(Like a Taxi, I guess)
Using the system, Silva set this mountain as his destination, and asked to be brought there.But as he approached the mountain, a problem occurred.
“It suddenly became impossible to control the carriage, and while it was planned that I would be dropped here, I was dropped far, far to the east…” (Silva)
He pointed his finger. In that direction was a sea of trees.
“The Eastern Forest… Also known as the 【Beguiling Woods】. I fell into that place.” (Silva)
“How unlucky.” (Hiiro)
“Yes… But I am a butler. I can’t give up because of such things. No matter how irregular the situation, it is my duty to follow my master’s orders. So I wandered around the forest alone.” (Silva)
“And you had used up all of your strength by the time you got here?” (Hiiro)
“It was a great dishonor to me.” (Silva)
Silva lowered his shoulders.
“If you were hungry, why didn’t you hunt, or forage?” (Hiiro)
“Unfortunately, the 【Beguiling Woods】 do not contain anything edible. There are things that look like food, but once you put them in your mouth, you get status afflictions strong enough to change your personality entirely.” (Silva)
That was the scary part of the forest. In it were devilish edibles. All of them have confusing side-effects, and their strong effects crumble’s one’s personality and purpose.
(A plain swarming with Rank S Monsters, a Mountain of Poison, and a Beguiling forest… I’ve come to an incredible place…)
There wasn’t a single safe-haven. Hiiro decided that he would have to be more wary than he could imagine.
Silva himself took severe damage as he finally exited the forest, but he was constantly attacked by monsters, and there was nothing to eat. After desperately clawing his way here, he gave in to his own hunger, and collapsed.
“But I digress. Anyways, I have a reason that I have to enter this mountain.” (Silva)
“…” (Hiiro)
“If you plan on crossing this mountain no matter what, then I think it best if I were to accompany you.” (Silva)
Silva had to cross it to return home as well. Their destinations were the same.
(But…)
The problem was whether one not he wanted to bring along someone who may be a burden to such a dangerous place. It’s not like they were comrades or anything, and he didn’t have any particular attachment to him. And seeing the old man in front of him get beaten up and poisoned was not a good sight for the eyes.
Mikazuki was enough of a burden to him, but then he remembered something.
He survived the 【Beguiling Forest】, and the monsters that attacked him up until now. Perhaps this old man had a little bit of skill. Even though Silva was collapsed from hunger, he had nothing that resembled a serious injury.
Hiiro immediately cast doubtful eyes on Silva. No, perhaps they were appraising eyes.
(This guy… could it be…)
As he thought that, Hiiro secretly tried to write 『Pry (覗)』. He concentrated magic on his finger. But the next instant, Silva’s eyebrow’s twitched, and he glared at Hiiro’s face. Hiiro immediately stopped writing.
“… What happened?” (Silva)
“… Meaning?” (Hiiro)
“No, I just felt a slight flow of magic.” (Silva)
“!?” (Hiiro)
It was truly a shock. It seems that Silva was able to sense that Hiiro was trying to do something.
(I definitely let out magic, but no one’s been able to sense that until now…)
Perhaps the 『Evila』 Race, which specialized in magic, were all sensitive to its flow. He would have to be careful not to use magic in excess from here on. In the end, Hiiro was unable to check Silva’s 《Status》 screen..
“No, it’s nothing.” (Hiiro)
That was all he could say. And Silva didn’t press any further.
“About that, Hiiro-sama.” (Silva)
“… What?” (Hiiro)
“How about it? I think my knowledge will prove useful to you in some way.” (Silva)
It was true that Hiiro knew nothing of this land. It’s always better to have information than to not. But this Old Man’s aura made it seem that he would be hard to deal with.
(Is he weak or strong… I still don’t know. I might be able to get directions from him, but…)
If he accidentally used 《Word Magic》 and got found out, a problem might emerge. It wasn’t a magic he wanted to flaunt to others, so he wanted to refuse, but as their destinations were the same, and as Silva still wanted to return the favor, it may end up that they would be travelling together regardless.
(If I can skillfully draw out whatever info I need, and take out monsters with just my Katana…)
Thinking that, Hiiro made up his mind, and turned back to Silva.
“Fine. However, don’t do anything unnecessary. We’ll just be traveling together, got it?” (Hiiro)
“Nofofofofo! Understood. I’ll repay my debt in all sincerity! Nofofofofo!” (Silva)
He respectfully bowed.
(It seems I’ve made a companion I have to be wary around.)
Hiiro gazed at the mountain, with doubts swirling around his head. But this was merely another part of travelling. He hit Mikazuki’s back again, and proceeded forwards.
Chapter 63: Venom Mountain
【Venom Mountain】 was spread with carpet of lush and dense grass. One was able to discover a Evila road that was unlike any of the Gabranth paths.The trees held thickly grown black leaves. There were even uniquely large mushrooms that made their habitat here.
Hiiro: (That’s obviously a poison mushroom.)
While thinking thus, Hiiro proceeded to walk down the grass road while being extremely wary of his surroundings. In front of him was Silva who was leading the way.
Silva: 「Please take care, Hiiro-sama(1). The monsters that inhabit this area are well-versed in mimicry. It is not uncommon for those to be killed by poison fangs before one notices.」
Hiiro: 「You seem to know a lot, huh?」
Silva: 「This is because I am a Butler.」
As he contemplated upon the reason for this, Hiiro thought that Silva might have performed a preliminary investigation before coming here. He was completely different from Hiiro who improvised his actions. Hiiro thought that it became necessary for him to emulate a little bit of Silva’s manner of operation.
Silva: 「Please stop here!」
As Silva’s feet abruptly stopped, Mikazuki followed suit.
Hiiro: 「What is it?」
Silva: 「It is those branches.」
In the direction that Silva had pointed his finger were, indeed, thick branches that grew from a large tree. However, all that Hiiro felt when he looked at it was that those were just branches.
Silva: 「Over there are monsters that are mimicking branches. I presume that they are the monsters referred to as Lugoon.(2)」
The knowledge of such a monster did not appear in Hiiro’s memory. It was probably a monster specific to the 【Evila】 Continent.
Silva: 「Please observe.」
As he said thus, Silva began to retrieve something from his pouch. What had sparkled with a *kira~n*(3) was clearly a knife used for eating.Throwing the knife with a *shuba*(4), he pierced the branch that he had pointed at with his finger earlier.
「Gugya-!(5)」
At that location, a fat, cobra-like monster appeared, squirming around painfully with a *kunekune*(6) due to the knife protruding out of its body. It tried to move, however, as the knife had fastened its body to the branch it was mimicking, it could not escape from that spot.
Soon after, it expelled green blood as its movements stopped, as if forfeiting.
Hiiro: 「You’re pretty knowledgeable, huh.」
Silva: 「That is because I am a Butler.」
Hiiro: 「......whatever.」
Hiiro convinced himself that this was due to Silva's eyes having good vision.
Hiiro: 「By the way, is this annoying weed-zone gonna keep going?」
As the area around one’s feet cannot be determined well, it would be a pain if they were attacked from below.
Silva: 「No, we will soon be approaching an open location. Unlike this area that is lush with long weeds and bushes, this location seems to be a grassland. Should one advance further, they would be met with a zone of granite. Proceeding past this stony area will bring you to the exit of the mountain.」
Hiiro: 「I see. In that case, we should probably aim for that open area or something first, huh?」
Silva: 「Indeed. What I am searching for appears to be in that location.」
It seemed that Silva had been ordered by his master to search for a certain something. As Hiiro had no interest, he didn't ask any further. After walking for a while, Silva once again abruptly paused.
Hiiro: 「Another monster?」
Silva: 「......I must apologize.」
As Silva's eyes were staring straight ahead, he gave his apology.
Hiiro: 「What’s up?」
Silva: 「It appears that we have been completely surrounded.」
Hiiro: 「What was that?」
Saying this, Hiiro instantly grew increasingly vigilant. Standing on Mikazuki’s back, Hiiro attentively surveyed his surroundings. However, no matter where Hiiro looked, all he could see around him were weeds. Following this, a leaves began to flutter through the air. Hiiro thought that this was caused by the wind.
However, the leaves headed straight for Hiiro.
Silva: 「Please evade Hiiro-sama!」
Hiiro: 「Eh?」
In the instant that Hiiro expressed his confusion, Silva threw the knife towards Hiiro’s location. Of course, what Silva was aiming for was not Hiiro, but the leaves. The knife penetrated the leaves before piercing itself into a tree trunk with a *ton*(7).
Six legs began to grow from the leaves. Similar to the previous Lugoon, it struggled to escape from the knife, yet it drew its last breath as its existence faded.
Silva: 「That was a Venom Insect(8) that disguises itself as tree leaves! It may look small, however, they contain an extremely deadly poison!」
Hiiro: 「Ku-!(9)」
As he was surrounded by dancing leaves, Hiiro assumed that all of them were those insects as his thoughts raced. As he looked around restlessly, Hiiro began to ponder about how to deal with this situation when-
Silva: 「There is a certain point that you can use to distinguish them! In the center of the leaf, if there is a red dot then they are Venom Insect!」
While splendidly avoiding the leaves, Silva accurately pierced the insects. With that said, in this blizzard of leaves, identifying only the Venom Insects was a daunting task.
Hiiro: (I guess I've got no choice. If I use this, then the Jii-san(10) will probably disregard it as just normal magic.)
As he determined thus, Hiiro cast the word 「Fire」|『火』to wrap flames around themselves. Of course, he made sure to avoid targeting Mikazuki. The flames spread as if they were a barrier of fire, mercilessly consuming any of the leaves that touched them.
Silva: 「Oo!(11) So Hiiro-sama was a spell-caster of Fire!」
Receiving the reaction that he had expected, Hiiro felt relieved. After one minute passed, the flames naturally extinguished. At the same time, it seemed that the leaves that were dancing around earlier were now neatly and refreshingly burned.
Silva: 「Nofofofofo!(12) In any case, that was quite impressive. Normally, using fire in such a place would result in the flames spreading out of control. I did not believe that you were such a spell-caster capable of controlling the flames so that they would burn only the surrounding area. A thousand pardons.」
As the surroundings were full of weeds and trees, it would not be strange for such a flame to turn into a forest fire. However, as Hiiro’s magic caused the flames to be erased after a minute has passed, he wasn't concerned. On top of this, as Hiiro had made created the fire precisely according to his image, Silva mistook Hiiro as a flame spell-caster that could completely control his magic, an extraordinary mage.
Hiiro: (It looks like it went well, huh.)
Silva: 「With this much magic, even among those of the 『Imp Race』, you must be an extremely talented person, am I correct.」
Hiiro somewhat happily began to speak.
Hiiro: 「Aa(13), in regards to fire magic, I've never lost once.」
Although this wasn't a complete lie, as he didn't want to reveal his <<Word Magic>>, he had no choice but to phrase his answer as such.
Silva: 「Nofofofofo! Indeed, indeed. It appears that one such as myself might not have been necessary!」
Hiiro: 「More importantly, let’s keep moving. It looks like the grassland is up ahead.」
As the three of them continued walking, they advanced through and exited the weed-zone.
Author’s Note: It looks like the Butler’s pretty skilled.(14)
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