*Gaaa Gaaa*
A voice croaked right above my head.
Nigi was flying clockwise twice above me.
So they’re nearby…
Let’s focus on what’s ahead.
「Lapis, take Ruby and take care of them from the right-side. Nigi will lead the way」
Lapis and another wolf, Ruby, break into a run as soon as they heard my order.
「Beryl and Jet, you guys follow those 3 people from earlier. They shouldn’t have gone too far yet」
I gave another order and the other two wolves started their chase.
「Amethyst, be good and wait here, ok? Please keep an eye on these guys」
The wolf nodded, which means that I could rush into the forest without worry.
It’s been 2 months since they left.
There were only a few changes here and there, but overall, I spent my time quite peacefully. The biggest change was the number of monsters I tamed. By that, I meant the number of wolves that I tamed had increased.
I now had 4 wolves.
Yes, you heard them right.
4 wolves.
One day, Lapis came back home bringing 4 wolves, just sitting right in front of the hut waiting to be named. I didn’t get what Lapis meant by bringing them at first, but since she tried so hard conveying something, I tried my best deciphering her woof and bark language.
Thankfully, I had spent some time with spirits and their gesture language, which makes it easier for me to understand Lapis.
Or rather…
Is it the result of constant daily training?
Maybe I got used to it?
In any case, I managed to understand their request, which I declined immediately at first.
It was different from when I named Lapis and Nigi. I now knew fully well what was meant by naming monsters. But even so, the 4 wolves were stubborn. They sat right in front of the hut for a very long time. They sat through rain and wind gust. Even to go as far as ignoring their rumbling stomach.
That was around the time I gave in to their request.
They all responded cheerfully after being named. They wagged their tails so hard that I was worried whether those tails would just pop off and fall somewhere.
The one with red eyes and tea-red fur was Ruby. She was the fastest runner.
The one with green eyes and gray fur was Beryl. She was the one most likely stumble her paw on the wrong tree root and fell.
The one with purple eyes and white hair was Amethyst. She’s the largest of the bunch.
And finally, the one with black eyes and black fur was Jet. He was the smallest, but the quickest.
And leading these 4 was Lapis.
I wonder if Av could translate for me, so I could find out their relationship and why they want me to name them, but unfortunately, he never showed up since that night.
I was worried, of course. But I didn’t have the audacity to be worried for someone stronger than me, so I think he should be okay.
And now, I was currently doing a job with the wolves.
The mission was to capture bandits who recently began to appear in villages near the royal capital.
Ever since Rey-sama and the other go, I had finished a considerable amount of contracts. I was starting to get more and more confident in my ability. After naming Ruby and the others, we could pretty much handle everything from thieves capture contract to monster extermination.
It seemed that I had become quite famous lately, as this contract that I was doing was specifically requested to be completed by me.
Usually, these kinds of contracts require contract workers to form a team, but since Wanzardt-san knew my capabilities, he allowed me to complete it all by myself.
I ran along the woods.
Nigi stopped and perched on my shoulder with a small cry.
「Thanks for the hard work, Nigi. Did Lapis and Ruby get to the enemy’s hideout safely?」
Nigi nodded, conveying that the answer to my question should be obvious.
According to the information from the spirits, there were about 30 people. They were using an old fort in the forest as their headquarter. The 5 men that I asked Amethyst to look after was the watchmen of this bandit group. 3 managed to escape, so I got Beryl and Jet to capture them.
Nigi located their hideout and led Lapis and Ruby to raid the place.
And my job was…
「This should be good enough」
I placed 4 magic squares in the east, south, west, and north, with the old fort in the middle. It took some time since I had to draw the magic squares while avoiding the trees, but it turned out quite well.
「Everyone, please lend me your power!!」
I poured mana onto the magic square, which glowed faintly in response. The other magic squares should glow the same way as well.
「Barrier of 4 Cardinal Direction – Capture – Activate」
(RAW: 四方結界 Shihou Kekkai “捕縛” Hobaku 発動 Hatsudou)
The magic square glowed even more as I put more mana into it. I tried putting in as much mana as the square could endure.
Pillars of light appeared and surrounded the old fort in blue veil.
「Fuuuh… It’s a success」
Nigi let out another cry.
They seemed to be in a good mood.
This was one of applied magic using magic squares. The magic square itself contained non-attribute magic, but we imbued it with water, thunder, and wind magic.
It was made by utilizing the barrier magic square that Rey-sama taught me. It was using the same principle as the magic square that used back in our hut, but it was designed so only things that I allowed could pass.
Plus, we also imbued the non-attribute magic with the wind, thunder, and water attribute magic.
We set up an invisible non-attribute magic barrier, put a veil of water to make it more visible. Anyone who touched the blue veil to come out will be assaulted by lightning strikes and wind blades.
The water veil mixes well with the barrier, so there shouldn’t get torn by it. However, the lightning strike and wind blades got suppressed considerably, only enough to knock someone down fainted. But since we were doing a 『Capture』 contract, this amount of firepower should be enough.
The magic was still experimental, but it’s also the first magic that Rey-sama and I studied together.
I wanted to try finding as many practical uses of it until Rey-sama came back.
「Oh, here they come here they come…」
I counted the passing minutes while patting Nigi.
Several people came out of the old fort in tattered clothes.
「W-what the hell is this!?」
「Magic? Is it magic?」
「But what kind of magic does this, you dumb f-」
「We need to get away fast!」
Although they were surprised at the barrier surrounding their hideout, they quickly collected themselves and try to pass the barrier.
As soon as one of their arm touched it.
「「「GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」」」
「what… the fuck? What is this!?」
Screams of panic ensued.
3 people fainted from the lightning strike and wind blades. Eight people remaining.
「Hm? Only 4 came out from the hideout? Did Lapis and Ruby got them? What do you think, Nigi? Eh!? Nigi?」
While watching the old fort outside of the barrier, Nigi suddenly dashed from my shoulder with a sharp cry.
「Uwaaa!!」
「Ah, he managed to recover…」
A surprised scream rose just a few meters away from me, right at the direction where Nigi was going.
Nigi noticed him before me and immediately jumped the gun to attack the poor guy.
Nigi used its talon and clawed his face. Another man tried swinging his sword at Nigi. There’s no way I would allow that.
「Hey, stop hurting my family! Ttei!!」
My arrow landed right on his hand.
I was aiming for his leg though…
Ah well…
I’m not that good with archery anyway.
「Ugh… You BIIITCH!!!」
Another man jumped on me from the side, but I already knew about his presence thanks to the spirits around me.
I pulled my one-handed sword from my belt without panicking.
「Don’t you dare making fun of me!!!」
Another one appeared from behind, but there’s no need for me to rush.
After all, I had confirmed that Lapis and Ruby had come out from the hideout.
Ruby could easily surpass the speed of a regular horse. It took her just a half of a day to travel the same distance a horse traveled in a whole day.
The distance from here to the castle was only a few meters. She could easily cover that distance in an instant.
「Gyaaaa!」
A dull thump was heard from behind me.
As expected, Ruby had already covered my back.
「Thank you, Ruby」
I thank her with a smile. The event happening behind me was too stunning for my opponent. This was my chance! I kicked him right immediately. A lightning strike to his back as a finisher and he fell on his back with a groan.
Lapis was dealing with the men inside the fort. Meanwhile, I sent Ruby to deal with the guy Nigi clawed and the guy I shot.
「Alright, alright. Let’s gather everyone, Lapis」
Lapis responded with a beautiful howl.
It was a signal to gather around me.
It took them a few minutes to gather.
I couldn’t exactly blame them since they’re also dragging the people we had knocked out.
「Fuu… Now I need to tie them all down, then informing the village. After that, I have to bring the knights and… Can I even finish all of this before tomorrow…? 」
I hadn’t told anyone about Rey-sama’s magic squares. If I told anyone, they might *nominate* me to help to fight the demons. So I had to carefully erase each magic squares that I drew so no one can find them.
It was quite an annoying task, but it can’t be helped.
Such a shame because I *cough* sincerely want to *cough* help the nobles and royalties of this country.
「Lapis, how about you take the others and go home first?」
They all looked a bit dissatisfied when I said it.
Well, I guess that’s that.
「Okay okay… We’ll go home together」
Our little hut feels a little bit lonely, but at least it’s a bit livelier now.
◆Ruby
Forest wolf, female, 2 years old.
A young wolf like Lapis who lived with Rio.
She has red eyes and red-brown-ish fur.
The fastest among the 5 wolves, including Lapis.
Her charm point was the little part of fur on her head that stood out and curls a little.
◆Beryl
Forest Wolf, Female, 1 and a half years old.
A young wolf like Lapis who lived with Rio.
She has green eyes and grey hair except for her paws which is white. The contrast of the color made her look like she is wearing white socks.
She tends to stumble her paw on tree roots and fall, lost focus and crashed into a tree, and slip her paw and roll down on slopes. It’s quite clumsy.
◆Amethyst
Forest Wolf, Female, 1 and a half years old.
A young wolf like Lapis who lived with Rio.
She has purple eyes and white fur.
Her body was the largest among the wolves, even with Lapis included.
Her right ear stands straight but her left ear tends to flop straight down. She seems happy when Rio try to make her left ear to stand just like her right ear. Unfortunately, nothing could be done about it, so she just let Rio do as she likes.
◆Jet
Forest Wolf, Male, 2 years old.
A young wolf like Lapis who lived with Rio.
He has black eyes and black hair.
The smallest one among the 5 wolves, but that also means that he’s the keenest and agile. He doesn’t make much sound, so he’s good at surprise attacks.
Rio was a bit worried because his fur was extra scruffy, but thanks to that, Rio can spend more time brushing him.
*Gaaa Gaaa*
A voice croaked right above my head.
Nigi was flying clockwise twice above me.
So they’re nearby…
Let’s focus on what’s ahead.
「Lapis, take Ruby and take care of them from the right-side. Nigi will lead the way」
Lapis and another wolf, Ruby, break into a run as soon as they heard my order.
「Beryl and Jet, you guys follow those 3 people from earlier. They shouldn’t have gone too far yet」
I gave another order and the other two wolves started their chase.
「Amethyst, be good and wait here, ok? Please keep an eye on these guys」
The wolf nodded, which means that I could rush into the forest without worry.
It’s been 2 months since they left.
There were only a few changes here and there, but overall, I spent my time quite peacefully. The biggest change was the number of monsters I tamed. By that, I meant the number of wolves that I tamed had increased.
I now had 4 wolves.
Yes, you heard them right.
4 wolves.
One day, Lapis came back home bringing 4 wolves, just sitting right in front of the hut waiting to be named. I didn’t get what Lapis meant by bringing them at first, but since she tried so hard conveying something, I tried my best deciphering her woof and bark language.
Thankfully, I had spent some time with spirits and their gesture language, which makes it easier for me to understand Lapis.
Or rather…
Is it the result of constant daily training?
Maybe I got used to it?
In any case, I managed to understand their request, which I declined immediately at first.
It was different from when I named Lapis and Nigi. I now knew fully well what was meant by naming monsters. But even so, the 4 wolves were stubborn. They sat right in front of the hut for a very long time. They sat through rain and wind gust. Even to go as far as ignoring their rumbling stomach.
That was around the time I gave in to their request.
They all responded cheerfully after being named. They wagged their tails so hard that I was worried whether those tails would just pop off and fall somewhere.
The one with red eyes and tea-red fur was Ruby. She was the fastest runner.
The one with green eyes and gray fur was Beryl. She was the one most likely stumble her paw on the wrong tree root and fell.
The one with purple eyes and white hair was Amethyst. She’s the largest of the bunch.
And finally, the one with black eyes and black fur was Jet. He was the smallest, but the quickest.
And leading these 4 was Lapis.
I wonder if Av could translate for me, so I could find out their relationship and why they want me to name them, but unfortunately, he never showed up since that night.
I was worried, of course. But I didn’t have the audacity to be worried for someone stronger than me, so I think he should be okay.
And now, I was currently doing a job with the wolves.
The mission was to capture bandits who recently began to appear in villages near the royal capital.
Ever since Rey-sama and the other go, I had finished a considerable amount of contracts. I was starting to get more and more confident in my ability. After naming Ruby and the others, we could pretty much handle everything from thieves capture contract to monster extermination.
It seemed that I had become quite famous lately, as this contract that I was doing was specifically requested to be completed by me.
Usually, these kinds of contracts require contract workers to form a team, but since Wanzardt-san knew my capabilities, he allowed me to complete it all by myself.
I ran along the woods.
Nigi stopped and perched on my shoulder with a small cry.
「Thanks for the hard work, Nigi. Did Lapis and Ruby get to the enemy’s hideout safely?」
Nigi nodded, conveying that the answer to my question should be obvious.
According to the information from the spirits, there were about 30 people. They were using an old fort in the forest as their headquarter. The 5 men that I asked Amethyst to look after was the watchmen of this bandit group. 3 managed to escape, so I got Beryl and Jet to capture them.
Nigi located their hideout and led Lapis and Ruby to raid the place.
And my job was…
「This should be good enough」
I placed 4 magic squares in the east, south, west, and north, with the old fort in the middle. It took some time since I had to draw the magic squares while avoiding the trees, but it turned out quite well.
「Everyone, please lend me your power!!」
I poured mana onto the magic square, which glowed faintly in response. The other magic squares should glow the same way as well.
「Barrier of 4 Cardinal Direction – Capture – Activate」
(RAW: 四方結界 Shihou Kekkai “捕縛” Hobaku 発動 Hatsudou)
The magic square glowed even more as I put more mana into it. I tried putting in as much mana as the square could endure.
Pillars of light appeared and surrounded the old fort in blue veil.
「Fuuuh… It’s a success」
Nigi let out another cry.
They seemed to be in a good mood.
This was one of applied magic using magic squares. The magic square itself contained non-attribute magic, but we imbued it with water, thunder, and wind magic.
It was made by utilizing the barrier magic square that Rey-sama taught me. It was using the same principle as the magic square that used back in our hut, but it was designed so only things that I allowed could pass.
Plus, we also imbued the non-attribute magic with the wind, thunder, and water attribute magic.
We set up an invisible non-attribute magic barrier, put a veil of water to make it more visible. Anyone who touched the blue veil to come out will be assaulted by lightning strikes and wind blades.
The water veil mixes well with the barrier, so there shouldn’t get torn by it. However, the lightning strike and wind blades got suppressed considerably, only enough to knock someone down fainted. But since we were doing a 『Capture』 contract, this amount of firepower should be enough.
The magic was still experimental, but it’s also the first magic that Rey-sama and I studied together.
I wanted to try finding as many practical uses of it until Rey-sama came back.
「Oh, here they come here they come…」
I counted the passing minutes while patting Nigi.
Several people came out of the old fort in tattered clothes.
「W-what the hell is this!?」
「Magic? Is it magic?」
「But what kind of magic does this, you dumb f-」
「We need to get away fast!」
Although they were surprised at the barrier surrounding their hideout, they quickly collected themselves and try to pass the barrier.
As soon as one of their arm touched it.
「「「GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」」」
「what… the fuck? What is this!?」
Screams of panic ensued.
3 people fainted from the lightning strike and wind blades. Eight people remaining.
「Hm? Only 4 came out from the hideout? Did Lapis and Ruby got them? What do you think, Nigi? Eh!? Nigi?」
While watching the old fort outside of the barrier, Nigi suddenly dashed from my shoulder with a sharp cry.
「Uwaaa!!」
「Ah, he managed to recover…」
A surprised scream rose just a few meters away from me, right at the direction where Nigi was going.
Nigi noticed him before me and immediately jumped the gun to attack the poor guy.
Nigi used its talon and clawed his face. Another man tried swinging his sword at Nigi. There’s no way I would allow that.
「Hey, stop hurting my family! Ttei!!」
My arrow landed right on his hand.
I was aiming for his leg though…
Ah well…
I’m not that good with archery anyway.
「Ugh… You BIIITCH!!!」
Another man jumped on me from the side, but I already knew about his presence thanks to the spirits around me.
I pulled my one-handed sword from my belt without panicking.
「Don’t you dare making fun of me!!!」
Another one appeared from behind, but there’s no need for me to rush.
After all, I had confirmed that Lapis and Ruby had come out from the hideout.
Ruby could easily surpass the speed of a regular horse. It took her just a half of a day to travel the same distance a horse traveled in a whole day.
The distance from here to the castle was only a few meters. She could easily cover that distance in an instant.
「Gyaaaa!」
A dull thump was heard from behind me.
As expected, Ruby had already covered my back.
「Thank you, Ruby」
I thank her with a smile. The event happening behind me was too stunning for my opponent. This was my chance! I kicked him right immediately. A lightning strike to his back as a finisher and he fell on his back with a groan.
Lapis was dealing with the men inside the fort. Meanwhile, I sent Ruby to deal with the guy Nigi clawed and the guy I shot.
「Alright, alright. Let’s gather everyone, Lapis」
Lapis responded with a beautiful howl.
It was a signal to gather around me.
It took them a few minutes to gather.
I couldn’t exactly blame them since they’re also dragging the people we had knocked out.
「Fuu… Now I need to tie them all down, then informing the village. After that, I have to bring the knights and… Can I even finish all of this before tomorrow…? 」
I hadn’t told anyone about Rey-sama’s magic squares. If I told anyone, they might *nominate* me to help to fight the demons. So I had to carefully erase each magic squares that I drew so no one can find them.
It was quite an annoying task, but it can’t be helped.
Such a shame because I *cough* sincerely want to *cough* help the nobles and royalties of this country.
「Lapis, how about you take the others and go home first?」
They all looked a bit dissatisfied when I said it.
Well, I guess that’s that.
「Okay okay… We’ll go home together」
Our little hut feels a little bit lonely, but at least it’s a bit livelier now.
◆Ruby
Forest wolf, female, 2 years old.
A young wolf like Lapis who lived with Rio.
She has red eyes and red-brown-ish fur.
The fastest among the 5 wolves, including Lapis.
Her charm point was the little part of fur on her head that stood out and curls a little.
◆Beryl
Forest Wolf, Female, 1 and a half years old.
A young wolf like Lapis who lived with Rio.
She has green eyes and grey hair except for her paws which is white. The contrast of the color made her look like she is wearing white socks.
She tends to stumble her paw on tree roots and fall, lost focus and crashed into a tree, and slip her paw and roll down on slopes. It’s quite clumsy.
◆Amethyst
Forest Wolf, Female, 1 and a half years old.
A young wolf like Lapis who lived with Rio.
She has purple eyes and white fur.
Her body was the largest among the wolves, even with Lapis included.
Her right ear stands straight but her left ear tends to flop straight down. She seems happy when Rio try to make her left ear to stand just like her right ear. Unfortunately, nothing could be done about it, so she just let Rio do as she likes.
◆Jet
Forest Wolf, Male, 2 years old.
A young wolf like Lapis who lived with Rio.
He has black eyes and black hair.
The smallest one among the 5 wolves, but that also means that he’s the keenest and agile. He doesn’t make much sound, so he’s good at surprise attacks.
Rio was a bit worried because his fur was extra scruffy, but thanks to that, Rio can spend more time brushing him.
