Chapter 44: Hunting Date!
"I will speak! I will speak!" The Ent, hanging upside down, gave up when Weiss
flashed him a glimpse of the flames. Woohoo, Tree Guy. Get fucked.
"What kind of monsters are you searching for?"
"Whatever would have the strongest mana stone."
"Mana stone... you mean the heart of our kind! Don’t call it a ’thing.’"
"Yes, that thing."
The Ent looked at me with deep hatred in its eyes. What? I was just being
honest.
The Ent suddenly chuckled.
"You humans are strong, I must admit. But that strength means nothing in this
forest."
Birds started screeching. The temperature of the forest dropped as the Ent oozed
a strange, dark aura. It was as if impending doom was making its way toward us.
"Huhu... The inhabitants of this forest have numbers on their side—something you
humans can never match."
I turned to my left, and Weiss looked as well.
"Now! Face it!" the annoying Ent screamed. "Face the wrath of all the Ents! We
talk through the roots, you assholes!"
Clouds of dust rose in the sky as dozens and dozens of Ents came running our
way. Their legs moved like critters, and their arms shook like the wings of a
dragonfly! They came rushing at us, their teeth flashing, waiting to sink into
our bodies and tear us apart.
"Graaaah!!" the Ents screamed in unison.
At that very moment, Weiss let out a slight hint of her killing intent.
"Graaah!!" the Ents screamed in unison again as they turned right around and
started running away. With their legs moving like critters and their hands
shaking like the wings of a dragonfly, they ran away precisely like insects
about to be crushed.
Our Ent, hanging upside down, had its jaw hanging slack.
"W-w-what...!" it screamed. "Come back! Come bacckkkk!!"
At this rate, this tree would start crying. I felt really bad for it.
Weiss rested her hand on my shoulder and glared at the tree again. With a pout,
she flicked a finger on her other hand.
A small shot of fire streaked through.
"KIEEE!" the Ent yelled as the fire passed it by.
"Mana stones! Yes! I’ll tell you. There’s a monster!"
Another shot.
"A monster that collects mana stones!"
We both stopped for a second and looked at each other. She leaned in again and
started whispering in my ear.
"No, no... I’ll do just that. Ahem. What kind of monster is this, and where does
it stay?"
"I know about it from other Ents. It’s a terrifying beast. We call it one of the
Four Heavenly Kings of the forest!"
"Hoh...?"
"The monster has the head of a lion, the body of an ogre, and the wings of a
hawk. It’s a terrifying beast with talons and claws that can pierce through
mountains, and it shoots out a ray of pure destruction from its mouth. Hooh...
just speaking of the Heavenly King scares me!"
"You are a scaredy-cat. It makes sense."
The Ent glared at me again. Seriously, I was just being honest.
"It lives in a cave about 300 trees north. You will be able to locate it without
much trouble."
"Nope, you are going to guide us."
Weiss looked at me, thought for a second, then nodded in agreement.
"I? Why must I guide you humans to that beast?"
"Because we don’t want to waste our time. Why does it collect mana stones?"
"We do not know. The Heavenly King is probably strengthening itself? Reel it
back there! Why must I guide you?!"
Weiss dropped the Ent and gestured at it. The Ent glanced between the two of us,
then dejectedly lowered its head and started walking. There, good boy.
Our path toward the cave was actually not that long. On the way, I noticed a
couple of interesting fruits, including a very nice mango tree, which I promptly
knocked some mangoes from.
Weiss and I then just sat on the Ent and enjoyed our fruit. I sliced them up for
her, and she nibbled on them like the princess she pretty much was. Soon, three
hundred or four hundred trees were behind us.
There was no clearing. Just a giant mountainous plateau ahead, and in it, a
cave.
"It’s there."
Weiss and I looked at the cave ahead of us. There was a similar sense of dread
pouring out of it, except a hundred times stronger.
"If I go closer, it will be bad. Please, why don’t you do this?"
The Ent was tearful as it lowered us and asked us to handle this matter
ourselves. And to be fair to the Ent, it did as it was asked.
Before it left, I held it back.
"Thank you for your hard work; I’ll remember this," I said, handing it a gift.
"W-why are you... giving me this mango seed?"
"Dispose of it on your way back."
I could see a tear fall from its eyes, finally. The Ent was crying. It turned
around and started merging with the trees, but it didn’t go too far. It seemed
curious about what we would do as well, which was totally fair.
Now with just Weiss and me within earshot, she started speaking normally again.
"Hey, Butler, you can’t sense mana, can you?"
"Not at all, unfortunately. I can absolutely go in there myself and kill my
presence, but I am not sure how well that would work with beasts."
Unlike humans, animals had what one could call a ’sixth sense,’ no? I didn’t
want to mess with that so much, especially not with animals like these.
"Hm... Let’s go in. If there’s a problem, we’ll handle it."
"Miss Witch." I took a step forward, then stopped. The question ’why’ was on my
mind. Why were we suddenly going out and doing all these things? Why was she
being so proactive?
But the answer was clearly the same for both of us, no?
Our house had been invaded. We couldn’t just sit back after that.
"What?"
There was no reason to ask it. We both knew. With a smile, I said, "You’re
looking very cute."
She lightly tapped my shoulder.
"Not the time."
Her voice seemed slightly happy.
And in we went.
