I

Sora and Paimon set off aimlessly. After their short break to get to know each other a little better, they walked along the beach. The light sand piled up on the soles of the young man's boots. The little girl floated beside him, occasionally doing acrobatic tricks in the air.

'We should eat something!' Paimon shouted, suddenly. 'But I don't want to walk too far until we find a place to eat...'

'Wal—? Paimon. You. Can. Fly.'

'Yet flying is also exhausting.'

The nerve of this girl never ceases to amaze me, thought Sora.

'Well, how about rock, paper, scissors?' proposed the adventurer. 'If I win, we'll wait a little longer until we get to a place where we can build a fire.'

'What if I win?' Paimon asked, crossing her arms, still floating.

'I will hunt something and cook it as you decide.'

'I'm all for it! But I hope you don't decide to cook me a Hilichurl steak.'

'It's a deal. Good. Rock, paper, sci...'

'Super Paimon Tornado!' shouted the girl, turning around and punching Sora in the face.

'But—! What are you doing?!'

Sora rubbed his nose, quite red from the blow. This dwarf has more strength than she looks, he thought.

'Hehe. Now cook me a nice wild boar steak. No! Better yet, a whole wild boar!'

'You... You cheating dwarf!'

'A bet is a bet. You lost, so it's time to cook something,' said Paimon, a mocking expression on her face. 'Come on, if you do well, I might even let you try a bit—Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!'

Sora jumped back, watching his companion with concern after her sudden scream. A concern that vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and was replaced by a sardonic chuckle.

A sticky, sky-blue sphere had attached itself to the back of the unsuspecting Paimon. The strange creature turned its large eyes towards the adventurer.

It was a Slime. One of Hydro class, to be exact. The being, similar to a giant bubble, had begun to absorb the little girl.

'H-HELP MEEEEEEEE!' she screamed, desperate. The Slime continued to suck her in bit by bit, uninterruptedly.

Sora, watching her, extended his right hand. A faint golden glow appeared in his hand, lengthening into a sword, slender and silvery. He leapt towards his target, swinging the blade fiercely—perhaps more fiercely than necessary.

The monster was pushed backwards, regurgitating Paimon onto the sand. Before it hit the ground the Slime exploded, splattering the sand and Sora with tiny, wet, slimy particles.

'Yuck!' he said, shaking a little in an attempt to shake off the strange substance.

'Y-You could have cut me in half!' Paimon shouted, rising again. Her little body was still trembling with terror.

'Don't worry. I didn't aim at you. Although watching you scream like that over a Slime was pretty funny,' Sora replied, mockingly.

'Of course it wasn't fun! It's not fun when a monster wants to feed on you!'

He let go of the sword as if to drop it on the beach. But it never received the effect of gravity. Instead, it vanished into thin air in the same way it had appeared. The weapon vanished completely as if the young man had never had it in the first place.

'Let's go, Paimon. I promise we'll eat at the first place we find,' said Sora, heading off the coast and onto a path.

'Really? Yippee!' she exclaimed, following him floating in the air.

They walked for several minutes, following the path. It was a simple dirt path, between a rocky mountain on the left and other, slightly smaller, uneven terrain on the right. They seemed to be inside a cliff. They kept walking—Paimon floating—until they came face to face with a particularly large drop that blocked their path.

'Oh, oh. The road ends here,' commented the girl.

'Should we continue, or should we turn back and look for another way?'

'It would be better to continue. The path goes on from here. I guess we'll have to climb.'

'You mean I'll have to climb. You fly, Paimon.'

'Right, right. I'll wait for you at the top,' said the girl, flying towards the cliff and disappearing over the cliff.

This girl can't even wait for me...

Sora approached the stone wall formed by the rise in the terrain and placed his right foot on it. Holding tightly to the uneven ground with both hands, he braced his left foot and began to climb, slowly. The uneven ground was not as high as it looked, but it was still a significant effort to climb it. Once at the top Sora looked around, searching for his companion.

However, Paimon was nowhere to be found. He could only see a small waterfall cascading over a tiny pond, a tree with a bird's nest, and the continuation of the path, which led off to the right.

'Paimon?'

'Up here!' her high-pitched voice rang out.

Sora looked up, and there she was. Near the edge of the stone mountain, staring at something just out of his sight.

'Don't tell me you expect me to go up there?'

'I found an abandoned camp! We could look for something to eat before we go on our way!'

'Really?' Sora asked, starting to climb. He'd forgotten how hungry he was. The last time they'd eaten anything had been the night before, and between telling Paimon his story, saving her from the Hydro Slime, and climbing the first slope, he'd worked up an appetite.

As he climbed, his appetite grew more and more. Slowly, the top edge of the cliff drew closer, until it was finally within reach. Using all his strength, Sora made it to the top. Standing on the cliff, he looked out into the distance.

There was indeed a small camp a few yards ahead. The tent, of rather battered canvas, showed that it had not been used for some time, though the fire was still strangely lit. Paimon was inside the old tent, going through the contents of every box she could find.

'Paimon, are you sure the camp is abandoned?'

'Of course, of course. Most likely,' replied the little girl as she rummaged through a boot.

'Probable? Paimon, this is stealing!' Sora exclaimed.

However, the girl was no longer listening to him. She was coming out of the tent, her arms full of various kinds of raw meat.

'Shall we cook?' she asked cheekily.

'Paimon, let's get out of here,' said Sora, holding her by her cloak, a beautiful piece of dark cloth impregnated with glittering stars.

'Waaaaaaaaaaaah! W-Wait! I want to eat!'

'Stealing is wrong,' Sora scolded her, pulling hard. The little girl had plenty of strength if she was able to put up any resistance.

They were in the middle of a discussion when a high-pitched growl interrupted them. Looking in the direction of the sound at the same time, they could make out a group of masked creatures approaching them.

They must be the owners of the camp, thought Sora.

They were Hilichurls, monsters with the stature of an adult person and quite intelligent. Belonging to a tribe that was particularly aggressive towards humans, they were notorious for swarming into camps and blocking trade routes or raiding unsuspecting adventurers.

And, to make matters worse, they were armed, and the way one of them was pointing his crossbow at the scout duo indicated a clear intent to kill.