Heibon na Watashi wa Tonikaku Hibon - Heibon 23. Hunting is One of My Forte

[I see, so that’s why Rey and you guys came around this kind of time]

Emyurill pouted while serving drinks to her sudden number of guests.

[Emyu-san, what do you mean by that?] (Arami)

[You know what I meant. A demon just appeared right in the royal capital as of now. Truthfully, I had expected that you would pay the demon no mind and go back home, but I didn’t expect that Arami-san and Cryhart would use the opportunity to come here for a visit]

[Oi, why are you only adding honorifics for Arami?]

[Oh my, to be offended with such trivial things. How narrow-minded of you, dear captain of the Frontline Vanguard Corps-sama]

[Haaaal?]

They then started glaring each other. Emyurill’s provocating smirk really contrasted with Cryhart’s furious expression.

For one reason or another, these two always fought whenever they met. It seemed that there was something going on between the two of them, but since

they didn’t talk about it, no one knew what happened between them.

Meanwhile, Tonic and Arami looked around the surrounding like they were used to see them both quarreling all the time.

[Excuse me, may I ask about Reyfaras-sama’s whereabouts?] (Arami)

[Soo, any idea where both Rio and Av are?] (Tonic)

Emyurill and Cryhart stopped their banter after the question.

[The three of them went to grab ingredients for dinner]

[In other words, if today goes well, we’re going to eat monster meat for dinner, isn’t it?]

[More or less. Well at the very least, we’re going to have deer for dinner]

[No no, Rey and Av are coming with her. It should be bear meat at worst]

[You have a point there]

Both Cryhart and Arami was surprised to see how nonchalantly Tonic and Emyurill talked about the matter over a cup of tea.

[oi oi oi, hold on a second there. The young lass? Is hunting?]

[Of coourse she is. What’s wrong? surprised?]

[No, that’s not it. Even if you asked me what’s wrong… Isn’t this the Beast Fang Forest?]

Emyurill and Tonic stared at Cryhart, not understanding his question.

Shouldn’t that be obvious, though?

Why did he ask such a weird question?

[Oil did your heart go numb or something? This forest is not even a place that the guys from the knight’s order would even enter. It’s more of a monster den than a forest. A place so dangerous that normal civilians are not allowed to enter. Even with Rey and Av following her, telling her to hunt here is not proving her strength, it’s more like telling her to kill herself]

He seemed to be quite worried for Rio. His concern was also mixed with a little anger towards Emyurill and Tonic.

But it wasn’t like they didn’t understand why.

The last time he met Rio was when she was still training in the castle, so his image of her was from back when she was still training.

She was still learning about how to survive and still clawing herself up, back then.

Well, there wasn’t that much improvement on her since getting out of the castle anyway, but her current ability couldn’t be compared to that time.

[She will be alright, Cryhart-sama. She slowly getting stronger. Both Rey and I personally trained her, after all] (Tonic)

[Even if you say that, it still…]

The sound of the door opening stopped him mid-sentence.

We’re hoome-1 Oh? We have Cryhart-san and Arami-san?]

Rio was holding 3 rabbit-like monsters in her hand, which surprised Cryhart and

Arami.

[Long time no see, young lass…]

[…….sorry for bothering you today]

[Ah, yes. Long time no see. Please make yourself at homel]

They both greeted her while still looking at the monsters in her hands.

Looking at how perplexed they were, Emyurill smiled and tried to advance the conversation.

[Welcome home, Rio-chan. Is that today’s hunt?]

[Ah, yes. Today we also hunted a bear. Rey-sama and Avis still handling it outside]

[I see. Then, did you hunt them all yourself?]

[Yes, but I still need a little help for dealing with the bear, though. I’m going to change my clothes for a bit]

Of course, leave the cooking to me]

Rio handed the monsters in her hand to Emyurill before disappearing inside. Right after seeing her off, Cryhart and Arami simultaneously turned towards Tonic.

He had this sort of proud look on his face.

[Getting stronger, ain’t she?]

[Yeah. To be honest, I was surprised. She looks so different from back then]

Can she use magic on regular basis now?]

[Of course she can. I don’t know about the exact details since Rey is the one training her on that subject. Ah well, I think she’s quite a prodigy. The next thing to do is for her to gain experience and confidence in her own abilities]

[And that is why we signed her up as a contract worker so she can gather experience little by…] (Emyurill)

But Emyurill’s words trailed off at the end of her sentence.

She remembered about the royal capital’s past policies.

[Since a demon appeared in the royal capital, the obvious thing to do is strengthen the security around the capital. But right now, this country doesn’t have that kind of resource to do so]

[Nothing we can do about it. Right now, the main force of this country is undoubtedly the Demon Lord Subjugation Corps]

To avoid useless skirmish with the demons and reduce the number of casualties, a group of special people was gathered in order to strike right at the heart of the demon lord’s army and defeat the demon lord himself.

To fulfill the purpose, the demon lord subjugation corps composed of a small number of individuals.

But as small the number may be, the chosen people are the powerful figures among the Sarawin Empire.

[My corps will take about 20 people and go as well. They are some of our most trusted personnel; they used to take turns maintaining our frontlines. We, the Frontline Vanguard Corps, were not suited to patrol and defend the capital, anyway]

[And so that’s another reason why we hire contract workers, isn’t it?]

All of the present members nodded to Arami’s words.

[Since we often recruit contract workers to add to the army’s strength, the possibility of it happens again this time is very high. But I can’t say that Rio won’t get recruited as well]

[For the power she desperately carves to triumph over this country’s king and his people are used to protect them instead, even if I allow it, Rey would definitely oppose it. Besides, Rio wouldn’t do it in the first place]

[But considering her current strength, she would be surely be recruited]

Their sighs were heavy.

In any case, everyone could still gather and chat together. Meanwhile, Emyurill prepared the ingredients for dinner.