Chapter 490: Mount Kita

“Alright, so, our destination is Mount Kita, correct?” Yu An Yan asked for confirmation, and Lan Xiao Su nodded.

“From what I have researched… there is a temple at its peak called Seirei Shrine. The ‘seirei’ part means spirit, like ghosts or specters. I suspect that is where we will find the person we are looking for.”

“Hm? Person? Can I kill him?” Axilia asked, eyes sparkling with delight. Ling Xin sighed and rubbed her brows.

“No, Axilia, you cannot kill him. We need him alive to bypass the authentication system the Syndicate installed at Fragment to gatekeep us out. After we’re inside, though, you’re free to do whatever you want to him.”

“Yay!” Axilia giggled like a psychopath, but that’s not why I was getting the feeling that…

“Master. People are watching us,” Lorelei said in my mind, perched on my shoulder in her fox form and glancing around warily.

Yeah… I know. And I don’t like it.”

“They appear to be hostile, but their strength is nothing to worry about. Should we fight them here, master?”

Hm… you inspected their souls already? Damn, nice going, Lorelei.

“Lorelei is not worthy of praise,” she said humbly, and performed a curtsy the best she could in her fox form. “What is the call, master?”

Hm… we deal with them here. Letting them follow us would only be more troublesome.

“Indeed. Lorelei agrees. The only problem is if they will come to us on their own…”

Heh. No need to worry about that. Here they come.

Instantly, we found our table surrounded by a pack of beastfolk, all of which were glaring at me in particular with ferocious looks on their faces. The one leading them appeared to be a young tigerman, well-built and wielding a greatsword that could only be used by those thick muscles on his arms.

The girls, who had been happily chatting away while they enjoyed breakfast, were now on alert and eyed the beastmen warily.

“… Need something?” Feng Mian asked in an irritated tone, showing her annoyance for how these guys were looking at me.

“Yes—but not with you,” the tigerman said, then pointed his blade towards me. “I’ve been told you are traveling with all these beautiful maidens by your side, and yet you all shared one singular room last night at this tavern. Tell me, scum, what kind of dirty things did you do with them last night, and how did you force them into submission?”

I sighed, then turned to the counter of the tavern and hollered, “Hey, aren’t you going to do something about this? I’m getting harassed here.”

But the man at the counter merely turned a blind eye as if he did not hear me, and the tigerman suddenly slashed the table with his greatsword, destroying the wood instantly and sending sharp splinters flying everywhere. My eyes widened and I immediately used telekinesis to catch all the sharp splinters before they could hit me and the girls.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“… That was dangerous, you know,” I said with a wry grin.

“Hmph. You claim to be harassed, but what you are going through right here is undoubtedly far worse than what these poor girls had to suffer at your hands. Answer for your crimes, or I will force you to!”

“Tch-” Amane was ready to draw her sword, but I moved a hand in front of her to signal for her to stop, and did the same with Axilia.

“You guys have been standing up for me for too long,” I said with a smile, rotating my neck from left to right. “It’s been a while since I last showed my power in public… and I’m aching for a bit of attention. Now… kneel.”

“Wha-!”

The tigerman suddenly collapsed to the ground on his knees, shuddered by the power of gravity, and his accomplices didn’t have time to react either before they were all knocked unconscious. To everyone else, it all happened in the same instant, but really, what I did was stop time briefly and use Gravity Magic to force the tigerman down like this.

“Ngh…!” He groaned as he attempted to fight back against the power, but it was useless. Now, everyone else in the tavern was watching in a mixture of awe and fear, and none were brave enough to step in.

“… Hey. I’ll let you in on a little secret,” I whispered threateningly into his ear. “All of these fine girls you see here… are my soon-to-be wives. Believe what you will, but I didn’t force them to do anything. If you want to play hero and catch yourself some ladies… go do it somewhere else. All you’re doing here is making a fool out of yourself, idiot. Do you understand?”

“D-Damn you…!”

“Oh, at least you have some backbone,” I applauded, somewhat impressed. “Color me surprised. I’ve dealt with people like you more times than I can count, and let me just say, most of them have been cowards. Most of them… are also dead. But since you have some spine, I’d like to see just how long that can hold up.”

“NGH—!” The tigerman grunted in agony as I intensified the gravity and brought my boot down on his head, thoroughly crushing it against the sharp, splintered ground.

“That one was for disturbing our meal.”

Lifting my boot, I brought it down again, even harder than before.

“AGH!”

“That one was for slandering me. And this…”

I lifted my foot one final time, then brought it down as hard as I could, splattering the tigerman’s head into a bloody, pulverized mess.

“… Is for nearly hurting my women.”

Naturally, he didn’t cry out for this last one. After all, he was dead. With a snort, I lifted my boot from the disgusting pile of brains and blood on the floor, and Qing Yue ran a quick cleaning spell on it.

“… Darling is so cool~” Axilia cheered happily while the other girls only sighed.

“Xuan Kai, I’ve got to say, you went overboard again,” Yu An Yan said with a chuckle. “Just killing him was enough. This, though… is disgusting.”

“Sorry,” I said awkwardly, scratching my head. “I just couldn’t hold back after what he did. Attacking me is fine, but almost hurting you guys in the process… that’s unforgivable.”

“Hehe~ you’re so protective of us, Big Brother Xuan Kai,” Qing Yue giggled. “But soon-to-be wives, huh… hearing that makes me happy.”

“I agree, he’s protective,” Feng Mian added with a smile. “But that protectiveness creates a sense of safety, too—at least, for me. Despite his denseness when it comes to girls… he’s actually quite the boyfriend, huh?”

“Heh, he is good for something after all,” Flaria snickered. “But hey! Next time, you can’t just go saying ‘all the girls here are my soon-to-be wives.’ I’m not marrying you, y’know!”

“Yes, yes,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Wasn’t that implied? C’mon, you’re like my daughter. Marrying you is the weirdest thing that could possibly happen to me.”

“H-Hmph, as long as you know,” Flaria huffed, folding her arms and looking away. Perhaps she was a bit mad about how easily I pushed her away as a possible romance candidate, but really, she would be a far better pair for like Yami or something.

“Well, now that breakfast has been ruined…” Ling Xin stood up from her chair and gave a stretch. “… Shall we get going?”

We all nodded, and left the tavern without a second glance back. On the way out, gazes of fear followed us, and honestly, there would probably be consequences to my actions. That tigerman’s clothing weren’t ordinary. He was probably of noble descent or something. The police of this area would probably be looking for me.

But so what?

Let them come. I’ll take care of them one by one.

*****

Since there weren’t any railroads or even highways here, the girls and I had to fly to our destination, with Lan Xiao Su setting a course on her phone’s GPS. It was a hassle, but we could make the distance to the Yamanashi Prefecture with ease. It wasn’t that far away, after all.

“You know, it’s times like these that I wish we had some sort of private aerial transportation method,” I said as we flew in the air. “I mean, flying using magic is fine and all, but considering not all of us have an affinity for Sky Magic and some distances are just too far for us to cover, a helicopter or something of the sort would be nice.”

“Hm, that’s true,” Feng Mian said in agreement. “But I mean… where can we even get one? Do you know a place that sells private helicopters?”

“Uh… no? But I’m sure we can find a place on the Internet or something…”

“Or, if we’re lucky, we might even be able to find someone who builds them, fufu…” Ling Xin added with a wry smile. “Certain demihuman species are second only to dwarves in terms of craftsmanship, you know…”