Chapter 23 /// Playing Tag on the Mountains ///

After leaving Organ, Shion crossed the field and the river, straddling Haku as he leisurely made his way along the road.

They arrived without incident at the mountain near the border of the Kingdom of Rodan, where the MAgic Crystal was supposed to be.

‘Beyond here is the Kingdom of Rodan. But there must have been some good medicinal herbs in these mountains’

“I guess we could go on collecting while continue our journey”

‘Yes, but there are also many demons, so be careful!’

Nodding his head in agreement, Shion walked up the mountain. The fresh, natural air stimulated his nostrils, and the wild flowers in bloom were easy on the eyes.

KASHAK, when he heard a rustling sound of grass and trees, he saw a yellow-haired animal, which made Shion’s cheeks relax.

“Haku, we’ve got company”

‘Barking intensifies’

Haku tried his best to make a catcall to the fox, but the result was disappointing. The fox was so startled that it ran away.

“Don’t worry”

‘This year’s goal, I’m going to learn to speak fox language’

“Haha, good luck with that”

As expected, they couldn’t find any herb colonies, but there were still a few useful ones here and there.

Limo grass is used as a stomach medicine, and Renlin grass as an energizer. There were many other kinds of medicinal herbs, and the knowledgeable Shion came up with a good idea.

“Yes, we should collect them for bath salts”

They would blend several kinds of licorice and tendrils to make something that would improve blood flow and warm the body.

As Sion became completely absorbed in this and that, Haku was a little sulky when he gave her a blank answer when he spoke to him.

‘……i’ll go hunt some demons. Its better than not doing anything’

“Be careful, okay?”

‘Okaay…’

Shion continued to gather grass in a good mood. About an hour later, he was somewhat surprised to find the corpse of a giant wild boar. It was a demon called a Giant Boar, but when he examined it, there were no obvious external injuries.

Instead, its mouth was foaming.

“Seeing that the body is still intact, I wonder if the person who was attacked returned fire.　But what method?”

‘Shion, I killed a lot of demons!’

“Oh, welcome back”

After listening to him, Shion knows that Haku have been over-hunting and can’t brought back the corpses, so he used [Black Purse] to collect them. The meat can be sold as raw material, and it’s not bad for preserving food in times of need.

A large, round-bellied bird called a Haydock was lying on the ground with a blow to its throat.

“Nice, we can sell this for a pretty good price”

‘The Haydock was easy because it can’t fly even though it’s a bird! Rather, that one was a little troublesome’

“Oh, wow, a Wyvern!”

It is a small but powerful demon classified as a flying dragon, with wings connected to its hands. Basically, they never come down from the sky, and are even known as swordsman killers. Depending on the type, there are those that control flames and those that spit rocks.

‘He tried to mess with me, so I electrocuted him’

“Good, the body’s clean. Oh, and that Haydock over there was electrocuted too”

‘Oh, I’m not the one who did that one! It looks like someone else did’

Shion guessed that it might be the same as the one who had defeated the Giant Boar, judging from its condition.

Shion and the others craned their necks almost simultaneously and took up a position of caution. BZZZZT!　There was a scraping sound on the ground, and they felt that something was suddenly approaching.

As if leaping out of a gap in the trees, a pitch-black snake that could swallow a man whole came out.

Shion and Haku responded swiftly, pinning it down from both sides to finish the battle.

“Whoa!”

‘Ooh la la ……’

However, Shion stopped swinging his sword just in time, and Haku also adjusted his claws to avoid a direct hit. This was because, to their surprise, a woman was straddling the thick body of the giant snake.

“I thought there was something unusual in the air”

“You are……”

“I’m Oona. The beautiful one over here is Suneko”

Haku and Shion looked at each other in confusion as the black snake stared at them with its thin tongue flicking in and out. At least it’s not beautiful, they thought. It’s rather scary.

A woman in her mid-twenties, who may resemble her owner, also gives off a fearsome impression with her upturned eyes and licking tongue. They are lightly armed and seemingly carry no weapons.

“Looks like a demon fox, huh? How did you manage to tame it? I see you’re an excellent Tamer”

“I’m not a Tamer, though”

“I don’t care which one. Let’s see who’s better than my Suneko!”

Just as swordsmen compete with each other in terms of their sword skills, the Tamer compete with each other in terms of which Tamed Demons are stronger

Shion’s intuition told him that the dead body of the demon from earlier must have been killed by that snake by tightening it.

In terms of length, it is longer than Haku, and judging from the speed at which it just moved, it also has considerable propulsion power. It would definitely not be weak.

“If you’re a man, you won’t run away right?”

‘Shaaaaaaa—‘

“If it’s a male, he won’t run away. That’s what Suneko says”

Shion wants to say no as usual, but he’s under pressure to agree or else they’ll try to attack him at any moment.

“…Fine. What should we do?”

“Wise choice. It’ s simple. You’re going down the mountain, right? We’ll play tag while at it”

It’s not a battle, so it’s relatively peaceful, Shion thought inwardly. Since he had already obtained the medicinal herbs and demons, he decided to play along to get away and get down the mountain

It’s better than refusing and getting into a battle.

“Then we’re all set. We’ll follow in ten seconds. You’d be wise to run as fast as you can while you still can”

‘Okay then’

Taking a big first step into the wind, Haku entered top speed in just a few seconds.

‘Let’s go all the way to the bottom like this’

“That’s good. With Haku’s legs we can get away with ease, — or so I thought…”

Troublingly, a Giant Boar rushed at them fiercely from diagonally ahead. Shion leapt from Haku’s back and thrust his sword hard into the demon’s forehead, quickly ending the match.

A moment of silence after the conclusion.

As if aiming for this spot, a sharp-edged rock attacked Shion from behind.

CRUNCH, Haku caught it in his mouth and crunched it with his jaws.

“Are they trying to attack me?”

‘It looks like it……’

The one who used earth magic was Oona, who was closing the distance from behind. Shion rides on Haku’s back and they start running again, but she shoots her magic violently and has pretty good aim.

Sion then absorbs the magic with the [Dark Ball] and bounces it right back, blocking the path.

“Aah!? You’re so good!”

“I didn’t hear anything about allowing to attack, though”

“Did they ever explain the rules to you when you first started life? There’s always something unexpected happened in the world”

“Well, you do have a point”

If that’s the case, I’m not going to take it easy on you, Sion said, as he made [Earth Wall] that stocked in his dark ball appear in the path of the black snake.

It is a magic that raises the ground to create a solid wall of earth, and is basically used for defense, but If you match it with a rushing opponent, you can expect some considerable damage.

With that in mind, the black snake, which was speeding up, could not turn fully and crashed. The impact threw Oona out of its back and she hit the back of her head on a tree and collapsed.

‘That was a cool move’

“I don’t think we should nurse them”

‘That’s right. It’s called getting what you deserve’

As expected, the good guys couldn’t do that much, so Sion and the others went straight down the mountain.

After a while, when they were happy to finally enter a foreign land, the two of them let out a relieved sigh when they saw Oona furiously chasing them from behind.

“Is there… anything more you need?”

“I’m in love!”

“Excuse me?”

“Like I said, I’m in love with you! You’re strong, you’re brave, you’re cool, and I’m going to make you my man!”

‘Shaaaaah, shapooh, shapooh!’

“I’ve never met a male who’s faster than me. I’m in love! That’s what Suneko says to that demon fox too”

Shion and Haku were a little stunned, then replied in unison.

“ ’ No, thank you’ ”

She hadn’t expected to be rejected, and both Oona and Suneko were so shocked that they didn’t move an inch.

Shion and Haku decided to leave the place as quickly as possible.

This time, they ran through the earth as fast as they could to avoid being overtaken.