The road ahead of us was still lightly forested. The path we were walking upon had been cleared of gra.s.s and appeared to be commonly traveled, so we shouldn't have too many problems. I am at the front of the group while Kany takes up the rear. Tael and Erana are walking side by side.
"...This is a bit boring." I let out. Our walk hasn't had anything happen for the entire duration. We've just been silently walking for a while without any interruptions. It's not as if I want us to encounter problems, but walking for hours without any distractions is fairly agonizing.
"I don't mind it. Being able to spend time with people in silence means that you're comfortable with them. When my father and I would hunt, there were times when we wouldn't talk to one another for an entire day!"
"Not all of us are like you, Erana. I'm on Onii-san's side on this one. Anyone got any ideas for something we can do to pa.s.s the time?"
"Hmm… I've always wanted to give a lecture on the basics of magic…"
"Let's do that!" I said energetically. I've wanted to know where magic comes from and how it works for a while now.
"Let's not." x2
It seems that Kany and Erana don't want to listen to Tael giving a lecture. Erana probably already knows about how magic works and Kany probably just doesn't want to listen to a lecture from Tael.
"Sorry, but it's a majority vote! The one that proposes the idea doesn't get a vote Mr. Sparkles!"
"Huh? How is that fair?"
"It isn't." x2
Tael grumbled in response.
The group began to bicker about what they would like to do. I enclosed myself within my thoughts for a moment before coming to a conclusion.
"Where I'm from, there's this game called shiritori. We could try that."
"Shiritori? What's that, Kenji-san?"
"It's a word play game. I have to change it a bit to work in this language, but the rules are pretty simple. Someone says a word and someone else has to follow up with a word that starts with the letter that the previous word ended with. For example: 'Sword' would be followed by 'Dragon.' Does that make sense?"
"It sounds interesting enough… Wait, Kenji you speak a different language?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, I heard him say it too…"
"Oh my, Kenji-san where are you from originally?"
Ah, I messed up. This is something I can't reveal to them yet. They'll call me crazy or something…
"I'm from… a distant land. That's all I can tell you."
"Really? I heard that there aren't many people from other places. Why do you want to fight the demon king then?"
"I told you I promised someone I would, Tael."
"Yeah but it's different now that you're from some other land! I didn't know the demon king was that much of a problem to the world that people from distant lands would send people to battle him too!"
"There goes my escape plan…"
"What is the language you used to speak called, Kenji-san?"
"Um…"
"Yeah! Maybe I've read about it before!"
"It's called…"
"Hm?" x3
Why am I so nervous? Marix knew what j.a.pan was so it's not like I'll be crucified or something for stating my place of origin… Whatever, I'll do it!
"...j.a.panese."
"j.a.panese? I've never heard of that language…"
"Me either."
"Myself as well… Kenji-san, where is it from?"
"It's… an island called... j.a.pan..."
"An island called j.a.pan where everyone speaks a language called 'j.a.panese'?"
"Yes! Please stop repeating what I say!"
"You must have sailed a long way to have come from an island with its own language, Kenji. I've never heard of an island called j.a.pan that has its own language. I thought the empire made languages other than Kardi illegal to practice…"
"W-Well, I doubt anyone here speaks it! Anyways, Shiritori! Let's do this!"
"Ah, alright… How do we start?"
"Hm… I think we should start with… Huh?"
"Huh? That's not a word, Kenji!"
"No, What was that over there?"
I pointed towards something a bit ahead in the treeline. I can't make out what exactly the thing that was drawing my attention was, but it appeared to be bipedal like a human.
Our group a.s.sumed a combat formation in response to my apprehension. Slowly, we walked off of the trail and went towards where I saw the figure.
"Who's there? I saw you so it's best to not try to hide!" I shouted out. Though I would like to have as much confidence as my statement suggests, knowing that cla.s.ses like rogue exist makes me fear that there could be a bandit with similar abilities.
"Hm? Nyow* who is this?" A voice answered.
(*Similar to a cat meow.)
"We asked first! You answer."
"Hmm… I suppose that is only fair… I am Yasri. I intend no harm if you do nyot."
"We do not… Show yourself."
"Ah… No I will nyot. You tell me who you are nyow."
Our group seemed uncomfortable, but I decided that answering wouldn't do any harm.
"We're adventurers. We're on a mission to go to the town of Mulbik."
"Ah! Good, good! I know Mulbik! I will lead you there!"
Suddenly, a humanoid shape gracefully dropped down from the tree above us. This person was obviously not human. They had a tail like a cat, ears like a cat, paws like a cat… face like a cat… They're a cat person. This is literally a cat person. A 170cm tall cat person that seems to be capable of human speech. This cat person is wearing a pair of grey short shorts and a tank top. Her fur is also grey. It seems like footwear isn't a thing for cat people.
Wait… G.o.d said that there were cat girls…
"HE LIED TO ME!" I shouted out.
"E-Eh? Kenji-san, who lied to you? What's going on?"
"N-Nothing! It's nothing just… regret. Anyway, let's follow this Yasri person…"
"...Okay."
The cat woman named Yasri beckoned us to follow her. Though we were still a bit apprehensive about the situation, we decided in the end to follow where she was leading us.
"Follow me. I knyow the way." She said.
As we were following her, I nudged Tael on the shoulder and indicated for him to cast his mind connection spell.
(What's up, Kenji? Do you think something is wrong?)
(No… I just wanted to know what species that person is. I've never seen it before…)
(Oh, her? She's probably a linxy. They're people that are the descendants of chimeras basically. Genetic merging with humans led to cats being the dominant type. I heard that they naturally have a level in rogue, like how I had a level in wizard.)
(I see… Do you think she's dangerous?)
(If she is, I bet we can handle her. She doesn't look like a fighter of any type. Is this why you had me cast the spell, Kenji?)
(No, it's because of the cat ears. Cats can hear really well compared to humans.)
(Ah, that makes sense.)
"Come, come! We go to my village!"
"Your village?"
"Yes! I put out a request for adventurers! We have had problems lately!"
"Oh, you requested us? Why did you do that, Yasri-san?"
"It is because people have gone missing. We do nyot want this to continue."
"That's awful…"
"Well it's good that we're here to fix it! Right everyone?" Kany shouted out.
"Yeah. We'll do our best to help you."
"That is good to hear."
We followed Yasri for around an hour through the treeline. Tael grew a bit impatient.
"Why are we going through the forest? Surely the road is faster…"
"The road is faster for the carriages. We take a direct route when we walk. This is faster."
Tael couldn't argue with Yasri's explanation, so he just went quiet after that. Soon, the treeline opened up and revealed a small farming village. I could count only around 50 houses in total. This village is very rustic. Each house that I can see is made of wood. There appear to be no stone buildings here.
"Welcome to my home. This is Mulbik." Yasri said.
