The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
"Ah... gah..."
A certain demon was writhing in agony from the excruciating pain of having his abdomen pierced.
He tried to recover immediately, but he could barely even speak anymore.
The strength drained from his body, and he collapsed to the ground on his knees.
A short while later, his body turned to ash and disappeared into the wind.
"What a weakling."
The one staring coldly at the ashes was a cat-eared girl.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance...
Then, as if to make absolutely sure, she crushed the ashes beneath the heel of her shoe.
"Ugh... I'm getting irritated. Don't stick your nose into things when you're nothing but a weakling."
"Oh my, Mitsuki, you're always in such a bad mood."
The one who spoke was a girl with dragon horns and a dragon's tail.
She wore a bewitching smile on her lips...
And called the cat-eared girl "Mitsuki."
"What? Do you have a problem, Arieile?"
"No, not at all. It's not as though Mitsuki isn't doing her job properly. I wouldn't complain about that."
"Then what is it?"
"I'm just saying that you should smile a little more."
"You're so annoying... There's no reason for me to force myself to smile."
"I wouldn't say that. I'm sure our master would be happier seeing you smile rather than seeing you with that sullen, frowning face."
"...Really?"
"Yes, really. Most people like smiling girls because they're cute, you know?"
"...I'll think about it."
The dragon girl called Arieile smiled and gently patted Mitsuki on the head.
Mitsuki puffed out her lips as if protesting against being treated like a child...
But she didn't brush the hand away, simply letting Arieile continue.
"What are you doing?"
"Reinhardt!"
When a man dressed entirely in black—Reinhardt—appeared, Mitsuki's eyes lit up.
Delighted like a child, she ran over and hugged him.
"There were enemies, so I killed them all. Was I good? Was I good?"
"Enemies?"
Wondering what she was talking about, Reinhardt looked at Arieile, asking her to explain.
Arieile smiled wryly at how quickly Mitsuki's attitude had changed and answered.
"We ran into some demons."
"Demons here?"
"Strange, isn't it? I was wondering about that too, so I thought I'd capture one alive..."
"Ugh..."
Mitsuki awkwardly averted her gaze.
"But Mitsuki wiped them all out."
"...It was their fault. They attacked us out of nowhere."
"Good grief."
Reinhardt sighed.
Demons were the natural enemies of all living creatures...
And, conversely, the natural enemies of demons were the strongest species.
If the demons encountered something like that, it wouldn't be strange for them to attack without warning.
Even so, Reinhardt had wanted to determine the purpose of the enemy.
The reason there were demons in a place like this... in Horizon... was something he found suspicious.
"...Well, never mind."
"Ah."
When Reinhardt lightly patted her head, Mitsuki smiled again.
Perhaps she was relieved that her master wasn't angry with her.
That's right... Mitsuki of the Cat Spirit Tribe and Arieile of the Dragon Tribe had formed contracts with Reinhardt and revered him as their master.
"Mitsuki aside, Arieile, I assume you've already come up with some sort of theory?"
"Oh, you can tell?"
"You're too shrewd to overlook something like this."
"Hehe, thank you for the compliment."
Arieile touched a fingertip to her lips and thought for a moment...
Then, after a short while, she opened her mouth.
"I haven't properly confirmed it, so this is only a guess, but I think they were probably trying to place some kind of curse."
"What kind?"
"I don't know. Mitsuki killed them before I could investigate."
"Ugh..."
"A guess is fine."
"Even so, there's not much I can base a guess on... But I'd say it's probably something extremely troublesome. And something extremely malicious. Just thinking about it gives me a really unpleasant feeling. Still, something about it feels a little strange... I'm not convinced it was the work of the demons alone. It seems like someone else may be involved as well."
"Hmm."
Reinhardt thought.
It wasn't a matter of what to do about the curse.
He was thinking about whether it would interfere with his own objective.
Whether it would cause him harm.
Those were the things he considered.
"What will you do, Reinhardt?"
"If necessary, I'll kill the enemies for you, okay?"
Receiving their gazes, Reinhardt shook his head.
"No. Leave them alone."
"Are you sure?"
"I don't care what happens to the city. My objective lies elsewhere."
"I suppose that's true."
"Are you dissatisfied?"
"No, not at all."
Arieile smiled.
"I'm merely a tool for fulfilling my master's wishes. Tools don't complain about their master's decisions, do they?"
"That's a good answer."
Reinhardt smiled faintly...
"However, there's something else I'd like you to take care of."
"Something you want us to do?"
"Apparently, Mina Lusage, a former member of the Hero's party, is in this city. There's something I want to ask her about, so go and capture her for me."
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