Hearing the girl's voice, Ciel slowly turned his head. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

As early as a few minutes ago, Hill had already noticed the sound of footsteps stepping on blades of grass more than ten meters away. But this is a mountain forest, and theoretically anyone can come and go freely, so Hill didn't pay special attention to that existence bet.

No, that's not very serious. In fact, even if it's someone Hill knows, he'll turn a blind eye to someone until they've "activated" him by talking to him or doing something about it. This was the logic of Ciel's actions, and no matter how bizarre the sight of a giant troll flying up and down in the sky on a pure white unicorn, or the sudden appearance of a group of men in the middle of the woods, naked except for his dancing shoes, passing him in graceful ballet steps to the accompaniment of musicians, Hill was unmoved.

At this time, Hill, who turned around, judged that the object of the girl's complaint was related to himself.

"It's you."

At the sight of the girl's face, Hill showed a look of surprise - it was a lie, and his face lacked change as always.

While he was looking back, he pulled the huge bear paw hanging in the air and slipped from his hands and smashed to the ground with a loud sound.

"You know me?" Ciel's reaction surprised Alex, who had just recovered from her complaints. However, without waiting for Hill to answer, she quickly synthesized clues and saw through the answer: "I know, is it you the one who found me fainted on the side of the road and brought me back to the kiss of death?" ”

It was the quickest reaction of Alex in sixteen years of life, and after the words came out, she couldn't help but revel and be proud of the intelligence and acumen she had shown, and Alex looked at the boy with a remarkable look on her face, expecting the surprise and compliment that followed.

"Yes."

Hill nodded, his face expressionless.

…… Here's how. Alex's anticipation was extinguished as if cold water had been poured on her. Taken for a fool? By the way, this person has seen the miserable appearance of himself fainting on the side of the road, maybe he was underestimated because of that embarrassed image.

――Then, it is necessary to defend the image of a girl.

"Explanation—I'll explain—people don't pass out because they're injured or attacked by monsters! It's just that I'm running out of food, and I'm just fainting from hunger! Alex said with a tsundere look for some reason.

"I'm hungry, huh."

Hill naturally lowered his gaze and cast his gaze on the girl's abdomen.

"Wait—where are you looking!?" Alex, who had further shattered the girl's image because of her self-explosion, blushed and blocked Ciel's vision with her arms in annoyance.

"What are you doing here?"

Ciel, oblivious to the girl's shame, asked as he quietly looked at Alex's face.

"Huh...... Yes...... That, that, my name is Alex. I heard Miss Salom say that you practice in the mountains-" Alex seemed to react at this, and she shifted her gaze back to Ciel, "Before that, what was that?" ”

As she spoke, Alex's gaze met with that of what appeared to be a giant creature lying on the ground that appeared to be a bear, and the mysterious creature looked at her for a moment, then suddenly raised her right palm and made a GoodJob gesture to her.

"It's just a normal bear."

"Less ghost! How can there be such a big bear in the world? And it just secretly gave me a thumbs up!? ”

Alex complained excitedly.

"Torotaro is just stronger and a little smarter."

"I'd better believe that! Monster bar! That's definitely a monster, right!? ”

"It's not."

"Liar, that's a monster no matter how you look at it......"

"It's not."

In the face of Ciel's brief and persistent answer, Alex calmed down and fell silent for a moment.

"Really? Hawkers! If you think about it normally, how can humans get along well with monsters? And the world is so big, it is inevitable that there will be a few gifted animals. Although it is reminiscent of the legendary monster above level 14 - Fighting Bear, no matter how you look at it, it must be an illusion, right? ”

"You can understand, Torotaro and I are very happy."

"By the way, what is its rank—?"

"Level 16."

"Isn't this exactly a monster!?"

Alex went berserk in an instant.

"And the level is actually one level higher than me, I feel super uncomfortable!"

“.…..”

Hill turned his face sideways and was silent.

What's going on with this kid? Alex slowly calmed down and looked at Ciel as her chest heaved violently. This kind of undulating voice and lack of change in the expression should be the three nos mentioned in the book, right? But aren't all girls who hold this attribute? What kind of distorted creators would challenge this trend of reverse aesthetics?

And-

Alex looked at Ciel and the giant bear lying next to him, one and the other staring at her with the same clear and innocent eyes.

Being looked at like this, Alex inexplicably had a feeling that she was stupid if she was calculating.

With a sigh, she slowly walked over to the bear, who was lying on the ground and blinking at her. Alex cautiously tried to touch the bear's furry body, her outstretched hand touching a warm, soft piece of fur without hindrance.

"What's its name?" Sliding her right hand to the touch, Alex turned to the side and asked Ciel.

"Torotaro."

"...... it's a bear?"

"It's a way of naming it as a comedy artist."

For some reason, Alex could see a hint of smugness on the expressionless Ciel's face.

“…… Is it? ”

For a moment, a twisted figure walking in a jar of wine overhead flashed through Alex's mind. But she quickly dispelled it, and a whimsical guess popped into her mind.

"Could it be that your cultivation in the mountains is to ...... with this bear?"

Before she could finish her sentence, she noticed a large area of trees on the side of the clearing that had been smashed by the barricade, as well as leaves and dust clinging to the fur of "Torataro".

――Is this young man's so-called cultivation referring to fighting monsters of this size with his bare hands?

Alex was speechless in surprise for a moment, this matter was beyond the "common sense" she knew. Even the cultivation of martial artists in the comics is just a struggle against ordinary beasts, and the gap between beasts and monsters is as difficult to cross as a moat. As an explanation, the beast that poses the greatest threat to humans on the continent is only level 5 at the most, and it belongs to the type that ordinary adventurers can easily deal with. And the level 16 monster is the object that about 7% of adventurers will not be able to surpass in their lifetime. Without the use of weapons and traps, he can compete with monsters known for their strength alone with his physical strength, which is almost a heroic figure. Not to mention looking at the current situation, this teenager seems to have knocked the monster to the ground and has the absolute upper hand. Is this the trump card of Kiss of Death? Alex has a deeper understanding of Salom's words.

- I may have found a treasure.

Alex had a thought in her mind.

Because Alex was silent for a long time, Hill on the other side was already holding one of Torotaro's forearms and trying to drag it up. Forced like this, "Torotaro" pitifully cast a pleading look at Alex.

"Wait, wait."

Alex spun around and ran to Ciel's side—it took her nearly ten seconds. Once on the other side, she grabbed Ciel's hand and looked him up and down.

Well, although I sweated, it didn't smell, very much.

The eyes are very clear, and there are no evil thoughts at all, ten.

If you look closely, the face is also very cute, very much.

The height seems to be a little lower than himself, but this kind of thing doesn't matter at all, ten.

At the age of sixteen, he has a high level of strength, and on top of this, he can fully expect the future development space, ten.

"Perfect." Alex shook Ciel's hand with emotion, "Please be my accomplice, no, companion." ”

"Companion?" Hill tilted his head slightly.

"Yes, join me on a difficult journey of revenge, searching for enemies and companions for the meaning of life."

"What is the meaning of life......?"

Ciel looked up at Alex, who felt a faint glow in his eyes.

Oops, most people would have retreated when they heard such inexplicable words. Alex felt a little regretful in her heart.

"Is your enemy a bad person?"

"Huh? …… Ah, probably. "To be honest, Alex doesn't even know who her enemies are or how many there are. But it must be the bad guys who killed all her own people—and even that, she couldn't be sure from the bottom of her heart.

Her own people have been isolated from the outside world, and Alex has no idea what they have guarded for many years, and what secrets they hold. She was sure that her people were good, but whether they were righteous or not was a matter of two things—maybe they were some hidden, paranoid organization that haunted Alex like a ghost for seven months, causing her great pain. But in any case, this is not a reason for those people to wantonly mutilate them. She vows to find the killers and take revenge on them with blood. If her own race is really evil, then she will simply be a female cadre of a dark organization like in the comics.

But none of these words could be said to Hill, and her heart slowly sank. Kiss of Death is an organization that preaches justice, and he can't even discern the position of the enemy, can he really convince the trump card of Kiss of Death in front of him?

"Probably mean, not sure?"

“…… That's it. Alex felt a little bitter inside.

"That is, I don't know if the enemy is a good person or a bad person?"

"...... yes."

Alex's heart had sunk to the bottom, and she watched the young man in front of her slowly speak, was he going to laugh at himself? No, he's a three-no, he shouldn't be able to do such a thing. It's about refusing --

"I'll do it."

“…… Huh? What to do, what to do? Alex asked, a little dumbfounded.

"Your companion."

"Really, really!?" Alex clenched Ciel's hand excitedly: "But but, the number of the other party, good and evil, and identity are not known, right?" ”

"Once you find it, you'll know."

"Huh?"

"What is good and what is evil, I don't understand."

Ciel looked at Alex with clear eyes, and his eyes reflected the girl's stunned face—

"So when that happens, it's up to Alex to tell me that it's fine."

The boy said.