----------------------------------------
“So, have you two asked Yorshka why we’re still going into this forest? If you ask me, the first thing we should be doing is reuniting with Sensei. From a survival aspect, if Sensei really did get reincarnated like in a power fantasy isekai novel, we should be staying around her to stay safe.”
“Shush! Shut up, idiot,” I tried to quiet Daichi with a whisper, but his constant complaints ended up making me speak louder than I wanted. We were currently inside the Belzac forest where invisible giant chameleons could ambush you; the last thing we needed was to have our positions exposed so easily. “We aren’t your errand boys, Daichi. You want more details, you ask her yourself.”
“Huh? You aren’t even a little bit curious, Tatsuya? Come on, Tamae-san and the others just got back from their trip to Cederaille, and what was the first thing they did when they returned? They dropped the second information nuke on us since that bastard of a Pope summoned us to this world.”
Damn this fucking whiner!
Unable to keep my cool, my head snapped around and I pressed my finger on my lips, shushing at him while narrowing my eyes into a glare. Daichi was our party’s mage, who dressed accordingly to a standard mage with his travel robes and catalyst. As the two of us were about to argue, somebody grabbed our shoulders and pulled us away from each other.
“Haruka-chan is scouting ahead, the least we can do is keep quiet. Leave this argument for when we’re in a friendly environment, deal?” It was my best friend Kyouya, clad in full armor of C rank materials that we’d farmed back in Lecartiglio Duchy.
“Tch, sure, got it, Kyouya-kun.” Daichi agreed. He always seemed more diplomatic when Kyouya spoke with him.
With the issue settled, I sighed and went back to my post to keep a watch out for any enemies. Leaning my spear on my shoulder, I took out a leaf from my pouch and held it close to my nose before inhaling its aroma.
Oooh, it isn’t as aromatic as coffee beans, but it is undoubtedly similar.
Tatsuya “Coffee Boy” Nagata. Ever since I’d finally managed to buy a bag of fulinoe leaves from a vendor in Firwood, everybody from my party has started to call me that, simply because they thought I was addicted to coffee. Sure, it’s been over a year since I last had a cup of that brown ambrosia, but I managed to hold the trembling in until I’d acquired these leaves. An addict wouldn’t be able to do that.
Fulinoe leaves were primarily used to help mages alleviate symptoms of arcane corruption. To a spearman like me, it was rather wasteful for me to drink them all the time, but the taste of a fulinoe tea was too similar to coffee. How glad I was when Tamae and the Magical Biscuits came back and brought a pile of those leaves just for me.
I really could have fallen for our class prez at that moment, but… Nishio probably would have burned me alive if I tried. Still… it's not like that information was the most important part.
The “information nuke” Daichi mentioned was something I never would have guessed — our high school homeroom teacher Saori Segawa had been transported into this world. In addition, everyone in my party, the Misfits, learned that Segawa-Sensei somehow died on Earth and was reborn into this world as a garm, a wolf-type monster, and that she was currently a B rank [Young Stygian-Scaled Fenrir].
“Sensei declined to join us, because she is currently traveling with her benefactor. Don’t freak out; her name is Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor, and she’s not only a dragon princess of Kargryx but also another reincarnator from Earth,” Tamae informed us all. It came as a shock to Kyouya, Haruka, Daichi, and me when we heard not only that was Sensei here, but also that she wasn’t coming to see us.
Dame Yorshka, the Magical Biscuits’ guardian knight assigned to them by the church who kidnapped us to Peolynca, also revealed she was a dragonewt and that she was the “niece” of this Hestia. Seeing her human body transform into a winged lizardman was a real eye-opener of how much she’s been hiding from us.
Since we’ve been harboring a mistrust for the church of Aurena, something Yorshka was aware of, she made an effort to build what she called “a healthy trust” with us by revealing some of her past and her actual reason for joining the Knights of Aurena, the church’s knight order. “I also made a drunken promise with Saori to protect you all when we were out drinking together with Nishio,” she said with a hearty laugh.
Also, that guy who appeared in that alleyway that time was apparently Yorshka’s acquaintance. That guy is an absolute troll for mentioning Sensei’s name without explaining himself.
After learning this, Yorshka still insisted on following our previous plan to enter the Belzac forest instead of meeting up with Sensei. Sensei said she couldn’t accompany us, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t meet up with her. Considering that Yorshka had informed us that the Goddess of Light, Aurena, hadn’t summoned us to this world, contrary to what her church had said, we needed to be with people we could trust.
As I continued sniffing the fulinoe leaf, something suddenly slapped the arm. Surprised to see somebody slipping through my detection skills, I went into a combat pose and was about to ready my pose, only to be surprised to see who tapped me. “H-Haruka-chan? Why did you have to surprise me like that?”
Standing before me was a petite girl with dark brown hair mostly hidden under a hood. She pulled it down, revealing two fox-like ears before smiling mischievously, showing off her two fangs. “Sorry, Tatsuya-kun, I was too excited. My [Stealth] and [Presence Killer] both just reached level ten! They evolved into [Silence] and [Odorless], respectively! If you couldn’t detect me despite how close I was, then I supposed they worked out pretty well!”
Haruka Sakamoto, our party’s scout. She was also from Earth and my classmate but… after Kazumi, a member of Tamae’s party, returned cosplayer-like cat ears and a tail, she prompted Haruka to follow the animal ear trend. By buying [Beastialization], you could transform yourself into a beastman or even a monster outright.
Since [Beastialization] gave the user the features and abilities of the associated beastman form, Haruka bought it with SP without hesitation. With how excited she was with upgrading her skills, her twitching fox ears really made her cute. Too cute, in fact.
D-Dammit, kemonomimi! Remember the bro code, Nagata Tatsuya! Kyouya, don’t you worry, man!
“Okay, anyway. There are a couple of monsters on the way. A lot of them were stealthy monsters, but I guess that is what you would expect from a forest full of experienced hunters. Only a few were the brute force kind. C rank.” Haruka was mostly a pacifist, as strange as that was to say considering our predicament in this world. She vehemently disliked the feeling of guilt after ending the life of something; on the other hand, her stealth skills have gotten good enough for her to seem like a ninja.
After going to Kyouya and Daichi and repeating what she had just told me, Haruka looked around in confusion. “Where are Asa-chan and Sir Elrick? Shouldn't we be sticking together to scout out the place until the others are ready?”
“Asaka? Well, she and Elrick went to—”
“Hey, hey, I’m back! You don’t need to tell her stuff, dude!” Interrupting me from saying anything, Asaka suddenly sprinted over to us, waving her hand around in a panic. With an uneasy smile, she greeted Haruka. “Haruka-chan, I hope the scouting trip went well.”
“Lady Asaka!” somebody shouted from the direction Asaka ran from. Looking over, a knight in full armor was running over to us in a fluster — it was our party’s guardian knight, Elrick. “Lady Asaka, please, don’t run ahead from me! This forest is filled with threats! I cannot do my duty to protect you if you leave my side like that!”
“Elrick, it was just a short distance. We were so close, we could have called for help if necessary. Besides, you know full well that I can protect myself, so stop being so restrictive,” Asaka retorted. She wasn’t the most patient.
After letting those two calm down, our party moved back to camp, where we met up with our five other classmates — the Magical Biscuits. Yorshka was there too, telling our alchemist Tamae about the local flora. She was in her fully human form ’cause of Elrick, since we still had no idea if we could trust him with the information Sensei and her companions had given us.
After Haruka gave her the scouting report, Yorshka nodded to us and informed us we would be going deeper into the forest after our group had hunted down a few of the local monsters. She told us to divide into our respective parties and that she and Elrick wouldn’t be helping us.
“Why?” Daichi suddenly asked. It seemed like he’d taken my advice to heart.
“What do you mean, ‘Why?’” Yorshka responded.
“I mean, why are we still inside this forest? If you have already forgotten, Dame Yorshka, we’ve fought tons of monsters while you were away with Tamae-san and the others. We’ve been training a lot. In fact, the only reason why we even decided to go to the Belzac forest in the first place was because of Coffee Boy here, who couldn’t get rid of his addiction to fulinoe leaves. But, now we have a ton!” Daichi usually was a serious asskisser, but he also had an extremely fiery temper, making it rather fitting that he became a fire mage after we came to Peolynca.
Asaka nodded, agreeing with him. “Not like I want to agree with the fire slinger, and just casually hunting is far better than doing the shitty saint candidate work in town, but do we really need to stay around here, Dame Yorshka? I mean, after all, shouldn’t we be joining up with you know who? Like our classmates and other people we can trust, I guess?”
My party was obviously more inclined than the Magical Biscuits to ask this question of Yorshka, since we hadn’t met Segawa-sensei yet. It was surprising to hear this from Asaka, though, since she was the only one of the ten of us who hated Sensei. While us Misfits wanted Yorshka to explain herself, the Magical Biscuits were smiling wryly.
“Because you five still need practice. You all suck as a party,” Yorshka said bluntly, causing me to flinch back. I didn’t agree with her statement. “Don’t look at me like that Tatsuya, I am not talking about your individual skills. You are a good spearman, and you even learned [Dragoon Jump] from me, but the five of you have no idea how to fight alongside each other as a party.”
She then stretched out her left hand, showing us her five outstretched fingers, and began pointing at us Misfits. “Tatsuya, you can only work well with Kyouya, but you rarely match your attacks with the other three. Haruka, you are a good scout but your fear of blood and fighting makes you a liability in battle, even against animals and monsters. Lady Asaka, you panic under pressure far too often, even though I must admit that some of it is from how disorderly your teammates are in combat; still, you need to adapt to it. Daichi… OOoooh, Daichi. I know a girl far younger than you who can produce stronger flames while keeping them under control without causing collateral damage. Kyouya… you’re good.”
Her criticism came out of nowhere. A part of me wanted to rebuke her, but another part, the part that had been fighting with these guys for almost a year now, doesn’t. Our party did not meet on common ground at the start and even after we agreed to work together, we haven’t exactly gotten better with the whole teamwork part.
Individually, I thought we were pretty good, but actions speak louder than words. Whenever Tamae or Nishio took command, our parties were a well-oiled machine built over a year of rapport. If the Misfits worked alone, Daichi and I would only squabble, and Asaka would ignore us.
“I originally thought of doing this training session in a dungeon, but I was planning to investigate the Belzac forest for a bit. Sir Elrick had already agreed to my plan, and since we are responsible for teaching you how to survive until you have fulfilled the church’s orders and can return home, I would ask for your understanding. I am doing this for your own benefit.”
And with that, we departed. Divided into our two teams, we ventured deeper into the forest. We didn’t move too far from each other and Yorshka made sure to keep a telepathic connection with us through [Telepathy]. We were just far enough from each other to fight our own battles.
Because of a title this Hestia person gave to them, Tamae and her party could level their skills faster and gain more experience. It sounded a bit broken to me, especially when they outleveled us by quite a bit.
Speaking of fighting and leveling, our own party was having some trouble with it.
“Hey, don’t attack it when I’m ready to cast my spell, you dumbass! Do you want me to cause a forest fire?!” Daichi shouted at me as I pierced a [Rock-Skin Horned Grizzly] tough fur. As blood sprayed out of the wound as I retracted my spear, I shouted back at the annoying fire slinger.
“Yeah?! Then how about you cast your spells faster! I told you, Kyouya and I will keep the bear from coming closer while you just shoot it down with fire spells! However, we can’t fucking hold it back for that long without hitting it!” I shouted back.
“Fuck you. I’m trying to aim here, or do you wish to turn into BBQ, huh?!”
“Shut up! Sacred Smite!” A shot of white light slammed against the bear’s face, dazing it long enough for Daichi to scorch its fur away with an [Inferno Blast]. With its defensive coat mostly gone, Kyouya slashed its throat with his sword while I activated [Dragoon Jump] and [Heartpiercer], drilling the bear’s heart out from its body.
This grizzly was a C rank monster while our party was technically D rank. The hunter’s guild wouldn’t recommend us to fight against this thing, but we weren’t ordinary adventurers. Since we were [Otherworldly Visitor]s, we had access to the SP system, which really accelerated our growth. Plus, we were trained by the A rank adventurer, the “White-Winged Dragoon,” Yorshka.
Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Human, Tatsuya Nagata] has risen from [Level 49] to [Level 50]
Attributes have increased due to level up
Acquired 600 skill points
Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Human, Tatsuya Nagata]’s Job [Berserker Spearman] has risen from [Level 17] to [Level 20]
Attributes have increased due to level up
Max level of Job [Berserker Spearman] has been reached
We couldn’t work well together but at least we weren’t incompetent.
Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Human, Tatsuya Nagata] has risen from [Level 50] to [Level 51]
Attributes have increased due to level up
Acquired 600 skill points
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
We spent a week in the forest, moving further and further away from civilization. Although we did find lakes on our way, we had to rely on Nishio’s water magic to keep up with our hygiene since spring and Amazon-like forests weren't the best combination. With how often we had to fight, body odor and toiletries were quickly becoming a problem.
“Eh?! Are you kidding me, this Hestia girl is that good of a mage?!” Daichi said with a surprised face. “Ah, then again, she’s been reborn as a dragon, right? Damn, what a cheat. Gets reincarnated as a dragon and has all these EXP boosters from her divine blessings. Shouldn’t we be the damn main protagonists?”
Yorshka and Elrick were out discussing something while we ten stayed at camp, cozying around the campfire to ward off the cold night. While having dinner, my party asked about Sensei and her companions, since we were too surprised to ask about it when they returned.
“You know this isn’t another light novel story, right, Daichi-san? With what she told us, Hestia-san and Sensei experienced near-death fights quite a few times before they returned from the Belzac forest. Reality isn’t nearly as kind as most feel-good novels,” Nishio replied, adjusting his eyeglasses, reflecting the fire’s light with it.
As we contemplated this fact compared to our own situation, Haruka suddenly mentioned something, “Come to think about it, Dame Yorshka wanted to investigate something in the Belzac forest, right? This place is Hestia-san’s birthplace. Maybe… are we going to go where she was born?”
It was a plausible guess, since Yorshka seemed pretty happy whenever we mentioned anything Hestia-related. However, Kohaku from Tamae’s party shook her head. “Nah, Hesti-chan was born somewhere in the mountains. Uhm, I think it should be in the northwest of the Belzac forest, if I can still remember the map. We aren’t getting closer to the northern swamp, so we must be going southwest.”
“Hmm, then where is Dame Yorshka bringing us then? If she isn’t going to where Hesti-chan’s egg was lost, then where are we going nyow?” Kazumi’s cat ears twitched as she mimicked a cat’s meow. She really was acting more and more like a catgirl… Not that I minded it too much.
Still, that question stayed with me as my mind melted into the night.
Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Human, Tatsuya Nagata] has risen from [Level 51] to [Level 52]
Attributes have increased due to level up
Acquired 600 skill points
After four more days, we came upon an area with less densely packed trees and shrubs. Looking around, we found a mid-sized nest with a couple of bones inside it but no hints of any monsters recently inhabiting it. The bones were too old.
As I wondered about this, I was reminded of the number of monsters we've been meeting since we entered this forest. Considering that Sensei and her companions were moving through this place for the first few months of their lives, they probably contaminated the whole area with a lot of their mana. Monster-infested areas like the Belzac forest usually regulated the mana inside with their plants, but a higher rate of monster spawning could happen if a single monster went wild.
Which really made it weird to me how not a single monster was in the vicinity. I could detect any with my [Enhanced Enemy Sense]. What was this place? I asked myself. Regardless, since it was so quiet, we took a break here and made sure Tamae’s party was still around.
“This should be enough of a break. Captain Yorshka is still moving, so we should keep up,” Elrick decided, prompting us all to continue moving after we finished our snacks.
This rather peaceful area was pretty calming, unlike how stressful some of our fights up until now could have been. Getting ambushed by a bunch of giant chameleons and insects really gave me a heartache. Still, considering how even Haruka couldn’t detect any monsters, it somehow made the situation even eerier.
Daichi clicked his tongues, acting a bit too paranoid. “Dammit, why is it so fucking quiet around here? I would rather shoot som—”
[“Humans. No come here. Bad. Go away.”] We instantly assumed battle stance and formation. Elrick was hanging around in the back, intending to avoid fighting and let us get all the experience, but even he unsheathed his sword. This was not Yorshka's voice.
[“Bad. Bad. Humans. No go. Bad. Hide!”] It sounded like a young kid who still had trouble speaking. The voice sounded scared to me, but, considering that we had no idea where it came from, we were more unsettled by it.
“Haruka?” I spoke, omitting the honorifics for now.
She nodded and pointed in a direction. “Three signals coming from around there, but I can’t pinpoint them accurately. They are moving and they have decent enough stealth skills to overcome my [Detection Sensor]!”
“We gotta move in!” Daichi made the split-second decision to move forward, towards the target. Due to the lack of information, we didn’t know if we could trust this voice or not. Were they sending us into a trap by telling us to go away, or were they really warning us from something? If this voice actually was scared and not hostile, we needed to confirm it.
… However, to me, his idea just sounded irrational.
“Are you crazy?! Why should we charge towards the enemy when we don’t have a clue who they are! We need to take it slow and assess the situation, dumbass!” Our party was not harmonious enough to decide on these moment-to-moment decisions efficiently. I did not trust Daichi’s orders.
“Can't you hear it, Tatsuya?! That isn’t the voice of a confident hunter! Even then, think about it, if we hide or retreat for now, what if the enemy is trying to encircle us at this very instance! If this is the worst-case scenario, then we need to move beforehand and pierce through! I’ll prepare the signal flare spell just in case we need Dame Yorshka’s help!”
“Shut up! You are leading us into a trap! Do you want to get us killed just because you haven’t gotten any action for the last hour or whatever?! We are retreating, Daichi!”
This was our party. Without somebody to act as the leader, Daichi and I were the loudest voices in our party. Our tendency to shotcall while playing video games in Japan was affecting us, in addition to the fact that we hated each other’s guts.
“Shut up!” The only way for this discussion to end was for somebody to step in. And the one to do so was The Misfit’s official leader. “We have no idea what’s about to happen but can’t the two of you stop arguing for once?! Are you two mentally retarded or just so in love with each other that you can’t stop hearing each other’s voices, huh?! Dumbasses, we are retreating, now!”
I was relieved to hear Asaka understood reason, but unfortunately, Daichi didn’t.“What?! Are you fucking with me, Asaka! You handed over your right to lead the party when we made that deal! I thought you fucking hated having responsibilities but when the moment comes, you’re gonna side with Tatsuya like that? Get the hell out of here!”
“Shut it, you slimy snail! I am intruding into this because you two are too incompetent to fucking decide on anyth—”
As this discussion saw no end to it, the sudden appearance of a white bolt crashing onto the ground, agitated everybody to focus on the issue at hand. Without anybody ordering us, we quickly resumed our combat position.
“That’s [Smite]!” Asaka shouted to inform us the moment three shadows descended from the trees, revealing three large green jaguars with white stripes on them. The one in the middle had a large crescent moon-like marking on it. As they roared out to intimidate us, the childish voice appeared once again.
[“Danger! Bad! Bad! Humans, go away! Hide!”]
Wait, did the [Telepathy] come from them?! Were they who shot that holy spell at us?
“Wait, are you—” As I was about to ask it, my [Prediction] roared for me to dodge. “Windwheel!” I spun my spear around like a windwheel, shooting out a gust of wind to blow everybody behind me backward, while I ducked the incoming attack. An arrow shot right above me, cutting off some of my hair before sticking onto the tree to my side.
“Signals! A lot of them are coming!” Haruka, preoccupied with these jaguars, wasn't able to detect the third party in time. As she pointed in their direction, a pack of kobolds, no, echikobolds appeared on the back of wargs. As they stood in front of us with their bows aimed at us, a group of hobgoblin spearmen and armored orcs appeared from behind.
Shit!
[“Warning! Danger! Humans! Run, now!”] As the voice warned us, a magic circle appeared in front of the jaguar’s head and shot out a blinding light at the grimgarians. While they groaned in pain from being blinded, the echikobolds still shot their arrows at us, however, Kyouya stood in front of us and activated his [Defensive Rune: Pavise] to protect us from them.
“Lord Daichi!” Elrick shouted as we began to run away.
“I got it!” A spell appeared on his staff before he aimed it upwards, shooting out a flare-like spell up the air where it exploded. This was our signal to call over help from the others.
While running towards the last location we heard Yorshka’s voice, we noticed the green jaguars following us. [“Danger! Human, no listen? Why?”] The childlike voice was like a kick into my gut as I reflected on the embarrassing argument I had with Daichi. I might hate him, but I forgot how Yorshka always emphasized for us to focus on the bigger picture in enemy territory. Dammit!
“Everybody! We are outnumbered here! Allow me to protect you!” Elrick announced as he began buffing himself, preparing for the fight to come. After all, it was impossible to avoid it now.
“Shariyk! Ggugniak!” the echikobolds shouted. They had caught up to us on their warg mounts.
“Begone damnable monsters! You face a knight of the Goddess! I pray to the light, may my faith in the Goddess protect me from the darkness! Smite! Shield Charge!” Shooting out a light spell and charging into the fight, Elrick intercepted two echikobold riders, knocking both of them off their mounts. “Run! Get Captain Yorshka!”
With how many enemies the grimgarians probably had, it would be foolish to face them head-on, but having Elrick defend our retreat path was just stupid! It was suicidal. As Daichi was about to run away, I wanted to tell him to charge in with me, to protect Elrick. Even if he was the church’s pawn, he still was our ally.
But while I was hesitating and looking at Kyouya and Haruka, Asaka ran forward and shot a [Sacred Smite] at the warg who was about to attack Elrick’s flank. “Idiot! As your saint candidate, I order you to follow us now!”
“Lady Asaka, your life is more valuable! I can endure some hits. You must rendezvous with Captain Yorshka!” Elrick rebuked after cutting the warg in front of him down.
“She will get here in time! She’s fast! However, you aren’t unstoppable! Daichi, you bastard, get over here and set the forest on fire! We need to es—” As Asaka suddenly felt the urge to act as the leader, my [Prediction] suddenly activated once again, telling me another arrow was coming. But this time, it wasn’t for me, it was for Asaka.
Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Prediction Lv. 9] evolved into [Prediction Lv. 10]
Skill requirement fulfilled. [Prediction Lv. 10] evolved into [Foresight Lv. 1]
As she was about to end her sentence, I dashed over and leaped towards her. Pushing her body with my momentum, I managed to shove her to the side, but a sudden feeling of something stinging my back appeared before it sliced across it and I could feel my blood spray out.
[Poisoned (Moderate)] inflicted on [Human, Tatsuya Nagata]
I-It pierced through my brigandine and chainmail?!
“Argh!” As I groaned, Asaka and I crashed against a tree. When I assumed we would land on the hard ground, my expectations were broken when the ground suddenly caved in, causing the two of us to fall down a deep hole. Air was knocked out from our lungs as we crashed against the tough earth.
After a long trip down, we finally crashed onto the end of the hole. As my body was adapting to the pain, the soft feeling my face was feeling suddenly caused a stream of memories of the ton of otaku media I’ve experienced in my life. My eyes shot right open and I pushed my hands on the ground to pull my head away, having some trouble seeing anything in the dusk. When my eyes adapted to the darkness, I sighed in relief that I’d only landed on her stomach.
Whew, thankfully it wasn’t a cliche moment where I landed on her brea- ARGH!
“ARGH!” A terrible pain spread from my back throughout my body, making me feel sickly and weak.
“Urgh,” Asaka groaned as she clutched her head, opening her eyes as I squirmed in front of her. “What is th— Huh, Tatsuya! I ask for the Goddess’s light, for it to shine on the world before me! Light!” A bright iridescent light illuminated the darkness, revealing we were inside a cave. However, due to the pain surging through my body, I couldn’t take a good look.
“W-What’s wrong with you?!” Asaka asked me, worry clearly to see on her sweaty and dirty face. As she was about to check her party bracelet for my problem, I expedited it by telling her myself.
“P-Poison! That arrow was poisoned! Moderate!” I told her, suppressing my urge to punch something right now.
“Moderate? Oh, shit, you had me worried.” The worry quickly dissipated from her face, looking as if it wasn’t a problem at all. Oi, I was hurting here, woman! “By the light, I call upon the Goddess’s mercy. Heal the sickness of the world, Cure! Ack! I call upon the Goddess’s mercy, Minor Heal.”
After getting rid of the poison in my body, Asaka groaned a bit and touched the back of her side. Seeing blood there, she quickly patched herself up with a healing spell. After I checked myself, I told her I was fine and the both of us stood up.
“Damn, we fell down pretty deeply. I can’t even see the light up there, but I can still hear some action. It looks like the others are still fighting. Fuck! Asaka, we should— huh?” I was about to suggest we try to find a way back up, but I saw Asaka scratching the back of her head with a bright red face.
Huh, is she still hur— No wait! Did she see me land on her stomach, or, even worse! Did I accidentally touch her boobs while we were falling like in a harem or fan-service manga! Dammit, any girl, just not Asaka!
“Uhm.” I stood up straight, my body froze as I was anticipating a lecture from this blue-haired girl. “T-Thank you, Tatsuya. I saw that arrow at the last moment there. Uhm, well, for saving my life I mean. Yeah.”
Huh? She’s bashful? Since when can this punk look cute?
As I continued staring at her with disbelief, her timidness broke and she scowled at me, flicking my forehead. “Dammit, stop looking at me like that, you ass! Yes, I can say thank you, wow, amazing! I said it a ton of times already. I can be thankful, despite how I usually act! I’m not a complete dickhead. Now, how about we find a way up before our party has to dig us up?”
She was in no rush. She walked slowly forward as she kept her hand up, to continue lighting the way with [Light]. As I rushed over to her, I frantically asked her, “Hey, hey, shouldn’t we hurry up? The others are missing two of their members and need to fight that whole party of those things!”
“Oh, shush, Tatsuya. Not like we can do anything down here. Or, do you want us to climb up that hole? It was quite steep and I don’t know how to climb, so are you gonna push my butt up with your hands?” I shook my head. “Yeah, exactly. Not to mention, as long as Yorshka is true to her promise of protecting us, then the others should be safe. Not like most monsters can face an A rank adventurer like her. Hmph. The first good thing that bitch did for me.” The last part was a murmur but, with my ears, it was no problem to hear. That “bitch” she referred to was most likely Sensei, since the two of them had a terrible relationship.
Moving forward, an awkward silence was created between us. As I was conscious of that fact, I slowly turned my head around, only to see Asaka barely annoyed by it. It almost seemed like she was used to it.
“Bones,” she mentioned as she pointed at a pile of large bones. It had a canine skull, so I guessed those were wargs or garms.
As we continued, the tunnel felt as if it was getting darker and darker. Even after Asaka cast another [Light], the darkness wouldn’t disappear. We were suspicious but we had no way to go but forward, so we had to move forward with caution.
“Can you feel it?” Asaka asked me, uneasiness in her voice.
I nodded. “Yeah. A presence, but I can’t detect the signal. It’s almost as if they want us to notice them. Stay closer to me, Asaka.”
“Got it. I’ll prepare some spells.”
Upon reaching the end of the tunnel, we entered a medium-sized cavern. The room was so dark, it was impossible to illuminate with any light source, leading us to assume that it had been created with dark magic. As we looked around for an exit, the darkness suddenly retreated back towards the middle of the room.
There were skeletons of humans and beastmen sitting on the ground, as though they’d died in that pose. A few of the skeletons in the middle looked like they were praying, and from what I could see, each and every one of them had an amulet of Marsven around their neck. Once the darkness was completely gone, we saw it forming the shadow underneath a giant statue of a wolf with three eyes. Before it lay the skeletal remains of a large wolf, far larger than England's double-decker busses.
And then, we heard a voice.
[“You enter my shrine, children of men, linked in fate with my true descendant.”] Our bodies shivered at the voice of this creature, unwilling to listen to our orders. It felt as if an invisible pressure was surrounding our bodies.
W-What is this?!
[“I will make my introduction, children. Listen. I am the former ruler of this forest. I am the Harbinger of Grim, named by the elven children, Belzac.”]
At that moment, I remembered. Sensei was also reincarnated in the Belzac forest.
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“My name is An’ghum Wallbreaker! I am the nephew of my honorable uncle, Vul’grim Beastslaughterer! I have come to this land to seek vengeance in the name of our God Mother, Kronnaz, on the one who slew my kin! Bring him out! Bring that filth out and let me break their bones!”
A towering beast clad full in armor, wielding a giant hammer. Behind him stood a small platoon of orcs, hobgoblins, and echikobolds. Using [Identify], I could see that this monster was a B rank High Ogre. A monster at the same rank as the rachonoid queen my party fought in Cedaraille.
“Tama-chan! We need to move!” Kohaku spoke to me, rustling my arm. “Yorshka gave us the order to retreat and take out the other grimgarians. We need to get far away before the battle begins!”
“Y-Yeah, got it, but what about Yorshka?” I asked. As the leader of the Magical Biscuits, I had to know before I could coordinate everybody.
“What do you think? Of course, boss killing!”
As I called over to the remaining members of the Misfits, I noticed four green big cats helping us out. Three of them looked like jaguars while the one who’d accompanied us here resembled a large tiger. I suppose I should feel threatened by them, but somehow, there was a bond I could feel between us. As if we could trust each other.
As I was giving people orders, my attention was quickly pulled over by the clashing auras of the two battle titans.
“I know, you want to know who it was, An’ghum?” A white-haired human woman in white scaled armor stood before the ogre calmly, who towered over her three times her height.
He pointed his warhammer at her, and his voice shook the air around him. “Then speak, wench. My vengeance does not include you. Speak and I shall show mercy to you and your companions, otherwise—”
“Otherwise, what? You will kill us? Hahahahaha!” she roared out in laughter, showing no signs of fear of the monster’s threats. “Well, sadly, you will have to kill me if you want the answer. After all…” She twirled her spear around, assuming a combat pose. “I know what you grimgarians are planning. You cannot be satisfied with simply living in the lands neither humans nor levianewts wish to inhabit. The cliffs are too high for levianewts and the area is too perilous for humans. It is perfect for a warrior race like you grimgarians.”
The ogre readied his hammer, understanding where all of this was leading. A terrifying aura began exuding from the woman, causing the ogre to take a step backward.
“My name is Yorshka Nordor, and my home is the human kingdom Artorias. I am not the perfect knight nor am I a good housewife for my dear family. However,”—her body tensed—“I have heard you grimgarians are trying to invade my home kingdom. You are threatening my poor stressed-out husband, my little girl, and my young aunt. I work to support my family, and while I am still alive, you will not threaten any of them! Your appointment with Ilsaphone is due, ogre!”