Chapter 15: 『Pisca Chuma Barn』

"Life has its ups and downs, after all~♪"

Yep. And so, the Kizuna party set out on a journey to reform the world… or rather, save it.

After strengthening our bonds with my special curry, we eventually arrived at what I guess you could call a nomadic settlement? Basically, a place where rows of portable tents had been set up...

"Get outta here, meow! I'd rather die than let someone like you into our settlement, meow!"

"Whoa, whoa. The lord's own son came all the way here himself, you know? Anyone with a lick of common sense should understand what the tribe's proper choice is here. This is why barbarians are so troublesome."

"What did you just say, meow?!"

Well, of course they'd clash.

Padron and Pisca, the chief's only daughter, Pisca Chuma Barn, were already glaring daggers at each other.

The future lord of a fortified city and the future candidate for chief of a nomadic tribe—two peoples who had repeated generations of conflict—were never going to get along.

Oh, and you can probably tell from the way she talks, but Pisca is a cat-person, a beastfolk with cat ears and a cat tail. She has reddish hair with a slightly stronger pink tint, along with the ears, tail, and that "nya" way of ending her sentences... She's basically the embodiment of calculated cuteness. I bet she'd be incredibly popular with men.

Actually, she was.

Anyway. I'd better put a stop to this before things get worse. Kizuna and Padron haven't deepened their friendship enough yet. Rune is always doing her own thing and going wherever the wind takes her, so she's out of the question. Which means I'll have to step in and mediate.

"Don't forget why we're here, Padron. Please keep yourself under control for now. And you, too—please calm down. We didn't come here to fight."

"...All right. Sorry. I lost my temper."

For some reason, Padron always listens to me without putting up a fight.

Is this what they call my overflowing Big Sister Powa~r coming into play?

But now that I think about it, it feels like this started right after I served them curry. Was it really that delicious?

"Fwoosh! Hiss!"

Meanwhile, Pisca puffed up her fur and started hissing at me.

She's really wary of me...?

Why me, too?

Maybe it's some kind of wild instinct, or sixth sense. Whatever it is, hers is extremely sharp. There was supposed to be a bit where she became wary of the power sleeping deep within Rune, but why is she wary of me, too? Is it because I'm a spirit? Or maybe because of Lady Earth?

Well, whatever. No point worrying about the little details. Once she eats my cooking later, she'll probably warm up to me immediately anyway. I wonder if cat-people can eat hot food? If she's got a sensitive tongue like a cat, that could be troublesome.

And after one thing led to another, it was decided that we'd go hunt down the monster.

You don't understand how that happened? ...Well, it was decided, so what else could we do?

There was one dispute, then another... probably about four disputes in total, but after some passionate persuasion from Kizuna, we were finally given the opportunity to speak with the elders of the nomadic tribe.

During that meeting, monster hunting was proposed as a condition for the fortified city to meet with them and negotiate peace.

In game terms, this was the final boss battle of Chapter One.

To begin with, why had the fortified city decided to go to war?

Because a problem had arisen on the nomads' side.

And that problem all started when a powerful magical beast made its lair in one part of the grasslands.

During the battle to subdue the beast, Pisca's father, the great chief Ailros, suffered a grievous wound. Then, on top of that, he contracted an epidemic and passed away.

His daughter Pisca was far too young to take over—and, to begin with, she was a woman. As a result, an internal struggle over succession broke out within the tribe.

So, if that's the situation, the simplest way for Kizuna and the others to forge a friendship with the nomads is obvious: Kizuna's party has to defeat that powerful magical beast.

Defeating a monster that even the great chief, a man respected by everyone, had been unable to finish off... For a people who regard strength as justice, such a feat would be more than enough to inspire awe and respect.

And that's why we're going monster hunting.

Honestly, I really, really want to run away.

Night.

We're currently being allowed to rest inside one of the nomads' tents.

We're supposed to take it easy today, then first thing tomorrow morning, they'll guide us to the monster's territory. Apparently, several of the nomads' warriors will also fight alongside us.

They must have wanted their chance at revenge for a long time, too.

"Why are you saying such stupid things, meow?!"

And right now, Pisca is sitting inside the tent, glaring angrily at us with tears in her eyes.

Because she was around the same age as Kizuna, and because she was the daughter of the previous chief and therefore held an important position within the tribe, Pisca had been assigned to look after Kizuna's group during our stay.

And it seems she'd grown quite close to Kizuna over the course of the day.

Well, Padron was obviously out of the question, while Pisca was wary of Rune and me. So naturally, she ended up talking mostly with Kizuna.

"Even my father... the great Ailros Barn himself, couldn't defeat it, meow! And people like you are going to fight it...?! That's basically going there to die, meow!"

Apparently, now that she'd become friends with Kizuna, Pisca wanted to stop him from going monster hunting.

The monster that even her beloved, deeply respected father couldn't defeat. Perhaps she'd unconsciously seen the image of her father, who had died that day, in Kizuna.

"Hah. Then get lost, coward. Look at you, bawling like a baby. If this is what his daughter is like, maybe your father's strength wasn't all that great to begin with."

"What did you say, meow?! Don't you dare insult my father!"

"I'm saying that's how people are gonna see it! If you're proud of your great father, then act like someone worthy of being his daughter! Unless you want to drag his name through the mud! Though I suppose a barbarian like you wouldn't understand!"

"You bastard!"

"Both of you, calm down!"

I stepped between Padron and Pisca to stop them.

While Kizuna and Pisca had grown closer, the relationship between these two had gone spectacularly downhill in half a day. They'd clashed over the smallest things again and again.

Well, these two would eventually get along, too. Enough that they'd eventually have a ship called "PadoPiska."

There was absolutely no official romantic development between them, and Pisca actually had feelings for Kizuna, so it was a completely unofficial pairing. Still, it had a decent amount of popularity.

There's always a certain demand for bickering couples, right?

"Um, well... The biggest reason is that we're here to save the world. That's why we came in the first place."

After Kizuna and Rune joined in and somehow managed to calm the two of them down, Kizuna began speaking quietly.

I suppose this was his answer to what Pisca had said earlier.

"But that's not the only reason. If there are people suffering because a vicious magical beast has appeared, isn't wanting to help them just the natural thing to do?"

Haaaaaah―――――

A massive sigh.

There it is.

There it is again.

The thought process of a complete lunatic.

"Are you serious...?"

Padron looked shocked, too.

We really do think alike!

Padron had already resolved himself to fight as well. But that was because defeating the beast would lead to peace negotiations. Doing so would benefit the fortified city and help protect the people living there.

Kizuna, however, was completely different.

He was willing to fight simply because he wanted to help these nomadic people, whom he'd only just met, even though you could interpret their request as essentially forcing him to march into a deadly battle against a monster.

It was far too abnormal.

"That's definitely not normal. Well, this is just who Kizuna is. I've already given up."

"That's exactly what makes him Kizuna."

"Seriously...? No... Is that why he was chosen in the first place...? Now I get it."

While Pisca and Kizuna were creating a little world of their own, Padron, Rune, and I were whispering among ourselves nearby.

And even as we did, Kizuna continued speaking.

"I'm sure Pisca's father was the same way. He faced that powerful magical beast to protect you and everyone else. Even when he couldn't see any chance of winning, he still had a reason to fight. I think that's something you should be proud of."

"...!"

"Ah! Pisca!"

Whatever Kizuna's words made her think of, Pisca suddenly dashed out of the tent.

"Don't."

Padron stopped Kizuna as he tried to follow her.

"Let her think about it by herself for now. She's a warrior, too. If that's the case, she'll find her own answer eventually."

"Padron..."

I don't really understand all this warrior stuff, but I agree that she should be given some time alone to think.

I'll always strive to play the role of the understanding woman.

"You actually said something pretty nice there. Are you sure you don't secretly dislike Pisca?"

"N-No, that's not it! ...It's just that I'm still struggling with something my father once told me. And I've come to think that it's something I have to find the answer to myself. That's why I thought she should find her own answer too—as a warrior, and as the daughter of a great father."

"Padron is kind."

"He's got a nasty mouth, but he's kind."

"Sh-Shut up! How the hell did you get that from what I said?! Go to sleep already! We've got an early morning tomorrow!"

I see.

When you actually watch these two up close, as someone involved in the situation, I can kind of understand it.

Maybe PadoPiska really isn't a zero-percent possibility after all.

Well, it's got nothing to do with me.

Tomorrow is the day of the decisive battle.

An enemy so powerful that even these battle-hardened nomads couldn't defeat it. In game terms, it's certainly worthy of being the final boss of Chapter One.

If we fight it normally, there's no way we'll win.

But apparently, during the previous battle, Pisca's father Ailros managed to land a devastating blow on the monster... or so I remember from my notes.

In exchange for suffering a fatal wound himself, Ailros dealt the monster a severe injury.

His desperate attack wasn't quite enough to kill the beast, but it completely robbed it of the strength to continue attacking the nomads and forced it to retreat.

Even now, its wounds haven't fully healed, and apparently it can no longer use even half the power it possessed in its prime.

Still, we can't afford to let our guard down.

We nearly died in the labyrinth, and we nearly died against Tetoma, too.

We'll just have to fight without ever relaxing our vigilance.

...At least, that's what I was thinking when I started hearing the sound of breathing.

The three of them must have fallen asleep.

The truth is, spirits don't sleep, so I'm really just lying here under the blankets.

Spending the entire night doing nothing would be boring, though.

So, as usual, I began concentrating my consciousness on my inner world.

When I do this, my personality, which is normally unified into a single whole, clearly splits into three separate personalities, and I get to enjoy chatting with them.

...That makes me sound like some lonely kid with no friends.

No, I mean, technically they're completely separate personalities, even if they're still me, right?

And one of them is literally the will of the stars themselves, so...

I'm not a loner, okay?!

And so, the night deepened across the grasslands.

"Are you really going, meow?"

"...Yeah. If I don't go now, I'll regret it."

The following morning.

Pisca approached Kizuna as he prepared to leave.

"You're... an idiot, meow."

"Haha. Tierra and the others tell me that pretty often, too."

Of course they do.

You're an idiot.

You're completely abnormal.

"But you have the same eyes as my father, meow. The same eyes he had when he went off to fight that day."

Pisca paused for a moment before looking directly into Kizuna's eyes.

The light of sunrise shining over the horizon illuminated the two of them.

Ah, yep. That's definitely getting an illustration.

Promotion to heroine status confirmed!

"Kizuna. I'm going to fight, too. I want you to take me with you, meow."

"Pisca..."

"After hearing what you said yesterday, I thought about it in my own way, meow. I can't keep running away forever... That's what I realized, meow. So I'm going to fight. Together with you, Kizuna."

"...Yeah. I understand. Let's do this together, Pisca!"

Good for you, Kizuna!

You've just taken your first step toward an otherworldly harem!

As long as you don't get in my way, I'll cheer you on as much as you want!

Go ahead and compete with each other and tear each other apart over your shared "I love the protagonist" attribute!

I'll steal the popularity for myself using a slightly different approach!

Morning arrived on the grasslands.

The battle was about to begin.