Chapter 122

Chapter 122

Abnormal Phenomenon (1)

Scorching sunlight poured straight down.

Amon had been panting beside me for some time with his tongue out like a thirsty dog.

He seemed to have considerable trouble enduring the heat.

Even after changing out of his uniform and into clothes optimized for desert activity, he showed that he could not endure the heat well.

—Sssss.

Then drifting sand dust made the faces of our group grimace.

“Ptoo. Ptoo, ptoo.”

Sand must have entered Amon’s mouth, because he kept spitting.

Soon, after clacking his teeth a few times to check whether grains of sand were caught between them, Amon glanced at me.

At his gaze, I tilted my head.

“...Never thought I’d live to see the day when having bandages around your eyes looked convenient.”

“Watch your words, Amon.”

Yuri immediately rebuked him.

“Haha, it is not wrong, so it is fine. It may indeed be convenient.”

Our group set out into the desert to hunt otherworld species as soon as day broke. I had not slept because I was “cleaning,” but thanks to Reina’s bracelet, I was not especially tired.

According to Ishmir, to hunt otherworld species, one had no choice but to walk through the desert without any clear plan.

The gates appeared at random, and the otherworld species that escaped from them did not have any particular pattern of behavior.

As she explained while scratching the eyepatch over her left eye, she added, “They will not be easy to find. If they were, I would have made a fortune.”

Just as she said, otherworld species were not something one could meet very easily.

...As far as I knew, that should definitely have been the case.

“...More are coming. There are quite a few this time.”

The moment the movements of otherworld species touched my Perception, I spoke.

“A-again, again...?!”

Lucia was horrified by my low voice.

I pointed a finger in the direction the otherworld species were approaching, and not long afterward, the others could confirm it with their own eyes.

Sand dust was rising from the left.

“Wow, it’s true. Dogs, huh? They’re doggies. You notice them well for someone who should not see.”

Ishmir, raising a hand to shield herself from the sun, spoke with the corners of her mouth raised high.

Soon, someone’s left arm slipped out from inside my robe.

My own left arm was already pointing at the otherworld species, so at least it was not mine.

—Crackle!

Lightning surged from a hand far smaller and more delicate than mine.

Then straight golden flashes poured indiscriminately over the otherworld species running toward us while kicking up sand.

—Craaaackle!! Crack!!

The charging otherworld species plunged straight into the sand.

“Even if their level is low, they are still otherworld species, yet she takes them out in one blow.”

Eisel’s lightning magic possessed considerable power.

“Wow...! Miss Eisel, amazing...!!”

Lucia, watching this, bounced up and down on the sand.

Turning her head, Yuri looked at me.

To be exact, she was glaring at Eisel, who had come into my robe and was slightly visible beneath the lifted fabric.

“Could you fight with us a little? We came here for ‘joint’ combat, in any case.”

“...They were not worth fighting together over anyway.”

Answering Yuri’s words in a prim voice, Eisel grabbed my raised arm, lowered it, and hid inside my robe.

Eisel had come under my robe to avoid the sunlight, saying the sun was hot.

This was possible because Eisel was especially short, and when she entered my arms, her small body could be covered perfectly by the robe.

Yuri had scolded her, saying that if that were the case, she could just wear a robe herself, but Eisel had maintained silence until finally whispering softly to me, “Is it all right if I stay here...?”

I answered that it was fine.

Other than being slightly hot because Eisel’s body gave off warmth, there was no major issue.

I had thought it might make walking uncomfortable, but she matched her stride with mine well.

When I whispered to her instead, asking if it was not stuffy, I felt Eisel shake her head inside the robe.

I did not especially mind, but I did wonder whether there was a reason to come into my arms.

If we were talking about size, was Amon not bigger?

With Amon’s build, it seemed Eisel and even Lucia could fit inside his robe.

After pondering that, I reached the conclusion that it was because Eisel and Amon were not very close.

Eisel, as a regressor, did not have a particularly wide range of relationships.

“Huff... But... did you not say otherworld species were hard to find? Instructor Ishmir...”

Amon, sweating profusely, asked Ishmir as she approached the otherworld species.

“I did.”

“...Is this not strange? This is already the third time.”

With this, it was the third time we had encountered otherworld species.

We were running into them strangely often.

Well, because Eisel swept them away each time they charged, I had not even been able to draw my sword.

“What is strange about it? There are times when luck is good, aren’t there? Money is running toward us, money. Lucia, let’s go!”

“Yes, Instructor!”

Ishmir and Lucia laughed wahaha and ran toward where the remains of the otherworld species lay.

Perhaps because the two were famous as ignorant characters, they seemed to get along remarkably well.

For reference, it was said that the otherworld species caught by students during this desert trip would be given to the temporary instructor warriors as additional pay.

In the end, the students had not come here to earn money, and from the warriors’ perspective, they had incentives on top of their basic pay, so they would teach more diligently... It was a well-structured system in many ways.

“We already caught otherworld species. Can we not just go back now? Haa...”

Amon let out a deep sigh.

That was weak talk, unlike him.

Sweat was streaming down him.

The heat of the desert and the scorching sunlight would likely become a harsh trial for many students.

“From what I have heard, it seems difficult to return unless we catch a ‘humanoid.’”

By contrast, not a single bead of sweat ran down Yuri. Just like in the sauna last time, she was especially strong against heat, against hot things.

Lucia and Ishmir must be used to the desert.

Eisel was hiding in the shade called my robe.

Amon was the ordinary one.

From the subspace pouch in my backpack, I took out a water bottle and held it out to Amon.

“We should try catching a humanoid too. Would it not be good to show the majesty of the Caligus family?”

“Uh... that is true. Thanks....But how many water bottles did you bring?”

“There is nothing wrong with preparing thoroughly, is there? Haha.”

I had not counted how many I brought.

Strictly speaking, perhaps enough that even if we were stranded in the desert, we would not suffer from thirst.

Amon accepted the water bottle and immediately gulped down water.

“Would you like some too, Miss Yuri?”

“I am still fine.”

“What about you, Miss Eisel?”

I lifted the robe, revealing Eisel, and asked casually.

“Uh...”

Eisel, who had not expected me to suddenly lift the robe, clenched her mouth and flinched.

Even though she was avoiding the sunlight, the inside of the robe was just as hot, and Eisel’s face looked flushed with heat.

“If she feels stifled, she will come out on her own, right...?”

Eisel was currently wearing quite revealing clothes.

I did not think her desert outfit in the game had been like this... Well, clothes changing was not that strange.

She must have been very hot.

The clothes were pretty, but the scar engraved on Eisel’s pale stomach, now revealed like that, made me swallow bitterness.

Soon, Eisel raised her head, glared at me, grabbed my arm, and pulled it down, hiding herself again.

Then she shook her head from side to side.

Because her movements felt like those of a small, cute animal, a faint smile formed on my lips.

[ Our disciple has become a nanny now... ]

At that moment, Sierra, who had been quietly watching, cut in with a sour voice, and I nearly burst into laughter.

A nanny.

I had never had a child, but I was used to taking care of children.

“It brings back old memories.”

Old memories I had not taken out in a while, since I no longer even knew if I could return, sprouted one by one.

This series of actions was a kind of care to maintain party members’ morale.

Without even this, morale drops sharply, and that affects combat power. Especially since Amon was Amon, he seemed to need special care.

Would it not be better to fight in the best condition possible?

“The ‘abnormal phenomenon’ of otherworld species flocking here does bother me...”

I took the horizon into my eyes.

Beyond the sand dunes, the ancient ruins could be seen far in the distance, small.

We were drawing closer to ruins that I knew were deeply connected to otherworld species, so that was enough.

***

“Uh...”

I quickly lowered his arm and hid myself.

Because his head was pointed straight toward me, I was terribly embarrassed.

It was already difficult to think properly inside a robe filled with Zeto’s scent.

At Zeto’s kind question, I shook my head from side to side.

If I answered out loud, I worried all my embarrassment would show in the voice that slipped out.

The reason I had gone out of my way to enter his arms was partly, as I had explained to him, to avoid the hot sunlight, but more than that...

I did not want to lose him.

The “desert” was dangerous for Zeto.

In the previous round, Zeto had encountered an “unprecedented” group of humanoid otherworld species in the desert.

They had been lying in ambush, and when they revealed themselves, for some reason, they desperately targeted only Zeto.

...Fortunately, he was not injured, but there was no way to know whether things would pass safely this time too.

For one thing, the frequency at which otherworld species were appearing was already very different from before.

This uncomfortable situation, meeting them a little more often and a little more frequently, was making me uneasy.

Walking in time with Zeto’s stride, I unconsciously wrapped my arms tightly around his waist.

Soon, Zeto came to a sudden stop.

Had he been flustered?

Then I spoke in a voice so small that no one but Zeto, with his good ears, could hear it.

“T-to walk a little more comfortably...”

It was an answer full of excuses and pretexts, but Zeto began walking again without saying much.

If it were Zeto, he probably would have smiled at me. It was truly regrettable that I could not see his face from here.

Holding his waist, I steeled my resolve again.

I will protect Zeto.

That is why I became strong.

“Though I cannot clearly know why the otherworld species are targeting Zeto...”

I had no intention of meekly letting them take Zeto from me. Once we escaped the desert, everything would return to normal again.

The scent of him rising from Zeto’s arms made my head dizzy.