An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

"That's for Tigne. I work hard for my sister."

"You're my little sister, too, right? You have to work hard for me!"

"Xiao Mi—this quilt—the insurmountable wall—Tignes."

This useless Mel! Meredith tried to lift the blanket, but water fell from the sky and hit her face. Meredith was resisted by the uselessly precise water gun magic.

In other words, Mei'er wasn't being tied up in a blanket. She was hiding in her own paradise called bed, refusing to come out. She was truly a useless Mei'er.

Meredith took the handkerchief from Nez and wiped her wet face with it. Her cheek twitched slightly as she turned to face Hauser and the others.

"That's why we had to take her away directly. Sorry, we took the quilt with us."

"No, that's okay... Is that onee-chan okay?"

"...Probably nothing. Don't look at her like that. When she needs to be serious, she'll still be serious..."

Mel had already begun to snore sweetly. Meredith sighed deeply, while Hauser and the other branch members gave her a wry smile. Then Meredith picked up Mel, who was wrapped in a blanket.

"Then let's go! Everyone, get moving quickly!"

"Okay, don't worry about us. Say hello to that idiot Bart for me. Natsu, I'll leave those two to you."

"Okay, you guys should be careful too."

Natsu nodded firmly in agreement and then initiated the transfer.

So, Miredi and others left the Anguliv branch.

The sea of ​​trees was filled with thick fog just as rumored.

The sky is cloudy tonight, and the moon is now obscured by clouds, so the pure white fog is like a mirror, and the moon is shining brightly.

"Hey, Xiaonai, are you feeling anything unusual?"

"...No, I don't feel anything unusual. I think it's normal."

Indeed, the two of them hadn't actually felt the full effect of the dense fog in the sea of ​​trees. Even when Meredy tried to fire a "wind bullet," it only hit the leaves she aimed at accurately.

"I see. So this is what Bart meant by 'I've been informed'?"

"So, the sea of ​​trees didn't reject us, didn't it?"

"If that's the case, then there's no need for us to land more than a kilometer away from the tree, right?"

It was obvious that the Republic's capital and key locations were near the tree, so Bart was probably there as well. However, a sudden descent from the sky would undoubtedly provoke the orc warriors in vain. With this in mind, they landed a little further away.

"It wouldn't hurt to be cautious, because we're currently in a territory humans aren't allowed to enter... and you've noticed that, haven't you?"

"...Yes, I sense something unusual. No, it's the sight, right?"

The air in the silent sea of ​​trees was distinctly different, like a different world. And, though they couldn't be sure, they felt like someone was watching them.

Meredy and Natsu both looked restless, waiting for someone to come and greet them.

"...How can you sleep soundly in this state? What's wrong with your nerves?"

"That's true."

As they waited, they looked at Mei'er. She was sleeping soundly, wrapped in the "quilt with the ultimate touch", and looked extremely happy.

The useless Mei'er has a special skill, which is that she can fall asleep immediately no matter where she is, and wake up quickly if she feels the atmosphere is not right.

Perhaps she shouldn't have such an item, Meredith and Niz thought about disposing of the quilt. Just then, a faint voice came from the distance...

“! Naruto-chan! This is…!”

"Yes, it's a wail."

The voice was sharp, possibly a woman's or a child's. The two exchanged glances and immediately ran towards the sound. Mei, wrapped in the blanket, was held by Natsu's side.

In the dense forest where running was difficult, the two ran as fast as they could.

After running for about twenty seconds, the view suddenly opened up and the thick fog was blocked outside the hemispherical space.

In the center of the space, one could see a settlement surrounded by a sturdy fence, as well as five orcs fighting three beasts. Behind them, a young dog-man girl sat on the ground.

Judging from the situation, the girl might have encountered a monster trying to break into the settlement, and the adults heard her screams and came to rescue her. However, it seems that the orcs are at a disadvantage, because those monsters are unusual.

"A glowing tiger monster?"

"No! That's a sacred beast! The sacred beast of the Beastlight Knights!"

Why would a sacred beast appear in the sea of ​​trees... Before they could even begin to question this, a sacred beast emitted a powerful light, blasting the beastmen away.

While one person withstood the attack, clashing with one of the attacking sacred beasts, the other two sprinted at full speed, weaving past, their target the powerless child. As if scrambling for prey, the two sacred beasts pounced on the little girl from both sides.

"Nai-chan! Right!"

"receive!"

Meredi freely fell horizontally, and Natsu also shifted at the same time.

"Don't even think about it!"

Nizu grabbed the back of the sacred beast's head and smashed it into the ground, inducing spatial vibrations to churn the beast's brain. The ground was cratered, and the sacred beast was shattered to pieces. At the same time—

"M-Re-Dee-Kick!!"

Using the gravity field to increase her speed, Meredith's kick struck the other beast's head. With a resounding sound, the sacred beast was sent flying, crashing into the settlement's fence before sliding down, blood gushing from its eyes and ears, killing it instantly.

The orcs were so surprised and speechless that the final sacred beast bit the orcs before it, but then was crushed by the super gravity and fell straight down, becoming a stain in the sunken ground.

Just as the villagers heard the noise and gathered, Meredith bent down and knelt beside the stunned dog-eared girl.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?"

Meredith asked with a gentle smile. The dog-eared girl looked Meredith from head to toe, then to Natsu, who had come to her side, and the object he was holding beside him—

The dog-eared girl turned pale with fright.

"Eh~! Human!? Don't kill me!"

“Huh!?”

The little girl was so scared that she held her head and trembled, tears in her eyes.

Not only was her smile to the little girl rejected, but it also made her cry, leaving Meredith feeling extremely embarrassed.

The villagers seemed to come to their senses at that moment. They too looked at Meredith, then at Natsu, and then at the object Natsu was holding at his side—and as expected, their faces turned pale with fear.

"Are you guys planning to kidnap that child?!"

"How did humans get so deep into the area?!"

"Damn it! The warriors haven't arrived yet!?"

"Release that Sea People woman!"

"To wrap someone up in a quilt is really outrageous!"

"Humans are truly heartless—huh? Is being wrapped up in a blanket too much? She looks so happy... Anyway, we won't leave our companions to you!"

Meredi and Natsu figured it out.

"Hmm~ Really, it's so noisy."

They looked at Mei'er who was rolled up.

So that's how it is. They do look like the human duo who kidnapped the eldest sister of the Sea People.

Incidentally, it's well known that there are also Sea People in the Sea of ​​Trees. East of the Sea of ​​Trees, facing the ocean, the Sea People operate in large fishing towns there, contributing greatly to the Sea of ​​Trees' food supply. Of course, they're also very important allies to the Republic, so this is truly a serious problem.

"Sister Mei, hurry up! We've been misunderstood, things are really bad now, hurry up and get up!"

Mei'er hid her head in the quilt.

“Ah, hey! Now’s not the time to act so willfully! Where’s your special ability to get up?! Isn’t it time to get up now!?”

Mei'er refused to get out of bed, determined to defend the city. She was sulking, determined to stay in bed forever. This quilt was truly dangerous, and it would lead the useless Mei'er to everlasting depravity.

But putting that aside for now, Meredith's anxiety finally turned into anger.

"Hey, come out now!"

Mireidi reached into the quilt and tried to pull the person out by force.

At this perfect moment, about ten armed orcs arrived. It seemed that the orcs who had just fought were not warriors, but a kind of village watch, so the ones who arrived now were the real warriors.

The soldiers looked at Miredi and the villagers, confused about the current situation.

"No! Stop it! Don't take away onee-sama's quilt (that's something important)!"

"Destroy! This thing must be destroyed!"

In order to prevent their important belongings (quilts) from being taken away, their compatriots cried out in grief.

Humans, on the other hand, looked at each other with rage and kept shouting the terrifying words "Destroy! Destroy!"

So that's how it is. The soldiers have grasped the situation.

"Save our compatriots, ahhhhhhhh."

"Don't let that human go back alive!"

The warriors roared!

"Oscar! Bandu! Come and meet me soon, I'm about to have a perforated stomach."

Natsu's eyes were dead, and he grabbed the two and moved them. In an instant, they were behind the warriors, and in the process, they teleported the quilt into their own "treasure house". It would have been better if they had done this earlier.

"what!"

"So there's this trick! Nice, Naruto? ※As expected of Natsu!"

Mel was thrown to the ground and was heartbroken. Meredith was emotional and told boring jokes. Niz looked at Mel with an absolute zero gaze.

"Hurry up and clear up this misunderstanding, Mei'er. Explain it yourself. I won't say nice things a second time—get it?"

"Y-yeah, I'm sorry. I was just so comfy under the covers that my mind went haywire. So, um, Natsu-kun? Don't look at me like I'm a bug... Ah, no, it's nothing."

There are people who rarely get angry, but when they do, they're terrifying; there are also people who get angry quietly. Natsu acted like a composite of both, and even the Pirate Queen was frightened and took a few steps back.

Of course, because the angry orc warriors rushed over, Miledi and the others had no time to panic.

Mei stood in front of Meredith and Natsu, spreading her arms as if to protect them. Then, with a serious expression rarely seen since the Battle of Demon King's Castle, she spoke:

"Listen to what Mei'er has to say—"

Then...

──Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle.

The one making such a creepy sound was──

"Ah, Sister Mei, under your feet."

"what?"

Looking closely, there was a black object. It faced the Orc warriors, flapping its wings with a beeping sound. It seemed to be shielding Mei'er behind it, shouting to the Orc warriors, "Don't fight!"

That being said, the black creature was clearly just trying to stay alive. Even if it was somehow able to reduce anyone's morale and was in some sense the strongest creature, just one of them wouldn't be enough to stop the brave warriors.

So, of course, there are a lot of them.

Black smoke spewed out from the ground beneath Mei'er's feet, and at the same time, countless flapping wings sounded, and more black smoke flew out from the surrounding thick fog.

The group of black creatures turned into a black whirlwind in an instant, surrounding Meredi and others.

"Hey, wait, this isn't a cockroach..."

"Natsu-kun—"

Before Mei'er said the word "transfer", things flew towards Mei'er's face with a clatter, and also made a large number of forced landings on her beautiful breasts.

Mei'er picked up the one crawling on her face and saw the creature crawling on her palm...

"call."

For some reason, Mei collapsed, laughing and rolling her eyes. She had an expression not typical of a beautiful woman, and fainted.

"Sister Mei~~!!"

Meredith's wails echoed everywhere. However, she couldn't save Mel because Mel was covered with a bunch of things.

"Middley, you're too flustered."

"Xiao Nai!?"