Oh boy, I made another mistake. I mistook Cleran"s name as Claren, and don"t even ask me how, I might have just become convinced and stopped looking at the name properly or something… Thanks Rinvelt, I wouldn"t have realized otherwise! Thanks for reading~

We continue walking through the forest, but nothing particularly seems to have changed. The creeks are still quietly streaming.
Even when I concentrate my mind and look at the birds or insects, I don"t see any change in their appearances.
Although there"s a small village in the foot of this land, the villagers don"t get injuries from beasts or monsters either.
It really is a normal forest.

"Oi, Farga~, we can"t see it at all. Is a dragon really here? I don"t know how big that dragon is, but wouldn"t we find it pretty easily if it is here?" (Velt)

Farga is just walking silently without saying a word. To be honest, I"m tired.

"Certainly, although we are just randomly walking, it is suspicious that there are no traces." (Ura)
"Lord, in case you are thirsty, I have a canteen here. How about we take a rest somewhere for once?" (Musashi)

I don"t think that woman called Cleran found the dragon and ate it as of now.
The other Hunters would have made a clamour if they found it.
I"m kinda tired, bored, and don"t have much motivation. In the first place, there wasn"t even any proof that the device dragon is near here.
Seeing me take a breather while leaning against a tree, Ura and Musashi stopped walking too. They haven"t mentioned it, but I can tell they"re subtly bored.

"You d.a.m.n weaklings. Can"t be helped, guess we"ll take a break." (Farga)

Seeing our tension, Farga took a break here too.
He threw canteens and sandwiches at us after taking them out of a large bag, and we let out a sigh of relief.

"Good grief. Stupid younger brother, even though we"ve only been searching for around five hours, you got all worn out." (Farga)
"No no, five hours is quite a lot isn"t it? Furthermore, we aren"t just walking, but we"re also concentrating on our surroundings.” (Velt)

Would it have been different if we fought with a monster? I mean, it"s not like I want to fight or something, but it wouldn"t be weird if you encounter one after walking in the forest this much, and since this place is basically peace itself without any dragons, it"s kinda a letdown.

"Hmph, then remember it. This is basically what Hunters do. It"s not about whether you can catch prey or obtain treasure. You don"t even have proof that that prey is there, but you don"t move because you have proof. It"s the same for treasure. You don"t dig a hole because you have proof that treasure is buried there. Proof isn"t what stimulates Hunters; it"s instinct. As a result, even if it ends in vain, that"s our job." (Farga)

It was a bit unusual.
I thought Farga became a Hunter when he was a brat because he didn"t want to succeed the throne.
However, the truth might be that he abandoned the throne and left his house to become a Hunter.
Farga has a difficult to understand personality, but I felt that he has quite some attachment to being a Hunter.

"Hunters, huh. It is too complicated for me." (Musashi)
"Ahh, that reminds me, Hunters killed your parents and the elf they served, right?" (Velt)
"Yes. Ah, er, of course, since then, I thought and understood that resenting all humans and lumping them all together is wrong, but I still have mixed feelings about Hunters." (Musashi)

That"s right. Too many things happened in Shiromu that I had completely forgotten about her past, but Hunters were the reason behind Musashi"s hate to humans. Hunters overhunted the elves and demi-humans who could be sold at high prices, and her parents that tried to stop that were killed.
Of course that would be complicated for her.

"About that, the pieces of s.h.i.t that did that were probably the Hunters hired by『Love and Money』. When I was still a beginner, there was a time when large amounts of elves and mermaids were being traded in Shiromu. Most of them had their prices knocked down though." (Farga)

Love and Money.
That name strangely bothered me.

"The organization Jiel is in, and the one that Miyamoto, no, Musashi"s grandad tried to destroy, huh." (Velt)

The words Miyamoto said when we parted in Shiromu; Love and Money"s boss is one of Asakura Ryuuma"s cla.s.smates.

"What is it, stupid younger brother. Are you interested in it?" (Farga)
"Nope, not at all." (Velt)

To be honest, it would be a lie if I said it wasn"t on my mind.
However, do I want to willingly get involved with it and try to do something for Kagami? Not really.
When I got involved with Miyamoto, it was because of the situation there, but as of now, I"m not thinking of doing anything for Kagami.
No matter what he does in this world, as long as it doesn"t affect me, then I don"t feel like acting as a champion of justice.

"So, Musashi. What are you actually going to do? Are you going to completely wash away your resentment towards humans and stick to my back?" (Velt)
"That is, as of now, I cannot say anything. Lord and Farga-dono are special, but I cannot say anything about humans." (Musashi)
"I guess so. Well, it"s not something you can so easily make a distinction about." (Velt)
"To be honest, I am perplexed. So, can I ask how you are? Although your parents were killed by a demi-human, were you able to easily make a distinction with me, who is a fellow demi-human?" (Musashi)

Distinction? No, that"s probably a delicate thing for me too.
In reality, I can"t imagine what would happen if I saw the demi-human that killed my old man and mum in front of my eyes.
It feels strange just hearing "demi-human".
However, just because of that, it wouldn"t make me have a strong reaction against Musashi or Miyamoto and the others.

"Rather than saying I made a distinction, I think I was just lucky since I didn"t fall so low that I would go mad with resentment, hatred or grief." (Velt)
"That is, uh, do you mean that when your parents were killed………… you were not that sad?" (Musashi)
"No. I cried. I regretted it. I wanted to kill demi-humans. But before I went mad, there were people that saved me." (Velt)
"Saved you?" (Musashi)

That"s right, I was lucky. More than Samejima. More than Miyamoto.
I didn"t become a slave to hatred after losing important people to me.

"One person was my teacher. He understood my real self and was a person that I could talk to without hiding anything. The other person………… was a bit of a precocious brat, but despite being a brat, she said she seriously likes me and was someone that would seriously cry for me." (Velt)

Sensei and Forna. I might have only been able to stay as I am now because they were there for me.

"Stupid younger brother. You"re talking about my stupid younger sister, right? She"ll go so d.a.m.n mad from joy that you wouldn"t think she"s someone from this world, you know?" (Farga)
"………… Hmph………… if I was in the same situation, I would have definitely…………" (Ura)

Nah, I can"t say that to Forna. If I did, she would get really c.o.c.ky and probably irritate me.
Also, Ura. There"s no point if you try to compete with her here, so don"t get angry.

"Anyway, as I just said, I was lucky. Right now and in my past life too, for some reason, there was a person that held out their hand to me, so I won"t be of much use with this." (Velt)

My past life. That"s right, it was the same in Asakura Ryuuma"s time too.
I meaninglessly rebelled alone, and yet there was a woman who held her hand out to me.
Of course, Asakura Ryuuma probably wouldn"t have gone on the field trip and died if he hadn"t met that woman.
Well, since Velt Jeeha"s life wouldn"t be here if it wasn"t for that, I can"t really say anything.
Well, it"s useless just thinking about stuff like that. Making everything more simple is better.

"How about you, Ura-dono?" (Musashi)
"It"s a delicate topic for me too. I don"t have good feelings towards the crazy human who killed mother or the humans that killed father and everyone who had been close to me since the past, but given that it was a war, I tried to forcefully make a distinction." (Ura)

That"s right, Musashi and Ura are both just thinking too much about unimportant things.

"Who cares about making a distinction or whatever. You don"t like what you don"t like, like what you like, and if you end up liking something, then there"s no helping it. It’s fine like that." (Velt)
"Lord~, however, you can"t simply cla.s.sify society with what you like and don"t like." (Musashi)
"Then for people you can"t cla.s.sify, you don"t have to like or dislike them. In other words, they aren"t your enemies nor your allies." (Velt)

Musashi, who was making a difficult face, probably thought that thinking about it is foolish, and looked up while leaning against a tree.
I don"t know how she felt after hearing my words.
However, rather than a hesitant thinking face, she made a somewhat refreshed face.

The atmosphere became a little relaxed.
However, it was at that time.

"Gyaaaaa, pl, please help meeee!" (?)

At that time, a scream mixed with fear resounded inside the forest.

"N, no, I"ll be killed! Eaten! Someone, someone, save meee!" (?)

The voice seems to be coming from one person, but they probably lost themselves in shouting.
I was able to feel the imminent, dreadful threat.

"Oi, Farga, there weren"t any brutal monsters or animals around here, right?" (Velt)
"At least none that a professional Hunter would be afraid of and escape from." (Farga)
"Save for one exception…… that is……" (Musashi)

Tension naturally ran through us.

"Good grief, even though we"re having a serious topic." (Velt)
"What a boorish guy." (Ura)
"Indeed." (Musashi)

For me, this will be my first time seeing a dragon.
Not good, I"m getting quite nervous. Like, it"s going to be okay, right?
I won"t be suddenly eaten, right?
However, this scream clearly said "eaten".

"Hmph, piece of s.h.i.t. They seem to have come to us." (Farga)

The corners of Farga"s mouth slanted upwards. The pressure coming from him feels like my whole body is being pierced.
He"s serious.

"Velt, stay back a bit. I"m counting on you for support." (Ura)
"I will not let it touch lord at all!" (Musashi)

Farga at the vanguard. Ura and Musashi behind him. I"m not standby at the back, to float whatever"s fallen nearby and strike it with them.

"Good grief, you annoying, natural fantasy material! If you"re coming, then just come!" (Velt)

Now, come out. I already resolved myself, so I"ll take you on for as long as you want.

"Nooooo, someone, please save meee!" (?)

And then, we saw the appearance of what pushed its way through the dense thicket.

"Wha!" (Farga)
"What is this!" (Ura)
"No way!" (Musashi)
"Thi, thi, this is the, de, device dragon!" (Velt)

The thing that flew out was flapping both wings, had two horns, two arms, claws and two legs.
If you were to call it a stereotypical, common dragon, it would be, but its skin up to its eyes all looked like grey iron or stainless steel, and I can see joints for each part.
Certainly, rather than a living thing, it looked like a substance was moving.

However, that wasn"t what we were surprised about.
We were surprised about two points.

The first one was the size.

"Is, is this right?" (Farga)
"Umu, it"s cute?" (Ura)
"No way, it is sma, sma, sma, small." (Musashi)
"So, so smaaaaaaaaaaaaall!" (Velt)

That"s right, the device dragon that flew out from deep in the thicket was extremely small.
It"s like, only as big as a cat or a toy dog.

"Uwaaaaa, I"m going to be killed~!" (?)

And the other part we were surprised about, is this.
We completely thought it was a Hunter that raised a scream while being chased by the device dragon, but we were wrong.

"Stop right thereee! Just obediently let me eat youuuu!" (Cleran)

The one that raised a scream and ran away, was the device dragon.
While crying out, the device dragon, no, while actually crying, it was being chased by Cleran, who became the predator.
That"s right,

"Uwaaan, humans are too scaryyyy!" (Device Dragon)

The device dragon was screaming in the human language.

""""It, it talked!!"""" (Velt, Farga, Ura, Musashi)

Dragons can talk? No, even Farga became speechless.
What exactly should we do about this situation?
Even though we stood ready so that we could immediately start moving if something happened, none of us could move a single step.

Just this time, we couldn"t make the decision of whether this thing is an enemy, an ally, or neither.