Emi, the Unreasonable Berserker Girl

Run, run.

Run, cutting through the wind.

Using the techniques of 【Grasshopper】, I run full tilt toward the Togodos' habitat, the northern cliffs.

Kamasse, he's a good guy.

At the very least, I like him.

There aren't actually that many people I end up liking.

The people I like are the ones who were kind to me.

Master, the Baron, and Sara-chan.

None of them looked down on me just because I'm a cursed child; they treated me properly as a person.

That's why I like them.

......And Kamasse.

At first I thought he was a jerk, but at heart he turned out to be surprisingly straight, a sincere guy.

He apologized to me properly, and he even treated me to yakitori.

That's why I like Kamasse.

I absolutely don't want him to die.

I felt it, strongly, so strongly.

That's exactly why, seeing Kamasse nearly killed by those damn birds, the blood rushed to my head.

That's it, those things, I'll kill them.

Unforgivable. I can't let them live.

They're all dead.

My vision turned bright red, and I couldn't think of anything else.

First, I crushed their heads and killed them with 【Stone Throw】.

But the damn birds seemed surprisingly smart; they quickly started using magic to block the pebbles.

So after that, I leaped with 【Grasshopper】, clung directly to the damn birds, and used 【Mantis】 to lop off plenty of necks.

Serves them right.

But.

But, and this is truly infuriating.

I'll say it again: those things are smart.

And because the blood had rushed to my head, I wasn't calm at all.

Before I knew it, the rest of the flock had moved away from the one I was clinging to, leaving it isolated.

Even if I try to jump to another one, the footing's unstable, and they're a bit too far.

......And in comes a suicide charge.

The damn birds slam into each other and die on impact.

Toward the sea they fall, taking me with them.

“Hohohohoho-hohohohoho!”

“““Hohoho! Hohohoho!”””

I hear the damn birds' cries, so unpleasant, almost like they're jeering at me.

Don't screw with me, damn it! I'm pissed!

Don't make a fool of me! I'll kill you! Kill you! Kill you!!

The blood rushes to my head again, but without a foothold, there's nothing I can do.

No matter how much I flail around, I can't fly.

The damn birds get smaller and smaller, and then......

“‘Wind, blow it away! 【Storm】!’”

The moment I hear that chant, a sudden gust blasts against my back, and I'm blown back toward the cliff.

I land face-first.

I absorb the impact with magic power conversion and, carried by the momentum, roll two or three times.

“Hey! Hey, are you okay, Emi!?”

I hear footsteps running over as he calls out to me.

......It's Kamasse!!

I sit right up and raise my head.

Standing there is the silver-haired boy adventurer.

His clothes are in tatters, and I can tell those damn birds really had their way with him, but it doesn't look like he has any serious injuries.

He looks lively. He's alive.

Kamasse was alive.

I go up to him, stretch up on my tiptoes, and hug him.

I press my ear to his chest.

His heart, it's beating.

Kamasse is alive!!

......?

His heartbeat is strangely fast. Is he unwell?

When I look up into his face, he's bright red.

“Kamasse, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“A, ah!? Hurt!? Th, that's, for an adventurer, an ounce of potion is worth a pound of cure! Having them ready is basic and for an excellent adventurer such as myself to forget such preparations is simply impossible and therefore! There's no need to worry!”

Kamasse hurriedly shakes me off and, all flustered, shows me an empty potion bottle to prove he's fine.

But is he really okay? His face is still red, and he's acting different than usual.

<Th, this man! Don't tell me, being hugged by Emi has him lusting!? U, unforgivable! Let's kill him, Emi!>

And for some reason, Omake-sama starts losing it.

I mean, right now I'm a 7-year-old girl, you know?

Kamasse looks about middle-school age any way you slice it; can someone that age really get flustered being hugged by a little girl like me?

If so, just how innocent is Kamasse? Is it a cultural difference?

Also, Omake-sama, you were awfully quiet until just now, weren't you?

<Eh? A, ah, well, you seemed quite angry, Emi. The blood had rushed to your head and it didn't look like you'd listen to me, so I kept quiet.>

Ah, I see.

Sorry you had to be so considerate, I guess?

“Anyway, you! What about you, are you okay? Not hurt? It was to pull you over here, but I'm sorry for firing something like 【Storm】 at you! Forgive me!”

This time, Kamasse worried about me.

I'm happy.

It seems that incantation from before really was Kamasse's.

“Something like that is nothing.”

I swing my arms wide to show I'm fine.

Don't worry, Kamasse.

“‘Something like that’...... it was a split-second thing, but I fired that spell pretty much for real......”

Huh? Now he's all down.

Don't sweat it, Kamasse!

This guy's emotional ups and downs are so wild, he's fun to watch!

Well, anyway.

I look up.

The damn birds wheeling against the cloudy sky seem wary of my jumping power; they're flying pretty high.

Once they get up that far, there's no way the current me can reach them.

Then again, you could also say that since they don't seem to have any long-range attacks, they can't attack us either.

In other words, Kamasse is saved!

I protected Kamasse!

Case closed!

......And it seems there's no meddling from any strange gods this time.

I protected him.

This time...... I protected him!

Guuuuu.

......I'm hungry!

I think I'll snack on some of the damn bird meat lying around here before heading back to town.

I trot over to some meat, grab it around the neck for starters, and rip it off by force.

Buchi, buchichi......

Gushing out, blackish blood.

Bright red meat, peeking out from the feathers.

......Let's dig in.

Goku goku......

Musha musha......

“Hey, heeey!! Why the hell are you chowing down on meat with that everything's-settled look on your face! And I mean, don't eat it raw! COOOOOOK IT!!”

Kamasse snapped out of his on-all-fours sulk mode and called me out.

Stop it. Don't interfere with my meal.

You're putting me in a bad mood......

“Stop it, don't let your killing intent leak out. Your boiling point is way too low. ......Listen, look up.”

At Kamasse's words, I look up at the sky again, but all that's there is the flock of damn birds, same as before.

They're circling the same spot, but they show no sign of coming after us.

I tilt my head a little.

Kamasse is saved, so isn't everything solved now?

I was thinking about ‘they're all dead’ and all that earlier, but that was because the blood had rushed to my head; now that I'm calm, I'm not that set on exterminating those damn birds, though?

“......It's a long way off, so it's hard to make out, but can you see a big red Togodo flying up there, Emi? That's the Togodo Commander. It's a highly intelligent and troublesome opponent. If we leave it alone, the Togodo flock will expand their territory, and the town of Yoshanka will undoubtedly suffer damage! We have to find a way to subjugate it!”

......Hmm?

“Hey, why are you tilting your head? Protecting people who can't fight is the duty of the strong! The duty of an adventurer! You became an adventurer too, right? Then you mustn't forget that!”

Ah.

Kamasse doesn't know I'm not an adventurer yet.

<He seems to be mistaken, but it can't be helped. In most cases, adventurer registration goes smoothly. I saw it on all sorts of Isekai Reincarnation Broadcasts. In fact, Emi is the first person I've seen stumble at the registration stage.>

Well, anyway.

Kamasse wants to defeat that red damn bird.

I think it over while wiping the blood from around my mouth.

If Kamasse says so, I don't mind helping.

But that red damn bird is far up in the sky.

It's retreated to a position where I can't reach it.

“How, are you gonna beat that thing?”

Those who can fly are so unfair!

Whether attacking or escaping, they have an insane advantage.

Honestly, I don't feel like there's anything we can do.

There's no way to beat it, right?

“......There is a way.”

There is one!?

Amazing, Kamasse. Aren't your strategy skills a bit too good?

But even as he says that, he's frowning with a downturned mouth and a gloomy face.

“Thing is...... normally, there's no way anyone could go with a plan like this. It puts way too much on you. It's sheer madness. But...... Emi, after watching you rampage like that earlier, I get the feeling you might be able to do it.”

Ho ho?

“The plan, tell me?”

........................

The plan Kamasse told me afterward.

To be honest, it was so simple I didn't know if I could even call it a “plan.”

And it's true that normally, anyone would think twice before actually doing it.

But I can do it.

With a body that has undergone a certain amount of mana transmutation, a decent mastery of 【Body Strengthening】, and above all, Master's techniques passed down to me, I can pull it off without trouble, I should.

I can do it.

“Will you really do it?”

Why are you making a face like you're about to cry, Kamasse?

It's the plan you came up with.

“It's okay.”

Honestly, what is he so scared of?

Kamasse keeps saying it's dangerous, but I'm pretty tough, you know.

It takes a lot more than that to hurt me.

This time, too, I'll be totally fine.

“......I'm frustrated.”

Huh?

“Being saved by you...... and then constantly relying on you. I'm pathetic. I'm frustrated that I'm so weak.”

Hey now, whining at a time like this?

Can't be helped.

Here, I, the grown-up (in mental age, probably), will give him a little backup.

“......This time, I was the stronger one. That's all.”

“............”

“Kamasse, too, just has to get stronger. Kamasse, can get stronger.”

Probably. He's a sincere guy.

“Next time, if I get in a pinch, then, you save me, stronger Kamasse.”

“............”

“......Promise.”

“......Yeah, it's a promise.”

We bump our fists together.

Oh, Kamasse's face has gone all determined.

It seems he's fired up.

I roll my wrists, roll my ankles, roll my neck, roll my shoulders, roll my hips.

Alright, okay.

【Solidification】 on the ground.

I firm up my footing.

【Body Strengthening】 on both legs.

I pour power into them.

Finally, I glare at the red damn bird wheeling high in the sky, and I'm all set.

I can go anytime!

“Are you ready!?”

Of course!

I answer Kamasse with a nod.

“I'm ready too. Just go on your timing. I'll match you perfectly.”

What starts now is a red damn bird hunt, with Kamasse and me working together.

Come to think of it, this is the first time I've ever teamed up with someone to hunt monsters.

With Master, it was less cooperation and more like he'd show me an example and let me try; it was strictly guidance.

Thinking about it like that, it kind of feels like I've made a comrade, and that makes me happy.

......Alright, let's go.

No use grinning on the inside forever (my face is expressionless).

Taking aim at the red damn bird.

After a light knee bend, I activate 【Grasshopper】 and jump with all my might.

Cutting through the wind, in an instant my body soars high into the sky.

Now...... prepare yourself, red damn bird!!