144-Chapter 9-3 Encounters




But Temma, are you sure that was a good idea?

 Blanca mentioned the magical core of goblins that attacked the village.
 When we returned to the village after defeating the goblins, the first thing we did was to go to the head of the village and the head of the guild and tell them that we had nearly wiped them out and that the danger was over. As a result, the villagers were very pleased with us, and we were invited to be the guest of honor at a banquet for the whole village.

We've been fed so much food, a goblin's magical core is nothing to sneeze at. I've been thinking about the amount of food that Shiroumaru and his friends have consumed, I might even have to pay for it. It's not only that, but they didn't accept the magic core of the king and other higher species.

Well, when you put it that way I don't know how many servings the young lady has had.

 Blanca sighed as she remembered how much Amur had eaten.
 It was Shiroumaru, Solomon, and Amur, and they had eaten nearly half of the food the villagers had offered us.
 The villagers were smiling at the way they ate, but for me and Blanca, it was a headache. By the way, as for my grandfather, he was doing a drinking contest with the villagers and sinking every single person who challenged him, which was a headache in a different way. The fallen people were made to drink water and cast a recovery spell, so no one managed to become an acute alcoholic, but there's no doubt that they would have been in trouble if they made a mistake.
 So as punishment, I made Shiroumaru and Solomon check the direction of the carriage's travel and whether there were any demons around, while Grandpa and Amur would have to take turns being a gyoza all day long.
 It wasn't much of a punishment, but I still had to make them do it, or else me and Blanca wouldn't feel good about it. Well, I don't think that's part of the punishment for Grandpa and the others.

'I hope they'll feel a little remorse after today. 

Sure, just a little bit. Wow!

 The moment Blanca was about to agree with me, the speed of the carriage suddenly increased. Thanks to the various modifications to this carriage, it was built in such a way that it didn't feel a bit of shaking or shock, so this was not something that would be normal.

''What's going on?!''

Grandpa, Amur, what happened?

 I was about to open the window behind the groom's seat and ask my grandpa and his friends what was going on, when I involuntarily lost my voice. At any rate.

Mm, we can't catch up to Shiroumaru.

Not even Raiden could compete with a carriage in tow.

 In the unlikely event that these two started racing with Shiroumaru, who was running alongside them. No matter how flat it was, if they kept going at this kind of speed, the carriage, especially the wheels, would soon break down.

''We're still going to have to make the next descent!
All right, let's go.

Hey.
"Whoa!

 Me and Blanca stopped them by grabbing them by their back collars as they tried to fly tautly. The two of them made a 'sh*t' face and made Raiden brake suddenly. As a result.........

Noooooooooo!
Noooooooo!

 We were both thrown to the front of the carriage. And me and Blanca were slammed against the window too.

'Tsk-uh...'
Hey!

 It was me and Blanca holding our faces together, but it seems that Grandpa and Amur did more damage than we did. The two of them are sprawled out on the ground beside Raiden, holding his face.

'Blanca,'
I'm sorry. Thank you.

 After I cast a recovery spell on my own face, I used the same spell on Blanca. Both of them were just bruised and their noses were only bleeding, so a light spell was enough to heal them.

You're not going to be able to find out what you want to say. Especially grandpa. Grandpa would have a pretty good idea of the strength of this carriage if he saw it, right?
'Miss, this is.......too much this time! You don't have the words reflection and learning in your head!

 Me and Blanca made Grandpa and Amur sit upright on the ground, and we both scolded them as hard as we could. The two of them must have felt that a poor rebuttal was a bad idea, so they remained silent and quiet until the end. However, Amur's legs were numb while he was being scolded and his concentration was lacking, but he managed to endure the scolding.

''Oh, I can't walk... Shilomar, stop it! Solomon, House!

 Unable to stand up properly due to the numbness in his feet, Amur was gradually walking towards the carriage, using his spear as a substitute for his staff, but Shiroumaru and Solomon, who thought he was playing with them, were poking Amur's feet with their noses. And since Amur's resistance was weaker than usual, the two animals were on a roll. Because of this, Amur had fallen over and over again.

'Fuu, you're not done yet.

 For some reason, when Grandpa saw Amur's condition, he looked triumphant and headed towards the carriage. However.

'Shiroumaru, Solomon, Grandpa wants to play with you! And they're going to give you a snack too!

"What are you talking about, Temma! Hey, that's not coming! Noooooooo!

 I knew it. I'm sure you'll be able to find out what's going on. It's a good thing that you're able to get the best out of it. And since it's easy to find out that it's a recovery magic, he used his floating magic to float along the ground, casually using his staff to move around.

I'm not going to be able to get it right. If you're going to go that far, why don't you just use your normal recovery magic?

"I'm sorry, get these guys off my back~~!

 There was no point in staying here forever, so I pulled Shiroumaru and Solomon away from Grandpa with the bait, and while I was at it, I put a recovery spell on their legs.

As punishment for this, you and I will stand guard at night until we reach Viscount Lobo's city, alone.

 From here, it would take us about a week to get to the city, so I decided to issue a harsh punishment.
 If you're an adventurer like my grandfather, you've probably experienced this many times before, but since you have to support Amur, the burden will be much higher. The inexperienced Amur's would go without saying.

''Sorry........''

 They both said just that one word and trotted off to the governor's seat. Shiroumaru and Solomon also began to move toward the front of the carriage, so I told them to slow down and come to me, even if Grandpa and Amur were trying to compete with each other. I don't expect them to repeat it again right away because they're pissed off, but it's just a precautionary instruction because it's possible that their speed may naturally increase in the form of a competition.

 Three days after such a thing happened, the carriage came to a sudden stop again. Since then, the two of them had been trying to drive safely, so maybe something had happened this time.

'Grandpa, what happened?'

There's a group of armed men coming toward us. They are so far ahead that they probably don't even notice us.

 While saying this, Grandpa made a telescope like shape with his right hand and put it to one eye to look at the distance. It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.
 I used my "search" to check it out and found a group of about fifty people about three kilometers away. When I used 'appraisal' on one of them, it was a regular beastman soldier belonging to the target city.

''I see something else... or rather, tell me what that magic is.''

 It's a good idea to keep the "search" and "appraisal" secret, so the telescope-like magic that grandpa uses is just right for a cover. I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make it easier for you to learn. It's a good thing that you have a good idea of what you're doing. It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to do with it. Well, even if the magic is quite inaccurate, it is said that almost everyone who can use them belongs to the nobility or the underworld. Moreover, they don't announce their existence, and most of the time they don't. At any rate, even if they are inaccurate, they can easily be used to commit crimes, and they can also be used to seize on the weaknesses of the opponents, so they are either surrounded in secret or dealt with. By the way, I've used it many times, but this is something that can be done because of the 'concealment', if they find out that I'm using 'search' or 'appraisal', I could be labeled a criminal if I'm not good at it. It's because the secret passages in the castle and the personal information (age and ability) of the kings are classified as the most important secrets. Well, those people might be able to get away with a few complaints, but the people around them will be noisy. Especially the reformers.
 It's a bit of a digression, but that's why I haven't told my grandfather either.

'Well, it's not a difficult spell to get used to. Theoretically, it's like putting a ward on both ends of a hand that imitates a tube. And that's the best way to do it, but...

Oh, there you go. Thanks, Grandpa.

Nuh-uh!

 From my grandfather's explanation, it occurred to me that I could take a tube made by hand and turn it into a telescope using a ward. Simply put, I thought of the boundaries as a glass-like object, and made convex and concave lenses, and fitted them into the two ends of the hand-made tube. It's the first time I've done this, so it's not very accurate, but after a lot of fine tuning and strengthening with magic, it was no longer a problem.

You know how many years it took me to master this magic?
We'll hear about it later. Blanca, Amour, and probably the two people you know.

Are you sure?
Really?

I'm sure there are many tiger beastmen, and the armor they wear is complete. And above all, there's a woman at the front of the line who looks like Amur. I think it's Amur's sister or a relative of his. 

"Sister?

 Since they are both nodding their heads together, it may just be that their faces are similar, but as long as they come out as regular soldiers in the 'appraisal', I think it's fine to continue on. Even if you were to be interrogated, if you show the crest of the letter that Maria-sama entrusted to you, you shouldn't be able to do anything poorly.
 I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to get the letter and identity out of it, so I took over the driver's seat with my grandfather and grabbed the reins of Raiden. I thought it would be easier for him to listen to me if a beastman of the same species as the soldiers sat beside me, and I tried to ask Blanca to do the job, but Amur insisted on refusing to give up his place to Blanca, so Amur and I sat in the driver's seat and let Raiden advance toward the group coming from the front.

You carriage, halt! You are the ones who came by way of the village beyond?
If that's the case, I'd like to ask you some questions about the village down the road.

 Two young tiger beastmen rushed up from the group when they noticed our approach. These two seemed to have come to determine who we were.

''That's right. That's right, I'm an adventurer named Temma Ootori, who came to you at the request of a certain someone from Seigen. We need you to call your affiliation and the person in charge of your squad.

 The two beastmen looked at me suspiciously as I said this, but thanks to the crests of the Otori family that I showed them, and the crests of the Duke of Sangha and the Marquis of Samoens that I showed them just in case, one of the beastmen ran to inform the person in charge of the group. At this time, they were quite suspicious because they gave the crests of the Otori family but refused to give the crests of the Dukes and Marquises. So the remaining one was blatantly wary of us. I just wondered why he was nodding his head when he saw Amur.

'Looking at it like this, it's pretty impressive.

 From the corner of my eye, there was a group of beastmen coming towards us. Most of them were tiger beastmen, so they were all quite strong-looking, and they were so powerful that even the underworlders who were about to go into a hostile organization would turn pale and give way.

''You're the adventurer who called yourself Temma... I don't know that you're the Otori family or this family crest, but... hmm?''

 For some reason, the tiger beast man at the front of the group stopped moving when he threw the Otori family crest over to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Amur, who was snuggled up against me, and Blanca, who was peeking out of the window behind him.

'Why are Amour and Blanca with this little boy? I mean, get away from Amur, kid!

 Seeing the angry man with his fangs turned up, Amur pulls me even closer to him. I pushed Amur away from me by pushing his face away, but the man who saw that, now says, "What do you have to complain about Amur, kid! I said in contradiction to what I just said.

'Sorry Temma. That's my brother-in-law, Lobo, Amur's father. Also, what you said about being Amur's sister is probably...

Get out of here, you little f*cker.

 With me showing no signs of leaving at all (in fact, Amour grabbed his clothes and wouldn't leave), the numbed-out Viscount Robo tried to jump on me, but

Quiet!

 

Ubofufu!

 Viscount Lobo was slammed into the ground from behind and his face was slumped to the ground.

''I'm sorry,''

 Seeing the woman apologize, Grandpa, who was peeking out from beside Blanca, said, "Are you Amour's sister? I said. Then Blanca looked delicate and Amour started laughing hysterically.

'Nice joke!'

 The woman's face seemed to pull back a little as Amur gave a thumbs up and smiled. Noticing that the woman had strained her hand on the spear, Blanca quietly pulled her face back into the carriage, but Amour didn't seem to notice her surroundings, and continued on.

That's just making him look younger. And that's what you are, a fine old lady-hello!

 A woman's sharp blow pierced Amur's forehead while he was laughing hysterically. The blow was so sharp that even I, who was beside Amur, could barely tell that he had moved. If this had been a blow aimed at me, I would have received a spear blow to the forehead and hit the back of my head on the wall behind me, just like Amur. That's how amazing it was. The only saving grace would have been the spear's stone-thrusting blow, pulling the spear back the moment it hit his forehead. If it hadn't been for that, Amur would certainly have died out without writhing. Most likely, he would still be able to spare enough time to crack his skull.

The first thing you need to do is to turn your forehead toward me, Amur, I'll cast a recovery spell on you.

Tenma I'm gonna fix it.

 Instead of kissing Amur's forehead, which was a joke, I gave him a decopin instead. From the look of the decopin, Amour's head didn't seem to be in too bad shape (although the contents seemed to be the same as usual), so I treated it with an ointment instead of magic.

'Temma's bad but I like it.
Friend, please.

"Amur is not for wives, gubbe!
You're so close.

 Viscount Lobo suddenly revived and fell into the ground again after the woman stepped on his head. This time he seems to have fallen deeper into the ground than before.

"So, if this woman is not Amur's sister, could it be?

'I'm Amur's mother!

We have to consider our age... ha!
Shit, you missed. 

 For me, I felt that Amur's mother's behavior was a bit deliberate, but not so much that I felt that much discomfort. However, it seemed to be full of discomfort for Amur, who is one of my relatives, and he unintentionally ran into her. And then, he immediately tipped his body to the side and took evasive action, this time dodging the sharp blow perfectly.
 Although Amur's dodging makes it seem like there were no victims, in fact, there were solid victims...underneath Amur's mother's feet, Viscount Lobo was being used as a stepping stone. Head.........

Dad, is he dead?
It's this good. You've got the best thing going for you: sturdiness.

 The mother and daughter were having a conversation while looking at Viscount Lobo, who was buried in the ground. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that the position of Viscount Lobo is sadly low in that family.

It's a good thing that you're the one Amur chose. So, shall we have a fight?

 The woman said, and for some reason she was happy to start preparing for it.