“Ahh…”
Cara looks like she can finally take a deep breath. But it’s not like everything will be over once we talk them down.
“So, Cara…”
“W-what is it?”
I approach her, and she looks a little scared.
She has a bad feeling, and she’s not wrong.
“Chorus is their mother’s enemy, so you’ll be better off if you let it go…”
“I-I can’t do that! It’s mine already!”
“Oh?”
I tilt my head a little, as I see her not backing down a bit.
From what I heard and saw, I thought for sure she’d hand it over immediately and run. And then Krr and Grr would do what they wanted.
But Cara is standing her ground and glaring like running isn’t an option.
“I-I can’t abandon it, even against you!”
“…”
So what now?
I look at Chorus, and it twitches behind Cara.
It’s too big to be hidden at all, but it’s like it’s completely helpless.
Cara’s eyes look serious. I thought I could end this by getting her to undo the vassalage spell, but…
“Okay. Then go already.”
“Elga?”
“Everyone’s got their circumstances. It’s not a big deal to us, but it’s non-negotiable to her, right?”
Cara hears that, and still looks on guard.
The two guys biting Elga’s arms are still glaring at Chorus.
They’re completely different from when they’re playing with Luna. Their eyes are painted with revenge.
…I really don’t like those eyes.
“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to them.”
“…I’ll repay you someday.”
“It’s fine. Just get outta here. They’re not gonna settle down until you do.”
“…Come, Chorus.”
Cara walks away, not riding Chorus, because it’s injured.
After seeing her leave, I look at Elga again.
“Are you okay?”
“No problem. A great warrior of the divine beast people isn’t gonna get hurt by them.”
He says while handing Krr to me.
It starts struggling in my arms, but it can’t handle my strength and settles down soon enough.
“So we need to talk these two down.”
Elga still looks confident, as he sits down with Grr on his lap.
I sit in front of him and do the same with Krr.
“Krr!”
“Grr!”
It’s like they’re saying we’re not going to talk them down.
Their voices are normally quiet, but they’re still angry.
But emotions, including anger, are weathered with time.
There’s a lot of annoying and unpleasant memories I have from before I reincarnated, but thinking about them now makes me feel nothing.
But in Krr and Grr’s case, a family member was killed, so it’s not something so easy to get over…
“Krr and Grr, listen to me.”
““Guh…””
Elga’s voice is lower than normal, making them let out kind of wary sounds from their throats.
“If you wanna get revenge, I’m not gonna stop. But stop and think first.
““…””
He says with a slightly softer tone while petting Grr.
“From that mantichoras’ point of view, it did what it had to in order to survive. I’ve done it, Luna’s done it, and Arata and the others too.”
“Yes, we hunt monsters to eat.”
When the conversation turns to me, I just say what I’m thinking.
Elga nods, seemingly happy with that.
“Killing to eat and killing for the sake of it are different things. If you mistake them, don’t come to me if the same thing happens to you again.”
““Guh…””
It seems they understand what Elga’s saying, because their rage has weakened, and they let out quiet growls.
At the very least, if we look at it from the point of view of how life is on this island, the mantichoras did nothing wrong.
Of course, if something hurt my family, I’d take revenge, but that doesn’t mean I want others to do the same.
“Luna picked you up and raised you. Don’t you understand from watching her all this time?”
““…!!””
“She’s a kid, but she thinks about stuff her own way, for you. All to protect you.”
Once Luna’s name comes up, both look up.
She doesn’t hunt for fun, she does it to fill her stomach and others’.
“Do you still want revenge? And you’re going to play with Luna like always after that? If so, I…”
““…””
Neither waits for Elga to finish before shaking their heads.
It doesn’t look like they’re fully over it, but they’re showing they’re done with revenge.
Although there would be no reason to stop them if it was a wild monster…
Cara said she’d lick boots if it meant she would survive, but she showed no intention of backing down, like she was protecting a dear family member.
If Krr and Grr killed Chorus, she might have attacked them next.
It’s not a matter of who would have won, I don’t want that to happen.
“…I’m glad to see they’ve calmed down.”
“Sorry about the mess.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t think there’s gonna be more accidents like this.”
Says Elga, despite none of this being his fault.
It’s not like he caused me problems. I just felt like I should help Cara…
“Hey!”
““…!?””
As I think about that, we hear Luna’s voice from a distance.
Tiltue, Snow, and Katima are with her. I guess they came to play in the forest after being done with the river.
“Go on.”
I say, and the two wag their tails as they run.
And Elga sits next to me with an awkward smile as we watch them.
“Do you think they would’ve regretted it if we didn’t stop them?”
“I don’t know, but I think we did well.”
“…Yeah.”
But it’s not like everything’s settled.
Cara is keeping Chorus as a pet, and if she keeps it near her house, there will be trouble if Krr and Grr see it again.
We stopped them from wanting revenge, but it’s not like they’re friends. We need to tell her that too.
“Well, I’ll leave that to you.”
“Got it. I’ll go there then.”
They can’t have gone that far, since Chorus is injured.
With that, I head in the same direction they went.
I think you caught up with the raws.
Thanks for the treat.
Im struggling to remember who Cara is. The author has fallen into the trap of having too many characters and not enough memorable plot threads to help keep track of them all. Kuma Kuma is a good example of having a large cast that is well written. I can easily remember who is who and when they were introduced.
Evil nun