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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 199

CHAPTER 199: AN AMBUSH

The next morning.

Having rested fully, the fatigue of yesterday’s ordeals was gone from our bodies.

Everyone was looking good and refreshed, showing no signs of fatigue.

「Well then, let’s get on with the search for that Dragon! Sora, Luna. I’m counting on you!」

「Understood.」

「Just leave it to us!」

The two Spirit Tribe girls said in unison.

Waves of light spread out all around us.

First of all, we decided to have Sora and Luna use their magic in hopes of them being able to detect the Dragon’s presence that way.

It was the same kind of magic that they have used before in the Lord’s mansion, the magic of exploring and searching for magic power reactions in the immediate surroundings.

If the Dragon was somewhere nearby, there should be a high-level magic power ration in response to Sora and Luna’s spell……

「Muh……」

However, Luna had a rather difficult and pained expression on her face.

Then Sora gave us a small shake of her head.

「No good. There’s no response in the vicinity.」

Apparently, there was no Dragons anywhere near us.

「What’s the maximum range of detection for that spell?」

「I’d say a radius of about three hundred meters around the caster.」

So it’s pretty big, still.

However, the mountains around us are even bigger than that.

If we are going to cover the whole area with that detection spell, Sora and Luna would need to cast it over and over again.

「How about we try conducting the scan once more? I certainly don’t mind. When it comes to me, I still have plenty of my magic power left to spare.」

「Besides, even if we do run out of our magic power, all we need to do in order to replenish it is to get a hefty amount of good sleep! Even more if you are sleeping with your belly and whole body exposed, which makes the absorption of the mana particles from the air that much easier.」

「D-D-D-Don’t tell me that you actually done something like that before!?」

「Maybe. Or maybe not. At least not nearly enough to let it become a habit.」

As usual, Sora and Luna made for one heck of an energetic duo.

「Well then, how about I give searching a go as well?」

After all, I can’t let those two do all of the heavy-lifting themselves.

Besides, when it comes to exploration of potentially perilous terrain, I’m probably a better suit for that kind of job.

So I shifted my focus to a bird that was sitting on a branch of the nearby tree, and made a temporary contract with it. I then repeated that action a bunch more times.

I then told them that they could also invite other birds as well. The more scouts, the better the chances of finding what we were looking for.

And so, after making contracts with dozens of small birds……

I gave them the order to scatter in all directions, ordering them to report back to me if they happened to find the Dragon that we were looking for.

Birds would have a way easier time with searching the mountains, with their ability to surveil their surroundings from above.

It might be difficult for them to find small targets, but in this case, our target was a Dragon.

Because of its large body, searching from the sky would not be a problem, as the birds would hardly miss something like that.

On top of that, they could fly at very high and reasonable speeds, so they could cover a wide area in very little time.

With this, we should be able to find the Dragon in no time at all.

At least that’s what I initially thought……

「…… Nyah. Doesn’t seem that there is much of a response from the birds, either.」

「Yeah, seems like it.」

About thirty minutes or so have passed.

Kanade and Tina murmured to themselves, as if they were tired of waiting.

「…… Is it…… a failure?」

Nina said, tilting her head slightly.

She could be very unrelenting with her words when she wanted to be.

But then…… Doesn’t it seem kind of strange?

With that many birds at my disposal, they should be able to cover the entire mountain and come back to me with ease.

The birds are flying fast, and this mountain isn’t all that wide to begin with……

So how come that we do not get any reports about some birds making a discovery?

Dragons are quite large and wide.

There’s no way that it would be able to hide itself under the cover of trees or something else like that.

There is always a possibility that it is hiding in some sort of hidden cave.

But even in this case, there would still be traces of its presence in the cave’s immediate surroundings.

For example, trees that might have been torn down or footprints that might have been pressed into the ground.

But since we were unable to find even something like that, then that means……

「…… Ah!」

Realizing that we might have omitted a certain very obvious possibility, I couldn’t help myself but to let out a loud voice.

「Nyan?　What’s wrong?」

「Now that I think about it, we might have actually been mistaken here.」

「Mistaken? How come?」

Our culprit here is the Dragon Race, right? So basically, someone who is the same as Tanya, right?」

「Yeah, I guess so.」

「So this means that THEORETICALLY it could assume a humanoid form, just like Tanya could, right?」

「Ah……」

Kanade seemed to understand what I meant, and Kanade raised her voice.

What this means……

Is that we were looking for a Dragon all this time, but that doesn’t mean that the Dragon would stay in its draconic form forever.

It could have assumed its humanoid form in order to lay low.

In that case, the method of using birds to search from the sky for the Dragon would be futile.

I won’t say zero, but the chances of finding what we were looking for that way was infinitesimally low.

That’s actually quite the pickle.

Due to witnessing the Dragon in its natural form for the first time, I was so impressed by it that I assumed it would always be in that form.

But this Dragon might have been staying transformed as a human, in order to blend in with human society. Just like Tanya did.

Or it could be that it was transforming into a human shape in order to shake her pursuiters off.

Either way, it would be hard for us to find it using the birds.

So I broke my temporary contracts with the birds.

「Fumuh. So that means our magic is the only thing that we can rely on here?」

「Even if it transformed itself into a human shape, they can’t hide their magical power, you know. With the magic of Sora and Luna, we would be able to catch the Dragon with certainty.」

「But the scale of the area to search is just way too broad……」

Even though the mountain itself was not that big, it would still take a good amount of time for us to traverse it.

Even if I ask Sora and Luna to use their magic and search for the Dragon, without the means of us getting to it quickly, it would be extremely inefficient.

Besides, there is always a possibility that the Dragon would not simply stay still.

It’s also possible that it was always on the move……

And if we go to the wrong place only for it to turn out to be a bust, our chances of catching the Dragon would decrease even further.

「Is there anything…… we can do to help?」

「Yes, here!」

On top of Nina’s head, Tina raised her hand.
　
She really likes the top of Nina’s head, huh?

Even when she shifted into possessing a doll, she would often stay there.

「If that’s the case, then I have an idea!」

「And what would that idea be?」

「In that case, we just need to set up a trap!」

***

「……………」

A lone woman was walking in the mountains to the north.

Carrying her luggage on her back, she slowly made her way down a slightly rough road.

Was her destination the city beyond the mountains?

She was out of breath, occasionally stopping to take a break……

Step by step, she trudged through the mountains.

If anyone else was around here, they might look at her and tell her that it was dangerous for a woman to travel alone in a place like this.

She could be attacked by bandits, or she could end up as fodder for the monsters.

It’s just that……

There was an existence in this mountain that was much more dangerous than bandits and monsters right now.

「GGGGGGRRRRRRAAAAAAUUUUUUHHHHHH!!!!!!」

「Huh!?」

Even though up until now nothing was happening……

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a Dragon flew in.

It landed in front of the woman while flapping its huge wings.

「A-A Dragon!?」

「…… Foolish human, it’s time for you to die! If you have to resent someone in death, resent yourself and your stupidity for walking through a place like this all on your own!」

The Dragon roared and raised its massive paws as it roared.

As it was, it slammed into the woman with great force.

The woman’s body would not be able to defend against such a brutal force, and it would inevitably be crushed to a bloody paste.

…… Or at the very least, that’s what was supposed to happen.

「WHAT THE!?」

The Dragon let out a startled cry.

As it should have done.

Because standing before her was a solitary woman, blocking her Dragon blow with nothing more but her bare hands.

「N-No way!? That’s impossible! No human should be able to block my blow and still be able to stand on their feet as if nothing had happened! Who the hell are you!?」

The woman in front of the Dragon grinned.

「Fufun~! Who am I, you ask? Well, the answer is really simple! I am…… A member of the Cat Spirit Tribe!」

There was a loud popping sound, and the woman’s body was thoroughly enveloped in a thick veil of smoke.

And once the smoke managed to clear out, the one to emerge from behind its thick veil……

Was none other than Kanade.