I Finished Saving the World, But Then I Picked Up a Girl With Amnesia - Chapter 17

Entering the shade of the trees, I set down my backpack and sword. It was probably Knight-chan’s thoughtful consideration to have these placed near us during the teleportation. I would’ve appreciated it if she could’ve included some of Red Hair-chan’s belongings too, but realistically, even if there had been anything, it might’ve just gotten in the way.

Still, at the very least, a change of clothes and some shoes would’ve been nice.

“Hero-san, Hero-san! Look at this!”

“Hm?”

Red Hair-chan approached, holding something on her palm for me to see.

Chirp, chirp.

A tiny, adorable bird chirped at me.

“Uh, Red Hair-chan… I don’t think catching a bird this small is going to make much of a meal, not even for yakitori.”

“I’m not going to eat it!”

Oh. Guess not.

“It looks like it’s injured… It wasn’t trying to fly and was just sitting under that tree.”

“Ah, I see.”

Red Hair-chan spoke with genuine concern in her voice. She really is a kind-hearted person.

“Let me take a look. I might be able to help with a basic healing spell.”

I crouched down to inspect the little bird’s condition. When I touched it, however, I felt a pang of regret.

Its injuries were worse than I’d expected. And judging by the state of its wounds, it had likely been injured for quite some time.

“…Red Hair-chan. This bird is—”

At that moment, the ground shook violently.

“Huh?”

“Is this an earthquake?”

Holding the injured bird protectively, Red Hair-chan looked around.

But the shaking wasn’t like a normal earthquake. It was a vertical jolt, and the way the ground moved felt unnatural—almost as if the earth itself were alive…

“Nope. This is definitely something moving.”

“What?”

Grabbing Red Hair-chan with one hand and my sword with the other, I concentrated magical energy into my legs and leapt into the air.

And then, the ground below us rose up.

“A golem!?”

Red Hair-chan exclaimed.

Golem. A type of monster that imbues rock and earth with life. Its appearance resembles a humanoid figure sculpted from stone.

But this golem was absurdly large.

With a quick estimate, it looked about 20 meters tall. Just craning my neck to look up at it made my neck hurt.

“U-um… Hero-san, this…”

“Whoa, that’s big.”

“Is now the time for that kind of reaction!?”

Still holding the bird-protecting Red Hair-chan in my arms, I leapt again, narrowly avoiding the massive stone fist that crashed down, shattering the earth we’d been standing on.

“That was close.”

“Uh… Red Hair-chan, have you gained weight?”

“Is now the time for that kind of joke!?”

“Hold on tight to the little bird, okay?”

“Uh—”

Before she could scold me further, I tossed Red Hair-chan into the air to prove my earlier comment was just a joke.

Drawing my sword, I aimed to slash the golem’s fist. But the moment my blade met its surface, my expression hardened.

“Damn, that’s tough…”

Before I could finish my sentence, I was sent flying sideways.

“Hero-sa—!?”

“…Crap.”

I messed up.

Underestimating the golem’s strength had resulted in me getting blown away. That was fine. What wasn’t fine was exposing Red Hair-chan to danger. That part was entirely my fault.

She was about 50 meters away by my estimate. Could I sprint over fast enough to catch her?

“…No. I’ll catch her.”

A whisper passed by my side.

“Huh?”

It was a young girl who had appeared out of nowhere.

Only about as tall as my waist, with sky-blue short hair and a simple martial artist’s outfit. Her chest was even flatter than Sage-chan’s.

With her absurdly small frame, she caught the much taller and heavier Red Hair-chan mid-air, landing gracefully to absorb the impact.

“Are you alright?”

Without changing her expression in the slightest, the girl spoke.

“Ah, uh, yes. Thank you so much. Um… Who might you be?”

Ignoring Red Hair-chan’s question, her deep black eyes turned to me. She raised a hand and, still completely expressionless, greeted me.

“Yo.”

Well… what can I say? Yeah.

I had a lot of thoughts about this, but for now, one thing was clear.

“…Long time no see, Master.”

“Master!?”

Red Hair-chan widened her eyes at the young girl—no, my master.

Don’t look at me like that. I wasn’t expecting to meet her here either.

“Wait, this tiny person… Hero-san’s… Master!?”

“Yeah. Though, it’s just me who calls her Master. Also, she’s a former party member.”

“Wait, what!? I thought there were only four members in your party!?”

“Wait, did I ever say there were just four people in my party?”

“No, but you didn’t mention this!”

“Hero, it’s been a while. How are you?”

“I’ve been doing well, thanks to you.”

“Please don’t have a casual conversation while holding me!”

“Oh, my bad.”

Master gently set down the much larger Red Hair-chan, then stared intently at her face.

“You’re cute.”

“Uh, um, thank you! That’s very kind of you!”

“Your chest is big.”

“…What?”

“I’m small, so I’m jealous. How big are they?”

“Hero-san!”

“She’s just like this. You’ll have to get used to it.”

Still, what’s she doing in a place like this?