The Glutton
As Joan ran straight at Martin—
“Eh? W-wait a second…”
Martin hadn’t expected her to come at him unarmed, so he quickly dropped his own practice sword to avoid injuring her and braced himself.
Joan, having gained momentum, charged with a low stance, tackling Martin’s abdomen with her shoulder like a rugby or American football player. A move similar to a professional wrestling spear.
“Ugh!”
He caught Joan’s charge, but due to the height difference, her shoulder hit him square in the solar plexus. The pain and difficulty breathing caused him to double over, and Joan followed up with a sweeping move to his legs, causing him to fall on his rear.
Joan then locked Martin’s leg into a figure-four shape with her right leg, hooking her free left leg onto his bent right knee. The classic figure-four leg lock.
“Eh… ow! Owwww… Why can’t I get out?! I-I give up… J-Joan, y-you win…”
Joan immediately released his leg.
“Yaaay, I won!”
Clap clap clap clap…
“Well done, Young Lady Joan.”
Turning toward the applause, Joan found Sarah, who had been sitting far away on the bench earlier, now standing right behind her.
Ah—! I nearly screamed!
When did she get behind me? I didn’t hear a thing… Not even her footsteps. Is she really a ninja?
“J-Joan… What was that technique…?”
Nat, clearly a bit taken aback, asked cautiously.
“What? Oh, that was just a figure-four leg lock.”
“You say that like it’s totally normal, but I’ve never seen that before…”
“Wait… could it be that wrestling move Kira mentioned before?”
“Oh, the one she used to take down those Phantasmo guys?”
“Huh? But that’s not the same one we heard about, right?”
The Jr. members all began chatting.
“Umm, well, there are lots of pro wrestling moves. So the one I used against Phantasmo was a different one.”
“““““Ohhh.”””””
＊＊＊
After lunch, we headed to the Adventurers’ Guild.
We pushed open the familiar swinging doors and stepped inside. There she was—our target at the reception counter!
“Miss Lily, hello~!”
“Oh, Joan! How’s the academy?”
“It's fun! Oh, and this is my best friend, Belle.”
“H-hi… n-nice to meet you… I-I’m Belle…”
“Hello~ I’m Lily, receptionist for the Lampail Guild. Are you two here to take on a request today?”
“Yep, we are! Do you have anything to recommend?”
“Hmm… What rank are you, Miss Belle?”
“Eh? Ah, I-I’m a D-rank from the Burst Guild…”
“My! That’s impressive. Then how about this one?”
Miss Lily handed us a request form—for a Big Boar subjugation. We would ride Pearl together and head to the forest near Mr. Mack’s house—the same place where we previously took down goblins and a hobgoblin.
“A Big Boar, huh… That’s pork meat. What should we cook with it~?”
“Joan… you’re treating the target beast like meat already?”
“Well, if it’s edible, we have to eat it all up. Otherwise, it’s disrespectful to the monster we defeated, right?”
“Eh? Is that how it works…?”
(Belle, Joan just wants to eat it, that’s all.)
“Joan… um, were you like this in your past life too?”
“In my past life, it was a world without magic or spells, but with advanced civilization. And there were no monsters. But yeah, I loved cooking and eating.”
(So the gluttony hasn’t changed.)
“Paaaaarl~!”
“Ahaha.”
We chatted like this while riding Pearl, who was much faster than a carriage.
“Now that I think about it, Belle, this is your first time riding Pearl, right? You’re not scared?”
I asked Belle, who was sitting behind me, something I’d been wondering about.
“Eh? You're asking now? I’m fine. Well, I was nervous at first, but it’s you and Pearl, so I feel safe.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re not scared.”
(We’re getting close.)
“Okay, then drop us off near the forest entrance.”
(Got it.)
This forest lies west of the Lampail territory and is known as Westwoods. Incidentally, Pearl’s homeland, Crimson Woods, is in the south.
Unlike our winter goblin hunt, Westwoods was now bathed in warm sunlight, with the trees covered in fresh young leaves and a gentle green hue filling the area. Birds chirped in the treetops, and flowers bloomed underfoot.
“Wow~ It’s perfect for a picnic~”
(Joan? We’re not here for a picnic. It’s a hunt.)
“Y-yeah, I know! A hunt, a hunt! … But let’s have tea afterward, okay?”
(Agreed~)
“All right! Then let’s go catch us some pork!”
“Joan, calling it pork… Well, whatever. So, where is it?”
Belle had decided to give up trying to correct Joan. Because… well, it’s Joan.
(Hmm… It’s probably that way.)
Following Pearl’s sense of smell, we headed deeper into the forest.
After a while, a large black shadow came into view between the trees.
“Ah, is that it?”
Looking closer, we saw small piglets—uribō—around the Big Boar.
“Wait… is that a parent and its kids?”
“Looks like it. What should we do?”
(They were probably born this spring.)
“What do we do? If we take down the mama boar, the babies will be in trouble, right?”
“Hmm, but the request was for a subjugation. Because it’s been eating all the sweet potato roots.”
“Yeah, you’re right… Hey, Pearl, do you think you could persuade the mama boar to move deeper into the forest?”
(Hmm… I’ll give it a try.)
Saying that, Pearl slowly approached the Big Boar and its young.
Belle and I watched from a distance as the mama boar became visibly alert when Pearl neared. However, Pearl seemed to be communicating something, and the mama occasionally nodded up and down as if understanding.
(Joan, Belle, it’s safe to come over now~)
Called over by Pearl, Belle and I exchanged a glance, nodded silently, and walked over to her.
What do you think about this chapter?
