was Chiyuki as she couldn’t help but worry about Shirone going by herself. She had even asked Kaya to bring Shirone back by force if the latter started being unreasonable.

Her comrades were worrying about her, thus Shirone couldn’t reject their kindness.

「I know that, Kaya-san. But still…」

Shirone looked at the luggage as she spoke.

「Shall we decrease our luggage a bit…」

She knew that the reason behind the Hippogriff’s slow flying speed was the overloaded luggage on its back. She had seen how fast the Hippogriff could fly when it was free of any burden on its back.

「Oh my, I think this amount of luggage is just normal though. Moreover, Shirone-san’s luggage is also amongst them.」

Shirone was at a loss for words upon hearing Kyouka’s remark.

The matter of going to Algore or Velos in the northern land was Shirone’s selfishness. She was betting on the chance of gaining the information she needed about Kuroki by going to the northernmost countries located right before Nargol. She had gone to such a dangerous place just on these slim possibilities. That’s why she actually felt grateful to the duo who accompanied her to the north. Moreover, though most of the luggage belonged to Kyouka, the rest was indeed Shirone’s and Kaya’s. Thus, she really couldn’t complain about the situation.

「Uuh. I understand…」

Shirone finally gave in.

「Since you understand then let’s go back to the country we found a while ago and rest there for the night.」

◆

「ECHIGOS-SAMA! PWEASE-PWEASE SPWARE MY DAUGHTEEEEEEEEEEER!!!」

A man was groveling in front of another man.

「Sorry, but I have no say in the matter. The one who’s going to be offered to Zengu-sama is your daughter.」

「Please do something about it! At least pick another family’s daughter!!」

「It’s the same for everyone. They also always ask me to pick another family’s daughter.」

Echigos smiled lightly as he spoke. The sorrow of others was the best entertainment for him; he really loved his job.

「DAD!!」

Someone suddenly entered the room.

Echigos knew the identity of the intruder. It was the daughter of the man who was groveling in front of him.

「WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, MATINEE!!!」

「ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, DAD! LET ME GO, I’M PREPARED TO BECOME THAT OGRE’S FOOD! MY SACRIFICE WILL ALLOW THE OTHER GIRLS TO SURVIVE!!」

The father and daughter embraced each other. Though normal humans would cry upon seeing such a touching scene, Echigos on the other hand sneered at it instead.

There was no trace of compassion or pity whatsoever on his face.

「Girl, I really appreciate your bravery. Well it’s good to know that you’re fully prepared.」

Echigos spoke to the girl with a meek look on his face, desperately enduring the urge to laugh at her.

「Yes, Echigos-sama…」

The girl spoke as she hung her head down.

She was truly a brave girl.

If not for the fact that she was going to be offered to Zengu, the ogre who ruled this land, Echigos would’ve loved to see her desperate cries as he had his way with her.

This country was built on a land ruled by ogres, the humans living in it being nothing but livestock for those monsters, and this girl just so happened to be the next sacrifice.

A while ago, Echigos had received an order from Zengu to choose a girl as a gift for his mother, thus, Echigos chose the best one in terms of weight and appearance. Honestly speaking, he had wanted to choose another girl who was less beautiful than the brave one before him, but his life would also be in jeopardy if he angered Zengu.

That’s why even though it felt like a waste to sacrifice such a cute girl, he had no other choice but to sacrifice her.

「ECHIGOS-SAMA!!!」

「Noisy, what now?」

The one who entered was Echigos’ subordinate.

「TRAVELERS! WE HAVE THREE FEMALE TRAVELERS! ALL OF THEM ARE DROP DEAD GORGEOUS!!」

Beautiful women.

He didn’t hear it wrong.

「Travelers huh… let them in.」

◆

Shirone, Kaya, and Kyouka went back to the last country they had seen during their flight. However, they noticed once they arrived that this country was way too small to be called one. No matter how one looked at it, this country’s population was less than a thousand people.

The structure was also poorly built, the houses looking just like the cabins with thatch roofs they had seen in the picture book about primitive humans. They couldn’t believe that this village was actually considered a legitimate country, regardless how old it looked

Granted, this wasn’t the first time Shirone had visited a country as small as this one, stopping by a few of them in the middle of their first journey to Nargol with Reiji, but this was indeed the first time they were given consent to enter such a small country. They had never been allowed before.

Of course, such threats had never worked on Reiji, they would always manage to enter those insular countries by force to stay for the night. That’s why there was never a need for them to camp in the wild during their journey.

Shirone looked around the country before her and felt intrigued. Despite its small size and poor architecture, the rampart was built very well. That was natural since the rampart was the thing that would protect people from the monsters outside, it was a must for it to be built as solid as possible.

But, different from other ramparts, this one was built with a small roof on its inner ring. It was as if it was built to prevent anyone in the country from escaping by climbing up the rampart.

After Shirone was done with her rough observation of the country, Kaya went forward to negotiate with the person who looked like the leader of the country.

Shirone felt really anxious, wondering whether they were going to be refused. If that happened, she got the feeling that Kaya would enter by force.

Since they took their Hippogriff with them to the leader’s house, the citizens of the country were frightened by them.

The name of the leader of this country who negotiated with Kaya was Echigos.

「We’re travelers. May we ask for your permission to stay for one night in this country? Don’t worry, we’ll also pay for the cost of spending a night here with our money.」