"Don't let it bother you. If anything, I'm sorry for having you ended him
in my stead."
We all must be making uncomfortable faces.
Shambhala-san said so to us in a gentle tone.
"No, I also apologize for not saving him…"
I had"Complete Resurrection"skill, and I could bring Shangarula
back to life.
But that skill was not something that should be used lightly.
Besides, I felt like neither Shangarula and Shambhala wanted that.
"I told you, you didn't have to worry 'bout it, didn't I? More importantly,
can you tell me why he turned into that monster? Regardless of all his
bad points, I know he's at least not the kind of guy who'd bare his
fangs at his brethren for no reason."
"Alright," with a nod, I explained the series of events to Shambala-san
without omitting any of it.
Of course, I was thinking of toning down the facts that might be better
left unsaid, but guessing from her personality, she seemed to hate
secrets.
So, I told her everything honestly.
"I see. Well, he just reaped what he'd sown. Though, knowing that
fool, I'm sure he didn't give a damn about that world of only demihumans thing."
"Mm, he said he did it to kill time."
"Haha, that sounds like him. I mean, that's the reason why he left the
village in the first place."
"Can you tell us more about that?"
Asked by Shiva-san, Shambala-san nodded, "Sure, 'course," and
said, "we werewolves have a law which dictates that the strongest in
the village must become the 'chief'. This law is absolute. But he didn't
obey it. Because 'it's boring', he said."
"But I thought being a chief is really busy. Like, you have to resolve
the disputes in the village and protecting the villagers from outside
threats…" I said reservedly.
Shambhala-san then shrugged her shoulders and said, "That's
exactly why it's boring to him. As his sister, I know for a fact that he's
a battle maniac. He's not interested in anything other than fighting. So
I'm sure he was really happy he got to fight you guys. Otherwise, he
would've never been able to turn into 'Fantasy Form'."
"Fantasy Form?"
As we all tilted our heads, Shambhala-san nodded, "Yeah," and
explained, "in the end, he turned into a huge wolf, didn't he? That is a
higher, evolved form of the power of unleashed state that we demihumans call 'Beastification'. Well, no one had been able to turn into
that form, that's why we call it 'Fantasy Form'."
"I see. Perhaps the Sacred Treasure reflected the will of your brother
to the maximum extent. To display such a powerful willpower even
after his death, I'm honestly surprised," Shiva-san remarked.
"Well, no matter how much of a troublemaker he is, he's still my
brother. Even if he's dead, as long as his body can still move, his
willpower would stay ablaze like always."
Seeing Shambhala-san laughed boldly, we broke into a smile.
◇ ◇
And so, we left the werewolf village, and was flying at high speed
toward the inn at Estona where everyone was waiting.
Now Shangarula and his Sacred Treasure had been purified, but
there were still three other blackdollified saints remained.
We had to hurry to the next village.
"So, which village should we go to next?" I asked.
"Let's see, the closest one would be the minotaur village, but
considering Boreios's movement speed, we may be able to
postpone," Shiva-san said.
"I see. Then, should we go to either the elf or the dragonfolk village
next?"
"Sure, sounds good to me."
"Which means, it'd be Zana or Arca, huh. Considering we don't have
much time, it'd probably best to go with Arca to take down Agartha as
soon as possible as she has higher combat power."
"Mm, I concur. But I'm a bit concerned about the 'Fantasy Form' that
Shambhala-san said earlier. The other saints will probably use it too."
Tirna put on an apprehensive face.
Shiva-san agreed, "Indeed. If that's the case, Agartha may literally
turn into a 'dragon'. On that note, I don't think elves have a higher
form or at least I can't think of one, so maybe we should deal with
Canaan first."
"I see. That's another option we can take…"
In any case, we'll be arriving at Estona soon, let's try asking for the
others' opinion then.
That's what I had thought. But when I casually opened the door of the
room where everyone was waiting,
"...Huh?"
I instantly got frozen.
It was natural.
I mean, an unexpected person was waiting for me there,
"…It's been a while hasn't it, Exa."
"El, ma…?"
Yes, it was the 'Sword' Saintess and my childhood friend—Elma.