Chapter 5 : Irresistible uninvited guests

“Rona, Rona!!”

I scoured the forest, calling her name, but no answer returned.
Had she gone far already?
Or was she too engrossed in chasing rabbits?
Whatever the case, she was a young child without any sense of judgment.
Taking my eyes off such a child was a clear mistake, and Erina, filled with guilt, began to stifle her breath with trembling hands.

“Rona, ah, Rona……!”

“Erina, calm down.”

“How can I calm down?
Rona has disappeared.
We don’t know what will happen to her, if, if something really bad happens to her, I……”

“It hasn’t been long since she disappeared, she’ll surely be alright.
So first, calm down and we need to focus on finding Rona……”

–Rustle.

While I was reassuring Erina, I heard the sound of rustling bushes.
Hoping it might be Rona, I turned my gaze, but what I actually encountered were armed men.
Clothes made from animal hides, crossbows in hand, and so on……
Typical hunter attire for traversing the forest.

“You two, what are you doing here?”

The urgent words uttered from their mouths felt more like concern for us than hostility.
As if they thought we shouldn’t be here.

“……What business do hunters have here?”

“Haven’t you heard the news?
Currently, this entire forest area has a large influx of wild beasts, and an evacuation order has been issued.”

Wild beasts have invaded?
I gave them a look asking for a more detailed explanation, and a hunter immediately explained.

“For some reason, the wild animals that lived in the nearby mountain range have massively migrated to the forests in this area.
So, professional hunters like us are scouring the forest and hunting dangerous beasts as a precaution……
It’s not known when danger might strike for you two as well, so please evacuate from this place quickly.”

A time when seawater was flooding in due to an unknown phenomenon.
Certainly, if there was no need to take risks, it would be better to leave this place early.
If the child we had to protect hadn’t disappeared here.

“Ah, no, we can’t do that!
My daughter went missing in this forest!”

“What!?
You lost a child?”

“Damn it, of all times for this to happen, in such a dangerous situation!”

The hunters, as if they finally grasped the situation, all wore panicked expressions.
Then, as they exchanged glances with each other, one hunter pointed to a certain direction and urgently shouted.

“Come to think of it, I saw small footprints over there.
I ignored them thinking they were from a small wild animal, but now that I think about it, they might have been footprints left by a young child……”

“You saw them over there?”

After hearing the hunter’s words, I quickly infused magic power into both of my legs.
If we knew the location, I thought there was no need to search one by one.

“Hey, wait a minute.
What are you doing now?
Didn’t I just say?
Wild beasts have flocked to this area……”

–Whoosh!!

Before the hunter could even finish his sentence, my body was launched from that spot, shooting out into the depths of the forest.
Everything around me became afterimages, and even the small and large sounds I heard were swallowed by the supersonic speed I was generating.
Was the last time I reached this speed on the battlefield a few years ago?
To realize such speed at this place, I was feeling a sense of urgency and desperation.

“Rona.”

If I was even a little late, that child.
My daughter might face something irreversible.

“Please be safe, please……”

While sprinting through the forest with such a sentiment, I eventually became aware of a familiar figure peeking out from my side.
A small, white body.
Obscured by the bushes, it wasn’t clearly visible, but it was definitely her.

“Ro……!”

Rona.
The name I was about to call out was cut short, because something that should never be there was also present with her.
Deep in the forest where light barely reached.
Even within it, a huge shadow that was asserting its presence, was looking down at the small figure in front of it with fierce eyes.
A grizzly bear.
A beast with might and ferocity greater than any other wild animal.

–Growl……!

The moment that creature let out a roar and raised its front paw, I felt my heart sink, and hurriedly turned my steps towards that place.
There was no time to hesitate.
Even if I was unarmed, my daughter was there.
If I left her as she was, that child might be crushed to death by the bear.

“No……!”

But I instinctively sensed it.
With my current speed, even if I exerted all my power from this spot, the bear’s front paw would reach Rona faster than my hand could.

“Please, please……!!”

Even so, as I moved forward to that place, I desperately uttered a wish, hoping for a miracle to happen.
God or demon, if you are watching this moment, please protect that child.
Repeating only that one thing from the depths of my heart, I engraved everything happening before my eyes.
The bear’s front paw swung mercilessly, indifferent to my wish.
And then, for some reason, just before the bear’s front paw reached Rona, a transparent barrier formed an inch away, blocking the attack—a scene I could barely register.

–Clang!!

The fleeting moment of confirming that passed, and then the bear’s front paw was bounced away from the spot.
Taking advantage of the bear’s bewildered growl and faltering body, I rushed forward in front of Rona.
I didn’t know what had happened.
But if the child was safe, that was enough for now.

–Grrr……

To the bear, fiercely glaring at me as we faced off, I calmed myself and quietly let out words.

“……Get lost.”

The regret and self-loathing I had felt until now, suppressing all of it with the rising anger in this moment.
Revealing without hesitation that if it provoked me any further, that anger would be unleashed.

“If you harm this child any more, I won’t stand idly by either.”

–……Growl.

Did it instinctively sense something from my threat?
Soon, the grizzly bear led its massive body away from the spot, and only after that figure disappeared from my sight did I sheathe my killing intent and face Rona.

“Ppaa……”

Rona, staring blankly up at me with wide eyes.
To such Rona, I couldn’t bring myself to ask ‘Are you okay?’.
Because even after being hit by a bear’s front paw that could topple even deeply rooted trees, she was maintaining a perfectly fine state without any harm to her body.
Was the only unusual thing not just wielding Aura at a young age?
Is this child truly born with a destiny more extraordinary than I could imagine?

“Rona, Ronaaa!!”

While I was contemplating how to accept that, Erina’s voice reached me from afar.
Soon, she appeared through the bushes, and tightly hugged Rona’s body, bursting into tears.

“Why, why did you do that, why did you leave Mommy’s side and go into the forest alone!?
How worried I was, if something bad happened to you, I, I would have……. Sob!!”

The moment when a heart that was about to collapse was replaced with relief by finding her daughter.
Even so, the sound of her bursting cries seemed to stimulate Rona’s tender heart, and Rona’s face, which had been blank all along, gradually began to contort.
And finally, she burst into tears.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

A sorrowful cry continuing while embraced in her mother’s arms.
That cry, purely focused on expressing her own frustration, was exactly what a child of her age would let out.
Regardless of her extraordinary talents and strange phenomena.
It was teaching me that her essence was still just that of an infant girl.

“……Rona.”

Just listening to it, the wariness I had felt before disappeared, and along with it, I felt the anxiety I had been vaguely feeling grow even larger.
The more time I spent with this child, and the more I learned about her secrets.
Anxiety that a future we couldn’t handle might be waiting for us.

After the lakeside we went to for a picnic was also designated as a danger zone due to the influx of wild beasts into the forest, I reluctantly returned home with Rona and Erina.
In the first place, it wasn’t an atmosphere where we could continue our picnic any longer, so it was only natural.
I made coffee for Erina, who was like that, and said.

“Drink this first and calm down.”

“……Thank you.”

Erina took sips of the coffee I handed her.
Even so, seeing her unrelaxed expression, I pondered for a while what words I should return to her.
Should I comfort her to calm her startled heart?
Or should I have a proper consultation about what had happened earlier……

“Rona is……”

To me, standing still, not knowing what to do, she cautiously conveyed her thoughts.

“Rona is a child.”

It was a fact.

“A child who still doesn’t know the ways of the world.
Therefore, a child we have to protect……”

That too was a fact, and I also thought the same.

“Logan thinks the same way too, right?”

“……Yes.”

Whatever her identity, whatever abilities she was born with, the scene of her crying sorrowfully in her arms was undoubtedly that of a young child.
So, the attitude with which we treat this child will not change in the future.
As long as she is by our side, we will prioritize her above all else, and protect her even at the cost of our own lives……

“But, I’m scared.”

But even though I was prepared for that, Erina’s voice itself was deeply tinged with anxiety.

“Every time I see this child showing a scene that defies common sense, I feel like she’s getting further and further away from us.
Can we handle the destiny this child was born with……
Contrary to our wish to embrace this child, I feel like the world won’t leave her alone.”

“……Erina.”

“If that’s really the case, what should we do?
To protect this child……. What is the best we can do?”

Erina, worrying about the same things as me, not sparing her concern for the child held in her arms.
To such her, I couldn’t return any words.
Because whatever I said, it would ultimately be just pretense and lies.
Since I also know nothing about this child, there’s no way I could be able to make any definitive statements about this child’s future.
There was only one thing I could do.
Just vaguely hoping that time would resolve the current anxiety.

–Knock, knock knock!

In the midst of that, at the deafening sound of knocking on the door, I reflexively tensed up and turned my gaze towards the front door.

“The one inside, respond to the call!
We have come on important business!”

And even before I could gauge the identity of the other party, a commanding voice reached my ears first.
Seeing Erina shudder with anxiety at that, I patted her shoulder to reassure her, and quietly prepared to go to the front door.

“Stay inside with Rona.”

“Logan……”

“Don’t come out no matter what until I return.
Do you understand?”

Erina nodded silently.
Only after getting that confirmation did I step out to the front door, opening it to examine the figures who had appeared before me.
Soldiers equipped with armor that was extraordinary at a glance.
I recognized that those armors were none other than those worn by ‘soldiers directly under the Imperial Family’.
And them being accompanied like this meant that a member of the Imperial Family had come to this place with a high probability.

“I heard there is an adventurer named Logan here, are you that person?”

A man wearing a fur mantle and a crown, walking out from among the soldiers.
From his thinly opened eyes and the smile drawn on his lips, a feeling of suspicion was clearly felt at a glance.
…No, is it presumptuous for a commoner like me to even try to fathom the influential figures of the empire?

“Crown Prince, are you?”

“Hehe, you recognized my identity right away even though it’s our first meeting.
Thanks to you, the conversation will be quicker.”

Yes, the one in front of me was the Crown Prince of the Empire.
Virtually the successor to the Imperial throne and someone I, a retired low-ranking officer, couldn’t dare to presume to approach.

“Let me introduce myself for the first time.
I am William Fernandes, the 2nd heir to the Fernandes Empire.
I have come to this village temporarily on business.”

“……If Your Highness has visited, it must be a very important matter.”

“Indeed.
Perhaps it’s a matter that should be called a momentous event for the nation……
Furthermore, for humanity.”

A momentous event for humanity, he says.
Could it really be plausible for the Crown Prince himself to visit a mere retired officer like me with such a momentous topic?

“According to the news I’ve heard, a mysterious light fell near this village.”

But the moment I heard the words that followed, I sensed that it wasn’t something that had happened without basis.
At the same time, I also sensed that it was highly likely to be related to my daughter inside the house.

“And I heard from the guild members that you were the first to discover the crash site of that light.”

Soon, Crown Prince William offered a proposal with a sly smile.

“Please, would you be willing to accompany me for a while on my business?”

“…….”