CHAPTER 9

Jolly Piper

Glowstones dimly illuminate the long staircase as we climb toward the outside world. But when the floorboard to the old house finally comes into view, Seiya suddenly stops and places his left hand on the dirt wall.

“Hmm? What are you doing?”

A massive cavern thereupon appears behind the wall without even making a sound! I stand back in shock, but Seiya steps inside.

“S-Seiya?! Wait!”

I shortly follow after him. Seiya illuminates the cavern using a glowstone from the item pouch. It’s a very mysterious enclosure. Although the narrow cavity can hardly fit us, a new cavern forms whenever Seiya approaches a wall. Moreover, whenever we continue down a new path, the way we came closes off and disappears. It feels more like the space is moving for us, rather than us digging holes and moving the dirt ourselves.

“This is amazing! Is this earth magic?”

In a lowered voice, Seiya explains:

“Cave Along. It’s essentially a mobile cavern that allows you to freely walk through soil.”

He then slows down his pace.

“We’re currently around one meter underground outside the shack.”

Right when I’m about to ask him why he randomly decided to use this move, he suddenly stops in his tracks and silently shakes his head. From there, he points up. I gaze at the earthen ceiling faintly illuminated by the glowstone and hear a muffled voice.

“Is the Hero really gonna come out of this shack?”

“Yeah. We’ve been getting eyewitness reports of humans disappearing near this place for a while now.”

I don’t even have to think about it. It’s beastkin talking. We listen carefully with bated breath.

“But they already thoroughly searched it and didn’t find any humans, right?”

“According to Bunogeos, there’s a human who can use earth magic, and a few humans are hiding deep underground. The entrance apparently only opens when a human’s nearby.”

“And that’s where the Hero is, too?”

“We’ve already checked everywhere on the surface. It’s the only place left.”

The beastkin lets out a vile chuckle.

“I can’t wait to rip him in half!”

“Yeah, let’s kill us a Hero!”

After listening to their conversation, Seiya stealthily moves forward without saying a word. We walk for a short while until he looks back at me and silently nods. It seems it’s okay to talk now.

“S-Seiya! They’re looking for us!”

“It’s no surprise. We ran away in the middle of battle, so no doubt Bunogeos is fuming. It makes sense he would be doing everything he can to find us.”

“But it sounded like they were talking about Eich’s earth magic and how the entrance to the settlement works…”

“And…?”

“And it means they’ve already marked the deserted house, so we can’t use it to go back anymore!”

“I expected this to happen. That’s why I bought the food and glowstones.”

“What?! So we’re going to live in caves you make from now on?!”

“Essentially, yes. Just to reiterate, while we may be underground, they’re still beastkin. Some of them may even have hearing far superior to humans’, so don’t make any noise.”

“O-okay.”

I nervously reply in a whisper, but my heart is racing for an entirely different reason.

So, wait! Does this mean we’re gonna be in this dim, narrow space together?! Just the two of us?! N-never mind fixing our love rating! Something even hotter and steamier might be waiting for us in here! Hff! Hff! Hff! Hff!

In the midst of my excitement, Seiya places a hand on the earthen wall.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m checking to see if there are any beastkin nearby.”

Seiya then quietly stares at me.

“Rista, you said you wanted to help me, right?”

“Y-yeah, of course! But…”

Out of nowhere, Seiya crouches and grabs my ankles! His face is right next to my crotch!

Wh-what’s going on?! What is he going to do to me?! Wait… N-no! Stop! We can’t! That would be far too lewd! But…on second thought, I actually wouldn’t mind! If anything, I want him to do it! Yes, Seiya! Take me! Rip these panties right off!

But before I even realize it, I’m soaring.

“…Huh?”

The Hero tightly holds on to my ankles with his extraordinary strength as he lifts me into the air like a parent with their newborn. Naturally, my face is getting closer to the earthen ceiling!

Eeeeeek!

But I don’t feel the impact I’m expecting. Surprisingly, it’s a rather gentle feeling, as if my face were being pushed into water. And then…

When I open my eyes, all I can see is the purple sky and a desolate town! In the distance, I can also see the dog and cat beastkin! Only my head is on the surface! Ahhhhhh! Wh-what the helllll…?!

Moments before I freak out, my head slips back through the ground!

“Ahhhhh!”

Despite the fact that I’m shivering in fear, Seiya coldheartedly asks:

“So? What did you see? Were there any beastkin nearby?”

“Th-there weren’t any nearby, but I saw two over there… Wait, no! I am not a periscope!! What were you gonna do if someone saw me?!”

“You said you wanted to help, right? I made sure the area was clear before sending you out, and I would have pulled you back in right away if I needed to… At any rate, let’s carefully head up to the surface.”

After Seiya undoes the Cave Along spell, we gradually float to the surface. He quickly looks around, finds a shadowy area, and trots over to it. From there, he watches the beastkin. I can hear them talking.

“I freakin’ hate this Hero hunt. I’m so pissed right meow. Once I get back home, I’m gonna eat one of my slaves out of spite.”

The dog beastkin raises an eyebrow to the cat beastkin’s assertion.

“Yo, don’t. You know how strict this town is with its ‘no eating humans’ rule.”

“Yeah, yeah. But fur-real, though, I heard that Bunogeos is eating humans himself when nobody’s watching. It’s nothing to worry mewrself over. Besides, we’re in the middle of searching for the Hero. Nobody’d even notice if a slave or two disappeared.”

“You raise a fine point. How about saving half of your slave for me?”

“You’re in fur a treat. Come on—let’s do this.”

I whisper to Seiya:

“S-Seiya! They’re going to kill one of the slaves!”

“Relax.”

Seiya pulls a slender silver object out of his shirt pocket.

“I’m going to play the flute.”

“…?! This is no time to be playing the flute! Someone’s about to be killed!”

But that’s when I notice that the instrument Seiya is using is no ordinary flute. Only the tip and end piece have holes with nothing on the body. Seiya squats and picks up a small handful of dirt. He rolls the soil between his fingers as if he were kneading clay.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“I’m hardening the soil with my magic and giving it an aerodynamic shape to reduce air resistance.”

He creates something narrow and long with a pointed tip in his hands.

I-it reminds me of a bullet from Seiya’s world…but I guess it’s closer to rifle ammo!

Seiya sticks it on the tip of the flute, then locks a sharp eye on the beastkin a few dozen meters away.

“I lost a lot of abilities when I quit being a Spellblade, but I learned new abilities in exchange. Resilient Lungs, Sustained Fluting—I will integrate all Jolly Piper special abilities into this one blow.”

He brings the silver flute to his lips.

“Take this! Burst Air!”

Bang! A dry sound echoes.

…I have no idea what just happened, but when I look in the direction the flute is pointing, I’m speechless. Although he was happily chatting with his friend up until a few seconds ago, the cat beastkin’s head is now gone!

“Huh…?”

Noticing his friend’s head missing, the dog beastkin foolishly barks:

“H-hey, uh…? Where’d your head g—?”

Bang! Another dry pop.

The dog beastkin’s head instantly vanishes! Black blood flows from their necks before they simultaneously hit the ground.

While trembling at the horrific sight, I think to myself:

Jolly Piper, my ass!

“S-Seiya!! What the hell is that?! I thought that was supposed to be a flute!”

“Calling it a ‘blowpipe’ would be more accurate. I combined the flute with your hair last night and synthesized it just like when making platinum swords, thus creating a platinum blowpipe, which has increased durability and improved noise reduction when firing.”

“A platinum blowpipe…!”

Without even giving me a second to retort, Seiya walks out of the shadows and approaches the two bodies while keeping an eye on his surroundings.

“What are you doing? Somebody might see you.”

“Yes, we shouldn’t stay here for long, but I still need to clean up.”

“B-back to your old ways, huh?! But I’m pretty sure they’re dead!”

“You can’t be so sure. Beastkin might have healing capabilities that far exceed human imagination. Only knowing that they lost their heads worries me. I won’t be able to relax until they’re ash.”

“But you can’t use Hellfire anymore.”

“I know. I’m going to safely and swiftly dispose of their bodies with a new spell.”

“What kind of spell is that?”

“Curious, huh? Then allow me to explain.”

Seiya suddenly places a hand on my head.

Crumble!

“Huh?!”

My body starts sinking into the ground! Before I know it, I’m staring at Seiya’s ankles! Once again, only my head is aboveground!

“What are you doing to me this time?!” I yell out in a rage, unable to move.

Seiya, on the other hand, is calm.

“I was trying to completely bury you alive with my earth magic, but as you can see, your head is still above the surface. I partially blame myself for not mastering earth magic yet, but I’m unfortunately unable to make you sink any more than that.”

“How awful can you be?! What’s even the point of trying to bury me?!”

“Just shut up and listen. You don’t have an especially strong resistance to earth magic, but being a living creature gives you some magic resistance. That’s why I can’t completely bury you in the soil.”

Seiya then touches the headless beastkin.

“Endless Fall!”

The two bodies instantly disappear as if sucked into the ground. U-unlike with me, they completely sink in! …Oh! Dead beastkin have no magic resistance! That’s why earth magic can be used to its greatest potential!

“How far did you drop them? Ten meters or so?”

“No, even farther. I don’t know how far down the core of this planet is, but I dropped them as far as I could. I’m assuming it’s only a few thousand kilometers, so it shouldn’t be long before the extremely high temperatures near the center vaporize them.”

“…?! You dropped two dead bodies a few thousand kilometers?! Isn’t that a little much?!”

“Ideally, seeing them vaporized with my own two eyes would make me feel most at ease, but unfortunately, that’s not possible, since I would be vaporized along with them.”

Of course you’d be vaporized! How can you even say that with a straight face?!

In a sense, what he just did is even more terrifying than Hellfire. I shudder when…

“Hey! I heard a noise!

“It came from that way!”

“Oh no! Seiya! We have to get out of here! …Wait! My body’s still buried in the ground!”

“It’s fine. We’re going back underground.”

Seiya promptly uses Cave Along, and my face instantly slips underground.

“Ahhh!”

I land in a narrow cavern. My brain still hasn’t processed what happened, and I feel like I was tossed into a pool of water. Meanwhile, Seiya takes out a glowstone and illuminates the cavity.

“All right, come on. We’re changing locations until I find somewhere I can safely snipe the beastkin again.”

Trotting after Seiya, I timidly ask:

“Hey, Seiya… What exactly do you plan on doing?”

“I said I was going to free this town from Bunogeos’s reign, didn’t I? After finding the enemy with Cave Along, I’m going to use Burst Air to snipe them from a safe distance in order to reduce their forces. In other words…”

The Hero’s eyes sharpen in the abyss.

“I’m beastkin hunting.”