CH 118

(Kurokiri POV)

During the time that Chirito is attending the 4th Japanese Demon Conference, in “White Fog and Black Swamp Forest”.

“So what are you planning to do with this Hanryojin we ended up capturing?”

Ryo is questioning me about what to do with the Hanryojin, who has been battered and bruised to the stage where he is barely alive while pointing her finger at the Hanryojin who is in a state of being wrapped in a bamboo mat.

Yeah. It is true that he has been captured. But I didn’t expect that the Hanryojin would be driven to such a state of half-death. Lady Ryo has apparently become quite apathetic after 10 years of mercenary life without my awareness.

I mean, I am convinced an ordinary human or kin would die if their fingernails were ripped off, their scales were removed, and parts of their bones or internal organs were harmed. Even Ichiko is a little taken aback by the disastrous scene.

Despite this, he is still alive. What a pitiful thing. Furthermore, since he is the Octopus King’s monster, he wouldn’t be able to divulge anything that would be disadvantageous to his master, even if he desired to.

Yeah. It’s truly pitiful.

“Are you listening?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m paying attention. About how to deal with him, right? I’ve built an exclusive room for this purpose, where I’ll confine him for the time being, with suicide prevention measures in place.”

No, this is not advisable. I must ensure that this Hanryojin would not fall into despair in this world any more than he already had.

“Aren’t you going to obtain information about the Octopus King right away?”

“Unlike you guys, simply questioning him about his master won’t yield any information, and I haven’t found someone who can probe his memories. For the time being, all we need to do is apprehend him.”

Right. We just need to capture him for the time being.

In reality, there are far too many obstacles in the way of vanquishing the Octopus King… To mention a few, I believe there are at least this many issues that need to be addressed.

・Development of a practical, Ultra-long-distance Transportation Formation method.

・Since the dungeon of the Octopus King is presumably located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, it is necessary to develop skills related to diving.

・Development of mind-reading skills to extract internal information from captured monsters.

However, the tricky aspect is that except for the top two points, I don’t know any related skills, so there is no way to do anything about the Hanryojin at this state.

This signifies that either I will continue my steady development of skills, or the Fox Princess or Snow Sage will have to come up with an innovative solution. Alternatively, someone else will have to acquire such a skill…

Whichever method it takes, it will likely require years of time.

“From the look on your face, I’m assuming that overthrowing the Octopus King will be a long time in the future.”

“Or rather, we have no choice but to do it first, Lady Ryo.”

Whether the two of them could decipher the length of time ahead from my expression, they say something like that.

For now, I am going to contact prominent individuals on the human side and search for the owners of such related skills…

(Izumi POV)

On the other hand, at my side,

“Wow, I would have never dreamed that the little kid from back then would have grown up to be this strong.”

“?”

I am assisting in the reconstruction work of the city.

At any rate, the human called Tachikabe is constantly pestering me.

Is he a pedophile? Is he the same type of guy like Kurokiri onii-chan? If so, I should be out of his scope. Despite my appearance, I am about to turn 20 years old. Even alcohol consumption would be acceptable for me.

“Tachikabe! If you’ve got time to idle your time away, you should be working, too!”

“Oui! Excuse me! Otachi-san!”

See, Uncle Otachi is pissed at you.

Even so, this port city is well defended, huh? Although it must have taken a long time from the commencement of the battle to the arrival of my team, the damage is far less than in other places.

Is this the power of Uncle Otachi?

Whatever it is, I must report to Kurokiri onii-chan once the reconstruction is completed.

And when I am dwelling on that point, an explosion is abruptly heard from the outskirts of the city.

“What happened!”

While Uncle Otachi is trying to ascertain the situation, I call Moyasuke and mount him. A poleaxe is also created for me to be ready for battle at any moment.

“Someone on the outskirts seems to have utilized an explosive-type skill, but the criminal appears to have already fled!”

A man informs Uncle Otachi of this.

And then, both Uncle Otachi and Tachikabe head towards the scene of the crime.

Yet at this juncture, my sixth sense picks up a strange sensation from another direction from where the explosion took place, and I follow the sensation and have Moyasuke start running.

“It’s here…”

I have a memory of this sensation.

It is a presence of that thing that I will never forget.

It is unclear to me why she’s here or what she’s going to do, but I can’t overlook it. If I miss it, that will probably lead to the creation of another person like Houki nee-chan.

There is no telling how much I have let Moyasuke run, but little by little, we are drawing closer to the presence of that thing.

Yet, something is out of alignment.

The land around that port city should have been a plain, not a forest like the one we’re currently through. Furthermore, as Moyasuke runs, more and more flowers that are unlike anything I have ever encountered begin to bloom at my feet.

Eventually, the trees become sparse, replaced by an increasing abundance and variety of flowers blooming at my feet.

After I have passed through the forest, a hooded girl awaits me, and upon sighting me, a brief remark emerges from her lips.

“You seem to be an irregular after all.”