Volume 2 - CH 108

After he parted from me, Reizen swam around and preyed on fishes, day and night, apparently.

He said it was because he wanted to catch up with me and travel with me as soon as possible.

He finally became a turtle after three days of hard work.

He is already a tortoise.

As for me, I’m still a snake.

But at first he was just a baby turtle, struggling to eat only small fish.

Then, he managed to eat some of the Bedrock fish that I didn’t eat, and he was able to grow up to be a big turtle.

Finally, he left the riverside and began his explorations.

However, no matter how far he went, all he found was forest.

He didn’t even know where he was, so he couldn’t return to the river and was lost immediately.

With no detection skills, he was unable to catch anything. He almost starved to death many times.

When weakened, he was attacked by the enemy and attacked back.

With the help of his high defense, he managed to keep going.

It seems that he had been repeating the process of being attacked and beaten back for quite a long time, without encountering anything in particular.

And he received this message from the voice of the earth.

[A sufficient mass has been detected. I will log it.]

He was surprised to be suddenly and unexpectedly told that he had done nothing, but he decided to completely ignore it.

However, after that, various messages were heard from the voice of the earth, saying that when everything was detected, he could become a human being.

When the message appeared, Reizen was walking all the time, so he always thought it was something that would gradually increase as he walked.

Well, ……, that’s something.

I don’t really get it either.

After that, Reizen changed into human form and hunted around for monsters like bears and boars in order to procure clothes.

He tried various trial-and-error methods, such as tying them together to make a robe, or making holes in them and putting his arms through them.

The smell of blood attracted the monsters and he had less trouble eating meals than before. …… Is that a good thing …… ?

To pass the time, he climbed a hill to watch the morning sunrise and discovered the kingdom of Salettana.

On his way there, he heard a loud noise and rushed over to see a fighting ogre and a white-haired man who seemed to be fighting, so he immediately rushed over to them.

He hit the ground and exploded and flew into the air.

I wonder the way he made his appearance.

I mean, I didn’t hear the exploding sound.

He didn’t recognize me at first, but he was convinced it was me by my presence.

I wondered how he could be so sure, but I was really thankful that he came.

I thanked him again.

And here we are now.

“That is how it happened.”

“You had a long trip… …… You’re having a harder time than I am.”

“I was always in a disaster!”

He is laughing out loud, but I don’t think it’s a laughing matter.

If it weren’t for the clothes made from the skin, no prey would have come close to him, and if he had made a mistake, he would have died.

How could he have come this far?

“Speaking of which, Reizen. What are you going to do now?”

“Dunno. I’ll follow Aniki!”

“Well, sure. I don’t mind. I’ve got some information you might like.”

“Eh? What are they?!”

He brought his face toward me.

It was too close, I said.

I restrained his face and let him keep his distance for now.

Then, I cut to the chase.

“It seems there are guilds in this world. The Adventurer’s Guild. Me and Uchikage are thinking of becoming adventurers after we get our business settled. …… What about you…?”

“I wanna!”

He answered immediately.

Well, I don’t think Reizen has a choice not to.

It seems like he likes this kind of world.

Uchikage is registered as an adventurer, but we haven’t registered yet.

So I’m thinking of registering as an adventurer in the Kingdom of Garott.

We’ll be saying goodbye to Alena and Satella for a while. ……

These two will be taken care of by Asure in the Kingdom of Garott.

Reconstruction will be a part of it, and I wonder if the two of them will be more like the representatives …….

I forget the name but Alena and Satella’s father was a lord.

It would be natural for their children to take over as lords of the fiefdom.

They may be just kids and can’t do anything about it, but now they have a Paradim.

He is the one who has always been there next to their father.

And I’m sure he will make Alena and Satera great lords.

I don’t know what Asure is doing right now, but probably around the time he is visiting other countries to greet them.

I wonder if he has already been to the Kingdom of Salettana?

Because even in the Kingdom of Salettana, the people of the territory where Alena and the others were are slaves. ……

I hope they will be able to help them soon.

Well, I’m sure Asure will do fine.

Speaking of which, I wonder what that piece-of-shit king and Rudd are doing.

“I can’t wait to wear some cool armor! WOOOOO!”

“Someone like you still needs one?”

“Looks are important after all! If you dive in a dungeon dressed like this, you’ll be laughed at for sure!”

“Hee … is that so?”

“I want a weapon or something too! Aniki! What kind of weapons did you find when you went to that country?!”

That being said, I try to remember.

But I never went into any of the weapon shops or armor shops, so I have no idea.

But I have looked in other wagons when I was caught by a slave trader.

I saw a lot of weapons there. ……

“Hmmm… longswords, one-handed swords …… and shields, maybe? They can make you a Katana or something at Zenki-village”

“Oh! A katana! But I’d like to use a weapon I’m not familiar with!”

“Oh. That might be good. I think the weapons that were familiar to me are easier to handle. What kind of weapon do you want to use for Rei?”

“Hmm ~! That’s right ~. I want flashy weapons! Weapons that able to transform, or something that goes kabooom ~”

“Nah, you can do that with your bare hand”

“That’s right!”

I think using the skills is quite flashy enough.

On the other hand, transforming weapons …

Is there such technology in this world?

I mean, magic and skills exist in this world.  I don’t think that’s possible?

No, I shouldn’t say it.

I don’t want to break his dream.

Just- just take a look at his face, it’s filled with dreams and hope.

There is no way I can ruin such face.

Let the blacksmith show you when we meet them.

Your dream and hope depend on them.

Please do your best -to live.

At any rate, since it seems that Reizen is going to stay with us, we decided to talk about what we are going to do for the time being.

First, we will return to the Kingdom of Garott and ask them to take care of Alena and Satella.

I was sure that Baltic would take care of the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Garott, so I would not have to worry about slave hunters any longer.

Then, I’ll register as an adventurer.

After a short sightseeing tour of the town, we will return to Zenki-village and arrange our equipment there.

I’ll have to tell them about Lequam first when we return to the Kingdom of Garott.

Well, we will leave that to Baltic and the guilds.

Beyond that, I’m still not sure what to do.

In the meantime, I’ll just try to raise my adventurer rank as I please.

Hm……… that sounds interesting just by imagining it.

But maybe we should prioritize the slaves captured by …… Lequam.

This time we just rescued Alena, who could have ignited a war.

We were in a hell of a place, though. ……

I’m truly shocked.

Now that we’ve discovered them, we have to finish the deed that I started.

Oh, I forgot about that ……. …… Dolce.

Yikes.

I feel like I’ve done a lot of things without even realizing it.

Maybe I made too many verbal promises……. But I couldn’t leave them alone, and all of them are nice guys……..

Yeah, either way, I’ll have to go back to the Kingdom of Salettana.

“I’d rather say, Aniki, have you changed your personality a little?”

” Hm? Seriously?”

“Yes. You seemed a bit more like an idiot before. ……”

“Dude.”

No, but it certainly feels that way.

I wonder, was I more excited …… when I was a snake?

Come to think of it, I wasn’t aware of it, but I think I’ve calmed down a bit since I took human form…….

Is there something restraining me when I take on human form?

“Well, I don’t mind either way!”

“You know, I’m a little concerned…….”

“Guh………………. where’?

“Oh, you finally awake, Uchikage.”

That was a very fast recovery.

Or should I say as expected from Oni ……?

Uchikage looks very dazzled despite being in the carriage, perhaps because he is not blindfolded.

I stopped the carriage at once and moved closer to Uchikage to check his physical condition.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes. Thank you,…..It’s still amazing to experience 【Great Heal】 .”

“I really wanted to heal you right away, but I thought it would be dangerous to show him,……, especially with that guy around. I’m sorry.”

“No no no! That was for the best! If he saw that, Ouren-sama would surely have been targeted.”

“I’m sure that’s …… right. Well, I’m glad you’re safe.”

After patting Uchikage on the shoulder once, I grabbed the reins again and drove the carriage.

Uchikage was about to switch places with me, but I decided to let him be quiet since it was not a job I could entrust him with after his recent injury.

“Uhm … um”

“You’re shy or you’re not. Just be your usual self.”

Reizen was wondering how to talk with Uchikage.

I don’t think it’s something to worry about, but if you think about it ……, Reizen hadn’t talked to anyone for the past month.

The most important thing to consider is that the person you’re talking to is someone you’re familiar with.

Besides, it’s an Oni.

Oni…… are a race of people who are not considered by Reizen to be human.

Is he nervous?.

“Ehhh …… umm… I’m Reizen! Nice to meet you! Sir, Oni!”

“Oh! You must be that Reizen-dono!”

“Ehh? You know me?”

“I heard about you from Ouren-sama! Pardon me, my name is Uchikage. I am traveling with Ouren-sama for some reason.”

I’m glad I told Uchikage about Reizen before.

’aight.

This will help them get along quickly.

“What did you hear about me?”

“Yes. You are very defensively proficient, and you have great sensibilities!”

Did I mention that much?

“Aniki~ you say the nicest things!”

“I guess?”

“And that you’re not very smart.”

“Aniki??!

“Goddamnit Uchikage! You can keep quiet about that kind of stuff!”