Sepakai (GXG) (GIRLXGIRL) (GL)

106

“So untrusting. Sure I’m interested in Iris, but I am not lacking in reason. I am fully capable of understanding that this is neither the time nor place. Although……..hohoho, so very fast. Unicorn, was it? She might be faster than our knight company’s fastest horses.”

“You might accidentally bite your tongue if you don’t close your mouth!”

Our line of carriages is already far off behind us. I no longer have to worry about anyone accidentally stepping out in front of us. So after giving Litzreich a word of warning as she began happily muttering something to herself, Unicorn sped up, racing down the road faster than ever before.

♠

The tumultuous sound of clanging swords still rang through the air by the time we got there, a din only overshadowed by the occasional screams of the people.

“Ah, this is……it might get dangerous if we drop our guard.”

“Hmm, water slimes and cavalry fish? And a large number of them both.”

The fight was taking place on a bridge, at a spot where the road extended across the Anne Libretta.

Dozens of silver scaled fish were flying out of the water and landing on a bridge big enough for several carriages to easily cross at the same time. Each of these fish had a hard outer shell around their torso and teeth as sharp as the spears they carried were lined up inside their open maws. These dozens of monsters were forming up, jumping out from the river for the express purpose of assaulting the merchant caravan. Their formation and attack really did resemble the charge of a cavalry unit. Hence why they’re known as cavalry fish.

But, they weren’t the only monsters present. A number of colorless, jelly-like creatures were gathered along the parapet of the bridge. Their bodies were twisting and wriggling as each of them tried to make their way towards the injured horses and broken carriages.

These slimes live inside the river. They’re a relatively common monster for this area that usually subsist off of fish that unknowingly swim into them because of their transparent bodies.

These slimes hibernate in the nearby grasslands during the winter when the river freezes over. Usually villagers in the nearby towns use the opportunity to thin out their numbers and kill them in their sleep, but because of how heavy the snowfall was this year plus the added fear of the dragon, I’m guessing a lot of them were left alone.

“Where’s Peachseed-san!?”

Most unusual here would have to be how big these water slimes are though. The ones I’ve seen before were all about as big as a bucket of water, but these are all at least three times that size. Moreover, there was one slime in particular that stood out from the rest, with a body twice the size of a horse.

“Hey, what do you want me to do?”

I heard Carol’s voice coming from right next to me, drawing back my attention after it had been absorbed in the battle unfolding in front of us.

“And what would you have me do?”

Litzreich’s voice came from behind, asking me the same question. That’s right, Carol and Litzreich are here with me. It’s be much too inefficient if we each recklessly charged ahead without any form of cooperation. But, I don’t have very much experience when it comes to battle. I have no idea what the best course of action to take here is.

“……I’m sorry. I don’t know. What do you think we should do?”

I fought back against my instincts to immediately jump in and decided to ask for their opinions. And Carol came back with an immediate answer as a result.