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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 198 Part 1

CHAPTER 198: WHAT ARE THE CULPRIT’S TRUE INTENTIONS? PART 1

…… After about half a day’s worth of march, we arrived at the foot of the northern mountains.

We could have saved even more time if Kanade and I carried everyone else on our backs, used physical ability enhancement magic, and ran through the area separating us from our target all at once, but……

If we did that, we would have stood out like a sore thumb.

Not to mention that we could have gotten spotted by Tanya’s imposter and provoke them to run away from their hiding place, and if that happened we would have been left without any clue as to where to go from here on out.

So, we decided to walk there normally so as not to attract attention to ourselves.

「Umm……」

After we entered the mountains and walked along the trail for a while, I looked behind my back really quick.

「Nyan~, nyan~♪」

Kanade seemed to be full of energy and was humming to herself some upbeat melody.

For her, she enjoyed walking and all sorts of physical activities to a great extent, so she was probably enjoying this mountain climbing as well.

It’s just that……

「Zee…… Zee…… Zee……」

「Zehaah…… Zehaah…… Hyuhh…… Hyuuuhhh……」

Sora and Luna seemed to be extremely short of breath right now and looked like they were about ready to collapse at any moment.

「Hafuuh…… Nnnhhh…… Haah…… Haah……」

「Nina, please do you best! Just a little bit! Just a little bit more!」

Nina also looked tired, sweat dripping down her forehead all the time.

Tina used her magic and she was floating in the air, so she did not seem to be tired at all right now.

「…… Shall we rest here for today?」

I found a suitable open space some distance off the trail, and then we started to unload all of our luggage.

Then we began our preparations to make a camp.

「Rein…… We don’t have…… time to rest…… Cough, cough……!?」

「W-We have to catch the culprit, and we have to do it quickly…… Preferably before the night comes…… Hyuuh…… Fuuh……」

「Are you all okay? I think I pushed you guys a little too hard. I’m really sorry.」

Sora and Luna looked like they were going to collapse at any moment now, and that was not an exaggeration coming from me or anything like that.

「Nina, pass me that sheet, please.」

「On it.」

Nina took out a sheet from her pocket dimension and laid it on the ground.

She then took Sora and Luna by the hands and made them sit on top of the sheet.

「Haah…… Haah…… S-Sorry…… Sora and Luna ended up holding you guys back once again……」

「Uhh…… We are so useless when the situation demands us not to be! From now on, you can call us a Hikikomori Tribe with No Stamina instead of Spirit Tribe……」

「We have come this far all at once, so it’s only natural for you to be feeling tired. I’m tired too, so let’s rest here for the day. As expected, I don’t think we can solve this problem in one day, as much as I would like to think otherwise…… With that in mind, we need to conserve our strength and stamina as much as we can, as we don’t know what to expect.」

That’s why…… We decided to camp out overnight in the mountains, a short distance away from the trail.

***

Everyone was sitting around the crackling bonfire that we made.

「Hafuuh…… This really hits the spot. Really makes you feel alive.」

「It’s so warm and it makes you feel so good……」

We would eat our meal, relax for a bit, and then warm up by the fire…….

Seeming to have recovered reasonably well from their fatigue, Sora and Luna had warm smiles on their faces.

Everyone else seemed to feel the same way.

「Nnnhh…… Fuuh……」

As for Nina, her eyes were closing on their own accord, her body slowly rocking back and forth.

「Nina, are you getting sleepy?」

「…… Mmh. Just a little bit……」

No matter what Nina would try to say here, she seemed to be trying her best at staying awake, even though she was fighting a losing battle.

But it was only natural for Nina to be tired, especially after so much marching and climbing we did today.

I held onto Nina’s small body and she clung to me almost instantly.

Just like that, her eyes closed right away and she fell asleep in my arms without any kind of effort.

I carried Nina into the tent we had set up beforehand and gently laid her down onto the sleeping bag.

Then Tina floated in the air and landed right next to Nina.

「Since Nina is already out for the night, I guess I will go to sleep as well…… Fuwah.」

「Sure thing. Have a good rest.」

「Will do, will do…… Goodnight.」

Tina might not have been physically tired, but……

Since she was floating so much throughout the entire day, she was bound to use up a huge amount of her magic power.

She seemed quite tired herself, and soon enough I could hear her soft breathing as well.

I also wished her good night in a quiet voice, and then I left the tent.

「Ah, welcome back, Rein.」

「Huh? What’s this? What about Sora and Luna?」

When I returned to the bonfire, the only one left at its side was Kanade.

「I carried both of them to the other tent. They were trying to make a brave front, but they were both at their limit already.」

「I see. Thank you.」

「Oh, it’s nothing. But you’re welcome.」

I looked at the swaying bonfire with Kanade by my side.

「Aren’t you going to sleep yourself, Kanade?」

「Hmm…… I’m not really all that tired yet. You see, the Cat Spirit Tribe people are second to none when it comes to our physical strength, so staying this late after an extensive physical activity like the one today is actually nothing. What about you, Rein?」

「I don’t feel all that tired yet, either. I’m pretty confident in my own stamina and physical strength.」

「Nyafuh~. As expected of you, Rein~♪」

「Since we have this rare opportunity when we are all by ourselves, would you like to talk for a moment?」

「…… H-Huh!? N-Now that I think about it, we really are all alone in here, right……!? Not to mention in the middle of the night, of all times……!? S-So could it be…… T-This is……!?」

Kanade’s ears perked up for some reason.

「…… Kanade?」

「H-Huh? N-No, nothing! It’s nothing, really!? Nothing, nya!」

「Is…… Is that so?」

It certainly did not look like “nothing at all” to me right there……

「Really! Everything is fine! No need to worry!」

「Well, as long as you say so, I guess……」

I just noticed that, but there are times when Kanade would start to behave really suspiciously completely out of the blue.

And I don’t want to worry needlessly over something that might just be me overthinking things, but the number of times she was doing that only increased in recent days…… Could it be that she was hiding something from me? Maybe something was bothering her?