221 – The Den

I rush over to the manticore’s den.
The child with blood pouring out of their abdomen is there.

“Gaah!”

With my partner’s cry, her injuries are healed.
The girl’s complexion is still pale, but it looks like she’ll live.
We made it in time.

【Title Skill [Brave Hero] has risen from level 1 to 2】

Ah, it rose.
This skill… It’s ok to raise it, right? That hero had it, so I haven’t exactly got the best impression of it.
Either way, the kid’s the priority just now.

Seeing as the skill’s level has increased, I think we must be out of the danger zone.

She looks around ten years old.
She has pale white skin and there’s something that looks like a line beneath her eyes.
She’s got long hair and is wearing an odd-looking black dress.
It kinda looks like a folk dress.

For the time being, I should check for any status conditions.

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[Aluru Taaba]

Species: Lithovar

Condition: Unconscious (minor)

Lv: 12/60

HP: 43/43

MP: 30/30

Attack: 39

Defense: 35+5

Magic: 33

Speed: 32

Rank: —

Equipment: 

Body: [Lithovar dress: F]

Characteristic Skills:

[Grisha Language: Lv 2] [Soft Steps: Lv 2]

Resistance Skills:

[Physical Resistance: Lv 1]

Normal Skills:

[Gale: Lv 1]

Title Skills:

[Archer: Lv 1] [Hunter: Lv 1]

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She’s just unconscious, so she should be fine.
It’s only minor as well, so she’ll wake up soon.
That’s a relief.

With this difference in stats, it’s a miracle she didn’t die the moment she was bit.
It might be because the manticore wanted to torment her though.
The manticore had a twisted expression and ominous title skills, so that’s probably the case.
Though it’s not nice to think about, it’s thanks to that I was able to save the kid in time, so all’s well that ends well.

Hmm? This species name… I recognise it from somewhere…

『There are hardly any people, it’s just that…… a dangerous race known as the Lithovar Tribe, classified as a demon tribe, is said to live there.
I don’t know the full details, I hear they are few in number, so it isn’t likely that you will encounter them in that great forest.』

…This is the race Adofu told me about, isn’t it? He said I was unlikely to run into them, but I encountered them straight away.
This is ok, right? When she wakes up she’s not going to open a giant mouth and eat me whole, right? Her status isn’t all that high, so I think it’ll be alright… Or rather, I believe it’ll be alright.

Judging by her sleeping face, I can’t see her as anything but a normal, sweet girl.
She doesn’t have a rank; her status completely looks like a normal human’s.
How’s she supposed to be a demon? If I can help it, I don’t want to fight her.
I’m still recovering from my trauma in Haranae and in the village.
Why do you think I came to this crazy dangerous forest in the first place.

I sense a presence behind me.
That reminds me, there were two human presences earlier.

A girl is staring at me from the stone building.
She looks rather similar to the first girl, but is wearing a scarf around her head which drapes down to her arms.
She has a round mask with a horn sticking out of it covering her face.
Rather than a scarf, it looks more like a headgear that’s been stitched onto the mask.

In her hand she’s holding another mask with cloth sewn around it.
Perhaps it belongs to the girl who’s collapsed here.
She probably finds it difficult to approach me, so I’ll take a step back.

The girl rushes over and covers the collapsed girl’s head with the cloth.
Then she nervously looks up at me.

“Th-thank you very much, dragon-god-sama”

She quickly bows her head.
Then she picks up the collapsed girl and runs off somewhere.

Being thanked like that makes me feel oddly happy.
Perhaps I fell and hit my head on a rock earlier.

But what’s with that ‘dragon-god-sama’? Perhaps I look like some legendary dragon she knows.
I don’t think two-headed dragons should be all that common though.

While thinking that, I turn to face the stone building and notice the two-headed dragon statues by the entrance.
Oh yeah, there totally are other two headed dragons.

Eh? Could it be that this is a shrine to the dragon-god? Based on that encounter I just had, was it constructed by the Lithovar tribe? Hmm, could my era have finally arrived? Is my popular period here at last? Will the Lithovar tribe celebrate me with a cheer? What bastard’s calling them a tribe of demons.

The manticore was chased away, or rather the shrine was reclaimed.
The returning dragon-god chased away the monster which was unjustly occupying the shrine, is what it looks like.
I couldn’t have asked for a better first impression. 

However I do have the [Dragon Scale Powder] skill… Well, there’s that saying about not counting your chickens too early or something, so I need to calmly think this through.
Calm down, me.

I shake my head, clearing away my delusions.

“Gaa…?”

My partner looks at me like I’m some strange creature.
Argh, my bad, ok?

For the time being, let’s check out the shrine, since I’ll be using it as my home from now on.
I enter the shrine head first.

There’s monster bones and traces of blood scattered around.
It’s a bit dirty, but it can’t be helped… At least it’s not like there’s manticore droppings everywhere.
That’s all I can think about as I enter.

I just wish I had something to eat… Raising my head, I spot a strange creature.
It looks like a furry dumpling, one size larger than a human.
It has a single leg which it waves up and down.
Geh, that’s a spider, isn’t it.

It’s been turned upside down and most of its legs have been torn off.
This manticore sure has horrid tastes.
I don’t have the best relationship with spiders after being chased around the forest by one, but this is just too cruel.

At first I thought there were three dumplings, but it’s actually a pair of cocoons attached to the spider.
Are they eggs? I guess the spider wanted to leave some eggs behind.

It must have protected the egg sacks by attaching them to its body.
As always, this world is full of strange creatures.
It would be much easier on it if it were a mammal.
Is there any benefit to there no benefit to laying eggs at all?

I get the feeling that the spider glanced at me.
At the same time, it stops waving its leg.
I thought it mustn’t have noticed me after all, but then the spider started gently waving its leg.
Unlike before, its movements don’t look painful.

I crush the spider beneath my claw.
I’d feel bad if I left it like that.
Letting it die properly is for the best.

【40 experience points have been acquired.】

【Due to the title skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 40 experience points have been acquired.】

The amount of experience points was really low, probably because it was on the verge of death.
Even so, what should I do with this? Are spiders edible? The only bug that I’ve eaten so far has been the dark worm.
Thanks to that, I’m ok with eating worms, but spiders are still unacceptable.
Ah, I suppose I did eat centipede once.
Ugh, that’s an unpleasant memory.
I never want to eat that again.

Well, everything’s an experience.
If I’m not going to eat it, then I suppose I’ll bury it somewhere.
The default is to leave monster corpses where they are, but seeing as it looked so pitiable, I can’t help but feel sympathy for it.

I pry the egg sacks off the body.
These would be a bit too much of a challenge to eat, seeing as there’s the thread wrapping to get through.
Spider thread is really not something I want to eat.
It comes out of their butts after all.
In terms of feelings, it’s just impossible.

I feel bad for the mother, but it would be troublesome if they were to hatch.
I’ll roast them then throw them away…Huh? Where’d they go?

“Gaah!, Gaah!”

My partner has stuck the egg sacks to her forehead and is happily shaking her head back and forth.
You… What are you doing?