Ch.18Thump-Thump☆ Minotaur’s First Trip Together (3)

The journey to take Mary, a fairy, to Fairy Tail, the kingdom of fairies, had already lasted two weeks. Even when I left my mother’s embrace to find my sweet home, I hadn’t strayed that far from my mother’s territory…

I never expected my first journey to be such a long-distance trip. And for some reason, rumors must have spread in the human territory we first passed through, because humans were constantly lying in ambush trying to capture me at every path.

From the adventurer party who first tried to bury me underground, to the knight in armor who blocked my path like some Zhang Fei from Romance of the Three Kingdoms demanding a one-on-one duel, to the archer party that annoyed me by shooting arrows whenever I tried to sleep.

All sorts of strange people picked fights with me, so I ate the ones I could eat and turned the annoying ones into juice, leaving them as nutrients for nature.

Even though I cut straight through a city, I don’t understand where they get the confidence to come at me more frequently than when I lived in the forest… I must have a bounty on my head.

“Mmm-mer— (This is concerning.)”

“What is?”

The creature rolling around on my head responded, apparently having heard me. This one had apparently designated my head as its permanent seat and refused to come down.

Well, it doesn’t matter since it turns invisible and moves away during battles, and it gives proper directions.

“Mmm-mer mmm-wooo (Even now, increasingly stronger opponents are coming, and I’m worried it’ll get annoying if even stronger ones appear before we reach Fairy Tail.)”

“Well, no matter how strong these humans are, they probably can’t beat you… If they’re truly too difficult to handle, we can always run away!”

Seeing this incredibly optimistic creature, I felt like I’d worried for nothing. I gave a light response and set off, confirming the path to Fairy Tail.

* * * * *

In a tavern, a man dressed like a cowboy in leather clothes with a cowboy hat and a cape draped over his upper body sat with another figure completely covered in robes, whose gender was indiscernible.

“A Minotaur crossing through the kingdom?”

The robed figure nodded at those words. Of course, a Minotaur was an A-rank monster difficult even for knights to handle… but even a Gold-class party could defeat one with proper preparation, so why was this one causing such rumors?

“Is this Sylphin Kingdom just weak? Letting a Minotaur cross through the kingdom?”

His question was reasonable. Even a small nation wouldn’t allow a monster to freely cross its territory. It was a matter of national prestige, and the damage caused by such a creature would be substantial.

The robed figure shook their head at his question.

“From what I’ve heard, it seems to be an exceptionally strong variant. I heard that even a 15-person party composed entirely of Titanium-class adventurers was annihilated, and you know the Golden Dawn party, right? The one that killed a Drake a month or two ago. They were wiped out too.”

The cowboy’s expression grew serious at those words. A party that annihilated 15 Titanium-class adventurers and destroyed a rookie party that was rumored to be taking the Adamantium promotion test soon?

“Those guys were not only skilled but had great teamwork, said to rival Adamantium parties… To think they’d fall like that…”

As the cowboy expressed his condolences, the robed figure waited for him to finish before casting a Silent spell around them. After confirming the spell was properly cast to prevent their conversation from leaking, they continued.

“It seems… that Minotaur might be a participant. A variant Minotaur can be at most as strong as a Drake. But this one… even the Golden Dawn party that defeated a Drake couldn’t win against it.”

Participant. When that detestable word left the robed figure’s lips, the cowboy’s gaze became very serious.

“Then… I suppose the roulette that happened a couple of months ago was triggered by this creature killing another participant… Do you have any information about this Minotaur?”

As if waiting for this question, the robed figure pulled out several sheets of paper from within their robes. They contained records of the Minotaur’s activities from its first appearance to the present.

“Hmm… First appearance three months ago, annihilated a Gold-class party, which led to dispatching a Titanium-class scout? This scout was suspected of being a participant, right?”

The robed figure nodded at his words. Though it was hard to see clearly due to the robe covering them, the slight movement suggested agreement.

“And then… defeated the scout, with the elf slave presumed dead. Upon learning of this situation, Count Cayenne and the Adventurer Guild Master of Cayenne Territory organized a subjugation team. They dispatched 3 Titanium-class, 12 Gold-class adventurers, and 5 knights, but… they were annihilated.”

The cowboy’s expression hardened as he continued reading. Even a subjugation team sent knowing it was a variant was wiped out. The next page detailed the deaths of 15 Titanium-class adventurers.

“This… will be difficult to handle. You and I together could probably take down 15 Titanium-class adventurers. But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t sustain injuries, yet this creature… defeated them and crossed through the count’s territory a week later.”

Either it defeated them without taking any damage, or it regenerated during that week. If it had regenerative abilities like a troll, a week would be plenty of time for wounds to heal. The robed figure countered his assessment.

“Look here… The Guild Master took a photo. At that time, the creature’s condition was estimated to have an arm severed and one eye deeply cut, likely blinded. This probably happened during the battle with the subjugation team… It must have some regeneration-related trait.”

Looking more carefully at the content, there was indeed a photo showing the creature’s condition. Its arm was severed and its eye deeply cut, but a week later, everything had regenerated.

“So after annihilating the Titanium-class adventurers, it left the forest a week later… to regenerate? Or was it deception? Since it has human intelligence, it’s hard to tell.”

If it had been an ordinary Minotaur, he would have concluded it had regenerative abilities, but this creature was suspected to be a participant monster. That meant there was a possibility it was bluffing.

“Whether true or not, we need to test it. It says here it can manipulate lightning, so that’s probably its unique trait.”

The cowboy remained thoughtful despite the robed figure’s words. What if they provoked a creature that had defeated 15 Titanium-class adventurers without sustaining injuries? Or what if it had an ability they weren’t aware of that could instantly heal wounds?

“I think the risk is too great for just the two of us right now… How about using others?”

“Others?”

The robed figure tilted their head at his words. He probably wasn’t suggesting manipulating other participants, so was he talking about adventurers?

But dozens of Titanium-class adventurers had already disappeared after confronting the Minotaur—would others really take the bait?

“Ordinary money won’t be enough, but the Minotaur can’t be defeated by anything less than an Adamantium-class party anyway. Let’s post a request with a reward that’s substantial for Titanium-class parties but not quite enough to attract Adamantium parties.”

A new threat was heading toward the Minotaur.

* * * * *

It had been a month since leaving the forest. Mary had said it would take six months, but that was probably based on her own travel speed. At this rate, she said we’d arrive in another month, which put me in a good mood.

Of course I’d be happy to hear that a six-month journey had suddenly been reduced to just one more month. Noticing my good mood, Mary tapped my head, though I couldn’t feel anything when she did.

As I walked along making unconscious snorting sounds, I caught a glimpse of a lake partially hidden by trees in the distance.

“Mmm? Mmm-merrr (Oh, I see a lake over there. Should we rest there today?)”

“A lake!? Great! I’ve been wanting to take a bath for a while!”

I used to wash myself in the stream flowing through the forest once a week back at home, but I’d been feeling uncomfortable not having properly bathed for a month.

Mary seemed to feel the same way, as she finally came down from my head, spread her wings, and flew off.

“Let’s hurry!”

Following her urging, I headed toward the lake.

* * * * *

When we arrived at the lake, we finally got to bathe in water. Since Mary was a female fairy, I told her to go first while I kept watch, and when she finished, I could finally take my bath too.

Well, what I called a bath was just immersing myself in water that only came up to my waist and scrubbing myself with my hands.

After finishing my bath, I shook my body to get rid of the water and decided we would sleep near the lake tonight. There weren’t any monsters around that would approach me anyway, and even if there were, Mary was with me, so I fell into a peaceful sleep.

However… not long after, I woke up to someone rousing me.

“Really…!! Why do you wake up so late! Humans are coming!”

Just as Mary said, a group of humans seemed to be targeting us at the lake, approaching our location with clanking sounds.