Chapter 31: Dark Elf
When we rushed to that place, that dark elf lady was brandishing her dagger while protecting the beastman little girl behind her. Her injury seems pretty serious, making her unable to run away.
The monsters that attacked them are mantis as tall as a person, as well as beetles the size of a cow.
Killer Mantis：Level 23
Iron Beetle：Level 24
Quite the powerful enemies if I had to say. Amyl proceeds to stab the beetle. The mantis recognize the new reinforcements that arrived, it stopped its attack on the girls and swung down its huge sickle towards Amyl instead. Clanging sounds was heard the moment it clashed with the sword, and it tried to used its other sickle towards him. However Lelena throws her morning star to repel the sickle, breaking the mantis’s posture. An arrow from Claire then fly right between its eyes.
Although the mantis that was derived from its vision starts rampaging while blindly swinging its sickles, Amyl’s sword managed to slip through and beheaded the mantis.
The beetle faced me as it recognize me as the enemy, and pushed the ground with its 6 feet rushing here intensely. Although it managed to cut me while I’m dodging, it’s just shallow wounds(T.N: tis but a scratch). As it’s a beetle made of iron, among the enemies that I fought before that has high defense, this guy’s defense is twice over it.
I aim for the gap in the joint at the foot, neck and body. The body is big, but it should not be all that different from the normal beetle. The beetle that had been pushed to the limit charged again, this time with enough power to crush the wall of the dungeon with its horn.
I jump on its back in a hurry, and stabbed the struggling beetle deeply in the neck. I don’t know whether it didn’t scream or it didn’t have an organ for voice, but the beetle began to acts violently. I grab hold of my sword so as not to be shaken off, strengthening my image.
“Eat this!”
Flame gushed out from the tip of my sword at the same time as I shout. The flame overflowed from the gap in the beetle as its whole body engulfed in flame. I’m doing the same thing that I did to the baby dragon. Enemy with hard skin can be destroyed from the inside. Although I did it without any practice, the magic came out well which saved me.
When I confirmed that the enemy no longer move, I faced towards the girl.
“You okay?”
“…you’re doing something unnecessary. I didn’t ask for you help.”
Eh? Although I don’t expect her to come jumping at me while being impressed, this is a completely unexpected reaction. Are you being cautious of us? The beastman little girl is also hiding behind the dark elf’s back. Although she sometimes took a peek at us, she immediately hides back when our eyes match.
“Well, calm down for the time being. We did not help you with bad intentions. First of all let’s treat those wounds. Does that small kid hungry? Onii-chan here has some delicious thing.”
[T.N: Yeah, that last line is NOT criminal-like at all…]
Although it’s a line that would usually get me reported in j.a.pan, I don’t have any guilty feelings. I won’t get executed here even if I think of wanting to hold the little girl in my arm and pet her. Since she judged that we’re not hostile, the dark elf unwillingly accepted the treatment.
[T.N: Welcome to the dark side, MC]
While the dark elf got healed by Lelena, I decided to take out some portable food from the bag and give it to the little girl. Although she looks puzzled at first, she carried it to her mouth when the dark elf nods, and gradually starts eating hungrily. Those huge men doesn’t seem to give them proper meal.
“Since there’s a lot of food, you don’t have to rush and eat slowly.”
I give the water bag to the little who’s squeezing her throat and rolling her eyes in bewilderment. Once she get full, the little girl laughs with a smile, and bow to me.”
“Th-thank you, onii-chan”
…Ah!? My mind seems to have momentarily flown somewhere. What an extremely lovely child! Moreover, with that ear she looks like the j.a.panese Shiba Inu. Is she the beastman of the dog tribe? I remember the dog that I kept before. That guy also had this ovely charm.
[T.N: Shiba Inu is basically the breed of what you call that doge. Much wow, such lovely, very charm.]
When I heard the circ.u.mstances from the dark elf, it seems to be roughly the same as what Amyl said.
Although the dark elf used to work as a soldier, the nation that she served for got defeated in the war and she got dropped into slavery. When she was brought to the capital city as a commodity, she met the beastman little girl, who without any relatives was shaking miserably. It seems that she had grown fond of that little girl while taking care of her.
Although those huge men bought the dark elf as a shield, they became irritated as she does not obey orders and was going to return her to the slave dealer. However, instead the slave dealer gives them the little girl who got no buyer to use her as a hostage to make the dark elf follow orders. She’s okay if she herself got tortured, but since she can’t bear to see the little girl that she had taken care of all this time got harmed, thus the reason she had reluctantly agreed to fight.
“As soon as the found out that my magic doesn’t work, they quickly run away. They’re only admirable at their speed of running away.”
The dark elf said that with sarcasm after having finished with her treatment and meal. Its no wonder that she would get angry. Even me who only heard that story feel angry. Still, she can use magic? That is something necessary to fight against the monsters.
[T.N: Not sure if that last line is 100% correct. Raw: 通りであの魔物相手に持ちこたえていたはずだ。]
“So what will you do from now on? Wanna come with us if you have nowhere to go? After we achieved our purpose it’s even possible for you to be freed from slavery.”
“Don’t say that so easily. To begin with the ownership of us still remains with those men. It’s impossible to follow you.”
“If that is the case you don’t have to worry about that.”
Actually I already seen the situation of those men that I had kicked on the map. Awhile after we head here to help, those guys had woke up and began to move slowly. However, there’s reactions of new monsters appearing nearby, and then the reaction from those men disappear. Its likely that they’ve got done in. Originally the monsters in this place has higher level than those men, not to mention after receiving a kick from me, there’s no way they’re going to be okay. Guilty feeling? There’s none. It’s only natural for those trash who uses children as a shield to receive that kind of punishment.
When I told them this, after think about it a little, the dark elf decided to join us.
“I already owe you my life after saving us. Not to mention that I don’t have the confidence to protect this child if it’s just me. Therefore, please allow me to accompany you.”
“Yeah. Welcome aboard. My name is Est. From this side is Claire, Amyl, and Lelena.”
“My name is Diabell. As you can see, I’m a dark elf. This child is Shally, a beastman of the dog tribe.”
[T.N: the raw said “シャリー”(Sharii). Hit me with better one if you got any.]
As our number of companions increased, I guess the tension will rise a little?