CHAPTER IV

The sun is unforgiving as ever. Blazing scorches and aloofly atop the sky, he had to forgo his cape and uniform, tucking it away to a sack he found from what remains of a broken carriage.

Three days he been stalking the greater part of the land without success but only to find a few shards of civilization. Mostly abandoned half-torn cabin and carriages, occasionally he takes a rest inside a few ruins he encounters.

In one particular wreck of a building, he found a chest with a few trinkets contained inside. Mostly coins and small jewelry, also an old iron sword but he didn't take it since it was so brittle and he can make sword on the get-go anyway.

He takes whatever that may be useful later on and leaves the unnecessary weight behind. Thankfully the coin is fairly small and the weight isn't that terrible so he can store a handful of them to the sack along with the jewelry.

Along the way, he too had to battle a few dozen proto-humans. He gritted his teeth at the particular memory. They're practically everywhere, the place must be infested with these things as they can be found almost in every corner; river, mountain, hills, plains, even near ocean.

They always gathered as a group, and he had an unlucky streak as he stumbled into their largest encampment when he was forcing himself to continue the journey in the night. While the battle is almost one-sided slaughter, there's no end to it, and not to mention the pesky proto-human midget cum magician that spits rain every now and then.

He wonders if they had a network of information but now every time these blasted things see him, they no longer give him a warning, but outright attack him. If there's a notoriety system, he must have a 6-star rating right now.

It's probably the blood that drenched his white undershirt.

Cutting swath of foliage's as he traversed the woods, he let out a tired sigh.

"Finally. Good food. Warm bed."

He followed the river path and it led him to a large, humongous lake he'd never seen before. Standing on the island is a complex, intertwining system of civilization, a city.

"So, there's a proper human here." There's never been a time when he was so relieved that he confirmed there's human being other than the excuse black primitive of monstrosity he'd fought.

His steps were giddy and full of longing. It's madness to think that a few days ago he won't consider to step outside.

"WAHHHH~~!"

"Huh?"

As he walked along the woods, he heard a scream. Isn't this too typical… though judging by the voice it's someone who was being chased by something rather than a noble in carriages surrounded by their dead retainer.

He wonders who could be it? He was transported to anime-like world so his expectation is particularly great to the women in this place.

With a steady gait, he quickly traversed the area to the place where he last heard the scream. Contrary to his expectation, it's not a princess or haughty fat merchant, no, it's a child.

He can't comprehend what kind of fate befell to those who were caught by these proto-humans. He never saw the female counterparts of them, so his thoughts have been dark lately, unless they reproduce like ORKS and grow from fungi or some other magical means.

Mulling such thoughts, he traced the spell aria and quickly manifested two ordinary swords. The swords are then catapulted, creating a line between the monsters and the running girl as it's embedded to the ground.

"Hya~"

The little girl was startled by the sudden turn of the event. Her adversaries turned their back on the figure of a man.

"You'll stop there."

Three sets of swords were floating behind him, then the tip rotated sharply and their danger sense soared through the roof as three streaks embedding deeply to their compatriot's chest. It's almost impossible to see with naked eyes until blood start to spurts out like fountain.

The remaining proto-humans were not the least intimidated by the show of power, likely due to their young ages and lack of self-preservation, and charged with club half-raised.

"Futile."

There's 10 in total of their numbers which survived the initial barrage, but that soon dwindles to the last monster. The only reason the last one survives is because it hesitates to attack such a superior opponent.

It runs with tail between its legs. The man had no mercy of their kind. Another streak and the creature were found whimpering and bleeding profusely on the ground. In fact, all its other kind were not killed immediately but instead slowly dying of internal organ failure or loss of blood.

"Are you alright?"

When the battle was done, he quickly approached the little girl. She's startled by his large appearance and squeaked before ultimately stepping forward and shyly saying her gratitude.

"T-Thank you so much!"

"Don't sweat it. By the way, what are you doing alone in the woods?"

The girl's eyes darted around when she was questioned as though she's nervous of the reason she's here.

He can't quite put it but there's a sense of familiarity when he sees the little girl. She wore a red coat and a fairly large cap with a matching color covering her blonde pig-tailed hair. Her backpack is stuffed full of scrolls and books. There's a doll attached to it.

"U-u-hm…" The girl uncomfortably fidgeted.

"It's fine if you don't want to tell me. You're not doing anything bad right?"

"It's not! Klee won't do anything bad… I think. Ugh, Jean will go mad at Klee."

Ignoring the unfamiliar name, he pressed on. He feels bad for the little girl though.

"Then maybe I can vouch for you, uh… Klee, right?"

"Uhm, Klee's name is Klee! Mister will tell Jean Klee not to do anything bad right?"

"That depends. What were you doing before this?"

"Klee's buried her most cherished treasure, over there." She pointed outside the forest, towards the general direction of the lake. "But Klee received a letter saying if Klee does not come here, the treasure will be stolen… uhhh."

"So, in summary, you came alone in this forest without their oversight and intend to retrieve the treasure, is that it?"

The girl nodded, "Until Klee was chased by Hilichurls and Uncle saved me…"

I understand the gist now. Still, seeing the book hanging low on her hip and the bag full of scrolls, I take is she's an apprentice mage of sort.

"Why don't you fight back?"

"Eh? Fight back?" She tilted her head before laughing mischievously as forgetting something, "Ehehe Klee forgot, there's only treasure in Klee's mind you know!"

Well, it's good to know she had the means to defend herself. Judging by the elvish ears she got, I doubt her age can be considered normal for humans, but seeing her childish mannerism it only reminds me of the band of Mutsuki-class.

They were old warships but personified as elementary schoolers for some reason.

"I take it that you want to retrieve your treasure. Can I accompany Klee? Just for assurance. There may be bad guys lurking around."

For all I know, she could be perhaps a rare specimen of the sort that slavers and other ragtag groups wanted. After all, such a setting is rampant in this theme. Anyway, I just can't simply stop after helping this far.

Thinking such thought, the old man accompanied the little girl to the place where she buried her treasure. On top of a slightly elevated hill overlooking the lake and the city, he saw a mound with obnoxiously large sign as screaming "There's something valuable buried in here!"

"Is that the place… Klee?"

"Yes! But it's already empty." She called out disappointedly, her shoulder slightly trembled.

"I see. Hey, you." He called out the presence he sensed behind the large rock. "How about you show your nose for once."

The thing… creature, instead of the typical hoodlum he expects, came out of its hiding. It's a fairly intelligent monster. It floated lazily as it reared its ugly face.

He was a bit unsure if it's a human or not, but maybe it's the variation of the proto-humans. Klee mentioned they were called Hilichurls. Since it has the same tradition of wearing masks, he categorized them as one.

"Well well, I thought she would come here all alone. It looks like she brought a pest instead. What can an old man like you can do."

It speaks. It speaks. He was astonished. Sure, the thing can write, but to have the proper vocal cord to speak a human language is an accomplishment in itself. He shouldn't be bewildered in this strange world; everything can be explained by simple words of magic. Just close your eyes.

"What's with that face, you arrogant human! Hmph, whatever, since she brought someone there's a bound of change in the plan."

Unbeknownst to him, the creature had been buying time to finish a spell. It lobbed an icicle to his feet and poofed it, creating a mist large enough to disperse his sight.

"Wha- Mister, please hurry, I'm sure the thief tries to run away."

"I understand."

He grabbed Klee and hoisted her over. Klee tightly held his head as she sat above his shoulder.

"Go go, Mister!" Laughed cheerfully the little girl atop, raising her arm.

"Hold tight." He grinned before fully sprinting towards the general direction the mage-thingy ran to.

"Hahaha!"

"Ei, persistent Human, take this!" He quickly dodged the ice spike to the side.

"Klee, can you attack it?"

"Yes!"

Soon after, a few circles appeared above, levitating around the little girl, and launched a few beams of red. As expected, the mage is nimble enough to avoid them all, moreover it can float.

"It's not working huh, how about this!"

The old man soon follows with traced swords barrage, "On my mark, Klee."

"Fire!"

The beams were overlapping with the traced swords, creating a deadly symphony. The mage can't dodge so many, as such it deployed a shield to protect itself. However, in doing this, its movement had to stop to accommodate the shield it just deployed.

"Take this and that!"

It was a bad judgment for the mage. Klee didn't stop her barrage nor did the old man who timed his tracing once the shield broke from the relentless beam attack Klee sent to it.

"Insolent human! To think of a person such as me to be cornered like this, there's no choice but to use it."

The mage wobbly stood up, sending a threat as it grabbed an object from its pocket. He deduced it was the treasure the creature stole from the little girl.

"Don't let him use it, Mister!"

"Like hell I'll let that."

"It's too late."

The mage smirked at its apparent victory as it pressed the button on the middle of the sphere. The old man feels something is wrong and immediately jumps to a large rock, taking cover behind it as he holds Klee tightly.

"Holy crap, what was that!"

A good chunk of the land was gone, and a portion of the cliff behind where the mage previously stands had been obliterated, leaving molten rock and red in its wake.

"Klee's Treasure!"

"Wait a minute, Klee. Don't tell me that bomb is your treasure?"

The little girl in question just turned her head away and muttered, "Y-yes."

"And why did such a harmless little child possessed such thing?"

"Klee plans to use it on the lake! It's fun, you can see dead fish floating then Klee can roast them afterward…"

"I-I see…" He sweated.

What a terrifying L*li! Her appearance is deceptively cute but she's a mad bomber. One of these days he sincerely hopes Klee won't think of an idea strapping herself with explosives and running to a large crowd while shouting religiously.

Well, this is a world of swords and magic. It's not far fetched if a small rabbit is the world-ending boss. Anything can happen. In a way, it's a rude awakening for him.

"Don't be like that, why do you start to cry?"

"Jean would go mad at me… She said to never harm someone else… and now Klee will pay the price… uuuu."

"You're talking about the monster or the guy from before?"

"Right! Mr. Fluffy was just stealing from Klee; he didn't deserve that!"

"But he just did a bad thing to Klee, right? Isn't that what you call a bad guy? Klee wouldn't like it if Mr. Fluffy stole something from Jean too, right?"

"Uhm." She nodded.

"Then it'll be fine. Mr. Fluffy paid the price for stealing something he didn't know. We can explain it in front of Jean, how about it."

"That's a good idea. Mister will follow me, right?"

"My objective is to go to the city in the first place, might as well tag along."

"Haha."

Behind all of that, she's just a child after all… is this how the other world works? He muses as he gets up. Raising a child must be a hell for every parent in a world with magic.

Dusting himself, they made their way towards the city of the lake. He put back his clothes and cape to make him look presentable as possible.

Let's hope the smell won't drive anyone away.