n

n

n

nQuiche was pulling on my arm, but suddenly she let her eyes wander, muttering, “Ah, Mum, Lash…”

n“You stopped being able to see them?”

n“Yeah…in the blink of time.”

nI can still see both of them, though. The light bordering their ethereal bodies has become weak. It looks like Gramps Kistrin’s power has run out.

nBoth smile in my direction as if telling me that it’s fine already, and then bow their heads.

nAt that moment I heard Daon-san yelling. He’s hurling orders at the other ancient wolfmen just like a commander. Having heard his words, the wolfmen quickly carry the loot they’ve gathered into the village in perfect order.

nHiglia had approached me for a kiss, but now she’s looking at Daon-san.

n“Daon, I’ll do it as well. Ryokline, you too.”

n“Yes, Princess.”

nHiglia also starts to shoulder materials to carry them into the village. Watching the wolfmen’s actions, Quiche reveals a stiffly stern expression. She’s gone back from her womanly expression to that of the village’s chief and commander-in-chief.

nShe lets go of my arm, turns on her heels, and stares at the wolfmen.

n“You have my thanks for carrying the materials for us on top of having helped with the dismantling. I have an item box, but it wouldn’t have been enough with this amount.”

n“It’s only natural. After all, you’ve given me your permission to live here, Quiche.”

n“Princess…” Ryokline mutters with a sad face.

n“Ryokline, are you telling me to return to that prison?”

n“…”

nHiglia shifts her eyes from Ryokline to Daon-san. He silently nods, and bows while placing a hand on the ancient wolfman mark on his chest.

nSeeing him do that…Higlia puts up a serious expression for a change, and then says to Daon-san, “…I know. But, please allow me to live as a woman for a little while longer.”

n“…I’m going to continue our conversation, okay?” Quiche asks after having been interrupted earlier.

n“Yeah, sorry.” Higlia apologizes to Quiche.

nFollowing that, the other wolfmen also bow their heads in a similar manner.

n“No, even if all of you bow your heads at me…please raise them…”

n“Very well.” Higlia nods at Quiche.

nAnd then she raises a hand, and instructs the wolfmen. Seeing her hand sign, the wolfmen speedily resume their transport of the materials.

n“You sure have splendidly trained soldiers at your disposal…so, just as we talked earlier, it’s going to take the shape of an alliance, but…the difficulty level for doing trade is extremely high. And I don’t have any time to look for high-ranking adventurers who have enough sympathy with ancient wolfmen to handle the trading. It’d be simple if I did it myself, but I can’t leave this place…”

nTowards the end of her words, Quiche looks at me with an expression telling me that she feels sorry for relying on me once more.

n“Gotcha. I also got a promise to keep. But, heading over to Higlia’s homeland has to wait. I’ve got things I need to do in this village, too.”

nWhen I answer like that, I hear Higlia rejoicing happily.

n“Thanks.” Quiche bows at me.

nWhile putting a smile on my lips, I comment, “Don’t mind it. You always get so formal about weird things. That part of you hasn’t changed at all.”

n“Although you’re my friend, I keep relying on you all the time, so…” Quiche mutters.

nAnd then, as she stared many times back and forth between my eyes and lips…it created an atmosphere as if she wanted to kiss me.

nHiglia groans unhappily.

nAt that point, Kisara lands while riding her witch spear.

n“Shuuya-sama ― I have seen Divine Beast Rollo-sama and her companions enjoying hunting in the western forest.”

n“Haha, how typical of Rollo. She might come back later while carrying a mouse-like monster in her muzzle.”

n“Yes, like the regmogg-shaped subspecies I defeated.”

n“Come to think of it, I didn’t watch when you defeated it.”

nIt’s because I’ve put my highest priority on keeping Quiche safe during that battle. Though Quiche has raised her combat abilities to such an extent that it was unnecessary.

nAfter nodding at my reply, Kisara engulfs her entire body in mana.

n“…Given that I used on Damo’Anun’s magic spear after the Demon of Verses Style, I stabbed its demonic pressure points with Twin Spear Hand, and then defeated it with a palm strike in addition to sucking its mana――”

nWhile explaining…Kisara bends her right and left arm at the elbow, still straddling the witch spear, and extends both hands in front of her chest. It resembles the 『Soufuukanji』 stance of Tai Chi Chuan. , was destroyed by Rolga’s subordinate Redolm. As Prophet Kistrin I inherited the duty to subjugate Rolga from the clan that shares a bond with Ygir, but…I guess this is how far I go. My regeneration cannot keep up anymore…pain and the letters are…r-regret. At this rate I won’t be able to face Ygir…I entrust the power of the Goddess of Love…the remaining power of the scroll…onto this piece of paper……』

nIt’s not going to go up in flames or something after I’ve finished reading it, will it? I guess those were the final moments of the earlier gramps illusion. Though he didn’t really try to talk much about himself. Is Kistrin’s final resting spot marked down on this map?

n“…How mysterious. The voices disappear, a faint gleam from the ground…and a piece of paper in your hand, Your Excellency.” Helme mutters next to me.

nPuyuyu has begun to poke its wand’s tip against the sheet of water spray released from Helme’s feet.

n“Spirit-sama, a light from the ground, you say? I can’t see anything but the piece of paper and the circulation of magic elements. And my Mum and sister have disappeared as well…” Quiche comments after having finished her talk with Higlia.

nHiglia herself is talking with Ryokline and some of the wolfmen who’ve stopped carrying the materials.

n“I can see spirits of light. It’s probably related to His Excellency and the ghosts.”

n“The flow of magic elements is only continuing to the hill…that’s the path towards the sanctuary. The hole’s destination leads to the underground world as the path continues towards the sanctuary, huh…?”

n“Yep, it’s connected with the underground.”

nHelme, Kisara, and Quiche put up grim expressions while staring at the hole that’s at the top of the hill. I leave the three since I’m curious about the conversation between Higlia and Ryokline. I’ll join in as well…

nBut before that, I put the piece of paper away into my pocket, and then I extend towards the Wave Gourd. The chain instantly coils itself around the gourd’s metal fixture after flying through the air like a bullet. I reel that chain back in towards the on my wrist, resulting in the Wave Gourd returning to me in no time.

nI caught the gourd in my palm. It’s heavy, but while also using a part of the chain coiled around the metal fixture, I release from the other wrist as well, creating a chain transport belt. And after shouldering the gourd that combined with the belt while rotating, I head over to Higlia.

nSquealing at the top of its lung, Puyuyu rushes over while moving its small limbs for dear life and climbs atop the Wave Gourd.

n“Puyu, puyuu――” Puyuyu squeals while sniffing my hair.

nI walk up to Higlia.

n“Yes, going by the smell, it seems that the Valmask family has used an orc queen egg…”

n“For the orcs to have been used by an orc queen egg, even if only some of the tribes…so that’s why the orcs became so aggressive about starting conflicts, huh?”

n“Yes. It’s not just our turf either. The battles with the underground orc empire seems to have increased in intensity as well.”

n“A civil war among the orcs, eh?”

n“But, it looks like the smell of the orc queen egg vanished alongside the smell of the vampires.”

n“There was no egg smell, but we broke into the facilities the band of vampires turned into their stronghold, you know? It was just being destroyed by Death Butterfly people, but…Shuuya fought them too.”

nHiglia explains with a smile before looking at me.

n“O-Oh my god, Death Butterfly people…no wonder the smell was cut off.”

n“It’s as Higlia says. I fought against the Death Butterfly people. However, only against one of the two women, okay?”

nRyokline, who has thin fur even among the ancient wolfmen, nods at my comment.

n“I just watched it all…” Higlia admits as if being apologetic about it towards me.

n“Don’t mind it. Those Death Butterfly women even gave Hoffmann a run for his money.”

n“You’re right. But, fights all over the place…”

n“Hero-sama――”

nDaon-san has come back as well. The wolfmen line up behind him.

nI’ve heard from their conversation that it’s an ancient wolfman unit consisting of battle soldiers, a class above regular soldiers, but they seem to be quite remarkable.

n“As ordered, we’ve finished transporting almost all materials inside the building close to the round statue in what seems to be the center of the village.”

n“Got it. But, the battle is already over. You don’t need to report back to me. Please talk with Higlia and Quiche from now on.”

n“Roger.”

nOnce Daon-san bows, the wolfmen behind him do the same. The sight of their long tails all moving about at once is funny.

nAt that point, Kisara, Helme, and Quiche draw close to us. And the part of ghosts that had remained on the plaza is continuing to vanish, but…Quiche’s sister Lash-san has stayed behind, and is following me around.

nOnce I meet her eyes, she smiles at me, and the places a finger on her lips, slowly moving her mouth and forming, 『I – want – to – kiss – as – well』.

n…A kiss with a ghost, huh? I feel like that’s quite a hurdle to tackle.

nAfterwards I walked towards the building, where the children had taken shelter, while talking with everyone about various topics including the Death Butterfly people and Hoffmann.

nAs we get close to the stone monument in the middle of the village,

n“Ooh～, it’s Emissary-sama! Oh? The Burning Knights, who’ve alway been shouting “Your Excellency, Your Excellencyyy,” are gone!” Catiza changes her hair into an exclamation mark.

nShe greets me while making her body float in the air by having her black nails stabbed into the ground. As she looks like a spider who floats in the air, it’s eerie.

nHowever, the children are happily laughing while pointing fingers at her. Arry and Taack are among them, too.

n“Ca-chan, those black nails are awesome!”

n“――Zeme and Ado are gone～”

nWhile the children are frolicking around, Muu stands still all by herself. Her eyes are following Moga.

n“Shuuya, we protected everyone properly. Or rather, the enemy didn’t actually come here.”

n“I, am, Nemus.”

nNemus approaches me while lumbering whereas Moga briskly pitter-patters over with his small legs. However, the ancient wolfmen are wary.

n“More strange beings.”

n“Don’t ease your vigilance!”

nWhile each wolfman speaks up, they quickly react by extending their claws and getting ready for combat. Daon-san also extends his claws into the size of longswords, and glares.

nIn addition to the weird antics of a girl with darkish skin, a steel tree giant has shown up. I can totally understand their feelings…

nI think they’ve already encountered them when carrying the materials into the village, but it looks like they’re still wary of them.

nAt that moment, Higlia steps up and acts like a princess. She persuades all of her brethren to calm down. It clearly drives home that she’s the princess of the ancient wolfmen.

nBut, the Rollo Squad still hasn’t come back from the western forest…

nAnd just as I think that…

n“Nnn――”

n…Rollo shows up while purring throatily.

nMy partner jumps while showing off her belly, and lands on the monument once more. She looks up to Rotalz who’s drifting through the sky.

nLash-san’s eyes sparkle. With movements like a genie who has appeared from a lamp, she approaches Rollo while floating through the air, and then she extends her transparent index finger towards Rollo’s nostril.

nCan Rollo see the approaching finger? She unleashes a cat punch against Lash-san. While swinging her paw, she almost falls off the monument.

nThereupon Alray and Hueremy appear next to the monument. Unable to turn around the monument foundation’s corners, they slide on their hindlegs, just to have the prey in their mouths get caught on their limbs. Both fall over, but as typical for cats, they immediately get up again.

nThe children get all excited about their maneuvers, and surround the two tigers.

n

n