He had heard of them from Kelly, the teacher that was summoned from another world along with her students as heroes. He had been warned of the fate that awaited him if he was deemed worthy and captured. The moment he saw the amazon, Ryner chose to escape and avoid combat altogether.

“Ryner, would it not be better to stand and fight?” [Evelyn]

“It’s fine. You saw her eyes and markings. She’s an amazon, you know, an amazon. If that teacher was right, we should avoid fighting and just run like hell. Amazons are a troublesome race, mostly for me. No way am I letting them rape me.” [Ryner]

If he lost on purpose, he would be killed. If he won, he would be hunted down and used for breeding. In that case, it would be better to escape.

“True, I won’t let any woman have their way with you. I’ll rip their lips and hearts out if they manage to so much as steal a kiss from you.” [Evelyn]

“I… I’m not sure what to say about this…” [Maya]

“Waaaahhhh!” [Snow]

“…!” [Myra]

Running past the trees, Evelyn and Ryner were talking to each other while maintaining their speed. Maya was following them with a panicking Snow in her arms. Myra was being carried by Ryner and was doing her best to stay quiet so as to not trouble him. They were getting farther and farther away from the dumbstruck amazon.

“However, there is only one of her. If we defeat her and hide her body, the rest of her tribe won’t know what happened until they find her. By then, we will be long gone and with no witness, no one will know that it was us.” [Evelyn]

“… Ah.” [Ryner]

He hadn’t thought about it at all. Such a possibility did exist. Although the light green-haired amazon seemed strong judging from her entrance and the aura she emanated, there was Maya and Evelyn with him. Perhaps knowing that he would be captured and rape until his use expired caused him to panic a bit.

Or perhaps the fact that he slept with Maya and Evelyn, someone that was like a daughter to him, because of the alcohol effect, still heavily weighed on his mind and affected his judgement. He had taken the vampire’s virginity and didn’t remember it. He didn’t show it, but he felt quite awful about it. That was something she was supposed to give to the man she loved.

“I didn’t think about i-.” [Ryner]

Before he could finish speaking, Riteinia quickly awoke from her stupor and chased after them. She had a furious expression on her face and easily closed the distance between them. They were running at Ryner’s speed which was still within the bounds of human limits. She, on the other hand, far exceeded such limits using body strengthening.

“Cra-!” [Ryner]

Although he knew she was strong, he had underestimated her full power. The amazon ignored the others and went straight for the insufferable man that dared make a fool out of her. He was faster than she thought, but he was still like a slow turtle to her. She would skewer his stomach with her bare hands.

“Don’t you dare touch him!” [Evelyn]

“Get lost!” [Riteinia]

But, she was intercepted by Evelyn who blocked her blow with her arms. The same action was repeated several times as Riteinia tried to eliminate her and move on to her real target. Although she met someone that could match her, she didn’t care since, right now, what she wanted the most was Ryner’s head.

On Evelyn’s right hand, black shadow gathered and swirled around it, covering it. She pulled back her hand and there was a simple golden hilt with no guard in her grasp. The shadow moved along the sword’s axis, revealing a thin blade that seemingly materialized out of nowhere.

She attacked the Matriarch with a downward swing, but this one dodged it by stopping just a few centimeters before it reached her.

“(What is that? An Artifact?)” [Riteinia]

She had observed the strange weapon that appeared from a black cloud of smoke and there was some sort of moving shadow that accompanied the arc of her attack. Her instincts told her of danger, so she was carefully avoiding every hit.

Evelyn was a prodigy, but so was Riteinia. Moreover, unlike the blonde vampire, she was a prodigy in combat. When Evelyn tried to stab her head off, Riteinia dodged it by tilting her head to the side and caught her hand. Then, she sent a punch in her guts which was blocked, but it only served to set her up for her next move. She threw Evelyn to the side and set her sights on Ryner.

Maya, who was in charge of protecting Snow, threw a fistful of rocks at her with enough destructive force to surpass a shotgun. But, the magically strengthened amazon simply covered her head with her arms and charged straight at the black-haired man. She thought she had him now after getting past all of the nuisances.

Her next attack would kill him and get the woman in his arms as well, but a weakling that couldn’t fight wasn’t worth considering. However, the next instant caused her eyes to go wide with shock. Riteinia was suddenly catapulted high in the air like a doll.

Sensing death approaching him and Myra, Ryner reacted instinctively and empowered himself with life force. He threw Myra vertically up and caught the amazon’s hand. He didn’t kill the force of her attack, but used it as he spun around and flung her back where she came from.

“AND DON’T COME BACK!” [Ryner]

He yelled such words at her as he caught the falling fox-eared woman in his arms.

“Ah crap, I kinda went all out for a moment there.” [Ryner]

He muttered in complaint since his body moved before he could think and used up some life force. He regretted not holding his ground and coming up with a battle plan to take her out with the help of Evelyn and Maya, though there was the danger of Myra and Snow getting caught up in it.

“Sorry, I let her get to you, master.” [Maya]

“Tch, that woman was better than I thought.” [Evelyn]

Maya apologized and Evelyn clicked her tongued in frustration after catching up. The light green-haired amazon was easily S rank. She was an opponent that they shouldn’t make light off.

“If you could throw her, why didn’t you try to kill her? You aren’t the type to show mercy to women.” [Evelyn]

“She’s got skills. Killing her wouldn’t be so easy and would drag things out. We’ve got two passengers with us, remember?” [Ryner]

Ryner said as he looked at the frightened Snow and trembling Myra. He said he would take responsibility, so he would bring them back home safe and sound.

“It would have been faster if we just fought her head-on.” [Evelyn]

“Yeah, running away was pretty useless… Ah whatever, Evelyn, Maya, we’re accelerating. Myra, Snow, keep your mouth shut or you’ll bite your tongue.” [Ryner]

The amazon was already out of sight, so they might as well continue with their escape plan. Upon Ryner’s orders, they ran at inhuman speed to escape from the Matriarch. As for her, after tracing an arc in the sky and landing a considerable distance away from where she was before, Riteinia laid on the ground with gouged out plants around her. She didn’t have a scratch on her nor felt any pain.

Even as a child, she was blessed with greater abilities than her peers. She was the strongest of the amazons. She had a large mana pool and fighting prowess that would easily make her an S rank warrior. As such-

“That man…” [Riteinia]

This was the first time she had been treated like a child and made fun of.

“How dare he…?!” [Riteinia]

The Matriarch got back on her feet and ran in the direction of the fleeing group. She would definitely not let them escape, especially the man. She remembered his appearance: slim build, black hair, dark brown left eye, strange white right eye and an overall weak look. But, she wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating him again. He was strong, strong enough to be on par with her and perhaps even…

“You won’t escape from me!” [Riteinia]

That thought brought her fury and a burning flame was lit inside her. She wanted to rip his detestable head off. Whoever he was, she would hunt him down and kill him. So, Riteinia ran in the Mountain’s Peak forest at blinding speed with a cruel and sadistic smile on her face.

“I’ll rip your guts out, tear them to pieces and feed them to you!” [Riteinia]

But, unfortunately for the amazonian leader, she never managed to catch up to them. They had escaped back onto the road and were driving away inside a black tank. Their last thought on the matter: avoid crazy amazons that suddenly attack you. As such, Mountain’s Peak Forest would be in their blacklist for a while.

Putting that incident on the back of their minds, the five of them continued their journey inside beastman territory. The deeper they went, the fewer humans there were and the more beastmen they saw. At the same time, the way they were looked at was reversed. Whenever they stopped at a town, it was Ryner and Evelyn who were getting hostiles looks the most. After all, they were humans, or at least they looked like humans.

“How’s your understanding of the beastkin language?” [Ryner]

“There’s no problem. I’ve already mastered it.” [Evelyn]

“Evelyn learns really fast. It’s a bit upsetting.” [Maya]

“That’s true. I’m jealous.” [Myra]

“If I was as smart as her, I wouldn’t need to study anymore. Mhh… *Grumble*” [Snow]

On their travel, Evelyn was learning the basics of the beastkin language with the help of the three beastmen. Thanks to that, Myra and Snow had the chance to see firsthand just how talented the vampire was. On the other hand, Ryner had no problem since he had already learned it from past experience, although the dialect was slightly different.

A few days later, they finally arrived at Myra and Snow’s hometown which happened to be the capital city of a powerful beastman kingdom: Ofauvra. This caused a certain problem that was only to be expected: only beastmen were allowed in the capital city.

However, they already expected this and they didn’t plan on entering either. Once Myra and Snow crossed the gates, Ryner, Evelyn and Maya would leave right away. Snow was sad to hear they would part, but when her mother whispered something to her, she became happy again.

So, after storing away their land vehicle in the pocket dimension, when they arrived before the gates of the city that was surrounded by walls, they were stopped by the guards stationed there. Two armored men with spears in their hands stepped in front of the group, blocking their path.

“Excuse me, but humans are not allowed in here.” [Guard]

He was speaking in the humankind language for Ryner and Evelyn.

“This is a beastman capital city. Please leav-…!” [Guard]

The black-haired man with panther ears was courteously telling Ryner and Evelyn that they were forbidden to enter as he scanned everyone with his eyes, but the moment he saw Myra and Snow, he abruptly stopped talking. There was surprise and a hint of excitement on his face.

“A-are you M-Myra Elkind and Snow Elkind?” [Guard]

He asked in a trembling voice. His partner, a beastman with the head of a dog, stared at the fox-eared women with wide eyes. The mother-daughter pair stepped in front of the group.

“Why yes, we had some trouble getting back, but we’re here. Is my husband doing well?” [Myra]

“We’re back!” [Snow]

Myra asked with a gentle smile. Snow, as cheerful as ever, raised her hand in the air and greeted the guards protecting her home. Upon hearing the blonde mother confirm his doubt, the panther-eared man and the other guards had joyful expressions on their faces.

“W-w-welcome back! We had sent a search warrant for the two of you, but to think you would come back on your own! Prime Minister Elkind will be happy to know you’re both safe! Oi! Go report the news!” [Guard]

“Got it!” [Guard]

The dog-headed beastman ran off toward the city to spread the news, entirely leaving his post to the others. Murmurs could be heard all around them from the people that were waiting to get in the city. The remaining guards stood with their backs straight and saluted the fox-eared beastmen.

Myra, ignoring the commotion they were causing, looked behind her and chuckled with a hand on her mouth. Ryner, Maya and Evelyn were simply staring at them without being sure of what was going on. However, judging from the reactions and how respectfully they were being treated, they could make a guess.

“… So, you were someone important.” [Ryner]

“Not exactly. My husband is. I’m just a housewife.” [Myra]

“Dad is the prime minister! He’s amazing!” [Snow]

Myra smiled modestly and put a hand to her cheek while Snow puffed out her chest and boasted about her father. It would appear that they were travelling with quite the important figures.

“Excuse me, but madam, who are these people?” [Guard]

Seeing the two that they had been searching for all over kingdom talking to a human, the armored beastman with panther ears asked what their relationship was.

“Fufu, there’s no need to be so polite. This man saved me and my daughter and even offered to bring us back. We owe a lot to him and his friends. Please treat them well.” [Myra]

“I-I see. In that case, young man, we owe you a debt of gratitude.” [Guard]

Just as he was about to bow, he finally noticed something that had evaded his attention all this time. He noticed the woman with dark blue hair in a braid and darker blue eyes. He noticed her light brown and black ears and tail that were reminiscent of a cat.

“Y-you! Could you be?! I mean, excuse me, but-” [Guard]

He noticed Maya who was staying silent and was uncomfortably looking away.

“Are you from the Catallard clan?!” [Guard]

*Author* Not sure if I have writer's block or am just feeling lazy, chapter production may slow down for a while. I'll write an elf chapter to change gears. Side story of chapter 56 will be completed at a later date as well.