Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 109

Side chapter: Don’t make a maiden in love angry

“Hey, Rion. Looks like your injury is fine now.”

“Hello, Rion-san.”

“Regulus and Liese, welcome.”

Regulus and Liese came to our house using the Return Stone.
While I was down, Regulus returned to Grosso Village… He seems to be doing well. But I have to check it out.

“Umm, is Regulus okay? You seemed to be having a lot of mental pain at the end.”

“Hm? After Rion blew away the miasma, it became much easier. It seems like the environment has made me weak-minded.

“I see?”

If your whole body is exposed to miasma, you start to feel uncomfortable, but once the cause is gone, recovery will begin. Even so, he’s not dragging that topic at all… He’s pretty tough-minded.
I asked Liese later, but he didn’t seem to be particularly pretending to be tough in front of us. So it’s a relief.

“By the way, Rion, have you been to Bartle Village since then?”

“No, not yet.”

Due to my injury, I have not been able to report the results yet.
As expected, too much time has passed, and although the contamination hasn’t been cured, there are no signs of spreading, and even if my arms don’t move, my body still moves, so I was thinking that I should already the time to go.

“I see, that would be perfect. Well, Liese also seems to want to go there. After all It’s a beastman village like ours, so she’s curious.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s right.”

When I heard Regulus’s next words, I froze.
Wh-wh-what should I do? I thought it would be better not to take Liese to Bartle Village…!
But Liese was smiling??No, wrong, she’s releasing a silent pressure while saying ‘please take me with you, okay?’…!
I stared Liese for just a few moments, but… I lost. Sob sob.

So the next day, we headed to Bartle Village.
The members are me, Uru, Regulus, Liese, and… Zephyr. Well, I couldn’t leave him behind…
Fricka said, “I’ll be taking care of the Earth God,” and stayed home to be watching over the Earth God, who is still not feeling well, together with Fin. The plan was to take a day trip, but I wasn’t comfortable leaving the Earth God alone, so it was a good thing. I have to thank her for that sometime.

For now, I would like to report of the results and, if possible, receive the promised livestock.
The reason I said “If possible” is because of Zephyr’s presence.
It can’t be helped even if they get angry and say ‘How dare a miko walk around with a monster!’. In the worst case, their build up resentment and anger could boil over and say, ‘Kill it now!’ to me.
But I can’t kill Zephyr, so if someone says something like that, I have no choice but to run away. Although it would be a shame to lose the trust of the residents, I decided to take responsibility and take care of him. I have no intention of abandoning him now.

So I was nervous when I visited Bartle Village but…

“I never thought you could subdue a dragon… Is this the power of the creator god’s miko…?”

“…… Yes?”

I was stunned when Tigar-san complimented me even though I still haven’t started explaining anything.

“Although it is small, a dragon is a dragon, and a dragon is a strong being. If someone is powerful enough to subdue one, it is only natural to respect them, right?”

Here came the ‘power is everything’ law that goes all the way to their core… There are no limits to being a meathead!?
I was prepared to be punched, so I’m more than thankful for that! Moreover, Is not like I made him obey me by force, so I feel like I’m cheating…
Anyway, I was greeted by some extremely excited residents (as expected, some of them frowned), and being surrounded by such excited residents made Uru unstable again.
I explained the circumstances while soothing both the inside and the outside.

“I see, the God of the Earth… It’s a shame that it wasn’t the God of the Wind, but that in itself is very good happening.”

“Well… I’ll continue searching for other gods, so I’ll let you know if I find Wind God.”

“… Thank you very much. We promise to continue to cooperate with Miko-sama.”

In this way, the report was completed without any major trouble.

The report is finished, though.
When I went outside… A battle was about to begin.

“Are you Eris-san?”

“Hmm? That’s right. Are you Liese?”

Liese quickly approached Eris and spoke to her.
I was inwardly screaming, but I was too scared to stop.

“… I heard that you had a good fight with Rion-san for my cousin Regulus…. Would you like to a bout with me too?”

The people of Bartle Village love fighting. So I thought Eris would just nod in response.
But she lightly tugged my sleeve and pulled me a little further away, and asks me in a whisper.

“… H-Hey… I wonder if she is angry at me for disrespecting Miko-sama…?”

Apparently, Eris was also sensing Liese’s chilling aura, her cheeks are twitching slightly. Although she didn’t seem to know the reason.
I answer as calmly as I can, even as I feel sweat dripping down my forehead.

“Ah, Liese isn’t mad about that.”

“…… Is it so……?”

I’m not lying. Liese is angry for risking Regulus’ future without permission…. For that reason, Liese is also treating me coldly, isn’t she? Well I don’t mind though.
Although it was force majeure situation… I feel like I’m also being scolded because I’ve accepted that match, so I’m almost shaking here.

“What do you think?”

“… I-I accept it.”

At Liese’s request that sounded almost like a threat, Eris stuttered but agreed to the fight.

There’s no way the residents wouldn’t be interested when they learned that Eris, the chief’s daughter, and Liese, the companion of the miko, were going to fight.
The training ground where the match was decided take place was not as crowded as when I brought Zephyr, but it was starting to get crowded and the heat was starting to build up.
They faced each other in the center, both being spear wielders holding the same weapons. Furthermore, unlike my time, it’s a training spear…. It’s too late now, but I should have pulled out a training spear that time.
Eris was clearly nervous, and Liese seemed extremely calm. However, I don’t know what’s going on inside her heart.

The person acting as the referee walked towards the center of both sides, and with the signal “Start!”, the battle started.

“Haaaaaaaa!”

Just like with me, Eris took the initiative and stabbed out with her spear.
But Liese, in a very natural manner, tilted her body slightly to avoid it and countered the attack in a fluid-like manner.

“…!”

The spear pierced right next to Eris’s neck, and perhaps because for a moment Eris thought she had been stabbed, her face turned pale.
It was a clear opening, but instead of pursuing her, Liese pulled back her spear and readied it again.

“This…! How about this!”

“–Fu.”

While Eris attacked while raising a loud voice with the meaning of encouraging herself, Liese remained quiet and only let out a slight exhalation.
However, her spear handling was excellent, and although she was only one step away from being able to hit Eris, she seemed to have the upper hand.

“Mu… That’s strange.”

“Hmm? What?”

Uru, who was watching the game next to me, tilted her head. Was there something strange about the current attack and defense?
Regulus, who was sitting on the opposite side, was cheering for Liese with sweat in his hands, and it seemed like he didn’t hear Uru’s whispering voice.

“All of Liese’s attacks are missing…”

“Eris is avoiding them, right?”

“No, Eris doesn’t seem to be avoiding. In that case… Liese isn’t trying to hit her…?”

“–”

“Isn’t it just a coincidence? ” or “Isn’t Liese actually a bad at aiming?” Although these thoughts passed by my mind.
I’m sure both are wrong.

Is Liese… Mentally cornering Eris…?

I can tell that Eris is trying her best, but I can also tell by looking at her expression. Those are eyes of someone that’s in fear.
Liese became quite strong, probably due to the results of her training with Ryza-san. So If she wants to hit, she will probably be able to hit as many times as she likes.
But she doesn’t do that, by just letting her attack graze, she’s prolonging the fight, so she can strike her over and over again.
It’s probably a great thing to say that you can contain yourself to barely hit someone, as it requires a lot of skill, but put it badly, it seems as if she is toying with her…

Liese, you’re a scary child…!

“…… Ah.”

The battle continues for a while with neither side hitting the target, but Eris, who was mentally exhausted, loses her balance and due to Liese’s attack (which she probably didn’t plan on hitting) she loses her spear.
… Maybe that was good luck in a sense, Eris surrendered on the spot and match ended.
Liese made a face like she was unsatisfied by the abrupt end, but perhaps she was able to release some of her stress, she ended the match without trying to continue.

… Yeah, I’ll secretly apologize to Eris other time… I can’t defend her about making Regulus the subject of a bet, but this was a little pitiful…

Furthermore, perhaps because many people were unaware of Liese’s fighting style, I occasionally saw men trying to talk to her (as a girl they were interested in), but as soon as I took out the shovel, they froze in place. Putting aside the fact that I thought that their reactions were funny.
I’m sure it’s for the better that I stopped you guys okay…?

Furthermore, after that, although she didn’t seem to know the circumstances, Uru realized that Liese had fought in a way that unnecessarily cut down on Eris’s heart and scolded her, so Liese was depressed for a while.

… She’s usually a good girl…