The forest of the Chinju.

　The great forest that the humans call Titis, as the demon race was accustomed to call it.

　The sparrow was the last survivor of the Kamuna clan that guarded the forest of the township - the last of the Kamuna clan.


　Originally, Kamuna's village was a small community of about a hundred demon men living there.

　They had a policy of "Do not trespass and do not violate" the humans, and they would not touch the forest unless they saw fit to destroy it.

　Against such a village, the humans chose to annihilate it. Fifty years ago, the village of Kamuna was destroyed by an army led by a group of samurai from the east.

　The demons fought hard, but the power of the samurai was so overwhelming that only seven of them survived.

　An old man who was too old to fight, and children who were also too young to fight.

　Among these children were the two parents of the sparrow.



　Afterwards, the surviving demons resumed their meager existence under the protection of their wards, but it was extremely difficult for the old man and his children to live alone in the depths of Titis, the den of demonic beasts.

　Some fell ill, some were attacked by demonic beasts, some shared their meager food with their children and died a debilitating death themselves.

　One by one, the demon race dwindled in number.

　So when the sparrow was born, the only thing left alive was its parents.



　Those parents were already gone as well. His father went out to hunt the day the sparrow turned three years old and never returned, and his mother died of illness the day the sparrow turned six years old.

　It has been seven years since then. Since then, seven years have passed since then, and Sparrow has been guarding the village of Kamuna all by herself.

　While the sun is up, she forages in the forest for berries and edible plants and trees, and when the sun goes down, she returns to the village to clean the roadsides and tend to the house. This included houses other than their own.

　This was something his mother had done and was taken over by the sparrows after her death.

　Sparrow has never forgotten her mother's face as she smiled forlornly at her mother, for when someone came back.

　Another thing Sparrow inherited from her mother. That was to offer offerings and dances to the sacred tree that towered to the north of the village.


　This is the snake quelling ceremony to appease the spirit of the serpent that still rests in the land.


　This ritual had been handed down from generation to generation by the villagers of Kamuna, and the parents of the sparrows prioritized the offerings, even if it meant reducing their own food supply.

　Even his mother, who became ill, never missed this ritual, and after she could no longer dance herself, she taught the young sparrow the dance's manner and made her continue it.

　When the Lord of the Flies once captured a sparrow, it was because the quantity of offerings was insufficient, and the sparrow had to leave his ward to gather food for himself at great risk.

　There, Sparrow met a human and was rescued.



　--When you think about it, that was the first time since the death of his mother that he had spoken to someone else.



　Until then, he had been struggling to survive and hadn't really missed people.

　Because the demon beasts couldn't invade the demon's village thanks to the wards, small animals like squirrels, rabbits, hedgehogs and small birds often visited the village. Talking with them would take away the loneliness.

　Wary of humans who were after the horn, this was something my parents had repeatedly taught me. Therefore, I never thought of leaving the forest to visit a human city.



　However, since then, the feelings towards humans had changed slightly within the sparrow.

　He is no longer a monster that will change the color of his eyes when he sees an ogre and attack him, but one that can talk and laugh with him.

　This is why, when he found a human lost in the forest, he called out to them and took them to the creek, where he would have avoided them before.

　Down the creek, it was easy to get back to the city of Ishka.

　He was not the same person as the one who had rescued him from the Lord of the Flies, but the other person was the same person, and he hoped it would be one of the ways he could repay the favor.



　There was no way a thirteen year old girl could have predicted that the other party would sell out her information to a slaver.

　It could cause the location of the village to be roughly identified. Sometimes they send hunters (hunters) in succession. The fact that they would not be able to go out of their wards and perform the rituals to appease the snakes - all of this was unpredictable.


　Then the snake king (the basilisk) appears and the rotten sea spreads, swallowing part of the village and withering the sacred trees, and the boundary disappears.

　The sparrow was left alone to face the attacking demonic beast.

　The vertical pupils characteristic of the snake species. Is it joy at the sight of its prey that is reflected in its bright red bloodshot eyes, or is it hatred that has been suppressed for many years?

　The sparrow attempted to escape from the little mountainous beast, but a sharp blow of its tail slammed it into a tree trunk, and it was grabbed by a basilisk that quickly closed in on it.

　The demon slurped happily, "Curololololo," the demon throttled happily.

　Hearing it up close, goosebumps rise all over your body. The demon beast's mouth is wide open and it is trying to make itself whole.


　.........Oh, I'm going to die here.


　Sparrow thinks that while trembling with pain and fear. There was probably some relief in there as well.

　Since the warding was lost by the rotten sea, even if they survived today, their lives would be even more difficult than ever from tomorrow.

　There was no way a thirteen-year-old lass could survive in the depths of Titis alone.

　If that was the case, it would be better to die here, and the suffering would be shorter as a result.

　She might even be able to meet her father and mother.


　"Please be happy.


　-- A mother who passed away, regretting the passing of her young daughter. I'm sad that I can't respond to her last words, but I don't think I can do it anymore.


'....I'm sorry, Mother (haha-sama).


　He muttered in a trembling voice.

　As if to mock it, the basilisk extended its long tongue to lick the sparrow's body.

　A horrible feeling crawled all over my body.

　But I no longer have the strength left to brush it away. Nor do I have any energy left to try to brush it away.

　The basilisk clutches the sparrow and climbs up the trunk of the divine tree. On the ground, the other demonic beasts might get in the way. That's probably why he climbed up the tree.

　Even as she did so, the sparrow's vision became tainted with darkness. Sparrow's consciousness was being consumed by the darkness.

　Just as everything about herself was about to turn black, Sparrow thought she saw someone running into the square - but it must have been her imagination. Sparrow quickly reminded herself of that.



　There was no way anyone would come. If they were to come, it would be only a quick-tempered reaper.

　Thinking about this, Sparrow gently let go of her consciousness...no, she tried to let go of it.

　But then.



''Curoaaaahhhh?



　The roar of a demonic beast exploding at close quarters.

　Before you could wonder what was going on, a floating sensation enveloped the sparrow's body.

　The basilisk's hands, which had been binding his body like a vise, were untied.


　The basilisk was crawling up the tree with the sparrow in its grip.

　The body of the sparrow, which had left the hands of the demonic beast, was falling according to the laws of nature.

　It was not a height that could be saved at all. Moreover, the sparrow's body didn't even twitch against its owner's will.

　Is it the poison of a hexenbiest, or is it a reaction to the fact that it had given up everything just before?

　Then, when the sparrow involuntarily closed her eyes, she heard the voice.



"Well, look out! I was about to finish the job.



　With such a voice, the body of the sparrow was held firmly in place.

　When I opened my eyes timidly, I saw a young man with dark hair and dark eyes looking down at the sparrow with a fearless smile on his mouth.

　It was a familiar face.

　It was a familiar face, but I had no idea why I was here at this time and place. I don't know why, but I was about to open my mouth to thank the sparrow, when the next thing I knew, my eyes widened.

　The basilisk that was above the sparrows' heads rushed down the trunk with flames of rage burning in its eyes - no, it was coming down away from the trunk!

　If you're crushed by the huge body of a basilisk, you're flat, whether you're a human or a demon.





　He manages to communicate the danger to the young man with his tongue, which doesn't move as brittle as his body.

　The young man's hands are blocked by the support of the sparrow's body. Right now, he has no weapons to counter the basilisk.

　He has no choice but to flee the scene as quickly as possible, but the ground around him is rotten and slippery and looks like a bottomless swamp. The only thing that is safe is the root of the tree the young man is using as a foothold.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find it.


　--I'm not sure how he got here, if that's the case.


　But before he could ask that question, the huge body of the basilisk descended.

　The young man looked up as he lifted his chin. He didn't move a single eyebrow when he saw the approaching basilisk. He didn't even move a ten-thousandth of a sparrow.

　Then the young man who looked up slowly opened his mouth--


Caw!　


　His eardrums let out a loud, cracking sound.

　At that moment, the sparrow's body jumped in the young man's arms. The mere aftermath was enough to cause his entire body to be consumed by the wave of vibration. An immense pressure that shook him to the core of his body. My ears throbbed and for a moment, all sound disappeared from my hearing.

　On the other hand, the basilisk, which was not an aftermath but a direct hit, was


Curroo-Oh!


　As if it was hit by a cannon from close range, a huge body that exceeded ten meters in height flew through the air.

　The young man used only his voice to bounce back the magical beast that fell from above his head.

　Of course, since he really couldn't do such a thing with just his voice, he must have actually used some kind of magic or item, but even if so, it's unusual.

　The young man said shortly to the astonished sparrow: "Let's fly!


'It's going to fly. Be careful not to bite your tongue.


　Flying?　There was no time to wonder. The next moment, the young man sank to his knees gingerly on the spot and kicked the roots at his feet as hard as he could with the sparrow in his arms.



　The sparrow almost screamed. That's how strong the impact was.

　The young man easily jumped over the soil of the rotten sea with the sparrow in his arms. It was an impossible move for a human, or even an ogre, to make.

　Before he knew it, the sparrow was standing on the hard ground.

　The young man who set the sparrow down reaches for the black sword stuck in the ground in front of him. He grabbed the sword without hesitation, which radiated such a deceptive power that it made the sparrow recoil involuntarily.

　And then he swung his sword carelessly at the basilisk that had just fallen to the ground over there.

　The strike, which was never meant to reach, however, easily cut off the legs of the monster beast. The leg of the monster beast flies through the air while spreading poisonous blood. With this, the demonic beast has four legs - no, three legs. The legs that were holding onto the sparrow had long ago been cut off.


　Here, the sparrow finally realized what had happened to her.


　Probably, the young man who rushed to this place cut off the leg of the demonic beast that was attached to the trunk from here. His purpose was to save the sparrow.
　After slicing off the leg, the young man thrust his sword into the ground to free his arms and flew to the base of the sacred tree to catch the falling sparrow.

　It's not human karma at all.


''........What a bunch of bullshit.......''


　The words escaped me.

　Then the young man laughed out loud with joy.


''Haha. Well, to add to your bullshit, I'll give you another bullshit: 'His blood boils, his hair burns and his eyes boil'.


　The young man begins to chant.

　The sparrow, who did not expect the swordsman-like opponent to use magic, opened his eyes wide for the second time.


'Koketsu no castle, chair of skull. The banner of rebellion flown, the sacrifice of the deadly blade falling down. Blood-eyed flame hand, death's embrace to my enemy--flame princess.


　The young man who has completed the advanced magic of fire unleashes it on the basilisk.

　The arms of fire running through the air are five--no, six--together.

　An ordinary practitioner can use up to two arms. Even for a very good practitioner, three would be the most that could be used.

　The arm the young man produced was twice that number. Moreover, all of these arms attacked the basilisk with a thickness, length and speed reminiscent of a giant snake.

　It's a good thing that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away from the fact that you can't get away with it.



　The scream of the basilisk, whose entire body was held up by the six arms, echoed throughout the rotten sea.

　The sparrow, who had been watching in amazement, was startled to feel a searing heat coming from nearby.

　In a hurry, he looked in that direction and saw that the young man's black sword was blazing red as if it had turned into a flame.

　Sparrow had no way of knowing that it was the result of burning his jade to the extreme. However, even if he didn't know the cause, he could understand the astonishing heat that the black sword emitted.


''Burn down the entire rotten forest-- Illusory Itto- style Flame.


　The torrent of flames created by the young man's swordsmanship was like a tidal wave, engulfing the entire forest like a tsunami.

　The sparrow watched the scene as if in a dream.

　The sparrow was dreaming, not knowing whether the scene in front of her was a nightmare or a good dream.