The Seven World Of Fantasy

Chapter 42: The Ruckus at the Foot of the Mountain

Come back with me, Princess Eliana. You can call me Riel because it's my nickname, or princess is fine.

After we reached the remote village where Momo came from, the welcome we received was not as good as I had ever felt in any other village. We were stopped at the village gate, mobbed by many people, then thrown various oaths by them.

They blame Momo for the kidnapping of their children, because until now they have not been found. The hatred for Momo was still not lost in their hearts. In fact, we were also dragged away just for coming with him.

The residents living in the village were all cat breeds like Momo. However, the worst part was that they did not consider Momo as their family at all.

I was really surprised at that moment.

When I found out what happened between them, I felt very sorry for this cat girl. 

Momo insists on seeking help to save those she considers friends. Then after finding out that they are safe and on the way home, Momo no longer wants to come home with them.

I guess since everything's back, then things will be fine. But as soon as we got to this village, his friends who were brought by the knights did not come. They left earlier than us.

As a result, as you saw earlier.

"The window is ready!" Roger called us.

I invited Momo who was still sitting pensively by the river to go to their place. Since then he still felt heartache from being rejected by his own race.

Even though I come from a different race, but I can feel what Momo is feeling right now.

Shin and Roger are not far from us. There were two tents standing behind them, and roger's horse carriage was parked not far from him.

Since we were not welcome in the village, Shin decided to find a place to rest in the forest not too far away. Luckily we got a suitable place to build a tent, not far from the road, and there is a waterfall also near us.

Since my goal was not fulfilled, which was to bring Momo home to the village and her family, it seems like this time I will help Shin in his search. I don't want to force Momo to come with us either, she's looking discouraged.

Actually our problem has increased since arriving in this village, which is to find Momo friends who are lost on the way.

Shin said that it was possible that they were taken elsewhere to be sold as slaves. Even for a knight, it did not rule out the possibility of them having a rotten plan once seeing the opportunity before his eyes.

Ever since I first met Mika and Christa, I had thought that the knights in this world would be as good as them. But ever since I learned that shocking new fact, my perception of the knight went quite far.

Perhaps the brothers were the exception, and the others were the individuals.

"Momo, are you hungry?" My toot. To cheer her up a little, I tried to find some new topics. 

"Yet." Momo answered briefly while shaking her head.

"I'll prepare the fireplace and the cooking utensils." In front of us, Roger immediately sped up the cooking utensils.

He said he's not hungry yet, woi!

But I'm the one who's hungry. 

I think Momo just doesn't have an appetite because she has a lot of thoughts. I and maybe they both feel hungry. Since we arrived at this place, we have not had time to rest and have lunch.

"I want to get some rest first." Momo walked away from me and into one of the tents in front of us.

"alright. No need to force yourself."

Let him calm himself first. When the food is ready, I will call him again.

"Shin?" Call me.

"Yes?" Shin was taking an indistinct walk around the tent. He noticed the grass we were standing on, the trees around, and some roads leading to other places from here.

"What are you doing?"

"Seeing the grass."

"If so, even the little ones know."

"Obviously, none of your business."

"Hey!!" I scowled bitterly.

He's like this, anyway. But it still felt annoying when he answered with the origin of my question.

Then for the next few moments, he was still busy with his own affairs. I've been paying attention since but ignored also, yes of course not happy.

"There was someone in this place before us."

"Huh?" I heard clearly what he said. But if you suddenly say it is confusing as well. "So... do you think anyone came to this place before us?"

"Yes, and it wasn't long ago. I could feel traces of their activity around here, yet strangely the boy placed the tent and the bonfire in the same position as someone who came before us."

Hearing what Shin said, I immediately saw the ground under the tent and the fireplace Roger was preparing.

Right too. Although it was very thin, I could still see a slightly different surface of the ground. Like the former pegs, and also the blackened ground.

The person who came before us seemed to want to erase their trace here. Then they thought that since no one would come after him, they did not erase his tracks completely.

"Hey, kid! Did you know that there were campers in this place before?" Ask Shin.

Roger who was gathering the wooden twigs approached us closer. "Yes. I also set up a tent and set up a fireplace in their previous place. Is something wrong?"

Shin looked at Roger suspiciously. If he meets new people, between difficult to be familiar or will often be suspected by him.

"You're just a merchant, aren't you?" Asked Shin doubtfully.

"Huh? I-iya, really. I travel a lot and camp in the wild like this. So I'm used to it." Roger answered well.

Shin seemed to be trying to find a lie in his words. But I think what Roger said was normal, really. He just looks like a young merchant in general, who might be a little younger than me.

Her height was not far from me, and her nature was still as childish as Momo at any given moment.

"What do you want to cook tonight?"

"Mushroom boiling!"

Suddenly Shin asked far beyond my expectations again. After discussing the suspicions at the place where we were camping, he immediately changed the topic about dinner later.

Roger turned around and returned to the forest in search of firewood. I think I want to help him as well to collect mushrooms. I was a little curious about his mushroom soup.

Apparently, Roger is quite good at cooking, you know. As long as we rested on the way, I probably ate the most of his cooking. Yeah, just wait for tonight.

When I wanted to go with him into the forest, Shin suddenly responded to something and it made me startle.

Momo also peeked out of the tent to check what was going on. Both of her cat's ears were throbbing and facing several different directions.

What's the matter? Do they both feel something dangerous around here?

Momo had quite sharp hearing, and Shin was a level 5 adventurer. His experience and reflexes need not be doubted.

"There!" Momo exclaimed first and ran straight from her tent.

He dashed into the forest, followed by Shin not far behind.

"He-hey! Wait for me!"

Within the uneven ranks of the trees, the three of us ran as fast as we could while avoiding quite a lot of obstacles. They were both chasing something for sure, while I just ran after them.

Sometimes I stumble or bump into twigs and bushes, but I can still balance myself afterwards because I get used to it. Also because the road is a bit downhill, it is a bit difficult for me to balance the speed.

"He-hey! You two! What the hell is going on?" While running, I tried to call them. Even though they kept busy running and ignoring my questions.

It seemed like we did not run for long in the forest, then arrived at a slope that had a road not far below.

When passing the road, I was always worried if one day both slopes landslide and hit the horse carriage we were riding.

At this time, I saw several horse-drawn carriages passing through the road. They were surrounded by a pack of ferocious beasts that resembled hyenas, and they were quite numerous in number.

But what concerns me is, the horse carriage that is in front of us has a fairly luxurious shape. The horses pulling the chariot were white, with two knights riding each of the chariots.

"The knights?" Thought.

What comes to my mind now is...

"They're in there!" Shouted Momo.

Yep! Momo's friends are on their way home to their village. 

Without a second thought, Momo wanted to jump in and rescue them immediately. I pulled his shoulder for a moment before he jumped.

"Hey! It's dangerous if you want to jump out of here!"

"But my friends are in there! I have to save them!" Momo insisted on leaving.

"They are trained knights. It would be impossible to lose if it was only against a savage beast outside of a dungeon." Said Shin.

We followed his lead to monitor a little more going on down there. Even though Momo was still worried if she just waited.

Several knights got out of the carriage to face the beasts. However as their numbers were outnumbered, they were cornered and started to be in danger.

"Shin?" Call me.

Now it's time to step in! If it's too late, Momo's friends could get hurt. I don't care about the knights.

"Now." Answer Shin.

"ATTRACTOR STRIKE!"

A moment after Shin gave the direction, Momo instantly unleashed the magic that she had already cast before.

"Don't use that magic! You can hurt the others." Shin tried to prevent it, but Momo had already unleashed her magic and some magic circles appeared around us.

From those circles, came out one by one the ice arrows that shot towards the horse carriage.

I also felt the same terrible as Shin.

As Momo casts this magic and releases it at the bandit headquarters, everyone up to half the place is frozen due to the magic attack that Momo gave. Only Mika can avoid it, even with a technique that is not arbitrary.

Then this time, it turned out that nothing like I imagined happened.

The ice arrows created by Momo shot out quickly and struck the beasts accurately. All the arrows hit and froze some of their numbers, also shocking the knights there due to the sudden magic attack out of nowhere.

Shin beside me paid no heed to Momo's attack which turned out to be better than he expected, and went straight down to help them there immediately. He jumped boldly from a cliff high enough, and landed perfectly.

Momo also jumped down.

The kitten quickly fell down, then used wind magic just before he touched the ground. Momo could land smoothly and immediately come running behind Shin.

Me? I'll help with my shot from up here only.

A slash! A slash! A slash!

Dor's! Dor's! Dor's!

Shin went along with the other knights to attack the remaining beasts. When we got closer, it turned out that the animals were bigger than the size of a hyena.

In fact, I think they're almost as big as an adult male lion. It was only fitting that the knights were overwhelmed when facing him. 

"Lightning Spear!"

Momo cast her magic again to attack several of them at once.

Ctarr!!

Dor's! Dor's! Dor's!

From the top, I gave a shot aid to the animals that wanted to attack. My gun this time feels very effective. A single bullet could directly injure those large animals quite fatally.

However, I had a bit of trouble managing the jolt caused by this gun. Because the power is strong enough, the recoil is also enough to bother me to shoot accurately.

Thanks to the help of passive skill, I was able to dodge the bullets I fired regarding the knights or the horse carriage.

Roaaarr!!!

Some of them roared, which was similar to a lion. After that the rest of them went to escape from our place. A dozen of them were frozen, or killed by us.

I want to jump down to their place too. But once again seeing the height of the cliff to the bottom, I undo my intentions again.

"Are you all okay?" I asked from above.

"Yes!" One of the knights answered me. "Three of you. Thank you for helping us." The man saluted, followed by the other knights.

"Master knight?" Call Momo. "Are my friends on the train?"

The knight looked at Momo and realized something.

"He! You're one of those cat breeds too? You're the one who just cast magic, aren't you?"

"Yes, it's me. But please answer my question."

"ah! I-yes. Your friends are in there. We're driving them to their village." The answer.

"Haa, thank goodness." Momo breathes a sigh of relief.

"Just calm down, everyone. Things are safely under control. Now we can continue our journey back to your village." Another knight gave instructions to the people inside the carriage. They must be Momo's friends.

"Thank God. Thank you, knight sir." Answer some sounds from within.

Even though she knew her friends were there, Momo still did not want to approach them.

"You, you must be Shin Raiden, right?" The knight greeted Shin.

"Yes, it's me."

"Well! What are adventurers like you doing in this place?"

Just sec. Let me guess what he'll answer.

"Experience."

Ha!? Waited. You should answer 'not your business, not yours'.

"Ah, yes. You are an adventurer, yes. Why would I ask such a stupid question anyway?" The knight scratched the back of his helmet. "Once again we thank you. Without you, those beasts would've hurt us."

"No need to thank me. We just want to help." Shin replied formally. "Hey, Riel! You don't want to come down?"

"Eh," he suddenly called me. "These cliffs are pretty high. Maybe I'll meet you at the end of the road."

"Only as tall as a tree. Momo can even jump down, you don't." Sahut again.

After that, once again I intend to jump off the top of this cliff. Even Momo stretched out her hand like she was going to catch me.

But.. But still I don't dare!