The Strongest Onmyoji and the Shikigami With AI are Unparalleled in Another World ~ A Second Life Properly Enjoyed Using Artificial Intelligence ~ - Chapter 146

The next day, we were woken up by Natalia while it was still early in the morning, or rather, before dawn. We had breakfast and prepared ourselves.

“Do your best.”

As I was changing clothes with AI-chan, Annie, who was working while sitting in the kotatsu, called out to us.

“Why are you up?”

It’s still dark outside.

“If my companions are waking up early, then I’ll wake up early too. You never know what might happen, so I’ll stay on standby here. Lily, well, she’s still sleeping though.”

As expected of someone entrusted with the role of vice leader of the clan—she’s diligent.

Although she’s not coming out of the kotatsu.

“Yuuma-sama’s companions are quite unique, aren’t they?”

Leanne, who was waiting by the door, chuckled wryly.

“It’s a free-spirited clan, so it attracted free-spirited people.”

“I see. That kind of clan might be nice. It seems fun.” Leanne, who had once led a constrained life, nodded deeply.

“It is fun. You don’t have to push yourself and you can go at your own pace. If that weren’t the case, Natalia, Alice, and Lily wouldn’t be able to manage. Those girls aren’t the type to conform to others, so they’d either push themselves to the point of breaking or get caught up in accidents and die.” Annie explained.

“You don’t seem like the type who’d conform either,” laughed Leanne.

“That’s why, even though I was part of a clan, I operated solo. It’s easier now. A cool person takes care of everything.”

“As expected of Yuuma-sama.” Leanne nodded repeatedly.

Then, the door opened, and Natalia and Alice, who had finished preparing, came back in.

“Thanks for waiting.”

“…Thanks for waiting.”

The two of them arrived, so AI-chan and I went to the door and put on our shoes.

“Take care.”

Annie saw us off as we teleported.

When our vision cleared, we were greeted by a plain with the sun just beginning to rise. Nearby, there was a carriage waiting.

“…This is actually my first time coming to this side. So that’s the town of Celia over there,” Alice said, looking at the forest behind us.

“It’s my first time too. There’s never been a reason for me to come here,” Natalia replied.

Of course, it was also the first time for AI-chan and I.

“Normally, there’s a path that goes around to the north, but we managed to take quite a shortcut. Usually, it’s difficult because of the monsters, but we were lucky,” Leanne explained.

Normally, you’d stick to the main road instead of going through a forest.

“If there weren’t any dragons in the forest, then they must be further west,” I speculated.

“Yes, at the town of Ibru. Please get in the carriage. Let’s get going,” Leanne said, urging us.

We climbed into the carriage, with AI-chan, myself, and Leanne sitting in a row, and Natalia and Alice sitting opposite us.

Soon, the carriage started moving.

“There won’t be any strong monsters appearing, and even if they do, it’ll only be until we reach the main road, so don’t worry,” Leanne reassured us.

“Well, that shouldn’t be an issue,” I said.

We were using detection magic, and if any monsters did appear, Alice, who had been eager since yesterday, would take care of them.

If I summoned Crow-chan, we’d have perfect reconnaissance, but because of the dragon, I couldn’t send out any flying shikigami.

The carriage continued moving despite the jolts, and by late morning, we reached the main road.

We then proceeded along the road, heading toward the town of Ibru.

At noon, we briefly returned to my room, where we had lunch with Annie and Lily, who were waiting for us.

After finishing lunch, we returned to the road and continued our journey.

Suddenly, the carriage came to a stop.

“Hm?”

I didn’t sense any magic…

“What is it?”

If AI-chan couldn’t tell either, then it likely wasn’t a living being.

“Stay inside,” I said, moving Leanne, who was beside me, and opening the door.

“…I’m coming too,” Alice said.

As Alice and I stepped out of the carriage, we were met with a river about 10 meters wide. The bridge that crossed it had collapsed.

“What is this?”

“…Did the river rise and cause it to fall?”

“If that were the case, there would be signs of it. This is different…”

Alice and I approached the river and looked down at the fallen bridge.

“…It’s a mess. It doesn’t look like it fell naturally.”

It definitely looked destroyed.

“Bandits, maybe? Hm? What’s this?”

Near the post where the bridge had once been, something thin, elliptical, and about 30 centimeters long with a pointed tip glimmered. I picked it up and examined it closely.

“It’s hard… A scale?”

“…A dragon?”

It was possible…

“It might have stopped at the bridge to drink water and ended up breaking it.”

“…What an annoying dragon.”

Seriously.

“Master, what happened?”

“What is it?”

“Hey, Yuuma-sama told you to wait,” Natalia said.

The three who had stayed in the carriage got off as well.

“Leanne, the bridge has collapsed.”

“Huh? Oh, you’re right. What is Count Faol doing…” Leanne muttered as she approached.

“This was lying here. We were talking about how a dragon might have broken the bridge while trying to drink water.”

“A scale? Wait, a dragon scale? This is worth at least 100 gold coins!”

Seriously?

Dragon, don’t just drop valuable things like that on the road.

“That’s amazing.”

“…I feel like I was the one who found it,” Alice muttered.

“Master, more importantly, what should we do?” AI-chan asked.

“Leanne, can you fly over there?” I asked, pointing to the other side of the river.

“I haven’t been there before…”

It’s just 10 meters away.

“Which would be better: me throwing you, Bee-san carrying you, or having Big Spider-chan or Big Centipede-chan act as a bridge?”

“I’d like Crow-chan to try hard,” Leanne responded immediately.

With no choice, I took out a talisman and summoned Crow-chan.

“Caw…”

Crow-chan looked a bit displeased.

“I’m counting on you, Crow-chan,” I said.

Crow-chan flapped its wings and flew to Leanne. It grabbed her shoulder with its feet and flapped desperately, flying across the river.

“Do your best, Crow-chan,” AI-chan cheered as Crow-chan managed to cross the river with Leanne.

Leanne disappeared and reappeared right beside us.

“We’re good now. Let’s go.”

With Leanne’s teleportation, we crossed the river and continued down the road.

As the sun began to set, we arrived at the town of Ibru.