Today is the 24th of December.
Usually, this is one of the sad days for every year. But this year is going to be different. I have 4 wives with me.
Back at Japan, how do I say it, oh, I was married with 2D women, and didn't I have lots of them too? That brings back memories. Well right now me and my wives are inside a dangerous forest, although my presence detection is giving a negative result. Pg. 85
The most dangerous thing when operating the Team Transfer is that you do not know the status at the destination of the transfer point. It's not impossible to encounter a dangerous situation right after we have transferred to the location. For example, we transferred and found a dragon waiting at front.
"Nothing out of ordinary in vicinity."
The point was set up to a place close to the Harpy nest the other day. Immediately after arriving, I activate presence detection. I've confirmed that there is nothing.
"My detection doesn't pick up anything."
I ease the tension in my word once I heard Sati's report. Tilika releases Hawk, and let him survey the surrounding.
"Give me some of your magical power, Masaru."
The transfer consumes lots of magical power. Unlike me who is capable of fighting with a sword, Ellie who rely purely on magic will find some difficulty when her magic power is depleted.
After I refill her magic power with Miracle Light, she thanked with a smile on her face.
"Thank you, Masaru. Now, let's decide the direction we are going for today."
Everyone activated their Levitation and fly on top of the forest. Since Sati is the only one who is incapable of using it, I'm bringing her with me. Others all levitate by their own. Still even though Ann was reminded by Ellie firmly not to look downwards, I can see that she is shaking. Considering the situation, floating 20 meters' midair is really a scary thing.
"As we decided earlier at house, we will be going to Gorbas Fortress. First, we are going to that mountain range direction. After we are a bit nearer, then we will change direction and go towards the fortress."
Ellie pointed towards the direction of the mountain range. Based on the Sun's location, that direction is towards the North side. The place beyond the mountain pass is the Demon Realm. Seems like all the Demons originated from there. The mountains which can be hardly seen by here looks like it is covered in snow.
This area in this region usually doesn't have much snow. Still, the mountain and its surrounding forest looks like they are buried with it. I plan to make full use of this experience before winter.
After we have confirmed ourselves with the topography of the mountain, we all descended. Even though I said terrain, all we can see are the trees and the mountain.
"What about the Harpy?"
"We'll do something if we found them. There might not be any nests nearby, since they have wide range of movement."
"There is nothing in this area."
Tilika reported.
"Good, let's move now. I'm counting on you, Sati."
"Yes, just leave it to me!"
We are moving with Sati, Tilika, Ellie, Ann and me respectively. Sati is our lead, because she can sense her surrounding without turning around with her Sound Detection. Last time, when I asked her, she seems to be able to clearly detect the position and movement by sound alone.
Unlike last time, our march is progressing at a much faster pace today. This time, there is no unreasonable requests like eliminating everything without leaving even a single one, so we will only stop if the situation gets seriously bad.
After around 30 minutes walking, Sati stopped. She looks at our right-hand side.
"It's still quite far. But something is definitely there."
Then she pointed to one direction of the forest.
"That thing should be alone, but he is big."
"Not a small one, huh. Do you think it is about a same size as Dragon?"
"No, it shouldn't be that big."
"I'll send Hawk to check."
Soon we received the reconnaissance result. It is a bear.
Although it is just a bear, it is bigger than the bear at Earth and is more ferocious since it has survived this harsh world. Once, I saw a bear nearby here, it seemed likely that it was close to twice of that in the Japanese zoo.
But there is nothing to be afraid of. It is alone right now.
"Alright, let's do it!"
By the way, the bear is classified as a Demon. It seems to be a monster, but I still don't know the difference between Demon and monster/ghost/apparition(bakemono). Are all Demons subordinates of the Demon King? Be it as it may, I still can't believe that this bear is part of the Demon King army.
If you are asking me, then I'll say that the difference between animals and Demons are by how they decided to attack human. Then is the Wild Rabbit a demon? From what I heard, aa, yea, they are. I always got an ambiguous reply like that.
Their answer is not satisfying. Still, I firmly believe that the Wild Rabbit is a demon.
After several minutes, Sati confirmed that the bear is moving towards us. I created a 3-meter Golem on the spot.
"Sati, shoot your arrow near the bear. There's no need to hit it, we just want to lure him down here."
"Yes."
That guy, I believe that it won't simply run away when it's attacked. Even if the prey is a group of people, I believe it will only think that it's food has increased.
I hide the Golem behind the tree. I'm going to use it to ambush the bear. Hawk too is showing a sign of coming back here. It's flying towards Tilika. pg. 88
Sati jumped down towards our position. Sati possessed an outrageous speed. I tried to ask her to run seriously before, and boy, her speed is inhuman. It might be that alongside her Agility Boost skill, the specification of the beastmen are normally high.
"Here it comes!"
Although there is a considerable distance, the big bear is running at a great speed.
It's coming here directly from the other end of the forest while breaking the trees just like snapping a bamboo shoots. I'm a bit scared.
Even if it did come here, I still can intercept it with my Golem. It's going to be alright, is what I'm trying to convince myself.
The Golem lies in wait to move when the situation deems necessary.
"Thunder!"
Coming towards here with great momentum, when it was hit by Ellie's Thunder, it came crashing against the ground. She already mentioned earlier that the spell is just a shallow attack, so the Giant Bear should only be left with paralysis.
After that both Ann and Tilika shot their Ice Bullet. The Giant Bear is still struggling even after getting shot twice.
"It is still alive. One more shot."
After getting pierced by one more Ice Bullet, the Giant Bear is finally dead. Although it has a body size of more than three meters and seems to be quite tough, there is no way that it can withstand four Ice Bullet shots to its head while it still can't move.
"A collaboration attack with Thunder is unstoppable."
"That's right. I wonder if I did a mistake somewhere, during our battle with the Dragon last time."
I stored the dead bear's body and check everyone's menu.
"Both Tilika and Ann's level are raised by 1."
"Raise me summon."
"Here?"
"Please."
I operate the menu and raise her [Summoning Magic].
Tilika Level 6 Skill 2P
Cooking level 1 Evil Eyes of Truth or Lies Magical Sense level 1 Water Magic level 3 Summoning Magic level 4"I raised it."
Tilika is just staring silently.
"Hey? What's wrong? Aren't you going to summon something now?"
"I won't do it since it'll be dangerous."
"Dangerous?"
"The next one requires contract ritual. This time, there is a need to defeat it before it acknowledges me as the master."
"Then it is 1v1?'
"It's okay to fight it with everyone. The summoner herself is not that strong."
Far from fulfilling it, even if it is told that the summoner is to fight alone, then won't they need to struggle a lot to accomplish it.
"Then I wonder what we should do."
"It will be fine! If we give a saturated magic attack at the place it is appearing, even a Dragon can be easily defeated, piece of cake!"
“Well, I guess so. Then why don't we look for an open space to test it now." pg. 91
"Isn't it better to do it near the town? I'm afraid something will happen."
Ann suggests an idea.
"If we are to do it nearby the forest, then nobody can see it. Hawk can survey the surrounding for us."
"Right. Let's stop hunting and return. I want to see the new summoned beast."
“I also want to learn new magic and practice it.”
"Ann is a Water Magic user, right? I can raise it to level 4."
"Yes, that's fine."
Ann has 7P. All the points will be used up to increase the Water Magic to level 3 and again to level 4.
Angela Level 5 Skill 0P
Cooking Level 3 Housework Level 2 Cudgel Martial Art level 1 Magical Power Enhancement level 2 MP Usage Reduction level 2 Magical Sensing Level 1 Recovery Magic Level 4 Water Magic Level 4【Water magic】
Water ball. Water Whip, Ice Bullet Water Wall, Ice and Snow/ Glacier (氷雪) Ice Dragon, Water Dragon"I already raised your water magic to level 4."
"Oh…yes. Thank you."
"Then let's go back. Should I open the gate? I already set one point here. We can continue this outside the town."
At the moment, we have set up transfer points in the basement of the house and the grasslands a bit far from the town, and at the hunting field.
"Wait a moment. I think we can't do it today. If we are doing it, then I want everyone to have full magical power. It is better only for Anne to practice magic today.”
Of course, I only used it to replenish Ellie's magic power after her Transfer. The rest are not used at all.
"You have a point. Shall we go back and relax today?”
"Fine by me. Do you think the bear can fetch a high price?"
It's a shame that we only have one prey today. But since it can be sell for high price, it's okay. I'm sure that this guy has plenty of meat.
"The bear's liver can be used as raw material for medicine. Not only that, we get lots of meat too."
"Wow. Then give me some meat after you sell it."
"Bear meat. I'm excited."
"The specialty of my hometown is a Bear Soup Hotpot. Shall I make it today?"
I really miss the hotpot since it is so cold nowadays. It's a shame that there are no Japanese soup stocks around. But the Ramen soup stock will suffice, I think? I'm sure it will turn out delicious.
"It's been a while since we ate Masaru sama's cooking."
Sati looks so happy. I wonder if I've neglected the house chores too much recently.
"Alright. Just leave it to me today."
"I'm looking forward to it. Masaru's dishes are always unique."
Yea, just no curry yet. I've tried to reproduce it a lot of time before, but it always ends up a failure.
"Then I'm opening the gate."
We gathered in the same place, then we squatted down. The transfer point outside the town is set at a place where there are tall and thick grasses. Therefore, if we crouched before transfer so we won't be visible once transferred.
After the transfer is activated, the scenery changes to grassland. There's no apparent effect during our transfer. When closing my eyes, I can't tell whether we already transferred or not unless by using my Magical Sense.
"Seems like there is nothing around."
"My detection didn't catch anything either. We can stand up now."
This place is quite far from the town and the highway. It's quite troublesome since we still need to move to reach town, but it is better than getting exposed.
Then why don't we go near the forest for Ann's magical practice. Since she is going to perform a large-scale magic, this way the sound won't disturb the town."
Even though we say practice, it is a given that our magic will not fail. The reason we do this is to confirm the power and range of the specified magic.
We walked around to find a suitable place where we will not disturb the city.
I already saw both spells for level 3 Water Magic. The water wall is a defensive magic that makes walls with water as it is.
At first I wondered just how is the Water Wall looks like. When activated, water is swirling in a shape of the wall, enough to defense against arrow or something similar.
Ice and Snow is the ice variant of the Windstorm used by Ellie. A storm with ice occurs and shreds the enemy.
The ice dragon and the water dragon also literally form a dragon with ice and water. The dragon you make moves freely and attacks enemies. The size can be adjusted, and the duration is quite good. Compared to Fire and Wind Magic which releases everything by one shot, it is only natural that this magic has a lesser firepower. However, if used correctly, it can be quite useful. I created a 10-meter Golem as a test target, and when I tried it out, the Water Dragon easily destroyed my Golem.
Whether the Golem is weak, or the Water Dragon is strong, I still can't distinguish the reason. However, like this we get to know the extent of the spell power.
"I see this is a good spell. Water Magic is not bad at all."
"This is making me a bit scared. Just hunting a bit inside the forest is enough to make me remember such magic, which makes me feel weird. As expected, I need to hide the matter regarding Masaru."
"Are you scared of my ability?'
I asked her worryingly.
"I'm not afraid of Masaru's ability. After all, it is a Divine Protection of God. What is giving me the creeps is the fact that I'm capable of wielding this spell so easily."
"It's alright, you will be used to it soon. It feels good to release such a big magic you know."
"I guess it's true. I can't deny that I'm having fun too."
"If you always use your magic till the limit like Ellie, then you might collapse. Ann, please don't do that, okay?"
"Excuse me! It only happened twice to me before."
This girl, did she do something that I don't know behind my back…Nania san sure had a hard time.
"For that matter I'll leave it to Ellie."
“I will not do it anymore. Maybe.”
This girl has no self-awareness for herself.
"Yes, yes. Should we go back to the town? I'm going to hunt some Wild Rabbit, but what about you guys?"
"Okay. I'll stop by the shrine on the way home. Are you going to prepare dinner for today?"
"Let's make a Bear Hotpot tonight. Please prepare the lunch."
"Me too."
Sati and Tilika are following me.
“Well then Ellie should come back with me and prepare lunch together.”
"I-I'll do my best…"
According to Ann, it will still take some time for Ellie to be a decent cook.
Separated from those 2, we went to the meadow.
Even though I always came here sometimes, whenever I sense the rabbit I'll still feel nervous.
"Let's split to the left and right like the usual. Tilika should follow closely so that you won't get separated."
"Yes."
"Understood."
After that, together with Sati, we managed to hunt down 10 Wild Rabbits. Satisfied, we went back to the town. Just by hunting the Wild Rabbit is not enough to live a satisfactory live, but our life is guaranteed since it is not dangerous.
When we arrived home, Ann and Ellie had also just arrived.
"It was busy at the shrine clinic, so I helped out a bit."
"I also helped around."
"How is your errand?"
"I just went there to send my regards. I'll start cooking now. Let's go, Ellie."
"I have a feeling that my cooking skill is going to improve soon. After I'm done, I'll ask you to try, Masaru."
Is that so. I don't think your skill is going to improve anytime soon, but I better don't run off my mouth here.
All of the dishes are made by Ann, therefore it can be eaten normally. And there is an original soup made by Ellie mixed together with the other dishes. Quite funny, really.
"I thought it is okay for me to leave the soup to her…"
When will Ellie acquire the cooking skill? And until then, do I have to eat the original cuisine? Today’s soup cannot be eaten because it is strange and unclear.
During afternoon, Ellie teaches us about Space Magic. The Item Box is a convenient skill to have, so it was decided that everyone is going to learn about it without using any points.
The students are Ann, Tilika and Sati.
As for myself, I passed. I have never had a bad experience with magical acquisition. Just that this time I saw that she had an extreme face on her. That's what I felt.
"I'm going to the guild to sell the bear. Do your best, everyone."
"Just leave it to me. I'll teach them passionately!"
And here I believe that I made a correct choice. Just look at Ellie, what's up with that weird passionate aura she has?
After coming back from selling the bear and a slight shopping, I saw Ann is completely exhausted. Tilika is making a face like Keroro while watching Sati sleeping the sofa. Sati has completely exhausted her magical power.
When I saw it, I silently replenished her magical power. I won't ask what had happened.
The bear hotpot that I made that night is quite popular.
By the way, tonight is the Christmas Eve. It's quite sad that there is no cake here to celebrate it, but getting surrounded by 4 beautiful girls tonight, is not a bad thing.