A week has passed since I stayed in Lido Village.

　Since then, my sword skills had been bought, and I had gone out with Ortima-san and the other five hunters to the forest outside the village several times to make rounds.

(.......I don't smell a demon, do I?

　I check the scent of the wind flowing through the forest and exhale, "Hmmm.

We'll be fine around here.
Okay.

　Ortima nodded.

'It's nice to have Marle here.
Absolutely.

　The other hunters are laughing at my sense of smell.

　I heard that the five hunters, including Ortima-san, are responsible for protecting the Lido village in addition to hunting their prey.

　Especially Ortima-san, she goes to the town once a month to collect information about the outside world.

Okay. Let's go back to the village.

　At the direction of that Ortima, we move through the forest again.

　When they move, they don't make much noise.

　I thought it was not only because they were 'Demon Blood People' with excellent physical abilities, but also because of their own training.

(Even when they were fighting, they were awesome.)

　Once, two days ago, I had discovered a demon.

　A wolf-type demon.

　The same demon that had attacked Illtimina-san was a demon called the White Fang Wolf.

　The one who discovered it was me.

　However, they were the ones who moved above the trees and shot it dead with a single shot of their bows without being noticed by the demons who should have been keen on their presence.

　A terrifyingly covert ability.

　And it was an accurate bow arm.

(....................All adventurers are above the 'white mark', right?

　I thought.

　Their fighting power is reliable.

　But even with that, for them, 'fighting' was a rather dangerous act.

　The reason was that they couldn't get injured (..........).

　In this Lido village, there were no users of recovery magic.

The "Demon Blood People" have a higher aptitude for magic use than ordinary people.

　But in order to activate magic, you need a 'magic activator' like Solstice's great staff, which was very expensive. And if the 'Demon Blood People' who were discriminated against tried to buy it, they would be hit with a higher price.

　In the past, they still bought it, but it was a shoddy product and the safety device was broken.

　If Tanatos magic fails to activate, a huge amount of magic power will flow back to the surgeon.

　The safety device prevents that from happening.

　But because of the broken shoddy product that was sold to them, one of the villagers once died from brain damage when he failed to activate his magic.

　And that's the village chief's husband.

''.........''

　I look up at the blue sky.

　And from then on, there were no more wizards in the Lido village.

　That's why there is no way to heal even the smallest wound.

　I'm sure you've heard of it.

(Solstice's magic was really amazing........)

　The ability to help even the seriously injured.

　Now I realize how grateful I am for that.

　And I realized that this was the reason why Ortima-san and the others preferred to fight at long range with their bows by distracting them from their presence.

''But is it really possible to use a demon?''
You know.

　On my way back to the village, I can hear their conversation.

'But there were actually demons in the forest.
Isn't it a coincidence?
You've had two encounters in the last seven days?
Mmmm.

　I hadn't told the other villagers, but I had told these people about the possibility of demons being released artificially.

(Strange indeed.)

　How could he imitate that in human flesh?

　At least, I had never heard of such a thing from the erudite Solstice.

　It occurred to me.

...Child of Darkness.

　The black being that created that demon and made it obey him.

　But this was seven years ago.

It was a time when the Child of Darkness hadn't even been born yet.

　Hmmm?

　Well, there's no point in worrying about it.

　I mutter.

'I'll get some good meat for that, right?'
..........
..........
..........
..........

　Hmm?

　The next thing I knew, four hunters were looking at us.

　And they laughed hysterically.

''Wahaha, that's just the devouring marl!
After all, adventurers think differently!
My stomach hurts....
Huh.

　What?

Well, what does that sound like?

　Because demon meat, isn't it delicious?
　Right?

(Besides, we all ate the meat from The White Fangled Wolf that we killed the other day in the village.)

　I was dissatisfied with the four of them laughing.

　Staring at us, Ortima-san, walking ahead of us, lets out a long, heavy sigh, "Huh....


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.


　When I returned to Lido village, I left Ortima and the other four hunters who were going to report to the village chief, and I headed to the home of Illtimina, who was taking up residence.

　When the house came into view.

Welcome back, Merle.
Oh, yeah, ma'am.

　One of the sisters at the front door noticed me and called out to me.

　I smiled and said, "I'm home.

　The girl, Ms. Illtimina, was sitting in a chair, chipping away at a piece of wood with a small knife.

　Apparently, she was making a wood carving for sale.

(Is that a deer?)

　It's still incomplete, but I think so.

　There was a lot of wood chips underfoot.

　Solstice was playing with the pieces of wood that were still roped to the doorway pillar, pieced together like building blocks.

　There were also three finished wood carvings on the ground nearby.

　I looked at them.

I knew you'd be good at it.
Thanks.

　She chuckled gently at my words.

'But I don't know if I can sell it.'
Hmm?

　She stops her hand and looks up at the sky.

'I've been living in this village my whole life, and the only thing I can make is forest animals. That kind of thing isn't too new, is it?

　I sigh.　

(Hmmm?)

　I pull the wooden hawk I'd been given before out of the pouch on my waistband.

'I like it, though.'
Thanks. ...but the others seem to be different.

　A little resigned smile.

　When I saw that smile, I thought, 'I want to do something about it.

　Think about it for a minute.

Can I have this?

　I picked up three pieces of wood that were as flat as possible.

'?　Okay.
Thank you.

　I sat down on the ground and took the ink and brush out of the pouch.

　Sara Sara.

　As usual, I just capture the features and run my brush through them.

'....Wow, good?

　The girl Iltimina's surprised voice.

　I drew a picture of the 'White Fangled Wolf' and 'Demon Bear' that I had met in this forest.

　Other than that.

"Jaco.

"The Red Dragon.

The Ogre.

"Goblins and Hobgoblins.

The Skeleton King

Sandworms.

Medusa.

"The Winged Knight.

"Dragon Fish

"Slime and Poison Frogs.

"The Tyrant Turtle.

　and other demons as long as I can remember, on a piece of wood.

　The girl's eyes sparkle.

'Great!　What is this?
These are the demons I've been fighting.

　I replied.

　She looked at my profile and said, "So much! I was surprised.

　The little girl stopped playing with the blocks, too.

Oh, wow.

　He's kind of looking at my drawing.

(Kinda happy about that.)

　I can't help but look like I'm good at it.

'If you want, you can make one for me to reference. I'm sure the wooden carving of a demon is quite unusual. Maybe some traveling adventurers will buy it for you?
Uh-huh.

　She takes the pieces of wood I gave her with great care.

　She looks at the pieces and then at me.

Thank you, Merle!　I'll do my best!
..........

　Her smile was so dazzling.

　Squinting my blue eyes, I looked at her, motivated.

　And.

Oh, my God. What's wrong, Irna?

　The doorway of the house opened and Mr. Forn appeared.
　He found me.

Welcome back, Merle.

　He smiles.

　She's still beautiful, as always, I thought.

　I replied, "I'm back," and the girl, Ms. Illtimina, showed her mother a piece of wood and explained the exchange we just had.
　Ms. Forn utters a voice, "Well,

There are demons like this in Shumuria.

　He stared at the picture of the piece of wood as if impressed.

　Well.........

(...actually, many of the demons I've seen in Arun...)

　I won't say that at this time.

　Mr. Forn looked somewhat emotional as he handed the piece of wood back to his daughter.

To tell you the truth. Our ancestors used to live in Shumuria too.

　I said.

(What?　(In Shumuria?)

Really?

　Not only me, but also my daughter seemed to have never heard of it before, and she rolled her crimson eyes.
　Mr. Forn smiled serenely and nodded.

'In a forest somewhere in Shumuria. It was three hundred years ago.
"Huh?

　Admiringly, Illtimina.

(............)

　I asked.

"What's a god?
I don't know his name.

　Mr. Forn shook his purple hair and shook his head from side to side.

'But I remember my grandfather telling me that I left that faith and left the forest.
..........

　Yeah.

　You're not going to...

　No way.

　In the deepest part of the Great Forest of Aldoria, where I was reincarnated, it is said that in the past, the followers of the goddess of hunting, Yacour, lived all the time in order to take care of the 'godgu' that is said to appear one day.

(In other words, the descendants of those people...?)

　I stare at the beautiful mother and daughter in front of me.

　If so, the adult Ms. Illtimina went to the land of the ancestors without knowing it, and met me there.

　............

　No, let's not think about it deeply.

　I don't know if it's really true.

　Even if it's true, that time in that forest, Illtimina-san saved me because of her will.

　It was never because of past blood.

　Even if it's true, I can feel a strange connection like fate, but the time we've been weaving together, me and her, should never have had anything to do with the distant past, it should have been a bond that was born out of our mutual desire.

(Yeah, that's fine, right?)

　I nodded, convincing myself of one, and nodded.

　Then the little girl, Ms. Illtimina, began to work hard on the wood carving of the demon, asking me for more information on the details.

　The little girl, Soltis, went to sleep and went into the house with her mother, Forn, holding her in her arms.

　We were alone and stayed in front of the house until nightfall.

　Eventually, we finished our work.

It's hard because I'm not used to it.

　As she said this, the girl smiled with a very satisfied look on her face as she put the wood shavings on her face.

　When I took the wood shavings from her hair and cheeks with my fingers, she looked a little embarrassed.

(Cute.........)

　I was a little fawned over by her blushing cheeks, too.

　We were embarrassed for each other as the sun set.

　I couldn't help but let my gaze drift away to the sky.

(.........hmm?)

　I saw a black shadow flying in the red sky at that dusk.

　It was far away, but quite large.

"Is it a flying dragon (wyvern)?

　Illtimina, who noticed, tells me.

'It's very rare, but I do see them sometimes,'
Really?

　I thought to myself that the hidden village surrounded by rocky mountains would be in full view from that flying dragon.

　The black flying dragon's shadow quickly disappeared into the distance.

　We looked away from it and then...

..........
..........

　They looked at each other and laughed, and so they went into the house together.