“Tek here, for some reason, it has become popular in stories for the main character to have an attractive female stalker. Well, it wouldn’t be too bad, as long as she doesn’t trouble her target or people around him, and just wants to earnestly watch or be near him.”

 

“Master, it seems that the road ahead of us splits at the foot of the mountain. Which way should we go?” Lulu calls out to me from the driver’s seat, so I stop my experiment.

 

Tama had been sitting on my lap and sleeping as she leaned back against me, so I had to carefully move her. Pochi was sleeping while curled up next to me, and Mia was patting her hair aimlessly. Arisa had been leaning against my free side while watching, curiousity obvious in her large violet eyes.

 

As for my experiment, Nana and I were facing each other. I was trying to check the limit of Signal Magic, I was looking into her eyes--otherwise my gaze would have strayed to her breasts and I would have been distracted--and holding her hands. Well, my Magic Perception would alert me to Signals, but Nana couldn’t receive it like that--so I would tap her palm with my finger whenever I was sending one.

 

Mara was in the back of the wagon, a large clear space surrounded her as she examined the ores that I had brought back. She was so absorbed in her work that she didn’t notice anything that was going on around her.

 

After clearing some space, I get and up join Lulu on the driver’s seat.

 

In front of us, I could see that the road extended in the direction of a forest, after which it goes beyond and to Daregan City. If I focused, and used my skills, I could barely see the outer wall beyond the forest.

 

“Turn left, don’t go straight to Daregan City.” I say to Lulu.

“Yes, I understand.” Speaking with a slightly confused look, she obeys.

 

“Huh? Didn’t you say Daregan City is straight ahead? I said that boarding a ship there would be the quickest and easiest way to get to the Dukedom’s Capital.” Arisa spoke with confusion from behind us.

 

That was the plan, but it would probably be bad to go to the city.

 

“Geh, don’t tell me, it’s the battle-maniac?”

 

“W-Wait, Arisa. She is the daughter of master’s master, please call her by her name?” Lulu spoke up from beside me.

 

Karina and three bodyguards, well maids who also fill the criteria of being bodyguards, are waiting the Daregan City. It looks like neither Zotol nor Hauto could go with her.

 

“Karina?”

“Now, it’s time to have a match!”

 

Pochi and Tama gleefully scale the separating board and jump onto the coachman seat--landing so gracefully that the wagon barely even sways, which demonstrates their impressive Stats.

 

That reminds me, these two love to have matches with Karina.

 

At first, they fought Karina to protect me, since they thought she was attacking me seriously, but the three ended up being similar in personality--the two Beastkin are much cuter--and had quite a few matches.

 

They were very well matched, and they won half their matches.

 

The two of them look around, before saying, “Karina isn’t here?”, “Not here, no.” -- with disappointment, they slump down on the seat, leaning against each other and the backboard. Tama hugged Pochi, patting her back, “Next time!”.

 

While this was going on, Liza, who had gone ahead to scout the junction, comes back. There are no thieves along our course today, so only Liza is riding a horse.

 

“Master, there’s a group of Humans at the fork ahead. I could hear the sound of clashing weapons, they might be thieves.”

 

“Thieves extermination?”

“I’ll do my best!”

 

It looks like the disappointment from not being able to fight Karina has completely disappeared from Tama and Pochi’s minds. They regain their excitement when they hear that there may be thieves.

 

We can’t see them from here, but the people that Liza heard aren’t thieves--there are several Martial Artists, and the rest are farmers, who are probably from the neighborhood.

 

***

There’s an open space at the crossroad.

 

In the center of the space, the two Martial Artists are exchanging sword blows.

 

Around 20 farmers are watching the battle from a safe distance. It seems that they are betting on who will win, they are discussing the odds excitedly.

 

There are several carts parked at the edges of the open space. Since they’re empty, it’s likely that the people here are probably on their way back from trading in Daregan City.

 

Pochi and Tama look like they want to participate--but with a sense that is unique to fighters, they can tell that the Martial Artists are much too weak.

 

They are only level 8 and 9.

 

The opponents for Liza and the others aren’t some weak Martial Artists--there are three people running this way, coming from the forest, and being chased by a few packs of Wolves.

 

Things would go quite bad if those Wolf packs were to come here. Of course, I could kill them all using Remote Arrow--but I will have them become the sacrifices to Pochi, Tama, and Liza’s fighting spirit.

 

I park the wagon in one corner of the open space, and bring only the three Beastkin girls over to where the wolves will come out .

 

Pochi’s ears begin twitching as she raises her head--apparently she has detected the wolves’ presence, “Master, wolves!”

 

“Nyu? There is?”

 

It seems that neither Tama and Liza have heard or sensed them yet. Liza glances at me, for verification, I nod.

 

“Bro, you have some strong-looking guards there. Would you like to compete? If you lose, you’ll only get some injuries--but, if you win, you will get 1 silver coin. It’s not a bad deal, right?” A man who seems to be managing the gambling, greets me.

 

“No. This girl is saying that there’s something strange in the woods.” I answer him as I stroke Pochi’s head.

 

They’re already under 200 meters from us.

 

“That so?” The manage finally seems to have the sound of the wolves as well, he gestures for the farmers to move away. He begins to discuss something with the Martial Artists.

 

Let’s settle this before they decide to join in.

 

I utter the dummy chant, activating Fence, and placing five transparent fences in certain places--creating a tunnel, so the Wolves will go towards the Beastkin girls, instead of the surroundings. So that the people running from the wolves don’t hit the fences, I wait to place the final fence.

 

Since their two weeks training with the Knights at Baron Muno’s castle, Tama and Pochi had changed their weapons--Tama used twin shortswords, while Pochi used a single shortsword and wooden shield. Liza chose to stick with her spear.

 

The Mercenaries warn us warn us of the approaching wolves, but I calm them down.

 

The Wolves that were chasing the Mercenaries are coming out of the woods while I talk, they see the fences and get funneled in towards the waiting Beastkin girls. With simple attacks, Pochi and Tama deal with two-thirds of the wolves--Liza quickly slaughters the wolves that approach her, as well as taking care of the few that managed to jump the fences to escape.

 

I can hear the mercenaries murmuring, “Amazing”,”Strong”, etc--but I don’t pay much attention.

 

One of the wolves made it over the fence, having waited in the woods until the three Beastkin girls were busy, and lunged towards me. I kick it, and it bounces off the fence, flying in front of Tama.

 

“Dangerous?” She looks back at me and complains with a pout, even while still dashing around swinging both her swords.

 

“Aah, sorry.”

 

The three defeated around 20 wolves in the blink of an eye--there are still three wolves in the woods, but they rapidly ran away, I decided not to chase them.

 

At first, the farmers were frightened by the viciousness of the wolves, but they soon stopped panicking and watched the battle--several of them start praising the three Beastkin girls.

 

Liza seems to be indifferently dismantling the Wolves, but her tail is twitching a bit--Pochi and Tama look very pleased, their ears and tails moving enthusiastically. Soon, Liza called out to them, and they join her with the dismantling.

 

The Gambler, and the Martial Artists had all started running towards Daregan City. Their actions are probably the normal reaction, I wonder if the farmers who didn’t escape are weird?

 

***

I leave the dismantling to Liza and the others, and walk over to where the Mercenaries are. All three of them are women. One is level 10 with the Dagger Skill, the other two are only levels 7 and 8, with Bow and Shortsword skills--all three have the Dismantling Skills.

 

The level 7 Mercenary has a serious injury.

 

“Are you alright?” I ask them.

 

“Yes, thank you for your help.”

“I’m sorry. We didn’t think that anyone would be here.”

 

I begin to give emergency treatment to the girl with the serious injury, she doesn’t seem to have the energy to speak, “It would have been a catastrophe if my girls weren’t here.”

 

“It’s my fault. Since this was our first time being dispatched for hunting--I accidentally chased the prey too far into the forest and got counterattacked.” The female Mercenary, who looks to be the leader, explains.

 

She’s 18, the oldest in the group, the other two are fifteen.

 

While talking, I’ve mostly finished the treatment, but her stamina is still decreasing. I lift her up a bit, and see her back--there are three deep claw marks. It will scar if it remains like this.

 

Originally, I had no intention of using a Potion, but it can’t be helped--before the girl completely loses consciousness, I stick the Potion bottle into her mouth and make her drink it. I didn’t have to give mouth-to-mouth, this time.

 

As a result of saving the girl like this, it seems I may have given some clues to troublesome people. Of course, I don’t regret saving them, but I am pretty sure that they will spread the story.

 

I decide to leave while the girls are still surprised by the effect of my potion. We leave half the wolf corpses to the farmers and Mercenary women.

 

The sun is dropping below the horizon, we need to set up camp soon--there is a good location a short distance into the forest, and there aren’t any Monsters or Wolves nearby because of the earlier ruckus.