Volume 2 - CH 128

“Ha-ha-ha! That was surprising!”

“No, I was the one who was surprised! Dang~……, I was trying to surprise you!”

“No no, I thought my heart would stop just at that moment. Ouren-sama has no restraint, even for an old man like me.”

“Oops. ……, my bad.”

Right now everyone is sitting on the cushions while me and Raiki are talking.

Alena and Reizen are shrunken a bit, as if they don’t know what to do, but they just need to wait a little longer.

Ran, the maid servant, has left the room and is in the middle of brewing the tea.

Den has been sent to call the princess, Shimu, and Tenda.

“And then, Ouren-sama. And those people are…”

“Oh, right. Let me introduce them to you. Reizen.”

When Reizen was called, he straightened his posture.

“Yes! My name is Reizen! I’m traveling with Ouren-aniki right now!”

“Oh. Your name writing is also very difficult. I am the lord of this castle, Raiki. Now, what is your name, young lady?”

“My name is Alena, and I’m working hard to become an A rank adventurer.”

“You have good goals for such a young girl. Cheer up.”

Raiki looked at Reizen and Alena with gentle eyes, as if he were looking at his grandchildren.

Alena was a little scared, but after Raiki told her to [cheer up] she began to smile.

She was probably nervous because it was the first time she had been in contact with an Oni other than Uchikage.

On the other hand, Reizen behaves like usual.

He was not nervous and spoke in his usual tone.

I wish I could learn from his mental toughness.

“Uchikage.”

“Yessir.”

“You did well to return with Ouren-sama. I hope you will continue to support him in the future.”

“Yes-! ……huh? I beg your pardon……”

“What? What are you surprised about? You have become adventurers, haven’t you?”

And how did you know!?

No, Raiki was this kind of guy.

Even though we didn’t tell him anything, he had information about us as if he already knew.

Was there any hint in all that conversation ……?

“How did you know?”

“Hmm? Alena told me that she wanted to become an A-rank adventurer. If she had said the same thing in the Kingdom of Garott or in any other country, I would have said, “I see,” but in a village without an adventurers’ guild, it would have been strange to hear a single child say such a thing. Therefore, Uchikage. You are there to support and protect Ouren-sama, so follow him wherever he goes, will you?”

“Yessir!

Oh …… I see.

I guess just from a conversion like that has that much information.

“M- my dignity is …”

Reizen? I think there’s nothing to do with that?

I mean, he certainly has a lot of dignity.

Ahhhh…if only Raiki’s reaction was like what Asure has I’m sure he would have been very excited.

I bet Zero would have thought how cool he was, I guess.

After talking for a while, I heard footsteps thumping from the hallway.

These light footsteps must be coming from …….

Just as I was thinking this, the sliding door was opened with a powerful bang.

A young girl with a single vibrant red horn sprouting from her forehead and wearing a spectacularly colored kimono entered the room.

It was Hisui, the princess of the Oni.

“Is it true that Ouren-sama has returned?”

After saying this, she checks the faces of the people around her one by one.

But there were three faces that the Princess did not recognize.

And as soon as she noticed that the white snake was not there, she immediately began to radiate a black aura.

“Oh,Hisui. Surprisingly, this one is ──”

“Uuuuchiiikaaaageeeee!”

“!!?”

The princess said this and grabbed onto Uchikage’s neck.

Uchikage was just confused, not knowing what to do.

The princess began to yell at him with an expression I have never seen on her face before.

“Where is Ouren-sama? They said he is back. Where is Ouren-sama? He is not here! What is the meaning of this?”

“Wai-… Prin- … cess- gueh”

The Princess grabs the Uchikage by the neck and swings him around.

She is not shaking him.

She is literally swinging him around.

As expected from a pure Oni, or should I say, …….

Wait, Princess?

He’s suffocated. He couldn’t breathe.

She choked his neck too hard! Hold on, hold on, hold on!

“Hey, Princess! Stop, stop, stop!”

“Uwaaaah! Where is Ouren-sama?”

“……”

“Uchikage!? Hold on, buddy! Princess! It’s me! It’s me! ” I’m Ouren”

What kind of strength is this?

She’s not only not going to budge, but she’s going to spin me around too!

“You are lying! Ouren-sama is a white snake-!”

“I don’t have time to explain!”

I immediately used 100 MP to transform my mode from human form to snake form.

The princess’s eyes were fluttering as she watched the transformation from human to snake, but when I had completely turned into a snake, she finally let go of her hand that was around Uchikage’s neck.

Of course, Uchikage had already reached his limit, and after her hand was removed, he fell down with a plop, as if gave himself to gravity.

I couldn’t tell with his blindfold, but I guessed his eyes were probably all white.

Sorry, Uchikage.

The princess looked at me and started to shed a tears.

Then she immediately pounced on me and squashed me.



It must have taken an hour to settle down.

After that, Tenda and Shimu met up with us and I introduced them to Reizen and Alena.

As for me, I’m trying to get back into human form so I can talk.

If not, it’s too much of a hassle to progress any further.

And the princess wouldn’t stay away from me.

At least for today.

But you know what? Alena seems to be in a bad mood.

Seriously. She keeps staring at me.

“I was surprised to see Ouren-sama in human form,…… however. If this is the case, I should have stayed in the Kingdom of Garott for at least one more day.”

“No, in fact, I was already able to take on human form when Tenda was there. However, when I became able to, it was time to go. I didn’t want to confuse you.”

“Oh, no, no! I don’t mind! But more importantly, did Uchikage make a mess?”

“Nah. On the contrary, I’ve had a lot of help from him.”

“I almost died …… once, though, to my disappointment. ……”

“Don’t worry about it. But we should be thankful for Reizen to be here.”

“Fufufu! I’m confident in my defense!”

“… You sound like Dazra.”

Then we told them what we had seen.

All of the Oni listened intently to what we had to say.

We had a lot of lively conversation, especially when Reizen came to our rescue.

Reizen looked embarrassed at being praised all at once, but he seemed happy.

I also explained about Alena and went so far as to say that we all formed a party and named it 【Reitei】 

When I explained that we would begin our adventuring activities in the Kingdom of Salettana.

Raiki gave us a lot of advice, mainly on how to be an adventurer.

Raiki seemed to have been an adventurer for a long time and was very knowledgeable about monsters and the terrain.

However, he said that it was several hundred years ago, so the environment in which monsters lived might have changed.

But even though Raiki said he had been an adventurer, it was a time when humans and demi-humans had not yet coexisted.

So perhaps it is more appropriate to say that he was a traveler rather than an adventurer.

I thought he would say something about the fact that I would be an adventurer and would not be able to stay in this village forever, but he did not say anything about that.

But then again, he’s already an old man.

His stories are long.

If it weren’t for Reizen, who didn’t know how to read the air, interrupting and breaking the conversation in places, Raiki would have kept on talking like that.

Thank you, Reizen.

“Ah. Right, Raiki. I was wondering if you could have me look over some equipment for me?”

“Of course. If it is Ouren-sama’s equipment, I’m sure a blacksmith will be able to do it. What kind of equipment would you like?”

“Well, I don’t think I’m suited to wearing tight armor like Uchikage’s. I’d rather wear a kimono with a little tweak of armor”

“Hmmm. Then you should ask Shimu about that.”

“Shimu?

“Fufufu. I’m the one who came up with the idea of upgrade the Onis’ equipment, you know?”

That is amazing.

Does that mean that the armor that Uchikage is wearing now and the padded armor that Tenda is wearing were all designed by Shimu?

If that’s the case, I guess I can leave it to her.

I decided to ask Shimu to make me some Japanese-style equipment that would be suitable for me.

“Oh, Ouren-sama said that you also want a weapon. Would you like a spear? We also have swords.”

“A sword! Preferably Sansyakugatana *.” (*I’m not sure, three-cornered blade, but it’s been called 3 foot blade )

“…Sansyakugatana …?”

Huh? Could it be that the Oni don’t have a weapon called Sansyakugatana?

I tried to ask her, but she replied back that there is no such thing.

She just wondered why I wanted a three-foot-long sword, which is more difficult to handle than a normal katana.

Well, that’s usually the case.

But hey, it’s no fun to go with the weapons that are commonly used.

As for me, I’m all about mastering the weapons that are considered unpopular!

The same goes for the Kusarigama! Because Kusarigama is insanely strong!

Did you know? You can pull the others’ weapons by wrapping them with chains and weights of Kusarigama!

In fact, it’ll definitely hit you before it wraps around your body, so you’ll get hurt.

Kusarigama should not be fought with a scythe.

You fight with the weighted chain.

However, Kusarigama is very helpless against a foe who is wearing armor.

Kusarigama shows its true strength only when it is used in a surprise attack.

It may be said that it is a weak weapon if it is used with the wrong kind of convenience or in the wrong place.

Also, …… Sansyakugatana sounds kind of nice, doesn’t it?

That is the reason why I chose it.

Still, it’s cool to wear a sword with a belt.

“Okay, Then let’s have them make the Sansyakugatana and Kodachi.”

“Oh, and just so you know, there’s no need for unnecessary decoration, okay?”

“Well, let’s tell them that, shall we?”

Tenda wrote that down on a piece of paper.

What he asked me later was the color of the pattern and other things.

I’m generally white (literally), so I’m applying for an order in all white.

Shimu also asked me about the details of the equipment, but I agreed to have it mainly in white.

The princess seemed to want to help me with something, but she was supposed to be able to weave.

So I asked her to help me find some clothes for me.

The princess seemed very happy that she was asked to do something for me and wanted to get right to it, but I told her that since we were all here, she should take it easy today.

While I was discussing weapons and equipment, Reizen and Alena were happily chatting with Raiki, Den, Ran, and the others. I was relieved that they had managed to get into the conversation.

Then …… the night came.
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