MTL/ Editor: Earwig654

TLC/TL: khurbee aka kirby

TLC/TL: Shura37564

You can probably just ignore this next rambling.

(Earwig’s rant: I was happy with last week’s chapter and thrilled that that I could watch you guys guess what was going to happen and how your all ideas were so much better then mine. But also I read from some of you all that you were posting spoilers in the comments. It may happen in a couple chapters or in the next volume but I’m editing these while I’m reading it. So please don’t post spoilers or I’ll lose my motivation to work on it. The Very least put *spoiler* or something. )

Shura37564: yeah that should do it or you can add tl;dr: don’t post spoilers.

The next day, we began to follow the ghoul’s footprints.

Although it was meandering slightly, the Ghouls seem to have come straight from the northwest.

Even though Mimicking the Fire Fang’s sense of smell wasn’t as good as the real thing, we were still were able to follow them easily from the blood and the many tracks they left behind.

It’s looking like we were getting closer to humans, I felt like I needed to think about how to interact with the people here.

While sitting around the fire one night, I brought up the idea with the family.　

“I think when we find people it should be Lily, Kato, and I who first make contact. Everyone else should hang back.”(Kajma)

Should I say “as expected?” Everyone started to raise their objections.

“What!? Milord, what does thou meanest by that!?”(Gerbera)

“Master will be in danger. Please, please permit us to accompany you”

“Even if you say that. There isn’t any helping it.  Besides Lily, you guys can’t hide that you’re monsters.”(Kajma)

I understand the objecting Rose and Gerbera’s feelings, even I don’t want to part with them.

But when having contact with humans, it’s my firm belief to lie about my ability. Since I don’t know what kind of reaction people will have with monsters.  I shouldn’t show off my power lightly. More so to the other transfers. This way it can be one of my hidden cards.

By the very nature of it, the people that I can bring are limited.

Because Asarina can’t detach from my left arm she has to come along and the only other one that I can bring is Lily.

At this point my family would surely understand my reasoning, whether they agree or not is another matter.

“Master should bring this mistress! Master might be in danger! One dost not seriously think one can carefreely walk through the forest, right!?”(Gerbera)

Gerbera is a little too excited, I could hear the sound of her spider legs.

I glance down at the lower part of the spider body.

“Even if you say that, I won’t be able to cheat. What exactly are you thinking?”(Kajma)

“This one thinks this one should tear off the bottom half, Tis only the upper part I doth not looketh different than a human’s!”()

“… that’s impossible…. What kind of horror movie is that?”(Kajma) (TL E: lol)

The most fundamental part wasn’t solved.

As expected even a white arachne wouldn’t survive without its lower half.

“B-But…”(Gerbera)

Did she realize she said something impossible? Gerbera raises a groan.

She has been very emotional today. She probably understands it with her head, but when her blood gets boiling she can’t think clearly.

Persuading her would probably take time.

Of all things Ayame who had been resting on the white spiders head gave a snort.

“kuu-!”()

Ayame who had been languidly lying on Gebrera’s head gets up and energetically Jumps off.

With everyone’s line of sight on her, she throws herself at Lily.

No, to say that she jumped would probably be a better choice of words.

Lily catches that small body immediately.

She struggles within Lily’s hands, escapes, and shoves her head down Lily’s s.h.i.+rt and crawls all the way in.

“W-wait, Ayame?”()

If she keeps sliding down her s.h.i.+rt she’ll eventually fall to the ground . Lily must have realized this since she started holding down the hem of her s.h.i.+rt.

While Ayame made noises and turned into a stored-in-bag state, she stuck out her head from Lily’s chest.

Her cute and round eyes reflected Gerbera.

Gebrera’s red eyes became wide.

“Thou art going in my stead?”(Gerbera)

When Gerbera asked, Ayame snorted to reply

Ayame looks at her with s.h.i.+ning eyes as if saying “leave it to me”.  Apparently, she’s serious.

“……  You are the size of a palm. But, it still might not be possible to hide you under clothes. “(Kajma)

I unintentionally interrupted their conversation .

Actually part of Lily’s chest is now sticking out so much it looks fake.  Lily may have a great chest but it’s unreasonably big now.

But a place to hide the kit came from an unexpected place

“It might not be so, master.” (Lily)

As Lily said that she puts her hands underneath her s.h.i.+rt..

She holds Ayame with one hand and rolls up her s.h.i.+rt with the other.

Hear smoosh stomach and pretty naval were exposed. I could now see the bottom of two globes slightly poking out underneath the s.h.i.+rt, with no bra in sight. As I watched, her skin slowly lost its flesh color and turned into a clear liquid substance

“If I do this, ……”(Lily)

When Lily changed her stomach back into flesh there was a small indent there.  Lily put Ayame into the indent.

In my head I begin to applaud, it was like street magic. This method can hide the extra ma.s.s that is Ayame. It was the transportation method that only Lily, who was a slime, could do. It may be slightly tight, but Ayame should be able to endure it.

Ayame looked over at Gerbera as if to ask “How is it?”

Gerbera who still looked slightly doubtful put on a smile and walked over.

Because of Ayame’s behaviour, Gerbera seems to have regained her rationality.

Gerbera gently patted the area where Ayame’s head should be.

Ayame gives a snort at Gerbera’s fingertips.  Ayame is starting to appear very dependable.

A drop of water falls on the outstretched hand and I look up.

“Rain?”(Kajma)

The clouds are a dark color hanging above the trees.

This is bad.

  We were making use of Lily’s sense of smell as we followed the ghouls tracks. The rain is going to wash out the scent of the ghouls. We are going to lose one of our clues.

Of course it’s rained since we moved from our first base. but, it hasn’t rained in awhile so I got careless.

Even if I took that into consideration there still wasn’t anything we could have done.

It would be regrettable to lose a clue that took so much effort to get. So we hurry on ahead.  

We encountered many monsters with different degrees of difficulty but quickly defeated them so we could be on our way quickly.

We have come all this way and still don’t really know where the ghouls are from.  In exchange we haven’t seen any fire fangs and magic puppets.

Around noon it began to rain very hard. It would be hard to track the ghouls on sense of smell alone.

But that wasn’t such a big problem anymore.

We found something interesting.

In an animal trail we found a boot print. It was trace of people.

While staying cautious we followed the game trail that was half buried in the gra.s.s.

We then found weapons, the same type the ghouls had, scattered around a wide area. There was also trampled shrubs and damaged trees. They were signs that there had been a battle here. We couldn’t find any of the soldier’s corpse laying around. It could be that the bodies were eaten or that the survivors carried them away. But in case of the latter wouldn’t they have carried away the weapons also.

Any ways this must be the path that person (Mr boot-print-san) was using. The trail must lead back to their home. We finally found a new clue.

But we still didn’t follow it haphazardly. We decided to stay in the forest and followed parallel to the trail. This way we can observe any people we find and avoid contact if we want.

By this time it has been over a week since we first made contact with the ghouls.

The lighting is dim, even for being in the forest. It’s still early morning. I haven’t even had breakfast yet. Why am I getting up so early? It’s so I could train my body strengthening magic.

“――”

I was conscious of existence of the magic in the container, that is me.

The magic begins to muddily move through my body.

It lacks shape and is kinda ugly compared to the magic that Gerbera uses.

If Gerbera’s magic is like a torrent, mine is like mud that could be washed away by a stream.

Even then, if I flow my magic through my body like this, the effect should be obvious.

For example, right now my grip strength could probably rival a 2 meter tall body builder.

Still this is only the limits of a human, but my strength and stamina is steadily rising.

Even with that, just having strength is meaningless, there is still a need to learn how to control it.

“HA-”(Kajma)

I stepped in and swung my sword

This is really hard. I can just use strengthening magic, but if I think about it my hands and feet movements would just become clumsy and sluggish. For several days I was falling over while trying to run. It’s a memory I’d like to forget about.

The sword tore through the air. The speed of the sword has became reasonable even without magic enhancements  ….. unfortunately my arms don’t have the muscle memory yet, I’m only at the level where I can use a sword as if it was a club. Despite that, a deadly weapon is still a deadly weapon. It’s inherently dangerous to handle one poorly.

The spider leg that comes flying to counterattack me is stopped at the last second by the s.h.i.+eld on my left arm.  The leg makes a tearing sound as it digs into the ground. Just like that my left arm went numb.

While I lose my concentration, my leg is tripped up. My back hits the ground hard. Recently i’ve been able to take a hit pretty well.

I catch my breath as I roll out of the way, a spider legs pierces through the place where I was a couple of seconds ago. Dangerous, the fight almost ended there.

I feel an impact on my chest. I let my guard down.

Gerbera has 8 legs, each of which work like independent creatures.  

My lung gets the air knocked out and crushed. The pain and oppressiveness attacks me at the same time and I nearly lose consciousness. The fall alone nearly kills me. After I have fallen it is hard to stand back up.

“N-not yet!”(Gerbera)

While staying in place, Gerbera attacks me again. The attack was so relaxed that Gerbera yawned as she dealt the blow. But it’s such a sharp blow that I can’t stop it unless I give it my full attention.

The attack doesn’t make it through but I can feel the fatigue building in my left arm every time the spider leg hits my s.h.i.+eld. I’m laying against the ground my entire body aches in pain. Despite the pain, if I show any openings the spider leg will come in and knock me out. I eject the contents of my stomach, and nearly faint from the pain. This is about the same as my other training sessions.

“Ugu-!”(Kajma)

My fatigue has built up and I think my foot has finally broke. By mental strength alone I stay in place, my experience told me that I could still expect another attack. I force my left arm to stay up.

Asarina, the Vine that grows from my left hand, flew into the air like a whip. Asarina closes the distance in the blink of an eye. Every one out of ten times my luck shows, Gerbera jumps back successfully evading the vine. I feel dizzy from the lack of oxygen, But I wipe my sweat off and grasp my sword’s hilt again. I step forward.

“Ha-!”(Kajma)

-Flash-

My sword was. .h.i.t free.

I can feel it leaving my hand.

“….Ha?”(Kajma)

I was stunned staring at empty s.p.a.ce.

“Milord, the end’s finally here.”(Gerbera)

A light impact hit my back. I seemed to have been hit by one of her legs. Though this has happened so many times I didn’t need to see it. It was a familiar feeling already. With that my stance breaks. That small amount force was enough force to slam my face forward into the ground. I could only watch as the ground rapidly approached my face.

-Bang!-

“Uwaaa-!”(Kajma)

My idiotic scream resounded throughout the still dark forest.