We met something unexpected when we entered the hot spring.
The next morning, we decided to leave the Amazons’ village, seeing Leona and her companions off. Everyone else wanted to rest a little longer, but I didn’t want to. I had no idea what kind of trouble we might encounter if we stayed there. We might be torn apart alive.
The Amazons were reluctant to see us go. Especially that werewolf woman seemed to have taken a great liking to Sharin and repeatedly invited her to stay. Leona, their leader, approached me.
“Are you really leaving? We could have our companions scout ahead for you. Or perhaps escort you part of the way.”
“I appreciate your kindness, but we can’t possibly impose on you to that extent.”
Leona simply nodded as if she understood.
“I see. In that case, go along the cliff. The deep forest is crawling with those Dog with Human Heads. We received reports of sightings yesterday as well. Be careful.”
We thanked them for their hospitality and left the village. Following their advice, we headed along the cliff.
“By the way, Sharin, is your arm injury alright?”
“Hm, ah, they treated it. It still hurts a little, but I didn’t want to stay in that village any longer…”
Everyone tilted their heads at her ambiguous response.
“It’s just that, well, the werewolf woman, she… she seemed to like me, like she wanted me as her lover.”
“Eeeh!”
Everyone’s surprised shouts echoed through the deep forest. No way, or rather, it’s possible. Since there were only women there, it wouldn’t be strange for something like that to happen. It was understandable that Sharin looked troubled. Surely the werewolf woman had fallen for her after their battle. Karubene nudged her with his elbow.
“Oh, you should have gone along with her. It’s cruel to reject someone’s feelings like that.”
Sharin once again wore a troubled expression. Being the serious person she was, she genuinely worried when told such things. Nina, seeing her reaction, chimed in.
“What are you talking about? You had that weird Satyr guy interested in you, remember? Poor guy, he seemed to like you.”
Karubene, who had been joking around, quietly withdrew. After that, we safely reached the road along the cliff. It was indeed a somewhat open area, and the cliff was to our right. This meant any enemies would be hiding in the bushes to our left, allowing us to anticipate their attack direction.
We proceeded down the road in a single file, remaining wary of the bushes. We’d had enough trouble already. I really didn’t want to encounter any of those Dog with Human Heads. But my premonition proved to be accurate, as if it had been planned.
Three of them, or perhaps I should say three people, appeared from the bushes to our left. They were Dog with Human Heads. If we had met them unexpectedly, we would have been terrified, but since we knew about them beforehand, we weren’t as scared. Their physiques were about the same as Elana’s, with the bodies of large dogs and human heads attached. Unlike a Sphinx, they didn’t have wings, but their jaws were more robust compared to the latter’s smaller ones.
The one in front approached with a smile, as if he had been waiting.
Dog with Human Heads
