Elga and the others came by to have lunch, but went to the forest to train again in the afternoon.
He said they’re going to practice hunting today, and I wanted to tag along, but…
You’re bad at erasing your presence, so prey will notice you right away and run. He said.
Yes, I’m not good with that, and since I’d get in the way of Krr and Grr’s training, I let it go.
But now I have nothing to do.
“I guess I’ll go fishing…”
Reina is busy doing her cooking research, so I walk away thinking I’ll take it easy today.
“Hn, is that…”
I grab the pole and head to the same river as always, and see Cara by herself.
Seti and Arc are friendly with each other, since they arrived here at the same time, but I’m a little curious about Cara, because I’ve never seen her with someone else.
I’ve seen Edinburgh pamper her, but that’s a little different. I don’t think it’s good for her to keep being a loner like this.
“…Should I go talk to her?”
I’ve talked to her before, but I don’t really know her.
According to Reina, she’s not very nice.
Then again, I wouldn’t call my character good either, and the past is the past, and the present is now.
Not to mention that whether or not someone’s nice depends on who you ask.
And so, I approach Cara, who looks a little wary.
“Hello Cara.”
“…!?”
It looks like she noticed I was here, but she’s still surprised because she didn’t expect me to talk to her.
“W-what is it Arata? Do you need something with me?”
“No, I just spoke because I saw you were alone. What are you doing?”
“N-nothing. What can I even do on this island full of great monsters?”
She says while moving back. I think I’m included when she speaks of monsters.
Merlin and Xellos were the same when they got here, so it makes sense.
“Ah…”
When I try to correct the misunderstanding, I notice a monster looking on from behind her.
It looks like a lion, but it has black wings and a snake tail.
I’ve seen this before. It’s called mantichoras, and I saw it when I was walking in the forest with Arc and the others.
And I heard it was far stronger than Walpurgis, the dragon of the end.
I hunted it and tasted it, but its meat didn’t taste good. I haven’t proactively hunted it since, but it’s one of the most dangerous monsters in the forest.
Said mantichoras is currently looking at Cara like it’s going to take her down in one go.
But the moment our eyes meet, it twitches and moves back slowly.
“…”
“W-what… Just so you know, if you do anything to me, I’m telling Edinburgh!”
She says while fearfully shrinking away.
And the mantichoras also moves back at the same pace.
It’s like they want to run away at top speed, but think I’ll kill them the moment they turn their backs. Neither human or monster turns away from me.
This is a bit shocking…
I’ve been treated like a monstrosity by monsters of this island ever since I got here, but being shown so much fear by someone I can talk to is a shock.
Seeing both human and monster take the same stance towards me makes me feel like I’m neither. It’s kind of sad.
Me. Cara. The mantichoras.
We slowly maintain the distance, until this tense atmosphere reaches its boiling point.
The mantichoras suddenly screams and attacks Cara from behind.
“Gaaaaaah!”
“…Eh?”
I’m pretty sure she would’ve normally spotted that enemy behind her, but she didn’t until the end because her focus was on me.
“Watch out!”
I quickly hold Cara and turn my back.
Surely the mantichoras can’t stop, and is about to stab my shoulder and neck with its fangs… But it manages to stop.
“…Gauu, gauu…”
It lets out a sweet sounding voice, like it wants to play.
Like it’s really trying to show off that it didn’t bite me.
“Hm… It’d be cute if Krr and Grr did it but…”
It’s a cat, and I can’t say a lion’s face isn’t cute.
Like that one lion kid I saw in that movie a long time ago. That was really adorable.
But this thing is bigger than me, and attacked me with intent to kill.
How can this be allowed in the wild?
“Well, it’s survival of the fittest on this island.”
“…!?”
I grab it by the fur to stop it from running away.
It looks at me like it’s asking how could I possibly hit that cute face, but you’re the one who attacked me. I’m not going to be tricked by your sweet voice.
I clench my fist to punch it, thinking I’ll at least do it the honor of eating it, but when I’m about to swing…
“P-please stop!”
“Hn?”
Suddenly, Cara stops me.
Thanks for the treat.