Cheche resisted a few more times, but soon accepted the fact that she had no other choice.
However, resigning herself to the situation didn't mean she was actively cooperating. She seemed to harbor very deep resentment toward me.
Since she didn't want to comply and kept stalling, I practically kidnapped her into the carriage and dropped her off in front of the mountain pass. Only then did she reluctantly turn to look at Samuel.
"Just clearing enough for us to pass through is fine, right?"
She consistently avoided speaking to me throughout. I suppose this was her way of rebelling, in her own manner.
I likewise had no intention of engaging her directly in conversation. More accurately, there was no need for it.
"Hello, Holy Knight."
"…Yes."
Samuel, who was dealing with her in my stead, looked somewhat weary, but there was no one else to handle Cheche.
Right now, Xenon, whom Cheche showed great interest in, was deliberately avoiding conversation with her.
It seemed my mention of a honey trap still weighed on his mind. The fact that he had the sense to keep his distance on his own was satisfying to me.
Xenon and I decided to keep our distance and watch Cheche's work. I considered waiting in the carriage, but I was worried Cheche might try something foolish, so I decided to stand and watch instead.
Samuel, standing beside Cheche, surveyed the mountain pass.
"Can't you remove all of the traps?"
"That would take several days."
Samuel looked at me as if asking for my opinion. When I nodded, he turned back to Cheche.
"Understood. Then please clear a path for us to pass through immediately."
Samuel set down the toolbox he had roughly gathered from Cheche's house.
Cheche fiddled with the toolbox, looking up at Samuel with hope she couldn't quite let go of.
"B-but really, the Temple has nothing else to say? I directly encountered rampant evil……."
"I'm sorry, but encountering monsters is an accident, not a divine selection. Outsiders who encounter monsters can fall into great danger, so I suggest you refrain from such actions in the future."
"Th-then what about that woman?"
At Cheche's question pointing at me, Samuel closed his lips awkwardly. But soon he answered brusquely.
"We came here to investigate."
To a listener's ears, it would be understood that I was an investigator dispatched from the Temple.
Yet without definitively stating that the Temple dispatched us or that I was a Temple-affiliated investigator, it couldn't exactly be called a lie either.
"A sly but appropriate answer."
Xenon murmured quietly, just loud enough for only me to hear, clicking his tongue as he watched Samuel. Samuel calmly ignored Xenon's gaze and urged Cheche on.
"Please resolve this as quickly as possible."
"……Understood."
Cheche reluctantly stepped forward.
She crouched on the road that appeared completely flat to the eye, put on thick gloves, and took out her equipment.
Before long, traps I hadn't even known existed began to reveal their outlines. After quickly disassembling the traps, she found ropes buried in the dirt this time.
At first glance, it looked exactly like magic. The way unexpected traps appeared in empty spaces.
Xenon, who had been watching Cheche's work with fascinated eyes just like me, clicked his tongue low.
"Whew, it would have been a disaster if we'd passed through without knowing."
"Right. It's amazing no one has been hurt yet. Has no one reported this to the guard station?"
This wasn't even a typical forest, but a road where people normally passed through, yet such things had been set up.
"Ordinary people have no reason to visit the rock mountain. If anyone were to come here deliberately, it would be hunters, but typically hunters have their own designated hunting grounds. That hunter is especially famous for strictly enforcing her territory. Also, people have been avoiding her lately because of the rumors that she's gone mad."
Xenon explained with his arms crossed, his gaze on Cheche's back. I glanced at him and replied indifferently.
"You know quite a lot?"
"I heard it from her directly before…… Of course, I didn't express interest first; that woman just kept talking on her own."
"Who said anything?"
Even at my indifferent response, Xenon's expression remained stiff. After confirming his complexion, I casually asked about something I'd been curious about.
"What exactly did you do to make that hunter so desperate?"
"Desperate, my eye! I told you it's not like that!"
Seeing Xenon jumping to deny it with a serious face, my sulky feelings settled down as if they had never existed.
However, apart from my mood improving, I was genuinely curious about how he'd gotten entangled with Cheche.
When I silently stared at Xenon, he sighed and opened his lips.
"It was just…… I happened to see her get into a dispute with a neighbor and helped her out a bit. Since they were fighting over a Durahan issue, I thought taking her side would make it easier to get information…… So I smiled a bit and helped her out."
"So it was a honey trap."
"A honey trap requires a beauty to use it."
Xenon waved his hands as if he'd heard something absurd.
I tilted my head looking at him, then called him in a calm voice.
"Xenon."
"Yes?"
"Look at my face."
"……Yes?"
I quietly watched Xenon who was blinking with a bewildered expression, then withdrew my gaze. I could see Cheche had moved quite far ahead.
The places where traps had been disarmed were marked.
I began walking briskly along the mountain pass. Xenon, who had been standing blankly, belatedly came to his senses and quickly caught up.
"Wait a moment, Lady Anelli. What does that mean?"
His urgent questions poured out low and fast.
"Lady Anelli?"
Pretending not to hear Xenon's call, I fixed my gaze forward and spoke to Samuel.
"We just follow behind?"
"Yes, don't touch that side, just go straight ahead from here."
Perhaps because she was disassembling her own traps, Cheche's work speed was quite fast.
I had thought the beginning was slow, but as I watched Cheche's back moving quickly ahead, Xenon pressed close to my side.
"You're saying you like my face, right? Are you only looking at the face? Is this face enough?"
His low question was permeated with a will to definitely hear an answer.
At his persistent appearance, which was rare to see, I snorted with laughter and shrugged.
"Hardly."
After a brief reply, I paused slightly, and Cheche had moved even further ahead.
Samuel, who was standing guard beside Cheche to monitor whether she was working properly, looked back at me.
I gave him a nod to indicate I understood, and said calmly.
"Look at my body too."
Xenon froze in place once again.
I left him behind and walked toward Cheche. Xenon, having collected himself even faster than before, hurriedly followed.
He kept pestering me to tell him more conditions, but I cleanly ignored him. Such an attitude seemed to make Xenon even more anxious……
"Ah, I dislike persistent men."
Seeing Xenon immediately shut his lips at my answer, it was simply entertaining. Thanks to that, the time waiting for the trap disassembly work wasn't boring.
This probably wasn't the result Xenon had intended, though.
* * *
The mountain pass with the traps removed was shorter than expected, so we arrived at the rock mountain in no time.
I had considered sending Cheche back alone while she grumbled, but I was worried she might install new traps on her way back to torment me, so I had Samuel accompany her.
Samuel seemed genuinely reluctant, but was more or less persuaded by my casually expressed concern. Having sent them off, I summoned the Durahans from my subspace.
[Wow, we're here!]
Jigor's excited voice flew through the air.
"Jigor, can you sense the energy?"
Palides was also inwardly filled with anticipation. Jigor, the most sensitive to fellow energy among the Durahans, flapped his wings vigorously.
However, a small lark flying energetically looked quite insignificant in front of the massive rock mountain.
[There is a faint trace of energy remaining.]
Jigor seemed unable to quite pinpoint it. While Jigor moved here and there searching for traces, Bark and Tristan had a murmuring conversation.
[Who could it be?]
[Must be Dasha, right? If it's a raptor, it's Dasha!]
[What about Soana?]
[Wanna bet on who it is?]
I didn't know what kind of bet could be made between a black bear and a hornet, but the two quickly found common ground.
Minte looked at them with disdain and sighed.
[Idiots.]
Nadav, like Minte, also seemed to view their bet unfavorably.
[It doesn't look like there are any dangerous beasts in the rock mountain. Since Bark is burdensome to bring along, wouldn't it be better to send him back?]
It was Nadav who had advised me to keep Bark as an escort since we didn't know what lived in the rock mountain, so we should have an animal that could hold its own even in beast form.
And now, Nadav seemed to be greatly regretting his own advice.
[Whatever beast appears, Palides will defeat it all. Since there's also that human mage, they should be able to respond appropriately.]
Nadav's gaze turned toward Xenon. Xenon, completely unaware that he had been acknowledged by Nadav, flinched at Nadav suddenly looking at him.
"I really didn't abandon him. That horse ran off on its own."
"When am I talking about that?"
"If he's holding some pointless grudge, please tell him to let it go quickly."
Xenon still seemed bothered by the incident when Nadav had shaken him off and run away to find Mori during the monster attack.
Seeing how he wouldn't even make eye contact, he seemed a bit afraid of the Durahan Nadav.
"That horse keeps glaring at me."
"He's looking at you."
"That thing?"
[Not a very reliable mage. It would be better to just keep Bark by your side.]
Nadav said with a serious expression. Xenon had lost the acknowledgment from Nadav that he hadn't even known he'd received.
While Nadav and Xenon were thus at odds, Jigor, who had flown some distance away, suddenly shouted in an excited voice.
[It's here, it's here!]
At Jigor's cry, the Durahans who had been busy chatting among themselves all shifted their interest at once. The Durahans swarming toward where Jigor was showed excited expressions.
[Dasha!]
[Soana!]
Tristan and Bark shouted loudly toward the rock mountain. Their resonant calls reached quite far.
I gazed fixedly at the rock mountain. At this point, something should be appearing soon.