[Still Jean's POV?]
… Only four of us traveled in the horseless wagon.
Randall's empty gaze stayed on the horizon, while Hiyoshin enthusiastically munched on a cooked wolf's leg.
Meanwhile, Natasha, our guide, focused on creating magic circles. Her nonchalant mood contrasted greatly with Randall's.
'... I have to admit, she's not that bad with magic.'
She may not be a dragon, but she's doing fairly well, considering how elves are far slower when it comes to learning anything.
'Then again, that is a reason why they do live for a couple hundreds of years.'
Her head turned, and our eyes met. "Is there an issue?"
"No, not really," I voiced, causing her to return to practicing.
… Strangely enough, Randall hasn't shown much of a reaction to this, or anything that happened in the past few hours.
'Maybe it's because of the demons' sudden deaths overnight?'
We both were asleep at the time, so that might be the reason. 'It has to be. Considering his insistence on not killing anyone who isn't a monster…'
"... I think thwre wre few munstrs nerby." Sounds of chewing muddled Hiyoshin's otherwise coherent muttering. "This leg's tasty."
That part was clear enough, though.
Randall's eyes snapped open. "Where?"
Her free hand pointed towards a forest's edge. Gorillas swarmed out of that tree pit, discarding bits of gray and brown fur everywhere.
My hand slid towards my chin. 'Maybe they have a minor affinity towards the Earth element...'
"Nat, stop fueling the wagon. I'll go get rid of them."
Golden-glowing threads almost formed a magic circle, but Hiyoshin's words interrupted my motion. "No need, Randall already left."
"Eh?" I looked by my side, and sure enough... He was gone.
I only spotted him after frantically looking around the wagon. Slow and cold footsteps led him closer to the three-beast pack.
In comparison to the gorillas, an eerie sense of calmness grounded the ambient surrounding him.
"... Nevermind Nat, focus on keeping the wagon moving."
A big sledgehammer quickly appeared on his hand. Its thick, uniform head crashed down on the dirt, whereas a single, white hand grasped the weapon's handle.
The dragged weapon left behind a straight trail of ground, on top of that left by his footsteps.
Step. Step. Step.
The leading beast finally came in close range with Randall. It jumped, planning to land an aerial downwards slam.
One single swing was all it took for the gorilla to meet the hammer's head, stopping the opening strike fully.
Then, Randall swung down the hammer.
... A minor tremoring shook my ears.
The two remaining gorillas stared at the small crater where the deceased one laid, now headless. Fear froze their bodies in place.
Panic was quick to replace that feeling. As soon as Randall dashed out of the knee-deep crater, they tried to run away.
I spared a glance in Natasha's direction. Fortunately, she was too occupied maintaining her focus.
'We're probably goo-'
A medium-sized cloud of dust sprung forth from the gorillas' former spot. And with that, came the earth's reverberations. This time, both girls noticed.
Hiyoshin stared at the cloud, frozen momentarily. Then, she took one last bite off the cooked wolf's leg, finally finishing the snack.
The golden circle in Natasha's control broke. "... What just happened over there?"
"... I guess Randall just killed our pursuers."
"I can see that, quite clearly."
As I opened my mouth to speak again, Hiyoshin got off the wagon and jogged towards the closest crater. Randall emerged from the dirt cloud, weapon-less.
Hiyoshin soon arrived at the crater and uh... Did her thing.
I'll have to get used to this at some point.
"... Nat, I'll be back in a minute." I rushed towards the panda-woman.
Randall arrived while I was mid-way through, but my ears still picked up on their words.
"Thanks... Randall."
He only stared at her for a rather long while. I struggled to find out anything when looking at his body, or attitude.
"Hiyoshin."
A frigid, tense atmosphere constricted our bodies. Suppressing even our breathing… With sheer fear alone.
"Have you ever devoured a person?"
".... N-n-no."
Her reply took a while to appear.
".... Good. Keep it that way."
After muttering such words, he got on the wagon, and lied against one of the larger boxes. Right after, he closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
It took ten seconds or so for the ambient to go back to normal. For the most part.
Hiyoshin looked at him, somewhat afraid.
It was the first time he ever addressed her by her actual name. And somehow, I have the feeling we'll prefer her nickname from now on.
…
A few hours later, the sun had settled down.
We had our dinner a few minutes ago, so we're preparing for the night, under the watchful light of the moon.
During our trip towards Edelchia, we had to prepare night shifts and search for a safe spot, severely harming our travel time.
And bringing a conventional wagon wasn't a good idea, due to the nature of our mission. Which made itself apparent when we arrived.
But now? We have the "Mana Wagon", so we can just sleep here.
Of course, someone has to keep watch.
"I will, you three should rest up," vocalized Randall.
"Got it. By the way, Randall… If you don't mind me asking, would you be interested in coming back here again?" inquired Natasha, while eyeing him.
'Oh no, you're not snatching him away.'
Before I could jump at her, Randall gave her an answer.
"Would they be able to come?"
"Uh…"
"That's a no, then."
For the first time, she panicked, and attempted to negotiate with him.
"Say, Natasha, would you be interested in deserting the Elven army in order to come with us?"
That stopped her dead in her tracks.
"No."
He smirked.
Great. You're not poaching him away.
"Still, you'd have made a good addition to the team," he also commented.
"... I wouldn't mind teaming up with you three again, though."
Eh?
"I'd never serve under Fegendale's banner, due to the stance they have in regards to the monster hybrids as a whole..."
Hearing that, Hiyoshin looked away.
"But teaming up with you is no big deal. You two are skilled fighters. As for Gray, she surprisingly has some redeemable qualities."
'… what did I just hear?'
I didn't think I'd get to hear an elf praising a beastwoman in my lifetime, yet here I am. Hearing exactly that.
"Of course she does, I picked her," stated Randall, absolutely confident in his words.
"Pfft."
That almost made even Hiyo laugh.
"As humble as always." I couldn't keep the comment in, let alone the smaller chuckles.
"I'm always humble, Jean."
"I can tell…"
… Unknowingly, we ended up spending a rather long time talking like this.
I'm not sure about the exact amount, but… It was quite fun. Hiyoshin let herself loose, whereas Natasha and Randall acted a notch less rigidly.
We did end up taking notice of the time, though. And when that happened, we decided to sleep through whatever remained of the night.
Except for Randall, that is.