Chapter 43 Dryad and Alraune Part 2

Alraune. A race which was one rank above the Dryads.

They have powerful magical energy compared to Dryads, and also can borrow the power from plants of forests and use variegated magic.

They have high intellect, and are considered to be elder-sister figure of the Dryads.

And, that Neil-chan continued

These girls, theDryadandAlraune, are races living in this forest since old days.

The Dryads are born from the magical energy residing in plants, and the only 3 Alraune in this forest, guide and coach those Dryads. Like that they had been cohabitating.

The people ofFlower Valleydo know thisbut they dont come in their forest unless for picking up some herb found only here. Like medicinal herb.

TheseDryadandAlrauneare believed to be guardian deity of this forest, hence they never do lumbering work in these girls forest. Neither do they invade here.

And, if they entered the forest, then even if they met these girls by pure coincidence, they would not harm them.

There are also people who would take the posture of praying and leave offering for them.

Well, we live by just eating water and fruitsso the times they leave offerings like meat or fish, it causes us troubles

Ah, is that so?

These girls were living quietly like that, but today, around afternoonthey spotted shady men in the forest.

They were different from the people of city that come for picking up herbsthey were several men wearing dangerous equipments. Neil-chan and others spotted them.

Then, some of them, noticed the girls, and attacked them.

And, we reach the story before.

Two of them were the guys I got done with before, and were now tied up a strong-looking ivy made by Neil=chans mangic.

At the time we finish hearing the situation from Neil-chan, the girl being patted on head by her, Lily-cha,

Recently, there has only been strange things happening in this forest

? Strange things?

Said in a sad voice.

Strange thingsonly been? What does it mean?

Hearing further, it turns out that Neil-chan and other Dryadshave felt that recently, the state of forest is different from usual.

The appearance of kidnappers, is a given, luckily no one has been abducted yet.

Demons that never came out in this forest, started appearing,

The corpses of demons killed mercilessly by someone were discovered,

And the guaranteedbiggestunusual event, according to Lila-chan is

Couple of days ago. There was a big lizard

Lizard?

Yeah. A lizard walking on two legs. Its tail was long, and it also had very sharp fangs and claws. I was frozen in place and even though I would be eatenbut it kept on walking without doing anything

I also saw that! Im sure the corpses of demons is its work!

Scary~!

Or so it is. I, althoughhavent seen it yet

Hm

A lizard walking on two legs, I seeis it, after all, a demon?

I asked Elk for any cluesbut to no avail.

The demons appearing here are plant-type, animal-type and insect-type, so she had no idea about this one.

Well, in the animal-type demons there sure is lizard-type demonlikeLizard, but it walks on four legsAh, but,

There wereLizardmanthat came out during the escort of Trader Group. They walked on two legs and fought with swords in hands. Just like a lizard-version of goblin.

But they dont appear hereeven the Dryads said it didnt had any equipment or swordso it must different demon.

Then what is itI was again perplexed

At that time,

SFX: *sniff*

!!?

My nosesniffed out a particularscentcoming from deep in the forest.

Immediately afterinside my mind, the memory regarding the source of scent flashbackedand suddenly cold sweat poured out of my whole body. My bodystiffened in a second. I got gooseb.u.mps.

I didnt care about, Elk and Neil-chan, who got startled after noticing my expressionand immediately stood up.

M-Minato? WaiWh-what happened!?

Elk and others too, just become a stone, and dont dare to move. Dont move away from me

Eh?

Get to it! I dont have time to explain!

I give out orders in clear, yet not loud voice.

Although Elk seemed to know nothing, butlooks like she understood the dire situation, and albeit being perplexed abided by my orders. Great.

And I stood in front of the girls, facing the way scent was coming from.

Judging from the scentit seems pretty far. The wind was flowing in our direction that I was able to grasp the scent, truly luckily. Probably, the other has not noticed usI think.

The scent of demon was different than most of speciesIf I had not known about it before, then even with my enhanced olfaction, I wont be able to scent out it.

At mostI can understand, if its on the level of horse or dog.

But,

I knowthat guysscent.

I cant forget it, even if I want to.

And while thinking thatI remember the talk Lila-chan was doing before, about thatLizard walking on two legs

I seeeven that guy walked on two legs, had long tail, sharp fangs and clawsand was a lizard.

In that case, the unidentified demon appearing in this forest isHey hey, dont tell me!

I drew the worst case scenario in my mindand kept on protecting the girls without exterminating the nervousness.

Some minutes later.

The source of scentas expected didnt notice us.

It slowly walked awayto a distance that I couldnt smell the scent anymore.

Confirming that, and after some more minutes of vigilanceI let out the power.

I signed Elk with hand, sayingIts fine nowand got rid of vigilance.

At that momentbecause the mental fatigue was occupying more s.p.a.ce in my mind, I felt tired.

It is finethat we werent discovered

Butthe scent from before, is without a doubtthat guy Dont tell me, it was in this forest? In that case

H-Hey Minato

HmWhat?

I looked at her and saw her looking at me with concerned eyes, well its normal.

Well I should tellto her.

The moment I tried to explain to her, who seemed to want to knowabout it,

Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

I heard several hoa.r.s.e screams fromthe direction of city.

What is it this time!?