Arcazam at midnight.

Nozomu was brought to Shīna's room in the women's dormitory where she lived.

Although it was unavoidable, it was bad to bring a male student into a girls' dormitory at such a time.

She brought Nozomu while watching her surroundings like a sneaky thief, and it was lucky, she could enter her room without being found by anyone.

She puts Nozomu inside her room and makes him sits on her chair, and she immediately brings water and treatment tools and begins to treat him.

Nozomu is being treated by her and he doesn't seem to resist as he did when he met her on the road.

Time goes by silently, and in the room, only the sound of Shīna moving her hands and the sound of the healing instruments are heard faintly in the dimly lit room.

"Fuuh. The wound isn't as deep as I expected. It seems that the blood has stopped, so disinfection is all that is needed."

Shīna, who was looking at Nozomu's wounds, said so. Most of his injuries were due to self-harm during his release of Ability Suppression. There are some wounds that he got when he was blown off by the Triclopes, but thanks to the potion, his life is not in danger, and the wounds themselves are already closed at that time.

"... You! If you have a potion, please drink it properly! It may be life-threatening !!"

"…………A……"

Actually, the potion that Nozomu had was only a little, but there was still a surplus. He just completely forgot to drink it.

"... S, sorry ..."

"... Haa ... did you want to die? If so, why don't you go to the depths of the forest alone? You'll die as soon as you want it."

Shīna's tone is getting harsher, but it's reasonable. We can say that her evaluation of Nozomu is the worst. She had previously thought it was an emergency, but she knew that Nozomu was in better condition than she expected and wasn't seriously injured, so her tone and attitude returned to normal.

"You, why are you wandering around in such a place at such a time and suffering such an injury? Moreover, it was full of mud. Isn't it strange? "

Her doubts are justified. Even if we think about it normally, the appearance of Nozomu up to that point can be mistaken for a suspicious person.

His whole body was covered with bloody mud. A tottering and unconscious gait. It seemed that it would not be strange to be reported to the military police.

“……………… I was inside the forest …………”

"Inside the forest? Who were you partying with?"

“……………… I'm not teamed up with anyone ………… I'm alone …………”

"Haa?! Alone ?! Are you stupid !? What were you thinking !!"

Shīna begins to get angry with her face bright red at the same time as she is amazed at Nozomu who was in the forest alone. From the perspective of not only her but also the people in this city, Nozomu is insane, as he enters the forest alone.

The people of this city know the demon beasts, who are lurking inside the forest, are their threats.

The history of this Arcazam City is short.

This city was originally a wilderness, it was a land where demon beasts had lived for a long time.

Since rivers flow nearby and water can be replenished, this land was chosen as the place to create this city due to the influence of each country, and it has only been 10 years since people settled here.

If we step away from the city and walk along the road, there is a good chance that we will encounter a demon beast, albeit weak.

There is also quite a distance from other cities, so when going from Arcazam to other cities, it was common to use horse-drawn carriages, and there were not many people walking.

Every year, many people are killed by being attacked by demon beasts while actually moving on foot.

What's more, the demon beasts that attack in the forest are not always alone.

Even veteran adventurers formed parties just in case, but Nozomu didn't even do that.

Perhaps because of that Shīna yelled at him. 

"Good grief! Didn't you know how dangerous it is to enter the forest alone with your 10th class ability !"

(Could it be that he really tried to kill himself……………… I shouldn't have helped him…………)

She said so and began to put away the treatment tools roughly, but she was knitting her eyebrows and her expression was somewhat sad.

*knock, knock, knock*

At that time, They heard a knock on the door of the room.

"Shīna! I'm sorry, it's already late at night, but I need to talk a little, is it okay now ?!"

From the other side of the door, they can hear the voice of an unknown woman.

The moment she heard the voice, a cold sweat spilled over Shīna's forehead, and she looked toward the door as if she had been snapped.

"Mi, Mimuru ?!"

Shīna makes a panicked voice.

By the name and her behavior, it is probably her friend. Nozomu thought so, but suddenly Shīna rushed towards Nozomu.

She took Nozomu's hand and opened the closet in the corner of the room, and forced Nozomu into it.

"Uwa~!"

Nozomu messed up the clothes inside the closet. The scent of the sun wafts through his nose, and his voice leaked out due to the sudden occurrence.

"?? Shīna? What's wrong?"

"!! So, sorry, Mimuru. I'm going out now!"

Shīna's friend asks from the other side of the door suspiciously whether she heard Nozomu's groaning, and Shīna smoothes it over in a hurry.

She hurriedly pushed Nozomu into the closet, and she hit Nozomu with a tremendous amount of bloodlust with her gaze.

Her gaze clearly says, "If you make a noise, I'll kill you !!!", and Nozomu is completely frozen.

She glances at Nozomu's appearance and closes the closet door. It reminds him of the bloodlust that seems to have oozed out of the giant he had defeated earlier.

Nozomu had no choice but to be petrified in total darkness.

After a few moments, Nozomu realized that his current situation was bad.

It's midnight now. If there is a man in a woman's room at this time, it will be bad for both of them. No, in this case, Nozomu would be the only one.

Even though he was brought in, in this situation everyone wouldn't believe it even if he told them the truth. What would everyone do if they thought he had sneaked into the girls' dormitory?

"......... Please ... ru ...."

"Yeah ..., ………… is it ………………"

Came a voice from the other side of the closet door. She seems to be talking to her friend.

"It………………"

"Actually …………………”

"Mimuru. I ......... uwa............... Triclopes too..."

Triclopes. The moment that word was heard. Nozomu's body trembled surprisedly.

At that time, his body hits the inner wall of the closet, *clatter!!* Makes a loud noise.

"Eh…………?"

"It, it's nothing …………. Ma, maybe ……………………"

In a hurry, Nozomu holds his breath and extinguishes his presence.

After a while, maybe their conversation was over, her footsteps came in front of the closet.

“………………..You can come out already”

With that said, her face, which he saw after the door opened, was harsher than before he was pushed into the closet.

***

Shīna's POV

I pushed him into the closet and opened the door of the room.

Behind the door was my friend Mimuru. She is a Wildcat girl with cat-like ears and a tail, and she is the same 3rd year and 2nd class student as me.

When I was in the first year, we started talking when we were next to each other in the same class, and we were also next to each other in the same class in the 2nd and 3rd year. It can be said that we are in an inseparable relationship.

"I'm sorry, Mimuru. I made you wait."

"Hmm, that's fine, but ... what happened? It was kind of strange."

She asks while tilting her head cutely. But I was surprised by her question.

"Eh~! Is that so? I don't think that's the case ..."

"Hmm. It looks like the room is normal, but ... it's just, I feel something is strange."

Mimuru looked into the room, narrowing the vertically opened pupils that were peculiar to the Wildcats tribe. She may notice it if she examined the room with her excellent sense of a beastman.

"A, anyway, what are you here for?"

With that in mind, I immediately tried to distract her by listening to the matter.

"Ah, that's right. Actually, We are going to the forest next time. It seems that Tom has something to do there, but it's okay, right?!"

Tom is a second-class student like me and he is Mimuru's lover. They seem to have been together even before they came to this school, and he is a petite boy with a thin body line, and he is good at magic and alchemy.

As we can see, he is not very good at fighting, but he has excellent results in research and experiments.

"Hey, Mimuru. What is he going to do?"

"Actually, it seems that Tom has a plant that he needs for the experiment, but he just ran out of it. That's why he wants to go to the forest for harvesting, but he seems to have to do some special processing immediately after harvesting that plant. "

Indeed, if special processing is required, he will need us to go with him.

However, I thought that we shouldn't go into the current forest very much.

When I thought about something. Anger springs up inside my heart.

I was thinking about the person who was just pushed into the closet.

A big idiot who entered the forest alone. He just wants to commit suicide. Even veteran adventurers need a party and don't do something like that !!

His reckless act makes me even angrier.

I hate people who throw their own lives away.

My childhood scene slightly floats across my head where anger arose.

The beginning of everything that led me to this place.

"?? Shīna. What's wrong?"

"! It's nothing, Mimuru"

My best friend's words brought me back to reality. The scene that faintly floats across my head disappeared,

I respond to my friend while thinking about how to make the contents of the closet unnoticed. 

"... Mimuru, I don't think we should go into the forest too much for now. There was a story in the guild that they saw Triclopes. And recently, the spirits of the forest are strangely noisy...."

*clatter!!*

"!!"

At that time, a loud noise was heard from the closet. Cold sweat flows on my back.

"Huh? What was that sound?"

"It, it was nothing. Maybe it was a rat. I've seen it a lot lately."

Her consciousness has turned towards my room again.

I half-forced her consciousness to return to our conversation of going to the forest by bringing up the continuation of her previous story.

I managed to gloss it over.

What are you doing!! Don't you know what would happen if someone saw you in this place! !! !! 

"Well, Tom isn't good at fighting, but that doesn't mean he can't fight, right? It's okay because he has a lot of useful tools for it! He can use magic, and we're also with him. Even if it's Triclops, it will be alright. The Knights are already moving, and even if we're in the forest, it's not that deep. We'll be back in less than half a day."

According to the story I heard from Mimuru, the plant he is looking for is a kind of moss, and it seems that it grows only on a specific tree. The tree also grows in the forest relatively close to the city.

I'm still a bit reluctant, but I'm also worried about my friends. It will be alright if it is close to the city.

"... I got it, Mimuru. Please tell him that too."

"Yup! Thank you Shīna !! Then, good night!" 

After telling Mimuru that I agreed, she returned to her room with a happy face.

After seeing her disappear across the hallway, I returned to my room and opened the closet.

“……….. You can come out now”

Then, he comes out of the closet creepingly, but I think it's unavoidable that my gaze has become even more glaring.

“………………………”

“………………………”

The room was filled with an awkward atmosphere.

Well, it can't be helped. What would have happened if I had been caught ...

I might be considered to have brought a heartless man, and it goes without saying what will happen to Nozomu, whose evaluation at the school was originally at the bottom.

***

“…………So, how long do you intend to stay in this room?”

"Ah!!"

Nozomu was taken aback by Shīna's words and raised his face. He realized that his injury had been treated and there was no reason for him to stay here.

"S, sorry. I'll be leaving soon..."

"... If so, be quick. That doesn't mean that someone won't come again, and if you are found, I'll get involved. "

She is completely back in her usual attitude.

She was originally not happy with Nozomu. She doesn't know what happened to him, but because he was alone in the forest, she assumed that Nozomu's injury was his own business. 

"And also, isn't it nice that you can recklessly enter the forest alone now. If you don't know your own capability, you won't be able to survive in the next one. "

“…………………………”

Shīna bit in a provoking tone because she doesn't know much about Nozomu. Nozomu didn't answer anything and just turned his face down.

He was exhausted both mentally and physically, and he didn't have the energy to say anything to her words.

Without saying anything, Nozomu touches the door of the room.

But the moment he heard the following words. Nozomu's head seemed to boil in an instant. 

"More importantly. No one willing to help you because you abandoned Lisa."

"!!!!!!"

He couldn't say anything because of his disgust towards himself, who run away by exerting power so easily, but the moment he heard her words, he grabbed Shīna's collar.

"Wha!! What are you doing ..............."

Shīna got angry as he grabbed her collar, but after that, she couldn't say anything.

“……………………….”

“……………………….”

The two facing each other.

Nozomu, who was extremely enraged, was seriously striking his bloodlust, albeit for a moment.

Nozomu's face was distorted by anger. The elf girl was dumbfounded by his bare emotions.

The incredibly intense bloodlust that was suddenly scattered, albeit for a short time, completely eliminated the surrounding sounds, giving the illusion that time had stopped for a moment.

"!!! ………… Sorry ………………" 

Realizing what he had done, Nozomu immediately released the collar he was holding, but the heavy atmosphere gets heavier and neither of them can look at each other.

Nozomu turns his back and walks straight toward the door.

“…………Treatment …… Thank you ……”

Nozomu disappears beyond the door.

"What on earth………… is going on…………" 

Shīna asked while muttering in the room. Her question is blocked by the closed door, and it simply scattered without reaching anyone but herself.

Just before Nozomu disappeared beyond the door, she heard his murderous voice towards her.

“……….I didn't do that …………”

***

In the depths of the forest, where the corpses of Triclopes and Cyclopes are scattered, there are shadows swarming on the corpses.

It was the demon beasts who were attracted to the smell of blood. They are eagerly devouring the corpses in front of them.

A Wild Dog that thrusts its neck into the belly of a giant, makes its face bloody and eats the internal organs.

Demon beasts with wings pecking the scattered internal organs.

Goblins slam their club against a corpse in a group, cut its meat with their crude knife, and eat it.

The meat of the giants, which is more than 10 bodies, is a treat that they never thought of, and they devour the meat as they wish.

A feast of blood and meat held in a section of the forest.

The scent makes the demon beasts' enthusiasm more lively. Perhaps it was too lively, there is a fight for the best meat in front of them in several places.

However, the atmosphere suddenly changed.

The enthusiasm that filled this place dissipates in an instant, and the strong smell of death overflows.

The smell of death wraps around the lively demon beasts and makes them feel as if they have come to another place.

Those who were smacking their lips at the blood and flesh in front of them, those who were fighting for meat with all their might, those who were already satisfied and watching the hustle and bustle in front of them. Everyone is staring at a point where something is located.

There were four legs that looked like they were bathed in black mud. The body was unable to melt into the darkness of the night, but beyond that darkness, countless red-black eyes could be seen.

There are no pupils in its eyes. A red-black light is shining from the darkness that splits in the shape of its eyes.

At the next moment, the demon beasts were covered in darkness, and all that remained was the sound of chewing something.