“Is that your hometown!?”
“Yes! Svartarvahei!”
“That is very difficult to pronounce.”
“It means ‘country of dark fairies’ in elvish.”
Chai happily said after turning around. The natural smile on his face made it look even more like a girl’s.
After clearing the forest, they saw vast fields and what appeared to be the shadow of a village. On the fields were wheat and various types of vegetables.
“I don’t see cows or sheep. Are you vegetarians?”
Asked Ameriko, looking a little anxious.
“Hn? We don’t have livestock, we buy meat from the hunters living in the forest. We sell bread and vegetables too.”
“I see, so you do have meat?”
“We do.”
“Are you starved of meat, Ameriko?”
“Of course! Appetite, sleep, and libido are essential desires that humans can’t control!”
Said a proud Ameriko.
“Appetite and sleep aside, can you not say the last one so openly?”
“Fah? You feel it too Himeno.”
Ameriko hugged Himeno and rubbed her soft cheek with her finger, as her face turned red. Himeno yelled and escaped this skinship.
“Ladies, please be quiet in the wagon!”
Said Chai while smiling awkwardly and lowering the speed of the wagon.
Like Chai said, it did seem bigger than the word village would imply, and rather than looking peaceful and idyllic, it looked orderly and well put together. In its center was a three story wooden spire that appeared to be a watch tower.
A lot of people could be seen moving around in the village and the surrounding area.
“Are all those elves?”
“No, there are more humans than elves.”
Regardless of how many humans or elves there were, Ameriko and Himeno were relieved to finally reach a proper village.
Chai parked the wagon in a square just outside the village, and left the horse in a watering hole to rest. They would be going to the center of the village on foot.
“By the way, Chai said he’s part of a minority of elves in the village, right? He said he left the village in search of help, but…”
“That does sound weird now that you mention it.”
“Is he actually a person of high status here?”
“Do you think it was a good idea to use him as a hugging pillow, Himeno?”
“…T-that’s…”
But then, they heard screams coming from the fields, and when they turned to look, they saw an elderly couple running from a field near the forest.
“A-a monster…!”
A giant bear appeared, and chased the couple.
“Gogaaaaah…!”
The monster brought down trees as it exited the forest, and destroyed the fence as it invaded the field.
There was a lot of dust, and many people from the village rushed to see what was happening. The monster had sharp spines coming out of its back, as if it were a bear/hedgehog hybrid.
“Fah!? What’s that thing? It’s huge!”
“It looks less like a regular beast and more like some sort of fantastical beast…!”
The monster chased the elderly couple while kicking cabbage as they ran towards where Ameriko and Himeno stood.
“A needle bear is going berserk!? Those don’t come to wreck the crops in this season…!”
Said Chai with a confused tone. This beast was known to people from this area, but something was not right.
“We have to save them!”
“That’s going to be dangerous. A monster that size can easily trample a person.”
The monster running on all fours was like a little mountain. If it stood up, it could easily reach five meters. It was bigger than any monster they encountered before, and it would make even the orclord seem small.
“Let’s intercept it Himeno!”
“Yes!”
Ameriko and Himeno nodded.
Himeno summoned a sword. It was a short sword, but she could unleash slashes at short or medium range.
Ameriko on the other hand, was unable to summon a gun.
“…Oh my god…”
“W-what is it?”
“I need a shotgun for a beast like this, but it’s not appearing!”
“What!?”
Ameriko was having trouble summoning a weapon. She focused, and did her best to concentrate particles of light.
Her thinking was that it would be very difficult to fight a giant beast with a handgun, so she wanted to summon a shotgun. But it was not as easy as she thought.
“I-is it because you do not feel enough danger?”
“Oh… I see…”
When they encountered the bandits, she summoned a gun in 0.3 seconds, probably because she felt threatened and angry. However, it was not going as well this time. She wanted the shotgun her grandfather used in their hometown, a Remington Arms M870. She was used to using it.
This 12 gauge 18.4 milliliter buckshot used cartridges with nine metal pellets for hunting. It had enough power to put down a grizzly bear or a buffalo, and should have enough stopping power to deal with the monster.
If the user employed it without thinking too much about it, the size of its barrel and its complexity could turn into disadvantages.
When the light finally took form, it turned into a gun barrel, but it still was not complete.
“Awawa! It’s here Ameriko and Himeno!”
“It can’t be helped, I will have to invoke the right to collective defense!”
As Chai panicked, Himeno stepped forward.
“Be careful Himeno!”
“This is legitimate self-defense!”
As Himeno’s black hair fluttered, she unsheathed her sword and prepared to face the monster. The samurai miko was looking quite small in comparison.
“She wants to take its attention off the elderly couple…!”
“Gyogogaaaaaaaah!”
The monster noticed Himeno, and let out a bellow that shook the ground. Chai instantly covered his ears.
“Himeno! Those spines are poisonous, so watch out for them! If they pierce your skin, your whole body will turn purple and swell, and it will hurt horribly…!”
“Say that sooner!”
Himeno turned pale and stopped just as she was about to slash at the needle bear. She turned around and ran, wanting to avoid close combat. When she was ten meters away from the monster, she spun around on one leg.
“Here… Jyah!”
Himeno unleashed a silver colored crescent moon slash.
“Secret technique, Tenken Chikaku! Double!”
“Gogyuaah!?”
The flying silver blade pulverized the spines on the back of the monster, which fell one after the other.
“Nice going Himeno!”
The poisonous spines were destroyed. Chai was impressed, but Ameriko raised her voice in concern.
“No! You can’t stop it like that…!”
Ameriko was right to be worried. The giant needle bear did not slow down, and continued charging towards Himeno to tackle her.
“Ku!?”
When it looked like it was all over, a gust of wind hit the monster.
“Gahh…!? Goah…?”
The monster slowed down after the strong wind grazed its nose. Himeno took this opportunity to step back numerous times and escaped.
“What was that wind…!?”
Something rapidly approached from the village, and seemed to advance while sliding on top of the fields. It was two people riding something.
“Fuah!?”
“What!?”
Two girls each rode on something resembling a snowboard. They had reins in their hands, and flew while skillfully maintaining balance. These boards did not have wheels or legs, but rather floated.
Wind washed over the wheat fields like a wave, as the two flew forward as if they were surfing.
“They’re using wind to float…! Air boards!?”
The two girls passed by a surprised Ameriko, one on each side.
““Chai!””
The clear voices of the two beautiful elf girls overlapped.
Chai looked at the two blue haired girls clad in what appeared to be their natives outfits with surprise.
“It’s my sisters! You’re here!?”
“You silly little brother! You will be punished later!”
“Mew, focus on sending the monster back to the forest first!”
The two girls riding air boards via magic quickly made their way towards the giant monster.
They passed by too quickly, but their faces and stature seemed quite similar to Chai.
“Are they your sisters, Chai!?”
“Yes, Lukria and Mewkria… They’re twins.”
The two glided towards the monster that had lost sight of Himeno, and turned while grazing its nose.
“Gogaaaah…!?”
The two spun around, and dodged the needle bear’s claws when it attacked.
“Wow…! Fantastic…!”
“Beautiful flying elves!?”
Himeno ran back to Ameriko, after successfully taking the elderly couple to a corner of the field where they would be safe.
Katchak! A triumphant Ameriko held her shotgun. She slid the barrel and loaded it.
“Now I have the shotgun, but I can’t shoot.”
The two elves flew around the monster. She could not get a clear shot, and dejectedly lowered the shotgun.
And then, they heard a flute. One of the elves was playing the flute while flying around.
It was a clear, gentle sound, carried by wind. There was also a singing voice, which sounded like a lullaby.
“Flute and singing… What are they trying to do?”
A confused Ameriko asked Chai, who looked at his sisters with relief.
“Magic, elven magic. It’s soothing magic that uses wind and song.”
“Soothing… Magic…”
“It’s not used to fight, and it can’t hurt anyone. That’s our magic.”
Said Chai proudly. It seemed he liked his sisters a lot. That was certainly one of the things that made him want to go out on a journey.
“Return to the forest…!”
“This is not your world.”
“Ga… Gou… Grr…”
The monster became pacified by their flute and song, and eventually turned around and walked back to the forest.
“Looks like I’m not getting a turn this time.”
“That seems to be the case. Love and peace.”
Said Ameriko and Himeno while dropping their shoulders, but with light smiles on their faces.
They continued watching the two beautiful fairies, or rather, elves for a while longer.
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