- Episode 24
"Fine."
"Miawoong? Neju, your fur is fluffy. I was praised by my mother a long time ago. So, hurry up."
Neju hit my chest like a gorilla. Estio was about to refuse one more time, but when he saw Neju's dazzling eyes, he sighed a little. And she rested her head on Neju's fur.
It was definitely softer than the carriage wall.
"thank you."
The white-haired monkey smiled contentedly. Estio, who was quickly growing up and stroking, suddenly met Parker, who was staring blankly at them, and their eyes met.
"Anything to say."
"No, I see it this way."
"......?"
A dark-haired young man holding a cactus flowerpot in one hand and comforting a white-haired monkey in the other. And Parker, who was paying close attention to the two strangely comfortable animals and plants, smiled brightly, hahaha.
"It's kind of like a family, you three!"
Even so, Neju, the yeti, puts even cactus into the category of family and sees Parker grinning at him, and the cactus itself trembles with thorns.
"Mom, what is she… I don't know, I'm scared."
In the end, Estio couldn't escape the role of mother in Ahur's role play until the end.
As night fell and darkness fell as if food had spilled on the road ahead, the wagon could no longer run and stopped in a wide field. There is no need to prepare for camping, just take out a blanket and cover it. Instead of a bonfire, there was a consumable magic ball that had a warming function inside the carriage, which was embedded in the floor of the carriage and glowing softly in orange.
"It's still winter, isn't it cold? Shall we raise the temperature a little more?"
"No, thanks."
"If the chair is uncomfortable, can you give me another blanket to lie on on?"
"No, I'm comfortable enough now."
For Estio, the carriage environment was nothing more than a high-end inn compared to when he slept curled up in a freezing cold attic. But despite repeated refusals, Parker did not tire and continued to try to help him.
"If you're hungry, just tell me. There are many snacks, such as dried fruits, salted sweets, and boiled eggs."
"It's good because you ate dinner so well."
"Oh, there's also a mustard-flavored garlic baguette."
"......"
"It is a new item supplied by the guild headquarters for long-term business trips, and it is very addictive.
If it tastes like mustard, there is no reason why it should be garlic baguette, Estio muttered to himself with his eyes closed. Meanwhile, Parker pulled out an envelope of baguettes, crumbling from the luggage compartment, shredded into knuckle-sized pieces.
Then he began to chew and eat by himself.
"This is mine."
"......? Yes. Enjoy it."
I didn't say anything, but looking at Parker who started to be vigilant on his own, Estio responded with a gloomy response.
"I can give you everything else, but this is what I eat sparingly."
"Fine."
"Just take a look..."
"No. Parker. Whether you eat sweets or bread, I don't really want to taste it, so please don't mind."
Estio expressed his refusal outright. Then Parker, who was paying attention, took out some snacks and started enjoying it. I also took out two more blankets, laid them out, and rolled around comfortably like in my bed.
As Estio, it was enough to have a wall to shelter from the wind and to fill his stomach with one meal.
I couldn't understand the feeling of wanting to eat something particularly delicious, wanting to lie on a softer bed, and being addicted to a particular flavor.
'Oh, I might miss the wave-flavored candy a little.'
It was a taste that paralyzed the tongue, but the taste was not the only sensation the wave-flavored candy brought. Estio did not forget the favor Hawke had bestowed upon him as a superior. It was the 'trust' I received from a human for the first time in my life.
He vaguely thought that when he arrived at headquarters with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders like a cloak, he had to stop by the nearby confectionery store.
Touk, thump, thump!
Suddenly, there was a sound of drums from the ceiling. As Estio gently pulled the curtain that covered the window of the carriage, he could see the rain water that began to flow along the window.
"It's raining."
"Yeah! It's the perfect condition to talk about scary things."
Estio looked out the window with Ahur's excitement and remained silent for a while. Estio, who grew up without friends of the same age, could not understand why the opinion of talking about scary things in such a situation came out.
"Estio! Let's talk about our ghosts!"
"What kind of scary story are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Rain, travel, darkness, success."
"......?"
He quietly closed the curtain again, as he heard the answer and still didn't know why. He didn't know any scary things to tell the cactus anyway.
'The scary thing is people.'
Estio was most afraid of people he could run into wherever he went, rather than monsters or ghosts that were not immediately in front of him.
"Great..."
I looked up at the strange noise that pierced my ears, and this time I saw Parker's stupid face, sleeping with his mouth wide open. He was asleep, hugging the baguette bag tightly like a jar of honey.
The mysterious image formed by the combination of the wonderful wings reminiscent of angels and the purple eyes that cannot be seen in ordinary people has already been blown away while traveling together here. Now, in Estio's head, Parker had been reduced to just an annoying pigeon.
"What. Why is he snoring with his mouth?"
"......"
"Should I say I'm going to shut my mouth because of the noise coming out of my mouth? Ugh. It's too strange to express..."
At first, it was strange that a cactus without eyes, nose and mouth knew what snoring was, but Estio was too bothered to point it out, so he just kept quiet.
"What?"
At that time, Neju, who had been sleeping quietly all day because her body had not yet fully recovered, opened her eyes.
krr.
The red eyes blinked a few times to drive away the sleep, and then they flashed wildly. Estio, who looked at Neju who was growling with her fangs exposed, put the blanket aside and asked.
"Neju, what's wrong?"
"Something is swarming near the carriage."
「? Isn't that a monster?"
Ahur suddenly intervened, but unfortunately Neju did not have the talent to read the cactus's thoughts. The white-haired monkey raised his fur and continued his clumsy explanation.
"It's not a human, it's not an ordinary animal. I feel a very bad energy. And."
Neju growled and took a breath, then opened her mouth again.
"I think he's trying to kill us."
"Monsters are beings that deviate from the normal rules of the wild. They are created because they are living things. They may be similar to normal animals and plants, but they are fundamentally different from birth. He is strong-willed and has a good memory, so he knows how to analyze opponents. Looking at it like that, it seems like he has quite a bit of intelligence... huh, wait."
Ahur shook off his thorns rather than confidently explaining.
"As I said, isn't this completely my story? I was a monster! Damn it!"
The cactus, who suddenly realized her identity, was frustrated with thick swearing. Estio awkwardly stroked Ahur, who was trembling with thorns in her grief.
"Estio is here. Neju will go out and see."
"sleep......."
Wow!
Leaving behind the unfinished word 'Wait', Neju smashed the door open and ran out. Estio sighed quietly as he stretched his hand toward the ragged carriage door.
"Heh chuu!"
Parker woke up to a loud sneeze as rain and wind blew into the carriage. He sniffed his runny nose and, like a caterpillar, laid the blanket on him and glanced at Estio and the open wagon door.
"Hey, Estio-nim. Why did you leave the door open when it's raining?"
"It looks like there is an attack."
"Yes? A raid?"
"Once my party went out and looked, the door seems to have been broken in the process. I'm sorry."
"Yeah...?"
Parker was awake and blinked his blank eyes. Meanwhile, the driver, who was resting on the driver's seat, hurriedly ran and grabbed the open door and shouted.
"Emergency! A horde of hungry monsters has appeared and the area around the wagon is now completely surrounded."
Parker asked urgently with a pale complexion.
"A siege? How big is the opponent? Can you escape?"
"Well, that's... They are Harpuas with advanced combat abilities."
Harpuia, a flying monster known to have a bird's head and human legs. They move mainly in groups like migratory birds, and they move very quickly because they have wings. Unlike the Joining tribe, they were classified as very wild and dangerous monsters.
"If it was Harpua, it would not be a race that would be in this season yet because it likes warm weather. Why did it appear in a place like this?"
"I don't know that either. Estio-sama's Yeti comrades are in a close battle right now, but even if they try to escape through the siege, they're faster than words, so it'll be hard to get rid of them."
Parker's complexion, not a combat-type superpower, darkened at once.
There was no way the guild would have hired an escort to summon guild members. The only attendants given out by headquarters were the coachman and the deliveryman Parker.
"Then what should I do?"
"It's probably hard to run away, so the guild members have to come out and give it to you."
"I, I'm a deliveryman. I don't have combat skills!"
Parker turned blue and flapped his wings. Estio stood up, watching his white feathers brush his cheeks and fall.
"Neju is fighting alone. I'm going to help."
"Estio-sama isn't even a combat-type person, is he?"
"Yes. I have no intention of fighting them."
Estio responded with a low-pitched voice and left the carriage door.
'Cold eyes.'
It was Parker, who came to me with half fear and half anticipation when he first received a mission from headquarters, when he heard about the ability to read minds. However, the Estio he met in person was different from his expectations. He was just an ordinary person. Because he could read people's minds, he didn't flirt or be sly.
He was a 19-year-old young man with gentle eyes like a sheep, who was small and skinny, taking care of his sick colleagues and not talking more than necessary.
But the eyes I just showed you were a little different. Parker, who can read the atmosphere of people sensitively, felt a chill that made his spine shiver from his dark blue eyes.
'What do you mean you don't want to fight? Does that mean you can win without fighting? or not.'
Is it supposed to be food for the harpuas along with the yeti? Parker, who was crazy about it, hurriedly followed him. Birds chirping echoed from all directions. Parker panicked and flew to Estio, who was ahead.
"Estio."
"......"
"It's not something you'll be fighting blindly. Harpua is a swarm race. Besides, it's a wild beast. It's different from a foolish joiner like me."
"all. There seems to be a perception that you are foolish."
No matter how much he chimed in, Estio's steps did not stop. Ahurman could only marvel at the plant language that Parker could not hear. Parker looked up anxiously at the swarm of harpuas flying frantically through the sky, and then continued.
"Listen! They don't end with just one or two kills. Unless you kill them at all, they run away...!"
Parker, who was passionately trying to understand the situation, suddenly felt the wind blowing through the feathers and lifted his head. An ominous premonition is always right. The Harpuas, who had been focusing on Neju running rampant in front of the carriage, had finally found the two of them. Parker, whose eyesight is five times better than that of a normal human, met one such harpua head-on. Its large, shiny eyes gleamed with hideous flesh.
- Episode 24
"Fine."
"Miawoong? Neju, your fur is fluffy. I was praised by my mother a long time ago. So, hurry up."
Neju hit my chest like a gorilla. Estio was about to refuse one more time, but when he saw Neju's dazzling eyes, he sighed a little. And she rested her head on Neju's fur.
It was definitely softer than the carriage wall.
"thank you."
The white-haired monkey smiled contentedly. Estio, who was quickly growing up and stroking, suddenly met Parker, who was staring blankly at them, and their eyes met.
"Anything to say."
"No, I see it this way."
"......?"
A dark-haired young man holding a cactus flowerpot in one hand and comforting a white-haired monkey in the other. And Parker, who was paying close attention to the two strangely comfortable animals and plants, smiled brightly, hahaha.
"It's kind of like a family, you three!"
Even so, Neju, the yeti, puts even cactus into the category of family and sees Parker grinning at him, and the cactus itself trembles with thorns.
"Mom, what is she… I don't know, I'm scared."
In the end, Estio couldn't escape the role of mother in Ahur's role play until the end.
As night fell and darkness fell as if food had spilled on the road ahead, the wagon could no longer run and stopped in a wide field. There is no need to prepare for camping, just take out a blanket and cover it. Instead of a bonfire, there was a consumable magic ball that had a warming function inside the carriage, which was embedded in the floor of the carriage and glowing softly in orange.
"It's still winter, isn't it cold? Shall we raise the temperature a little more?"
"No, thanks."
"If the chair is uncomfortable, can you give me another blanket to lie on on?"
"No, I'm comfortable enough now."
For Estio, the carriage environment was nothing more than a high-end inn compared to when he slept curled up in a freezing cold attic. But despite repeated refusals, Parker did not tire and continued to try to help him.
"If you're hungry, just tell me. There are many snacks, such as dried fruits, salted sweets, and boiled eggs."
"It's good because you ate dinner so well."
"Oh, there's also a mustard-flavored garlic baguette."
"......"
"It is a new item supplied by the guild headquarters for long-term business trips, and it is very addictive.
If it tastes like mustard, there is no reason why it should be garlic baguette, Estio muttered to himself with his eyes closed. Meanwhile, Parker pulled out an envelope of baguettes, crumbling from the luggage compartment, shredded into knuckle-sized pieces.
Then he began to chew and eat by himself.
"This is mine."
"......? Yes. Enjoy it."
I didn't say anything, but looking at Parker who started to be vigilant on his own, Estio responded with a gloomy response.
"I can give you everything else, but this is what I eat sparingly."
"Fine."
"Just take a look..."
"No. Parker. Whether you eat sweets or bread, I don't really want to taste it, so please don't mind."
Estio expressed his refusal outright. Then Parker, who was paying attention, took out some snacks and started enjoying it. I also took out two more blankets, laid them out, and rolled around comfortably like in my bed.
As Estio, it was enough to have a wall to shelter from the wind and to fill his stomach with one meal.
I couldn't understand the feeling of wanting to eat something particularly delicious, wanting to lie on a softer bed, and being addicted to a particular flavor.
'Oh, I might miss the wave-flavored candy a little.'
It was a taste that paralyzed the tongue, but the taste was not the only sensation the wave-flavored candy brought. Estio did not forget the favor Hawke had bestowed upon him as a superior. It was the 'trust' I received from a human for the first time in my life.
He vaguely thought that when he arrived at headquarters with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders like a cloak, he had to stop by the nearby confectionery store.
Touk, thump, thump!
Suddenly, there was a sound of drums from the ceiling. As Estio gently pulled the curtain that covered the window of the carriage, he could see the rain water that began to flow along the window.
"It's raining."
"Yeah! It's the perfect condition to talk about scary things."
Estio looked out the window with Ahur's excitement and remained silent for a while. Estio, who grew up without friends of the same age, could not understand why the opinion of talking about scary things in such a situation came out.
"Estio! Let's talk about our ghosts!"
"What kind of scary story are you talking about all of a sudden?"
"Rain, travel, darkness, success."
"......?"
He quietly closed the curtain again, as he heard the answer and still didn't know why. He didn't know any scary things to tell the cactus anyway.
'The scary thing is people.'
Estio was most afraid of people he could run into wherever he went, rather than monsters or ghosts that were not immediately in front of him.
"Great..."
I looked up at the strange noise that pierced my ears, and this time I saw Parker's stupid face, sleeping with his mouth wide open. He was asleep, hugging the baguette bag tightly like a jar of honey.
The mysterious image formed by the combination of the wonderful wings reminiscent of angels and the purple eyes that cannot be seen in ordinary people has already been blown away while traveling together here. Now, in Estio's head, Parker had been reduced to just an annoying pigeon.
"What. Why is he snoring with his mouth?"
"......"
"Should I say I'm going to shut my mouth because of the noise coming out of my mouth? Ugh. It's too strange to express..."
At first, it was strange that a cactus without eyes, nose and mouth knew what snoring was, but Estio was too bothered to point it out, so he just kept quiet.
"What?"
At that time, Neju, who had been sleeping quietly all day because her body had not yet fully recovered, opened her eyes.
krr.
The red eyes blinked a few times to drive away the sleep, and then they flashed wildly. Estio, who looked at Neju who was growling with her fangs exposed, put the blanket aside and asked.
"Neju, what's wrong?"
"Something is swarming near the carriage."
「? Isn't that a monster?"
Ahur suddenly intervened, but unfortunately Neju did not have the talent to read the cactus's thoughts. The white-haired monkey raised his fur and continued his clumsy explanation.
"It's not a human, it's not an ordinary animal. I feel a very bad energy. And."
Neju growled and took a breath, then opened her mouth again.
"I think he's trying to kill us."
"Monsters are beings that deviate from the normal rules of the wild. They are created because they are living things. They may be similar to normal animals and plants, but they are fundamentally different from birth. He is strong-willed and has a good memory, so he knows how to analyze opponents. Looking at it like that, it seems like he has quite a bit of intelligence... huh, wait."
Ahur shook off his thorns rather than confidently explaining.
"As I said, isn't this completely my story? I was a monster! Damn it!"
The cactus, who suddenly realized her identity, was frustrated with thick swearing. Estio awkwardly stroked Ahur, who was trembling with thorns in her grief.
"Estio is here. Neju will go out and see."
"sleep......."
Wow!
Leaving behind the unfinished word 'Wait', Neju smashed the door open and ran out. Estio sighed quietly as he stretched his hand toward the ragged carriage door.
"Heh chuu!"
Parker woke up to a loud sneeze as rain and wind blew into the carriage. He sniffed his runny nose and, like a caterpillar, laid the blanket on him and glanced at Estio and the open wagon door.
"Hey, Estio-nim. Why did you leave the door open when it's raining?"
"It looks like there is an attack."
"Yes? A raid?"
"Once my party went out and looked, the door seems to have been broken in the process. I'm sorry."
"Yeah...?"
Parker was awake and blinked his blank eyes. Meanwhile, the driver, who was resting on the driver's seat, hurriedly ran and grabbed the open door and shouted.
"Emergency! A horde of hungry monsters has appeared and the area around the wagon is now completely surrounded."
Parker asked urgently with a pale complexion.
"A siege? How big is the opponent? Can you escape?"
"Well, that's... They are Harpuas with advanced combat abilities."
Harpuia, a flying monster known to have a bird's head and human legs. They move mainly in groups like migratory birds, and they move very quickly because they have wings. Unlike the Joining tribe, they were classified as very wild and dangerous monsters.
"If it was Harpua, it would not be a race that would be in this season yet because it likes warm weather. Why did it appear in a place like this?"
"I don't know that either. Estio-sama's Yeti comrades are in a close battle right now, but even if they try to escape through the siege, they're faster than words, so it'll be hard to get rid of them."
Parker's complexion, not a combat-type superpower, darkened at once.
There was no way the guild would have hired an escort to summon guild members. The only attendants given out by headquarters were the coachman and the deliveryman Parker.
"Then what should I do?"
"It's probably hard to run away, so the guild members have to come out and give it to you."
"I, I'm a deliveryman. I don't have combat skills!"
Parker turned blue and flapped his wings. Estio stood up, watching his white feathers brush his cheeks and fall.
"Neju is fighting alone. I'm going to help."
"Estio-sama isn't even a combat-type person, is he?"
"Yes. I have no intention of fighting them."
Estio responded with a low-pitched voice and left the carriage door.
'Cold eyes.'
It was Parker, who came to me with half fear and half anticipation when he first received a mission from headquarters, when he heard about the ability to read minds. However, the Estio he met in person was different from his expectations. He was just an ordinary person. Because he could read people's minds, he didn't flirt or be sly.
He was a 19-year-old young man with gentle eyes like a sheep, who was small and skinny, taking care of his sick colleagues and not talking more than necessary.
But the eyes I just showed you were a little different. Parker, who can read the atmosphere of people sensitively, felt a chill that made his spine shiver from his dark blue eyes.
'What do you mean you don't want to fight? Does that mean you can win without fighting? or not.'
Is it supposed to be food for the harpuas along with the yeti? Parker, who was crazy about it, hurriedly followed him. Birds chirping echoed from all directions. Parker panicked and flew to Estio, who was ahead.
"Estio."
"......"
"It's not something you'll be fighting blindly. Harpua is a swarm race. Besides, it's a wild beast. It's different from a foolish joiner like me."
"all. There seems to be a perception that you are foolish."
No matter how much he chimed in, Estio's steps did not stop. Ahurman could only marvel at the plant language that Parker could not hear. Parker looked up anxiously at the swarm of harpuas flying frantically through the sky, and then continued.
"Listen! They don't end with just one or two kills. Unless you kill them at all, they run away...!"
Parker, who was passionately trying to understand the situation, suddenly felt the wind blowing through the feathers and lifted his head. An ominous premonition is always right. The Harpuas, who had been focusing on Neju running rampant in front of the carriage, had finally found the two of them. Parker, whose eyesight is five times better than that of a normal human, met one such harpua head-on. Its large, shiny eyes gleamed with hideous flesh.
