Ch.233Now Going to Meet the NPC (3)

“Miho!!”

“Yes!!”

-Crack!! Slash!!!

“Haha, that’s my sister. Excellent combo.”

“Whew! Nice finishing touch, sis.”

Miho’s fist breaks through the monster’s defense, and Chikuyo’s multi-bladed sword tears through the opening. The two sisters, executing perfect combos and holding their own even in the ep.4 field, look at each other with smiles but remain vigilant, scanning their surroundings.

-CRASH!!!

[KEEE?!!!]

[KHOOOOO???!!!]

“Haha. That’s really…”

“I wanted my husband to be strong, but honestly, when he’s this far beyond standard, just getting excited is exhausting.”

-BOOM!!

Since entering Mount Poria, Miho and Chikuyo have been steadily defeating the endless waves of monsters, fighting safely in 2:1 battles. However, that doesn’t mean there are few monsters appearing. On the contrary, in this battle alone, seven powerful monsters had appeared before us. And now…

“Why are there so many? They said the mountain keepers fell just three days ago. Did they multiply this much in only three days?”

-CRACK!!!

A gray-haired man named Jack grabs an undead monster—a Living Armor taller than himself—with one hand and crushes it like paper. He single-handedly dispatches six monsters of the same level and casually wipes his hands on his cloak as if he’d just swatted flies. I was drawn to his strength as a beast-man, but my heart still races every time I see him, as if it were the first time. It’s almost as if he’s getting unnaturally stronger every day.

“Oh, you two finished yours too. How’s it going? Starting to get used to it?”

“Well, I’m getting used to the monsters, but…”

“We just can’t get used to our husband’s prowess no matter how many times we see it~? Hohoho.”

“Huh? What?”

As my sister covers her mouth with her tail while laughing, the gray man furrows his brows and tilts his head in confusion. Jack, the former mountain keeper chosen by us sisters, looks at me as if asking what my sister means, and I respond with a wry smile.

“Jack. I’ve been thinking this every time, but haven’t you gotten stronger since returning here? I thought it was because you went through trials before fighting the Grand Elder. But it seems like you’re getting stronger without any apparent reason.”

“Ah…”

He lets out a short exclamation as if realizing something, then closes his mouth and holds his chin in thought as he usually does.

I think he knows very well that he’s getting stronger and why, but he’s debating whether to tell us about it. And I already know what his conclusion will be.

“Well, I’m just a bit excited being back in my homeland after so long. It’s not much different from usual.”

“Fufu. If you get too excited twice, the monsters will run out~”

A lie.

My sister responds to his words with a seductive laugh, but I know better. Jack is generally skilled at lying, but sometimes his lies are surprisingly obvious. I haven’t noticed this for long, but realizing it feels like personal growth. Yes…

“Don’t get too excited. I know you want to protect us, but both my sister and I can hold our own even if we can’t dominate one-on-one. So if it gets really tough, let us help too, okay?”

“Oh, sure. When there are more than ten, I’ll assign one to each of you.”

“Hoho! So you’ll handle at least eight yourself? If there aren’t double digits, we sisters just keep doing 2:1 battles? Really, you’re such a human male, instinctively charming beast-women~”

His lies become obvious when he’s talking to those he cherishes—previously Lady Ragni and Lady Rei, and his most beloved sister Lady Ira. And recently, those lies have been directed at my sister and me too.

My past self might have complained about why he needs to lie just to protect us, but I’ve grown too. I understand this is how Jack protects his “females.”

“So if twenty appear, will you let us handle two each?”

“Uh, well… no, in that case…”

“Ahaha! Then five each for us? And you take ten? Wouldn’t that work?”

“Sis, I don’t think I could handle five of those things at once…”

“Oh, you could just run around and stall for time,” my sister says with a mischievous smile. But I understand what she means. We already know Jack is a strong and impressive male, so we don’t want him pushing himself too hard for our sake. Of course, judging by Jack’s expression, he’d probably try to handle thirty monsters alone while keeping us back if they appeared.

Sigh, being protected and cherished is thrilling and heart-fluttering, but I still want to be more helpful to Jack.

“By the way, Jack?”

“Hm?”

“Where are we going? We’ve already come quite far from the traveled paths into the mountain.”

As my sister tucks a decently sized monster mana stone into her tail while asking Jack, he looks around before speaking.

“I mentioned our purpose here is the Seven Deadly Sin Luxuria (Lust), right?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t tell me you know where the demon is, Jack?”

Contrary to my expectation that we’d first go to the barrier city to question the search party, Jack nods in response to my question.

“It’s not that I know exactly where the demon is. But I know where Luxuria might be.”

“…Is that also part of your ability as a former mountain keeper of this place?”

“Something like that, but a bit different. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

As he reaches out his hand with a wry smile, I immediately relax my ears and offer my crown for him to pat. I love these moments when he says “later” and evades the question while stroking my head. Because…

“Me too, me too!”

“Yes, yes.”

My sister jumps up and down like a child and offers her head too, and he starts stroking her with his other hand.

I now understand that he wants to tell his story when everyone is present, including us sisters and the two women we left in Natie.

-Ears perk up.

“Hm?”

“Damn… more coming. More than before? Over ten this time.”

“Jack?”

“…I’ll handle exactly ten. You two just hold down the rest by their feet.”

Jack, who was gently stroking our heads, prepares for battle again and moves forward. My sister and I climb up a tree to count the approaching monsters. Fourteen of them—so we each need to handle two.

“Miho.”

“Be careful, sis.”

Following the gray man who advances fearlessly, we also run through the treetops. To help him as much as we can on his path. We continue deeper into Mount Poria.

*

“Strange. The number of monsters is unusually low.”

“You’re right. It’s completely different from yesterday.”

A golden-haired woman and a black-haired man patrol deep in Mount Poria, bewildered by how drastically the mountain’s situation has changed from yesterday.

“Green Dol. You said you definitely felt that energy two days ago, right?”

“Saint Lizerotte, it was weaker than what you felt, but as an elf who saw the Seven Deadly Sins in Aigram with my own eyes, I couldn’t have been mistaken.”

Two days ago, when mountain keepers guarding the barrier city of Poria went berserk after being enthralled by a demon due to a sudden burst of magical energy from the mountain, Saint Lizerotte and Elven Elder Green Dol had already arrived in Poria.

Thanks to them, even though the mountain keepers began rampaging and breaking the barrier, they managed to minimize the damage and drive them away, though driving them away was the limit. And yesterday, when the two of them patrolled like substitute mountain keepers to protect the city, they had trouble even clearing a path to call for reinforcements due to the exponentially increasing monsters. Now, it seems strange that the mountain is completely empty, as if all the monsters have moved elsewhere.

“…Green Dol. Could this possibly be preparation for a second monster parade?”

“No. That can’t be it. Even if an intelligent boss monster appeared among them and was lying low, this is too extreme. Even if an intelligent creature appeared, mindless monsters like goblins and orcs wouldn’t follow its orders.”

This means the monsters have truly been drawn elsewhere by something. So for now…

“Let’s return to the barrier city. Now that the path is clear, we can send a messenger for reinforcements, and if the situation remains the same when we patrol again, we can track the demon ourselves.”

“Hmm. Good judgment. With just the two of us gone, the city’s defense is impossible right now. Abandoning the city just because the enemy front seems empty wouldn’t be a good choice.”

The golden-haired saint—who asks not to be called a saint—calmly analyzes the situation and prioritizes people’s safety with her appropriate judgment, making Green Dol nod in agreement with a pleased smile. And then…

“…Indeed. The monsters have completely disappeared, or rather, they’ve been drawn somewhere.”

After sending a messenger to call for reinforcements from the city and returning to the mountain to investigate a bit deeper than before, they began finding traces of monster movement everywhere. Judging by the size of footprints and marks left behind, it was clear that numerous powerful creatures had moved simultaneously in one direction.

“Green Dol. This direction…”

“It’s toward another city, certainly. Tapun territory, was it?”

“This is serious. There were predictions that the expelled mountain keepers went in that direction too. If the monsters are chasing them and planning to attack that territory…”

Bad predictions always come true. Lizerotte and Green Dol made eye contact to confirm each other’s thoughts and immediately started running.

Even if it’s too late to chase after the monsters now, staying put would only make them later. And after running for nearly an hour…

“W-what is this?!”

“…Hmm, this is…”

The surrounding massive trees are snapped like toothpicks, and what appear to be monster flesh pieces are scattered around. The blood, much darker than human blood, is clearly monster blood. Obviously, someone fought an intense battle with monsters here. It must have been so fierce that they left without properly collecting the mana stones. Lizerotte moved around looking for human presence, while Green Dol, watching her, turned his head to stare intently in another direction. And then.

“…Lizerotte.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s rest here for today. We’ll track them tomorrow.”

“What?! What are you saying?! Someone might be badly injured from fighting these monsters…!!”

“Ah, well. I don’t think anyone’s hurt. Don’t worry.”

As the sun was setting, Green Dol calmly suggested preparing for camping despite Lizerotte’s concerned voice. He cut down two fallen trees with his sword to make comfortable seats and started making a campfire with other branches.

“…G-Green Dol? What is this all about…”

“Hmm, remember what I told you before?”

“About what…”

“About my strong human friend who defeated a Seven Deadly Sin and even took down the Grand Elder who sold his soul to a demon.”

“Eh, could it be?!”

“Yes, judging by the battle traces and surrounding evidence. That friend has come this far.”

Seeing Lizerotte speechless at this revelation, he continued with a gentle smile.

“Tomorrow. If we follow the traces, we’ll see something interesting.”

Even though his friend might still be fighting numerous monsters, he simply smiled and started boiling water, confident that everything would be fine.