Текст книги "Overlord Volume - The Two Leaders"

Автор книги: Maruyama Kugane

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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

The goblins weren’t just Enri’s bodyguards, they were the village’s protectors. If she decided to press that point, she could probably extort the required money to equip the goblins from the villagers. However, Enri decided to give up on that idea.

No matter what, Enri was simply trying to repay the goblins’ service through her own efforts. This expedition was the proof of that.

“Normally, the safest thing to do would be to confirm the area was free of danger before you went in…"

Interrupting from behind was the goblin mage, Dyno.

She was an arcane magic caster who wore a humanoid skull for a helmet.

In her hands was a staff that was even taller than herself, made of simple, gnarled wood. She dressed in some form of exotic full-body tribal costume that managed to emphasize her meager bust. Her face seemed softer than those of the male goblins. Enri could recognize this because she was their mistress, but normal people probably wouldn’t be able to pick up on those details.

“However, you can’t confirm it’s safe, can you?”

“Mm, that’s right. Sadly, we can’t do that. The most we can do is confirm that the forest seems peaceful, but even that needs time. And if we want to find out when tensions are going to run high again, that’ll take even more time.

If they did that, they would miss the opportunity to gather the desired herbs. After hearing Dyno’s words, a firm conviction gathered in her eyes and she made her reply.

“It’ll be fine, we won’t go too deep.”

After hearing her repeat that answer several times, Jugem realized that he couldn’t change Enri’s mind. Instead, he looked to the three goblins who would travel with her. What he told them was the same as what he had said to them before.

“We won’t be able to protect Ane-san, so you guys are going to have to do it for us. You’d better keep her safe! And Ani-san too!”

“Got it!”

“It would be safest if we’d all stuck together as usual. Splitting up our fighting strength is just asking for trouble.”

Dyno muttered under her breath.

“If we did that, then we’d be forced into reacting to the enemy, right?”

“That’s right. If any of the monsters coming to the village decide to settle down in the forest, getting rid of them for good would be extremely troublesome. Once they build a nest, they’ll never leave. Even if we chased them away, they’d come right back after a while.”

Since the balance of power in the forest had changed, reconnoitering the Great Forest ― especially the area surrounding the village ― was critical.

This was the first pass. The first pass implied that the danger was the greatest. As such, they could only arrange for three people to be Enri’s escorts.

“Good. Well then, let’s move! Finish up here and meet up with Ane-san!”

In response to Jugem’s call, the goblin troop thundered their assent.

♦ ♦ ♦

The interior of the Great Forest.

Although they had only travelled about a hundred and fifty meters in, the temperature had fallen by several degrees. This was simply because no sunlight shone in here. That said, the interior was not completely pitch-dark, and Enri could still see what was happening around her. It was like being in a room with the air-conditioner turned up to full blast. In this way, Enri and the other four members of her party advanced into the forest.

At the moment, the forest was dominated by silence. Apart from the gentle sounds of the tree branches swaying and the occasional cries of birds or beasts, there was nothing else. The footsteps of Enri and her companions echoed loudly. The other team led by Jugem had already gone deeper in, and they could no longer be heard.

Enri and company formed a roughly triangular formation as they advanced into the forest. In the center of the formation were Enri and Nfirea.

It was very difficult to maintain a wide formation in the forest. Normally, they would have gone single file, but in order to protect the two of them the goblins had insisted on doing things that way. They lost speed as a result, but that couldn’t be helped.

As they moved deeper inwards, Nfirea began looking up and towards the north.

He was looking for the treasure sleeping in the dense forest – medicinal herbs.

Enri was not a novice to herb-gathering. A girl her age would know all about herbs that could be taken orally or smeared on an affected area, or the ordinary herbs used as ingredients for potions. However, in this field she was completely outmatched by Nfirea. Not only was he thoroughly familiar with medicinal herbs, he even knew which ones were useful as bases for alchemical compounds.

“Found any rare herbs?”

Of all the questions Enri had asked, this seemed like the one he had been waiting for. The surrounding goblins took their poses.

A double bicep flex again… is that the latest trend or what?

The tilt-headed Enri did not notice the faint expression of annoyance on Nfirea’s face.

“Why didn’t I tell them to stop posing… it sucks to have no courage. Then, is there a brown moss over there?”

As it turned out, there was brown moss growing where Nfirea had pointed.

“That’s Bebeyamokugoke. Mix some with a healing potion and it’ll slightly improve its effects.“

“Oh, really? I thought it was just a simple patch of moss and missed it. Without Enfi, I probably would have ignored it completely. As expected of Enfi.”

“Really now, Ani-san’s pretty amazing. Is it worth a lot?”

“It’s worth quite a bit of money… ah, wait. Don’t pick it. What Enri and I are aiming for is worth even more. If we can’t find it, then we’ll pick this on the way back.”

“I see. Yeah, we got it. Speaking of which, to Ani-san, this forest must be like a treasure trove, since it’s so easy to make wealth. Ah~ with Ani-san I feel much more at ease.”

“This sort of thing—”

The surrounding goblins’ poses changed.

“Yes, hm, well, it might actually be like that. One thing’s for sure, people travelling with me won’t have a hard time. I’m pretty confident of that.”

“Mmm. Enfi can definitely do that.”

An awkward mood flowed through the sleeping forest.

“Then, Ane-san, is that all?”

“Hm? Kaijali-san, what do you mean?”

“Hm? No, I actually, nothing… ah… come to think of it, there’s a question I forgot to ask. What sort of herbs are you looking for?”

“We didn’t tell you? It’s a herb called Enkaishi. Afterwards we’ll let Nemu grind it up.”

“Ah, so that’s what it is. Got it. Although, even if you describe it to us, we won’t be able to tell the difference. Then, let’s move on.”

Step by step, they ventured further into the forest. As they went on, their noses started itching from the thick scent of the forest’s fragrance.

There was no sign of human activity here at all. Immersed in this place, Nfirea felt like this was a world where humans were weak and tiny. Then, he opened his mouth to speak.

“Let’s start looking around here. We’re looking for places with lots of shade and humidity… are there any water sources nearby? That herb grows near them. There’s no sign of monster activity around here, what a stroke of luck.”

With his vast experience as a herbalist, it was unlikely for Nfirea to make a mistake.. The goblins and Enri replied in approval.

The group put their things down and the burden on them decreased greatly.

“Ahhh… Ane-san, could you go give Ani-san a hand?”

“Ah, yes, that’s right. Enfi must have his hands full by himself.”

Enri walked over to where Nfirea had put down his luggage and assisted him in his labors.

“Thanks, Enri.”

“No problem, Enfi. Although, now that I think of it, all this specialist equipment is amazing. You need so many things…”

Out of the corner of her eyes, Enri could see the goblins nodding in a wordless “very good, very good” manner. Although she was surprised by why they were so happy, she eventually decided that her first priority was getting the job done.

“Then, let’s start the search!”

With a throttled “Oh!” to keep the noise down, they began. The goblins watched the perimeter, while Enri and Nfirea began gathering the herbs.

Although Enri had been prepared for the work to be difficult, they were fortunate and soon found growths of Enkaishi. The dense sheets grew thickly in the cracks of tree trunks.

“It’s over there. We found where they grew right away. As I thought, it’s best when I’m with Enfi.”

“No, it’s nothing like that. We’re lucky we found it in a deserted area. If there were monster tracks, it would be pretty nasty.”

To the two humans, the large quantity of herbs, while not exactly a treasure in its own right, was akin to a small mountain of coins. Enri desperately fought the desire burning in her heart. This place was dangerous, it was better that she put her greed aside and worked to steadily complete the job.

However, Enri knelt down, and began to pluck, minding the roots of the herbs.

Enkaishi’s medicinal value resided in its roots. But you couldn’t just pull the roots out like that. Grasses like these were incredibly hardy, and they would grow again as long as the roots remained. It seemed a shame, but depleting this patch of herbs (which had been quite a challenge to find in the first place) by overharvesting it would be like killing the goose which laid the golden egg.

A strong odor seared her nose as she did the picking, but since she was used to that sort of thing, the smell didn’t impede her work. Compared to Nfirea’s house, this smell was like heaven.

She plucked the herbs stalk by stalk, holding the harvest under her armpits to avoid crushing it by accident, and then carefully placed it into the bag. If the goblins came to help, they would probably have finished faster, but they were too busy watching their surroundings. Enri wasn’t nearly stupid enough to take them off their sentry duty to help her.

In comparison, Nfirea’s harvesting methods were like poetry in motion. He swiftly pulled them out of the ground without pause, in such a way that didn’t damage their potency as medicine. This technique would even impress fellow professionals in his field.

Enri silently watched Nfirea, who was staring at the herbs with a diligent expression on his face. The face that had become so familiar looked like someone else’s before her.

…He’s a man now.

“…What’s happened?”

Nfirea suddenly raised his head. He must have sensed the stoppage in Enri’s work.

Although she’d done nothing, Enri still lowered her head in embarrassment.

“Ah, well, I think Enfi’s amazing…”

“Really? I didn’t think it was that fantastic. I’m only a dabbler when it comes to herbalism. This level is about par for the course.”

“…Is that so.”

“I guess.”

The conversation ended thus, and in the slow passage of time, the stock of herbs in their backpacks grew. After filling up slightly more than half of their packs, the goblins crouched next to the two of them, as if looking for somewhere to hide.

Seeing Enri’s surprised face, Kaijali silently gave a hand signal. This was an emergency. Enri, who understood, pricked up her ears. From the distance came the sound of plants being trampled underfoot.

“This is…”

“Something’s coming. It’s coming for us… or rather, it’s advancing and most likely it’s going to end up here, so we need to get away from here for a bit.”

“…Then, we won’t need the noisemaker decoys?”

“That’s right, Ani-san. It’s better if we don’t have to use those, it feels like things will go bad if we do. Now let’s move.”

The five of them began moving away from the direction of the sound, hiding in the shadow of a nearby tree. They didn’t go further because they didn’t want to chance making noise on nearby vegetation. If the other party was just advancing forward, there was no need to risk discovery like that.

Since the tree wasn’t very big, it couldn’t hide all of them. The most they could do was crouch at its roots and hope they weren’t too obvious.

Like this, the five held their breaths and prayed that the source of the sound would turn in another direction. But unfortunately, this did not happen, and the figure making the noise finally came into Enri’s field of view.

“Eh?!”

A tiny gasp of surprise escaped from Enri’s mouth.

It was a ragged-looking little goblin.

His body was covered in tiny wounds which bled profusely. His breathing was rapid and uneven, and the smell of his blood and sweat spread throughout the area.

Even though goblins were already smaller than humans, this goblin was small even for another goblin. To Enri and the goblin’s trained observation skills, they came to the same answer of “child”.

The goblin child looked fearfully to his rear, in the direction where he had come from. There was no need to listen up for the sound of trampling plant life that followed from behind him. From the looks of things, they were hunter and prey.

He frantically moved his spasming feet, taking cover in a patch of shade different from Enri’s own.

“That―”

“―Quiet.”

Gokoh had not even looked at Enri as he interrupted her. Those unrelenting eyes were fixed on the direction where the kid had come from.

Just over ten seconds later, the hunter revealed itself.

It was a huge magical beast that resembled a black wolf. The reason why they could instantly tell it was no ordinary wolf was because of the chain wrapped around its body. The serpentine chain did not hinder its movements at all, as though it were merely an illusion. And two horns sprang from its head.

Nfirea muttered the name of the beast to himself.

“Barghest…”

Although it could not possibly have heard him to answer, the barghest barked like a dog. Then – its face twisted. It was an evil grin that no mere beast could ever make. It slowly looked around its surroundings and its eyes settled on the tree where the goblin child had hidden.

Just like the beast it resembled, the barghest had a bloodhound’s scenting ability. There was no way it could not sniff out the goblin child who had bled so much on the way here.

From the look of things, the reason why the goblin had managed to get here wasn’t because he could resist the barghest. Rather, it was because the barghest was a sadistic creature; or maybe it was because it was a hunter that liked to play with its food.

Suddenly, the barghest stopped moving, surprise knotting its face, and it stared at the place they had gathered the herbs from.

Ah—

Enri pulled her face back. The others quickly followed suit.

Behind the tree trunk, Enri opened her hands. Her skin was green and speckled with stray bits of plant matter. Beside her, Nfirea did the same thing.

The sap and juices from the herbs we picked…

This was the same sort of thing that Nemu was soaked in when she ground up the herbs. Although those with numbed noses (like themselves) wouldn’t mind, but the powerful stench still hung in the air. Her heart raced, and Enri thought it was annoying.

“It’s started moving. …Is it coming this way? Hasn’t noticed us, has it?”

Unlai, with his ear on the tree to listen, flashed a querying hand sign.

“…are you telling me it can’t use its sense of smell?”

“What do you mean, Ani-san? Don’t monsters have very sensitive noses…?”

“It’s because of that,” Nfirea said as he explained himself.

The key point was that because it had an extremely sensitive sense of smell, the stench floating in this area was particularly effective against it. The barghest had confused the scent of Enri’s hands and bag with that of the already-harvested areas. Even better, the smell had covered up their original scent.

It was also possible that the barghest had torn up the herbs to smoke the goblin child out.

Although the powerful stench was everywhere, if they fled in haste, the displaced air from where they were fleeing might catch the barghest’s attention.

“Then, let’s use the kid as a sacrifice and be done with it. We don’t know how strong this barghest is, and engaging it without prior knowledge would be too risky.”

These cold words made Enri look at Gokoh’s face.

However, these words were logical ones. The goblins put Enri’s personal safety as their top priority. With that in mind, avoiding combat with that magical beast was only to be expected. They would sacrifice one of their own kind for that without a second thought.

The words he said, judging by their conviction, were not mistaken at all.

However, Enri hated this sort of thing. Even if they were of different species, not helping someone you could help would disgrace herself as a human being.

Who knew, if she had not been a silly village girl who had never known a goblin attack and lacked a sense of danger, she might not have thought that way.

Enri looked around to the others. The goblins knew Enri’s wish. They just didn’t want to speak it. After that, Enri looked to Nfirea.

“Enfi…”

“Haa… I’ll help. Who knows, that goblin child might become a valuable source of information. If we don’t find out why he fled here, it might end up causing danger to the village.

The goblins knitted their brows.

“Is there a chance you might lose?”

“Certainly. But if that’s a barghest, we’re in luck. Greater barghests are pretty strong. But from the look of that guy’s chains and the size of his horns, I don’t think he’s of that type. If it’s just a barghest, we’re sure to win.”

“Wait a minute. Ane-san is going to stay here, right? You should avoid danger.”

Enri swallowed. She knew what she was saying was only to satisfy her ego, and her foolish words would endanger not just herself but the others around her. But even so, Enri still opened her mouth to speak.

“…If we abandon someone we could have helped, it would be as bad as tormenting him ourselves. I don’t want to be like those people who harm the weak. Please!”

Kaijali, who had been watching Enri’s earnest expression, sighed in defeat. At the same time, the monster’s strange bark rang out. They could clearly hear the sound of mocking laughter within it. In response came the goblin child’s pitiful wail.

There was no more time for confusion or debate.

“It can’t be helped. Get him, lads!”

The goblins took the lead in jumping out, followed by Nfirea.

Enri felt a terribly wrenching pain in her heart as she watched the warriors who went into battle to fulfil her wishes.

All she could do was watch them from behind.

Then, Enri thought, at the very least I should stay here and watch them, without allowing myself to lose focus for even a single moment.

The four who had leapt out saw the barghest pressing the goblin child down beneath it. The goblin child sported new wounds but was not dead yet, because the barghest had the bad habit of toying with its prey.

The barghest’s movements stopped, and it stared at the group of people who had jumped out and then at the goblin child. Perhaps it was afraid that its prey had led it into a trap.

“Hey hey, come on boy,” Unlai said, pointing to himself with his thumb. “Want to play? I’ll play with you. Come on.”

The barghest growled, full of menace.

In a natural, flowing motion, Kaijali drew the machete at his waist. The other goblins followed suit.

“No need to think so much. I’ll teach an old dog like you new tricks. How about we start with ‘play dead’?”

“Ashaaaa!”

As a response to the goblins’ taunts, the barghest squeezed the goblin child it was stepping on, and he let out an angry growl.

Although it couldn’t speak, its actions made its intentions clear. Make a move and I kill the brat. However―

“Very good! Go ahead and kill him!”

The three goblins ignored the barghest’s taunt, and stepped in with growls of their own.

This unexpected response brought confusion to the eyes of the barghest.

The barghest could not have known that the goblins had not shown up with the intention of saving the goblin child. They were only here because of Enri’s wish, and their attitude was “as long as we tried to save him, it’s good enough”.

Since they had shown themselves for a confrontation, if they didn’t kill the barghest their precious Enri might get hurt. Because of that, they needed to finish off the barghest for good. So if the goblin child was murdered, if that wasted their opponent’s first action and let them seize the initiative, then the goblins would gladly let the kid die.

Seeing itself reflected in the blades of three machetes, the barghest understood that it could not use its hostage against them and stopped moving. It was confused as to whether or not it should kill the boy it was pinning down.

Taking his life would be easy. It would be gone in one bite. However, if it did that, there was no question that it would be hacked to pieces by its enemies’ weapons.

The threat to its life led the barghest to its decision.

Ignoring the goblin child, the barghest leapt at the goblins to meet their attack.

A barghest was heavier than a goblin. The barghest was hoping to pin its foes under itself and finish them off by ripping their throats out with its fangs.

However, this was a poor choice.

The targeted goblin easily twisted out of the way of the attempted attack, and at the same time the other two goblins on the left and right slashed at the barghest with their machetes.

One blade was deflected by the barghest’s chains, but the other ripped into its body, sending blood everywhere.

At the same time, a small hurled vial shattered after hitting the tip of the barghest’s nose.

“Shaaaaa!”

The vile miasma which now clogged its eyes and nose drew an agonized howl from the barghest.

And at that moment, three more jolts of pain ran through its body.

It could sense that it was in trouble from the outflow of blood alone. The barghest wept, its vision shaky and blurred, and made its move. Its target was the one who had thrown the vial ― a human.

However, the barghest had only taken a few steps when its feet stuck onto something below and could not move.

Looking down, it saw that the ground was covered a bizarre glue-like liquid. The bizarre liquid was not absorbed by the earth.

“The glue won’t hold it for long! Take it down in one blow!”

In response to the human’s voice, the goblins shouted their battlecries and charged. In addition, the human released a powerful spell from its direction.

“SHAAAAAAAA!!!”

The barghest had used all its strength to try and pull its feet from the ground. Although its movements were slowed because its feet were still coated with adhesive and dirt, it was still able to fight.

Watching the goblins close in for the kill again, the barghest used its superior intellect (compared to a regular beast) to accept the fact that “these goblins were mighty foes”.

It acknowledged that these were different from regular goblins in one crucial way ― they were enemies who could kill it.

This barghest knew three methods of attack. Goring, piercing its foe with its horns. Biting, knocking its foe down and raking it with its claws. Unlike stronger barghests, it did not have any special abilities. But in truth, it had an ace in the hole.

This tactic would completely abandon defense, and if the barghest failed, it would be doomed. But now wasn’t the time to worry about holding back. It had to make full use of what could be the last few seconds of its life.

The barghest howled wildly, checking the advance of the enveloping goblins.

“「Reinforce Armor」!”

The spell from behind, cast by the human, made the goblins’ armor glow brightly. The barghest panicked, predicting that it was some sort of enhancement spell, but the goblins in front of it simply grinned.

Maybe it made them reckless, but with their armor reinforced, the goblins advanced as one. Perhaps it might be called a foolish move, but then one could also say it was a brave step forward to quickly end what could be a long battle.

That was what would have happened – if the barghest had not expected them to do this.

If a barghest could change its facial features as easily as a human, it would have smiled to itself.

The chains on its body made the sounds of a snake. Then, the chains binding the barghest suddenly came to life.

The thick and crude shackles began spinning with tremendous force.

The special ability ‘Chain Cyclone’ would severely wound the goblins, if not kill them outright.

The barghest was giving this its all. This was a big move that could only be used once a day, and after the chains were used it would be unable to use them as armor for at least ten seconds. The risk was high.

The unexpected attack threw off the goblins’ dodge by a second. This was a fatal mistake. However―

“Get down!”

A thunderous order cut through the air before the chains could.

The barghest that had bet everything on this attack looked to the other human, who had shouted, and its eyes widened.

The goblins who should have been too late to evade it had nimbly dropped to the ground, as though the voice had injected them with a fresh dose of vitality.

The barghest stared at the commander who stood behind the magic caster.

And then, the barghest’s forelegs and one rear leg were severed from its body. It howled in pain. It tried to recover its chains, bare its fangs, threaten them, but the goblins were having none of that.

“Ani-san, no need for the magic support. For safety’s sake, just put up an alarm around this place.

The barghest, which knew it had already lost, was desperately trying to get away.

Its normally limber body was now cumbersome and slow. That was only natural considering that three of its four legs were now stumps. Even so, the barghest wanted to flee with all its might.

But the goblins thought otherwise.

Sticky blood coated the grass all around and the stench of iron drowned out the odor of the plants.

The goblins looked to the goblin child from where they were standing, bloodstained machetes in hand, knee-deep in the gore and viscera spilling from the corpse of the barghest.

The kid had been hurt badly and had lost the strength to flee, but he still forced his body upright against a tree.

“Hey, who are you guys? Which tribe are you from?”

The goblins looked at each other, wondering how to respond to the questions of a kid who was half frightened and half suspicious.

In each other's’ eyes, they wordlessly discussed the strategy for what kind of attitude would yield the most benefits and what kind of information they should reveal, but Enri felt that there were more pressing matters than that.

“We need to take care of his wounds first. What can we do, Enfi?”

The kid was hurt very badly and he had already lost a lot of blood. Left alone, he would definitely die. Although Enri had no idea how to help him, she was hoping that her childhood friend would know what to do.

“The most normal herbs can do is stop the bleeding, it won’t help against blood loss. However…”

Nfirea began rummaging through his pouch.

“There’s the newly-created healing potion. I wanted to hand it to Gown-san, but… could you show me your wounds?”

Nfirea walked forward, withdrawing the potion vial from his robe.

“W-wait, what’s this dangerous-looking liquid? Is it poison?”

Hostility flashed across the kid’s frightened face as he saw the purple potion. From Enri’s point of view – perhaps even Nfirea’s point of view – this was a natural reaction. The potion looked too much like poison for him to not be on his guard. However, the goblins were very upset by the child’s words, and they immediately stalked over to him.

“―Oi, punk. Ane-san’s the one who decided to save you, along with Ani-san. You’d better watch your words to the people who rescued you. That’s for your own good too, got it?”

The kid turned to look at the blades brandished before him. Although he was only a child, he still knew that it would be a bad idea to anger the goblins in front of him. He sagged visibly, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Enri felt that it would be better if they didn’t have to intimidate the kid, but she knew the goblins had their own rules which they followed. It wouldn’t be a good idea for her to butt in with her human sensibilities.

“I-I’m very sorry.”

“Ah, it’s all right. Don’t worry.”

As he answered, Nfirea was smearing the potion on the kid’s body. The wounds were visibly closing up.

“Uuuoooh! What’s this? The color’s so gross but it’s so amazing!”

The kid felt the stares of the surrounding goblins on him and trembled.

“Ah… no, I, ah, th-thank y-you very m-much...”

“Oh, looks like the punk has some manners after all.”

“Very good. This way, I can tell Gown-san that the experiment was completed without a hitch.”

Nfirea looked around, fumbling for approval. Enri and the goblins, who got what he meant, nodded to him.

The potion Nfirea created was made from the materials provided by the great magic caster Ainz Ooal Gown, who was the savior of Carne Village. Not only was there no need to spend money on research fees, but he even provided all the necessary ingredients. With that in mind, the meaning and value of the potion that he had created was plainly obvious.

The fact that Nfirea had decided to use it on his own was a major problem, but perhaps he could pass it off as a practical evaluation of the potion’s effects.

If I explain it to Gown-san after the fact, he’ll probably allow it… experimentation is the fundamental principle of pharmacists, anyway.

“You, you used me as a guinea pig!”

Unable to read between the lines, the kid gasped in shock, while Enri and Nfirea grinned in response. A reaction like this was only natural from someone who didn’t know the full details of the situation.

Although the two of them had at least managed to smile at the reaction, others present were not so forgiving. The goblins present could not moderate their rage, and spat utterances like, “that little bastard!” and so on.

Enri held out her hands to try and calm them down. This reaction was only natural for a clueless kid, and because he was a kid, it wouldn’t do to overreact.

“Well, if Ane-san says so… anyway, we should get moving. Who knows what other monsters will be drawn by the scent of blood.”

“And, although we won… Ane-san. Please don’t do this sort of thing again, okay? Our job is protecting you.”

“What a mess. Still, hearing Enri’s voice like that really scared me.”

“…Well, it’s because of that voice that we’re fine ― oi, brat, you’d better not run off. We have a lot of questions to ask you and if you don’t want to go home in pieces you’d better answer up truthfully.”