Ch.186The NPC’s Sister and Santa Riding Practice. (2)

[Keeeeec!!!!]

“Kyaaah?!!”

The shield-bearing girl and the green monster collide with a crash.

“Ice Link!!”

[Crack-crack!!]

[Keec?!!]

The red-haired girl swings her staff, freezing the ground beneath them. The staggering monster becomes fixed in place.

“Nice! Latina! Ira!! I command the wind elemental spirit!! Slice and cut down the enemy before me!!!”

The brown-haired girl with striking upturned eyes raises her slightly imperious voice as she uses spirit magic. The green monster—a goblin—gets its head severed, dropping a small magic stone before disappearing.

Hmm! As expected of friends chosen by our Lady Ira, perfect coordination!!

“Hehe. That makes three!”

“Phew. My arms hurt…”

“Latina! You’re doing well, but you should hold the shield closer to your body! You might sprain your wrist otherwise!!”

“Ah, yes. Thanks, Grace. I’ll do that.”

“And, Ira!!”

“Yes!”

“Ira… just keep doing what you’re doing! You’re doing great!!”

“Ehehe! Got it!!”

Lady Ira’s group leader, Grace.

From what I heard from Gorna Ragni, she has quite an imperious personality and looks down a bit on commoners. But she gives good immediate feedback and offers objective advice to her friends as much as possible. Hmm! I should note this down! Maybe they’ll give extra points for this? I wrote down additional observations about the three girls.

Meanwhile.

“Rock Bell. Are you still not up for monster hunting?”

“Ugh, blegh…!! I-I’m sorry…”

“No, don’t be so formal! We’re in the same year and the same age, right? If you’re still feeling sick, take some more rest.”

“Y-yes… urp!!”

“……”

The male student from Class F, Rock Bell, shows no signs of calming down, perhaps due to Grace’s sharp voice.

He’s been continuously retching ever since he first encountered a goblin, knocked it once with his shield, and saw it collapse.

I’m keeping him by my side and watching over him, but can he even take the evaluation like this?

According to him, this is his first time seeing monsters and watching monster hunting. He started vomiting, almost collapsing, the moment he saw blood. Is this right? It’s a bit sad to think that Lady Ira’s grades might suffer because of him.

And I’m not the only one thinking this—Grace approaches Ira and Latina and starts whispering to them.

“No matter how short we were on teammates, this is really too much…”

“S-sorry. I didn’t know the rumors had spread all the way to Class F…”

“No! I’ll work harder! Thanks to Latina, we could form a group together!!”

“Ah!! Ira!!”

“Ehehe.”

As Ira brightly responds while raising her staff, both girls hug her and start patting her head.

The two girls lowered their voices so only I could hear, but Ira spoke so energetically that the boy standing nearby heard her too.

Hmm, he seems aware that he’s being a burden. I wonder if I should help him?

As I ponder this while checking for presences around us…

“Um, everyone…”

“Over there! There’s a goblin watching us over there!!”

“Huh? Where?!”

“I-I’ll go and crash into it!!”

“Don’t crash, you need to block, Latina?!!”

Before I could alert them to the hidden monster’s presence, Ira shouts and informs the two girls hugging her of its location.

Hmm, does Ira perhaps have some detection skill? How did she notice it almost simultaneously with me? Well, if she does, that’s good. And if she’s this good without such skills, that’s even better. I watched the three girls’ battle with satisfaction, and they were able to easily defeat the fourth goblin.

“Phew!! That makes four!!”

“Ugh, I’m sorry, you two. I’m not good at magic, spirit arts, or swordsmanship…”

“No way. Thanks to Latina holding the shield and crashing in, we can hunt comfortably. No need to apologize.”

“Yeah! Latina, you’re crashing really well!”

“…Crashing with a shield isn’t defense, it’s offense.”

I mutter to myself, making sure the three girls don’t hear me.

If she wants to stably block the opponent’s movements, waiting and blocking would be better than crashing into them with a shield to push them back. But that girl Latina has better physical strength and stamina than I expected.

She’s only facing goblins without arms or teeth, but still, I think her courage to charge and crash into monsters deserves some credit. Of course, that’s attacking, not defending!!

And so, the three girls steadily hunt monsters while I escort the endlessly retching boy, until we reach about halfway up the mountain.

Hmm, is this the place? That big chestnut tree over there must be the one the elementary division director explained earlier.

“Everyone, attention! From here on, not only goblins but also orcs might appear. Miss Latina, orcs are at least twice the size of goblins, so if you crash into them like before, you could really get hurt.”

“Ugh… Then, should I use a sword…”

“No. We have about an hour more of practice time left, so let’s rest here and have a meal. Meanwhile, I’ll give you some quick tips on how to handle a shield.”

“Eh?! Is that allowed?!”

“Hehe. There’s no rule against giving advice. And I’m only going to teach you the very basics, so don’t expect too much. And Rock Bell?”

“Y-yes…”

“You’ll need to participate from now on too. So, let me give you some tips…”

As we move under the chestnut tree, I explain to the children what to be careful about and methods to overcome trauma from monster blood or flesh. Hmm, I’m quite a good teacher, aren’t I? At this rate, I could be an assistant instructor instead of Ragni…

“S-so, I swing the shield like this…?”

“No! You need to grip with your wrist and legs, tighten your waist and then BAM!! …”

“T-thinking of monster heads as meatballs… I don’t think I’ll be able to eat meatballs anymore…”

Huh? Was my explanation method bad? Not only Latina and Rock Bell, but even Grace, who was listening while eating a waffle, looks uncomfortable.

T-this is strange? Ira usually understands well when I explain like this…

“So Latina, like this, like this. Hold the shield like this. Bend your legs like this and support with your back foot. And when the opponent comes to crash, put strength in your legs and waist while lifting from below…”

“Ah! I see! I got it!! Ira, I understand now!”

“And, Rock Bell. Do you have any foods you dislike?”

“I-I guess I don’t like tomatoes…?”

“Then, think of those monsters’ heads as rotten tomatoes! Those rotten tomatoes are screaming and trying to force themselves into your mouth! Forcibly!!”

“…Wow, somehow the nausea is gone and I’m starting to get angry. I think I can do it this time.”

Huh? Huh~?

I was supposed to be the one teaching, but when Ira listened to me and immediately reinterpreted for the two of them, they understood right away.

Wait, could it be? Lady Ira?! Have you been reinterpreting my explanations all this time?! Hiiing…

“Ehehe…”

“Thank you! Adventurer Ray!”

“I-I’ll try harder next time too, Miss Adventurer. The waffles we had for lunch were delicious, so I won’t throw them up…”

“Ah, yes…”

Since I can’t reveal that Ira and I know each other, I just look at her meaningfully, but she tilts her head as if confused and smiles.

…Well. She’s cute, but I’ll have to ask Lady Ira directly when I get home today. To think I was being accommodated by Lady Ira, this is just sad!!

“Nom nom. Gulp, mm! The waffles were delicious. Ira, where do they sell these?”

“Gorna made them for us!”

“Eh? G-Gorna-sama?!”

“Heh, so even a golem can cook. This Gorna person is really amazing.”

Grace seems to have finished her meal and gets up, dusting herself off. The other three also savor their waffles before standing up.

Hmm, we have about an hour left.

“Now, let’s focus for the remaining time. Let’s finish the practice without getting hurt!”

“Yes!”

With the students gathering their weapons, I begin heading toward the middle of the mountain.

*

[Where is the target?]

[Right behind me.]

[Weaknesses?]

[Just passed the middle point and coming my way~]

[What about that annoying golem?]

[Waiting with the humans below. If it’s now, we can perfectly separate them.]

“…Um, Kesart? We should also head to the chestnut tree soon…”

The human female who’s supposed to be the guide speaks to me. She’s so annoying I want to kill her. I wish I could just wipe them all out…

[Absolutely not~]

[The human leader here is dangerous even for us. Don’t forget that what matters is ‘fulfilling the contract’.]

[…We’re going to kill all the humans after fulfilling the contract anyway.]

[That also depends on the situation~]

[Be patient a little longer. Once all the humans who entered here pass the middle point, we’ll begin then.]

“Um, Kesart?”

“Yes. I’m coming.”

We who have hijacked the bodies of human children to fulfill a contract.

Why are we, high-ranking demons of the hierarchies of Lust, Wrath, and Pride, doing such insane things?

My anger truly won’t subside. Especially for me, of the Wrath hierarchy—because Wrath (Ira) who was our leader died, I’m filled with unrelenting anger at having to follow orders from other Seven Deadly Sins and cross over to the human realm. Really, I want to kill them all right now…

[Stop these useless thoughts. Don’t forget that Pride (Superbia) has graciously given you useless Wrath demons another chance to rise.]

[…Damn it. How did that stupid Wrath (Ira) lose even her core.]

[Fuhuhu~ Seeing you angry even at your own Sin is quite~ entertaining~ Maybe you’ll be the next Ira (Wrath)?]

[……]

Speaking of Ira, the face of a red-haired girl comes to mind from this brat’s memories that I’ve hijacked.

…A girl with quite strong magical power who can bewitch and steal others’ spirits.

-Crunch.

[Pride.]

[…The title of Pride belongs only to Superbia-sama. My name is…]

[No need to tell me. Anyway, the barrier preparations are complete, right?]

[…Yes, once three more groups, including yours, cross the middle point, it will activate.]

[Then I’ll ‘capture’ the target. And immediately go to capture another human.]

[…What?]

[Hey~ If the operation fails because of you, our Lust (Luxuria) hierarchy will suffer too~? Unnecessary actions…]

[The girl who defeated the body I’ve entered. The one you designated as a weakness has quite strong magical power. And probably possesses skills too.]

[…Fine. First complete the target’s capture quickly, then report and proceed.]

[Eeeeh~?!]

My anger boils over as memories of that day’s defeat keep surfacing, mixed with this body’s memories, even though it wasn’t my own defeat. And the name Ira? It infuriates me that someone dares use a Seven Deadly Sin’s name.

That girl isn’t even covered by the contract terms, so I’ll capture her, torture her for a long time, and when she begs to be killed, I’ll extract her soul and magical power to steal her skills and magic—I was making this vow while eating with these garbage humans when…

“Kesart Salver. Can we talk for a moment?”

“……”

Blue hair and red eyes. The ‘target’ that I must capture due to the contract approaches me.