Something's brewing

"..."

"..."

Both the Pigkin Orc and the gold-haired girl stayed completely silent for a few moments, staring at the crimson sphere that clearly rolled out of the monster's remains.

"Ffffffffuuuu-hng…! That actually was a Deep-Dusk Hearth Head!"

In the end, Melinda spat through her teeth, covering her face with one hand and lowering her head.

"Yes… My lady… you said that without on its own, Deep-Dusk Dullanphan… Dulla… The monster. It is a roaming boss that lord Zane and his party can defeat after some more preparation."

Ross spoke up, nodding his head in affirmation, before briefly getting stuck on a hard-to-spell word, eventually giving up on it, and moving forward.

"But if its heads are unsealed and allowed to come into contact with it, the monster becomes a fearsome super boss that can threaten the entire…"

"No! Shit! No! Crap, shit, crap, crap! I didn't want to mess with Zane's future opponents! This is such bullshit! Why was Hearth Head even here?! Why haven't there been any rumors about it roaming around these parts!? It couldn't just unseal itself, could it?! How did it get here?!"

The Pigkin Orc spoke with grave seriousness… only to get interrupted mid-sentence by the bitter outburst of the gold-haired girl who ran her fingers through her hair while arching her back as if she was in pain.

"M-my lady… if someone is intentionally unsealing and unleashing the Deep-Dusk Heads, then we must do something about it! There are supposed to be two more we know of..! At least alarm the people about the danger!"

Ross leaned back, taken aback by Melinda's reaction, and tried to speak to her with reason.

"..."

Melinda didn't seem to listen to him, but Catherine definitely was doing so as she perked up and gulped down her saliva. Her face even regained some colors that it lost after being faced with the revelation of her savior's identity.

"You got a point."

"Thank you for understanding."

The gold-haired girl pointed out while nodding, and the Pigkin orc breathed out in relief.

"Zane's party stands a chance against any of the heads on their own. As long as Silva and Glacier would not cooperate... The thing is that Zane and his comrades aren't ready to take on the base form of the Deep-Dusk Dullahan, much less its enhanced form...! I must inform him about it as fast as possible so he will not think that it's my doing…!"

Melinda sighed, biting her lips and giving the impression that although she was concerned about the situation, her concerns didn't align with those of a normal person in her situation.

"Hearth Head was in Silveria… but Silva and Glacier Heads are within the Empire… Shit! It's such bullshit! Things might be the worst… If the Hearth Head made its way here without being noticed - by some blasted miracle - if the other two had been freed too… it might be too late."

"...M-Melinda… Y-you swear like a-an elf…"

The gold-haired girl kept cursing, which caused Catherine, who wasn't used to seeing her like that, to fidget and point out.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, sorry. Adi also keeps telling me that - but let's be honest, if there was a situation where cursing like that would be justified, it's this one."

Melinda raised her brow before nodding.

She approached the bisected skull and picked up the crimson orb, sparing her a single bitter glance as, at that point, it was too late for anything else.

"Speaking of Adi… she will not be happy about it…"

The gold-haired girl added, hugging the sphere to her stomach.

"...little Miss…"

Ross stood up and secured his slightly bent iron mace to the belt at his waist, then offered a helping hand to the still seated Catherine.

"A-ah…!"

The girl flinched and fidgeted with a gasp.

"A-actually, I-I am older th-than Melinda…"

She pointed out while taking his hand and letting herself be lifted up to her feet.

"That's right, Ross, Cath's older than either of us. Don't be rude."

Melinda snickered while pointing out as she turned around to leave.

"Ummm…"

The Piking Orc let out a confused voice - because, in the first place, he was referring to the girl's height - trying to recall how humans addressed each other depending on their age difference, but he drew a blank slate.

"Pretty Miss."

"!!!"

So he improvised and caused Catherine to lower her head to hide the deep redness of the blush overtaking her face.

"...hey… hey, Ross…"

"...?"

Using that chance, the gold-haired girl shimmied towards the Pigkin orc and leaned in, whispering conspicuously, making him let out a surprised breath and turning to her before a quick glance at the bashful Catherine.

"Right now, it seems that momentarily, Cath is accepting everything without paying it any mind. Her brain might have rattled around too much and didn't catch up… But it's a matter of a few minutes, give or take, before she starts to question what has actually happened… I just realized that she doesn't know about me having an ability, and I don't intend to tell her either, for now at least, so I'm going to go. Take her to the city gate, but be careful as always. Okay?"

"Okay."

Melinda whispered, and when Ross nodded in confirmation, she smiled and began backing off without taking her eyes off the black-haired friend until she managed to take cover behind one of the damaged trees.

"...!"

After making sure that the gold-haired girl was out of sight, the Pigkin Orc stepped up to the black-haired girl, staring at her own feet, and lightly tapped her shoulder with his shield, unintentionally making her flinch.

"Pretty Miss. I will excor… escror…"

"..."

Ross began to speak while putting on his hood but got stuck on the pronunciation of the word, slightly too fancy for the structure of his mouth, making him get embarrassed while Catherine stared at him wide-eyed.

"Pretty Miss. I will take you back to the city."

With the hood pulled all the way over his face, Ross started the sentence again, landing it properly and with little to no accent to boot.

"Th-th-thank you. I a-appreciate th-that."

Catherine let out a timid voice, lowering her gaze as she turned her face to the side and even put her hand to her mouth.