One-way traffic

The front door of the house was wide open, and no one lived inside. It looked like it had been abandoned for a long time, with the ground covered in dirt and a mess.

Continuing forward, you can see farmland in the distance that resembles wheat fields, but these too have been completely abandoned.

The entire village was completely deserted.

No one lives there, and you can't see a single living person, or even an animal.

However, within this deathly still environment, there was a sense of unease and disharmony.

"Based on the direction I've detected, this is roughly the location."

Accelerator successfully located the area where the strange energy was most concentrated by observing the atmosphere and energy itself. Judging from that direction, this village was the only place he could pass through on his journey.

The village before him was a completely dead village, yet Accelerator still sensed a slight sense of unease here.

I can't figure out where that aura is coming from.

"This is really troublesome. Staying in this godforsaken place won't leave a good impression on anyone."

If an ordinary person were to arrive in such an empty village filled with a deathly atmosphere, they would probably be too frightened to speak at first.

Accelerator would never become like that, of course, but staying in this village still gave him a deep-seated sense of unease.

There's no useful information here, so let's get out of here quickly.

So the first one immediately started walking, intending to leave the area as quickly as possible.

—Shasha.

"…ah?"

He couldn't help but turn his head and look in a certain direction not far away.

Near this village lies a vast forest.

Then, in the direction he was looking, a commotion arose from somewhere in the woods.

Is something hiding in there?

Based on the current situation, it is likely some kind of wild beast roaming the mountains, or some other kind of monster. In short, the possibility of humans appearing here can be completely ruled out.

Regardless of which one it is, Accelerator has no intention of delving into it further.

Just a moment later.

The moment Accelerator lost interest and turned his head away.

Something darted out of the darkness.

bass--!!!

It was a very sharp and piercing voice.

The sound seemed to pierce the air, carrying a scorching impact that even made one's ears burn, arriving behind one's back in almost an instant.

then.

Accelerator, standing still, did nothing but maintain his previous posture.

Bang! Something sent that thing flying.

He didn't even bother to look at it. In short, the conclusion was that something was planning to launch a surprise attack on him, which was then mercilessly returned by his own reflexes.

He had no interest in whether the other party was a monster or some other kind of ferocious beast.

"Ouch...it hurts so much...!"

However, just as Accelerator took a step to leave, he heard this sound behind him.

It was a very immature voice and manner.

"What's going on..."

The first person instinctively felt a sense of unease.

Even so, he instinctively turned around, trying to determine the source of the sound.

Then he saw the figure lying on the ground.

Thrown away by the force of the impact, he sat on the ground, rubbing the part of his body that had been hit and wiping the corners of his eyes, which were still streaked with tears.

It's a little girl.

She looked to be only ten years old, and her clothes were red and white, with a style reminiscent of a Taoist robe.

What's particularly striking is that her delicate fingers have exceptionally sharp red nails, which look more like sharp blades, like weapons.

And, those cat-ear-like things on that head of brown hair.

"Huh? I can't just collapse here. Some annoying guys have definitely broken into the village!"

She murmured to herself, and then quickly stood up again.

The two locked eyes.

"Hey, you human over there! Who let you trespass into this Lost Home? And what a mess you've made of this area!"

"Who knows how I got here? Besides, that's how that kind of place is supposed to be."

"This is outrageous! How dare they be so arrogant when they're just humans? It's too much, meow~!"

"...With your appearance, you're not convincing at all."

The one standing opposite me should be a monster.

Judging from its appearance, it should be some kind of cat demon, but there was something strange about it.

It should feel familiar, like seeing something someone created.

However, Accelerator didn't care about such trivial matters.

"No matter what, if humans get lost, they will come to this House of the Lost. This is an unchanging law!"

“I’m not lost at all, and besides, where did you come from, kid?”

It's another guy who popped up out of nowhere.

Looking at the monster in front of him, Accelerator scratched his head unhappily. He was annoyed by dealing with this kind of childish character.

"That's it! Humans who come to the House of the Lost will be scared away by me, so you'd better be prepared, meow~!"

That damn verbal tic sounds just like that jerk Tsuchimikado...

Before Accelerator could even get ready, the cat-demon girl in front of him had already started to move.

To be precise, it is faster than the usual precursors to action.

Whoosh! A whooshing sound, like the wind, followed.

The monster curled its body into a ball, like a fur ball, and circled back and forth from both sides.

But that speed was so fast that even the eyes could barely keep up.

And so, as the cat demon swung its body back and forth in mid-air, exceptionally dazzling streams of light flashed in front of its hands.

"Now's the time—!!!"

She flew down from mid-air at an extreme speed.

then.

That strike, capable of cutting through even rubble, missed its mark entirely.

"—Huh?!"

The cat-demon girl stared in surprise at the spot.

But there was nothing there, no one in sight, and not a single footprint left behind when the other person left.

It was as if it had vanished into thin air.

"I said."

Immediately afterwards, a strange sound came from behind.

"Will this boring charade ever end?"

A tone that was slightly impatient yet sharp.

The cat demon girl paused, completely unable to fathom how the other party had managed to do that.

She turned around tremblingly, only to be met with a fierce, demonic gaze.

"Whoaaaaaahh ...

Without even a moment's hesitation.

The girl immediately clamped her tail-like thing between her legs and instantly darted away at top speed.

What a weirdo.

Accelerator, speechless at being tricked like this, pursed his lips. He wondered where the monster had come from, which had intended to attack him in that manner, but instead, it had been scared away by his actions.

Such a contrasting scene could probably only happen to someone like him.

Ignoring where the cat-demon girl had gone, Accelerator turned around again, intending to leave the village directly.

but.

In that instant, the sense of unease I had felt before surged back into my heart once again.

And this time.

The sense of incongruity was immense.

——————————————————————————————————————

The cat monster named Orange fled the scene at lightning speed.

"Ha... If I run this far, I should be fine, right?"

The cat-demon girl leaned against a nearby tree trunk, panting heavily as she whispered.

"How terrifying... How can such humans exist in this world!"

This must be the first time she has ever seen a human as terrifying as the one she just saw.

So far, the humans he has encountered have been either people he can easily fool or a group of people who are too scared to even look at him and have been terrified since they first arrived in the village.

It's hard to imagine that there are humans in this world who can scare themselves to this extent.

Although she didn't know how the other party had managed to do that, Cheng sensed the sharp aura emanating from them in that instant, which is why she chose to run away immediately.

Cats have very keen senses and can easily detect anything that poses a threat to them.

"No matter what, that guy came too frighteningly."

However, the other party seemed to have said something like that they didn't intend to stay here.

From this perspective, even if we leave them alone, they will eventually leave this lost home, and then we will be completely safe.

That was truly a frustrating scene…!

"Meow! I'm supposed to be Lord Blue's shikigami, and I should even be involved with Lord Purple, yet I've been fooled to this extent by a human like this. This is really too much...!"

Orange stomped her foot angrily, but her behavior only reminded people of the cute purring sounds a cat makes in protest.

Click.

Suddenly, some branches fell from the tree she was supporting.

"what?"

Orange turned her head curiously to look at the thick branches that had fallen to the ground.

The branch was quite long; how did it fall? She was a little confused about that.

However, before Orange could figure out the problem at hand, a new situation arose again.

After that, the entire earth began to tremble.

The reason the branch fell down was because of this.

"Whoa—! Waaah, what happened, meow?!"

The shock grew stronger and stronger, to the point that even Cheng's body was slowly shaken up.

In a panic, Orange grabbed a tree trunk and climbed up as fast as she could.