The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
Before she realized it, Nina was in an unfamiliar place.
It was her first time entering someone’s mind, so everywhere was unfamiliar…
But more importantly, Rain wasn't there.
Her companions weren't there.
That fact alone made her scared.
"Yoo-hoo!"
"!?"
When she turned around, Mona was there.
Nina instinctively tensed up.
Her three fluffy tails stood on end as she glared sharply at her.
"This… is your doing?"
"Yep, that’s right. You’re a hostage, basically."
"I… won’t let it be like that!"
Even though she was scared to be alone, Nina summoned her courage.
Mona was the enemy.
She was the one who had cursed Nina’s beloved mother—an enemy to be hated.
In that case, Nina would settle it with her own hands.
"Hmph!"
Nina opened a path to the subspace…
and astonishingly, jumped into it herself.
"Huh?"
Even Mona hadn’t expected that.
She stood there dumbfounded.
Then, behind her, a hole opened up to subspace—
"Take this!"
"Whoa!?"
Nina had jumped through the subspace and teleported behind Mona.
Then—an ambush.
It was quite a bold move.
Mona was so surprised that all she could do was dodge.
"Rrghh!"
Nina opened several more subspace holes.
Then she hurled a bunch of handy rocks through them with all her might—
"Oww, oww ow!?"
Several subspace portals opened around Mona, and rocks flew out from them.
Nina may have been young, but she was of a strongest species.
Her abilities were already at a considerable level.
Even just throwing rocks carried serious power.
"Wait, this isn’t funny anymore!? Ouch! This kid is super violent!"
"You did something awful to Mama… I won’t forgive you!"
"Aaah, what a badly behaved little hostage."
Mona was surprised by Nina’s unexpected combat ability, but… there was no panic on her face.
In fact, she even looked composed.
"If you're going to throw a tantrum, then I’ll have to teach you a little lesson."
"!?"
Mona grinned.
That smile was filled with malice.
Like scribbling all over white paper with a black pen—
just looking at it sent chills down the spine, a twisted emotion that made you shiver.
Even though Nina had been through many trials during her travels with Rain, despite being so young…
this was something so terrifying, it made her instinctively freeze in place.
"Now then, how about you quiet down?"
"Ah… uh…"
――――――――――
"...I see. So Nina couldn't be found."
He waited for a report from the puppets he had dispatched…
but in the end, they came back empty-handed.
They were supposed to search a fairly wide area, yet they still couldn't locate Nina.
"Rain, you okay?"
"Tina... yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for worrying about me."
In truth, he was quite anxious…
But Tina’s voice helped him calm down a bit.
This was exactly the kind of situation where he had to stay composed and proceed carefully.
He had to get Nina back…
And then, properly lift the curse on Ms. Nokia too.
There were ten to twenty stakes remaining.
Not only that—he also had to rescue Nina.
With all these issues piling up, his head was starting to hurt.
"By the way... Al?"
"What is it?"
"When time runs out, do we get forcibly ejected from the world of the heart?"
"Yes, that’s correct. However, the shock of that would be quite severe, so if possible, I’d prefer to use my magic to bring you out myself."
"I see."
That meant simply waiting for time to run out wasn’t really an option.
If there were no side effects, he might have chosen to retreat this time, regroup, and make a fully prepared second attempt…
But alas—
It wasn’t going to be that easy.
"Lord Rain, what shall we do?"
"..."
He thought it over… and reached one conclusion.
Whether it was the best answer, he didn’t know.
But every second spent just thinking was a waste.
For now, they had no choice but to act.
"Let’s split up. I’ll go rescue Nina. Tina and Iris, I want you two to continue destroying the stakes."
"Isn’t that… dangerous? I mean, we’ll manage somehow, but…"
"Lord Rain, you’ll be facing the demons alone. And with Nina held hostage, no less."
"Still, this is the best course. Of course, there might be a better way. If there is, please tell me. But since our time is limited... if nothing comes to mind, I’d like to proceed with this plan."
"That’s just like you, Lord Rain—always throwing yourself into danger without a second thought. And yet, you leave us all feeling so frustrated because of it."
"Rain, seriously, don’t go doing anything reckless, alright? Saving Nina is important, but there are a lot of people worried about you, too. Don’t forget that."
"I know. I’ll be very careful."
"Please take care."
Thank you for the chapter!
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