Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku

18-11. The Adventure of Pochi

"Haguhaguhagu--whale jerky is so good nodesu."

In a perilous pass at Western States, on a beach where the Red Smoke Island is visible, a lone youngster--or more like, a kid in an adventurer-like clothing is chewing on a jerky.

The elegant yellow hooded mantle the kid is wearing has a coat of arms in the shape of a dragon shouldering a pen on it.

"That must be the Black Smoke Island where the samurai chief lives at nodesu!"

Unfortunately that's Red Smoke Island.

"Only a little bit more nanodesu. Should get there by evening running on sea nanodesuyo!"

Ordinary humans cannot run on water surface, perhaps this kid possess Water Stride or Float Step skill.

"Pochi's legend starts now nodesuyo."

The kid striking a shupin popse--Pochi was about to make a dash pose that showed up in a showa manga.

"Taking off nanode--"

"Nooooo! Get off meeeeee!"

A scream coming from beyond the shelterbelt stopped Pochi's takeoff.

"Oh no nanodesu! Pochi heard a thrilling scream from over there nodesu!"

No one here could correct that she was supposed to say, 'Piercing' there.

The pair of cat ears poking out of her shadow merely twitched a bit.

"Pochi is coming nodesuyo!"

Woosh, Pochi ran fast breaking the wind.

"Please, I beg of ye. Please spare our daughter, at least our daughter."

"Shut up! Don't get in our way!"

"Pa, ow."

Pochi arrived to a scene of ruffian-looking men grabbing a woman by her arm, and punching and kicking someone who looked like her father who tried to stop them.

"That's far enough nanodesu!"

The ruffians got on guard in a panic responding the sudden appearance of an intruder who broke through the bush.

But once the hood was off and showed the intruder being a small dogkin kid, they relaxed and sighed out as if ridiculing their past selves.

"The hell, it's just a brat."

"Pochi is not a brat, she's Pochi nanodesuyo?"

Pochi tilted her head.

"Shaddap! We're workin' here!"

The ruffians frowned as they shouted at Pochi.????n????????ea????. ????????????

"Work nanodesu?"

Pochi looked around restlessly.

"But onee-san looks troubled nodesuyo?"

The woman grabbed by the ruffians has frozen up, unable to react to the happening.

"Eargh, just shut up ya! Men, spank this brat!"

"Hell yeah, aniki!"

One of the more bigger men stepped forward heavily toward Pochi.

"DIE!"

BWOSH, his swung fist cut an empty space.

Pochi swiftly dodged that fist.

"Stop dodging you!"

"But it'd hurt if it hit nodesuyo?"

Pochi easily dodges the man swinging his arm at her.

"What the heck yer' playin' at! Y'all go too!"

"We might get her killed though?"

"Who gives a crap. Just carve 'er out!"

"""OU!"""

Five men drew their weapons and rushed at Pochi.

The father and daughter who imagined Pochi getting cut up closed their eyes and averted their faces.

"DON, nanodesu!"

All the men easily got blown away by a single hit.

The sword in her hand is still in its sheath.

"W-what in the hell's going on?"

"Arisa told Pochi taking up swords means you're also prepared to get cut yourself, nodesuyo!"

Pochi made a triumphant look on her face.

The fact that she didn't cut them with the bladed part must be her act of kindness.

"D-damnit. You monster."

The man whistled with his finger, then 20 villains rushed in from the direction of the village.

Apparently they had been ravaging inside the village.

"How 'bout it! Ya ain't gonna win against this number alone!"

The man's saliva flew everywhere as the situation reversed.

That was when several shadows flew out of the bush.

"She's not alone gau!"

◇

"Bear and the guys are here to kuma!"

"I knew she'd get dragged in trouble."

"Pochi-san, fall back!"

"Usasa and the guys nanodesu!"

The [Pendora] gang has followed after Pochi to the Western States, bunnykin Usasa and Rabibi, dogkin Gaugaru, bearkin Kubear, human boy Ninin and human girl Hitona.

"Did you all chase after Pochi nodesu?"

"Of course!"

"Don't be so cold gau."

"We're worried with neesan alone gau."

"We asked Earl-sama to send us to this country by ship though."

Pochi reunited with Usasa and the gang.

"Everyone! Think about the situation here!"

"Just us two can't hold on! Usasa, help!"

The two humans who have been dealing with the villains asked for help.

"Sorry, you two!"

"Sorry about that, Hitona!"

Usasa and Rabibi disturb the frontline, Kubear is in charge of shielding, and the greatsword user Gaugaru mows down.

The Pendora gang worked together to beat up the villains.

Nevertheless, being outnumbered, the Pendora kids started getting pushed back.

"Pochi will do her best too nodesuyo!"

Clank, after striking a pose, Pochi joined the fray.

"Pochi-san!"

"As expected of neesan Kuma!"

"Whoaa"

The table quickly got turned afterward.

Pochi literally tore the bad men's protectors into pieces and discarded them before beating the bad men into oblivion.

The girl who was taken as hostage got saved by Rabibi who sneakily took her back to her father.

The villain leader who realized the unfavorable situation he was in threw a smoke bomb in an attempt to escape.

"Can't run away from Pochi nodesuyo!"

Pochi rushed through the smoke with Flickering Step, kicked the villain's leader legs and pinned him down.

"Getting all wrapped up in a rope punishment nanodesu!"

She brought the villain leader bound in a rope like a bagworm back to the gang.

For some reason, the father had stripped off his tunic, desperately trying to put the smoke out.

"Do you wanna put it out gau?"

"Leave it to me kuma."

Kubear grabbed the smoke bomb and forcefully buried it inside the ground to erase the smoke.

Once the father was certain the smoke was no more, he fell down on the spot in exhaustion.

"Victory nanodesu!"

Usasa and the gang were puzzled to see the father like that, nevertheless they all cheered together when they heard Pochi's triumphal cheer.

◇

Meanwhile, the villagers gathered together.

An elderly village head stepped forward toward Pochi and Pendorag gang.

"What have you done!"

And they got showered in complaints instead of thanks.

"Right right!"

"Whaddya think yer' doing beating up these guys!"

"Why do you think we have been putting up with them for all this time!"

Following the village head, the villagers crowded around Pochi and booed at her.

"W-why are you getting mad nodesu?"

The unexpected voices of anger flopped Pochi's ears down, her tail hid itself between her legs.

Usasa and Gaugaru stood in front of Pochi with their arms spread to defend her.

"Quiet down!"

"Get one person to state your complaints wan!"

Once Usasa and Gaugaru growled while activating Pressure skill, cat's got the villager's tongue as they went pale.

The villagers stepped back all together, leaving only the village head in his spot.

"A quick explanation is in order kuma."

Kubear tapped the frightened village head.

"T-these guys ain't no ordinary bandits."

"What's the difference gau?"

"We're the Baphomet Family who can even make crying babies fall silent!"

The one replying was the villain leader who unfastened his mouth gag on his own.

"Bafemot nanodesu?"

"It's Baphomet! And don'tcha get that wrong again! Our boss is the much feared Baphomet of Calamity extolled in the City of Vice, Cybe."

The villain leader shouted at Pochi who got it wrong.

Vice City Cybe is located in a pirate island with an active volcano on it called Red Smoke Island, a den of outlaws that not even neighboring countries dare to approach.

"Our boss is feared throughout the island as the Second Coming of Demon Lord!"

"""Hmmm"""

The [Pendora] gang who's well aware of Pochi's strength and track records simply brushed off the villain leader's words.

"Hmm, hmm you said!? Are y'all too bratty to know fear?"

"It's okay nanodesu! Pochi will beat up all the baddies nodesuyo!"

"Yer' up against 『Second Coming of Demon Lord』! Like hell ya can win!"

Pendora gang looked down at the barking villain leader with cold eyes.

He has no idea that Pochi is one of the [Demon Lord Slayers].

"It's okay nanodesu! Pochi has fought demon lord persons before nodesuyo!"

"Who the heck's gonna believe that utter bollocks!"

Not just the villains, none of the villagers believed that either.

Including the father daughter who witnessed Pochi's strength firsthand.

The only exception is the Pendora gang.

Absolute trust to Pochi dwells in their eyes.

Pochi's ears twitched.

She caught something coming closer from afar.

"Let us go! Otherwise the army of monsters our boss control's gonna come raidin'!"

The villagers shrunk in fear when they heard wyverns' cries from afar.

"Here 'dey come, they're coming to deliver your death!"

A wyvern flew over trees.

Pochi's eyes opened wide when she saw that.

"Meat! Nanodesu!"

"T-this is yer' last chance for bravado!"

Erasing the villain leader's voices, more wyverns flew over one after another, totaling in over ten wyvern riders circling the sky.

Wyvern Knights are a powerful force that not even large countries could amass in large numbers.

Intercepting them outside of military facilities is said to require several times more mages or dozens times more archers due to their capability of swooping down to attack from outside magic and arrow's range.

They must have seen the signal flare the villain leader shot out.

"Yer' all finished now!"

As if responding to the villain leader's word, one of the wyvern knights readied an extra long fire wand and burned a house with a warning shot.

"Didja see that! The power of the strongest Dragon Knights of Vice City Cybe!"

The villain leader rattled on as bubble formed around his mouth.

"Pouring rain of fireballs gonna burn y'all down!"

The ecstatic villain leader laughed as he looked at Pochi and the villagers.

"Hey, so--won't you old men also get burned together then?"

"""---Ah"""

Hearing Usasa, the villain leader and the ruffians turned pale.

Looks like that never crossed their mind.

"It's okay nanodesu! Leave it all to Pochi nanodesuyo!"

Pochi step forwards in the center of the open space with her sword in sheath.

"Now, come! Nanodesu!"

Her Provocation-laden voice reached the sky, wyverns and their riders focused their attention at Pochi.

A volley of dozens fireballs shot out of the riders' wands as they trailed the sky red.

"Iai slash~, nanodesu!"

Pochi cut down the incoming fireballs with a sword-drawing technique as she ran in the sky with Sky Step.

"Cutting fireballs with a sword?!"

"Pochi-san, you're amazing!"

"Neesan the strongest gau!"

"The strongest kuma!"

Usasa's and the kids cheering drowned out the villain leader's surprise.

The villagers can't even let out a word due to the shock.

"Catch and really nanodesu!"

Pochi grabbed onto an unlucky wyvern knight, and jumped to the next wyvern after slicing that wyvern's head off.

No one understood that Pochi was supposed to say "Catch and release" there, and even if there were one, they would have said, 'that's not what that phrase means.'

"What in tarnation is this brat!"

"You dogkin shaped demon!"

"Who do you think we--"

Seven heads fell down before the wyvern riders could even form up, the riders fell down the trees.

The altitude was such that normally they wouldn't have escaped death even cushioned by tree branches, but invisible power in the form of whip-like shadows grabbed the riders, preventing their death.

Looks like there's an ever-present worrywart protector everywhere.

"That thing can't possibly get this far up."

The moment the rider commander whose whole body was soaked in sweat murmured that, an ominous voice "Tou, nanodesu!" echoed behind him.

And just as the commander timidly looked back--.

"--Wha?!"

A red sphere hit the wyvern knight who was flying next to him.

Flesh and blood of the wyvern scattered everywhere as the now headless wyvern came crashing down.

"Uscaaa!"

Even while screaming out his subordinate's name, his survival instinct compelled him to fly in a random trajectory.

"So the head breaks apart with the usual Magic Edge Cannon nodesu. You can't eat the tasty eyeballs if you don't cut the neck nodesuyo."

A sense of terror toward his foe assaulted the commander the instance he heard that.

He interpreted that as this foe wasn't trying to eliminate them, it was predating on them, seeing them as nothing more than feeders.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The commander dodged an incoming red blade coming from behind.

By the third blade avoided, the commander sighed out in relief once he realized the devilish-looking dogkin behind him was gone.

"I'm alive--uwaa"

Midway through his murmur, he felt a warm liquid splashing from ahead.

He hurriedly turned around and sensed something amiss.

It's not there.

It's gone. His trusty steed's head.

The headless steed nosedived straight down the ground.

◇

"Aku (evil) soku (instant) zazan (cucut) nanodesu!"

Pochi struck the shupin pose once she downed the last wyvern knight with her modified guillotine shaped magic edge cannon.

"I-I cannae' believe my eyes…"

The villain rider had his jaw dropped on the floor.

"Arisa said so nodesu. Prospering evil is nothing more than free food nanodesuyo!"

Pochi spoke triumphantly.

"N-not yet. Our boss is still around."

The villain leader tried to bluff with a shaky voice.

"We've still got Second Coming of Demon Lord of Red Smoke Island Vice City, Baphomet the [Calamity]!"

The villain leader put on a bravado to threaten Pochi and the gang.

"Ya gotta bring Saga Empire's hero if you wanna beat our boss!"

"Oh, Pochi knows about hero person nodesu! If hero person can beat it, then Pochi can beat it too nodesuyo!"

"Haaa? Beat our boss?"

Hearing Pochi, the villain leader laughed like he had a cramp.

"What's funny nodesu?"

"No way in hell I ain't gonna laugh at that. Ain't no way Red Smoke Island that put those countries' armies at a loss coulda fall to a lone dogkin who's a wee bit strong. That island's got an army of monsters under our boss' control guarding' the whole damn place."

"An army of monsters nanodesu!"

Pochi inclined her head to the side.

"Heck yeah! Sea monsters like sea serpents to sink ships, then flying monsters like naga and wyverns to shoot fireballs from the sky far above ya. And even if ya got through 'em you'd have Volcano Mammoths and packs of Locust Buffalos itchin' to trample you dead."

"Oh no nanodesu!"

Pochi turned around toward Usasa and the gang in surprise.

Usasa and the gang braced themselves thinking their enemy was powerful enough to warrant that reaction from Pochi.

"It's a meat festival nanodesuyo!"

Strength escaped Usasa and the gang when they saw the excited Pochi.

Well that's their Pochi.

"M-meat! What the hell yer' goin' on about. Y'all the ones getting feed to the monsters!"

The villain leader desperately tried to argue back, but none of his words reached Pochi whose mind was fully preoccupied with the thought of meat festival, before eventually getting forgotten.

◇

"Kepu, nanodesu."

Pochi rubbed her stomach in satisfaction.

As if a preamble to the Great Meat Festival at Red Smoke Island, they gathered people in the neighboring villages who had fallen victims to the bandits and held a meat festival with the wyvern meat. Of course, they had eyeball cuisine as well.

There were some who were annoyed at the meat famed for its bad taste and toughness in other countries, but the villagers who had been starving due to the pillaging of Baphomet Family jumped at the meat without complaining and praised Pochi.

The villagers who saw Pochi slaughtering the wyverns prostrated themselves at Pochi all at once to beg forgiveness.

The caught ruffians and wyvern riders are to be handed over to soldiers dispatched from a neighboring country the next morning.

"Pochi-san, there's no ship anywhere to be found."

"We beg your pardon. Those guys at Cybe took all our boats with them saying, 'We're taking your boats if you can't pay tax.'"

As a result they couldn't even go out to fish, grieved the fishing village elder.

"That's a stump nodesu."

Pochi has been searching for a boat to take her to the Red Smoke Island.

"We can just shave down some logs into a ship gau."

"That's gonna take way too long."

"I'm pretty good at shaving wood kuma."

Usasa and the gang put forth their ideas.

"There are numerous whirlpools and invisible reefs around Red Smoke Island, though not so many around the inlet. Those who don't know the route will find it hard to navigate there."

Usasa and the gang looked troubled when they heard the village head.

"If only Pochi-san left one wyvern alive."

"Are you blaming neesan?!"

"I never said that!"

"Quarreling is a no no nanodesuyo."

Pochi pacified the gang as they started quarrellings.

"But, Pochi-san. We can't cross the sea at this rate, you know?"

"It's okay nanodesu."

Pochi turned at Usasa and the gang with a look full of confidence on her face.

"Pochi has just got the idea nodesuyo!"