“Is it over?” Sara breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t had to do anything this time around.
“No. There’s still a bit more to go. We’ve gotta keep an eye on it ’til it gets to the Dark Mountain.”
“Nelly!”
Nelly and Allen were suddenly right next to her, as though they’d been there the whole time, despite having been on top of the continental tortoise just moments prior. They must have climbed up while Sara was watching the tortoise.
“Sara!”
She looked down when she heard her name called and found Noel practically spilling out of a carriage. Chris stepped out slowly after him.
“Master Chris!” This shout came from Ted.
“Save the reunions for later! It changed course, but just barely! We’re going after it!” Vince shouted after getting down from the watchtower. He took off after the continental tortoise immediately afterward.
“Okay, just a little more work left,” Nelly said, not sounding tired in the least. She stretched, then wrapped her arm around Sara’s waist.
“Wait, you’re not...”
“Let’s go!”
Why was everyone so desperate to carry Sara around? Would it really take that much extra time to use the stairs like normal?
Ted’s scream followed Sara’s. “Agh! What are you doing?!”
“You want to see Chris right away, don’t you?” Allen said, mirth obvious in his voice.
Sara turned around right when she hit the ground and gaped at what she saw. Allen had his arm around the waist of a wheezing Ted. He must have jumped down from the gate carrying Ted.
“Ha ha ha. It’s pretty refreshing to hear you panic like that.”
“Dammit... And since when are you taller than me, Allen?!” Apparently that was what frustrated Ted more than being carried.
“Ted.”
“Y-Yes, Master Chris?!” When Chris called his name, Ted acted like nothing had happened. But Chris frowned slightly at Ted’s response.
“I’m not the guildmaster anymore, Ted. Do I still need to tell you to call me Chris?”
“I’m sorry, M—Chris.”
“Good. Now, I want to hear all about it as we follow the continental tortoise. Get in the carriage.”
“All about...m-me?”
This time, Chris frowned clearly. “About Rosa. You’re the next mayor, aren’t you?”
“Y-Yes!”
The rear guard could handle themselves. Haruto and Bradley had come down to the ground at some point, so Sara took off with them, Nelly, and Allen after the continental tortoise.
“Whoa, there’s a flock of cotton sheep over there!”
“It’s a lot smaller than the one we got caught up in.”
Back when she’d come down the mountain chasing after Nelly, and when she’d run through it in the dark after Allen, the eastern meadow had always been Sara’s enemy. But she didn’t feel that way about it now. Horned rabbits still attacked her like always, but she wasn’t scared of them anymore. Rosa had seemed interminably far away from the top of the Dark Mountain, but now she could make the trip in no time at all.
Before she knew it, the Dark Mountain loomed high in front of the continental tortoise.
“Growl!”
“Growl!”
“Mountain wolves?”
Sara’s gaze dropped down to the ground after she stared up at the Dark Mountain. There she saw Hunters fighting mountain wolves. They looked up in shock when they noticed the continental tortoise, but they currently lacked the luxury of leisurely taking in the sight.
“Kuntz!” Allen called and Kuntz turned around, his face looking miserably tired.
“Allen!”
“Kuntz! Don’t get distracted!”
“Yes, siiir!”
Kuntz sounded relieved when he called Allen’s name, but the guildmaster was quick to reprimand him, his expression uncharacteristically serious.
It was no wonder, with all the mountain wolves attacking the Hunters out here. Sara didn’t think she’d ever seen so many of them at once before. Some of the Hunters were so exhausted they were just sitting defeated inside the protection field around the road—an unusual state of affairs for the typically quite formidable Hunters of Rosa.
Sara hadn’t seen mountain wolves in a long time, but these ones were so ferocious it almost made her doubt her memories of the docile wolves she was used to seeing around the caretaker’s cabin. Still, they registered as little more than pets to her.
“My barrier will disappear around the continental tortoise, but it should be plenty effective otherwise. I honed it up on the Dark Mountain, so where better to put it to use?” Sara stopped, determined. “Everyone, fall back! I’ll round up the wolves!”
The Hunters all looked at her like they had no idea who she was, but the guildmaster swiftly raised his hand.
“Everyone retreat to the road!”
Sara stepped forward as the Hunters pulled back, grateful that Rosa had finally fixed the protection field around the road. She left her personal barrier around herself and cast out another barrier like a net, allowing the Hunters to pass through it.
“Hunters are okay, but wolves are not. We’re good on wolves over here.”
“Growl!”
“Yap!”
The wolves chasing after the Hunters crashed into Sara’s barrier one after another.
Sara was still following the continental tortoise, so the wolves had no choice but to trot alongside it as well, pushed forward by her barrier. They almost looked like knights protecting the continental tortoise. And Sara, pushing them along, looked like she was chasing both the wolves and the continental tortoise into the Dark Mountain.
“So that’s the mythical...”
“Yeah, she’s a Tamer...”
“No, I’m not!” Sara shouted to the Hunters making their unnecessary observations, but she wasn’t sure if they heard her or not.
The continental tortoise had walked all this way without stopping, but it finally came to a halt at the entrance to the Dark Mountain, where its mouth opened with a snap.
“Puy! Puy!”
“Too cute! That’s what it sounds like?”
After two short cries, the continental tortoise took one step into the Dark Mountain.
Thud.
Another step, and another.
Thud, thud.
It walked into it like there was no protection field around the entrance to the mountain at all.
The guildmaster watched it go, his arms crossed. “Vince. I’ll leave the cleanup to you.”
“What are you gonna do, Jay?”
“See it off. I might be gone for a while.”
“Got it. I’ll leave that to you, then.”
The guildmaster was going to see things through, it seemed.
“I’ll go too. I know a lot about the Dark Mountain, after all.”
“Nefertari. Honestly, that’d help.”
“I’ll come too.”
Everyone turned around at the boy’s voice. It was Noel.
Nelly shook her head. “Not even the knights can make it up there. Your role is done here. You’ve done well making it this far.”
Noel’s shoulders drooped as he looked at the pack of mountain wolves. He must have realized that the Dark Mountain was no place for him after seeing the way they’d attacked the Hunters earlier. He nodded obediently. “All right...”
“I’ll see it off as well.” Bradley raised his hand. “I am the current caretaker of the Dark Mountain, after all.”
“I’ll go too!”
“Okay. Be careful.”
Allen went with the group as if it was only natural. Sara decided to cheer him on with all her heart.
“Could you maybe ask permission from me instead of Sara? I’m the guildmaster, you know,” Jay grumbled, so Allen asked him with a laugh.
This wasn’t a request, and it was something that would be impossible for people with no strength like Noel. But even without anyone asking him to do so, Allen always strove to do the things he wanted to do and the things he thought he should do. Sara’s heart filled with pride thinking that he’d grown into a person like that.
Thus, Jay, Nelly, Bradley, and Allen disappeared into the Dark Mountain after the continental tortoise.
“Whine...”
“Whine...”
The mountain wolves’ miserable whines gave her no time to bask in her sentimental feelings. They were being repelled by the protection field at the entrance to the Dark Mountain like it was Sara’s barrier.
“What? The protection field’s already recovered? I mean, that’s a good thing, but...” Vince scratched his head awkwardly. “Well, should we take care of these things while the Tamer’s keepin’ ’em held down?”
The resting Hunters began to stand.
“Wait. Wait a second. And I’m not a Tamer.”
Sara knew monsters were things to be defeated, but she didn’t think the mountain wolves deserved to be put down for simply wandering out into the meadow when the protection field around the Dark Mountain’s entrance stopped working. It definitely wasn’t because they were like pets to her or because she’d cared for them at all, though.
“I’ll take the wolves back into the Dark Mountain.”
The protection field at the entrance to the dungeon repelled monsters, but could she get them through it while they were inside her barrier?
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Growl!”
“Growl!”
The wolves quietly followed Sara like they knew what she was trying to do. Of course, it might have simply been Sara’s barrier pushing them along.
Sara stopped at the entrance to the mountain. She didn’t know if this would actually work until she tried it.
She took a step forward and her barrier moved with her. She proceeded forward along the path she’d once come down without looking back. When she finally did turn back, it was like she had dozens of mountain wolves following her, at her beck and call.
“Growl!”
“But not really, right? You really want to eat me, right?” Sara muttered, looking at the drool dripping from the wolves’ open mouths. She gently released the barrier keeping the wolves trapped in.
“Okay, back to the Dark Mountain with you.”
“Growl?”
“Growl?”
One of them took a wide path around Sara and then the rest of them bounded up the Dark Mountain, realizing they were free. When the last one made its way past Sara, she let out a sigh.