Act 3-25.1: Myulmidon

    Shirone and her companions departed from Velos Kingdom using a carriage arranged by King Eclas. To speed up their journey, they decided to have their Hippogriff pull the carriage. It would have been faster if they could use the Hippogriff’s power to fly and use the speedier air routes, but, owing to their growing number, they were forced to use land routes to head to their destination.

    The carriage arranged by Eclas was a luxurious one. Nevermind the jewels that adorned every corner of it, what was special was the fact that the carriage had windows on all sides that could allow passengers to see everything outside, the seats were also extremely soft and comfortable.

    Shirone, Kyouka, Kaya, and Regena were sitting on these special seats. Their group was now composed of seven people, including the four women, Omiros, Echigos, and Daigan had joined the trip too. Parsish, on the other hand, had decided to return first as he had urgent business to attend to in Algore.

    Kyouka’s mood had turned better once she heard that the warrior wouldn’t be joining them.

    （Are you really that happy without Parsish?）

    Shirone then recalled Parsish’s actions before parting ways. She felt that he had been turning more and more repulsive after the end of the party. The way he looked at women, especially Regena, felt like he couldn’t wait to pounce on them. His breath was also always disordered as if he was a dog in heat. Though, at first, she had felt bad for him, now she had the same opinion as Kyouka towards him—utter disgust.

    According to Parsish, The Silver Witch, who had come with Kuroki, had used some sort of magic on him. Shirone didn’t know the reason why the Silver Witch would do that to Parsish, nor did she want to know.

    Well, anyways, instead of having Parsish come along, now it was Echigos and Daigan who had joined them; not that they were any better.

    The reason why they had to take these two along was because of their special circumstances.

    Echigos had been ambushed by the ogres just like Shirone and Kaya. Like them, he had been lured into Kujig’s trap deep in the blue forest surrounding Velos. Kujig had controlled his body and had done unspeakable things to him. After all was over, he had come to them on his own and prostrated in front of them, begging them to take him away from Velos.

    Well, at least now they knew that Kujig was the ruler of the blue forest and that she lived in a confectionary castle deep within. It was valuable information since they now always had to be on guard just in case they were ambushed by ogres again

    As for Daigan the werewolf, since it was difficult to put a dangerous werewolf in jail without tying him up, Shirone and co had no choice but to take him with them since Velos kingdom wouldn’t be able to handle him. Currently, numerous locks and chains were coiling around Daigan’s body, sealing him. Shirone and her companions had put him along with their luggage in the rear carriage.

    While Echigos, on the other hand, was now acting as their coach driver.

    Shirone, Kaya, and Kyouka had also decided to tie up Regena. Given the choice, they wouldn’t have chosen to tie her up in the first place, but since she was an important source of information, and given how she had been trying to flee, they had no other option but to detain her.

    Fortunately though, Regena wasn’t tight lipped, she had happily recited Kuroki’s life in Nargol. It was her loose lips that had made them decide to keep her detained for a while longer.

    As it turns out, Kaya was right, the one who had saved Regena was Kuroki. Who knows what would have happened to her if Kuroki hadn’t saved her back then.

    Shirone glanced at Regena. Regena respected Kuroki more than she had expected. She suspected that it was probably a savior complex she harbored as the stories she recounted about Kuroki were quite exaggerated. The Kuroki in Regena’s story was a much kinder and stronger man than anyone in this world.

    When she recounted her stories with Kuroki, Regena looked completely like a girl madly in love. That was especially so in the part where Kuroki had touched Regena’s hand as he asked her:「Is the job too hard for you?」

    Regena’s expression when she recited that part had almost made Shirone and the others, who were looking from the side, vomit sugar.

    （Just how much embellishment did she use when she told us these stories? The real Kuroki isn’t that amazing, and he is a pervert on top of that… Poor Omiros….）

    Shirone looked at Omiros, who was riding his horse beside the carriage. Regena had ended up being hostile towards him since he had come with Shirone and the other ladies.

    Shirone secretly gave her condolences to Omiros for being hated by the one he liked. What was even worse was that she was boasting about the man she fell in love with right in front of him.

    Shirone knew that Omiros wanted to bring Regena back to Algore and Kuroki was definitely a hindrance to his plan. But, when he had tried to refute Regena’s claims, Regena would always respond with 「My Dear Master is far more amazing than you Omiros!」.

    That alone was enough to shut him up. To Shirone, Omiros was a really pitiful man. He always kept on worrying about Regena, so Shirone had thought that Regena would be a bit kinder to him, but it seems like she has no intention to do so.

    Moreover, for some reason, Shirone felt that Omiros’ figure overlapped with Kuroki’s figure in the past.

    The dejected Omiros kept following after the carriage.

    （Can I make these two reconciliate with each other?）

    Shirone started thinking of ways to help them. The best method was to make Regena’s image of Kuroki crumble.

    （Okay then, let’s tell Regena about the real Kuroki. Once she feels disgusted by him she’ll run back to Omiros.）

    Just as that thought passed her mind, she suddenly felt an incoming presence.

    「Please stop the carriage.」

    Both Kaya and Shirone, who felt something was amiss, told Echigos to stop the carriage.

    「Is something the matter?」

    Echigos turned around and asked the girls why they ordered him to stop the carriage.

    「Is something the matter, Kaya?」

    Kyouka asked the same question as Echigos too. Since Kyouka didn’t have presence detection like Kaya and Shirone, she also had no idea what caused both of them to stop the carriage.

    「Something is coming from ahead of us, Milady.」

    Kaya replied while looking at the distance ahead of the carriage. There was a horse coming from ahead of them. Seeing that, Omiros stood in front of the carriage, ready to defend it.

    「OMIROOOOOOOOS!!!」

    It was then that the rider of the horse in front of the carriage called Omiros’ name.

    「MAXIS! RIETTE!」

    Omiros shouted back at the two newcomers.

    Yes, there were two people riding the horse that was running towards the carriage. A man around the same age as Shirone and co, and a little girl behind him.

    「Don’t worry Kaya-dono. The ones coming over are my relatives.」

    After saying that, Omiros steered his horse to run towards the newcomers.

    「PLEASE WAIT! THEY’RE NOT THE ONLY ONES COMING OUR WAY!!」

    After saying so, Kaya jumped out of the carriage and ran towards Maxis and Riette, her running speed surpassing Omiros’ horse.

    「Eh?」

    She had already closed in towards the horse that was running towards Omiros in mere seconds. The little girl, Riette exclaimed in surprise upon seeing Kaya’s unbelieveable running speed.

    A huge shadow suddenly leapt out from the thicket beside the horse. That shadow looked like an Antman. Moreover, there wasn’t just one of them, a few others had leapt from the thickets almost at the same time.

    「UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!」

    「KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!」

    The two people riding the horse couldn’t help but scream upon seeing the Antmen’s sudden appearance. The Antmen began to attack the two.

    Fortunately, Kaya was faster.

    Blue lightning ran along the surface of Kaya’s gloves. These were the Blue Thunder Stone gloves, also known as the Tourmaline Gloves. Thunder spirits resided within the tourmaline stone placed at the head of the glove, it would discharge lightning upon touching any object.

    It was Kaya’s latest enchanted weapon, it was versatile and more powerful than the weapons she had used until now.

    Kaya jumped over the heads of the two approaching Antmen, punched their heads as she passed over them, turned her body in mid-air, and then kicked the two Antmen who came from the other side.

    In just a few seconds she had managed to incapacitate all the Antmen.

    「Woow…」

    The man and the little girl riding the horse muttered their astonishment with a dumbfounded look on their face.

    「RIETTE! MAXIS!!!」

    Omiros was finally able to approach them.

    「What are you doing here?」

    Omiros couldn’t help but ask the two.

    「Well, it wasn’t my idea… Riette was always worrying since you hadn’t returned yet…」

    Maxis answered with a wry smile on his face, sending a sidelong glance toward the little girl riding behind him.

    （It seems they came to see Omiros’ situation since he was late. Well, we’re the reason for his late return after all. If he was traveling alone, he would’ve already arrived in Algore.）

    Shirone was looking at Riette and Maxis as she pondered.

    「Thanks, Riette. Sorry for making you worry… 」

    Omiros spoke as he patted Riette’s head.

    That action made Riette pout a bit. Thus, she turned her face to the side while puffing her cheeks.

    「… It’s not like I was worried about you. And stop treating me like a child.」