In that moment a silver-haired, gla.s.ses wearing boy was born. He confirmed that a tail was firmly attached to his bottom. Yes, this is soft. That"s good.
(It"s so weird having a tail. My body feels strangely light somehow and my semi-circular ca.n.a.ls feel stronger.)
This meant that he felt very balanced. Beastman, by nature, were excellent at balancing and sensing danger.
"Y-y-y-y-y-yooooooooou!"
"What do you want to say, Mr. Blue-haired Beastman?"
"Enough already! W-what is this!? You can do stuff like this too?!"
Arnold was his usual hot-headed self. It wasn"t as if Hiiro couldn"t understand his feelings.
"Don"t shout. This solves the problem. What"s your issue with it?"
"Your appearance is what! Does it have to be the same silver hair as Muir"s!?"
Arnold couldn"t forgive Hiiro for having the same appearance as his beloved daughter.
"Hah… Idiot parent, Pervert Lolicon."
"What"d you saaaay?!"
"U-uncle, calm down!"
Arnold listened to Muir with watery eyes as she desperately tried to hold back his body.
"Hey, Muir. You"re also against that, right? Say that you hate to have the same hair colour as that idiot!"
"Huh? Ah, well… I, I, well…"
Muir glanced at Hiiro and her face flushed in embarra.s.sment.
"I, I"m not against…. It?"
"No waaaay?!"
Arnold looked as if the world was ending and fell to his knees. Hiiro didn"t know how much of an idiot parent Arnold was but he didn"t intend to change his appearance because it would be bothersome.
Hiiro, then, felt a tug at his s.h.i.+rt and turned around to see Winka looking up at him in expectation.
"… What is it?"
"Can you do that… For Wi too?"
"What?"
"Wi also… Wants to try that out."
She pointed at the ears growing on the top of Hiiro"s head.
"You mean you want to transform as well?"
Winka nodded her head up and down.
(Well, it would surely be better than hiding with a hat. The safer, the better.)
Thinking of their journey ahead, he concluded that transforming her would make it easier to avoid troublesome occurrences.
"Okay, here you go."
He once again wrote 『Transform化 』but activated it towards Winka this time. Winka took off the hat that she had borrowed from Muir, then pointed ears similar to those of a fox popped out and a tail covered in fluffy hair was created at her bottom.
It was easy for him to imagine her as a beastman as he had already seen her beastification form.
"Y-you can do that to other people too…?"
Arnold asked in an astonished tone as his face twitched. Winka, being herself, touched her ears and tail while smiling and showing it to Winger. She seemed very happy.
"Honestly, I don"t know what you are anymore."
"Don"t worry about it. You"ll go bald if you worry too much, you know?"
"Shut up!"
Arnold sighed in resignation as he waved his hands and then he said in a small voice, "Ah!"
"Come to think of it, the effects will expire in a minute, right? Do you plan to reapply it every time?"
"Why would I do something so ineffective? It"s a permanent effect."
"Huh? Really?"
"Yeah, form-changing effects seem like they don"t expire."
"Oh ~, how convenient ~."
Muir widened her eyes in admiration.
That"s why it was necessary to use 『Origin 元』if he wanted to return to normal. Although it was also possible to return to normal with the character, 『Transform化 』.
"Hiiro, thanks. Wi is happy."
"Huh? Well, I only did it because it"s more convenient this way."
"Does it suit Wi?"
She tilted her body left and right while making various poses. She moved her ears up and down and swayed her tail side to side.
It didn"t matter if it suited her or not, they had seen that appearance of hers recently when Arnold was on the verge of death and Hiiro had been beaten up. Therefore it also incited some fear but if they said it out loud then the mood would turn sour.
"Well, you look like yourself, if anything."
Hiiro ended it with a harmless and inoffensive comment. Even so, Winka still smiled happily and wagged her tail and then she returned the hat that she had borrowed to Muir.
"Thanks Muir, but Wi doesn"t need it anymore."
"O-okay. Um, Wi-san?"
"Yeah?"
"M-may I touch your tail?"
"Um… Sure."
"Wooww ~. It"s so fluffy and soft ~."
Winka"s tail certainly had a lot of volume. It looked good and Hiiro was suddenly struck with the urge to touch it, but he kept the situation in mind since she was a member of the opposite s.e.x.
"Anyway, Old Man where we off to now?"
Hiiro asked and Arnold pointed.
"If you go straight west from here, we"ll reach a village called 【Doggam】."
"What kind of place is that?"
"It"s the village where the 『Bear-kin』live."
Hiiro nodded in understanding. Muir and Winka were also interested so they stopped their fluffy time and came to listen.
(Bear-kin, huh? I read about them in the reference book, they"re gentle enough to make you think they weren"t bears at all.)
When he was in the 【Human Country・Victorias】he read the reference book from beginning to end just in case and now all that information was in his head.
"Well, the bear-kin are gentle folks even if the fact that you"re a human is discovered, don"t suddenly attack anyone. Well, I don"t think I have to worry with your perfect disguises."
Hiiro confirmed that his knowledge about them was correct.
"Oh yeah, the honey candy they make are quite something."
"Oh, I"m looking forward to it."
"Oh, is that so?"
"What? So you"ve never been there, Chibi?"
Hiiro concluded that she had never been to the village herself because she had the same reaction as him.
"Ah, yes. Y-you see. That"s…"
She mumbled because it was difficult to say but the intent of her wanting to say it, was conveyed. Hiiro, however, waved his hand and glossed over the question.
"Ah, you don"t have to force yourself."
"Huh?"
Muir looked at Hiiro blankly and Arnold did the same.
"I don"t have any particular interest in your past, anyway. If you have the slightest hesitation then don"t tell me."
"… W-well that"s not the case but…"
Arnold looked at Muir, who was feeling a little down, and let out a loud voice to change the mood.
"Well, Hiiro said it himself. Isn"t it fine like this, Muir?!"
"Uncle…"
"Come on. Let"s go."
Hiiro said and started walking briskly. Winka and Winger followed after him.
Arnold rubbed Muir"s head and whispered gently into her ear.
"I understand your hesitation, but we"re talking about Hiiro here. Even if you tell him, he"ll probably say something like 『So what? 』Don"t you think so?"
"Y-yeah… He would."
Muir looked as if a weight had been lifted off her chest at Arnold"s words.
"One day you"ll definitely be able to tell him."
"Yup!"
"Alright! Come on, they"re going to leave us behind!"
"Yeah! Please wait, Hiiro-san, Wi-san! Winger ~!"
According to Hiiro, the figure of Arnold watching Muir running to catch up to them while saying, "Ah, how cute ~", was already a criminal action.
——— Beast Kingdom.
A vast amount of nature spread out beyond the bridge. Hiiro could see many tall mountains laid out in the distance. Fresh clean air entered his lungs. His heart beat faster in excitement at entering a new continent and he was having more fun than he thought he would.
Beyond the vast plain was a thick forest. Arnold said that their aim was to enter that forest.
The wind was different from the human world. The smell of the ground and gra.s.s was also different. The smell of the ocean drifting in from the distant sea also mixed into the air.
It was very humid in the human world because of the heatwave so the air felt suffocating but even if the beast kingdom had the same climate as the human world, the breeze felt more refres.h.i.+ng. Hiiro wasn"t certain if this was because of the abundance in nature or not but the thing he did know was that the environment, itself, was different from the human world.
Monsters finally made their appearance after they had walked for a while. There were three of them.
"These are… Book-books right?"
The monsters were called Book-book looked like books. They were slightly bigger than reference books but the terrible thing about this monster was———
———*CRACKLE CRACKLE!*
"Woah! It suddenly attacked with lightning!"
Arnold shouted while jumping backwards to avoid the attack.
The monsters called Book-book attacked with magic. Moreover, the type of magic used differed depending on the monster type and it was difficult to distinguish which Book-book used which attributes.
There was only one monster in front of Hiiro, Arnold and Winka that was being hostile. It was floating in the air, flapping its pages up and down like wings.
"It"s been a while since there was a monster worth attacking. Old Man, you take care of the one in the front."
"Okay! The great Arnold will show them what real swordsmans.h.i.+p is like! Muir, stand down!"
"O-okay!"
"Antenna Girl, you take care of the other one."
"Okay…"
They were each facing a Book-book.
(Old Man has the lightning one and I have the…)
He heard a sound as the earth suddenly rose from the ground. The ground gradually formed into a hand and tried to grab him.
"I see. Your attribute is earth then!"
He swiftly drew his katana, 《Piercer》and sliced through the hand that was made out of dirt. However, the Book-book created more small cracks on the ground in an attempt to stop Hiiro"s movements.
"That won"t ———."
Hiiro concentrated magic into his fingertips and wrote 『Silence静』into the air, then he aimed it at the ground and activated it.
The cracks on the ground suddenly subsided and settled down, it never reached Hiiro. The Book-book was puzzled over what had happened and couldn"t execute its next attack.
"——— Work on me!"
Before the Book-book could launch another attack, Hiiro rushed toward it at lightning speed. The Book-book, not wanting to lose, erected a wall of earth in front of Hiiro to block him.
"Don"t think you can block my piercer with that!"
He continued rus.h.i.+ng at the wall and slashed through it. He pierced the wall and the Book-book behind it. The Book-book was defeated and collapsed to the ground.
"Well then, Old Man…"
It looked like Arnold was also finished with his opponent. He magnificently avoided a lightning attack and slashed his opponent with his great sword.
"Did you see that!? This is my true power! Nahahaha!"
It was like he was on top of the world. It was certainly a troublesome monster but it was a low level one.
Naturally, Hiiro sighed and thought that Arnold was a happy-go-lucky guy because he was being so boastful after defeating just one monster.
He looked towards Winka and saw that her battle had already finished. The person, herself, was staring at the ground in interest while observing some insects.
(When did she…? She"s special after all.)
She probably finished the battle in one blow without letting her opponent get an attack in. He guessed that was what had happened because there was no trace of magic around her. The Book-book couldn"t do anything as it was being defeated, it had simply faced the wrong opponent.
They walked some more and encountered monsters repeatedly. They finally reached the forest after several battles.
"We"ll reach 【Doggam】if we walk through this forest!"
They followed Arnold"s lead and walked through the forest. They fought with monsters on the way but the monsters were probably low level as they didn"t have much trouble defeating them.
They encountered a lot of monsters. Even if they were small fries it was frustrating to encounter this many.
The forest was thick and Arnold said that it would take some time to walk through it. They found a river bank and decided to take a break there.
"Old Man, if any monsters show up, I"m counting on you."
"W-wha, Hiiro!"
Hiiro said as he leant against a tree and closed his eyes.
"This guy really is a piece of work."
"Ahaha, Hiiro-san must be tired. He fought a lot of monsters and used a lot of magic."
Muir added. Arnold pouted and sat down on a rock with an unhappy look on his face. Muir also sat down on a rock next to him.
Winka and Winger played in the water as if they didn"t know what the word tired meant.
"He sure can sleep in a situation like this… I seriously doubt his nerves."
"Fufu. Yup."
Hiiro was, surely, bold for sleeping in a place infested with monsters. The sunlight peeking through the treetops gently shone on Hiiro and co. Arnold suddenly looked at Hiiro, touched his goatee and said:
"Still, just what is this guy…?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, he"s still a kid but what"s with that strength of his? And his arrogance is unbelievable… He also has unique magic… In addition to travelling alone in the beast kingdom under these circ.u.mstances?"
"He said it didn"t he? He wanted to sightsee."
"Well yeah. But for normal adventurers… Is this something that a normal adventurer, who knows the current affairs of the world, would do? It"s just suicidal."
"Th-that"s true…"
Muir nodded at his reasoning.
"His level is also lower than mine but I feel that he"s stronger than me. His physical abilities… And his personality as well."
"Fufu, his personality has nothing to do with this, right?"
"It"s the first time I"ve met someone like him. He didn"t even react when he found out we were beastman."
"Yeah. He"s not interested after all. Ahaha."
"Other people would most likely either just despise us or get frightened."
"Yeah…"
Arnold squinted seeing Muir look down.
"Are you still scared of humans?"
"… Yes. But…"
"But?"
"I don"t seem to have any problems with Hiiro…"
"Well, that guy is unusual in a lot of aspects. He might not even be human."
"Ahaha! Then what is he?"
"He"s most likely an evil deity. Or perhaps a demon, a perverse one."
Muir knew that she was in a place full of monsters but she couldn"t help but laugh out loud. Arnold smiled gently while looking at Muir.
"I feel happy when you laugh like that."
"Uncle…"
"You were entrusted to me. I"ll protect you even if I have to lay my life down doing so."
"… No, I"ll get stronger! I want to get stronger!"
"Muir…"
The two stared at each other and then Arnold gently stroked her head. Muir closed her eyes in delight and enjoyed the feeling.
Hiiro opened his eyes slightly, glanced at the two and quietly closed his eyes again.
"Now then, let"s go."
After getting enough rest, Hiiro got up and started walking briskly. Arnold half glared at Hiiro.
"… Well, it"s fine that you"ve recovered. We were waiting for you, you know!"
Muir said that it was bad to wake up Hiiro, who was sleeping so soundly, so everyone waited for Hiiro to wake up before continuing on.
"Fufufu, let"s go!"
Muir urged and Arnold shrugged his shoulders in amazement before setting off. Winka was running around with Winger as usual.
They walked for a while and finally saw the forest exit.
"Ah, finally!"
Arnold unintentionally quickened his pace and came out of the forest. There they saw a ——— flower garden.
"Wow ~!"
Muir was fascinated by the scenery and was left speechless. It was a beautiful sight filled with petals swaying gently with the breeze.
"That"s 【Doggam Garden】!"
"The bear-kin made this garden?"
Hiiro asked and Arnold rucked his chin in.
"Yup, they did. It"s beautiful, isn"t it? It smells amazing, doesn"t it?"
The sweet smell of the flowers was certainly pleasant. He could guess that a variety of delicious honey could be collected from these colourful flowers.
(The honey might be collected from these flowers.)
Hiiro thought. He was excited to see what kind of sweets were made from this honey.
"We"re finally at the bear-kin village 【Doggam】."
Arnold guided them into the flower garden. It was already getting dark.
Translator: Blushy
Hey, I’m not continuing this project but I thought I should finish the chapter cleanly so that whomever wishes to continue this light novel can do so on a fresh chapter. That’s everything from Volume 3, Chapter 2!