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Frontier Lord Chapter 040 – The Long Eared Trio Act 3

As the sun set and night fell, I left the warehouse after making sure the sounds around me had fallen asleep, and headed to Senai and Aihan’s house to fulfill that …… promise.

I stopped at a creek along the way and enjoyed the water for the first time in a long while, jumping up and down as I went. I eventually arrived at a round, tiny house made of white cloth.

Now that I had arrived at the desired house, all I had to do was to find the courage to enter this white cloth house. But that courage was not always forthcoming.

After all, in that house of white cloth, there was Lord Diaz, the Dragon Slayer, so it was not surprising.

Even if he were asleep, he might still be sensitive to the presence of others and might wake up…

Or maybe he’d already figured us out and was only pretending to be sleeping, while waiting for me…

Cold sweat ran down my back as I imagined such things.

(No. I can’t! Senai and Aihan are waiting for me… I can’t back down now!)

I had heard from Senai and Aihan that they would hang weights on the cloth at the entrance.

If someone tried to enter or break-in the weights would collide with one another, making a loud noise which would alert the people inside.

Given that my stature was small I could easily sneak in without setting the weights. Nonetheless I still did my best to sneak in around the cloth’s edge, just in case… After finally managing to get inside I mustered up all the courage I could and slowly moved forward.

I had thought the house would be pitch black …, but it was quite bright with a skylight that opened in the center of the sky, letting in a little moonlight.

There were various tools hanging in the house and randomly placed on the carpet on the floor, among them a large axe, iron armor, and other equipment.

(He probably slayed the dragon using that equipment…)

And when I shifted my gaze to the floor, I saw figures lying on the floor in a careless manner.

(Seems like they’re not fond of beds…)

There was a man, likely Lord Diaz, lying in the center of the floor with his arms and legs spread wide…, and a petite woman wrapped in a white blanket right next to him.

(Where are they? Oh, found them!) 

Senai and Aihan were sleeping between Dias and the unknown lady, each holding a white stuffed animal.

(Huh, wait a minute? Those aren’t stuffed animals!) 

I could clearly hear the sound of the white creatures’ breaths. 　

(So they’re living beings! Young Senai, Aihan, you didn’t need to make it this hard for me to wake you… I didn’t sign up for the impossible difficulty… I- I don’t have a choice… I made a promise! I can’t back down here!)

I could have bounced up and down towards Senai Aihan, but I was afraid the sound might make them notice me. So, I moved cautiously on my scuffling feet.

Holding my tail with both hands so that it wouldn’t hit any strange places, I proceeded between Lord Diaz and the woman, moving my small body slowly, carefully, and breathlessly.

As I went past Lord Dias I got curious about his smell and couldn’t help but give him a small sniff. As I did the scent of sweat wafted from his direction… 

(It’s just as Senai and Aihan said…)

After my sidetrack I continued moving, getting closer and closer, until I eventually reached Senai and Ayman’s bedside without alerting anyone.

All that was left was for me to get close to their big ears and whisper.

「Good evening. It’s Eyma. I came to wake you up. Please, get up…」

I said in hushed tones.

(I should’ve figured it wasn’t going to be that easy.)

I continued to talk patiently to Senai, who was moaning and writhing in agony.

「It’s me, Eyma! It’s time to go! Don’t you want to help Lord Dias?」

「If you don’t wake up soon it’ll be too late. You won’t be able to help them.」

「It’s evening. We should be going. Let’s take an evening walk.」

I wasn’t sure whether it was because I kept talking to them, or the phrase evening walk had done something, but Senai and Aihan suddenly opened their eyes.

Then, after rubbing their eyes sleepily for a while, they… scurried around and as soon as they spotted me, Senai got up suddenly and picked me up. She then began quickly moving to the entrance, with Aihan following close behind her.

(H-Hey! Wait just a minute! Don’t make so much noise! You’ll end up waking Lord Dias)

Although such concerns ran through my mind, in the end, Lord Dias and the others continued to sleep peacefully, not at all disturbed by the footsteps.

I was pretty sure we made a lot of noise, but that was probably just me overthinking things.

Reaching the front door, Senai and Aihan gently removed the weights hanging at the entrance and rolled up the cloth at the entrance to get out of the house.

Then they stepped out into the moonlight and for some reason… they stopped moving and… froze up.

「Huh? What happened to you two? Aren’t we going to the fields?」

「It’s dark…」

「It’s scary…」

(WHAT?! Why were you looking forward to it so much if you’re going to freeze up the moment you go outside?!)

「Um… What do you usually do when you feel like going to the toilet when it’s dark?」

「Dias or Aruna always come with us.」

「They either hold our hands, or carry us.」

(Good grief…)

This was bad. After all, just now it had been Senai who’d been holding me, not the other way around. And with my small hands it was unlikely that I could make them feel safe.

(What should I do…)

As I racked my brains for something to say to encourage Senai and Aihan, Aihan, who looked as if she had just thought of something, rummaged around in the pocket on the side of her dress and began to search for something.

Senai, who was still hugging me, tried to follow suit… She put me on her shoulder, perhaps because I was in her way, and then put her hands in her pockets. The first thing they did was take out a small ceramic jar from each of their pockets.

When the two pulled off the lid of the jar, which was apparently made of tree branches, the aroma of tea wafted softly from the jar… It seemed that the jar was filled with black tea leaves.

(I remember this smell from Lord Eldan’s mansion… It really has a good smell. But why are they taking out the tea here?)

As I tilted my head, Senai and Aihan started trying to take something out of the jar… Something that looked like a long, thin seed came out of the tea leaves.

(A seed? It can’t be…)

「Young Senai, Young Aihan. That seed, is it-」

「That’s right. They’re father and mother’s seeds.」

「Senai has father’s seed and I have mother’s seed.」

When I’d talked with them in the warehouse I’d assumed that they’d already planted the seeds, but that didn’t seem to be the case.」

「When we hold these seeds we can feel father and mother cheering us on.」

「Father and mother loved tea so that’s why we always keep them with the tea leaves.

Though sometimes we take them out like this and talk to them.」

While saying so, the two of them squeezed the seeds in their hands and looked up at the darkness. Then they lowered their gazes back forward, as if the seeds had given them the energy and courage to continue.

「Young Senai, Aihan, I can see at night and I have good hearing, so… I will guide you to the field so that we can reach it safely.」

Taking my words as a cue, Senai and Aihan fearfully started walking in the direction of the field.

And so began the nighttime adventures of me, Senai, and Aihan.

Many enemies were present during the nighttime adventure.

The sound of the running river, the sound of the wind blowing, the sound of grass swaying in the wind.

The sound of drops dripping into the well, the sound of an old lady sneezing coming from inside the house, the whinnying of a sleepy horse, the faint buzzing of insect wings.

Various sounds attacked us…, or rather Senai and Aihan, and every time these sounds attacked, Senai and Aihan were frightened, stopping in their tracks, and… sometimes they even tried to turn back home. The journey to our destination was undoubtedly a tough one to thread.

Also, sound wasn’t our only enemy.

Once the clouds hid the moon and the moonlight was gone, the mighty enemy, the darkness revealed itself.

Facing such an enemy, Senai and Aihan had no choice but to endure, crouching in fear until the moonlight came back to life again.

Strong winds were also a formidable enemy for the two.

Not only would they be stuck in the strong wind’s grasp, but if a piece of grass or something else came flying in the wind and touched their cheeks, it would make them want to scream in fear from the vicious attack.

Nonetheless, Senai and Aihan did not scream or shed a single tear, all because of their strong desire to help Dias at any cost.

I, of course, worked hard together with them.

They listened closely and watched out for any dangerous creature or beast that might come near them, and I tried to cheer them up and encourage them whenever they seemed to be losing their fear.

Well, there was no sign of danger that we needed to be on the lookout for, and the encouragement didn’t seem to have much effect either… But I nonetheless did my best.

In this way, they fought many enemies and fears, and overcame them and their fears, so that they could reach the field safely.

The field that Lord Dias had worked so hard to build was a very nice field with many rows and rows in a rectangular section, which to the untrained eye seemed to be quite normal.

As soon as Senai and Aihan arrived at the field, they asked me to stay away from them so that they could begin immediately. Then, they gently put the seeds in their hands into the ground and proceeded to the center of the field, trying not to step on the ridges.

Senai and Aihan proceeded to the center of the field, where they stood facing each other and began to chant in a strange language that I had never heard before, with their hands folded in front of their chests and their voices filled with Mana as they chanted.

The two chanted in quiet voices. Their chant sounded almost like a song. As if in response to their chant, the pendants around their necks and the jewels in their hair ornaments began to glow with a white light.

(What a beautiful sight.)

Surprisingly, even the two seemed surprised that the gems lit up.

Senai and Aihan exchanged surprised glances, but still continued to chant the spell without interruption, and a beautiful light spread around them.

The light around them seemed just like moonlight. It was white, beautiful, big, and warm…

The light gradually descended to the ground and eventually sank into it, disappearing completely.

After the light went out, Senai and Aihan mumbled something to each other.

They were saying words like, Hagoe and Migoe, which were foreign to me, and how glad they were that the barrier spell had gone well.

I wasn’t sure what most of the words meant and even wondered if it was a continuation of the spell. As I got lost in my confusion, Senai and Aihan spoke in tired voices.

「I’m sleepy. I’m tired… I’m going back to the yurt…」

「I’m so sleepy…」

Suddenly Senai picked me up, and dashed straight for the yurt in a straight line. The fear that she’d felt when first coming here was nowhere to be found. Aihan followed suit not that far behind her.

(Huh? Wait? What?! She doesn’t need to take me back to the yurt with them! I’ve already done my part! Why is she holding me?!)

「L-Let me go! Let me go!」

I waved my arms and legs, but my words didn’t reach Senai, and her arms didn’t loosen as she hugged me… Senai reached the yurt and went inside Dias’s yurt with me in her arms.

As soon as she reached the bedroom, Senai fell asleep with me in her arms, and Aihan, who came into the bedroom right after her, fell asleep with both Senai and me in her arms… In the end I ended up becoming a hostage, unable to move while being clutched by the two girls’ arms.