We work on the hot spring until I suddenly feel a monster presence.
“It’s rare for monsters to approach when I’m around…”
“What should we do?”
What indeed. You eat what you kill. That’s the standard on this island.
Lately, Tiltue and Luna have been hunting with Snow, so we have plenty of food.
I feel like I could leave it be, but it could harm Zephir.
If it doesn’t attack us, I don’t need to kill it, but I think I should make sure they’re scared of humans.
“…I’ll chase it away.”
I’m not a pro, I just have a tough body, so I actually don’t know how strong that monster is.
After all, the difference between strong and weak monsters doesn’t matter to me…
“Oh?”
I use my hands to get through the kind of thick vegetation, and see a monster I know… A mantichoras.
It has a black collar on its neck that’s like a shadow, so I’m sure it’s Cara’s pet.
“Your name is Chorus, right…?”
This is demon god territory, not where it lives, so why is it here?
I look around, but don’t see Cara.
“Are you all right?”
“Ah, yes. It’s Cara’s pet monster.”
Zephir comes out from behind me, since there doesn’t seem to be any trouble.
He’s surprised to see the mantichoras, but being a seasoned warrior means he calms himself quickly.
“It seems hurt.”
“Eh?”
It’s dirty, so it’s hard to tell, but Chorus does seem to have a lot of wounds.
These aren’t just the scars of the attack by Krr and Grr, there are fresh wounds.
“What happened?”
Chorus staggers its way here, and I touch it to use simple healing magic.
Unlike offensive magic, I can’t just infuse magic energy and be done with it. I’m not very good at this.
Ceres told me too much can be a poison…
Careful, careful… I slowly increase my magic energy, looking for the right amount.
It might be annoying to Chorus, but thankfully, it goes well and it’s fully healed.
“Done.”
It’s rubbing its head against me. Is it thanking me?
It’s big, but it’s pretty cute like a cat.
“There there. So what happened?”
“!”
It feels like I just reminded it of something, as it turns back and lowers its posture.
“Hum…”
“Is it telling us to ride it?”
We get on its back, and sure enough, Chorus runs.
Despite this being a lush forest, it runs briskly like it’s in its backyard.
Still, it picks the widest paths to prevent us from getting hit by stuff like branches.
“Where is it going…?”
“It appears to be heading to the top of the mountain…”
As we wonder what’s going on, Chorus slows down.
It puts its nose on the ground, like it’s tracing a smell.
After a while, it raises its head and runs again… And we see Cara surrounded by big bug monsters.
“C-Choruuuus! You came back baaaack!”
“I see… It looked for Mister Arata to save her master in peril.”
It must be pretty bad, and Cara screams while waving.
That leads the bugs to notice us too, and they let out their voices like they’re cautious.
“Even on the continent, mountain dwelling monsters became stronger the closer one were to the top. It seems here is no different.”
“So these bugs are stronger than Chorus?”
“I do not know how it would go in a one on one, but the trouble with bug monsters is their numbers.”
Yes, there must be over ten ants here. And monsters that look like moths and praying mantis.
They’re all bigger than me, and give off a stronger sense of repulsion on a biological level than beast monsters.
And it looks like Cara has more pets.
In front of her are beast monsters like a monkey and a boar. They’re all smaller than Chorus, so they don’t look very reliable. Not to mention the numbers disadvantage.
“Chorus?”
Chorus is still going, even as we assess the situation.
Zephir and I are still on its back, as it jumps against the horde of bug monsters and swings its tail.
“Ah, Chorus! Good job! Leave the rest to Arata!”
“That’s me…”
Well, I guess that’s why it brought me here.
I leave Cara to Zephir, and step in front of the bug monsters.
“…Are bugs tasty?”
“““!?”””
I mumble, and the monsters tremble like they understood me.
“I’ve only eaten beast monster meat, so come to think of it, I’ve never had it.”
Some cultures ate bugs in my old world, but not me. Some people say it feels like shrimp, but I’m more interested in the taste.
“Well, Reina can make anything tasty…”
I step forward, and the bugs scramble to run away.
“Yes…”
It’s like I’m the monster… I can never get used to this.
As I stand here shocked, I feel a tap on my back.
“You saved me, Arata! And you healed my Chorus! Thank you!”
“Ahh…”
“What is that response!? I’m thanking you! That’s really rare!”
“In truth, I have never seen Cara thank anyone else.”
Why would you brag about that…?
“But you said thank you before.”
“Yes! The short amount of time between them makes it super rare.”
“I see.”
She’s really excited, probably because her life was saved.
I don’t really need her to thank me, but I guess it’s nice.
“Still… You caught a lot in a short amount of time.”
The animal type monsters around start gathering.
“Fufufu. I had Chorus weaken them to catch them. Aren’t they all cute?”
She says while grabbing and showing off a fox monster.
Yes, they’re all small, like they’re not adults, but they really are cute.
But what Cara says isn’t very cute.
“More importantly Mister Arata, some are injured, so can you heal them?”
“Ah, yes.”
Actually, it doesn’t look like any are unharmed.
It’s like they did their best to protect Cara against stronger enemies.
“Line up.”
They understand me, and line up from most to least injured.
They’re smart. And surely pretty strong, since they’re monsters of this island.
Wouldn’t it be big trouble if Cara managed to escape the island…?
It’s not a problem here, because someone isn’t going to beat the strongest people no matter how many monsters they gather. But on the continent, one of these small monsters could very well ruin a country.
She said before she wants to escape, and if she does, that’d be bad.
“Cara, please stay on this island forever.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, it’d be dangerous.”
“R-rude… I will escape eventually!”
She’ll change her mind once she realizes how much fun it is to live here.
Xellos, Merlin… Everyone has found what they want to do here, so I hope Cara does too.
And a few days later.
“Done! This is perfect!”
Merlin jumps out of her house, happily yelling.
Snow just happens to be napping, so she’s surprised and starts crying, causing a blizzard in the house. It’s funny.
Thanks for the treat.