chapter 43

I, together with Gon, came back from Ohi-sama’s mansion.

It looked like some kind of space magic, I do not think that too much time passed. While I was mulling over that magic, I saw a big shrine with the fox statues on its sides standing next to the small one. Most likely, this shrine is connected directly to Ohi-sama. Let’s prepare the offering tomorrow.

While I was thinking that, I saw a few harpies flying into the stables where Janeha was. I guess, they came to deliver the food for the chicks. Let’s check on them.

「Jeneha-sama, the food for today was delivered」

「The meat of the great mouse once again. You can’t feed the children with only meat. You need to add some fruits and something sweet as well」

「Yes. Roger」

Oh, I understand what they are saying! I can only hear them saying「pipyi」, but I can subconsciously understand the meaning. Liberal Arts LV5 is amazing.

「I will make ohagi very soon, I will bring you some then. Or would you prefer zenzai?」

Jeneha and the harpy made weird faces. Oh, did my words get through?

「M-master, how come you can speak in our tongue?」

「Well, I kind of received a skill from the god, who was Gon’s superior. You can properly understand me, right?」

「Yes, I understand. I’m happy to have a direct conversation with Master!」

「Master, it is Irimo. Do you understand my words?」

「Oh! Irimo! I do understand you! You have a beautiful voice」

「Ehehe, it’s embarrasing」

While enjoying the conversation with the monsters, I unintentionally learned about their past. While prying further, I understood why the harpies came into this forest in the first place.

「Ho, so you came to visit the Great Demon King?」

「Yes, it is embarrassing to admit it, but we came here with the intention to defeat the Great Demon King. We sensed a tremendous evil aura and followed it. We thought that as long as we are together we can beat any opponent. We were confident in our strength」

When she sensed my aura, she was like「Ah? The world’s strongest? Who said that? Say that after you defeat us!」and became strangely motivated. Come to think of it, it was said that Curse LV5 can attract the animosity of others. No wonder.

「However, Juka Mountain Range was filled with the dragons. Just when we were about to locate him, his presence vanished. Without any other choice, we settled here and met Master」

I see, then they aimed for my beef stew and got smacked.

「Honestly, we didn’t think much of a single human’s power before. However, the whole family was cornered and almost died. I can’t forget that horror even now. But I’m grateful to master. You told us that there is always a higher mountain and even healed our wounds. Not just that, Master gave us a place to stay, gave the tasty food from time to time and protected our children. I can only be grateful」

Sure. It was just a whim of mine though.

Jeneha also mentioned the possibility of other monsters coming here, so I had the harpies be vigilant against any strange entities. As a reward, I ended up making some sweets for them.

As soon as the weather became warm, the little harpies started to practice flying. They still weren’t able to, but they tried their hardest. It was really cute. Watching them healed my soul. (TN: Watching little naked girls, hehehe)

At that time, my map displayed the monsters trespassing into my territory. Their color was yellow, they carefully approached the mansion. The harpies gathered and were prepared for the attack. The map displayed them as「Belial」. There were 4 of them.

「Belial」….its appearance resembled that of a mix between a dragon and a demon. It’s a quite high-ranking demon. I erected the barrier and the harpies took their positions. I also went outside to keep track of everything.

The 4 Belials decided to attack the barrier. However, my barrier wasn’t that brittle. It repelled them as if it was natural for it to happen. Then, the Belials steeled themselves, clad themselves in lightning-like magic and pounced at the barrier at extremely high speed. After assaulting the barrier for 10 times, they finally broke it apart.

Belials came inside, the harpies weren’t able to cope with their speed. And with a loud sound, they appeared before me. Two of them were yellow, one was red and one was purple. Is color somehow related to their abilities? While I was thinking about that, the harpies descended around me and made a defensive formation.

「Gumomomomo, why are the harpies standing beside a human? No, is he the Great Demon King?」

「No, I don’t feel any kind of evil aura around him」

「Hey, harpies! Where is the Great Demon King?! You better answer obediently gumo」

「This human is our Master. There is no Great Demon King here. Go and cross that mountain range if you want to find him. The being said, that mountain range is the dragon’s den, even we can’t easily pass it」

「What?! No Great Demon King here!? This human is your Master?! Bullshit! Are you saying that you lost to a puny human!?」

「That’s right. We lost to our Master. Therefore, in exchange for our lives, we are serving him」

「Gumomomomo. You, a general harpy, have descended into idiocy! Fine! If we can’t find the Great Demon King, we will increase our fame by slaying your Master! We will remind everyone about the Belials, the strongest species!」

…..Don’t just decide that on your own. Increase your fame by slaying the Great Demon King? Are you retarded? Your lack of knowledge is extreme. Besides, I’m not in the mood to fight. While I was thinking that, one of the Belials released a high-speed fire magic. Fast! I tried to evade, but due to my negligence, it hit me anyway.

「Harpies are to protect Irimo and the children!」

I shouted as I ran in the opposite direction of the mansion. The Belials chased after me and very soon I was surrounded.

「Gumomo. Die for our sake. I’m hungry and you can make a nice snack. Gumomomomo」

「I understood that you are the Belials, but do you have a name? I wish to hear it」

「Our name? Fine, let’s make it our parting gift. I’m the top of the Belial family, Belialk…..gueee!」

I put the noisiest one inside the barrier and started shrinking it. Its bones and body were crushed in a matter of moments and it completely and utterly died. You were too god damn loud!

「Y-you!!!!」

The remaining Belials released the high-speed fireballs at the same time. I resisted with the ice barrier. As soon as they released the fireballs, they moved in the air. I aimed at one of them and released the wind cutter. Transparent wind blades with exceptionally sharp edges tore the Belial apart.

At that moment, I was embraced by another Belial. Then, he released the explosive bullet from his mouth at the hair’s distance away. A grand explosion happened, but I was completely unscathed. While still being embraced, I increased the temperature of my surroundings with fire magic. In a blink of an eye, Belial’s body lit in flames. Since I instantly raised the temperature by a several thousand degrees, its body turned completely red. Its originally red body became even redder and it melted away.

Only the purple Belial was left. Or so I thought, but couldn’t see his figure. I heard the harpies’ screams from the stables. When I rushed back, I saw the scene of harpies struggling against the purple Belial with their sharp claws as their weapons. Fortunately, not eve one was dead as of yet. To deal with the harpies, the Belial started chanting fire magic. I took out「Onigiri」from the infinite storage and slashed at it.

「Gumooooooooo!!! Gugyaaaaaaaa!!!」

The purple Belial raised a scream of agony and staggered.

「Is everyone fine? Ah, you over there, are your wings got hurt? Extra Heal!」

I healed the wounded harpy. They are already something like my family. Fortunately, not even one was fatally injured and everyone was fine, children included.

I was relieved. Then, the purple Belial, who was screaming in agony, entered my sight. After he got tired of screaming, he spoke in a crying voice.

「Stop it!! I beg you, stop it!! Mommy!! Mommy!! Mommy!!!」

「This Belial is still a kid. It is even female. She is not an adult yet…..how pitiful」

Janeha said in an exasperated voice.

「Un, my heart hurts to leave her to die in agony. After all, she tried to escape instead of joining the battle. Perhaps we should listen to her circumstances first」

Gon appeared by my side before I knew it. Eh? How bothersome. What am I going to do about it~