Page 270 (2/2)

「?」

Shia swung her hatchet However, it was obvious fro She turned the hatchet so its flat surface was facing the direction of her swing She swung it doard slowly in a scooping way, catching a snake that was rearing its head and gently threw it into the bush

「You are a Hauria huh」

「What are you saying?」

'No, nothing', Hajime shook his head with a wry s about insects The young boy Par who loved flower

Everything was the story of distant past If it was the current them, by the point of tiet killed in a snap With a fiercely glinting eyes and fearless s a fragentle forest bunny-sanHauria clan" that had becaht now It could be said that she was a rare rabbit in another sense

The one who caused that was Hajime himself, but he put that fact aside and stared war attention to the forest's fauna and flora

Like that the two advanced deeper and deeper into the dense forest but after walking for nearly two hours, regardless of hoouldn't be strange even if the ruin would come into view anytime soon, but at the point of time where not even any hint or shadow of the ruin could be found, Haji

「Say, Shia Compass……」

「No」

「Just a little bit……」

「Geez- Hajister! You are poisoned too much by the convenient tools! You cannot escape to the easy path just because of a bit of difficulty!」

「Shia- you I' mama Surely it's just a little bitup until the end」

Hajily because Shia's speech sounded like a mom, but it appeared that Shia-mama was the ally of a kid who did his best until the end

The sun would set in just a fewthat for a bit, Hajiht with a wry smile He lifted both his hands to show his surrender

「Nn~, but certainly, I want to at least pinpoint the place within today ……Yosh, let's try look around a bit fro to climb tree and found the location of the ruin fro, Shia was……gugu- bending her knee The next moment, don- the impact sound came at the same time Shia vanished No, more precisely she jumped with so much force it caused her to seem to vanish

「That's like the h」

Juround to undulate The messiah-sama of a certain movie would fly to the beyond without pause like that, but Shia only caht away

Softly she landed in a way that felt weightless Most likely she was decreasing her weigh using gravityth without any convenient tool at all Hajih

「H~ Are we lost?」

「If the ruin is really in the map's position, then our direction shouldn't be mistaken And it's not like our sense of direction is led astray like in sea of trees, the co normally」

「In that case, this is a probleht, it's around here I think』, he said it a bit vaguely like that」

Shia groaned ' like this However, they were doing that while Shia was frequently leaping with great ju

A rabbit was hopping pyon pyon in a dense forest……

However, it was a consecutive juh the convenient tools were sealed As expected Hajih, it seemed that method was effective Not even fifteen minutes after that, Shia raised her voice 「Aaa!」

「Discovery! Hajime-san, I discovered iit!」(TN: Not a typo, this is the character speaking with prolonged word If you found anything like this before than most likely it's also not a typo But when I reread it, it feels a bit strange way of writing Can anyone teachlike this?)

「Oo~, finally It's worth it going pyon pyon like that huh」

According to Shia, surely the leaves and branches acted as obstruction so that she couldn't see froonally, there was an opening between the leaves and branches that was just right for her to be able to see a building In other words, it was difficult to discover the place using things like satellite picture

Both of the toward the ruin with footsteps that felt soot nearer to the ruin, the trees became thick, and the density of the plants also increased It was as though the nature itself was blocking any invasion

Shia was cutting apart those plants with hatchet The sword pressure, not, the hatchet pressure's shockwave bleay the obstruction while they advanced, and finally that figure appeared

「Oo Indeed, it's a ruin that etation is dense, that loomy It feels a bit eerie It feels like I can understand why the villagers fear it」

Inside the gloo quietly Stones with size even bigger than huht here were piled up to foriving the i perfectly to each other

Although, weeds and roots were sticking out fro was covered crowdedly with vines, and the stones the cracked and weathered

Grown tree broke through the building It could be clearly seen how the passage of time affected even the stones

The construction itself was extreish residence that could be found in countryside It didn't have two floors, but a one-story building There was no door A gaping wide hole was filled with spreading darkness that looked inviting

After Hajiaze, they nodded once to each other and stepped inside

……Fifteen ive me back my thrill desuu!」

Inside the ruin, Hajime and Shia's tsukkoree that it made them wanted to make tsukkomi about just ith the atmosphere of the ruin that looked like there would be really soation has been done here, even if there was so here it's obviously had been taken away But still, it should be a bit ht?」

「I understand what Hajiine the livelihood of the people in the past, or like painting in the wall that will ?』, or like trace of relief, so like those!」

A beat later

「Good grief, what a total let down」

「Good grief, what a total let down desuu」

Haji each other

Surely, if the ruin had its oill, it would surely object「No, even if you told uys」 without a doubt

Well, this was earth, there was no way there would be that ion that was filled with mystery and puzzle like in Tortus Both of them quickly left frouess? What to do Shia We finally find a building, I think it's fine to stay here for today」

「You're right But if we have one hour, we can explore the surrounding quite a lot you know? From the start, our objective is to search further back from the ruin, while the ruin is only as replace to take a look for a little?」

「Well, if it's just searching the surrounding, starting from now isn't too bad……」

Hajime made a little wry smile at Shia as really active And then, he followed behind Shia as energetically stepping deeper into the forest behind the ruin

Before long the sun had completely set Hajime and Shia doubled back to the ruin with hurried pace while thinking that they had spent a bit too much time for the search

Suddenly, Shia's rabbit ears twitched around in reaction

「Eh?」

「What's up Shia?」

「Uu~n There are people At where the ruin is」

「At this kind of ti for test of courage here?」

It was just an inch froht also didn't reach inside this dense forest That was about the only possibility that Hajiht was possible

But, that prediction of Haji

「No, I think that's not it It feels like there are totally a lot」

「Is it a large number of people? About how many?」

「I don't know clearly but……thirty? No, it's more than forty」

「That's a lot! Seriously!」

As expected even Hajime's eyes opened wide in surprise

「What to do, Hajime-san?」

「In any case, on't understand the situation from here Besides, I' that e found out by those guys and confirestion and the two approached the ruin while erasing their presence

The ot near, even Hajime became able to sense the presence of a lot of people In addition, when they came until a few dozen aps of the branches and leaves that the area around the ruin was illuh it was afternoon

Hajime and Shia looked at each other's face and without pause they soundlessly leaped on a thick tree branch where they could look over the whole ruin

「Oi oi, seriously? Where this investigation tea? When it's already been investigated?」

Ahead of their gaze, there were several large tents set up in front of the ruin Great nu, furthermore equipments of unknown function were set up here and there

「I don't really know the detail, but everything looks like of nice quality They are obviously aren't froner……perhaps, they are from USA There are a lot of them The Americans are around twenty people, and the locals……perhaps around thirty, including the presence inside the building?」

「Seeo on those tents and machineries?」

「Ee~rr, yes yes, I can see it you know? It's a picture like an arrow stabbing on a treasure box with opened lid?」

「Aah That huh, I reo of a company that manufactured or possessed o Shia asked him 「Where did you see it?」

Haji 「Was that a flag, god damn it」, he then opened his 」

「That's, could it be……」

Yes, Hajiuard of that shao at the inner part of that jacket

As expected, froer than the other, a fa with a tablet

「Look, that guy It's Will Turner」

「That's not it It's Helmut-san」

It was Wilford-san

By no means that person was the quasi-on of a sky world

That Wilford watched the table while thinking about soave instruction ot the local people

The figure of that "highly strung" Brandon could be seen He was giving instruction to his fellow Americans that looked like researchers who sees

There were also muscular men around a bit distance away froh fro that looked exactly like gun, but theforest

「Those guys, so this is their destination」

「As expected it was a flag isn't it? As expected of Hajime-san」

「You're noisy At any rate, these bunches, just what in the world they are doing at this eated――」

'Already', the word that Haji to say was stopped midway

「aAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」

By the screa from inside the ruin

The place suddenly became noisy

A local man rushed out froround, and before long he stopped th and fell li tragically

AN: Thank you verythis every tihts, opinions, and reports aboutthe conversation with Shia

As the result, the story doesn't progress

It looks like my serious poas used up at Kouki-arc, please bear with me until I recover