The girl is nervously wagging her tail low to the ground, she seems to be a rather shy person. I can sympathize with that, I'm not exactly an extrovert myself and suddenly encountering a stranger after getting lost in a forest would make anyone wary.
"Did you get lost?"
At least she looks lost to me, she looks tired and scared and I don't know what she would be doing here in the middle of nowhere.
"I... yes, I got lost, my friends are waiting for me at the exit of the forest, so if you don't mind I'll be going now..."
"What? No! You should not wander around on your own, now that we have found each other we should stay together"
"What!? But I... I don't..."
"Don't worry, this spider here can guide us to the exit"
I let her take a look at Longleg.
"A spider can guide us?"
Everyone gets surprised when they met Longleg for the first time, he always surpasses all expectations people have for spiders.
"I was trying to find a group of people who... stole a few things from me, but I've had no luck until now, maybe we'll see them while we're on our way"
It's probably better if I don't give her too many details or she might get the wrong idea, that said, for some reason, she got even more nervous when I told her that.
"I don't want to bother you if you are busy, I really should go..."
"No! No! You are not bothering me at all, and a forest like this can be dangerous for a girl wandering alone"
"Dangerous? Why... why would it be dangerous?"
"Well, you never know if there could be a bad guy somewhere around here and if you were to randomly stumble into them, who knows what kind of horrible things they would do to a cute girl like you"
"Eeeeek!!!"
Oh... I really scared her, maybe I went too far... but she needs to understand the danger she could be in.
"Don't worry, I'll be right behind you until you're back with your friends, you have nothing to worry about"
I try giving her a reassuring smile but that only causes her face to get even paler, it seems like I still need to practice smiling a bit more.
As we're on our way to the exit, we keep encountering several of my imps wandering around, the girl... I think she said her name was Silvea seems to get curious about them.
"Oh, those are monsters I created with a spell called 'spawn minion', as I told you before, I'm trying to find a group of thieves that should be hiding somewhere in this forest, so I ordered them to search the entire place"
"So they were really made by you... and you say that you sent them to catch those thieves..."
"Yeah... it's a pity that they are so dumb, I gave them a chance to accomplish something, but it seems like they are all going to die pointlessly"
"W-what!? They don't really need to die! Please, you need to think twice about this!"
No, no matter how many times I think about it, the imps are so weak and so stupid that there's no way they will be able to survive for long.
"It cannot be helped, that's just the natural result of trying to pick a fight with someone powerful when they are so weak"
I mean, they keep losing against slimes and squirrels and yet they still insist on fighting stronger monsters whenever they find one.
"But that doesn't mean they should die, please don't..."
Huh? She's starting to cry... even if the imps look like living creatures, in reality, they are nothing more than animated clumps of mana, there's no reason to feel sad for them... or does she think that having them constantly dying is bad for me since I have to spend my mana to make them?
"Oh, it's not like this is such a big deal, those guys are entirely disposable after all"
"D-disposable!?"
"Yes, after all, they're rather useless, and they can be easily replaced, so it's not like it matters if they die"
"But they're risking their lives to fulfill their duty! Isn't their bravery at least worth something!?"
"Bravery that does not accomplish anything is nothing more than stupidity"
To be honest, it would be better if my imps were a bit less brave, that way they would be able to last a bit longer...
"Hey look! We got out of the forest"
The dense forest ends abruptly in an open plain, it looks as if there was an invisible line and trees were not allowed after getting past it.
Not too far from where we are I see a strange vehicle I've never seen before, some parts are made of wood but most of it seems to be metal, perhaps it's some model of carriage that I don't know about?
"This is my friend's carriage, you can leave me here"
"So they're not here yet? I was hoping to meet them, but I'm in a hurry"
"Y-yes, thank you for everything"
Ugh... the way she's looking down while moving her ears is way too cute, I'm unable to resist the temptation and my hand moves to her ear by itself...
"Eheheh... wait, I recognize this sensation..."
"NOOOO!!!"
"I knew that I had seen you somewhere before!"
She's that one knight I met back then! The one with the ribbon! What is she doing in such a distant place? Did she follow me?
Wait, if she's a knight, could she be one of the ones who...
"Do you know where Nera is?"
"Please don't kill me!!!"
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"No, I'm not going to..."
"Let her go!"
Two more knights, a man and a woman, come out of the forest, are these Silvea's friends?
"Paula! Roul! Please don't get any closer, there's no way you can beat her! Leave me and save yourselves!"
"Don't be silly, there's no way we will abandon you!"
"That's right! If we have to die, we will die together!"
"You guys..."
I guess that this display of friendship and sacrifice should be very moving, but it's ruined by the fact that I don't really have any intention to hurt them...
"Nobody is going to die! Just tell me where Nera is"
"Excuse me, if you are looking for the princess, she's here with me"
"What? You!"
Ranna is sticking her head out of one of the strange carriage's windows, so she really was working with these knights, and I can see Nera next to her.
"Mmmmg mmmfph mmmm"
"Uh, Nera, I don't understand what you're saying... anyway, Ranna! Let Nera go and give Arana's hat back!"
"How do I know that you would not kill the knights when you have what you want?"
"WHAT!? Of course I won't kill them!"
Last time she seemed like she knew what my personality was like, so why is she saying this now? Could it be that this Ranna is an impostor?
"Then let the knights enter the car...riage with me and after that, I will give you the princess and the hat"
Is she trying to trick me? But it's not like she would be able to escape just because these guys are inside, from what I've seen from Ranna so far, she's probably going to summon a giant frog or something to pull the carriage, so I'll get a 'shadow chain' spell ready to trap the carriage the moment I sense her use any magic.
"Alright they can go in"
All three knights enter the carriage and close the doors.
"Well, are you going to..."
*Vroom*
"Eeeeeh!?"
The weird carriage makes a loud noise and a cloud of black smoke comes out from it's back and hits me, leaving me covered in some black substance.
When the smoke clears, the carriage is already a large distance away, and it's moving even further away at a high speed.
"Is that thing moving by itself!? How!?"
With that speed, I won't be able to catch up even if I fly...
"No... I let them escape"
It can't be... this was finally the time to prove that I could do something right even without Arana and I failed her. And I failed Nera as well, even though I'm so strong I'm still useless...
"Wait, what's that over there? Is that Arana's hat?"
There's a hat on the ground and Longleg is right on top of it, when I look closely I can see a spider thread attached to it, did Longleg do that while we were all talking? He's so smart!
"Thank you Longleg! You saved me! But... this is not Arana's hat"
I mean... Arana's hat is white and this one is blue...
When I go back to Arana I find her sleeping, so I place the hat on her head without her noticing.
"Uh? Luna! You got my hat back!?"
"Y-yes! I already put it on your head!"
"Thank you! But... something feels wrong about it"
Well, this hat is smaller than hers so it was a bit difficult to make it fit...
"It must be just your imagination..."
"Is that so..."
She definitely suspects something, but she's not taking her hat off to check, I guess Arana understands that there are certain things that she's better off not knowing...
"And what is that black stuff you are covered in?"
"Oh, I was in a hurry so I didn't clean myself..."
"In a hurry? Why?"
"Because they still have Nera! And they took her on a weird vehicle that can run really fast! We need to somehow get her back before they take her to her mother or she'll be in danger..."
"So we need a way to reach the capital of the Agua kingdom quickly... Ufufu, don't worry Luna, I have a solution for this"
Uh... I don't like it when Arana smiles like that.