The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
We shouldn’t expect much time to spare.
Deciding that, we moved at once.
Because we couldn’t afford to take our time, preparations were kept to the bare minimum. Moving as fast as possible while avoiding detection, we headed to the ruins Tania and the others had found.
The ruins resembled the place where the A-rank promotion exam had once been held. It was probably built as a fortress.
Thick outer walls. High watchtowers. A number of magical devices.
“This looks like it’s going to be quite troublesome.”
“A fortress-like ruin… and on top of that, so many demons. Sneaking in past that security will be pretty tough, won’t it?”
“Indeed. I agree with Iris and Tania.”
“What if we split into two groups — one creates a diversion while the other sneaks in?”
Sora suggested that plan, but after thinking for a moment I shook my head.
“This enemy… Altera’s stronghold is almost certainly here. We shouldn’t split our forces inside the enemy’s base.”
“Then what will you do?”
“Well… shall we use the same method as before?”
“Before?”
Yuki and Gray tilted their heads; they didn’t know the previous plan. To explain, I made a provisional contract with nearby small animals like rabbits.
“With a ruin like a fortress, it wouldn’t be surprising if secret passages branched out everywhere. I want them to find those for us. Alright, I’m counting on you.”
We scattered the small animals in all directions.
A few were spotted by demon sentries, but the sentries didn’t notice that I had tamed them — they saw it was just animals and let them pass.
If that worked, it would go smoothly again. I thought so, but the result was failure.
After a while the animals returned, but there was no report of any secret entrances found.
“Hmm… it looks like it’s no good.”
“There really aren’t any entrances?”
“No, I don’t think so. It’s a fairly large ruin, so there should be a decent number of secret passages. But…”
“You mean the demons know the ruins well and have sealed most of them off?”
“Yuki, correct.”
The demons were more cautious than I had expected. They were probably wary of Zil'or. Since the opponent included the Four Heavenly Kings, that explained the tight security network.
“What should we do, big brother? We can’t just charge straight ahead, so maybe we should do a diversion like that little miss suggested?”
“Little miss!?”
“My sister, that man is surely unpopular with women. His usual lines give that away.”
“Indeed. He’s blunt and completely lacking in delicacy. He’s probably been rejected many times.”
“I’m sorry — could you stop cutting me with your words…?”
Gray looked on the verge of tears.
Sora, despite her appearance, is frightening when she gets angry and shows no mercy. Maybe I should have warned him in advance.
“What do you think, Yuki?”
“Hmm… I’m opposed. They’re the demon elite including the Four Heavenly Kings. Dispersing our forces is dangerous.”
“I agree with Yuki. I proposed a diversion earlier, but I think we should reconsider — we should all go in together.”
“Right, Iris might be right. I think we should act together as a unit.”
“The opinions are divided…”
“Rain, you decide. We’ll follow your judgment.”
Yuki looked at me with trusting eyes.
Not just Yuki. Everyone else was watching me, leaving it to my judgement.
I couldn’t betray that trust. I would definitely live up to it.
“…We will not split our forces.”
“Then?”
“But we won’t do a frontal assault either. We’ll still look for secret passages.”
“But that failed already…?”
“No, well… I have a special method.”
“Rain’s ridiculous power again? If you have something like that, don’t hide it.”
“Yes. Aren’t we in a hurry right now?”
“We are, but this method is something I’d rather not use unless necessary…”
“…Is it really that dangerous?”
Iris asked with a grave expression.
“No, it’s not dangerous.”
“Yes?”
“Not dangerous, but there’s fear involved… well, whatever. I’ll try it now, but please don’t scream, okay?”
“???” came the puzzled response from everyone.
Receiving their curious stares, I scanned the surroundings with my senses and sent out a bit of magic to call a certain insect.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
“Eek…!?”
The appearance of the black creature made every woman wince. Yuki was surprised too.
Gray, as expected, remained calm.
“I-I-Ikshion Black…!!!”
“C-c-c-come forth, denizen of another world…!!!”
“Dragon Brea…!!”
“Wait, wait, wait.”
I hurriedly stopped the women from launching their all-out attacks.
“I called this thing.”
“You’re going to command something like that…?”
“I get why you’d hate it. I’m not exactly fond of them either. But they tend to sneak into houses before you notice, right? So they’re better than small animals at finding secret passages.”
“I understand that, but…”
“That doesn’t mean I want you to command such things.”
“I reflexively wanted to incinerate the visible range… I’m sorry.”
The women kept as much distance as possible and stared off into the distance. I understand how they felt. I’m not fond of them either — actually, I’m pretty bad with them.
But we had to use their power. I would do whatever it took. To show that resolve, I commanded the little black demons to search the secret passages.
――――――――――
“…Alright, found it.”
After about thirty minutes of searching, we finally managed to locate a hidden passage.
“R-Rain, is it safe to look back now…?”
“That black devil isn’t around anymore, is it…?”
“Ahaha… yeah, it’s fine. I ended the provisional contract and sent it far away already.”
“Phew…”
The women returned looking truly relieved.
By the way…
Because I used that method, I got thoroughly scolded later on — but that’s another story.
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