Chapter 15

A cool breeze brushed against her cheeks, and Akari woke up.

She sat up and rotated her neck and arms.

Her body felt stiff, probably because she had slept on the ground last night.

Looking around, she noticed that Zangoro and Ilneik, who was also called Yuki-shiro, were gone.

The entrance was open.

Sunlight streamed in like a belt from there.

After Akari chuckled, Zangoro shrugged and said,

“I won’t kill you. If you keep quiet, you can go home after that.”

“...You might be lying, though?”

“In that case, I’ll just have to accept that I’m a fool. I’m quite a fool, actually. If it really comes to it, I’ll run away.”

Saying that, he rolled over and lay down,

“It’s already late, so I’m going to sleep. I’m sorry, but there’s no bedding, so just sleep somewhere over there.”

He said that and promptly fell asleep.

Akari, feeling somewhat uneasy, took off her chest armor and gauntlets and lay down.

She thought she had a lot to consider, but she must have been tired, as she fell asleep almost immediately.

When Akari put on her armor and went outside, Zangoro was sitting cross-legged facing the opposite mountain. Yuki-shiro was nowhere to be seen.

“Are you awake? Sorry for the trouble.”

He didn’t even turn his face, still sitting in meditation.

“No, I’m used to camping.”

“Mmm, camping, huh? I was trying to make it feel like a home.”

“Oh, no, that’s not—”

Zangoro chuckled at Akari’s flustered expression.

“...Do you tease me sometimes?”

Akari, looking somewhat unamused, made Zangoro stand up and hand over a bow, arrows, and a knife.

“There’s no one around. Well, it’ll probably be just one... and one for a while.”

Akari took the bow, arrows, and knife.

“When do you plan to go down the mountain?”

“I don’t plan to go down as long as I can live here, but I’m starting to miss salt and soy sauce. Well, eventually.”

“Salt is one thing, but soy sauce? Unfortunately, there’s almost none around here.”

Zangoro groaned as if he had been shocked.

“You can find it in the main cities of Dorgon’s capital, Rolana, but not in this remote area. By the way, there is rice, but it’s treated like a vegetable. It’s long and very hit or miss.”

“Long rice, maybe it would work for pilaf or paella, but the ingredients...” Zangoro muttered, and Akari smiled wryly.

She remembered how she had devoured the meal served to her six months after being summoned.

“Do you have money?”

At those words, Zangoro looked dejected again.

“It’s not a world of gold and silver coins. We use paper money and coins with magic incorporated.”

Each country manufactured paper money using autonomous magic that was not shared outside. Still, bartering was sometimes done in remote areas, but Akari decided to keep quiet as a form of retaliation for being teased.

She intended to tell him the next time she came.

“...Can I come back? I don’t know when, though.”

Her voice became smaller, contrary to her inner thoughts.

“What would you come here for, to this place with nothing?”

“No, there are things about magic...”

“...I won’t say you can come anytime.”

Akari looked disappointed.

“You probably can’t come during the blizzard, and only three days before and after the blizzard, right?”

“I can come at other times. It’s a ‘ability’ I have.”

“...Is it okay to tell me that?”

Akari’s eyes widened.

Of course, the power was a secret, and it acted as a silent restraint on those around her.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll explain it to you as well.”

“Hey, wait—”

Zangoro panicked, but Akari casually revealed the details of her ‘Incomplete Map and Detection’ ability.

As she explained, she suddenly realized something.

He might not know the specifics, but he should have known that her ability included detection.

She remembered him saying this:

“‘...Huh? But how did you know we hunted a large Ilneik?’

‘I saw it and heard it.’

Zangoro chuckled.

‘What, so you’ve known since last year—’

‘—I’ve known. And I knew someone would come here this year too.’”

Indeed, during the night they hunted the Ilneik, she had felt the movement of the wind spirits throughout the conversation. She didn’t think they had discussed it in detail, but she had a vague memory of mentioning the detection part.

In other words.

If she hadn’t been there, Zangoro could have avoided killing and lived quietly with Ilneik on the mountain. Because she was there, he had to incite the giant thorn spider.

If she had the ability to detect, no matter how hidden, the position of the Ilneik she was with would be revealed.

Then why did he spare her and make contact?

It must have been out of a sense of camaraderie as fellow summoners.

Not making contact would have been the best option. The fact that he did make contact showed a proper human emotion.

This meant that he hadn’t become a person who enjoyed killing or become indifferent to others.

At the same time, she realized that she wasn’t the kind of person who could speak of high ideals.

She might not have wanted to admit it.

Being summoned to this world, becoming a hunter, and killing monsters with her own hands. She might have had to kill humans too.

The fear of becoming something unrecognizable.

This time, if she hadn’t been there, they wouldn’t have been attacked by the giant thorn spider.

The hunter who died in front of her had died partly for her.

She knew she was carrying too much, but she wasn’t going to get depressed over it.

She just wanted to live. She wanted to live.

And he wanted to live too.

Thinking about it, the idea that he had killed to live didn’t seem so repulsive.

After finishing her explanation, Akari looked somewhat relieved.

“This makes us even. Please keep my ‘Blessing’ a secret too, okay?”

Akari felt a small sense of accomplishment, having gotten back at the stunned Zangoro.

“Showing off, huh... Well, as long as you don’t get caught, do as you please.”

“Thank you. And one more thing...”

Ignoring Zangoro’s tired expression, Akari continued,

“Yuki-shiro, can you, um, let me, you know, pet you?”

A cold silence followed.

Despite Zangoro’s icy glare, which seemed to say, “Are you an idiot?”, Akari didn’t flinch.

“...Ask him yourself.”

“I can’t talk to monsters.”

“He’s smart, so he’ll understand if you ask. If he doesn’t like it, he’ll hit you with his tail.”

Akari muttered something suspicious, like, “Getting hit by that tail?... Maybe that’s not so bad...”

“Come on, let’s go. I’ll take you to the edge of the giant thorn spider’s territory.”

Zangoro, who had somehow acquired a moss-green backpack and other equipment, started down the slope without another word.

“Wait!”

Akari, who had been lost in her imagination, hurried after him.

It was only natural that when Akari asked Yuki-shiro the same favor on the way, she got hit by his tail.

Seeing Akari chuckle, Zangoro made a decision.

Or rather, he had already decided from the beginning.

He couldn’t kill her.

So, he could either let her go or keep her confined.

But he couldn’t confine her. Search parties would come. She was a ‘Hero’ after all, even if she had been neglected. Maybe even that Hayato would come.

Just the thought of that cheater coming to this mountain made his skin crawl.

He might beat her up someday, but when? Maybe he’d kick her off a cliff when she was about to fall.

Watching Akari, who was persistently negotiating with Yuki-shiro, Zangoro felt she finally looked like a high school student.

But, was it right that the person she was negotiating with was the child of the monster he had hunted?

Yuki-shiro seemed very annoyed, but he didn’t do anything other than hit her with his tail. Maybe he was considering Zangoro’s feelings.

Zangoro felt satisfied, thinking, “He seems to think I’m weak and not worth his attention.”

They quickly left the giant thorn spider’s territory.

The path they took was one that even local hunters didn’t know. The sun was still high in the sky.

Akari calculated that if she hurried, she could return to the village by nightfall.

“If you come back, don’t use the route we just took. Well, you can probably tell with your radar, but you can’t use it during the spider season, and the plants move around, changing the route every time. I can manage because I have Yuki-shiro.”

“Unfortunately, my map doesn’t have a recording function, so it will be difficult to use it again.”

She said this, looking at Yuki-shiro with a wistful expression.

“...Look at me. Well, it’s fine, go on. It’s getting dark.”

Akari chuckled, looked at Zangoro, and bowed.

“Thank you.”

“It’s for my convenience.”

“No, it’s what I wanted to say.”

Akari said this and turned to go down the mountain.

By the time the sun was setting, Akari had finally reached the bottom of the mountain.

She was almost to the village when she blushed.

Her mind was filled with the red of the village.