OKIH 14

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Chapter 14

“……For you to move out, you must be planning something threatening?”

“Shall I show you an actual threat for once, Kawazu-san…..”

Kawazu-san, who ended up coming with me, directed a really suspicious look my way.

This Frog, I wonder what kind of person does he think I am?

I may need to have a long talk with him about it.

Then again, I never expected that we would end up searching for a missing person.

“Don’t say anything derogatory. Even I would have moments where I want to save someone.”

“Is it really just that?”

“A-, then, this village is the nearest to the forest so it won’t hurt to gain their favor, right? Also, they might give us a discount at the inn.”

“What a stingy guy”

“Don’t say ‘stingy'”

It wasn’t the right time to banter, it would be bad if I don’t use magic now.

While thinking of that, I observed the deep forest. In the midst of the lush trees, there are still huge unexplored areas.

{Side of} the lost girl

Alheim is a savage land.

It is the abode of fabled creatures, secluded and is unexplored.

It’s not a place where one should enter without a certain level of resolve.

At the end, it would be easy for terrifying beasts to snuff the life out of the unprepared.

“Haa……haa…….daddy, mommy…….”

The girl singlemindedly ran without a sense of direction.

She readily went into the woods when she heard that there was a herb that could easily cure injuries.

She was confident.

She had always been living near the forest anyway, she should have had some wisdom and experience.

Actually, she had always stolen glances at the forest where adults always enter.

“…….I even thought it would go well! What in the world is that guy!”

The one chasing behind her was a demonic black dog with three heads.

She’s never seen such a thing before.

She had completely lost her sense of direction due to her panic in trying to run away.

Had the beast been serious, she probably would’ve been eaten already.

The fact that she was still alive is only because the animal wants to chase weak prey, playing with its food.

“…….I only thought that father’s wounds could finally be cured”

The hope and joy that she was feeling a while ago turned into bitterness.

Finally losing her strength, she crawled under the shade of the nearest raised roots of a tree.

“Grrrrrr…..”

“!……..!”

She heard the the nearing footsteps of the large beast along the forest floor, her skin at the sound.

The growls were gradually coming closer, creepy and dripping with glee. The blood flowing in her little heart turned cold.

Each creeping step increased her certainty of what was to come, it was the voice of the Grim Reaper.

“Don’t come, go away……..!”

She desperately repeated that like a mantra.

She was at the point where she no longer has any strength to scurry away.

Desperately suppressing her ragged breathing, she hugged her pained knees. There was a sudden sound.

Swish!

There was a sudden and unpleasant creaking, the nearby trees were rustling.

The tree she was under fell down slowly then it made huge tremors the moment it hit the ground.

And finally, the reason for the cause of the commotion slowly entered her field of vision.

This close, it really was too large.

A foul smell from the main head reached her small figure. The beast stalked.

She gasped for air and with every sound, she further curled in on herself; doing her best to suppress a scream.

However, such actions were useless.

She carefully turned her gaze back and the beast was there, unquestionably laughing at her.

“……!!”

She couldn’t make a sound.

Death.

She thought.

The beast was aiming for her, crouching down and preparing to pounce.

And then

“Kyaah!”

“Nng-wah!!”

Suddenly, an unexpected voice was heard. She raised her head.

Without so much as removing her frozen gaze, she heard a somewhat carefree voice. The girl was jolted.

It was a familiar voice.

“A-, found you. Dangerous! Is this what they call a Cerberus?”

{Side of} Tarou.

“..[Plant Manipulation] is too convenient” (Tarou)

“Even looking for things becomes simple, huh” (Kawazu)

Since we were inside a forest, I tried asking the plants for a favour and it unexpected went well.

[Plant Manipulation] is a magic that could move a forest.

I asked the trees to see if a child entered the forest, and a telepathy-like information was sent back detailing where she went.

With branches making arrow shapes.

Even without search magic, there are ways to use what you have!

It’s the age of being eco-friendly.

We leisurely strolled to our goal, Kawazu-san was shrugging his shoulders in exasperation.

“She reached quite a far distance, that kid.” (Kawazu)

“That’s right, don’t underestimate what kids can do. But it’s lucky enough. I want that luck.” (Tarou)

“What do you mean?”

“……I’m not a lucky person. I suddenly got kidnapped into another world. Now I have to contemplate on how easy magic is.”

Magic is okay, anyway, but being summoned to a different world makes me wonder how far can I push my luck. It’s that ‘will it’-‘won’t it’ feeling.

The fact that Ribbon-chan managed to reach this deep in the forest where adults call it a dangerous, dangerous place – is frighteningly good fortune.

“Furthermore, this was before she got lost, you know? Really want a piece of that luck”

“I don’t know what you want to say but shouldn’t we hurry up a bit? That girl’s good fortune will run out”

“Oh, not good”

Just as Kawazu-san predicted, a buzz went through the forest.

As if telling me that the person I’m looking for is in trouble.

I felt a slight rage, it looks like something violent enough to bother the huge trees occurred.

“This is bad, were we taking this too lightly?”

“What will you do?”

“Hurry up. I’ll try to teleport around here. It seems like the forest can tell me where the commotion is”

As I expected, the forest can telepathically transmit Ribbon-chan’s location.

I was strangely confident that I could work with that.

“You can even do something like that?”

“Probably. As long as I know my target. If I picture it in my head, even without actually seeing it, I could probably do it.”

“..really quite a non-standard magic huh”

I don’t have the time to entertain Kawazu-san’s despondent tone.

Right as I received the target position, my mind created a 3-dimensional map of the place.

There’s no problem as long as I know where it is.

I immediately jumped using magic.

When the scene changed, I was suddenly face-to-face with a huge dog with three necks and a huge tongue.

“Nng-wah!!”

I was scared for sure.

You’d normally be scared if you’re suddenly faced with a giant gaping mouth. One that would normally send you to the underworld.

But the array made of fangs did not touch me.

Thinking that something like this might happen, I prepared some safety measures.

It would trouble me if anyone would underestimate how gutless I am.

I downloaded a considerable amount of magic, focusing on barrier and recovery. Nevermind bears, this was made to withstand a direct hit against missiles.

As planned, the animal that made contact with my barrier bounced away like a ball.

I looked around while controlling the poundings of my heart.

Eventually, I spotted a familiar yellow ribbon peeking from the foliage. I finally felt assured.

“A-, found you. Dangerous! Is this what they call a Cerberus?”

Calming down, it finally registered to me that the knocked-out animal has three heads.

The huge dog wasn’t cute at all, and it was about as big as a bear.

It should have remained unconscious, but the Cerberus is recovering from the collision damage. It seems to be planning to stand back up.

“Geh! You can still move…..then again it’s expected huh”

Thinking that he might attack or something, I prepared some [Fire Magic] but his stance was weird, no matter how I look at it.

“? What?”

I was about to rip the fangs directed at me, but the Cerberus suddenly stopped moving.

It suddenly seemed to go rigid, then pitifully began to tremble.

“A-, what’s wrong?”

I felt a bit sorry for it, but for now, I decided to be vigilant and come a little closer to check.

“…!! Kuh~n…”

The Cerberus was reduced to such a frightened state where it can’t even let out a sound. It presented it’s belly, with the tail between it’s legs.

It had a desperate look and remained in that position.

“Ha~a… we~ll, whatever”

It’s apparently useless to say anything to this dog.

Let’s get away from this place first. The goal this time was to bring Ribbon-chan back and I found the said ribbon in the middle of the trees. She seems unhurt.

Same here as well.

I, I was scared as well.

Anyway, Ribbon-chan’s predator is now paralyzed in fear so there’s nothing I can do.

For the mean time, I opened the defense-barrier just to make sure that I could reach out to her.

“Are you okay? Were you hurt anywhere?”

Responding to the sound of my voice, Ribbon-chan suddenly trembled.

Somehow.

I waited until she’s calmed down a little, then tried to carry her up. This time, she ignored my hands and made a grab for my clothes, and clung there.

She’s really a tiny thing, with her tiny tremblings.

“W-what’s wrong?”

“Wuuuuu…..”

She’s crying.

“…-what seems to be the problem?”

I can relate to her feelings very well but I was perplexed enough that the only thing I can do is pat her head.

I can’t bear to tear the kid off of my clothes, so I’m at a loss.

‘…Kawazu-san, save me.’

For the first time since we entered the forest, I was sincerely calling out to Kawazu-san.

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