Chapter 18 …
It was unfair.
I felt insanely wronged.
—Kiiing! Grrr! Krrrng!
—Keheheng! Puhng!
I couldn’t understand why these guys were acting like this toward me.
Why are they doing this to me, of all people?
Everyone was looking at me suspiciously.
“Th-that… um… they’re scared, right?”
“Shh! Be quiet, Daria.”
“Y-yes! S-sorry, Father.”
Yeah. That was the real problem.
They weren’t acting cute because they liked me.
They were doing it to survive—to survive me…
Desperately, they were trying to prove how harmless they were.
The sight of their tails tucked tightly between their legs, fluttering awkwardly, was pitiful.
Anyone could tell they were terrified.
And yet you’re saying you wouldn’t be suspicious?
If it were me, I’d be suspicious too.
“Azel.”
I called out to Azel, who was staring at me with the deepest suspicion from the very front, but he didn’t respond.
…Why did you have to follow me all the way here?
At this point, it felt like the heavens themselves had abandoned me.
“Azel.”
“I’m listening.”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but this is a misunderstanding.”
“…A misunderstanding?”
“Yes. A misunderstanding.”
“…What do you mean?”
“I didn’t come here to look for Igerus.”
Just as I was about to explain why I had come to the Red Forest, another strange thing happened.
—Krrhuuuh?
For some unfathomable reason, the two creatures that had been quietly rubbing their heads against me suddenly jerked their heads up.
—Krrng! Kyahuuung!
—Pheheng!
Then they clung to each other, trembling violently.
They looked more scared than someone who’d run into a street thug in a dark alley.
“…And you’re saying that’s a misunderstanding?”
Thanks to that, a heavy silence descended once again.
Is this what they call a transmigrator’s special privilege or something?
I didn’t even have a system to ask, so this was seriously screwed up.
Igerus was afraid of the human before him.
She was no mere mountain beast. From her very roots, her existence was on a completely different level, though ignorant humans treated beings like them as nothing more than savage animals.
But that wasn’t the issue anymore.
Even Azel, who had beaten him into a battered mess, hadn’t been this frightening.
To die at the hands of someone stronger and greater than oneself was natural—and even glorious.
But that one is different!
The real problem was Elpis.
That human woman carries the scent of time. With such a strong scent, she must be a human cherished by Gaspata.
Indeed, not long ago, the Spirit of Time, Gaspata, had bestowed a blessing upon Elpis.
It was a small act of goodwill, meant to prevent any unforeseen dangers from harming her.
And as a mystical being, Igerus naturally detected the scent of that “blessing” bestowed by Gaspata.
To think that a servant of Gaspata exists in this land!
Having grasped all causality through the scent, Igerus acted in accordance with the laws of nature.
If I mess with her, I’ll suffer something far worse than death!
Thus, he submitted to a superior predator greater than himself.
—Krrrnnng!
That was how such an unexpectedly cute cry came out of his massive jaws.
Of course, it wasn’t a perfectly wise choice.
Ordinary humans had no way of knowing about the scent of a blessing or anything like that.
To human eyes ignorant of the truth, it was simply a series of strange events.
“…And you’re calling this a misunderstanding.”
“Please believe me, Azel. I really didn’t do anything.”
A spirit who bestowed a blessing on a whim, and humans unaware of it.
What kind of consequences this small crack would bring—no one yet knew.
—Krrng, krrrng!
“Mary, wait a moment. Please don’t avoid my gaze! It’s true! I really mean it!”
“…Yes, I believe you. A misunderstanding. Yes, of course. It’s all just a misunderstanding.”
For now, a small snowball was rolling along, picking up speed.
In the end, I gave up on explaining.
The moment I chose to give up, my heart felt astonishingly light.
—Kuhng! Krrhng!
—Kiiing! Grrrng!
I felt so at ease that even hearing their cute, ingratiating cries no longer bothered me.
People’s stares?
Those didn’t matter anymore either.
Why, you ask?
I don’t know! I don’t care anymore! Whatever happens, happens! As long as I’m alive, that’s enough! Hahahahaha!!!!
I’d reached the point of complete resignation.
The reason was simple.
We were currently riding the two Igerus like horses.
They say Igerus are inherently ferocious and can never be tamed? Then what is this supposed to be?
When I muttered that we needed a way to transport the injured, the two of them eagerly offered their backs.
Even those who had warned me about the ferocity of Igerus were left speechless at that moment.
As a result, the boy named Daria began looking at me with eyes full of admiration.
At this point, it felt ridiculous for me alone to keep flailing about, insisting that they believe me.
—Krrng!
“Yes, yes. Good boy, good boy.”
I absentmindedly patted the head of the creature, which now habitually acted cute, when Mary’s voice came from behind.
“Didn’t you say you had another purpose for coming here? Is it really all right to just turn back like this?”
We were currently heading toward Daria’s village.
Leaving the injured old man behind weighed on my conscience, and more than anything, we couldn’t just leave Mary’s shoulder untreated.
“Treatment comes first.”
Still, it’s a bit of a shame.
Then suddenly, a good idea occurred to me.
Wait. Do I really need to go myself?
What I needed was somewhere in this forest, and conveniently enough, there was a very smart errand-runner right here.
“Hey.”
As soon as I called the Igerus carrying me, it visibly flinched.
—Krrng?
“Could you run an errand for me?”
When I asked as gently as possible, it looked at me with soft, innocent eyes.
For some reason, it looked like it was breaking out in a cold sweat, but that was probably just my imagination.
Naturally, everyone’s gaze turned toward us.
“If you head northwest, there should be a lightning-struck tree. Near it, there’s a white flower in bloom. Could you pick it and bring it back?”
Honestly, it was a ridiculous request.
But since it seemed to understand human speech, maybe—just maybe—it was possible.
Well, if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
There was no harm in trying.
“It’s very precious, so you need to bring it carefully.”
—Krrng?
At my words, it reacted as if asking, ‘Precious?’
“Yes, very, very precious. Be careful not to damage it. Do you think you can do that?”
In truth, the flower wasn’t that valuable.
But with so many ears listening, and considering Igerus’s sharp teeth, the warning seemed necessary.
When I emphasized several times that it was precious and needed to be handled carefully, it blinked.
—Grrruk! Krrhung!
After seeming to ponder something deeply, it rumbled its throat and responded.
The others watched the scene in amazement, but even I found its behavior astonishing, so it didn’t strike me as especially strange.
“Dad, that big sister is talking to a beast.”
“Shh! I told you to be quiet!”
Their gazes lingered on me a bit longer than before, but that must have been my imagination too.
In any case, the creature that had understood my words turned around and vanished.
It actually worked?
At that moment, I had no idea just how absurd a thing I had done.
A short while later—
—Grrrng!
It returned sooner than expected.
But what the Igerus brought back was not the white flower I had anticipated.
“…Huh?”
No—this wasn’t even a flower to begin with.
What it brought was—
“…Uh… um…?”
A small pendant engraved with white flower petals.
