Chapter 47: 47 - Giant Snow Lizard
The naked lady who appeared from within the thicket.
At first she was surprised on seeing them, but then a look of relief came to her face as she collapsed powerlessly.
She then fainted.
"E-Erm....? A-Are you okay..?"
He wanted to quickly rush over to help the lady but then suddenly everything went dark.
He was panicking for a moment not being able to comprehend what happened, but the voice that came from behind made him calm down.
"Y-You mustn't!!! Dear, you cannot look at the naked body of a woman other than mine!! If you want to see one, then I'll oblige whenever you want, wherever you want!! So you absolutely cannot look at another naked woman!!!!!"
The one who was hugging Tatsumi from behind and covering his eyes was of course, Calcedonia.
He could feel the warmth of her body from behind. If they weren't wearing leather armour now, then Tatsumi could have enjoyed the touch of her soft breasts.
Feeling a bit regretful about that, Tatsumi called out to Jadokh who should obviously be amazed right now.
"O-Ok, Jadokh. Sorry, but can I leave that lady to you?"
"Jeez, it can't be helped."
There was an obvious tint of amazement in Jadokh's voice.
But Tatsumi, who had his field of vision covered, and Calcedonia, who was busy covering Tatsumi's eyes, didn't notice.
That Jadokh, who was helplessly, yet happily, smiling at the two of them.
"Then, I'll look after this woman for now. Calsey should take Tatsumi boy somewhere else in the meantime. After that, I might need to borrow Calsey's power."
At a glance, the lady had nothing that looked like an external injury. But she might have some internal wounds or bone fractures.
If that was the case then Calcedonia's healing magic would be necessary to treat her.
And when Jadokh raised a bitter smile seeing Calcedonia dragging Tatsumi away, he walked towards the collapsed woman but,
A roar strong enough to shake the trees around the area sounded out.
Jadokh reflexively dropped to his knees and held his weapon up, surveying the surrounding without negligence.
Though he couldn't judge what kind of beast would make that roar, he could judge the direction it came from.
No mistake about it. The roar just now, it came from the direction the unconscious lady came from.
If that was so, then it was hard to even consider the lady being related to the master of that roar. Though the reason was not clear, she was probably running away.
"Calsey."
While keeping his eyes on the thickets, Jadokh asked Calcedonia who was behind him.
"The roar just now... ... ... can you guess what made it?"
Calcedonia separated from Tatsumi, and without letting her guard down, started to ponder for a bit.
"... Yes. I remember hearing a roar identical to this before. Probably, it's a giant snow lizard."
"Giant snow lizard?"
Giant snow lizard, as the name implies, was a larger version of the snow lizard.
It had a body almost twice as big as a normal snow lizard. It was also the boss of a snow lizard pack. Packs led by a giant snow lizard had, in most cases, a far greater number of snow lizards than normal and frequently would be stronger too.
"But, this pack of snow lizards.... Their number is a bit too low for them to be led by a giant snow lizard, I think."
Calcedonia said while looking at the scatter snow lizard corpses around the place
The pack that Tatsumi and Jadokh defeated numbered even smaller than the usual snow lizard pack. Furthermore, the number was overwhelmingly smaller than a pack led by a giant snow lizard.
".... Let's think about that later. Right now rather than that..."
While wielding his weapon, Jadokh slowly back stepped to where Tatsumi and Calcedonia were.
"... Can we win, if we were to fight that giant snow lizard?"
Calcedonia who was asked again sunk into thought.
Tatsumi and Jadokh, counting herself too, they shouldn't be any weaker than a giant snow lizard.
But even if they could win, they would not be able to overwhelm the giant snow lizard in a battle.
It would be a long drawn out battle. In which they had to prudently shave away the giant snow lizard's life little by little.
But, they could not spend too much time here. In front of them was a naked lady lying unconscious on top of the snow.
It would be difficult to fight while protecting her, and if she was left like that for too long then the chances of her dying from cold wasn't low.
"... ... We could win but, I think it would be safer to take that woman and retreat for now."
"My, just like I though. Jeez."
There was no need to face that giant lizard right now.
They didn't come here on a request, but for personal training. So there was no problem if they returned to town now.
The thing to be concerned about, was that a giant snow lizard appeared in the vicinity of the capital.
But rather than taking the risk to face it here, it was safer to return back to the [Elven Rest house] and tell Eru about it.
There were a lot of able monster hunters among the regulars of that bar. If Eru spoke to them, then a strong team of monster hunters would immediately set out to subjugate the giant snow lizard.
"No helping it then. Dear, this is an emergency so, please bring that woman here as fast as you can."
"Understood."
Like Jadokh, Tatsumi had his weapon out and was vigilantly eyeing the surrounding. Hearing Calcedonia's order, he transferred to the lady, and the next moment he transferred back carrying the lady with him.
"Jadokh! Come here!"
"Roger~"
As Calcedonia was covering the lady with an overcoat, Tatsumi shouted at Jadokh.
He touched Calcedonia who was holding the fainted lady with his right hand, and touched Jadokh with his left.
"Since you aren't accustomed to it, you might get dizzy."
"Eh? W-What? What are you planning to do to me?"
Jadokh teased even though he knew what Tatsumi's intentions were. Ignoring that, Tatsumi began to gather the mana in the area.
Transferring 3 people - 1 of them being a demi-human - was a chore even for Tatsumi.
The distance he could jumped lessened, and the fuel consumption increased. But today, he was resolved to be a bit reckless.
While firmly recognizing his comrades' presence, Tatsumi activated <<Instant Transition>>.
Along with her consciousness, her eyes slowly opened.
She realized that a fair lady with light blonde hair and pretty blue eyes was looking at her with an anxious face.
"Ah, are you awake?"
Noticing that she regained consciousness, the blonde lady smiled gently.
As her mind became clearer, she realized that she was lying on top of a bed.
".... where am....?"
"This is a bar called the [Elven Rest house]. I am the master of this bar, Erulula Zaphyra Fyrasilula Akatsuka. Because it's such a long name you can call me Eru."
The smiling woman who called herself Eru. Looking closely, she had pointy ears. Was she an elf?
"....[Elven Rest house]......?"
She had recollection of that name.
A place where skilled monster hunters gathered. One of the most famous bars of the capital.
Maybe one day she could come and go out of that bar as she wished. She would talk about this dream of hers with her comrades a lot.
Thinking to that point, suddenly her head cleared up at once.
A noticeably huge snow lizard.
The remains of normal snow lizards thrown about in the surrounding.
As the giant snow lizard noticed them, it raised a chuckle.
The crimson red eyes of the lizard, they sleepily gazed at them—-
"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"
She suddenly screamed, and curled herself up on the bed, as if to protect herself from something.
***
"....Uuuugh.... My head's still spinning......"
Occupying a table in the bar, a four armed man was sprawled on top the of the table while he complained.
"Oi, I brought water. You should feel better after you drink it."
Near that man's head, a youth put down a beer mug full of water.
"Thank you, Tatsumi boy.... But, repeating that revolting transfer over and over again, I am surprised you are okay......"
There was admiration, or maybe there was amazement in his comment. The four armed man — Jadokh — said that with a confusing tone.
"Yeah... ... I was the type who wouldn't even scream on a roller coaster... maybe I was born with good semicircular canals."
"...... Tatsumi boy, something you mutter some incomprehensible things you know?"
He didn't even have the strength to raise his head, as he said that with his head on the table.
Wryly smiling at Jadokh, Tatsumi also took a seat at the same table.
Then, something soft leaned on him from the side.
"Ahn~.... I am also dizzy... so nurse me please."
Rather than feeling dizzy, the one who spoke had joy seeped all over her face. Of course, it was Calcedonia.
Just like when she was a bird, she used to rub against Tatsumi. Right now, with her ahoge swaying from left and right, Calcedonia was snuggling up to Tatsumi.
The monster hunters around them were looking over them with tepid gazes, as they started to make fun of him, but Calcedonia paid them no heed.
And even when looking at this lover of his with a troubled gaze, Tatsumi did what she asked.
"...... I wonder if she's okay... that person, just what happened to her?"
"There was no sign of outer wounds... Well there were scratches and small injuries all over her body, along with some old scars. That lady, she's probably a monster hunter."
After transferring over and over, they finally returned to the city. They barged into the [Elven Rest house] and explained everything to the round eyed Eru.
After hearing the whole thing, Eru ordered the female employees to bring the unconscious woman to the second floor, and along with Calcedonia she started to treat her.
After examining her with Calcedonia, Eru judged that even though there were some light wounds, she was not seriously injured. Using Calcedonia's healing magic, they were able to finish her treatment quite fast.
All that's left is to wait for her to wake up. Leaving the rest to Eru, it was just a while ago that Calcedonia returned to the bar where Tatsumi was.
"... Just what happened huh?... Well, we should be able to learn that after the lady wakes up."
Tatsumi, Calcedonia ,and Jadokh then turned their gaze towards the stairs that led to the second floor.
It was just a bit later that Eru rushed down with a grave expression on her face.