Volume 3 - CH 25.2

Act 3-25.2: Myulmidon

Shirone thought that Riette wasn’t an honest child, but that made her even more adorable.

「Ah, my bad Riette… I did it out of habit… Oh right, I brought some sweets back for you. Will you forgive me for the sake of these sweets?」

Omiros took out something from his pocket as he said so.

「REALLY?! SWEETS?!」

Riette exclaimed with sparkling eyes as if her bad mood just now was a lie.

「Cough.」

Standing right next to them and seeing their interaction, Kaya coughed as if to remind them of the current situation they’re in.

「Omiros-dono, they seems to have quite a close relationship with you, can you introduce them to us?」

Kaya cut their chit-chat and asked Omiros for an introduction to not waste more time.

Shirone wanted to know about the two newcomers too.

「M-My apologies for the discourtesy, Kaya-dono.」

Omiros bowed to Kaya.

His voice was shaking as he spoke. Riette, who was sitting behind Maxis, was also clutching his back. It seems she was anxious too.

Shirone guessed that they might be scared of Kaya, who could defeat the Antmen with such ease.

Shirone had gotten used to this kind of feeling after coming to this world.

Though their superhuman strength could be used to reduce the number of men who came to woo them, she couldn’t help but feel dejected seeing an adorable girl like Riette end up getting scared of them too.

Omiros led the two of them to the front of the carriage.

「Kyouka-sama, these two are my cousins, Maxis and his little sister, Riette.」

Omiros started introducing the two to Kyouka who was still inside the carriage.

「I see, it’s nice to meet you.」

「Eh…? So pretty… Who is she?」

Riette unintentionally praised Kyouka when she came out from the carriage. The same goes for Maxis, he was also mesmerized by Kyouka’s beauty.

「Maxis, Riette, this is Kyouka-sama, Hero-sama’s little sister. And if I’m not wrong, Shirone-sama over there visited Algore when I was still in my warrior journey.」

After introducing Kyouka, Omiros looked at Shirone.

「Ah, yeah…」

Turns out, Riette remembered Shirone. But, since she had never met Shirone in person and only looked at her from afar, Shirone didn’t know Riette at all.

「Could it be that Hero-sama is also…」

Riette spoke with a slightly frightened voice.

「Nope, Hero-sama isn’t coming with us. There’s only his wife Shirone-sama, his sister Kyouka-sama, and her attendant Kaya-dono.」

Riette heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing that.

Shirone received a huge shock upon knowing that such an adorable girl was scared of them.

「You two, don’t forget to return Kyouka-sama’s greeting.」

The two of them quickly straightened their backs upon hearing Omiros’ reminder.

「Nice to meet you, Kyouka-sama. My name’s Maxis.」

""

「And I’m his little sister, Rie— Eh?」

Riette paused her greeting the moment she saw the person sitting in a corner inside the carriage.

Yes, her eyes had caught Regena’s figure.

「Why…」

Riette’s expression changed at that very moment.

「WHY IS REGENA HERE???!!!」

Riette shouted in rage.

It was clear for all to see that she was hostile towards Regena.

Maxis was also looking at Regena with a shocked look on his face.

「What’s the meaning of this, Omiros?! Why is princess Regena here?」

Maxis also couldn’t suppress his curiosity. He was clearly bewildered. Though not as much as Riette, Shirone felt that Maxis didn’t have a good impression of Regena either.

「Long time no see, Riette, Maxis… If possible, I also wished to never meet you two again.」

""

Regena replied with a cool voice from inside the carriage.

But then, she looked rather sad upon seeing the two’s reaction.

「HOW DARE YOU APPEAR BEFORE ME, REGENA! BECAUSE OF YOU, MY MOTHER IS…」

Riette was on the verge of crying as she bellowed.

「And almost my whole clan was slaughtered because of you… We’re even now, right?」

「THE ONES WHO STARTED IT WERE YOU!!!」

「How can you be so sure of such a thing?」

「JUST TRY TO GO BACK TO ALGORE, YOU’LL BE SENT BACK TO THE GOBLINS’ NEST RIGHT AWAY!!!」

Riette and Regena started quarreling.

「RIETTE, THAT’S ENOUGH!! YOU TOO REGENA, CALM DOWN!!」

Omiros tried to soothe the both of them.

「STOP PROTECTING THIS WOMAN, BROTHER OMIROS!!」

Riette looked at Omiros with a wronged expression, it looked as if she was going to cry anytime now.

「Riette…」

Omiros was helpless in the face of that particular look of hers.

An awkward silence dominated the place for a while.

「You misunderstand something here, Riette.」

And then, Regena broke the silence.

「MISUNDERSTAND WHAT?!」

Riette barked at Regena again.

「Omiros isn’t the one protecting me. Think carefully, Riette. Who do you think my current guardian is? You’re gonna end up like those Myulmidon if you try to hurt me.」

Color drained from Riette’s face when Regena uttered those words. She then looked at the scattered corpses of the Antmen.

「Worry not, Omiros isn’t the one who’s sheltering me.」

Regena let out a dry laugh as she spoke.

「Such a thing, Regena… I…」

Omiros tried to say something upon hearing Regena’s remark.

But, Regena flat out ignored him and looked at Kaya.

「It’s as she says. Currently, Regena is under our protection. Trying to hurt her will be regarded as a hostile act towards us.」

Kaya spoke to Maxis and Riette.

Maxis and Riette trembled in fear the moment they heard such a declaration.

「Okay, that’s enough. Everyone stop.」

Shirone descended from the carriage to prevent the situation from escalating into a more dangerous scene.

Everyone’s line of sight then moved towards Shirone.

「And these Antmen… They were not there when we visited this area last time, right? Do you know what they are?」

Shirone asked about the Antmen in order to change the topic of the conversation.

「Antmen? You mean these Myulmidons? Come to think of it, why are they appearing in this kind of place?」

Omiros replied back with an equally puzzled look.

「So these Antmen are called Myulmidon. Come to think of it, these Myulmidons seemed to be chasing after you two? What’s going on?」

「Uhm, Like he— I mean, I have no idea about this too, Kaya-sama. This is also the first time for me to see Myulmidons.」

Riette replied while shaking her head.

「I… I mean, I saw them once a long time ago but… even then, there was only one or two of them at the most, this is actually the first time for me to see so many of them at once.」

Maxis replied.

He was looking at the corpse of seven Myulmidons as he spoke.

「 Does that mean they just happenned to appear in this place? What about their original living place?」

Omiros shook his head to answer Kaya’s question.

「We also have no idea about it… But, there’s a legend in this region saying that when the castle of the queen of the blue forest appears, it’ll be accompanied with a large number of Myulmidons.」

「Queen of the blue forest? Does that mean that the female ogre is close by?」

Shirone and Kyouka looked at each other upon hearing Kaya’s remark.

「As I thought, she’s tailing us, right?」

「Most likely. She hasn’t given up on her quest for revenge.」

Shirone and Kyouka heaved a sigh.

「Moreover, since she can tail us. There should be a spy mixed among us.」

After saying so, Kaya looked at Echigos.

「I-I REALLY DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS!!」

Echigos shook his head in desperation.

Yet, Kaya kept walking toward Echigos while emitting silent pressure from her whole being.

「HIIII」

Echigos tried to get away from the driver seat.

But Kaya moved faster than him and seized him by the cuff of his neck.

「Worry not, I’m not going to kill you.」

Thus Kaya proceeded to touch Echigos’ body to check if there were any abnormalities.

「Uhm, what are…」

Echigos spoke with a lewd look on his face. It was only natural since Kaya was a beauty despite her cold look. Any man’s imagination would run wild if such beauty touched their body. But then, Kaya’s hand stopped at Echigos’ stomach and didn’t move from there.

「Humph!!」

Suddenly, she pressed on Echigos’ stomach.

「FUGAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」

Echigos screamed in pain when Kaya suddenly pressed his stomach.

「Agaga…」

And then started blowing bubbles and froth from his mouth.

「KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」

Riette screamed upon seeing the scene unfolding in front of her.

A huge bug came out from Echigos’ mouth along with drool and froth. The bug moved for a while after it came out, then suddenly stopped moving as if it were dead.

The poor Echigos was twitching on the ground, barely alive after receiving Kaya’s palm strike.

「What in the world is this?」

Kyouka frowned upon seeing Echigos and the dead bug.

「Maybe this is one of that ogre’s tricks. She used this bug to monitor our movement.」

Kaya explained to everyone.

「Uhm, Kaya-dono… that means…」

Omiros asked with an anxious voice.

「The ogre might come again. It seems we need to raise our vigilance even after we return to Algore.」

「No way…」

Omiros’ face paled upon hearing that.

「What do you think about this situation, Shirone-sama? Shall we exterminate those ogres before Kuroki-san comes?」

「U~hm, I don’t know when Kuroki will come though… And I don’t feel like fighting him too…」

Shirone replied to Kaya.

If she had to be honest, Kuroki’s matter alone was already troublesome enough for her, she had no energy to take care of the ogres as well.

But, she couldn’t leave the ogres to their own devices either.

「Haa… Shirone-san, Kaya-san, how about we continue this topic later, after we arrive in Algore? I already want to be freed from this carriage too.」

Kyouka voiced her opinion upon seeing the situation. It seems she was tired of the carriage.

「Indeed. Let’s continue this topic after we arrive in Algore, Shirone-sama.」

Kaya supported Kyouka’s opinion upon realizing her master’s intention.

Shirone nodded upon hearing Kaya’s remark.

（They’re right, maybe I have to calm down first. That’s why they suggested that option. But, what’s Kuroki doing right now?）

Shirone couldn’t help but think about Kuroki, who wasn’t here with them.