Divine Protection of Many Gods

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「Ayla, I’ve kept you waiting . 」

When I arrived at the promised place earlier than the promised time, I found that Ayla had been already waiting there .

「No problem, I’d also just arrived . 」

Earlier I was informed of our promised meeting place . I was trying to get as close as I could to Ayla’s departure time .

Watching Ayla, standing there in a dress and wearing a straw hat, still makes me gasp .

Despite us staying at the same inn, I was told that our meet spot was somewhere outside .

Last night, I purposely had us leave the inn and did not return until the meeting time . Although, we’re slightly overdoing it, Ayla, believed this was something I desired .

「Good morning, Master . 」

「Ayla, that’s not right」

For a moment Ayla was startled and she blushed, when saw her .

「Good morning… Hibiki . 」

「Yeah, good morning, Ayla . 」

To address me as her equal that was also one of the promises for today’s date . I asked her to called by my first name . It seems, I yearned for a meeting differently from how we first met . If Ayla disliked it, then I won’t force her .

However, Ayla accepted it while feeling a bit of shyness .

When I called out to her, as her escort, she reveals a big smile on her face .

「Let’s go to the Monster Tamer’s Guild!」

I held out my right hand, Ayla simply stared at it, before she timidly presents hers . Somehow it was mistaken for a handshake… I grabbed Ayla’s right hand, and we looked at each other .

「Ayla, It’s about time we head out . 」

I released Ayla’s hand, after feeling satisfied from gazing at her . But somehow, Ayla looked extremely lonely . So, I immediately held her left hand .

As we’re walking along the main street, the warmth of her hands are transmitted to mine (right hand) .

The Monster Tamer’s Guild is located near the east gate . We walked down the main road that lead towards the east gate .

Ayla and I remained silent all due to tension . I can’t let it be this way, and so I resolved myself and started a conversation .

「I’m a bit sleepy . I was so excited yesterday, that I couldn’t get a wink of sleep . 」

「I-I was also unable to sleep because I was so excited!!」

Ayla responds to my small-talk . She answers in high vigor, almost shouting .

The conversation that followed went along smoothly, due to the tension between us became a bit loose . We talked about the Monsters tamed by Ayla, or the story about how Duo and Luo were worrying about each other . And even about how Ayla caused Ruby to oversleep today .

「Here, is the Monster Tamer’s Guild . 」

The Guild is located alongside the Walls of the East gate .

It’s larger compared to the Adventurer’s Guild and the Magician’s Guild . The reception desks, alongside the main building and the ranches, within the plaza were surrounded by fences . There are also three barns facilities managed by the Monsters, directly .

We are now heading toward the reception desk . The interior of the building, aside from the many Monsters inside, wasn’t much difference compared to the Adventurer’s Guild and the Magician’s Guild .

We’ve brought along Ruby, on our long-awaited date, since we are going to the Monster Tamer’s Guild . It a matter of appearances, although Ruby may be a just a big slime, it is best to take a Monster with us . Yup, this way, they shouldn’t take us lightly .

As we check out the Monsters within the barn, from the reception desk, we saw a familiar face .

「Eh? Hibiki? Fancy meeting you here . 」

「Feryu, what are you doing in a place like this?」

「I’ve come here to buy a Monster, for Copper . 」

Fenryu points behind me . I turned around, and saw that Copper was filling out something at the reception desk .

「I’m on my way to look at the Monsters that are on sale . 」

---

Taking a hold of this chance, we happily asked her permission if we could accompany them as well .

「No problem . We’re also in your debt, anyways, you cured Nico’s injury . 」

「Oh, about that, how is Nico’s condition?」

「There’s no danger because the wound has closed . However, her physical strength is still restrained due to the poison . At the moment, she’s resting at the inn . Come to think of it, do you know the whereabouts of Lux’s Party? We’re also indebted to them, so I want to give them my thanks . I haven’t seen them at the Adventurer’s guild at all . 」

「Lux’s Party is imposing on the Church at the moment . 」 //Light: Means they’re staying there . //

「The Church? Ahh, Baara is a Shinto Priest after all . 」

The reason is because of the K . Y . Sister, but I kept that to myself .

「The Church, huh? If possible, I don’t really want to go to the Church . This is getting troublesome . 」

Feryu seems to dislike the Church .

「Oh well, now I know their whereabouts . Thanks Hibiki . 」

「Don’t sweat it . 」

We’re now following Feryu and Copper into the barns .

Inside, we saw various Monsters chained up . Goblins, Orcs, Sharp Wolves, and numerous other Monsters that we didn’t know about .

「Well then, let’s get a Monster that’s both easy to train and cheap . 」

Feryu began taking a look at the Monsters while consulting various things with Copper .

「Is there any Monster that piqued your interest?」

I asked Ayla . Currently, Ayla’s possesses four Monsters which are: Ruby, Duo, Ruo, and Queen .

I heard that Monster Tamers are able to employ 5 Monsters as their limit . Buying Ayla a fifth subordinate Monster seems good .

「I’m sorry, but there isn’t anything that’s clicking at the moment . 」

「Well, you don’t have to force yourself . It’s not a pressing matter to get another Monster, at the moment . 」

I replied to Ayla with a smile while petting Ruby who came up to my feet .

「Gyahahaha! Coming here with only a single Slime as a Monster companion, what do you mean by ‘not having a need for a new Monster’?」

When we turned around, there are three villainess looking guys laughing .

Apparently, they overheard our conversation . But I don’t care, so I just ignored them .

「Oi, you, why are you ignoring us?!」

One of them tries to grab my shoulder . I dodged . The man felt offended, and started shouting .

「The hell, don’t get ahead of yourself!!」

With a ‘oh well’ feeling, I side-stepped to cover Ayla with my back while glaring back at the man that I just dodged .

The man looked surprised to see me glaring back at him, even though he has the number advantageous .

「You shitheads are newcomers, right? You do know that there’s a regulation here that says that newbies, introducing themselves by participating in a Monster battle!」

There’s no such regulation here . Even if there was, the Guild management it not common thugs . These guys obviously don’t have the authority to .

「I’m the Monster Tamer . Hibiki is not related to this!」

Ayla steps away from my back, and stood between the men and myself .

「Hehe, is that so? Then big sister, let’s have fun together!」

Although I tried to stop Ayla, she followed the man without being afraid .

Feryu heard the commotion and then inquired about what’s happening . I answered that Ayla is about to go through a Monster battle .

「Are you going to be fine? That man is a well-known Monster Tamer around here . 」

「Well, we’ll somehow manage . 」

I’m not worried about this battle at all .

「Ahh, I see . I’ve seen your Armor Mantis, so I’m sure it won’t be easily defeated . 」

The Armor Mantis seems to have a high evaluation, since, it’s covered with a light yet strong shell . It also has a sickle with a high offensive power . Furthermore, Armor Mantis are able to fly lowly, so they’re very excellent .

「Well, today we only brought Ruby . 」

「Ruby…You mean that slime?! You won’t be able to win with that!!」

「Is that so? I think it will do fairly well though . 」

With that being said, we move to the Plaza . Within the plaza was a dueling field, surrounded by a simple, already prepared fense .

「The battle will be Five vs Five . It’ll end when all Monsters are unable to continue the battle . 」

5 vs 5, seems to be the standard battle method in Monster battles .

I’m sure that he already overheard from our previous conversation about how many Monsters we had brought with us .

It’s 5 vs 5 because the limit for a Monster’s tamer is 5 Monsters . What a dirty guy .

「Quickly prepare your Monsters . 」

「Even without you mentioning it . 」

Ruby goes to Ayla’s feet upon her call .

The man brought out five Orcs, with their average levels being 5 . The strongest one was level 8 . They’re not anything special…

「Oi oi, you’re only going to be sending out one Slime? It seems that the victor has already been decided before the battle even begun . 」

The man and his group started to laugh vulgarly .

「Because this child will suffice enough . 」

Ayla seemed very confident . Although, Ayla was unable to see their stats, Ruby perhaps is able to roughly understand the Orcs abilities through 【Selection】 .

「Hoo, If you’re that confident, then why don’t we bet on something?」

「Sure . I’ll win anyways . 」

「Alright, then, if you were to lose, then you’ll follow anything we say today!」

「…Then, if I were to win, all of you will give me your money and equipment . 」

「Sure, that’s fine . I’ll make sure to cherish you all night long!!」

The man walked away as soon as their chatter ended .

「Are you alright with that? That girl is going to get broken, you know?」

「It’ll be fine . 」

Feryu is looking at Ayla anxiously .

I also looked at Ayla, and our eyes locked .

She happily waved her hands to me, which looked extremely lovely .

A Guild’s official is going to be the referee, and he seemed to be fair . I wondered how were they able to set up the duel arena this quickly .

「Alright then, the two of you . As to not leave any grudges, start!」

All of the Orcs immediately started charging as soon as the start signal was given .

Probably, because they intend on finishing it in a single blow .

However, Ayla and Ruby dealt with it calmly .

First, they had planned to interfere with the Orcs’ movements by located the one with the skill 【Leader】 . And with 【Selection】, the leader of the Orcs was quickly discovered . A part of Ruby’s body then transformed into a tentacles whip, and attacks the Orc .

The Orc Leader was blown away into the duel arena’s fence without even getting a chance to react, and passes out .

---

The Orcs who lost their leader were shaken, and were simply too flustered to attack . Ruby easily restrained them .

After the first Orc fainted by getting whipped, the battle ended within less of five minutes after it began .

「I-Impossible… What the hell is happening?!」

「Ahahaha… As expected of a member from 【Annihilation】 . It seems that I was worried over nothing . 」

Feryu is the only one laughing within the crowd of spectators .

「Alright then, it’s my win . As we’ve agreed earlier, hand over all of your money and equipment . 」

「D-dammit all, Don’t joke around with me!」

「Y-yeah! Like hell we’ll do it!!」 (Pandu: the gang refused to strip off)

It seems like they’re planning on not keeping their promise . I went ahead and talked with the Guild’s official who became the judge .

「Those people, they’re planning to break the promise that they made before the battle began . Can you do anything about it?」

Although the Guild’s official gave me a complex glace, he still went ahead and spoke with the defeated man . After that, the men gave up and handed over all of their money and equipment .

「Good work Ayla . Ruby too, was amazing . 」

The tentacle whip that Ruby used earlier, was something he practices after becoming a Gourmet Slime .

Ruby didn’t have any attacking methods when he became a Gourmet Slime, so I taught him to do a tentacle whip .

The most significant change that he experienced after evolving into a Gourmet Slime, was his volume and elasticity .

The tentacle whip is the best method of attack, because it combines both of the new aspects .

「It’s all thanks to the attack method that Hibiki taught him . 」 (Light: I’ve been using ‘him’ a lot . Just want to make sure, Ruby’s gender isn’t yet known…)

Feryu is looking at Ruby with great interest .

「Doesn’t this slime seem a bit different?」

「It’s a normal Red Slime . 」

「But, when I think about it, it seems to have grown bigger than the last time I’ve seen it . 」

「We were also surprised when it suddenly became this size overnight . 」

That wasn’t a lie, because we truly were surprised on that night .

「Hmm…I guess stuff like that can happen . 」

In the end, we sold the equipment taken from the men to the Guild .

Just thinking about wearing the equipment of such fellows is unpleasant, and giving those equipment to Ayla is even more of an unpleasant thought .

「Well, let’s just think of it as striking a fortune . 」

We decided to leave due to our surroundings becoming noisy right after the Monster battle . Feryu group still hasn’t finished shopping, so, we part ways with them .

「We’ll be staying in this town for while, so if you need anything, Just leave a message at the Adventurer’s Guild . 」

We exited the Guild while being wrapped in clamor . A considerable amount of time seemed to have passed, however, the restaurants are still filled with customers .

「We won’t be able to eat peacefully like this . U~n, oh right . 」

I held Ayla’s hand as we went off the main street . We came upon a big street after advancing a bit .

「This street is filled with stalls . I found this street the other day, so let’s grab something to eat from here . 」

「Yes, Hibiki . 」

We bought some food from a street stall to satisfy our hunger . Among them, the most appealing to us was big chicken skewers .

「Is it delicious, Ayla?」

「Yes, it’s very delicious . The taste of the meat and the seasonings’ are completely different than the dinner we had the other day . It’s also my first time eating from a shop like this . 」

It seems Ayla doesn’t know about food stalls .

「I see, street food is quite delicious, but their eating manners aren’t that great . 」 (Light: You got to eat with yer hands! no chopsticks…)

When walked away from the street’s stall that was near the vicinity of our inn . It seems the day is almost over . We, can see the evening’s setting sun . As we approached the Silver Cup, Ayla became less talkative . (Light: Silver Cup = Inn . )

She might be aware that it’s the end of our date .

「Well then Ayla, the Silver Cup is already in view . 」

「…Yes, umm… Master . 」

「If Ayla wants, then I can spend a little more time with you . Is that alright?」

「A, yes, Hibiki . 」

Ayla answered happily . I also want to spend some more time Ayla .

We passed the Silvercup and entered the sideroad again . After walking for ten minutes we reached, the ramparts, the last destination of our date .

There, we found stairs leading to the top . It’s possible to go up the ramparts if we paid a certain fee .

After paying the fee, we went up the stairs .

「Uwaa, it’s amazing . 」

Ayla said as she stepped into the rampart .

In front of our eyes is the forest extended into the horizon, alongside the evening sun .

We can see the full view of the forest that stretched on, since, the rampart is near the West Gate’s side .

The reflection of the sunset dyes the scenery a vivid color, as if the highlight, in the autumn leaves .

I the degenerate is feeling completely guilty . In this situation, I couldn’t help but want to push down the boss (Ayla) who’s wearing her elegant attire .

Oh well, when the night comes, I’ll make my advances on Ayla .

「Always being able to return from the forest safely, is because of you, Ayla . For everything, thank you . 」

While saying that, I passed a small box from my pocket to Ayla .

Ayla received the small box, she appeared puzzled as if she did not understanding what to make of it .

「I wonder, what’s inside?」

Without a doubt, my face is bright red . Still, the evening sun probably concealed my complexion .

Ayla timidly opened the small box . When she saw its content, she froze for but an instant . And then looked at me with complete surprise .

「M-master… This is…」

She was so surprised, that she returned to using Master .

「It’s a Magic Gem that has yet to store Maryoku . 」

This time around, I used the chance of a date to give this Magic Gem to Ayla . The earring that Kuesu gifted me is fitted onto my ear .

This is the big favor I asked Toto to prepare . I went to Thill’s shop late last night to receive it, though I somehow ended up with a heated discussion about equipment with Thill that lasted until morning .

Although, it may not be a very good choice to express my gratitude and affection to Ayla .

「Let’s make it into an accessory later . Looking around shops today won’t be bad either . 」

I waited for a reply, but there is no response from Ayla .

This is bad…did I hope for too much? I watched Ayla in worry .

Ayla started crying with a crumpled face .

「Thaa-aank yuuuu, master~ weee—-n」

It was bad enough to make her start crying, huh!! Is what I thought in panic, but when I took another look at her, it seems she’s shedding tears of joy .

I drew closely to Ayla and held her as I gently stroke her back with a ‘pon pon’ sound, in order to settle her down .

「Now~ now~ It’s alright~」

I kept comforting her until she finished crying . By the time Ayla settled down, the sun had completely dropped down beyond the horizon .