Ch 17:The Haltina Forest

Hajime and the others continued into the Haltinha Forest. They were on the bike that was strapped to a carriage to go faster when Yue asked Hajime something.

"Hajime why did you leave me out of the fight?"

She asked curiously. She tried to participate but Hajime stopped her it was only he and Rimuru who fought with the soldiers.

"Ahh. that? I had two reasons."

Hajime's reasons were: 1 he wanted to test the power of the shots on humans. If they were going to fight in a city he didn't want to involve civilians.

The second reason was that he wanted to see if himself and especially his brother could kill people without getting in trouble.

"...And good even though it was my first murder, when I think I didn't feel anything, it makes me a little sentimental. And I was also surprised at my brother not hesitating even a little bit to kill them."

"So you're okay?"

"No problem."

Shia was surprised that these were his first murders and was impressed with Yue who noticed the slightest change in Hajime.

"Un... About that... can I know more about you two? Like what your goals are and what you've done so far. I wanted to know more."

"And what are you going to do after you know?"

Yue asked.

"It's just that I wanted to know more about the only people who can directly manipulate magic that I've met."

Since it would take time to reach their destination they agreed and told their story.

The result was...

"Ue -hiccup- cruel, Hajime-san and Yue-sa suffered so mucho. Compared to that I was blessed after all."

She kept crying and saying things like " I won't complain anymore." Or " I was so naive."

She wiped her tears on Hajime's coat. After a while Shia suddenly closed her fist in determination and spoke

"I've decided! From now on I will join your journey! I promise to help both of you! We'll overcome difficulties together!"

Hajime and Yue looked at her with cold stares.

"What did the weak doe who is being protected say? You're only going to be a hindrance."

"Casually changing from 'I want to be'to 'I'm going without your mate' what a brazen doe, but maybe it was funny."

"Po...why this cold look? And please call me by my name correctly."

And Hajime delivered the final blow.

"Aren't you just wanting a traveling companion?"

"!?!?!?!?!"

"Once your tribe is safe you want to get away from them don't you? And what good luck that we who are the 'same' as you, show up for you to come with us don't we? As If a demi-human with different hair was going to make our journey easier."

"Ummm...it's just that... Even if you say...I just wanted to..."

Because he had hit the fly Shia couldn't even respond. Whenever she was around her tribe would be in danger so she wanted to walk away when they were safe. It would be easier for her tribe to let her go if it was with such strong people. It was true that she was iinterested in them because they looked alike, but the main reason was what Hajime talked about.

"Well, I won't accuse you for thinking like that. But don't expect anything. Our goals are the Great Dungeons. You will be killed immediately there. I won't allow you to come with us."

"..."

After that She remained silent.

A few hours later, the group arrived in the dense part of the Sea of Trees. You could only see the mist outside so they got off the vehicle.

"Very well Hajime-dono and Yue-dono, please don't get away from us from here. It will be a problem if you get lost. Our goal is the Big Tree right?"

Kam confirmed with the two of them. Hajime read in some books that there is the entrance to a big Dungeon in the Big Tree. This tree is in the center of the forest. Where the mist is super dense. This tree was gigantic and was a kind of sacred ground for Demi-humans and Fea Bagen.

"Hajime-dono if possible, could you guys turn off your presence? It will be problematic if other Demi-humans find us."

"Aah let's do that. Yue and I managed to do it to some extent, so it's fine."

Hajime and Yue used their conceal presence.

"!?!?!?!? Hajime-dono could you adjust in the same way as Yue-dono?"

"Mm? Something like that?"

"Yes! If you did like before we would lose sight of you. Ah. As expected of you."

The Rabbit Tribe was excellent at stealth operations and sound searching, but it seemed that Hajime's Conceal Presence was very powerful.

"Let's go."

They made their way to the Sea of Trees. A fog surrounded them and their visions were cut off. However the Demi-human seemed to locate themselves very well here and did not even hesitate in their steps.

Some monkey-like monsters surrounded them. Yue killed them with wind blade, as Hajime's bullets would make more noise.

"Hajime-dono, I know I took the time to ask, but is your brother really going to be okay rescuing our comrades? There must be a lot of Empire soldiers taking them. And he also said that he was going to the Northern Mountains. There are many monsters there.

"Huh?"

Hajime and Yue looked very shocked. Worrying about Rimuru against soldiers was like worrying about whether someone might step on an insect . Then they realized that the Haulia had misunderstood something.

"Tsu. They got it wrong Hajime."

"Yes, that's right."

"What are you guys talking about Hajime-san, Yue-san?"

Shia was confused by their words. And Hajime clarified things.

"My brother is stronger than both of us put together."

"....."

Haulia almost screamed in frustration. These people could kill powerful monsters like it was nothing and still had 'someone stronger'. It was really unbelievable. Seeing their reaction Hajime asked half confused

"What is it?"

"Well you know. I thought with that gentle manner of his, he must be some protégé of yours."

Shia spoke ashamed that she had misunderstood. The Rabbit Men seemed to have understood it that way too. And they were scratching their beaks in shame for judging the book by its cover.

"Kakaka .Well then I guess there's nothing to worry about."

They kept walking and killed all the magical beasts that appeared on the way. After a while they felt the presence of a group that made the Rabbit Men afraid. The group approached them and Hajime and Yue knew who it was as well.

They were.

"Why are you here with humans!? What tribes are you from!?"

They were other demi-human with tiger ears and tiger tail.

●●●

Rimuru was flying at high speed. He was searching for the Haulia captured by the Empire. But it was quite difficult because it was a large search area so it took a few hours, but he finally found them....

They were outside the Forest going to the Empire. They had around 300 Empire soldiers carrying about 40 Rabbit Men in mobile cages.

"Tsk."

[Master, I ask you to keep calm].

Yes you are right. Reliable as always. If I could kiss you.

[....] -blushing-

Well, let's kill them and free the Haulia. These soldiers remind me of the Farmus incident. And that makes me a little bit angry.

[Yes!]

Rimuru used his black wings and landed in their path. The soldiers and the Rabbit Men were confused by the winged person who landed in front of them. Rimuru collected his wings and waited for them to move first.

A soldier approached in an arrogant manner.

"Hey you get off Cami..."

SHUFF

He was cut in half vertically. Rimuru knew that these people would not negotiate and did not delay business. he simply attacked.

"In position!"

The soldiers only saw their colleague being cut in half and were confused, but the commander's shout drew their attention back.

"Tornado of Souls."

A large tornado formed in front of Rimuru, the tornado had a beautiful pure white color. The tornado sucked out the Souls of the soldiers they fell dead. This magic came from the 'King of Souls Hades' this tornado that sucked Souls didn't have great range and also didn't work on very strong people, so much so that 10 people were left alive now, but Rimuru killed them with Black Rays.

The reason he used this tornado was selectivity. Most long-range spells attacked everything that appeared in front of them. Only this one could be configured. He set it to suck souls only from Humans, so as not to hurt the Rabbit Men.

The Rabbit Men were frightened by the Empire soldiers being killed so easily and thought they were next. However Rimuru used iron wires and destroyed the locks of the cages.

"????"

No one understood why this was happening.

"Hmph. Hello, nice to meet you I am Rimuru. I have come to save you at the request of the Haulia."

The Rabbit Men couldn't reason that out. In Fea Bagen if you were captured, you were considered dead. So they didn't expect to be rescued. A girl with brown hair approached Rimuru and asked

"Excuse me... But did you really come to rescue us?"

"Yes! Don't worry. First of all you can get food and Water if you want."

He pulled several trays out of his infinite space. In them were delicious food and cold water.

The Rabbit Men were surprised that things appeared out of nowhere, but they ate anyway. They didn't even suspect poison because if this powerful person wanted to kill them, they knew he wouldn't need it.

"Delicious..."

That murmur represented the feelings of everyone there. They began to eat, and Rimuru asked if anyone was hurt. They answered no, so he began to recount the events with Shea and the Haulia.

"Oh. So you know our comrades Rimuru-dono?"

He nodded and continued.

"I will also rescue those who have gone to the Northern Mountains after leaving you safe."

"Are you really going there? They say it is very dangerous."

A black-haired rabbit man asked.

"Don't worry, it will be easy for me. As you have seen I am very strong."

The Haulia were amazed at the confidence and talked among themselves. They seemed to come to a conclusion and spoke

"Rimuru-dono, we have something to ask. Please take us near the Northern Mountains."

"Hmmm."

Rimuru looked thoughtful. They spoke again to try to convince him.

"If our comrades see us with you they will find it easier to trust. And you could also have trouble finding them if they are hiding, but if they see us they will come out on the spot. So take us along."

"Fine! That will also save time to come back and get you. Just stay close to me to avoid danger."

They were excited to find their comrades and Agreed. Rimuru felt a strong presence behind him and thought an attack was coming, but strangely the only thing there was....

"A butterfly?"

Yes there was a butterfly there coming out of the forest. She had a white body with pink wings and faint blue details was really beautiful.

"Isn't she a little.... big?"

Indeed this butterfly was huge, its wings if measured from top to bottom would be 70 centimeters. She was the size of a medium-sized dog. But that was not the only peculiarity of this butterfly. Only Rimuru could see this, but this butterfly was very strong compared to the other creatures of the Haltina Forest.

She was on a high level, and she reminded Rimuru of two other powerful insects that Rimuru knew.

'Ciel-san could be...

[Yes, she is the same as Zegion and Apito].

Zegion was a big powerful beetle that Rimuru found wandering around his city, he was injured so Rimuru helped him, he was also with a big bee.

Then they became Rimuru's servants and he named them(naming monsters in Rimuru's world causes them to evolve) After they evolved because of the naming they gained humanoid forms. Some time later Zegion evolved into an awakened demon lord and became one of Rimuru's most powerful servants.

After a while Rimuru discovered that Zegion and Apito were fugitives from another universe that was in destruction. That universe was full of insectoid beings and its leader Zelanus was created by Veldanava himself.

(Note: Veldanava is basically a God who created the universes. no one knows where he is today and he is also the older brother of the real Dragoes).

After Veldanava's disappearance Zelanus was lost in Madness and vowed to destroy the world if Veldanava did not return but was stopped by powerful beings, but this battle destroyed the resources of the insect planet making the insectoids take refuge in other dimensions. So this butterfly here could be an acquaintance of Zegion and Apito.

"Would naming it work?"

After coming to this world Rimuru tested naming us monsters, but it didn't work on any of them only if this butterfly wasn't from this dimension it might work. She could get pretty strong.

[For unknown reasons her soul is much stronger than Zegion's soul before the nomination. So if she evolved it could get even stronger than Zegion].

That's too much! Wait. How did she find me?

[The master has a strong connection to Zegion because she used her own flesh to heal him, she may have felt that somehow].

Ahh got it.

Rimuru turned off thought acceleration and spoke to the butterfly by telepathy.

"Are you a refugee?"

"Yes I am. I see that the master has met others like me."

The butterfly's voice was a beautiful, soothing feminine voice. Rimuru was surprised by something in her words.

"Master?"

"Yes. I don't know why, but I feel I must be with you no matter what."

"Could it be the connection with the others of your kind?"

"No. I feel that too, but it's not that. I simply want to be with you. Please allow me."

Rimuru found it a little strange, but many good things have come from strangeness so he accepted it.

"Well... since you will be with me, it would be inconvenient not to have a name. Is it okay if I name you?"

"Yes."

She spoke in a serene tone, but you could sense a little excitement in her voice.

Okay, what name should I give you? Hmmm the color blue is already kind of my color so I won't give anything related to those blue details. How about these pretty pink wings? They remind me of a tree I used to have near my school. Oh, I know.

"From now on you will be Sakura."

The pink of his wings reminded him of the cherry blossoms he had on the way to Rimuru's school.

A sphere of white mana formed around Sakura. It remained shining for some seconds and then a beautiful girl came out of it. Pink hair blue eyes white skin and a serene look on the face she was also wearing a luxurious pink dress that had a separation in the thigh that would facilitate the battles.

She had large pink butterfly wings behind her. She gathered them up and bowed.

"Thank you very much for the name my beloved master."

"Eh!? Since when do you love me!?"

"Since before, but I thought it more appropriate to speak now. I am completely in love with you and from now on I will stay by your side trying to make You love me too."

She spoke in a direct and calm sincere tone. This reminded Rimuru of his friend Hinata. She always had a rational answer for everything, like the time Rimuru joked that she had a child's tongue for not liking Wasabi and she said "What's good is good. Simple as that."

He realized that these two were two of a kind, and thought that there was no point in arguing.

"Well, whatever. In fact, you don't have to call me Master, you can just call me Rimuru.

"Okay."

[Exploiter!]

Ciel shouted, but Rimuru decided to pretend not to notice.

And so Rimuru gained a new traveling companion.

***

Announcement:

New chapter for Tensura x Maou Gakuin No Futekigousha will be released tomorrow.