First Mission (3)

With the light bulb in her hand, she gave us vision in this darkness.

"Onee-chan..."

"Yes. You keep holding the ball like that so Onee-chan can see ahead."

"Okay, Onee-chan."

I wonder, aren't they cats? Cats should have better eyesight in this darkness, so why should they use the ball to see? Oh, maybe because they were imitations. I mean, no matter where you look, they're not completely cats, they're half-cat humans. Therefore, maybe part of their body is that of a cat, and part of it is a human. Yeah, maybe like that.

But by the way, for some reason, their tails and ears are so tempting. I feel like touching it. My hands are so itchy to grab their tails and ears.

"Aaah..."

"Kyaaah… W-What are you doing, huh!?"

My hand accidentally grabbed the cat girl's ear, causing her to immediately turn to me with a flushed face.

"My hand suddenly moved on its own."

"Ummm..."

She puffed out her cheeks as if annoyed with my actions. Even so, her cheeks were flushed, and I could see her clean face that was slightly injured.

"Onee-chan… what are you doing?"

Her Imouto asked her, and she immediately stroked her imouto's hair.

"Nothing."

Seeing them smiling at each other made me turn away from the catgirl, focusing on holding the horse's reins and looking straight ahead.

I don't want to admit this, but thanks to the training my father gave me, I was able to ride a horse well. After all, all my training, from fighting to strategizing, was all taught by my father.

He was the one who gave me the knowledge of fighting since childhood. Whatever I did relate to the war, it was all thanks to my father. Without him, maybe I would not be like this, an expert in various things.

It's not that I'm ungrateful, but my father indeed deserved to die. I hated him more than anything, that's why I killed him. If he hadn't done that, maybe I wouldn't be in this world, maybe now I'm living a quiet life after I declared early retirement from my military service, living quietly with my mother and my older sister.

I decided to retire early from my position because I realized that I was dirty, my hands, feet and whole body were filled with murderous desire. Therefore, I declare to quit my military position and want to live a quiet life.

But... after I quit, my father even forbade me, and instead acted arrogantly, and worst of all he married a prostitute. Therefore, for his actions, I killed him. And I never regretted having killed him. In a way, I was quite calm after killing him because the revenge for the death of my mother and my older sister had been fulfilled.

While I was lost in thought, she saw me and waved her hand at me.

"Are you okay?"

"O-Oh..."

"Don't daydream while driving, you could hit a tree later."

"Ah~ I know that."

After I said that, I looked to the side and saw scratches on some of the trees. The scratch is my mark which I have marked there.

"Just go straight ahead! Check some trees, I've marked the exit."

"Oh, it turns out you're good at survival too, huh?"

"Things like this are nothing compared to surviving in the middle of the ocean."

"…Ah, I see."

She seemed to want to say something to me, but she didn't.

Maybe because I said that "nothing compared", she thought I was a criminal who often hides everywhere. Given that she still thinks I'm a criminal, it could happen.

"Don't look at me just by your standards. If you continue like that, you'll get scared when you're near me, you know."

"Eh... Ah..."

She was confused about what to say, it was seen from the look on her face.

"The thing you need to know, I won't kill someone if I'm innocent. Even though I only have one principle, it doesn't mean I can't act and know what's right and what's wrong."

"Oh yes."

"Onee-chan, why are you shaking?"

"Eh? No, no, no. I'm not shaking, Dinda."

Looking at her pure white thighs, I realized that her legs and whole body were shaking.

"Are you scared, Onee-chan?"

"N-No, that's impossible. Hahaha."

She laughed forcefully, hiding her fear of something.

"You lied, Onee-chan. Dinda already knows when Onee-chan is lying. So right now, Onee-chan is scared, right?"

"N-No!"

I can only guess that she was scared because of me.

Because I have a deep voice, a fierce look on my face that seems intimidating, an assertive nature, so it's only natural that someone who just met me immediately freaked out.

This once happened when I was an inspector for beginners who wanted to be in the army. And all of them were afraid of me. They think I'm a person to be avoided to keep them safe, but there's no need to do that.

They see what they see, not what they have to know, and that makes me seen as a fierce and assertive person, at worst maybe a bad person. And worst of all, the rumors about me made them even more afraid of me.

Honestly, I don't care about that. For me, as long as they can work as well as possible, it doesn't matter.

"It doesn't matter if you think I'm a bad person. You have your own mindset."

"...Y-Yes."

"Onee-chan, you are shaking again."

"Ssssshhh... Dinda, be quiet!"

I had to take a deep breath for this.

"It's up to you, whatever you want to think of me."

There was no more chat between us because the catgirl was confused about what to do with me.

The faster the horse ran, the closer the roar became.

My mission isn't completely done yet, because the two of them haven't made it out of this place yet. Therefore, I continued to be wary of the roar that was getting closer and closer.

"Speed ​​up your horses!"

The thing I can currently do is make sure that the two of them get out of here. Even if their bodies aren't completely intact, as long as they make it out of here, my mission is complete.

I can't fail this mission.

"Hey, is the ball still there? I want one."

"What for?"

"Don't ask why. Quickly give me one!"

"Y-Yes."

Taking the light bulb from her breast pocket, she handed it to me.

However, the ball did not interrupt.

"Why doesn't this ball light up?"

"That's because the ball is new. You need to tap the ball 3 times to activate it."

"I see."

Tapping this ball 3 times, and this ball also lights up, I realized that this ball needs to be activated if it is a new ball.

Because it's different from the previous ball which immediately interrupts when in the dark, this time the ball needs to be activated to light up.

Holding this ball in my left hand then holding the reins of this horse with my right, I turned to the right, right at the roar.

When I felt the sound was close enough, about 500 meters from here, I focused on staring in that direction.

"Onee-chan..."

"It's okay, we'll get out of here."

By the time they were talking, I could already see something moving there.

"You guys, run first!"

While saying that, I stopped the horse's pace.

"Eh? What do you want to do?"

Turning towards their horse, I tossed this ball a few times.

"As long as you guys are safe, I'm already quite happy. My mission is only to return my favor to you. Therefore, you must get out of this forest to complete my mission."

"No, that… You…"

"Hurry up! I hate having to say it twice."

"But..."

"Better don't mind me, only care about your imouto! I'm just an ordinary human who can only kill, so don't make a worried face at me!"

"Onee-chan..."

"...I..."

Because their pace is hindering, I have to be firm on this.

"Hurry up!"

"Yes."

Yeah, I was pretty loud when I told them to, and that made the cat girl quickly accelerate on her horse.

With them gone, I can rest easy here.

"Now then, what kind of lowly creature should I fight."

After saying that, I stroked this horse.

"Sorry Horse, you're getting into trouble again and putting your life in danger. But at least, if you die later, you will be rewarded for this act of yours. Don't worry, I will accompany you later. Here, I promise, if you die, I will die too. Since I currently have no other goal, therefore, promise me, Pal."

This horse responds with a voice, making me smile.

"Thank you."

After waiting for a while, I saw the trees there were crushed as if they were being hit by something big.

"Grrrr..."

With the appearance of that voice, the air in front of me felt very cold and created a thin mist there.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled the horse's reins and turned back.

Before I ran this horse, I looked back and saw something there.

"That lowly creature is huge."

The monster called the Dark Crocodile, who looked like a crocodile but had a 20 times body, was there and settled with me.

"Grrrr..."

The air from the monster's mouth came out, making the air even colder.

After glaring at each other with the monster, and I had some goosebumps, I pulled the reins of this horse and drove pretty fast.

"Come on!"

STEP! STEP! STEP!

The monster's steps felt tight, making the horse's footing unstable.

And one thing I do know, I managed to lure the monsters out of chasing them. This monster followed me by crawling behind me, it was a little scary for me to be chased by this monster. But even so, my mission can be said to be successful.

"Now, what should I do against this lowly being? Judging from the skin, the large body, and the coldness of this monster, it is impossible for me to fight."