After Nia defeated the goblins, we continued deeper into the forest.
The forest we entered in the Nyhied kingdom was inhabited by many goblins and wolves, but in these forests, we beat up bipedal dog-like creatures, an evolved version of the wolves, and they come attacking with a wooden stick in hand.
「 Man, Nia-san’s strong. You take on kobolds and beat them easily 」
「 Nia-san’s throwing skill is high leveled. To think that you can use such a small knife and make a hit 」
Seems like Nia has changed from someone they protect to someone they respect.
That was a fast turnover.
These guys live long after all.
「 Nia-san, are you thirsty? Have some water. I haven’t touched it yet, so here you go 」
「 Hmm, I guess I’m a little thirsty? You know, I have something better than water. Daiki-nii, I want that 」
「 Yeah, hydration is important. Give me a moment 」
Nia held out her hands and posed asking me something, so I took out an ice box from my magic bag and handed her a chilled plastic bottle.
She took the blue-labeled bottle, opened the lid as she used to, put her lips to the mouthpiece, and gulped down the contents.
「 Puhaa. Po**ri’s the best! 」
I’ve told Nia and Euphy to keep themselves hydrated.
It’s pretty hot today, and Nia’s working up a light sweat so I want her to drink as much as she can.
Well, all of them are physically strengthened by skills, and it’s questionable whether elves and beastmen suffer from heat stroke due to their body structure, but it’s important to be hydrated.
Oh, Euphy’s picking Ka**pis?
She seems to like that recently.
Hmm, I’ll go with tea then.
While we’re at it, let’s give some to the boys too.
「 Here, have some too. Once you drink it all, give back the container 」
「 Woaah?! Don’t just toss them so suddenly. This is cold! 」
「 How do you open this…Oh, like this? 」
「 Huh? So Sweet?! Guys, this one’s sweet! 」
Hahaha, you gulp down so well.
You’ll get the right amount of saltiness and sweetness permeating your body.
What? Want another one?
Sure, I guess I’ll take this opportunity to restock my cold storage
Go ahead and drink.
I feel like serving boys in a sports club.
When we resumed moving after a well-deserved break, the leader of the group spoke with us.
「 Hey, you. Nia-san’s going further, are you sure about this? I think it’s dangerous to go further than this. I think that you two are just as strong as Nia-san, but I hear that there are some undead and other dangerous monsters deep in the forest 」
「 Is that so? It shouldn’t be a problem at the moment so we can go ahead. If you’re afraid, you can go back. We’re not stopping you 」
When I said that provokingly, he glanced at Euphy.
As usual, she’s just silent, turning her gaze but not her head.
The boy got motivated and he spoke up.
「 I-I’m not scared. I’ll go! 」
Hmm, the plan succeeded.
He took it finely.
I don’t have to worry about these guys going back alone and dying.
It’s pretty deep in here, so it looks like there will be more than just goblins.
They’re not bad kids, so I’m not in the mood to let them die on their own, but I’m starting to think that they’re fine, so I want to give them a good time.
Oh, I want to retract something.
This guy’s trying to show off to Euphy.
This guy would die early.
The elf boy moved away from us, perhaps to tell his friends what he decided on.
Still, how can you still have hope even after Euphy ignored you that much?
I’m starting to feel sorry for the guy.
「 Euphy, I won’t force you, but show some kindness to them 」
「 Uu, very well. However, It’s hard to deal with the emotion directed at me 」
「 Oh, you ignore the guy because you don’t know how to react? 」
「 That’s right. I belong to Daiki-sama, so I don’t want to raise his hopes up. Besides, I don’t want Daiki-sama to doubt me 」
「 I think he says some cute things, but I don’t think that’s enough to move Euphy’s heart. I believe in you, Euphy 」
「 Daiki-sama… 」
I’m showing a relaxed attitude, but the truth is, I’m not.
I’m begging you, no NTR pls.
I know that my brain could be easily destroyed even just by imagining it.
After a little walk, the surroundings began to change.
The ground became a gradual ascent, and more and more rock surfaces became visible on the ground.
It seems like an extension of the forest because many trees are growing around us, but we’re high enough that if we look back, we see the forest we’ve been walking through from above.
I can say that we’re already in the mountains.
We continued further, and we saw a tiger-shaped monster that I’d never seen before.
It’s about two meters tall.
A big tiger, more than twice the size of tigers I know, looking down on us from a slightly elevated rock
Uooooh!
What a cool tiger!
「 N-No way, that’s a blazing tiger! 」
「 Ah, ah! Why is it here? It’s over 」
「 T-This is why I told you not to go further 」
「 B-Bird, at least you should escape 」
In contrast to being impressed by the red hair base and black striped pattern– the boys called it a blazing tiger, retreating with their legs trembling, and breaking out in a cold sweat.
I know that feeling of despair.
I think it’s cool, but I also fear it a little bit.
I mean, the heavy bass roar echoed deep in my guts, shaking the air.
No matter how you look at it, it’s threatening to eat us.
Also, the boy who had the taming skill doesn’t name his pets.
I was feeling sorry for the bird who seemed loved but was actually treated rudely.
Oh, let’s take this as a souvenir for the boss.
The Yakuza hideout should have a warrior’s armor, swords, and tiger rugs.
No, not this one.
If he does something and his headquarters and belongings get confiscated, this thing will come to light and we’ll be in big trouble.
While I was thinking of something out of place, Nia gripped her dagger and shouted while glaring at the tiger.
「 Come! You boys support me! I’ll fight it, move away 」
Seems like Nia saw how frightened the boys were and decided to fight on her own.
Only one girl, smaller than anyone else, steps forward.
At first glance, it might be a horrible scene to have only girls fight, but in terms of skill value, there’s nothing wrong with this scene.
Reacting to Nia’s movements, the blazing tiger came running down the hill.
In response, Nia went uphill with a dagger in her backhand grip.
I have a feeling that the positional relationship between the two won’t be good, but it seems that my prediction was right.
Still, that was short-lived as she quickly came up with her next move, knocking herself to the ground and dodging the claw strike, then passing under the tiger as it leaped at her.
To be honest, I had a moment of fear, but it seemed that this wasn’t an opponent that could be defeated by the first hit.
As the top and bottom parties have changed, Nia’s now the one launching an attack.
She leaps into the air, and takes the top of the blazing tiger, making a thrust from behind.
However, it’s not an enemy that will take the hit so easily.
The tiger twists its body and swings its claws at Nia directly above.
It looked like a cat playing with a toy for a moment, but it’s a blazing tiger, and it’s facing Nia, so I don’t like it.
Nia ignores my concern and nimbly avoids it, breaking away after the attack.
Nia and the blazing tiger continued fighting each other.
「 From how this looks, I don’t have to worry about a fatal attack. However, it’s difficult to defeat 」
Euphy speaks up as she has been watching the fight closely.
Her clasping hands twitch every time the tiger bites or swings its claws because she’s worried about Nia, even though it doesn’t show on her face.
Both sides were evenly matched,. but there was a change in movement.
When the flaming tiger tried to bite and tear her apart, it stopped moving, and the air around its body began to shimmer, and red flames, the same color as its body hair, rose up from its entire body.
The flaming blazing tiger attacks Nia.
「 Woah! Woah! It’s hot! Hot! That was close! Using magic is foul! 」
Nia brilliantly avoided the rush and hit the tiger in the face with a throwing knife as a counterattack.
It almost hit it in the eye, but regrettably, it seems to have stuck a little off and it didn’t do that much damage.
「 So it’s a magic-using monster. This one’s pretty nasty. It seems hard to get even close. It getting doubtful that Nia can defeat it 」
When I let the words slip out of my mouth at the sight of the fighting, the elf boy turned to me with a concerned look.
「 I-It’s far from just strong! It’s a monster that the guild hunts with all its might! 」
「 Seems like it, seeing its strength. I didn’t think that they’d be that tough since I saw a request on the bulletin board, but it’s quite strong 」
「 W-What are you talking about? That’s a blazing tiger! Tigers in the requests don’t use magic That’s a different kind of tiger on the other side of the mountain! Nia-san will be in danger if we don’t help her soon! What are you doing? 」
「 Huh? Really? 」
So that’s why the boys were panicking.
「 Hmm, I wanted to watch a little longer, but I don’t like it if things go south. It can’t be helped then. Euphy, let’s help her out 」
「 Yes! I’ve been waiting for that! 」
I told Euphy and she happily pulled out her sword.
I had a wry smile as her response was like a puppy waiting, but I suppressed it and shouted at Nia.
「 Nia, we’re joining in! I’ll take the front, you go to the back 」
「 Okay! Got it! Take care of the vanguard! 」
Nia responds by skillfully dodging the attack, retreating toward us.
Euphy and I jumped onto the blazing tiger and attacked it the same way.
「 Oryaa! 」
「 Eii!! 」
With Nia on my back, I unleashed my spear thrust from the right side, while Euphy swung from the left and delivered an upper slash.
As a result, one of the tiger legs coming toward us was torn off from the middle by the rotating motion of the spear and blown away, while the other leg got cut off cleanly from the shoulder and flew through the air, sprinkling fresh blood.
Under the full force of Euphy and my attack, the blazing tiger suddenly lost both legs and rolled down the hill, nearly engulfing the boys in the back.
「 Okay! Nia, you take care of the rest! 」
「 But it’s already on the verge of death! Geez! Okay, I’ll finish it! 」
Nia who had been retreating turned around and ran towards the blazing tiger, which was unable to move.
She can defeat it one-sidedly and she doesn’t need assistance.