Allrounders!! Chapter 59

11-14 minutes 22.07.2022

Climbing the mountains, we searched for charge cows. But, we couldn’t find any.

Yep, I knew it. I’m a woman feared by monsters.

“…Swooord, the charge cows might hate .”

“Ah, your talkin’ ’bout the 『monsters can tell strong foes apart』 thing? Shit, that imdiately puts us in a bind. …Okay, no choice, you get off the mountain. I’ll catch so myself.”

No, no, no! I don’t wanna! I wanna catch so with my own hands!

“Uuuhh…”

As soon as I started to whimper with tears in my eyes, Sword tried to calm by gently caressing my head.

“No helpin’ it, I think. …Or rather, it’s damn incredible that we haven’t run into a single monster so far.”

Why!? Am I possibly emitting so sll that repels monsters?!?

＊

Just around the ti when I was about to start thinking that I might as well leave the mountains after getting cald by Sword…

“A~~~argh! No~~~o!”

…screams echoed across the mountain.

“…Ah, co on, I told ’em to stay away since it’d be dangerous! And yet there’s still folk left up here?!”

“Or rather, doesn’t it point towards them having been ambushed? The voice just now sounded like that of a boy!”

It was a child’s voice. But since it wasn’t as high-pitched as a girl’s voice, I think it ca from a boy.

Once we rushed over, a monster was in the middle of attacking the boy called Serge. Probably because he had stumbled, he fell on the ground, resulting in him evading the monster’s charge by luck. But, he doesn’t seem to be skilled enough to defeat the monster himself.

…Hmm? This monster…is that possibly…?

“It doesn’t look like a cow, but…is that a charge cow?”

It’s black and is equipped with magnificent horns. If I had to describe it one way or another, I’d say it resembles a deer in so ways. Its face leans sowhat closer to that of a cow, I think?

“Hey! Are you a charge cow?”

Addressed by , the monster looked my way.

Ooohh! It seems to be intelligent!

“Ooohh, good boy, good boy…Should I give you sothing to eat right now? It’s special fodder made by !”

Since it looked like it understood what I was saying, I took out the feed as a test. The boy was taken aback.

“Ah, does it look like you’ll be able to capture it?”

“Wait, this monster seems to understand . I’ll try feeding it, and if it likes the fodder, I’ll give persuasion a go.”

“…Talk? You’re going to talk with it? Well, okay, why not. Suit yourself. Once you’ve got your fill, I’ll capture it.”

Sword said sothing disturbing. anwhile the boy booted back up.

“T-This thing t-tried to kill !!”

“So? What about it? Don’t be such a pain in the ass and shut up.” Loud shouting might startle the charge cow. “It’s your fault for surprising it despite being such a weakling. If you don’t want to get killed, behave yourself. …Good boy, calm down, I’ll protect you, okay?”

The boy beca astonished again. anwhile the charge cow had apparently taken a liking to the fodder, and began to greedily stuff itself after lowing, “Bhmoooh! (Delicious!)”

And since it imdiately started to release milk, I took out a container in a hurry, and fetched the milk. I gently brushed it while it was eating.

“You like the food? …Sword, it seems like it’s taken a liking to ! Once it finishes eating, I’ll try scouting it!”

“Yeah, sure, whatever floats your boat.”

Why is he so apathetic about it?

While I was frolicking around with the cow, the boy apparently recovered, imdiately turned bright red, and shouted, “Y-You’re calling a weakling!? Okay, I got it, I’ll prove to you how strong I am by defeating that charge cow…”

“Hey, brat, why are you here?” Sword interrupted him coldly.

The boy jumped with a start, and looked at Sword.

“I got the guild to put up a notification, statin’, 『Please stay away from the mountains in order to avoid any danger while we’re capturin’ charge cows』, didn’t I? Indra taught you people new milk dishes, which she could have used as a source of inco for herself, for free and treated the guildmasters to expensive wine, and this is the result? …Ignorin’ the warnin’ put out by us is your own decision. But, then you’ve got no right to bitch ’bout get killed. Your just a damn nuisance for us.”

The boy started to cry. I ignored the whole matter altogether, and focused on playing with the cow.

“…Hey, how about coming with ? Wouldn’t you want to live on a farm prepared by ? I get it that you like the mount…oh, you’re going to co with !? Great! So you’re going to accompany !”

“Bhmooh!”

“I got it!!”

I tightly hugged the cow.

“…Bah, and just as I’m havin’ a serious talk over here, our crazy genius is pullin’ so silly stunts. Hey, everythin’ ‘kay with your head?”

Ignore! I’m going to ignore the peanut gallery!

“Say, I’d like a few more of your friends to co with . Any ideas for potential candidates? You’d feel lonely all by yourself, right? I won’t be at our base all the ti either. Could you get so friends to co with you?”

“Bhmooh!”

It replied, and trotted away.

“Oi, it’s runnin’ away, you know?”

“As if. I’ve explained the circumstances and we’ve agreed on it persuading its friends.”

“What agreent are you talkin’ ’bout!? All I’ve heard was that cow bhmooin’ ’round!”

How rude! We properly understood each other!

“For the ti being, I’m going to put the milk in vacuum packs. This will lengthen its durability.”

I decanted the milk, and sealed the packs.

＊

One hour of waiting later.

Sword preached to , “Give it a rest and give up already, will you? Take the brat and get off the mountain. I’ll catch you so charge cows.”

But, just as I pretended to be deaf, I could hear a rustling, and that charge cow showed up! It has co back with friends!

Sword and the boy were dumbstruck.

“Oohh! You’re back! So you got two friends to co with you, huh!?”

“Bhmooh.”

“Moooohh.”

“Boooohh.”

“Nice, nice, you’re good cows. I’m looking forward to working with you from now on. Want to eat so more?”

“””Bhmooooh!”””

“I see, I see. Wait a sec, I’ll take the fodder out right away, okay?”

In a hurry I took out the feed and fed it to them. And as they started to release milk, I fetched it with containers in a hurry.

“…Holy shit, I feel like my common sense croaked just now. Yep, I’ll admit it, I’m still lackin’ experience on all accounts.” Sword grinned while watching this whole scene.

“If you get surprised by sothing of this level, you’re still lacking experience for sure. But, I still have a long way to go as well! I look forward to our future adventures!”

Sword laughed out loud, and ruffled my hair.

“I see, your completely right. I still haven’t adventured enough, or rather, this is quite a decent adventurer tale, you know? Sothin’ like talkin’ with monsters and befriendin’ ’em…even a tar wouldn’t be able to pull that off. …And so, these guys are most likely unique monsters, I suspect. Look at their color.”

Hmm? Color?

The first child is black. Its friends are white.

“Aren’t those their usual colors?”

“Ordinarily it’d be light brown.”

Certainly, that color would be possible, too.

When I lifted my face, Black lowed, “Bhmooh!”

“Hmm, I see!”

“Bhmoomoo!”

“Oh, okay.”

“Bhmoomoomoomoo!”

“I understand.”

When I talked with Black, the back of my head got slapped.

“What kind of sketch are you pullin’ while lookin’ all serious!?”

I rubbed the back of my head, “It’s no sketch. I talked with him. ―According to Black, he was born with this color, and it made him stand out. It caused him to get often attacked by other monsters and humans. He didn’t get fed like the other charge cows, and since I scouted him just as he was about to starve, he brought friends with similar circumstances over.”

Sword looked at dumbfounded, his mouth gaping open.

“…What? Such magic exists, doesn’t it?”

“What kind of magic!? Ain’t no friggin’ way for that magic ― whatever it might be ― to exist, is there!?” He thundered at while sending his saliva flying.

“…But it does, you see? You transmit your will by including it in magic elents and sound. At the sa ti, you read the other party’s will that got transmitted through their magic elents and sounds. It’s kinda similar to sound waves and light waves. It didn’t work like that in the other world, but as might be expected of this world, it’s really anything goes with magic.”

Sword placed a hand on his forehead and groaned, “…Your ’bout the only one in this world for whom this anythin’ goes of yours applies. Just what the hell is that magic?”

“Hmm? …Magic tools exist, don’t they? This spell is similar to the tool used by the guild, you know?”

Sword blinked his eyes in confusion.

“However, this magic has the downside that you won’t be able to talk with the other party if they can’t read your intent in the sa way. They’ll know what you want to say, but they won’t be able to answer you in kind. Of course there are also creatures on whom this doesn’t work at all. Pri examples would be skeletons or ghouls. But I see, that ans Black is smart!”

I gently caressed him.

“Eh? Then what ’bout who can’t do it?”

“You’re dumber than Black. Or to be more precise, you’re on the level of ghouls and skeletons.”

Sword froze on the spot, his shock almost audible. Then, in the next mont, he clung to .

“Teach a bit! I feel like it’d be better for to be capable of it, so please, teach !”

“Sure, but…even if you ask to teach you… Besides, aren’t you already able to use it to so degree?”

“Hah?”

“Aren’t you awfully sensitive to other people’s bad intentions? Isn’t that coming from you picking up their will, albeit only the bad one? To it seems like you’re constantly picking up all the ill will contained in other people’s words.”

On top of having a tendency to be unfortunate, he possesses magic that allows him to perceive just the bad intents. He sure is a pitiful guy, isn’t he?

“There, there,” I stroked his head. “You just need to train that magic to read the waves of ill-intent. ―Then again, I feel like you’d break if you seriously kept training that, but maybe that’s just my imagination?”

“…I also think so. I’ll stay ‘way from it since it’s scary.”

“For you it’d be better to study the magic I use to shut out sound instead. Since you’re insensible anyway, go ahead and learn that.”

“Aren’t you casually dissin’ there?” He objected in a bad mood.

I feigned ignorance. Once I did, he pressed his hands against the sides of my head, and turned it around!!

“Ouch, ouch, ooouch!!”

＊

With this and that happening, the feeding and scouting of the charge cows ca to an end.

“Since we won’t be able to enter town with these guys, let’s camp out! I’m going to wash them, okay? I’m sure their fur will beco wonderfully nice and shiny once it gets cleaned up, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah, do as you see fit. …Anyway, how long are you plannin’ to stay ’round? Hurry up and go back ho.”

The boy, whose existence I had completely erased from my mind, was still present. While sitting on the ground grasping his knees with tears in his eyes, he glared at .

“You’re still bawling? You’re a real crybaby for a guy, aren’t you?” I admonished him.

“Shut up! I hate you! Don’t talk to !” He roared at while crying.

“I see, we share that sentint. It’s very unlikely for to ever get to like you. Now that we’ve established our mutual loathing, you can freely hate as much as you like!”

When I told him so with a smile, he got lost for words, and then cried even more.

“Jeez, your really awful.”

“Eh…?”

Wha-? Now it’s my fault!?