Three days had passed since we left the town of Raza.
We were on a mountain path leading to the next town—
—where we found ourselves surrounded by a horde of monsters.
They were Iron Pillbugs, essentially giant pillbugs.
About the size of small to medium-sized dogs, they were quite unsettling to look at.
Their exoskeletons contained iron, and they attacked by curling up into a ball and rolling at you, using their hard shells.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when a black wave surged towards us like an avalanche from the top of the slope.
“Haa, haa, Katia-chan, are there still more coming?”
“Their momentum is slowing down, so it should be soon.”
“Zeh, zeh, why are there so many…? Isn’t the breeding season still far off?”
T/N: zeh, zeh = panting noises
Both of them were starting to tire.
I stopped counting after twenty.
The majority ignored us, passing by as if fleeing from something, but a few had attacked us.
It would have been nice if they had all just passed by.
The common way to fight these things is to avoid attacking their hard shells.
As expected, Neil aimed for the soft underbelly and joints of the shell, using thrusts to take them down one by one.
Fina supported him by using wind and water magic to flip the rolling bugs over.
When she had the chance, she would attack their bellies with wind blades.
As for me…
“Katia-san, they’re coming your way!”
“Yes!”
Two, no, three of them.
They charged, kicking up dust and making weighty sounds.
I relaxed and took a natural stance.
Without holding my breath, flowing like water—
I swung my sword with my right hand, countering the rolling bugs.
One flash, two flashes, three flashes.
The faint sound of metal scraping against metal rang out, and the pillbugs were cut apart, scattering fluids.
That’s how it went, relying on my high aura density and the sword’s performance to cut through the shells.
I occasionally used my main gauche in my left hand to defend and deal with enemies at close range.
“As always, haa, fuu, ridiculously… ridiculous…”
“Hey, suu, haa, Neil. Is it Katia-chan who’s amazing? Or is it the sword?”
“It’s both… Even if I had that sword, I couldn’t do the same thing.”
“Fuwaah.”
“If you two could fight instead of talking, I’d appreciate it.”
“Ah, sorry, sorry.”
Given enough time, I could manage on my own, but there were simply too many of them.
Finally, the number of monsters was down to single digits.
Fina finished off the last one with magic.
“—Oh, it’s over! I’m completely out of mana!”
“Zeh, cough, cough! W-water, please.”
“Ah, yes, here you go. And for you too, Fina.”
The two, exhausted, collapsed to the ground.
Neil, who should be relatively experienced in combat, and Fina, who was closer to being an ordinary person, were equally exhausted, likely due to the difference between being in the front and back lines.
I took water from the packhorse, which I had moved to safety, and handed it to them.
Since we were crossing the mountains this time, we only brought one packhorse.
“Thanks. How are you so calm, Katia-chan? You’re obviously the one who took down the most.”
“Thank you. How are you not even out of breath?”
“Hmm, it’s just habit. Until I left the mountains, monster hunting was a daily routine.”
Once you get used to it, you eliminate unnecessary tension.
Besides, I’m quite good at dealing with multiple enemies.
The reason I started carrying a regular sword in one hand and a dagger in the other was simply to increase my number of attacks.
It’s not because I thought dual-wielding looked cool.
T/N: press x to doubt 😑
This time, it was much easier because the two of them were here.
“Habit, huh…? But more than that, aren’t you too calm for your age, Katia-chan? Sometimes, I feel like I’m talking to someone older.”
Fina looked up at me from where she was sitting.
“T-that’s just your imagination.”
Sharp…
However, there are aspects where I’m being influenced by the body, so it’s hard to say that my mental age is entirely higher.
And it’s not like I had a particularly fulfilling life in my previous world either.
Fina sometimes says things that seem to cut to the core of my being.
It’s like she has high perception, or maybe just a good intuition.
“Muu. Atashi is the older sister, you know!”
T/N: Atashi is a more feminine and slightly childish way to say “I” in Japanese, often used by young girls.
“Yes, yes.”
That line, of all things…?
For some reason, Fina wants to act like an older sister.
But that statement makes her sound childish.
I respect you even without you saying that.
“More importantly, Neil-san, if Iron Pillbugs appeared, that means…”
“Ah, she’s changing the subject! Before that!”
“That’s right. We’ll be arriving soon, at the mining city.”
Our next destination was Kise, a city of mines and smithing.
The pillbug monsters from earlier live in areas with abundant iron ore.
It is said that their shells become hard by eating iron-rich soil.
It’s also proof that we’re approaching the mining area.
“I wonder why there was that mass appearance just now?”
Fina muttered as she kicked a pebble.
Hearing her, I tried to recall the ecology of the Iron Pillbugs.
“That’s right. I don’t remember them being monsters that form herds.”
My knowledge is a bit shaky, as I learned it from Grandpa when I started monster hunting in the mountains a long time ago.
These things weren’t even near Kaisa Village.
Grandpa taught me some things about monsters that weren’t in the surrounding area, so it was just one of those.
“That’s what I read in the monster encyclopedia too, so it’s definitely strange.”
So said Neil.
There’s something called a monster encyclopedia?
I’d like to read it sometime if I get the chance.
“Ah, Neil, behind you!”
Fina shouted.
The remaining Iron Pillbugs were approaching Neil from behind.
“It’s okay! Leave it to me!”
Neil stopped moving and took a defensive stance to defeat them, just like before.
However, the pillbug bounced wildly off a depression in the ground!
“What!?”
Neil frantically re-positioned his sword to match the monster’s erratic bounce near his face.
He managed to react, but the force he was supposed to deflect was fully received by the sword, sending Neil flying.
At the same time, there was a nasty peki sound.
No way…
“Ah! It’s broken!”
Neil’s bastard sword was broken in half at the middle of the blade.
I quickly moved to support Neil and defeated the monster.
Fina went to tend to the fallen Neil.
He didn’t seem to be injured.
That’s good.
“Thank you. Ugh, I let my guard down…”
Neil clutched his head in his hands in front of the broken sword.
He seemed quite dejected.
“Um, was that sword important to you?”
“No, it’s just a regular mass-produced one. But it was the first sword I ever had…”
The first sword he ever had.
Even if it’s not a particularly good item, you still get attached to it.
However, an unpleasant possibility came to mind from the broken spot.
I didn’t think that the attack earlier was strong enough to break the sword.
“Um, maybe it was because I threw you during the wyvern fight…”
That’s right, it seemed like the area that was stressed to the blade, considering where I was riding it, was near where it broke.
This is bad.
I started sweating nervously.
“N-no, absolutely not! Even if that were the case, it’s because I wasn’t skilled enough to cover the blade with aura!”
Ah, so he’s not denying it after all.
He waved his hands frantically in front of his face as he answered, but he didn’t seem to have any other idea what caused the sword to break.
Honestly, I feel like I did something wrong…
“Katia-chan, you’re always saying people are heavy. How about you secretly tell me your weight?”
Fina asked me in a teasing tone.
“Eh, my weight?”
The thing with the wyvern was just a reckless method, so weight is… I won’t say it’s not related.
It mostly feels like it’s Fina’s personal payback.
She had a slightly mischievous smile plastered on her face.
Besides, if a human’s weight suddenly landed on your back, it couldn’t be helped if you accidentally said “heavy,” could it?
Fina pushed me a little bit, so Neil couldn’t hear.
“So, what is it?”
“Fifty-three kilograms, but…”
“Eh, no way!? What’s Katia-chan’s height?”
“Exactly one hundred and seventy centimeters, I guess.”
“With that good figure, that weight? Eh. I can’t accept that.”
“Well, even if you tell me that…”
“Tch. I’m lighter, but I have more height, and it’s annoying! I thought you’d be heavier.”
She looked like she had missed her mark.
It seems that it was a number she didn’t like.
What am I supposed to do about that?
“Um, can we get back to the topic?”
“Ah, yes. I’m sorry, Neil’s sword broke because of me.”
“No, it’s really just because I wasn’t skilled enough. It’s a good opportunity, so I think I’ll buy a sword in Kise.”
“I see.”
If it’s Kise, the production center for weapons in this country, he’ll probably find a good sword.
But even if I said I’d compensate him, he wouldn’t accept it, judging from Neil’s attitude…
As the person who caused it to break, I want to be of some help.
I hope there’s something I can do.
“By the way, what are we going to do with all these monster corpses?”
Fina, please take a little more interest in your brother’s weapon…
Um, in this case,
“If we report it to the Soldiers’ Guild, they’ll come and collect them, right? The mass movement of Iron Pillbugs is also an abnormal situation, so either way, it’s fine to report it to the Soldiers’ Guild, right? Neil-san?”
“Yes, that’s right. For the time being, let’s gather the corpses in one place and hurry to Kise.”
