Pick Me Up!

And the next morning.

When I came out, all four of them were gathered.

Jenna, Eloka, Velkist, Neryssa. The purpose was simple: greetings and a report on recent events. Eloka had complained about why I ignored her yesterday, but…

“You were asleep.”

“No, I wasn’t sleeping…”

“Then what were you doing?”contemporary romance

“It’s been a while since you left, so I was waiting to greet you properly!”

“Okay, okay, my bad for not waking you up.”

I chuckled.

After exchanging greetings with Neryssa as well, I moved on to the next topic. Eloka had suggested a small party, but I declined. I hadn’t come here to have fun.

“You’re quite blunt. Really. No fun at all.”

“I’m sorry if it’s not fun. Anyway, while I was gone, you guys must have like crazy fun, right? After being stuck for a month, you must have been itching to move.”

If the current floor was the 25th, we needed to catch up in terms of levels.

We also needed to recover our teamwork, which had suffered due to our absence from actual combat.

“Training will start this afternoon. When the Master arrives…”

Thump.

The floor beneath the table shook.

It quieted down a moment later, as if to say, “Did that just happen?”

“A little mouse has arrived.”

I laughed.

Thud!

I kicked under the table with my foot.

The cold spot caved in, and wooden splinters scattered in the air. The large wooden table flipped over into the air.

“Did I get caught?”

“If you’re going to hide, at least hide properly.”

I sighed.

In the spot where the table used to be, a young girl was squatting.

She had black hair and wore a one-piece dress made of animal skin. She might look older, but she was probably twelve or thirteen at most. She was still a child.

“Hmph, if I got caught, it can’t be helped!”

The little girl stood up with her nose in the air.

“I am Lacari Vikchavi! A proud member of the Gale Tribe. I’m different from you dirty and mortal humans!”

She had a proud expression, her nose held high.

“… “

None of the five of us reacted.

“Hahaha! Are you all scared to the point of being speechless? Of course. From the start, I’m different from you humans…Augh!!”

Whoosh!

Lacari was suddenly hanging in my grasp.

“H-let me go! Dirty human!”

“What is this? Some kind of monkey?”

“I’m a member of the third party.”

Neryssa said.

“Summoned a month ago.”

“I know. It’s just different from what I was expecting.”

“You, let go!”

Lacari screamed and struggled.

I grabbed the little one’s collar and shook her vigorously. Like a marionette, Lacari’s body swayed.

“Cowardly…! Just as despicable and filthy as humans!”

“Why did you come in the first place? What do you want?”

“Too noisy! Hey, you there! The weakling who got beaten up by your sister yesterday! Help me right now!”

Velkist’s eyebrows twitched.

His hand got closer to his scabbard. Jenna awkwardly chuckled.

“Hey, bro. Using a sword on a kid…”

“Does this kid look like innocent?”

“Huh? But…”

I stepped back.

Lacari, who had rushed at me, smashed the chair in front of me in an instant.

“Phew, dodged it.”

Lacari brushed her hands.

Her hands had long, sharp claws.

“What is that?”

“All the members of the third party are beastmen. They belong to an extremely rare race that resides in the far east of the Empire.”

Lacari bared her fangs.

“Hmph, talkative talkative. Come on, you humans! I won’t leave a single one of you…”

Thud!

Velkist’s scabbard struck her on the back of her head.

Lacari collapsed without even screaming.

“Noisy little thing.”

Velkist muttered.

“Their way of thinking is different from ours. It seems they don’t like humans much. But to me, they don’t seem much different from humans.”

“It’s because they’re a sub-race.”

I looked down at Lacari.

‘A gale that runs through the forest.’

It was the name of the bond generated in consecutive draws.

Having a bond meant that all four of them, including this one, were of the same race.

‘A beastmen race.’

Similar to humans but also different.

I thought of a few cases. Occasionally, in the draws, beings of a different race from humans would appear. They had slightly different characteristics from ordinary human heroes.

“She’s cute.”

Jenna poked Lacari’s cheek.

There was a blush on her cheek where baby fat hadn’t disappeared.

“But personality-wise, she seems pretty bad.”

“Oppa, what do you plan to do? Wake her up and send her back like this?”

Jenna turned to me and asked.

“Well, I’m not sure.”

Lacari’s body was twitching; it seemed like she was going to wake up soon.

‘It’s gotten quite annoying.’

According to Velkist, the third party didn’t seem to be cooperative with us.

While they might be helpful in performing missions individually, working together would be really difficult.

“You guys stay here. I’ll try talking to them.”

“Is it okay for you to go alone?”

“What’s the point of you coming with me? Are you going to start a fight?”

I lifted Lacari with one hand.

It felt like about 30 kg. It was incredibly light.

“During my absence, do some training or something.”

“Senior, remember what I told you yesterday. This kid is nothing special, but the others are a bit different.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Leaving my party members behind, I walked out into the corridor.

At the crossroads, I met someone.

“Han…!”

“How have you been?”

It was Edis.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have time for greetings. I’m a bit busy.”

Edis glanced at Lacari in my arms.

“That kid…”

“I heard she’s hard to handle. Is that right?”

“Sorry, I tried to persuade her, but she wouldn’t listen.”

“It seems like it’s not a cooperative relationship.”

“Our mission is to go out. But it’s a bit unusual. To be honest, I don’t really understand.”

Edis shook her head.

“Let’s talk about it later. See you in a bit.”

I continued walking.

Since Edis came from the central corridor, the place with the third party should be the right corridor.

As I approached the middle of the corridor.

“Hat!”

Lacari suddenly opened her eyes.

Her big eyes locked onto me.

“You, you, you cowardly…!”

“Are you awake?”

Lacari wriggled in my grip.

Before she could extend her claws, I reached out like lightning and grabbed her wrist. Gently.

“Ah, owowowowow!”

“Don’t thrash around. I might accidentally break your arm.”

“You, you! After doing this to me…”

I shook Lacari vigorously, holding onto her clothing.

Lacari’s body spun around like a top. After a while, her screams subsided.

‘Now it’s a bit quieter.’

I'm currently Translating the following novels: Pick Me Up! | A Frontline Soldier Awakened as a Gamer In The War! | The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player. If you want to support me and read more chapters please subscribe to my Patreon!

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