Kojiin Tamer

Happy Wednesday!

Here’s the chapter, enjoy.

「Are we going to subjugate Rainbow Caterpillars and Magical Butterflies today as well?」

「No, we’ll go up against a different monster today.」

「A different monster?」

「Aah, boy, in order to strengthen weapons, Baa-san taught you enchantment magic, right? The other day, I found the perfect opponent for practicing that.」

「It’s not a dangerous monster, right?」

「Worry not, it’s an opponent that you wouldn’t lose against in a one-on-one if you have a decent weapon.」

「Master!! Then even I can defeat it?」

「Wolf boy, if it’s you, then you wouldn’t lose. Whether you can win or not depends on the boy’s magic.」

「I see, then Shuu, I’ll do my best!!」

「I’ll do my best too!!」

My younger sister showed her eagerness, and influenced by her, Sakuya-chan looked motivated as well.

Behind the two of them, Ilya-chan looked over, her eyes telling us to leave it to her.

After walking for a while, Ojii-san changed directions, as if he found the monster, and told us to follow him.

Following his instructions, we kept up with him while concealing our presence as much as possible.

When we got there, Ojii-san signaled for us to hide in the shadow of a tree. Each of us  hid in the shadow of a tree and peeking out, we could see a black mass a distance away.

Wondering what it was, I tried using Appraisal, and it was an ant monster called Soldier Ant.

Something about it seemed doubtful and I asked Ojii-san.

「Although Ojii-san usually brings the monsters over, why are we hiding like this today?」

「Rather than asking why, adventurers are originally like this; searching for the enemy, concealing themselves, and then attacking is normal.」

「Aah, what we were doing before was strange, huh…. Then, why are we doing this today?」

「There’s no way I could leave Sakuya behind and go look for monsters!!」

Ah~, the disparity….

「Therefore, try doing it without the enchantment magic for the time being.」

「Alright, let’s go!!」

「「「Shhh—-!!」」」

Everyone was flustered because of Cruz-kun who shouted due to his high spirits. Cruz-kun realized it as well and hurriedly closed his mouth.

「Cruz, even though you took the trouble to hide, if you shout so loudly, we’ll be found out!!」

Exasperated, Ilya-chan scolded him in a low voice.

「Sorry, sorry, then, why don’t we try to do what we usually do for the time being. Sakuya, I’ll leave the preemptive strike to you and the others!!」

「U, un….」

「Sakuya-chan, I’ll do your best!!」

After discussing our strategy, we dispersed into the surrounding area, and everyone except Cruz-kun prepared to attack. 

Ilya-chan with her bow, my younger sister with her throwing knives, Sakuya-chan with her wind magic, and me with my earth magic.

We all attacked at the same time, but as expected, the arrows and the throwing knives were repelled by the ant’s shell (?), and I didn’t know if the boulder created from my earth magic dealt it any damage, but it seems to have had some impact on it and the ant had retreated backwards. If I created a larger boulder, it might be able to crush it, but if I did that, its speed would slow down, so finding the balance was difficult.

Sakuya-chan’s wind magic was what one would expect from a wind dragon; the wind blade severed the ant’s leg and sent it flying.

The ant that we attacked tried to come over to us, but Cruz-kun ran up to it, attacked it, and then backed away.

Cruz-kun’s attack was not adequate enough to cut through the shell, but since he had struck its head, the ant was staggering a little.

I used earth magic to add weight to the pointed tip of Ilya-chan’s arrows. I handed a hammer bola to my younger sister and changed the strategy.

I had Sakuya-chan continue to create wind blades, and told her to be careful to not hit Cruz-kun.

Cruz-kun distanced himself and continued his hit-and-run. 

The ant occasionally spit out something, but there was a distance between it and Cruz-kun, so it didn’t hit him.

I looked it up using Appraisal, and it was formic acid. It seems that it would be troublesome if we were to be hit by it.

「Cruz-kun, try aiming for its joints!!」

I suddenly thought of this and shouted it at Cruz-kun.

Unlike the previous monsters, the ant’s joints could be seen clearly. I wondered if they could be cut off.

Cruz-kun did as he was told and struck it on the neck (?) area with his longsword.

When he did this, the ant’s head separated from its body and went flying.

We safely subjugated the Soldier Ant.