Chapter Index





    Ch.395Fighting the Mountain NPC. (1)

    “Kyuuu~♥”

    “Koong~♬♡”

    The date was a complete failure, but I think the skinship time for the two afterward was quite successful. Not too much, not too little. Just the right feeling… I guess.

    “…But at this rate, I’m just a cat and dog caretaker, aren’t I?”

    “Kyuut~?”

    “Kong♬”

    What kind of smell is coming from my body that makes them act like this when I touch them? Chikuyo and Miho, who have completely abandoned the “human” part of beastfolk and only kept the “beast” (獸), have been leaning their heads against my thigh and nuzzling on our house floor for over an hour.

    This is starting to make my arm hurt. Can’t we stop now?

    “Kyuu…”

    “Koong…”

    -Sulking.

    Is making text appear through actions some kind of special beastfolk skill? Did I just see the word “sulking” with my own eyes?

    When I try to show that I’m getting tired, the beastfolk sisters blatantly droop their tails and ears—a display of cunning if I’ve ever seen one. Hey, are you two actually in your right minds? You’re lying about not being angry, aren’t you? Are you planning something? Huh? I’m telling you, I’ll prioritize Gorr first!

    -Tilts head.

    “…Fine.”

    Even when I deliberately try to provoke them, they just look at me with innocent eyes and tilt their heads as if they’ve truly lost all reason. There’s no way to test them further. I have no choice but to continue stroking their heads…

    -Bzzzz.

    “Oh, wait. Chikuyo, move to this leg. I’ll pet you both.”

    “Kong~”

    -Snuggles~

    Chikuyo, now a female beast that understands human speech, immediately moved to the opposite thigh, hugging Miho who was already there. I alternated between stroking both their heads with one hand while picking up the communication crystal I had on my waist.

    “Oh, Ragni. What’s the matter…”

    [Do you happen to know anything about a monster called Behemoth?]

    “…What?”

    Ragni’s urgent question cutting off my words left me momentarily dazed. Behemoth. That’s the final boss among the field boss content. Why suddenly mention that creature?

    [The scout adventurers we sent in the direction of Aigram, where you spotted the Pope, have been out of contact for days. Just now, we received the ‘last words of a survivor’ via crystal communication. He said that after discovering the hooded old man you mentioned, only he was lucky enough to survive while moving to report back. The surrounding people and villages were swallowed by a ‘mountain’ without even time to scream. The nearby guild believes that unless all the scouts went insane, it’s highly likely to be a monster. As far as I know, the only monster large enough to be called a mountain is Behemoth. So, does this ‘natural disaster’ that was supposedly subjugated thousands of years ago in your game world actually exist?]

    Ragni’s voice, delivering the information precisely and concisely as if to prevent me from asking unnecessary questions, was as serious as it could possibly be.

    Shit. Of course it exists. Moreover, its level is 950. Among field bosses—no, among all bosses—it’s the toughest and has the most health. Furthermore…

    “I told you I never did the ep.8 final raid.”

    […Don’t tell me.]

    “It’s the last field boss that appears before entering ep.8. In the game, I never managed to defeat it without dying at least once.”

    [……]

    After hearing what I said, Ragni immediately asked me to come to the headmaster’s office and ended the call. Damn it, seriously? Why, why him?! We haven’t even killed Sloth yet…!!

    “…Sister, let’s get ready.”

    “This is ridiculous. Behemoth? That monster that even the elves say only the Grand Elder survived seeing? Good grief. What is this world coming to…”

    “Huh?”

    I was speechless again seeing the beastfolk sisters having a normal conversation while lying on my thigh. Both of them looked at me, stuck out their tongues with a “beh—” sound, then got up and dusted themselves off. Wait, what? You two were faking?!

    “Let’s hurry. I’ve been feeling bad about not greeting the first female yet.”

    “Ragni is truly an intelligent person. Sister, please don’t say anything unnecessary.”

    The beastfolk sisters efficiently prepared to leave, teasing me with smiles and pulling my hand along while I remained speechless from shock.

    *

    “Pleased to meet you. I am Kannu Ra, Guild Master of Neity. I’ve heard about you all from the Headmaster, so please don’t mind me.”

    When we arrived at the headmaster’s office, Mr. Devil, who had been hiding with Luxuria, along with Avalitia and Ms. Manie, the headmaster’s secretary and acting vice-principal, were already there. But wait, the Guild Master of Neity wasn’t in the game, and they’re an elf?!

    “I’ve been outside Siltra for about 3,000 years because I enjoy reading books, and I’ve been in Neity for just over a thousand years now. I found it more enjoyable to fill my head with knowledge from books made by humans than to listen to the nonsense spouted by the elders there, so I settled here. Somehow, I ended up becoming the Guild Master. To be honest, I don’t do any work. The Vice Guild Master does everything.”

    However, this time I couldn’t avoid it, so I came out, but please don’t worry about it. After his lengthy yet perfectly boundary-setting introduction, I nodded appropriately, and then Ragni continued.

    “That’s right. The Pope, who was powerful enough to destroy Aigram and force Jack to flee. While moving scouts composed of adventurers to track his movements, we discovered an unbelievable situation.”

    “Hmm. Behemoth, I still can’t comprehend it no matter how many times I hear it. The scouts found that old man somewhere in the mountains a bit away from Aigram, right? There’s not even a legend or fairy tale about such a massive monster being in that area.”

    When Devil followed up Ragni’s words by giving Avalitia a look as if asking if she knew anything, Avalitia, who had returned to human form, blushed slightly and spoke.

    “I had no such information. I’ve lived in Aigram for 400 years. If I had known that Behemoth was there before that, I wouldn’t have built a city there in the first place. Honestly, a monster like Behemoth couldn’t be stopped by just one or two of the Seven Deadly Sins. Perhaps only Greed could face it head-on? Even Sloth said that if Wrath grew to its maximum size, it would be blown away before it could cover everything.”

    “More importantly, is this information accurate? I’m more inclined to think it might not be Behemoth. Frankly, if the Acting Headmaster hadn’t mentioned that name in a confidential request to the guild, I wouldn’t be here. From what I’ve heard, you’ve just assumed it’s Behemoth because it’s a mountain-sized monster, right?”

    “Then, in your knowledge from 3,000 years of reading books, do you know of any other monsters comparable to the size of a mountain?”

    “Yes. Of course I do.”

    “””What?”””

    There’s another monster like that? No way! In the game, Behemoth was the largest, even called [Behemoth the Continent Mover]! What else could possibly be mountain-sized…!!

    “Hmm. Since you don’t seem to know, I’ll tell you. About a year ago, a giant golem comparable to a small mountain was observed in front of this city…”

    “”That was our party. (member)””

    “…Pardon?”

    No way, Gorr made it into the monster encyclopedia…!! And apparently labeled as a mountain-sized monster!! Gorr, you probably shouldn’t transform in Neity…!!

    “…W-what do you mean…”

    “So, do you have information on any other mountain-sized monsters?”

    “Ah, Aigram! A demon comparable to a mountain size was observed there…!!”

    “”We killed that one. (too)””

    “Th-that was you?! All of them?!!”

    I thought since he was an elf who read a lot of books, he might have some information we didn’t know, but it turns out all his sources were about us. Good heavens. However, there might still be more…

    “So it really is Behemoth? That disaster is a monster that was said to have gone to sleep 300 years before I was born. How on earth…?”

    Apparently not. Besides Gorr and the Wrath demon, he had no information about mountain-sized monsters either, and the conversation returned to where it started…

    “Wait. Did you just say ‘gone to sleep’? Not ‘subjugated’?!”

    Ragni, who had been listening to his words, turned pale and grabbed onto Guild Master Kannu Ra’s statement. He was nodding while holding his head, but then…

    “…Shit.”

    He cursed and started looking around at us. What’s going on? What did you two realize?

    “In the books I read, it said that about 4,000 years ago, eight countries across the continent gathered all their strength to ‘subjugate’ Behemoth, which was no different from a natural disaster. I’m sure that’s what was written…”

    “Ah, no. This happened just 300 years before I was born. Most elves living outside at that time know about Behemoth. The subjugation attempt failed, and Behemoth simply sank into the ground and fell asleep. According to estimates at the time, the creature also suffered severe injuries in the battle against millions of troops and couldn’t recover…”

    The Guild Master’s voice trailed off as his hands began to shake. Avalitia, who was trying to maintain a commanding presence by crossing her legs but couldn’t hide her shocked expression, continued.

    “So, that insane Pope found this natural disaster and helped it recover?”

    “That means…”

    “…Ha!”

    Even I’m not stupid enough to not understand what this means, and I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh. So…

    “Not only has a natural disaster been resurrected, but now there’s also an old man who can help it recover so it won’t go back to sleep?”

    There was no natural recovery ability for Behemoth in the game. We’re truly fucked, aren’t we?


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