Chapter 24 (1/2)

Volume 1

CH 1

「Onward to Raratoia」part 1

A group was moving through a forest filled with tall and thick-trunked trees, trying not to stumble on the roots covered with moss .

The sky in the east had already started to brighten and little patches of sunlight were seeping through the foliage .

I was carrying three sacks filled with gold coins over my shoulder, and a “clang clang” sound was mixed in with the whispers of the tree leaves .

We were in the center of Canada forest, the home of the elves .

In this world that I was dropped into, I was given the form of my game character, and as I went about in a dizzy I somehow wound up helping the elves in their mission .

Yet, I had not even an ounce of regret for my actions . It’s only natural for a Japanese person to want to help the disadvantaged elves and beastmen in this world .

Probably .

The elven woman walking in front of me was a rare dark elf . She had smooth lilac skin, long white hair, and her ears were shorter than those of normal elves . Her tall frame was wrapped in a leather corset over somber clothes and her limbs overflowed with enough sex appeal to attract the eyes of any man .

Her name was Ariane Glenys Maple . She was one of Maple’s warriors, which was the capital of Canada . A thin sword hung at her waist, and she also possessed strong spirit magic .

Her chest bounced up and down with every step, her buttocks bobbed with every movement, and I had a perfect view from behind… but all of a sudden she stopped and focused her brilliant golden eyes on me .

Somehow, she seemed to have noticed my stare────

Like I said, the body I got when I came to this world was the same one from the game I had been playing .

My whole body was covered in detailed, white, full-body armor that wouldn’t be unusual for a mythical knight to wear .

A pitch-black mantle fluttered in the wind and the inside of the mantle looked like a starry night sky .

On my back, I carried a large, heavily engraved round shield and a two-handed sword that emitted a divine aura .

However, inside this suit of armor was only the body of a skeleton .

Therefore, this body had no eyes . Only the pale blue light of the dead existed in my eye sockets .

For her to still be able to sense my stare, the senses of a woman were  truly frightening .

While thinking about such things, the voice of two other women was heard from behind .

“I’ve used too much mana . I won’t be able to use spirit magic for a while, would you happen to have a weapon I could borrow?”

“I’m tired〜 . I need to take a rest somewhere……”

The two women were covered in a gray and black cloak respectively and were bringing up the rear . They had straight blonde hair with a greenish tint, and the characteristic long ears peeped out between the strands . One’s skin was opposite of the dark elf Ariane’s pale complexion, her name was Senna and she had an overall slender figure and sharp eyes .

The other one had a tender expression that Senna lacked and short cut hair . Her name was Oona .

A short while ago, both of these elven women had been the prisoners of Diento’s feudal lord . Because the two barely had any clothing on, Ariane and I had given them our cloaks so they could cover themselves .

We got a heap of gold coins from the castle of Diento’s lord, and I was carrying all three bags worth of it over my shoulder . Since I had my hands full, the two of them were on guard for the monsters that roamed the forest .

“We’ll reach the river Rydell soon . Once we reach the riverbank we’ll take a break . Afterwards, our destination will be only a little farther upstream . ”

When Ariane turned around to inform us, I was able to see the tall cliff which overlooked the riverbed that I had passed by before .

As the wide river came into view, the tree line receded and the surroundings became brighter .

The daylight had was getting stronger, with the morning sun illuminating the forest, and the level of sunlight that penetrated the foliage was gradually increasing .

I lowered the sacks of gold coins on a suitable rock while the other three had found their own places to sit and rest .

It truly was a pleasant place .

The wind blow across the bank of the river and caused leaves to rustle . Mixed in were the cheeping of birds and the occasional cry of a monster; in this place, we calmly spent our time .

Ponta, who had been on my head until now, jumped down to get a drink of water before she soaked her forepaws in the water and started playing around .

Ponta was a fox-like animal that was about 60cm in length . Though she had the face of a fox, her tail made up half of her body and was the same shape of a cotton ball . However, the form of her legs gave her the impression of a giant flying squirrel . Her soft fur was light green on her back and pure white on her underbelly .

According to the elves, she was a rare animal called a spirit beast and was commonly called a fluffy fox . It was apparently rare for a spirit beast to take to a person, though I seemed to have tamed Ponta smoothly by feeding her, even if that was questionable at best .

When I turned my attention upstream to the riverbank where Ponta was playing, I noticed some huge dragonflies nearby . They were almost two meters long and hovered above the water surface with their tails sticking into the water .

Occasionally, one of the huge dragonflies would raise their tail out of the water with a fish attached and skillfully hold the fish in the air as it began to feast upon it .

“Those are dragonfly . They won’t attack unless you approach them during the breeding season . ”

When she noticed me staring, Ariane explained the nature of the huge dragonflies to me . They only attacked in the breeding season, but……

This thick forest seems to have a variety of monsters living in it . In fact, we frequently encountered monsters when we were making our way here .

The three of them repelled them without much difficulty, but Senna seems to have used a considerable amount of mana along the way .

“Senna, use my sword for now own . I still have enough mana left . ”

Since Ariane notice that Senna was running low on mana, she took the sword from her waist and handed it to her .

I was looking at this when I remembered something; I hauled one of the sacks filled with gold coins in front of me and rummaged through it . Buried between the gold coins was a single sword .

It was something I found when we infiltrated the feudal lord’s castle to save Senna and Oona . The sword was a masterpiece-grade item, the handle was garnished with the head of a lion that had deep red jewels in place of eyes . The eponymous  『Sword of the Lion King』 .