Author: 猫夜叉 (Nekoyasha)
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“Achoo!”
My sneeze seemed to have startled Fenrir, as its tail stood upright.
It only was for a moment though.
Fenrir stared at me with wide-open eyes in disbelief.
“…What………did you say?”
“Achoo!”
“Not that!”
I know!
…Let’s just say I wasn’t in tip-top shape. I had probably overexerted myself a little.
“…I’ll go alone. You just please hide somewhere, Fenrir-san.”
“…Say what now?”
“Everyone would be shocked and really confused if you showed yourself in front of them right now,” I told Fenrir my honest thoughts.
The hero goddess, the goddess of love and beauty, Astaroth.
Having fought against her, Fenrir’s name had fallen into the mud.
The whole ‘Astaroth had come to stop the stampede caused by the Divine Beast’ thing would have probably spread quite far.
In addition to that, Fenrir was huge…
So they might notice it by accident, even in the forest.
I was already convinced info would be leaked.
“That’s unheard of. You know, do you not? My name is Fenrir. I am the guardian deity of this forest.”
“Please, rest assured. On behalf of you, the guardian deity of this forest, I–” I looked straight at Fenrir, my gaze filled with determination. “– will put an end to this.”
I was ready. I had also gained some confidence through the fight with Astaroth.
And anyway, in the first place, the cause of the stampede was––
I turned my back to Fenrir, my thoughts suddenly flying far away.
…Athena. Luna.
The fight over on their end had probably already started. Alice and Kraim were probably fighting too.
I had no time to be standing around idly.
“…!”
I put some power into my legs and ran.
The trees sliding past me as if dodging me told me just how fast I was going.
I must have been running through the forest at a tremendous speed.
However, for some reason, I couldn’t use as much as I wanted.
“…!”
I grew frustrated. I knew just how much of a hurry I was in.
And that was when a wolf suddenly appeared, running next to me.
“Why now!”
I immediately moved to swing my spear, but then stopped just before it hit.
A pair of golden eyes were looking at me.
I see. It seems like Fenrir can change the size of its body.
“…Get on,” was all it said to me.
“…You’re going to regret that.”
I didn’t want to see how the truth would be twisted and Fenrir would be bathed in unwarranted criticism.
“…Hmph. Mind your own business. Besides, you have enough on your own plate already. You might think you’re doing well right now, but I can sense your magical power.”
…She noticed, huh.
I jumped onto the now-small Fenrir’s back.
…Ooh… it’s fluffier than I imagined.
“Thank you. I don’t seem to be able to use as much power as I want at the moment,” I said, making Fenrir snort in exasperation.
“You used too much magical power.”
I see. So this unpleasant feeling comes from having overused my magical power.
However, I was slightly worried about that fact.
Had I really used that much?
I hadn’t been aware of it at all.
…Anyway, this is really pleasant. I feel like I could sleep here for a whole day.
“Don’t move your hands that much! I’ve never had anyone ride on my back before! I’m not used to it!” Fenrir-san said, growling at me menacingly.
True, constantly having your back touched would be rather distracting. I’ll have to reflect on this.
……‘Whooosh’ the wind blew past my ears.
–– A while later, I noticed that the number of monsters around us was starting to grow.
Simultaneously, I felt a familiar magical power brush against my skin for a moment.
…Big sister’s here.
“We are nearly there. Are you ready?”
“……”
“Hey! I’m asking you a question here!”
“Fenrir-san, please do me one favour.”
“What is it?”
“Please hide your true identity.”
Fenrir looked over its shoulder at me.
I stared back at it.
“Please.”
Not answering, Fenrir kept on going forward.
…I’ll just have to hope.
And then, we had no more time left.
––The scenery around us changed.
We had exited the depths of the forest and arrived at the small hill that was our meet-up point.
“…Wh-!”
I sighed at the sight that had opened up in front of us.
“YUNO SLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!”
Yep… that’s sis…
My sister was rampaging around the battlefield, cutting down monsters left and right.
The rest of the knights were following behind her, in formation.
“…Unbelievable. Is she human?” Fenrir muttered, eyes wide in surprise, stopping in its tracks.
I gripped both my hands tightly out of embarrassment.
Please stop using my name as a battle cry.
“YUNO IMPACT!”
A larger group of monsters was blown away by a ‘Yuno Impact’ from my sister.
“Did she just say Yuno Impact!?” Fenrir said excitedly.
Why did it react to that of all things? No one else seemed to have noticed it yet.
“Fenrir-san. Over there,” I said, pointing to where Athena and the others were standing while trying to hide my embarrassment.
Perhaps having understood what I meant, Fenrir began moving in that direction, albeit still watching my sister.
A little bit later, I could clearly make out Athena and the others.
The Holy Shield I had set up was still standing. It seemed like I had been able to help them out with it, at least a little.
………Thank goodness.
But simultaneously, I was hit by a feeling of nervousness.
I wondered what kind of reaction I would get.
––The first one who noticed me was Alice.
“Yu-…-no…?”
Her blue eyes froze wide-open.
While I was busy wondering about Alice’s strange behaviour, Luna also noticed me and turned towards me.
“…Fufu”
She was smiling her usual smile, but she seemed happy.
I patted my chest in relief when I saw that.
And then––
“Yuno-san!”
Athena’s red eyes began filling up with large tears as she ran up to me.
“…Hmm”
Fenrir lowered its body so I could get off properly.
“Thank you, Fenrir-san,” I whispered as I got off, then walked over to the goddess Athena.
Then, I hugged the goddess who had come practically flying at me.
“Welcome back…! Thank you… Yuno-san!”
A soft, sweet scent.
“I’m back… kami-sama,” I whispered.
“……Ah!”
Her face turning red, she stepped away from me.
I probably had the same look on my face.
‘…We have a lot to discuss, but getting the situation under control is the highest priority right now.’ was what I was thinking when a strong gust of wind ruffled my hair.
That pressure I could feel coming from behind me–
…I could tell even without looking. My sister had arrived.
“Big Sister, long ti–”
“Yuno! Good job coming back safely!”
And then I was hugged.
I could tell everyone present was staring at me.
In fact, while Athena looking at me was quite obvious what with what had happened right before, Luna, Alice, and even Kraim were staring at me.
“U-um, Big Sister. Please let go, this is quite embarrassing,” I said, and my sister regretfully let go, turning towards Fenrir.
“…Yuno. Who’s that?”
Well, it was a natural question. Everyone was on edge due to the stampede, and I had arrived with a monster in tow. I had an obligation to explain to them.
“A wolf I met in the forest who brought me all the way back here when I was about to die,” I said, and my sister’s gaze once again turned towards Fenrir.
There should have been nothing strange in my explanation. There were a lot of people who had pet wolves, and wolves were known to be quite friendly creatures towards humans in the first place.
“…I see. She has quite beautiful fur, for a wolf.”
My sister walked over to Fenrir and crouched down.
“…Thank you for saving Yuno,” she said, stroking Fenrir’s head.
Fenrir… didn’t respond.
“…Phew.”
There went my tension.
It seemed like Fenrir had decided to listen to me.
“Big Sister, could you please explain the current situation?” I asked her, trying to get her to stop stroking Fenrir.
“The stampede is, well, as you can see. They all suddenly lost their leadership as if having come back to themselves and most of them ran off into the forest. As for its cause, it’s the divine beast that’s the guardian deity of this forest… or at least, that’s what we’ve been told.”
It was more or less as I had expected. The problem was what would happen next.
My sister stood up and slowly walked back over to me.
Her expression, lit up by the moonlight, turned dark.
I could guess what she was going to say next.
“…The royal knights have been ordered to subjugate the divine beast of the forest, Fenrir,” she said to me in a sad voice.
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