We live in the foothills of Dragon Peak, a daring escape act where carelessness is a great enemy.
“Ah,” several Divine Soldiers let out a sound, but it was too late!
Having broken through the blockade net, we ran deep into the forest.
Even though there was a sense of several Divine Soldiers pursuing us, it seems they quickly lost sight of us due to the interference of magic beasts and spirits.
We ran with everyone into the depths of the well-maintained forest.
Our destination was the paradise of the Heavenly Race!
However, more hardships still awaited us.
“Stop!”
“Catch them!”
“Alive!”
Spirits approached us in pursuit.
“Hey, Elnea. What is going on?!”
Alf-san, unaccustomed to spirits, looked back in confusion.
I was also drawn to look back, and then decided to pretend I hadn’t seen anything!
It’s just my imagination.
Spirits like fish swam between the trees, various colored lights chased us… and then a scene of powerfully built humanoid spirits racing towards us!
No, wait a minute!
A powerfully built, adult-looking spirit?
“Priscilla-chan?”
“Um, it’s Priscilla’s spirit!”
“Why?!”
Speaking of which, the Earth Spirit that Priscilla-chan commands was a fine-looking man, wasn’t he?
But why was that spirit chasing us amidst the forest spirits?!
Priscilla-chan rejoiced happily as she saw my confusion.
“Um, Elnea-kun?”
Then, Ruiseine, who was running next to me, said in a strained smile.
“Perhaps, the spirits…?”
“Um, Priscilla asked them to.”
“Wh-…?”
I stopped in my tracks before I knew it.
Priscilla-chan asked them?
For what?
Confused, I looked around with my eyes wide open.
Then, I met the eyes of the Forest Spirit King who had caught up to us.
The Forest Spirit King caught up to us.
But he didn’t try to capture me or pull Priscilla-chan away. Instead, he smiled gently at Priscilla-chan and Ares-chan.
“Child of the Mimicho Race. And, esteemed one. Was this satisfactory?”
“N-no way…!”
With the Forest Spirit King’s attitude, I finally understood the situation.
“So, the Forest Spirit King… was cooperating with us from the beginning!”
That made sense.
Why hadn’t Priscilla-chan and Ares-chan dispelled my misunderstanding? It was because the Forest Spirit King knew our circumstances from the start and was cooperating with us.
I don’t know when Priscilla-chan and Ares-chan made their request to the Forest Spirit King. However, I can say for sure that while pretending to chase me, they were actually hindering the four from the Imperial Honored Mansion and confusing the Divine Soldiers who had set up the blockade net.
“As the Spirit King who rules this vast forest, he must have understood our circumstances long ago.”
Yunyun materialized. She then bowed her head in respect to the Forest Spirit King.
When Rinrin materialized, she followed her older sister Yunyun.
“You may have committed sins. However, everyone says so. This young girl, and you all, are very dear. I too feel a sense of fondness towards you.”
“Those are most kind words.”
“From now on, we will live together with the spirits.”
Spirits have a fixed place to live, but unlike humans, they don’t have countries or borders. Furthermore, no matter how harsh nature or fearsome monsters and yōma are, they do not hinder the activities of spirits.
Therefore, rumors about Yunyun and Rinrin might have reached the ears of the spirits living in this forest.
After all, regardless of the circumstances, a Mimicho Race becoming a being close to a spirit is very rare.
Yunyun and Rinrin seemed very happy with the kind words from the Forest Spirit King.
However, the peaceful atmosphere was only around the three of them.
“We caught him!”
“Tie him to a tree and plant flowers on his head!”
“Gyaaaah!”
It was me who screamed.
And of course, I was also captured by the spirits!
The Spirit King understood our situation and was secretly cooperating with us.
However, the lower-ranking spirits were different.
Ordered by the Forest Spirit King, they were genuinely trying to capture me.
And now, sadly, I had been captured.
“Priscilla-chan, Ares-chan, please help me?”
“You know, Priscilla wants to know? What happens if you plant flowers on your head?”
“I don’t know either!?”
The innocent Priscilla-chan seemed more interested in the spirits’ words than my safety!
Ares-chan, with a sigh, calmed the spirits performing the live capture dance around me.
“Thank you, Ares-chan. And, Priscilla-chan, too.”
“You’re welcome!”
In any case, thanks to the duo of young girls, we were able to easily break through the blockade net.
If the spirits hadn’t caused chaos. Even if I had joined Alf-san and the others with the Imperial Honored Mansion, things wouldn’t have gone this smoothly.
I’m sure there would have been trouble with the Imperial Honored Mansion and Divine Soldiers, and we would have finally broken through in that opening.
However, in that case, they would have immediately chased after us, and we wouldn’t have had a moment to breathe.
It was precisely because the spirits genuinely tried to capture me, and I genuinely ran while joining them, that the situation descended into chaos, and we easily broke through the encirclement.
Well, we did attract some unnecessary things like magic beasts and monsters, though?
“Huh? Speaking of which, monsters are one thing, but magic beasts aren’t chasing us?”
I tried to sense their presence. Then, I detected the presence of several magic beasts within the Dragon Vein.
“Um, they’re Priscilla’s friends.”
“Since when did you make friends with magic beasts in this forest!?”
“During a walk?”
“Come to think of it, Priscilla-chan and Amira often went for walks when we were preparing for camp in the evening or at night. Was it then?”
“I was surprised at first, too. But Priscilla-chan quickly became friends with the magic beasts.”
“As expected of Priscilla-chan!”
Good grief. It seems even the magic beasts were cooperating with us.
Having shaken off the Imperial Honored Mansion and Divine Soldiers, and with the presence of monsters gone, the magic beasts who no longer had a reason to cause a commotion were staying within the Dragon Vein.
“Thank you too, everyone from the magic beasts.”
I wonder if my voice reached the magic beasts?
I’ll thank them again when they appear next time.
In any case, I deeply understood that it was thanks to those who cooperated with us from the shadows.
“Well then, before the Imperial Honored Mansion and Divine Soldiers catch up, let’s head for the paradise of the Heavenly Race!”
“Elnea, you’ll explain the circumstances on the way?”
“Alf-san. Before that, please untie me!”
Ares-chan had persuaded the spirits, but she hadn’t released me yet!
“…And so, I had a tough time, you see?”
As I explained while advancing through the forest, everyone burst into laughter.
The frightened act I showed the four from the Imperial Honored Mansion, and the circumstances of being chased by spirits.
Unlike before, we proceeded in a friendly and enjoyable atmosphere.
However, of course, we did not let down our guard.
We didn’t know when the Imperial Honored Mansion or Divine Soldiers might catch up, and since we had only broken through the blockade net, the possibility of other Divine Soldiers waiting inside was extremely high.
The well-maintained forest was not as easy to walk on as a road, but considering we had been trained by the rough nature of Dragon Peak, we could advance while chatting without any problems.
We proceeded towards our destination, taking breaks several times.
However, the peaceful march through the forest did not last long.
“Elnea-kun?”
Sefina-san, who was paying attention to her surroundings, showed a look of caution.
“It seems the people from the Imperial Honored Mansion have caught up?”
“Did they shake off the Divine Soldiers?”
“Or perhaps they persuaded the Divine Soldiers?”
In any case, there was no doubt that pursuers were approaching.
“Tch. They’re surprisingly tenacious.”
It’s no wonder Alf-san clicked his tongue.
Unlike when we were moving along the road, we had been moving in a way that left as few traces as possible after breaking through the blockade net. Even so, the four from the Imperial Honored Mansion had tracked us accurately.
They were indeed skilled.
“We should hurry.”
“We should run.”
Yufilia and Nina, holding Priscilla-chan and Ares-chan, quickened their pace.
We also hurried through the forest, sensing the presence behind us.
If we were caught by the Imperial Honored Mansion here, it would definitely be troublesome.
“There’s no sign of monsters.”
“No sign of Divine Soldiers either?”
Laira and Ruiseine seemed to have searched for presences other than the Imperial Honored Mansion.
As they said, we didn’t sense either presence at the moment.
Perhaps they had cleverly evaded the Divine Soldiers who were confused by the monsters and magic beasts, and the Imperial Honored Mansion had also broken through the blockade net.
“Let’s hurry!”
While keeping everyone’s pace together, we increased our speed more than ever before.
However, unexpectedly, the four from the Imperial Honored Mansion were closing in.
“Damn it! They’ve completely locked onto us!”
From brisk walking to running, and then to full sprint, Alf-san cursed strongly.
Full sprint with the leg strength of a Divine Race member. In sync with that, we also unleashed our power and ran with all our might.
The Imperial Honored Mansion was so close behind us that we couldn’t hold back anymore.
“I told you so. Those people, despite appearances, are quite powerful.”
Rinrin had said from the beginning that they looked like skilled soldiers.
Everyone had listened to my report with amusement, so they hadn’t truly grasped it.
Anyway, we could only run with all our might now.
We didn’t want to be hindered by the Imperial Honored Mansion or Divine Soldiers until we saw the paradise of the Heavenly Race.
But our wish was not granted in various ways.
“Elnea-kun!”
Sefina-san’s urgent voice echoed from the front.
And everyone was stunned and stopped in their tracks.
“Ridiculous! Weren’t they just behind us?!”
It was no wonder Alf-san was astonished.
We had been running through the forest, sensing the presence of the four from the Imperial Honored Mansion chasing us.
And yet, in an instant, one of the Imperial Honored Mansion members, who should have been behind us, appeared before us.
A woman, emitting a sharp presence.
The woman, who suddenly appeared before us with a drawn sword, looked us over as we stopped, and then fixed her gaze on Alf-san.
“Not just you, boy, but an interesting group has gathered? You are of the Divine Race, so are you the boy’s Master? …No, that’s not right. You don’t have the power to control the boy. Does that mean the boy is a slave of the Divine Race?”
“…!?”
Alf-san gasped at the woman who, in a short time, had discerned our capabilities and inner workings.
“Who are you!?”
And, with undisguised caution, he drew his Divine Sword.
Amira-san next to me also drew her sword.
“You’re different from the three behind you, aren’t you? I can’t believe you’re just from the Imperial Honored Mansion.”
The remaining three members of the Imperial Honored Mansion had not yet caught up to us.
Clearly, there was a difference in ability between the other three and this woman.
Even so, she had been reserved while chasing me, and Alf-san felt a strong sense of incongruity in the situation where she had been keeping pace with the three subordinates until just now.
We too had sensed an unusual presence from the woman.
She was clearly different from ordinary Divine Race members.
Although it was sudden, she was a skilled individual who had managed to stop us with just her sharp presence.
No, a tricky one.
It seemed this woman was indeed the most troublesome.
However, it was a situation where we were outnumbered.
Alf-san, using our numerical advantage, threatened the woman.
“Step aside. If you’ve assessed our strength, you should know that no matter how skilled you are, you can’t win. If you still intend to interfere, we won’t show mercy even to the Imperial Honored Mansion.”
The woman raised an eyebrow slightly at his disrespectful words, uncharacteristic of a Divine Race member.
“Oh, so the prestige of the Imperial Honored Mansion doesn’t work on you? But, too bad. I still can’t let you pass to the other side.”
“Then, we just have to fight, don’t we?”
With a villainous grin, Alf-san pointed his sword at the woman.
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