Chapter 47 : Alien vs Y Starting From Five

The next day after we formed a party with Yukihime-san, I was made to do a seiza again by s.h.i.+nji and Midori-san.

s.h.i.+nji told me 'For you to be able to get along with Yukihime-chan, how envious-'from point blank range-with a scary face, while Midori-san said that I shouldn't be ogling that kind of stranger.

What s.h.i.+nji said aside, it's not like I have no reaction to Midori-san's words. I don't know what she's trying to say by pointing out such matters, but it's not like I'm completely clueless about it either. There's a saying that humans become smaller when they feel guilty, but the current me isn't the exact personification of such words either. Honestly, I can't even look straight at Midori-san's eyes as everytime I tried doing it almost made my legs give out.

That aside, for some reason Aoi-san was also doing a seiza with me. Could it be that you took the brunt of my action and was forced to take joint responsibility?　Or else, what did you do to Midori-san?　Midori-san, could you please d―― Eh, “Who said you can move?"　"I've got loads of things to say to you"　I see. It seems I'm going to get chewed out alive by them today too huh.

After that, I received remedial lessons about 『10 methods to enjoy the game without standing out』 from both of them. Though s.h.i.+nji tried to add 「Introduce the cute girls to me」 as the last method, it ended up in failure due to Midori-san's liver blow. These two are as close as ever huh? Are they going to punch me if I tell them that?

………. Yup, they punched me hard.

Later that night, me and Aoi-san met with Yukihime at our promised place.

「Sorry to make you wait, Yukihime-san」

「Ah, h.e.l.lo Sou-kun, Luu-chan」

Luu-chan?　Ah, she meant Aoi《Blue》.

「Well then, shall we go hunting in accordance to our previous arrangement? Since me and Blue have yet to hunt on the open field of Nagasaki, today is our first try」

「I see. Well since this is also my first time hunting on an open field like this, I'm as clueless as you two」

I see, I see, so both side are noobs huh. But, Yukihime-san is the type that will charge ahead just like s.h.i.+nji. The amount of experience she has in this game is clearly far beyond mine. I, as the sole man of this party, am truly ashamed of myself for not being able to say anything and completely rely on Yukihime-san, but it's also rea.s.suring.

The open fields around s.h.i.+mabara city are composed of mountain range fields that keep going onward, forest fields, and coastline fields that borders the sea. Plain fields are also placed between those three fields.

The players must traverse the fields and mountains to arrive at the next city, 【Sasebo】. According to rumors, it'll take a lot of time to arrive at the next city. Since our aim right now isn't the city but getting used to this makes.h.i.+ft party, we also have no reason to force our way to the mountains. Thus we went towards the coast while chatting between ourselves.

The day has turned into night, but since my vision is dimmed, not completely darkened, I can somehow see the sea at night. The feeling of my body sinking with every step on the sandy beach takes me back to my childhood. If I were with s.h.i.+nji right now, I'd definitely be jumping into the sea.

「The sea in the night is really pretty right………」

……… It's pretty indeed. I'm unintentionally charmed by it. As for comments like “What a girly guy”, I never heard such things. The way the sea breeze is caressing my hair made me forget to breath for a short while.

「It's really pretty」

Pretty right? Yup, why, I wonder, can she be this pretty? I can die with ease and ascend to heaven since I was able to go to this place with Yukihime-san. Though Blue's a beauty too, their beauties are polar opposite to each other: While blue is a shy type, Yukihime is more of a lively beauty.

「Are you thinking about something dirty, Sou-kun? 」

「E-eh, no you're imagining things…definitely」

I can't underestimate the power of older woman. I recalled the harsh scolding of Midori-san from this morning. She said that a living being from the “Onee-san archetype” has intuition 5 times sharper regarding emotions and line of sight, but is this case also one of those?.

「Come to think of it Yukihime-san, do you know about the type of monsters that sp.a.w.n in this place? 」

「Uhm, I'm sure it's a kind of eel or mudskipper」

Hohou, her brain also matches her appearance. Yukihime-san doesn't seem to be troubled by them but, can Aoi-san fight them? She won't be surprised and fall on her b.u.t.t right? No, Aoi-san is a timid person so she might cling to the person next to her. In that case, I'll release my everything just to be able to be on Aoi-san side.

「M-Mudskipper-san is it? 」

Ah, this is a misunderstanding. You can't take it as it is, Aoi-san. Are you just imagining an animal, the king that is going to fondle and lick your body all over?　Even I can't bring myself to shoot the king you know.

「When I said Mudskipper, I was referring to a fish, Luu-chan 」

「The fish……….. One? 」

「Yes, the one who appears during low tide. I don't know about the eel one though」

「Guys, I don't know whether it's that mudskipper or not but, the monsters are coming. Their number are…….. Around four」

I interrupted their conversation and then both of them also prepared themselves for the incoming battle. Well then, what kind of enemy is going to sp.a.w.n?

「INCOMING! 」

By the time I said that, a giant monster appeared from the ocean. It's almost two metres in length and looks like an eel. I can see the sharp teeth that are lining up in rows from the slight opening of its mouth. It's a living being that looks like an alien due to its appearance, and it doesn't even have eyes.

「An eel, huh? It's appearance is simply gross」

Though I saw them on tv before, it basically looks like an alien from close up.

「Leave it to me. Yukihime-san, please cooperate with Blue to――」

「GIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, I HATE SLIMY THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGS!」

Yukihime ran along the sandy beach while raising such screams with speeds that rival those of track and field club members.

「…….. She is weak to those, huh?」

That scream is too natural, isn't it? Before I even noticed, we were already getting along with her. That aside, I'm wondering whether I can maintain this status quo with Yukihime-san. It seems that Blue herself is stunned in seeing the enemy's appearance, but she regained her composure after seeing the rare case of Yukihime-san's snap.

「Blue, since I'm going to beat them, can I leave Yukihime-san to you?」

「Y-Yes, I understand. If you say so, please be careful」

「Ou」

But this monster is. Just when I wondered whether it was going to attack as soon as it appeared, it waited for Aoi-san to leave the scene. To think that there's a monster who can read the atmosphere like this.

「……. Eh?　Could it be that this guy is simply unable to leave the sea?」

Does that mean we're not going to be ambushed if we're on the sandy beach?　But then again, why did it come out with such timing?　Could it be that there's an error in its AI?

「U~hm, pointing my gun toward non hostile enemies is rather…………」

But when I was troubled about what to do, maybe because the eel-like enemy read the atmosphere again, it began its attack by spitting a purple liquid from its mouth.

「Oops— The heck, isn't this acid fluid?!　So it really is an alien huh?」

The so called eel does have a scary appearance, but it's probably a culinary delicacy. It might cause some sort of misunderstanding but the a.s.sessment might be changed when people see the loot from this monster.

I pointed the muzzle of my gun toward the eel that was rapid firing the acid liquid from its mouth once it was open.

「The means aside, you're the first monster who has challenged me to a shooting contest…….. BRING IT ON!」

I guess battling only with my gun once in a while isn't that bad. I mean it has only been about close combat recently.

「…….. They're too weak」

The acid liquid that was fired by the four giant eels would be dangerous if it hit the target, but the projectile speed is only around 100 kilometres per hour. Dodging such attacks is a piece of cake. On the contrary, the eels, whose body half surfaced from the ocean, were just a shooting target for me. They're just small fry.

It might have turned into a desperate battle if this happened in a place that could limit my footwork, but at the very least no small fry can beat me if I have the high ground. [Ed: "It's over Anakin!"][TL : Good job mate]

「Oh well, let's collect the loot and get back to Yukihime-san and Aoi-san」

I took the fish fillet-like loot that was scattered on the beach.

【Meat of Eel : The Fillet of the fish that lives in the mud. You can utilise its maximum potential as a food ingredient by turning it into dried rations. Yamada from the development team was blocked by his daughter for sending the close up picture of an eel】

Again!!　No, I might have expected such trivia to appear again. Nevertheless, you can't do that Yamadsan. The close up photograph of an eel is too much for the children you know? Of course you've been banned. I never felt such sympathy as the one I feel for Yamadsan.

「Oops, I'm being overly emotional about Yamadsan again」

Feeling an absurd level of compa.s.sion for Yamadsan, I ran towards Aoi-san and Yukihime-san.

Yukihime-san is sadly really messed up right now. That might be one of the faces she doesn't normally show to others so I shouldn't dig my own grave by ever mentioning this matter again.

When I ran along the sandy beach, a message from Yukihime-san suddenly appeared right in front of me. I took a brief look at the message while wondering whether it's about the matter from before, but what was written on there was――

【Sou-kun, help!】

――EH?