V2C1

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Alfra advanced briskly through the dark forest.

Even in daytime, the area was still dim. The Sun was covered by clouds and the tall conifer trees blocked what little light managed to slip through.

It had been 8 days since she had left the snowfield castle behind.

She did not have as much hard time crossing the mountain as she’d initially expected. Perhaps thanks to Byakuren’s blood, Alfra’s endurance had increased and she had stopped feeling cold too.

Mana is a pure power. It’s also a source of heat. In order to maintain the body temperature, one must consume the internal source of heat. Alfra received the energy for that from Felmar. However, even though she drank all her blood, Alfra didn’t feel the same exaltation she felt when drinking Byakuren’s blood. Seemingly, Felmar was not a very strong demon.

She was a bit disappointed. The road ahead was still long. At this rate, she’d really have to make a pyramid (kanji:tomb).

Alfra continued walking through the forest while lost in her thoughts.

The Sun started to set gradually; however, Alfra was planning on continuing walking while she should still see the ground.

During this season, the Sun would only be out for a short time. She wanted to cover as much distance as she could before the night descended.

The forest was very dangerous at night.

This was something that Alfra heard all the time when she was living in the village.

They would say that in winter the snow wolves would descend the mountain in search of a prey.

The snow wolves had big torsos. They did hunt in packs but Alfra had heard that each of them could even hunt the grey bear alone too. That was why there were so few bears in this region.

――I have to quickly leave the forest

Each time snow fell from the branches of conifer trees, she would strain her ears to listen to that sound.

Alfra continued walking without a break.

Alfra was already beyond exhausted by the time she could see the highway.

She was so relieved that her legs almost gave in. However, worried that she wouldn’t have enough energy to get up, she decided to rest by leaning on the standing tree.

After a short break. Alfra unhesitatingly turned left at the highway.

――I wonder how far is the village?

Forest stretched at both sides of the road as far as she could see.

The scenery didn’t change even after she walked for a while, strongly dimming her sense of location.

Alfra decided to head for the fortress for the time being. She would probably find border guards stationed there.

Would they let her fight along with them?

A slight anxiety rose in her heart.

Even she understood that going alone into the demon territory would be akin to suicide.

The demon raid would be coming soon. When the battle started, humans would most likely need more fighters on their side. Even women shouldn’t be turned away as long as they could hold a sword. Or so Alfra tried to convince herself.

There was one thing she understood during her fight with Felmar.

――I’m good at killing

Takashiro had once said that a normal warrior wouldn’t be a match to Alfra.

Alfra herself had also realized the truth of those words.

Dusk was approaching and the exhausted Alfra was walking while looking for the suitable tree to lean on and take rest.

――I’m hungryyy

She wanted to preserve the food like dried meat she had at hand as much as possible. After all, she didn’t know how much more she had to walk to reach her destination.

She would occasionally suck on snow but it was hardly of any use.

Eventually, she noticed that some change had come to her surroundings.

The stumps had mixed with the standing trees on both sides of the highway.

“Ah…!”

She saw 4 figures in front. They were wrapped in cloaks and walking with their backs curled from cold. Their silhouettes looked rugged because they were wearing armor beneath their cloaks ―― which meant that――

――It’s the soldiers!

Alfra rushed forward.

The soldiers also noticed Alfra soon enough. Thin smoke was stretching from behind them. It was probably from the fire they used to cook food.

“Um, you’re soldiers, right?”

The soldiers all turned out to be ill-bred men. They were looking at Alfra with appraising eyes.

――I don’t like…their eyes….

“I…want to go to the fortress ahead.”

The men looked at each other for a second and asked while stifling their laughter.

“What’re you gonna do there, Missy? This area will be full of those filthy Orcs soon, ya know?”

“I want to fight them. Please let me to go to the fortress and fight demons with you.”

Alfra lowered her head.

The men looked at each other while grinning and this time laughed out loud without consideration.

“Hahahaha, now that’s a riot. What, y’er gonna fight Orcs by swinging that thin thing around your waist?”

Vulgar laughter engulfed the area.

Presumptuous gazes slid over Alfra, as if licking every corner of her body.

Alfra took a step back and glanced at the forest.

――Time to escape

“Hey, Missy, do you know that there’s a better job for women on the battlefield?”

One of the men started glancing towards the back―― where the smoke from the cooked food was coming from―― seeming quite concerned.

“What job…do you mean?”

Alfra measured the distance to the forest with a side glance.

“It’s a job that any woman can do. Oh, but I wonder how it’ll work for someone with a skinny body like yours, missy. Wanna test it with us first?”

The men surrounded Alfra, blocking her escape route from all angles.

“Hey, let’s quickly take her to the forest.”

The man who had been watchful of the back stretched his hand towards Alfra. Avoiding his hand, she ran towards the forest.

However, one of the men she was trying to get around to grabbed Alfra’s cloak.

“—!”

Alfra forcefully tore off the clasp on the top of her shoulder while being dragged back. However, by the time she had freed herself from the bindings of the cloak, she had already been surrounded by the men.

――I should’ve…rested properly…

Perhaps because of the fatigue, while she was trying to run away, Alfra’s legs got tangled up. ‘If that didn’t happen, they wouldn’t be able to grab my cloak’, Alfra regretted.

Carefully measuring the distance between her and the men, Alfra reached for her dagger.

“Don’t come near me!”

The man laughed at Alfra, who had her hand on the handle of her blade, as if ridiculing her.

“Hey hey, we’re just teaching you the ropes of the work out of kindness, ya know?”

“It’s an easy job where you only need to open your legs!”

Gyahahaha, vulgar laughter broke out. ――――However., the shouting voice that suddenly resounded from the other end of the highway overshadowed the men’s loud laughter,

“What are you guys doing?!”

It was a well-projected voice that sounded noticeably angry. Although it was a bit on the lower side, the voice certainly belonged to a woman.

“Tsk.”

The man, who clicked his tongue, turned around.

They didn’t notice that they were saved by that voice.

The voice that made the man halt their movements also made Alfra stop her hand. Had it come even a second later, Alfra, who had readied herself, would unsheathe the sword hanging at her waist.

Still maintaining her alert state, Alfra turned towards the approaching person.

A woman with a large build was rushing over from the other side of the highway. Alfra could also see the figure chasing after the woman.

“Oh shit…”

One of the men muttered.

When the panting woman came close, Alfra realized that she was taller than all the men present. Her skin was tanned and her black hair was cut very short for a woman. She was well-featured and possessed wild beauty, reminiscent of a carnivore from a feline family.

The woman lifted the corners of her eyes and directed her stern gaze towards the men. Her face was distorted in anger.

“What are you guys doing? What were you planning to do to that girl?!”

“Nothing. We were just, you know…right?”

The man, who received the signal, hurriedly tried to fix the situation.

“Ah…uhh. Right, that girl wanted to go to the fortress so we were about to escort her――”

“That’s a lie! These guys told me to open my legs! That they would drag me into the forest.”

“You bastards!”

The men turned pale at the woman’s angry shouting and started to curse at Alfra.

“You bitch!”

“You brat!”

Unwilling to lose, Alfra also glared back.

――Hmph, get scolded

A man, who finally caught up to the woman, appeared from the back, wheezing while leaning on his knees.

“You’re too fast, nee-san…”

Not lending an ear, the woman ordered the 4 men.

“For the time being, line up”

The men reluctantly lined up side by side. Blood had drained from the faces of them all.

They seemed to be quite afraid of the woman.

――I wonder what she’s going to do

Sensing that something fun was about to happen, Alfra’s eyes shone with expectations.

“Ah, nee-san, it will take us two more days until we reach the fortress. If you wanna beat them up, at least make it so they’’ll be able to walk by tomorrow morning…”

The soldier, who followed after the woman, proposed reservedly. The woman replied with a displeased face.

“I know. I’ll properly hold back on them.”

“Ah! Wait, wait. If you incapacitate those guys now, we’ll be the ones who’ll have to drag them to the camp site. No way.”

“Tsk…ah~ what should we do?”

The woman, who clicked her tongue and made an even more displeased face asked the men who were standing at attention.

“Who was the one who told that girl to open her legs?”

Three pairs of eyes gathered in one place.

“Wai-…you bastards…you can’t treat a bro like this!”

The man, who had all the traitors’ eyes on him, groaned.

“We can’t do anything about it.”

Sorry, man.”

“Alright Orkas, you’ll be the representative. Other three will carry Orkas back. Also, you guys won’t be getting any dinner. Otherwise you’ll be getting out of it too easy.”

“Nee-san, can I eat?”

The man called Orkas asked the woman.

“Sure, If you’re able to, that is. For now, clench! ―― Your!! Teeth!”

At the “clench!!” part, the woman’s fist was already embedded in Orkas’ stomach.

Alfra witnessed how Orkas’toes left the ground as his body bent in half with the abdomen he was struck in at it’s center.

――Amazing….

“Nee-san, that was too cruel. You didn’t give him enough time to clench his teeth,”

Looking at Orkas, who was rolling on the ground in pain, with pity, the man complained.

“You idiot, it wouldn’t be a punishment if he could clench his teeth.”

―― She’s unreasonableeee

Alfra met eyes with that unreasonable woman.

“What’s your name?”

“…Alfra, ma’am.”

“I’m Signum. Was you wanting to go to the fortress also a lie these guys made up?”

“No, that one was true. I want to go to the fortress and fight demons.”.

“…fight, you say. Yeah, that’s probably impossible. Go back home.”

Signum took a long, hard look at Alfra and replied reasonably.

Alfra was indeed small, skinny, a girl and a child.

Her judgement was indeed very much appropriate.

“I can fight.”

“No no, you don’t seem to understand it well…uhh, was your name Alfra-chan? We’re going to the war. Do you understand this? It’s gonna be a kill or get killed situation.

Alfra was stuck for words. If she told them about Felmar and the fact that she had already killed a demon, they would understand that she could fight, but then she would also most likely have to answer many of their questions.

Besides, she didn’t even know if they would believe her.

“Uhm, I was training for 4 years in order to fight. I also learned how to fight bare-fisted. I learned from a very strong person.”

“4 years, huh?…”

Signum asked doubtfully.

“How old are you, Alfra-chan?”

“15, ma’am.”

The moment words left her mouth, she regretted it. She should have said a slightly bigger number.

“Oh? That’s unexpected…I was sure you would be around 12-13.

――Isn’t that a bit too young no matter how you look at it?….

How mean, Alfra thought.

“But I’m really…”

“Okay, I get it, I get it. You can come with us to the camp site for the time being. The Sun will set soon. I can’t just ask you to return home alone.”

“T-thank you very much!”

“But you’ll have to go home in the morning.”

“…”

“Where’s your answer?”

Alfra silently expressed her dissatisfaction.

Slightly bewildered, Signum sighed,

“…Somebody, have a spar with Alfra-chan later. With the wooden sword for training.”

The men looked at each other.

“If you win, I’ll think about hiring you, Alfra-chan.”

“Yes!”

However, nobody volunteered to be Alfra’s opponent.

“Whoever beats Alfra-chan can eat the dinner.”

In a sudden transformation, everybody raised their hands, scrambling for being first. Of course, it didn’t end in an affectatious situation where each of them let the other go first.

Alfra felt sullen. It looked like she had been taken as an easy opponent.

―― I’ll beat all you rapists!

On the way to the camp site, a bet was proposed whether or not Orkas, who had received a strong blow a while ago, would be able to eat dinner.

Scorning gazes gathered on Alfra, who was the first one to bet on the “can’t eat” side.

Signum was the only one who laughed heartily.

However, in the end, the bet ended up in a failure because nobody bet on the opposite result.

It was because the pale-faced Orkas, who was being carried by the men, also bet on the “can’t eat” side.

Notes:

“All soldiers are rapists” cliché. ding

You might be wondering why it took me so long for this relatively short chapters. Well, there’s only 2 words I can answer you with. No Lesbians. Actually, make that 3. No Cute Lesbians.

Notify me about mistranslations, typos and awkward grammar so I could fix it asap.

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