Chapter 59: I Scouted Them! »

11-14 minutes 22.07.2022

Climbing the mountains, we searched for charge cows. But, we couldn't find any.

Yep, I knew it. I'm a woman feared by monsters.

"...Swooord, the charge cows might hate me."

"Ah, your talkin' 'bout the 『monsters can tell strong foes apart』 thing? Shit, that immediately puts us in a bind. ...Okay, no choice, you get off the mountain. I'll catch some myself."

No, no, no! I don't wanna! I wanna catch some with my own hands!

"Uuuhh..."

As soon as I started to whimper with tears in my eyes, Sword tried to calm me by gently caressing my head.

"No helpin' it, I think. ...Or rather, it's damn incredible that we haven't run into a single monster so far."

Why!? Am I possibly emitting some smell that repels monsters?!?

*

Just around the time when I was about to start thinking that I might as well leave the mountains after getting calmed by Sword...

"A~~~argh! No~~~o!"

...screams echoed across the mountain.

"...Ah, come on, I told 'em to stay away since it'd be dangerous! And yet there's still folk left up here?!"

"Or rather, doesn't it point towards them having been ambushed? The voice just now sounded like that of a boy!"

It was a child's voice. But since it wasn't as high-pitched as a girl's voice, I think it came from a boy.

Once we rushed over, a monster was in the middle of attacking the boy called Serge. Probably because he had stumbled, he fell on the ground, resulting in him evading the monster's charge by luck. But, he doesn't seem to be skilled enough to defeat the monster himself.

...Hmm? This monster...is that possibly...?

"It doesn't look like a cow, but...is that a charge cow?"

It's black and is equipped with magnificent horns. If I had to describe it one way or another, I'd say it resembles a deer in some ways. Its face leans somewhat closer to that of a cow, I think?

"Hey! Are you a charge cow?"

Addressed by me, the monster looked my way.

Ooohh! It seems to be intelligent!

"Ooohh, good boy, good boy...Should I give you something to eat right now? It's special fodder made by me!"

Since it looked like it understood what I was saying, I took out the feed as a test. The boy was taken aback.

"Ah, does it look like you'll be able to capture it?"

"Wait, this monster seems to understand me. I'll try feeding it, and if it likes the fodder, I'll give persuasion a go."

"...Talk? You're going to talk with it? Well, okay, why not. Suit yourself. Once you've got your fill, I'll capture it."

Sword said something disturbing. Meanwhile the boy booted back up.

"T-This thing t-tried to kill me!!"

"So? What about it? Don't be such a pain in the ass and shut up." Loud shouting might startle the charge cow. "It's your fault for surprising it despite being such a weakling. If you don't want to get killed, behave yourself. ...Good boy, calm down, I'll protect you, okay?"

The boy became astonished again. Meanwhile the charge cow had apparently taken a liking to the fodder, and began to greedily stuff itself after lowing, "Bhmoooh! (Delicious!)"

And since it immediately started to release milk, I took out a container in a hurry, and fetched the milk. I gently brushed it while it was eating.

"You like the food? ...Sword, it seems like it's taken a liking to me! Once it finishes eating, I'll try scouting it!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever floats your boat."

Why is he so apathetic about it?

While I was frolicking around with the cow, the boy apparently recovered, immediately turned bright red, and shouted, "Y-You're calling me a weakling!? Okay, I got it, I'll prove to you how strong I am by defeating that charge cow..."

"Hey, brat, why are you here?" Sword interrupted him coldly.

The boy jumped with a start, and looked at Sword.

"I got the guild to put up a notification, statin', 『Please stay away from the mountains in order to avoid any danger while we're capturin' charge cows』, didn't I? Indra taught you people new milk dishes, which she could have used as a source of income for herself, for free and treated the guildmasters to expensive wine, and this is the result? ...Ignorin' the warnin' put out by us is your own decision. But, then you've got no right to bitch 'bout get killed. Your just a damn nuisance for us."

The boy started to cry. I ignored the whole matter altogether, and focused on playing with the cow.

"...Hey, how about coming with me? Wouldn't you want to live on a farm prepared by me? I get it that you like the mount...oh, you're going to come with me!? Great! So you're going to accompany me!"

"Bhmooh!"

"I got it!!"

I tightly hugged the cow.

"...Bah, and just as I'm havin' a serious talk over here, our crazy genius is pullin' some silly stunts. Hey, everythin' 'kay with your head?"

Ignore! I'm going to ignore the peanut gallery!

"Say, I'd like a few more of your friends to come with me. Any ideas for potential candidates? You'd feel lonely all by yourself, right? I won't be at our base all the time either. Could you get some friends to come with you?"

"Bhmooh!"

It replied, and trotted away.

"Oi, it's runnin' away, you know?"

"As if. I've explained the circumstances and we've agreed on it persuading its friends."

"What agreement are you talkin' 'bout!? All I've heard was that cow bhmooin' 'round!"

How rude! We properly understood each other!

"For the time being, I'm going to put the milk in vacuum packs. This will lengthen its durability."

I decanted the milk, and sealed the packs.

*

One hour of waiting later.

Sword preached to me, "Give it a rest and give up already, will you? Take the brat and get off the mountain. I'll catch you some charge cows."

But, just as I pretended to be deaf, I could hear a rustling, and that charge cow showed up! It has come back with friends!

Sword and the boy were dumbstruck.

"Oohh! You're back! So you got two friends to come with you, huh!?"

"Bhmooh."

"Moooohh."

"Boooohh."

"Nice, nice, you're good cows. I'm looking forward to working with you from now on. Want to eat some more?"

"""Bhmooooh!"""

"I see, I see. Wait a sec, I'll take the fodder out right away, okay?"

In a hurry I took out the feed and fed it to them. And as they started to release milk, I fetched it with containers in a hurry.

"...Holy shit, I feel like my common sense croaked just now. Yep, I'll admit it, I'm still lackin' experience on all accounts." Sword grinned while watching this whole scene.

"If you get surprised by something of this level, you're still lacking experience for sure. But, I still have a long way to go as well! I look forward to our future adventures!"

Sword laughed out loud, and ruffled my hair.

"I see, your completely right. I still haven't adventured enough, or rather, this is quite a decent adventurer tale, you know? Somethin' like talkin' with monsters and befriendin' 'em...even a tamer wouldn't be able to pull that off. ...And so, these guys are most likely unique monsters, I suspect. Look at their color."

Hmm? Color?

The first child is black. Its friends are white.

"Aren't those their usual colors?"

"Ordinarily it'd be light brown."

Certainly, that color would be possible, too.

When I lifted my face, Black lowed, "Bhmooh!"

"Hmm, I see!"

"Bhmoomoo!"

"Oh, okay."

"Bhmoomoomoomoo!"

"I understand."

When I talked with Black, the back of my head got slapped.

"What kind of sketch are you pullin' while lookin' all serious!?"

I rubbed the back of my head, "It's no sketch. I talked with him. ―According to Black, he was born with this color, and it made him stand out. It caused him to get often attacked by other monsters and humans. He didn't get fed like the other charge cows, and since I scouted him just as he was about to starve, he brought friends with similar circumstances over."

Sword looked at me dumbfounded, his mouth gaping open.

"...What? Such magic exists, doesn't it?"

"What kind of magic!? Ain't no friggin' way for that magic ― whatever it might be ― to exist, is there!?" He thundered at me while sending his saliva flying.

"...But it does, you see? You transmit your will by including it in magic elements and sound. At the same time, you read the other party's will that got transmitted through their magic elements and sounds. It's kinda similar to sound waves and light waves. It didn't work like that in the other world, but as might be expected of this world, it's really anything goes with magic."

Sword placed a hand on his forehead and groaned, "...Your 'bout the only one in this world for whom this anythin' goes of yours applies. Just what the hell is that magic?"

"Hmm? ...Magic tools exist, don't they? This spell is similar to the tool used by the guild, you know?"

Sword blinked his eyes in confusion.

"However, this magic has the downside that you won't be able to talk with the other party if they can't read your intent in the same way. They'll know what you want to say, but they won't be able to answer you in kind. Of course there are also creatures on whom this doesn't work at all. Prime examples would be skeletons or ghouls. But I see, that means Black is smart!"

I gently caressed him.

"Eh? Then what 'bout me who can't do it?"

"You're dumber than Black. Or to be more precise, you're on the level of ghouls and skeletons."

Sword froze on the spot, his shock almost audible. Then, in the next moment, he clung to me.

"Teach me a bit! I feel like it'd be better for me to be capable of it, so please, teach me!"

"Sure, but...even if you ask me to teach you... Besides, aren't you already able to use it to some degree?"

"Hah?"

"Aren't you awfully sensitive to other people's bad intentions? Isn't that coming from you picking up their will, albeit only the bad one? To me it seems like you're constantly picking up all the ill will contained in other people's words."

On top of having a tendency to be unfortunate, he possesses magic that allows him to perceive just the bad intents. He sure is a pitiful guy, isn't he?

"There, there," I stroked his head. "You just need to train that magic to read the waves of ill-intent. ―Then again, I feel like you'd break if you seriously kept training that, but maybe that's just my imagination?"

"...I also think so. I'll stay 'way from it since it's scary."

"For you it'd be better to study the magic I use to shut out sound instead. Since you're insensible anyway, go ahead and learn that."

"Aren't you casually dissin' me there?" He objected in a bad mood.

I feigned ignorance. Once I did, he pressed his hands against the sides of my head, and turned it around!!

"Ouch, ouch, ooouch!!"

*

With this and that happening, the feeding and scouting of the charge cows came to an end.

"Since we won't be able to enter town with these guys, let's camp out! I'm going to wash them, okay? I'm sure their fur will become wonderfully nice and shiny once it gets cleaned up, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah, do as you see fit. ...Anyway, how long are you plannin' to stay 'round? Hurry up and go back home."

The boy, whose existence I had completely erased from my mind, was still present. While sitting on the ground grasping his knees with tears in his eyes, he glared at me.

"You're still bawling? You're a real crybaby for a guy, aren't you?" I admonished him.

"Shut up! I hate you! Don't talk to me!" He roared at me while crying.

"I see, we share that sentiment. It's very unlikely for me to ever get to like you. Now that we've established our mutual loathing, you can freely hate me as much as you like!"

When I told him so with a smile, he got lost for words, and then cried even more.

"Jeez, your really awful."

"Eh...?"

Wha-? Now it's my fault!?