Chapter 33

“Fumyuu…”

“Oh? You’re finally awake.”

Caliban, who had been immersed in the materials regarding the Veera, raised his face in response to that sound. The Veera had just woken up and was stretching along with a yawn. The onlookers had already vanished, leaving only Caliban and Nonoka around the creature.

The Veera looked around restlessly, looked down slightly, and then, confirming their presence, let out a cry of “Myu-n!” as if giving a greeting.

“Well then, shall we get started, Caliban-kun? A dialogue with a monster… with the future at stake!”

“Believing that our bold decision will save the future! …Wait, what are you making me do, Nonoka-san? It’s not like I’m doing anything that elaborate, okay?”

“I know, I know. Even if it’s a different field, Nonoka has dabbled in magic too!”

Incidentally, Familiar magic was apparently quite a high hurdle among existing magics; even with Nonoka’s intellect, it was something she couldn’t quite grasp. It made a strange kind of sense as to why there was only one mage in the entire country capable of forming Familiar contracts.

Putting that aside, it was time for the ring.

Caliban took out the Resonance Ring and approached the Veera.

“Listen, Veera? I’m going to give you this ring so I can talk with you. I think it’ll fit your arm perfectly, so stay still.”

“Myun!? Myu-n…”

Whether his words were getting through was eternally debatable, but the Veera’s gaze was nailed to the ring. It seemed quite curious—perhaps the object was a novelty, or maybe she just liked shiny things.

“What’s with her? I wonder if the ring is that unusual…”

“I don’t think she’s mistaking it for food, so why don’t you just keep going without worrying about it?”

“True enough. Alright, here goes!”

“Myu… Myun!?”

He lifted the Veera’s left hand and slid the ring on smoothly.

Now, all he had to do was use magic through the Familiar waiting behind him, and the ring would automatically shrink to a size appropriate for the target, making conversation possible—or so it was supposed to be.

“Myu, myuuu~n!! Myuuu~~n!!”

“Whoa!? What, do you hate it!?”

The Veera, her face suddenly turning red, began to struggle in a state of intense agitation.

Since her original body was small, her struggling didn’t amount to much, but rather than appearing to dislike it, she seemed to be flustered without knowing why. Evidence of this was that she made no move to pull her hand out of the ring.

Caliban hesitated; if she was panicking this much, perhaps she had some bad memory regarding rings. Thinking this, he tried to pull the ring off the Veera’s hand, but this time, the Veera reacted by desperately resisting to keep from giving the ring back.

“Myun-myun-myun-myuuuu~n!?”

“Eh!? You don’t want the ring taken off either!?”

“Myuuuu~… Myun!!”

“Dobu-fwa!? The second time today!?”

Taking advantage of his confusion over which one she wanted, Caliban was blasted again by a massive glob of water and easily knocked over backward. Even now, he wondered where that small body stored so much water.

When he sat up, the Veera was looking down at him, apparently offended, with her hands on her hips and her cheeks puffed out. For a moment he thought it was a follow-up water attack, but she seemed to be just puffed up with air.

“Myun! Myu-n! …Myu-n!”

“Ouch, ouch… Eh? What? What’s my reason for taking back a gift I gave once right in front of a lady’s eyes? No, I mean, I thought you hated it…”

“Myuuuu~n!! Myun!!”

“Err… well, you liked it then? My bad for trying to take it back. But return it later, okay? That’s something important.”

“Myuuuuuu~n? Myu-n!”

“T-That’s a bit of a problem. I’ll prepare something else as a replacement, so wouldn’t an exchange be okay?”

To try and embezzle an item more expensive than a wedding ring—she was a far more audacious girl than he had imagined. Though, it didn’t seem she had discovered its monetary value; the details remained unclear.

Thinking he might need help with the persuasion, he looked back to find Nonoka and the Familiar staring at him with wide eyes.

“C-Caliban-kun… when did you form a contract with the Veera!? And you even know its gender!! Veeras are famous for the fact that you can’t distinguish their gender while they’re children!!”

『Me, no magic activated! But conversation established, why!?』

“Eh? Um… huh?”

“Myu-n?”

Caliban and the Veera tilted their heads in unison. Come to think of it, he wondered why he could understand the Veera so well when she was only saying “myun-myun,” and he looked at her. Then, the ring he had just put on glowed faintly, and before he knew it, it had transformed to a size that fit the Veera’s arm perfectly.

That sight meant only one thing.

The simple fact that the magic had already been activated.

“…W-W-W-What theeeeeeeeeee!?”

—Just to explain, the only way to activate the ring’s magic was through a Familiar.

However, Caliban had actually overlooked one thing. And that oversight was deeply related to the fact that the person who taught him the essence of Familiar had left something out, thinking, “There are no monsters other than Orcs in this country, so I can skip this,” but…

“W-W-W-Where did I go wrong!? I mean, what is really going on here!? The Professor said if the magic went well, I’d have the Familiar translate! Huh!? Did I misremember!?”

“Myu-n! Myu-n!”

“Nonoka doesn’t really understand either. But since you’re communicating anyway, isn’t it fine?”

『Result okay! Que sera, sera!』

In the end, the reason why the magic had established between the Veera and Caliban remained unknown as the conversation proceeded.

“Myu-myun, myu-n.”

“I-I see… well, I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Myu-n myu-n, myu-n myu~n♪”

“Sigh… that makes me really want to try eating those at least once.”

“Myuu-n… Myuuu-n. Myuu…”

“……!!”

“Myu-n! Myun-myuu~n!! …Myuu-n.”

“…..And that’s how you got separated from your parents.”

“Myuuu~n! Myun-myun… Myu, myuuu-n!!”

“No, I’m really sorry about that. I’ll make sure to give them a firm talking-to…”

After listening to the Veera’s story and grasping the situation, Caliban turned around and spoke with a somber expression.

“…It’s exactly as I just heard.”

“No, please explain it to us! No matter how I listen, all I get is that Veera-chan was going ‘myun-myun’ while you were nodding to yourself, Caliban-kun!”

『In other words, what’s the deal?! Speak in words even a bird can understand!』

“Ah, right, you two can’t understand… Uh, give me a second!”

Caliban muttered something to himself as if ruminating on the previous conversation, and once he had organized the facts, he began to speak haltingly. He seemed to realize that if he didn’t pull himself together, nothing grand would ever get started.

“Erm, first off, she says her name isn’t ‘Veera.’”

“Well, that’s her species, not her individual name, right?”

“Yes. But she says she isn’t sure if she should tell her name to someone she just met, so she’s reluctant to introduce herself right now. So, I replied that it couldn’t be helped.”

“I see, I see. Nonoka-chan is astonished that such a message was packed into those short sounds…”

Familiar magic that can convey that much from just ‘myu-myun, myu-n’ is amazing, Nonoka thought, while nudging him to continue.

“And then? What else?”

“Well… her home is inside a cave with a hole in the ceiling. It’s a mound made of accumulated soil and dust in a spot where clean spring water flows and the sun shines through. She says the fruit growing there is so delicious that she’s jealous of herself, basically. So, I replied that I’d like to try it once too.”

“I see, I see. Nonoka-chan is trembling at how the conversation has derailed so spectacularly that we still haven’t reached the main point…”

Nonoka wondered if this Veera was actually an incredibly easygoing individual, despite her appearance. Still, the detail about her home having sunlight was important. She decided it wasn’t a waste since a vital piece of information had slipped out.

However, the idle chatter ended there.

“So, the Veeras were living in peace, but one day, enemies came to their home.”

“What kind of enemies?”

“Erm… let’s see… apparently, they were hideous creatures with floppy ears growing from their heads, standing on two legs, green and creepy, with foul eyes and protruding tusks, big flat noses, and intelligence so hopeless you couldn’t expect any dignity from them—monsters so ugly she wanted to ask if they weren’t ashamed to be alive.”

“Wow… Nonoka-chan broke into a cold sweat at that non-stop, scathing verbal abuse… Did she really say all that?”

“…I re-translated it to be much milder and shorter.”

“Nonoka-chan is shocked that the image of Veera’s personality just crumbled miserably before her eyes!?”

『Wait, isn’t that just an Orc?』

Nonoka was shocked by the Veera’s unstoppable sharp tongue, but as the Familiar pointed out, the description of the enemy was incredibly close to an Orc. In fact, on this continent, there was no other creature like that. It seemed she was another member of the unlucky club suffering because of those loathsome beings. “Welcome to the Orc Victims Association,” indeed.

“The Veeras couldn’t drive away the Orcs because they were numerous and physically tough, so they had no choice but to temporarily evacuate using one of the two paths where the spring water flows. But… midway through, an Orc jumped into the water to try and catch a Veera, and in the panic, she ended up escaping down a different path from the others… and while she was rushing forward recklessly, she eventually came out near the river.”

“I see…”

Nonoka was shocked that the damage from the Orc raids reached even a place like that, but based on the story, it seemed the Veera’s colony was still alive and nearby. For now, it was too early to give up on returning her to her parents.

“…And then, because the water was gradually getting dirty from the Orcs’ excrement, the Veera couldn’t turn back. She steeled herself and leapt into the river, got pecked at by fish, chased around by crocodiles, and after a terrible ordeal, she was captured by a Familiar and hauled off to the Knights. That’s the whole story.”

“Myuu~~n!!”

“Th-that was quite an eventful journey, wasn’t it…?”

Faced with the Veera glaring at the Familiar and growling with intense resentment, Nonoka could only manage that cliché response. Are all Veeras like this? The image of a gentle, docile monster was gradually collapsing in Nonoka’s mind.

But wait—hadn’t some extremely important information been popping up?

Mainly regarding the Orcs, which would be closely related to the Knights’ current mission.

“So, wait. Does this mean her home is a hidden territory that can’t be discovered from human settlements, and it’s currently being occupied?”

“That seems to be the case. By the way, the location is definitely in this vicinity.”

“And were the Orcs in a group?”

“Myuuu~n.”

“She says there were a lot of them. She called it a living hell because they were so ugly.”

“…Could it be that the location of the Orc colony the Knights are searching for is actually the Veera-chan’s home? If it’s a place hidden from surrounding eyes, it fits the criteria perfectly, don’t you think?”

A brief silence followed.

Eventually, Caliban’s eyes widened as he finally grasped the implication.

“…Veera-chan’s home is the Orcs’ hideout!?”

“Exactly!! That means carrying out the mission is directly for Veera-chan’s sake! If we can identify the location with her help, it’s a perfect development!”

『A great discovery! A job well done!!』

“Myu? …Myuu~n♪”

The Veera, not quite following why everyone was getting so excited, let out a cheerful cry, sensing the festive mood in the air.

And so, in an unexpected way, the fate of a single monster and the mission of the Knights aligned.

In this world, danger lurks everywhere, but hope lurks just as frequently.