It was the next day after I came back from Kaori's vacation house. The summer vacation is still going on, so today, I was thinking of cleaning up my grandpa's warehouse, which I hadn't done recently.
Then, Ouma-san, Yuti, and others came to see me, as if they were interested in my grandpa's warehouse.
"Hmm… I've always thought this place had a strange vibe, but looking at it again, I can feel it more strongly."
"Affirmative. It's strange."
"I-is that so?"
There are indeed many things in this room that grandpa acquired during his travels, all of which are of unknown use, but…
As I contemplated and tilted my head, Ouma-san let out a sigh of exasperation.
"Yuuya… you're in a room with all this power swirling around you, and you don't feel a thing?"
"Huh?"
"It's not just one kind of power. Every single one of them has a power that I do not know. Who is this… grandfather of yours anyway?"
"W-well…"
There are things that even Ouma-san doesn't understand… Grandpa, what did you really have collected?
I was going to clean it up now, but I'm getting a little afraid to touch it. However, if I don't do it, it won't be finished anytime soon, so I start to sort it out.
Ouma-san looked interested in the beginning, but he eventually got bored halfway through and went back to another room in the Earth house. Yuti also said she was going to practice archery and headed to the garden of Sage-san's house in the other world.
…Well, I was going to do it alone from the beginning, so that was fine.
While sorting it out little by little, I also activated my [Identification] skill while I was at it…
"…Really, grandpa, where did you get these from?"
Some things, even with the [Identification] skill, I couldn't even tell the name of the item, let alone its effect.
For example, I don't know what the principle of this thing is, but I can't tell the name, the effect, nor the material of this cubic stone (?) floating on a pedestal. No, really, why is it floating? It's not like it's magnetic…
As I continued to sort through the items while activating [Identification] skill, I suddenly found something familiar.
"Huh? This looks like something… a monk would carry, doesn't it?"
It was something called Khakkhara, and in my mind, it was a thing that a monk would carry. I'm not particularly surprised that such a thing would come out of nowhere in a world overflowing with things whose purpose is unknown, but it does make me curious.
I thought that the [Identification] skill would not work on this one either, but this time it did.
However…
"[Heavenly Khakkhara], huh… It's somewhat quite a bit of a thing, but… what is it? This "Exorcise" is…"
What's more, there was only one word of effect written on it. I can't understand anything about this.
"What is it? This is… This is similar to the talisman that Kagurazaka-san was using the other day?"
The other day, when an evil beast attacked me, I suddenly remembered that Kagurazaka-san, the shrine maiden I had met there, had used a talisman to kill the evil beast. I wondered if that was also a kind of exorcism?
An item I don't understand? Is it a weapon? As I was bewildered in front of the unfamiliar item or weapon, I noticed…
"Woof… woof!"
"What's wrong? Night."
Suddenly, Night barked, and as I wondered what was wrong, I felt the presence of several people following Night.
"? What is it?"
I paused for a moment and put the Khakkhara I had in my hand in the item box, then headed for the garden of the other world house.
There, I found Owen-san, Lexia-san, and the others. All of them walked quickly into Sage-san's garden.
"Hah… hah…"
"We managed to get here somehow…"
"H-hey. We've set foot in this Great Devil's Nest many times already, but I still wonder how we've survived…"
"In any case, it's thanks to that person, followed by Captain Owen, and Luna, who was appointed as Lexia-sama's bodyguard, is also quite strong…
"Rather, except for that person and the two of them, we do not have the ability to enter the Great Devil's Nest properly…"
The soldiers already have wounds on their bodies, and Owen-san and Luna are also out of breath. Although I looked around to see if anyone was hurt, fortunately, no one was fully injured, and I didn't need Akatsuki to lend me a hand.
I don't know why Lexia-san and the others came to this place, but I think they had something to do with me, so I told Night and the others to rest at the Earth house for the time being. But I wondered who was "that person" the soldiers were talking about earlier.
In the midst of all this, Lexia-san, the only one in good spirits, spotted me, and her eyes sparkled.
"Yuuya-sama! I came to see you! Wait… Who is that girl?"
"Huh?"
"?"
Yuti, who Lexia-san pointed out, tilted her head in wonder. Luna also nodded several times as she caught her breath at the sight of Lexia-san.
Speaking of which, when capturing the first prince of Alceria, Rhaegar-sama, I mentioned that we were attacked, but I didn't tell Lexia-san or Luna who the attacker was…
Even so, I had already explained this to Owen-san and Arnold-sama when we were discussing Ouma-san's case the other day.
Owen-san already knows about it, so when I explained to Lexia-san straightforwardly, including the introduction of Yuti, Lexia-san and others were troubled in their minds.
"Such a girl is a member of the Dark Guild that conspired with my brother… Are there only girls in the Dark Guild?"
"N-no, not really… but I've never seen this girl before either. And I'm also surprised that she's a disciple of the Bow Saint…"
"Certainly… I thought that the "Holy" was only in fairy tales…"
In response to their reaction, Yuti tilted her head even more and said something outrageous.
"? Unknown. I'm not involved with the Dark Guild anymore."
"Huh?"
That seemed to be the first time Owen-san had heard of it, and everyone rolled their eyes.
B-by the way, Lexia-san's words reminded me of the fact that Yuti is related to the Dark Guild…
More than that, the information that he is a disciple of the "Bow Saint" is more significant.
"Before. I tried to kill the people who killed my master. But it was the work of the Evil. So now I have no reason to kill humans. …I still hate them, but I won't take that feeling out on people who aren't related to me anymore."
It seemed that Yuti had made up her mind about other humans in her own way, and unlike when she first attacked me, now she no longer thought of any human being as an enemy.
This was probably due in large part to Kaori and the friends she had made at the school on Earth. It really was a good thing that I transferred Yuti to my school.
"Conclusion. That's why I'm not in contact with the Dark Guild anymore. There's no need for it."
"Y-you mean you don't need them? What was your role in the Dark Guild anyway?"
"A bouncer?"
"I don't know why you made that as a question… but the Dark Guild even hired bouncers, huh? You're not a member of the guild like me, but you probably have connections with the upper echelons. No wonder I never see you…"
"Affirmative. I used to see him all the time; he seemed like a great guy."
Owen-san, who was listening to Yuti, is pondering with a grim expression.
"In other words, there is no one in the Dark Guild that is as good as Yuti… At the time, it was right after I found out that Yuti was a member of the Dark Guild, so I thought it would be very difficult to get rid of the Dark Guild… This is something that I will have to tell His Majesty as soon as I get back to the royal capital."
"By the way, what brings you all here? I believe the road was dangerous…"
According to Owen-san and the others, the place where this house is located is called the "Great Devil's Nest," and the people of this world rarely go near it, and it is not a place where you can come and go very easily.
However, Owen-san and the others had come to such a place many times just to meet me. There's no convenient item like a telephone, and there's no magic, so there's no way to contact me either. …No, even if there were a phone, it wouldn't have been in my house.
"Oh, about that───."
(───I protected them, you know.)
"Eh, Master Usagi?"
Apparently, Master Usagi was the one who escorted them to this house. Was it Master Usagi that the soldier was talking about earlier?
"What exactly happened?"
(What? As usual, I was on my way here to train you when I saw a rare human figure, which was unusual. And since they were struggling at the entrance to the Great Devil's Nest, and it seemed they wanted to see you, so I brought them along.)
"I-I see…?"
It's true that if Master Usagi had been escorting them, they would have been safe…
However, the soldiers were strangely tired of that, so I couldn't help but turn my attention to them.
"I-it's too strict… and more than double the usual training…"
"Being forced to go one-on-one with a goblin elite… What kind of nightmare is that?"
"If we try to escape, we'll get one hell of a kick in the ass…"
"Yeah… It's good that we're still alive…!"
"…Master Usagi?"
(What? I'm just giving them a little workout, that's all.)
"…Is this normal in the Great Devil's Nest?"
"He's a rabbit, and he's strong, I don't get it at all…"
"And he's speaking normal human language…?"
Apparently, Owen-san and the others were tired because Master Usagi had trained them, and the soldiers were pale in the face. T-thank you for your hard work…
Owen-san coughed one to change the atmosphere.
"Ahem! By the way, the reason we came here today is───."
"Oh, that's right! Yuuya-sama, let's go to the festival together!"