48 – Breakthrough
I sent the members to the weapon warehouse and headed to the dormitory.
As the leader, I had to step up, so I planned to bring the chainsaw and the spirit armor.
But when I arrived at the dormitory, I faced a somewhat bewildering situation.
The chainsaw and the spirit armor that I had carefully left in the room were gone without a trace.
I asked the beastman maid who was cleaning the room.
“Hey, where did my equipment go?”
“Huh? Didn’t you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“Earlier, Miss Lua came and took them away… She said she’s going to be your wife, so she’ll take care of them from now on…”
“……”
A sound of losing strength came out of me involuntarily.
She had such a boldness to do that. I felt like my nose was pierced.
I wrapped my throbbing head and asked her for guidance.
“Can you take me to Miss Lua’s house?”
“Oh, of course. Please follow me.”
The house of my mother-in-law and Kaia was closer than I thought.
It was a splendid tiled house that seemed twice as big as the guest house I stayed in.
There were quite a lot of people coming and going, and it was clear that everyone in the house was a remarkable person.
I felt a strange and uncomfortable sensation, and I couldn’t bring myself to cross the gate.
[What are you doing out there?]
“Something feels too burdensome to go in.”
[Who told you to play such a reckless prank? You brought this upon yourself by winning Lua’s heart.]
“Should we run away together?”
[Ew! Don’t say such disgusting things!]
I looked up at the huge gate and exchanged silly jokes with Pii.
Then, I heard a familiar voice from inside the mansion.
A silver-haired Rangin woman. Kaa’s mother and my mother-in-law to be, ‘Lua Rigai Ulje’.
“Oh my! Isn’t that our Gaul son-in-law? What are you doing there, why don’t you come in?”
My mother-in-law greeted me warmly as soon as she saw me and drew everyone’s attention.
Then, she asked the people around to guide me into the house.
“Hey, can you take care of our son-in-law to be?”
“Yes! We will!”
“It’s a good thing you came. You came to get your weapons and armor, right? I’m sorry we moved them without your permission. Our Gaul son-in-law will understand, right?”
My mother-in-law saw through my purpose in an instant and smiled broadly as she led me.
I had no choice but to follow her obediently, unable to do anything else.
I felt a bit stung and pressured by the constant son-in-law treatment, but my heart softened when I saw her sincere happiness.
‘Am I really going to marry her?’
I could accept that, since Kaa was close to my ideal type, but I couldn’t imagine Kaa being happy with this situation.
My indifferent attitude was bound to be a huge rudeness.
I felt that I had to sort out the relationship through an honest conversation as soon as possible.
[But why does Lua want to make this guy her son-in-law?]
I was thinking that as I walked down the hallway of the mansion, when Pii, who was sitting on my head, spoke to the passing Turo.
Then I heard Lua’s mother. No, Lua’s answer.
Lua turned around and smiled brightly as she answered.
“I think he suits my daughter. What do you think, Pii? Don’t they look good together?”
[Um… I don’t know. But isn’t Kaia’s opinion more important? Does Kaia like this guy?]
Pii. What’s your opinion?
“Hoho. Of course, Kaia’s feelings are important too. But you don’t have to worry. She’s a child I raised with utmost sincerity so that she wouldn’t miss her father’s absence. I can see through Kaia’s innermost thoughts.”
[What? So you mean Kaia likes Gaul? They’ve only met for two days.]
“She definitely has a liking for him. He’s the one who saved her life. Isn’t that natural?”
[Hmm… Is it?]
It was a fact that I had saved Kaia’s life.
I had barely stopped her from becoming one with the monster by making her mana go berserk.
But was it a bit hasty to get married just because he saved her life? By that logic, I should have married Pii two or three times.
I was thinking that as I drooled, when Pii landed on my hand and said.
[But I don’t think she wants to get married. Kaia is a warrior chief. She’s not an easy woman.]
I nodded at Pii’s words.
But Kaia’s mother shook her head vehemently and denied it.
“Kara is an easy woman beyond imagination. She grew up without any men around, not even a father. But she has a useless talent that made her sit in the president’s seat, and she can’t find a decent man even though she’s in her prime.”
[The president can’t find a man?]
“Well, not exactly, but the men in the company became intimidated by Kara. They say that the feeling they should have for their boss is not affection, but respect.”
[But, isn’t it too harsh to call her an easy woman? It’s weird to hear a mother say that about her own daughter!]
“But what can I do if it’s true? If Ghaul, my son-in-law, pulls her in with a snap, she’ll cling to him with a squeak!”
Isn’t this lady talking too recklessly about her own daughter?
I thought so and gave an awkward smile.
But at that moment, Rua, who was smiling brightly, suddenly glared at me.
“However, that daughter suffered a humiliation in front of many people. My daughter’s marriage path was blocked because of you. You have to take responsibility for this as a man, right? Don’t you, Ghaul, my son-in-law?”
“Uh… yes?”
“Fortunately, my daughter is an easy woman. And she has a crush on the benefactor of her life. I wish you would win Kara’s heart… You will do that, right?”
You made my daughter unable to get married. So you have to woo her and take her away.
I had no choice but to nod my head with cold sweat at Rua’s threat.
It was because the killing intent from her blue eyes was too fierce.
“……I’ll try.”
“I hope you do. You don’t dislike Kara as a woman, do you? I gave birth to her and raised her very prettily, so I’ll be sad if you say that.”
“No! She looks like you, so she’s a very attractive woman!”
“Ho ho ho. Thank you.”
I think I have to marry Kara somehow.
Now I’m really stuck and can’t get out of it, so I felt a bitter and refreshing feeling in a corner of my heart.
Yeah. Since it’s come to this, let’s think of it as a lucky chance to meet a pretty and faithful partner.
I thought the marriage was a matter of convenience, but who knows what might happen between a man and a woman if they get close.
I settled my mind and entered the room that my mother-in-law guided me to.
There were two beds and my equipment neatly arranged.
It seemed to be Kaa’s room.
* * *
From Noble mtl dot com
“Eve. Have all the members gathered?”
“Yes… But you look very tired. Did something happen?”
“……Nothing happened.”
I returned to the gathering place of the herbivore corps fully armed.
I was exhausted from getting educated on Kaa’s preferences by my mother-in-law, but I wasn’t physically tired, so I didn’t intend to postpone the sortie.
Eleven beastmen and eleven wolfmen. A total of twenty-two members were waiting for my command.
I looked down at them all and smiled with satisfaction.
“You all look good in your outfits.”
“Wolf leader, everyone except Nior has completed their full armament.”
“Why him?”
“He was too big to fit any equipment.”
The beastmen’s armament was a form of heavy armor made of monster bones and scales.
While the elves preferred light armor that enhanced their mobility, the beastmen favored heavy armor that increased their defense.
But apart from the hook dragon sword, there was hardly any weapon to be seen.
Maybe his strong body itself was a weapon, meaning he didn’t need to borrow the power of a weapon.
I shouted at the leader of the oxen, Niyor, for a final check.
“Niyor! Are you okay without armor?”
“Hmm!”
“You don’t need a weapon either, right?”
“Uh-hmm!”
“Good.”
It was a satisfying answer that left nothing to be desired.
I put on a deer horn helmet and picked up a chainsaw, then ordered everyone.
“Then, let’s go. It’s time to fight.”
As I took the lead, the members followed me in two lines.
They looked somewhat sloppy and unorganized, but I left them alone since I couldn’t think of a proper formation.
Soon, I saw the entrance of the Blue Moon Pavilion, passed by the stable where Rudolf was, and entered the forest.
The atmosphere around me changed to tension in an instant.
“Ivy. Find the sound of the monster like you did yesterday.”
“Ugh… I’ll try my best.”
If there was no corpse of the monster, we had to hunt the monster ourselves.
Ivy, who knew my plan, reluctantly started to twitch her rabbit ears.
Ivy heard the sound from the front, and the members followed her one by one.
How long did we walk in the forest like that?
As I was worried that there might be no monsters around, Evi, who was leading the way, stiffened her body and pointed to one direction.
“I hear a sound from over there.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
I led the members in the direction that Evi pointed.
Then, the cow-people who followed from the right line confidently followed behind, while the rabbit-people kept hesitating and falling behind.
Was there a problem?
As I stopped the members with that worry, the rabbit-people who were wavering came to me with a cautious attitude.
“Leader… don’t tell me…”
“It seems like we shouldn’t go there…”
“Didn’t you say this was training?”
Oh, right.
Evi was the only one who heard the sound well.
“We’ve been caught.”
There’s nothing we can do if we’ve been caught.
We have to break through forcefully.
“Everyone, prepare for battle! We’re going to make a corpse to scavenge from now on!”
Follow me, you bastards.