In front of us is the village chief.

We told him we were here to kill the blue ogre.

And this was his reaction…

“Young ladies, your jokes aren’t funny…”

He doesn’t believe we are capable enough to fight an ogre.

Why does everyone judge based on appearance?

I mean, I don’t know about Ignis, but I’m sure I could at least cripple him with my poison.

“How dare you treat me like a little girl! I’m THE Ignis, you know!”

And you seem extremely haughty.

You are the type of character who gets defeated first and then complains about foul play.

“The Ignis…? You can’t mean the one who conquered the Iza dungeon on her own…?”

Huh…?

Are you actually famous or something?

“That’s me!”

Hmm…

You know, you can try looking proud all you want.

But after seeing your teary red face, I just can’t take you seriously.

“I’m pretty sure that the rumored Ignis is older… and, she’s umm…”

Hey, staring at a girl’s chest is rude.

No matter how flat she is.

“Those are just stupid rumors! People just can’t believe I’m so young and yet so talented!”

“Kh…”

“W-why are you snickering!”

Sorry, I just can’t shake the image of you barely standing on your quivering legs and saying ‘I’m so young and yet so talented!’.

“… well, no matter. You have an official document from the guild, so you must be somewhat capable.”

Oh, finally.

He still doesn’t seem to have acknowledged us, but at least he gave us the green light.

“So, the problem we have is the blue ogre who settled inside a cave south of here.”

We know that much, we read the quest.

“Although he hasn’t attacked our village directly yet, our livestock is steadily decreasing.”

Well, it’s just a matter of time, right?

“And worst of all, the road to Heiliya is now unusable.”

Heiliya…

From what I heard, Heiliya is a port city located south of here.

Usually, this village is a key mid-point when it comes to exporting goods from there.

But with the ogre there, all merchants take a detour.

Obviously, that’s quite bad not just for the port city but also for the village.

“Yeah, yeah. Do you have any other information on the ogre?”

Hey, don’t brush this aside!

It’s a problem affecting the whole village!

“… from what I know, the ogre is alone. We haven’t spotted any minions or any other ogres.”

Well, that’s good.

But if you say it like this, I feel like we are definitely gonna run into a horde of ogres now.

It’s called a flag.

“So, it’s just one ogre? That’s easy then!”

Hey, one flag was enough!

Don’t make it worse!

“That’s right, if you really are the Ignis from the stories, it shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

Stop with these flags!

We rested for a bit before finally setting out.

During our rest time, I checked my status and remembered something.

Panther soul

In addition to cat soul effects, it allows the use of shadow magic and enhances stealth at night.

It’s the variant skill I got after getting hospitalized!

It was so long, I totally forgot about it!

That’s right!

Magic!

It says I will be able to use magic!

…

Now, I just need to find a way to activate it.

“Let’s go, partner!”

Again with that partner.

Well, whatever.

Let’s go.

We set off toward our extermination target.

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This time, we are walking.

The reason for that is simple.

We won’t be using the main road.

Naturally, the ogre’s cave isn’t right next to the road.

Because of that, we have to travel through less comfortable terrain.

Well, I mean, I could probably manage to run like before…

But I bet I would end up crashing into a tree that way.

So, walking it is.

But, the scenery sure changed quite a bit from when we traveled to the village.

I think I could still call it a forest, but the trees are slowly thinning out.

Instead, they are replaced by bushes and other smaller plants.

The road also got quite a bit bumpier.

There are many steep hills all around us.

But the biggest difference are the things that live here.

“Gyaarh!”

“Ughaar!”

“Haargyi!”

Green, ugly, small and holding some sticks.

Those are goblins, right?

Now that I think about it, I’ve only ever fought wolves… or people… or wolf people.

I mean, wolves were the only thing I could hunt near Buanna.

And I would like to be glad that I finally found something new, but…

It’s goblins, dammit!

They smell worse than a homeless man who has been eating nothing but garlic for the past month!

I really want to take off this freaking headband right now!

“Hah! I’ll sweep them up in one spell!”

Oh?

Are you gonna fight?

Yes, please take care of it.

I don’t want to get close to them.

Maybe you can redeem yourself in my eyes if you get rid of them.

“Scarlet conflagration!”

Wow…

You are actually shouting your attack names?

Frankly, if that was me, I would find that too embarrassing…

Ignis lifts up her staff and it emits an orange glow.

A moment after that, Ignis swings it horizontally and a big wave of fire flies forward.

And just as she said, the goblins were swept up in an instant.

Like grass being cut by a scythe.

Some of them tried to block with their sticks, but that obviously didn’t do anything.

All that remained of them were charred corpses.

Well, that’s gruesome.

And smelly.

And also, you lit that bush on fire.

Do you want to start a forest fire?

Are you secretly a pyromaniac?

“Hahah! Foolish little things! You thought you could stand against me?!”

Don’t ignore the issue at hand.

That fire is already spreading.

And…

Why are you so proud for defeating a bunch of goblins?

“Fire fetch.”

She extended her palm toward the burning bush and whispered another incantation.

The fire jumped from the bush and snaked through the air before landing in Ignis’ palm.

Once all the fire gathered on it, she closed it and the fire was extinguished.

Whoa.

That’s cool.

So you aren’t just a reckless pyromaniac.

You even have a way to prevent wild fires!

“Heh, saw that? I told you I’m strong!”

If only your personality was a bit better.

A little humility never hurt anyone, you know?

We continued on, meeting a few other goblin groups.

Ignis always took care of them in one clean sweep.

Hey, maybe she really did solo a dungeon as the village chief said.

It's still hard to believe, but I suppose I can accept it.

I guess that being a genius simply got into her head.

…

Hmm…?

I smell some people over there.

Or, no…

One person?

There’s also some wolf-like scents mixed in…

Huh…

This scent…

Is familiar…

…

Cana?

“Hmm? What’s wrong?”

“… nothing.”

Well, I can’t be certain it’s her.

In fact, it could just be that some wolves and people are around and their scents got mixed.

I mean, what are the chances of Cana being here?

Well, much lower than some people and wolves being nearby, that’s for sure.

…

But I’ve already decided I won’t be a dense protagonist!

Even if the chance is small, I will have to prepare for her!

She might have been nice to me, but if that Matoto guy orders her to attack me, she would probably do it.

I can’t let myself be one hit KO’d again.

And especially not when there’s someone else with me now.

We continued walking.

Just in case, I turned on cat soul.

I won’t let us be surprise attacked.

You don’t need to look so worried, Ignis.

I’ve got this under control.

The scent is gone.

Thank you rain.

You are the best.

“Ugh! Wasn’t it sunny just a moment ago?!”

Yep, it’s suspicious.

Not even ten minutes ago, these clouds gathered and the downpour started.

No matter how good my sense of smell is, I can’t sniff out scents that got washed away.

Well, we found ourselves a nice little hole in a hill.

It’s shaped in such a way that water doesn’t flow inside, so that’s nice.

Ignis also lit up a campfire inside.

We have to be careful with it so we don’t choke on the smoke, though.

“This stupid rain isn’t stopping anytime soon… let’s just camp here.”

You’re right that it’s not stopping.

And we can’t really do much when it’s raining.

…

What?

No, it’s not because I’m a cat and cats hate water!

It’s because Ignis is primarily a fire mage!

She would be useless if we had to fight!

And so, we decided to sleep.

Well…

There’s something I didn’t realize before.

But sleeping out in the wild is really dangerous in this world.

Monsters or simple wild animals can find you and eat you while you are the most vulnerable.

So, one would always need someone else to stay awake and keep lookout.

Something I wouldn’t be able to do if I was alone.

I guess having teammates can be a good thing?

“Well, good night, partner! I hope you’ll dream about how awesome I am!”

…

Even if those teammates are hella annoying.