Chapter 37 - Volume 4 (1/2)

Chapter 7 : Haulia’s Sudden Change

“Ehehe, uhehehe, kufufufu~”

Having been allowed to accompany them, Shia was happy. With both hands on her cheeks, a loose expression on her face, and that strange laughter she started letting out while twisting her body, it was a shameless appearance. So shameless that her previous seriousness, when confronting Hajime seemed like a lie.

“… … Gross”

Is what Yue muttered because she couldn’t stand it anymore. Shia’s excellent rabbit ears caught that mutter.

“… … Wa-, who is gross! Why would you call me gross? It’s just that I was so happy that it can’t be helped. After all, isn’t this my first time seeing Hajime’s dere side? Didn’t you also see it? His previous expression. Suddenly my chest became ‘kyun'(tightened)~. with this the time when he becomes hopelessly in love with me isn’t that far off~”

Shia was elated and became more caught up in it. Having seen that Shia, Hajime and Yue muttered together in disgust.

“”… … Annoying rabbit””

“W-wa-!? What’s with that, calling me annoying rabbit! Please call me by my name already~, we are travel companions~. Don’t tell me, it’s not like you’re unwilling want to call me by name from the very beginning, right? Right?”

“”… …””

“Why did you become silent? Wait, please don’t look away~. Come on, it’s Shia, Shi-a. Repeat after me, Shi-a”

While Shia desperately tried to make them call her by name, Hajime and Yue only narrowed their eyes and started to discuss their future plans. Then Shia clung to them with teary eyes and said, “Don’t ignore me~, I don’t want to be left out~”. Even after becoming a travel companion, they treated her just as harshly as before.

While someone was making a racket (Shia), several Haulia tribe members appeared from the fog, they returned after clearing Hajime’s challenge; to subdue demonic beasts and return with proof in their hands. When you look closely, one of them was Kam.

Shia was smiling wide, this being the first time she’d seen her family in days. The last time she’d seen them was when she was explaining her feelings to them, before her training started. Even though it was only ten days, every day, it was deadly training. Extraordinary concentrated training at that. Because of that, for Shia, it felt like they hadn’t met each other for months.

Immediately, Shia started talking to her father, Kam. There was a lot to tell. However, right before she said anything, Shia swallowed her words. She noticed a strange atmosphere surrounding Kam and the others.

Kam who saw Shia only revealed a slight smile, immediately his gaze returned to Hajime. And…

“Boss. About the demonic beasts, have we hunted them on time?”

“Bo-boss? Fa-father? Somehow your tone… … rather, your atmosphere was…”

Because of her father’s speech and behaviour, Shia’s puzzled voice could be heard. However, she was ignored while , rustling, Kam and the others pulled out claws of the demonic beasts that could be considered high ranked in the Sea of Trees.

“… … I thought I said one was enough…”

The training graduation challenge by Hajime was to hunt a high ranking demonic beast for each team. However, there were enough parts her for ten demonic beasts. Against Hajime’s question, Kam and the others answered with fearless smiles.

“Yes, that’s what you’ve ordered, right? While we were doing that, its companions came out… … because they impudently turned their killing intent towards us, we just politely welcomed it. Right? Everyone?”

“That’s right, Boss. Those guys were too impudent for demonic beasts”

“We completely defeated them. Without missing even one, right?”

“Even though they were noisy… … their barking voices were good, fufu”

“Well it was good to serve as a warning…”

“Well, we already chopped them to pieces, wasn’t that enough?”

It was a parade of disturbing remarks. All of them, there was no trace of their original peaceful and gentle RabbitMan tribe demeanor. They reported the results of their dangerous combat to Hajime with fearless smiles and glaring eyes.

Stunned, the Shia watching this could only utter a single word,

“… … Who?”

* * *

“Wh-what happened!? Hajime-san! What on earth happened to father and the others!?”

“C-calm down! N-nothing happened… … it was the result of training…”

“Nono, what happened to make them like this!? Aren’t they completely different people?! Wait, please don’t look away! Look at me!”

“… … it’s not like there are any big differences, right?”

“Are your eyes knotholes (ornaments)! Please look at them. A while ago they were charmed just by staring at their knives! Ah, just now, someone called their knife Julia! Normally, isn’t that scary?”

Shia’s angry voice filled with frustration echoed in the Sea of Trees. What on earth had happened? That was what Kam and the others thought while exchanging glances between Hajime and Shia, with confused expressions. They exchanged glances for a while until the other members of the Haulia tribe came back, all of them were… … that is to say… … they look wild. Not only the adult males but also the females, children and even the elderly.

Shia pointed at her family that completely changed, while approaching Hajime with tremendous momentum to urge him for an explanation. Hajime awkwardly averted his gaze while being interrogated by Shia.

Maybe she judged she wouldn’t be able to make any progress, so Shia changed her target to Kam and the others.

“Father! Everyone! What on earth has happened!? It’s as if you’re different people!? From before, you’ve only been saying frightening things… … please come back to your senses!”

Kam who was clung onto by Shia, started to loosen his glaring expression and reverted to his gentle expression. That made Shia a little relieved.

However…

“What are you saying, Shia? We are sane/okay. It’s just that we have awoken to the truth of this world. It’s all thanks to Boss”

“T-the truth? What was that?”

Having a bad feeling about it, Shia asked while her cheeks twitched, and Kam smiled while confidently declaring.

“90% of this world’s problems can be solved with violence”

“It was a different person after all?! My gentle father was already dead~, uwaa~n”

Because of the shock, Shia ran and disappeared into the Sea of Trees while crying. However, before she got into the fog, a small shadow immediately appeared before her and she fell on her butt while “hauu” letting out a miserable voice.

That small shadow was able to keep its balance without falling, then it stretched out its hand towards Shia.

“Th-thank you very much”

“Well, think nothing of it, Shia big sis(anego). It was the natural thing for a man”

“B-big sis (A-anego)?”

What appeared from the fog was a boy from the Haulia tribe that could still be called a child. On his shoulder was a big crossbow while two knives and a slingshot-like weapon were attached to his waist. It was a boy who often displays a nihilistic smile. Shia who was never called “anego” until now looked up, in front of her was the boy that usually called her “Shia-oneechan” so she was puzzled by it.