Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Louise’s Ridiculous Burst of Strength!
“Go! hide quickly! You won't hold out if that thing bites you!”
“Everybody! Inside! Get inside and close the door!”
“Oh heroes, please! Chase those dogs somewhere far away!”
The two Cerberus were running around gleefully, trampling all over everything and wreaking utter chaos in its wake.
Panicked villagers rushed into their houses and shut themselves in. Meanwhile, Garlock-senpai leisurely stood at the edge of the forest next to the fields, smoking a cigarette with a smug look on his face.
“Tch! I’ve never gone up against a high class demon before but I sure as hell am gonna beat the crap out of him!!”
Louise shouted loudly before darting off by herself.
Her pointy ears kept twitching energetically and her pink ponytail swayed from side to side as if to reflect her boiling emotions on the outside.
“Louise, wait! If you just rush in without thinking, you’re gonna end up ruining yourself again.”
“That’s right Louise-san! If we just try talking to them, I’m sure they’ll understand everything! So let’s first convince Cerberus-san together!”
“Tch..!!”
Suzette and Nasha somehow managed to get a hold of Louise as she reluctantly put her burning fists down.
Suzette crossed her arms as she stood beside the horrified old woman.
“For the time being, we need to figure out how to deal with those Cerberus dogs first. If I remember right, their weak points must be—”
The tactician of『Deared』, Suzette, started going through all the available options at the moment.
Either giving them hard bread or feeding them with bread soaked in an alcoholic sleeping portion. Both were generally effective methods in handling Cerberus for a short while.
Louise and Suzette took up the main offensive roles of the party.
Louise was a hyper-aggressive melee range front-liner that made full use of her characteristic superhuman strength and agile body to fight. And Suzette was the technical rearguard musketeer who stressed solely on precision as she harnessed her own mana to wield a gigantic gun that was almost as tall as she was.
The two were busy setting up their battle plan while Nasha kept staring at Cerberus throughout that entire time.
As for me, I slowly took out the only package that had been on me ever since escaping the demon army.
“This should be the most effective way of dealing with Cerberus. It's a sweet pastry made from a mixture of honey and wheat flour.”
Suzette suddenly turned to look at me in surprise as I was placing a few pastries on top of Nasha’s palm.
“You’ve got something effective against Cerberus? You can't possibly know these things without having to infiltrate the demon army. Eric-san, just how far have you—”
… looks like I said a little too much.
But that’s fine. This is all I can do for now.
“So you can use those little treats to take down those rabid dogs? Wow, that sounds easy.”
“No, the Cerberus are really sensitive to the murderous intent. So Louise won't be able to do this job.”
“I see. Then all we got left is—”
Suzette, Louise and I collectively turned around as our gazes assembled on same spot.
“... Eh? Y-you mean… ME!?”
Suzette tilted her red-rimmed glasses slightly and spun her words in a way that befits her role as the tactician.
“Cerberus will attack those who approach them while exuding blood lust, but they are relatively less aggressive toward those who have no desire to kill nor fight. So, if anyone can give them their favorite sweet snacks, it is you, Anastasia. You are the only one who can do this.”
It was indeed true that Nasha, who had no desire to fight from the beginning and even tried to resolve the matter through discussion, was indeed the most suitable for this task.
However, Cerberus wasn’t the only opponent we had.
Sensing this, I reminded the others.
“So, what are you gonna do after winning them over with the sweets? After all, this still won’t change the fact that a Colonel of the demon army is quite the powerful foe.”
“That’s…!”
“Even if there’s no plan, I can just go beat him up.”
Seeing that Suzette was at a loss for words, Louise immediately stepped up to the task.
“It's not every day you get to fight with a higher-up from the demon army. And this is practically the perfect place for me to vent all the frustration that I had been building up for these past few days. Plus it's also a good chance for me to figure out what I’m capable of.”
“Still reckless as usual, you! Fine then, I’ll just cover for you from the back. You can go fight to your heart's content. But If things gets dangerous, step aside immediately. so I can at least try to slow them down.”
“––Got it!”
"And then Erik-san, what are you going to do? This is your first party mission after all—"
“O-oh, well I…I guess, I’d like to join the Cerberus team with Nasha.”
――If I were to meet him face to face, I really don't know how I would react to that as*hole of a former superior of mine.
I mean, I didn't even want to see him in the first place. I really don’t want to meet him at all.
I hate it. I hate it. I hate it
I really hate it.
“Ah…umm, Eric-san? Are you alright?”
Nasha was gently peering at me from below as I was suffering from the traumatic flashbacks that shook me down to my core.
Just by having those angelic, warm blue eyes gently gazing up at me, it felt as if all the pain, hardship, and the bitterness that I had been going through were all but melted away.
“Yeah, I’m feeling fine now!”
"That's good to hear! This is Eric-san's first mission with Deared after all. So let's do our best together! Shall we?"
Nasha held my hands in hers with a smile, while the other team that was in charge of handling Garlock-senpai looked at each other.
“Our main goal today is to chase those Cerberus away from the fields. We can't let them ravage this place anymore! Now let’s head out! Louise!”
“Loud and clear!!!!”
They were all fired up!
Crouching her whole body like a spring, Louis suddenly kicked the ground with great force and shot up like an arrow.
Even from a distance, the sight of her flying from one end of the field to the other in an instant was incredible to say the least.
Since they were strictly following Nasha's primary policy, Deared had never been on the battlefield nor were they a part of any demon subjugation squad. But, had they ever been on one— it was a little terrifying to even imagine it.
“Hoooooryaaaaaaaaaaa!!”
––She unleashed a loud battle cry.
By the next moment Louise was right above Garlock-senpai’s head, when he looked up.
"Wha!? Who the hell!?"
He immediately reacted and backed off from the range of Louise’ fist.
“Booooooooooooom!!”
Louise struck the ground that he stood on a second ago, with full force.
The impact dug up the ground in a crater and dust flew up into the air.
“––A hero!? Why is there such a violent woman here…!?”
While Garlock-senpai was left shocked by the sudden blast out of the blue. Louise smiled devilishly as she brushed off the scattered dirt from her cheeks.
“Louise! You can count on me for back up! Do your best not to damage the village too much!”
“Roger that!"
Suzette tore a hole in space and brought out a ginormous gun that seemed impossible for one person to hold alone.
“Now’s our chance! Eric-san, Let’s go!”
“Ye-yeah…”
While I stood there, startled at the phase of which everything went down, Nasha grabbed my hand and weaved her way through the other girls to the exact opposite side from where they were engaged in battle against Garlock-senpai.
––Eeeeh, maybe these people are really strong after all…?
Suddenly, all my doubts about this party vanished into thin air.
And with that, my shocking first mission with『Deared』had just begun.
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