A Summoned Beast's Unpaid Vacation

It's been half a day since Gavien and Partya walked into the forest.

Of course, as this was a forest in the Demon Kingdom, demonic beasts spread throughout the entire area.

The most prevalent one is the Blue Moon Wolflion. Its head and torso were of a wolf's, but it had a mane around its neck and its limbs and tail were of a lion's. However, its most peculiar trait would be the fur, which was a soft blue that would glow only ever so slightly under sunlight, yet radiate the surroundings at night.

Gavien was worried that they would get ambushed, but as soon as one attacked them, he realized that he was worried for nothing.

Aside from Summoning Magic, Partya had also learned a lot of other varieties of magic from her education. Naturally, as the princess of the kingdom, she was one of the strongest mages.

And so, as the Blue Moon Wolflion lunged itself towards her seemingly frail body, Partya coldly sent a glance towards the wolf, freezing it in place immediately.

"Hmph, stupid wolflion, this is your punishment for attacking us. I hope you'd have learned your lesson by the time you melt."

Gavien felt more confident as he nodded at the scene of Partya easily subduing the beast.

"Wait, wait up, Gavien, I need a break."

But of course, that stamina only applied to her magical prowess. As a sheltered girl, it was a given that her physical ability would be poor.

After mulling it over, Gavien decided to rest up first.

"Sit here, Partya, on this log."

"But, what about you?"

"I'll be fine on the cold hard ground. I'm used to it anyway."

Partya bit her lip. "That, I insisted for you to sleep in my bed with me!"

"Your offer was fine and all until you started wrapping yourself around me! I couldn't sleep with you moving around all night."

"Th-that was a one time thing! But you never slept beside me again."

"Haah, whatever, that was already a long time ago."

A moment of silence ensued between the two.

Gavien cleared his throat and spoke first.

"Ah, remember what I said to do when we arrive at a human kingdom?"

"Of course! I am a genius after all."

As she spoke, Partya took a black robe from Gavien's backpack and wore it stylishly.

"So you do remember what I said. What is the robe for then?"

"It's to hide my horns, right?"

"Exactly." Gavien felt satisfied.

Partya felt very confused as to why she needed to hide her horns. There were multiple races with horns in this world, so it wasn't like the humans would instantly recognize her as a demon.

However, he was a human himself, and told her that most humans had a prejudice against people with horns in an "isekai" setting.

She had no idea what "isekai" meant, but decided to trust him anyway.

In the midst of her thoughts, Gavien suddenly spoke.

"Partya! Let's look for shelter, it's about to rain."

"Don't worry, it's just a Spontaneously Forming Rain Cloud. A common occurrence in Smog Forests, especially in the Purple Smog Forest."

After she explained, the drizzle that Gavien felt disappeared already.

"Ah, so it is."

.....

Somewhere inside Purple Smog Forest.

A carriage creaked as it slowly made its way across the undeveloped road amidst the trees. The coachman shivered every now and then as he felt multiple presences watching him behind the fog.

"Ai, you worry too much. I've already told you there's a beast-warding torch on this carriage, so move along quickly! I don't have all day!"

From inside the carriage, a heavy voice carried itself out and echoed.

Gulping silently, the coachman glanced at the torch that emitted a soft, blue fire tied beside the carriage. He whipped the Two-tailed Land Lizard, prompting it to go a bit faster.

"Why did I even take this job." Faust was seriously regretting his decision.

He was short on money, but he wasn't desperate or anything. He didn't have a wife about to go into labor, nor did he have a child about to die from an illness, he also didn't have a huge debt about to reach its deadline.

His summoner was nice as well, nice enough to give him half a month's unpaid leave every few years.

However, once he saw the poster for the job postings and looked at the rewards, he licked his lips.

Traveling to the Demon Kingdom might be dangerous, but it would surely reap him bountiful rewards!

Faust shrugged it off. It was just going to the Demon Kingdom. How bad could it be?

In the midst of his thoughts, a low roar sounded from behind the thick curtains of fog.

Faust snapped out of it and breathed more heavily than before.

He tried to ignore the sound as he kept his vision straight ahead, not daring to take a peek.

A few seconds passed with absolute silence.

Faust silently let out a relieved sigh as he continued on.

All of a sudden, the silence was pierced, this time from a couple of different directions.

Rustling of the bushes, a muffled growl, as well as footsteps that didn't seem human. All of these told Faust one thing.

"Beasts! There are demonic beasts following us!"

He immediately alerted the person inside the carriage.

"Bah, what are you on about? I already told you there's a beast-warding torch on the carriage, so no matter how many beasts there are, as long as it's lit up, they won't dare come close!"

This time, the person inside peeked his chubby head out of the curtains to admonish Faust.

"Go on, why are you still not moving? Next time you stop the carriage I'll throw you into those beasts!"

Faust shivered in fright as he continued on, whipping the Two-tailed Land Lizard once more. The noises that followed them never disappeared.

As they trekked deeper into the forest, Faust felt a drizzle on his face. He sighed and frowned.

"Another Spontaneously Forming Rain Cloud."

Faust disliked these clouds as he thought it was inconvenient to get wet.

"Well, at least it's not as much of a problem as the demonic beasts following us..."

Shrugging off the rain cloud, Faust continued on with his journey.

Until he heard a sound coming from behind him. It sounded like a torch being extinguished by drops of water, presumably rain.

"Oh no, the beast-warding torch!"

Faust halted his beast as he jumped on the carriage's roof and hurriedly covered the torch with his shirt. Its fire was weak, on the verge of being extinguished at any second.

All of a sudden, the drizzle grew stronger. Rain came down on his body like a waterfall.

"Crap, it wasn't a Spontaneously Forming Rain Cloud. It's actual rain!"

Bloop, tsss.

At last, the final bit of flame had been extinguished.

"Hey, why have you stopped again? What a lousy coachman!"

The chubby person peeked his head out again, letting his head get soaked in rain. He caught a glimpse of the dead torch and a desperate Faust who seemingly tried to protect it with his shirt.

Faust gulped as he climbed down the roof.

The growling beasts stepped closer.

"Uh, what do we do now, boss?"

"F--k, just go! Go as fast as you can, you imbecile!"

Instinctively, Faust whipped the Two-tailed Land Lizard as hard as he could, prompting it to go as fast as possible!

Which was about 20 mph.

Obviously, this was not enough to outrun whatever beasts were starting to chase them.

"Damn! Doesn't this thing go any faster?"

At this moment, the chubby man was seriously regretting hiring such an unreliable carriage as his transport. But he had no other choice, no one else was stupid or brave enough to venture into the Demon Kingdom.

Faust stayed silent as he continuously whipped the Land Lizard's back.

The Two-tailed Land Lizard humphed as it stopped to look at Faust. It was fed up with this inhuman treatment.

"Wait, what are you doing? You stupid animal, keep going!"

Instead of listening to Faust's orders, the Land Lizard used both its tails and smashed the chain connecting it to the heavy carriage. Immediately after, it scurried away at a speed triple that of earlier.

The chubby man and Faust were dumbfounded.

Damn! Land Lizards were this intelligent?

"Boss! What do we do now!" Faust's lips quivered as he climbed into the carriage himself, closing the curtains on each side. Drips of water wet the wooden bottom of the carriage.

"F--k, I don't know, you tell me!" The chubby guy was also completely helpless at this situation.

The growling sounds got closer and closer. Soon enough, a paw struck the wooden carriage, shaking it along with its two occupants.

The beasts didn't stop as they continuously struck the same place, splinters of wood breaking inside.

"Help! Somebody help!"

"Idiot! Shu-shut up! No one other than demons would be here!"

The chubby guy hurriedly covered Faust's mouth.

"I'd rather be eaten alive by demonic beasts than get captured by those bloody demons."

Faust calmed down. The chubby man was unexpectedly a man of dignity.

In the midst of his talking, a wolf head suddenly barged in the carriage through the curtains!

"Screw that, help! Help me!"

The chubby man forgot all of his words earlier and started shouting even louder than Faust did! His hands wrapped around Faust and gripped very tightly, his face paler than snow and his body full of sweat.

"I don't care whether you're a human or a f--king demon, just help me, please!!"

As the wolf's head inched closer to the pair inside the carriage, it suddenly froze in place. The next moment, its entire body was blue.

"...Huh? We're alive?"

"Boss, please let go of me."

The chubby man quickly pushed Faust away and cleared his throat as he approached the seemingly frozen wolflion.

Suddenly, the wolflion moved! The chubby man threw himself backwards to the edge of the carriage.

The wolflion was pulled out of the curtains of the carriage as Gavien peeked inside.

"Hello? Are you fine in there?"

Upon seeing a human, both the chubby man and Faust felt their eyes tear up.

"Our savior!!"