CH 61

“Kaider, Nyran. Calm down. Edwy, would you please stop the train?”

“Stop the train! Do you mean to appease the monster!? No! We will increase our speed and escape them.”

Maki raised her head and pleaded with him. But Edwy tried to do the opposite. Outside, there were one, two, no…five gazers.

“We don’t know what effect it has on your body every time you calm them. Edwy is right.”

“Aeris, you may say that. But you’ll continue to separate us from the monsters, won’t you? Besides, we won’t know how far we can go unless we experiment.”

“Still, you are not even prepared to face them now. This dungeon might be very different from the last one!”

Aeris said hoarsely. Chiharu spoke quietly.

“Stop the train.”

“But…”

“Stop it.”

Kaider and Nyran sighed.

“Edwy, do as they say. We’ll protect them.”

“…Very well.”

By the time that Maki and Chiharu got out of the train, there were over 10 gazers waiting for them. Not only that, but four-legged monsters were also walking out of the darkness. Chiharu and Maki tried to walk forward, but Kaider and Nyran stopped them. They felt the excitement of the monsters as well as nervousness. They were all worried.

“What happened? You’re all so far from the dungeon.”

Chiharu said to the gazers.

Dungeon. Don’t know. We were born here. We saw many bright things and things that ran.

“So you were born here.”

Yes. I want to return.

“Were you all born here too?”

Maki asked the four-legged monsters.

Yes. In this wide space. We ran when the bright things were gone. But we have had enough.

“I see.”

Maki and Chiharu looked at each other.

“Then come here.”

And then, one by one, the monsters silently turned into magic stones.

“Are there any more?”

“No, I don’t sense any.”

Chiharu said as Maki looked around. Now, it was finished.

“We’re done here. Let’s go.”

They both said. Kaider, Nyran, and Edwy looked at them with pained expressions.

“Are you all right?”

“Hmm? We’re fine.”

“But this isn’t something you get used to.”

“Yes. But the fact that we can do this…”

Maki said with a laugh.

“…Surely, it means that we should do it.”

“Should do…”

“At least, as much as we are able.”

Chiharu said as she patted Nyran on the back.

“Now, let’s go. The next train will catch up with us.”

“That’s true. We should hurry.”

They stayed silent for quite a while after returning to the train.

“Maki, Chiharu. How do you feel?”

Aeris finally said.

“Yes, I feel fine.”

“If anything, I feel quite refreshed.”

Maki said as she shrugged her shoulders.

“I…”

Kaider began as he stared at the ceiling.

“I knew that you two were doing that every night.”

Maki and Chiharu looked surprised. But Edwy and Aeris did not.

“Since when? Kaider?”

“After the incident at the mirror lake.”

Chiharu muttered in shock.

“So, from the beginning…”

“Why didn’t you tell us, Chiharu…”

Aeris asked sadly.

“You’d be worried.”

“There must be more to it than that.”

“Nyran.”

Chiharu looked downward.

“I felt sorry for the monsters.”

“Sorry for them?”

“You all don’t understand. But the monsters never hurt us. They don’t suck our lifeforce. They just want to return to the miasma’s circle of life.”

“Circle of life…”

“I think that happy life like humans and dwarves roam this world. But in this world, miasma also has a life and roams.”

“But, still!”

Edwy let out a shout.

“We’ve always been taught to hunt dangerous things. Things that drop magic stones. How can we allow you two to approach such a danger?”

“I knew you would say that. But…”

Chiharu looked at Maki and nodded.

“There’s something I noticed while traveling in the dwarf lands. There was a monster that was lost. It was tired and wanted to go home. And it was only us who could quietly send it back.”

“I’ve never heard of a monster that was lost…”

Edwy said. Then Nyran opened his mouth.

“Well, we saw it. So I will believe that there are monsters who are lost.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Chiharu said. Then Maki added.

“I’m sorry that we kept it a secret. But there is something else I want to talk about.”

“What? Maki?”

Kaider answered.

“The monsters here weren’t from the dungeon.”

“What? What are you saying?”

“They were born here.”

“That’s impossible.”

Grudo had been silent up until now, but he suddenly muttered.

“Indeed, this chamber was here from before, and we just connected the railway tunnel to it. However, it is still not a dungeon. Besides, this is so far away from the shadow world. Monsters appear in dungeons because they are close to it.”

“So, there were never monsters here before?”

“Well, there were, rarely. However, if what you say is true, then this railway is in danger…”

Grudo looked pale.

“Amia said he either fled or hit monsters with his tail when encountering them. So maybe monsters do appear in caves naturally.”

“Maki, that’s rather important information you are saying there…”

“How often have monsters been spotted?”

“Just once every few years.”

“In that case, we can just come here now and again and calm the monsters.”

Everyone looked at Maki with exasperation.

“Surely it is not that simple… Is it that simple?”

“Are you sure?”

Grudo and Aeris asked.

“Well, it did make us very sad at first. But we’re fine now. The monsters are happy to turn into magic stones. We wouldn’t want to go and do an entire dungeon, but it’s not much trouble to meet lost monsters and return them to the circle of life.”

Maki said. And then Chiharu continued.

“So…”

“So?”

“If that’s to be our job, we want to get paid.”

This was most surprising. Maki burst into laughter.

“Well, you won’t have to hire Adventurers, right? So…”

“Chiharu, you…”

“You can’t eat if you don’t work. But you should be paid for work.”

Chiharu said with a smile. Edwy remembered something as he saw that Kaider and Nyran were speechless. Yes, Chiharu had always been like this. When she had talked with his father about the magic stones. It had been very amusing. Edwy chuckled at the memory. Aeris and Grudo now looked relaxed.

“Very well, Chiharu and Maki. We will discuss it with the king.”

“Hey, Edwy. Are you sure?”

“It’s fine, Kaider. The king will understand. He knows that the Saintesses are very independent.”

It wasn’t about the reward, but about their safety. The Midland people seemed to feel that the discussion had ended satisfactorily, but Kaider and Nyran were not convinced. And like that, the train continued on to the merfolk island.