The Praying Mantis (2)
“Zeratul!!!!!”
The creature was roaring nonstop, and I was completely freaked out.
“A praying mantis… and it’s the size of a person, aaaaaah!!!”
“Zeratul!!!”
The mantis charged at me while making some incomprehensible noise.
“Uwaaack! Get away!!!”
“Zeratul!!!”
I started running for my life, and the mantis chased after me with terrifying speed.
“That… that thing, don’t tell me it’s…”
『That… that thing, don’t tell me it’s…』
“What is it?! Stop dragging it out and just say it already!!!”
“Zeratul!!!”
I kept spinning around the clearing, locked in this bizarre game of tag. When I glanced back at the mantis for a moment, I noticed its eyes were locked on the jerky I was holding.
“No way…”
I stopped running and tossed the jerky toward the mantis like I was giving a treat to a dog.
“Here, catch!”
“Zeratul!!!”
It stopped too, then swatted the jerky away with its front leg… or whatever that was, looking furious.
“Zeratul! Zeratul!”
“Uh… what are you saying…?”
“Zeratul!!!!!”
When it realized I couldn’t understand, the mantis started thrashing around even more violently.
“Hero, that thing is… probably a Zeratulias.”
『Siwoo, it’s probably from the Zeratulias race.』
“Zeratulias…?”
“Zeratul!”
The mantis, which had already picked up the jerky from the ground and was crunching away at it, nodded as if to confirm.
“So… what exactly is the Zeratulias race…?”
“Hmm… from what I know, they’re a combat race that lives in the jungles of the South Continent.”
“A combat race…?”
Wait, does that mean they turn yellow when they get angry?
“Zeratul! Zeratul.”
The mantis looked at Lev while he was explaining and started waving its front legs around, chattering away.
“Um… I still have no idea what it’s saying…”
“Ah, that’s one of their traits. Apparently they only communicate using the single word ‘Zeratul.’”
“Zeratul!”
The moment Lev said the word ‘Zeratul,’ the mantis suddenly screamed in anger.
“Ah… calm down, calm down… We really don’t know what any of it means…”
“Zeee…raaa…”
It let out a sigh and nodded, seemingly convinced.
“Um… so… who are you?”
“Zeratul!”
“…”
This communication thing was going nowhere.
“Ugh, Momo, isn’t there any way?”
『Nope… If there’s some new method that appeared in this era I wouldn’t know, but as far as I know, there’s no way to translate it.』
“Haa… what do we do…”
“Zeratul?”
The mantis seemed fascinated by me talking to Momo and reached out toward her.
“No! Momo is extremely sensitive to other people’s touch!”
『Hey! That sounds super weird when you say it like that!』
“Zeratul…?”
When I pulled Momo back and stepped away, it stared at me with a strange look in its eyes.
“W-what are you looking at me like that for!”
“Zeratul…”
That gaze was exactly like the one Lev had given me the first time he saw me talking to Momo.
“Don’t look at me with those eyes!!!”
“Just ignore him.”
“Lev…!”
“The hero’s always been crazy anyway.”
“Zeratul!”
“Hey!”
Now they were both ganging up on me.
“Stop it! That’s enough!”
“Too bad…”
“Zeratul…”
Suddenly the two of them were perfectly in sync, shaking their heads in unison.
“For now… Zeratul? Is it okay if I call you that?”
“Ze… Zeratul.”
Zeratul looked like he wanted to say something, but remembering we couldn’t understand each other, he just nodded weakly.
“Alright, Zeratul… then… why are you here?”
From Lev’s explanation, he seemed to be from the South Continent, so I asked why he was all the way out here in the Central Continent.
“Zeratul, Zeratul Zeratul Zeratul.”
“…”
“Zeratul…”
Damn it, this wasn’t communication at all.
“Lev! Don’t you know anything else?”
“Hmm… The Zeratulias race lives on the South Continent. They’re known as the Great Warriors of the Jungle.”
“And?”
“Uh… I’m not really sure beyond that…”
The moment I heard Lev’s answer, I rolled my eyes upward.
“Momo! What about you?”
『I don’t have much either. Their whole race is supposed to be incredibly strong, and they love fighting…』
“I see…”
Momo didn’t have any particularly useful information either. I organized my thoughts and turned back to Zeratul.
“Zeratul?”
“So yeah… he really is crazy.”
“Zeratul.”
Zeratul and Lev were once again badmouthing me while watching me talk to Momo.
“No! Stop doing that!”
“Fine, fine.”
“Zeratul, Zeratul.”
Hmm… green scales…? No, that was… an exoskeleton? Whatever it was, a body the size of a human, and those beast-like cries…
“Don’t tell me… you’re that unidentified creature that appears in the forest?”
“Hmm…? Now that you mention it, a lot of the eyewitness accounts match.”
“Zeratul?”
When we started talking among ourselves, Zeratul tilted his head in confusion.
Wait a second… if the unidentified creature was Zeratul, then who was the one that shot arrows at us?
“Zeratul, have you been attacking people who pass by?”
According to what Momo said earlier, the Zeratulias race loves fighting… maybe some kind of cultural… or rather, racial difference had caused a misunderstanding?
“Zeratul!”
But Zeratul shook his head strongly in denial.
“Lev.”
“Well, there’s always the chance he’s lying… but would someone who picks up jerky off the ground and eats it really attack people?”
“That’s true…”
Obviously, if he had attacked people, he would’ve gotten plenty of food from their belongings. He wouldn’t have been desperately craving my jerky while starving.
“Zeratul…”
When we brought up his embarrassing behavior, Zeratul covered his face with his front legs in shame.
“So to summarize… Zeratul isn’t the unidentified creature, right?”
“Hmm… that part is probably correct. People who ran away screaming after seeing a passing Zeratul must have reported it to the adventurers’ guild as an unidentified monster.”
“Then… the one who shot arrows at us is…?”
“Haa… probably another unidentified creature. Since it never showed itself, they must have assumed the two were the same.”
So the one actually attacking people was the arrow-shooting bastard, and Zeratul was just living here?
“Is that right? Zeratul?”
“Zeeeeraaaatuuuul…”
When we asked to confirm, Zeratul tilted his head with a subtle expression.
“There’s more to it, it seems.”
“Zeratul, why are you here? Isn’t the South Continent your home?”
“Zeratul, Zeratul.”
…We were right back where we started.
“Zeratul!!!”
Zeratul seemed frustrated by the current inability to communicate too. He stomped the ground with all four legs in turns, throwing a tantrum.
“…That’s pretty terrifying to look at.”
“Indeed. It’s definitely a form that would strike fear into others.”
“He really is just a giant praying mantis…”
“You’ve been saying praying mantis this and that… what is that?”
Huh? He doesn’t know what a praying mantis is?
“You don’t know mantises? They’re insects!”
“…There is no insect called a mantis, though?”
“Wait… are there no praying mantises in this world?”
『That… I wouldn’t know. I never paid much attention to the local wildlife…』
Zeratul had a green exoskeleton, a triangular head, yellow eyes, a long torso, sickle-shaped front legs, and four long hind legs… He really was a perfect praying mantis.
“Ugh… Zeratul’s reason for coming here… reason…”
“The Zeratulias race usually doesn’t leave their homeland…”
“…Why? Because they look scary?”
This place already discriminated against people from the East Continent. If someone who looked like Zeratul showed up, it wouldn’t be surprising if they got sold off as a rare creature to some shady noble.
“No… it’s because the South Continent has always been targeted by the other continents.”
“Ah… did you mention that before?”
I think Lev had said something like that when he was teaching me basic common sense.
“The South Continent has abundant trees and resources, so it’s been targeted by the other continents almost constantly. That’s why people from the South Continent tend to be very defensive and hostile toward other continents.”
“Still… some people must want to leave the South Continent…”
“True, there must be some like that… What about you? Zeratul?”
Zeratul shook his head vigorously.
“Zeratul!”
Then…
“Zeratul, were you exiled?”
“Zeratul…!”
Zeratul awkwardly avoided our gaze and shook his head.
“Looks like it was you, Hero.”
“You’re really bad at lying…”
“Zeratul!”
Exiled, huh…
“The reason… we wouldn’t understand even if he told us…”
“Zeratul.”
He got kicked out of the South Continent and came all the way here?
“But… isn’t this the central part of the Central Continent? How did you get this far…”
“He probably just traveled through the forest. Life in the jungle is much harsher than here, so this forest must feel like a casual stroll to Zeratul.”
“Zeratul!”
Zeratul nodded vigorously as if to say that was correct.
“Well… we figured out how and why Zeratul is here. Then who is that other guy?”
Now all that remained was identifying the other unidentified creature that had shot the arrows.
“Zeratul! Zeratul!”
The moment we started talking about the arrow-shooter, Zeratul suddenly raised both arms and started chattering excitedly.
“W-what are you saying…?”
“Zeratul! Zeratul!”
“Nope… I have no idea…”
“Zeratul!!!”
What? It seemed like Zeratul knew something…
“Don’t tell me… you know what that thing is?”
“Zeratul!”
When asked if he knew its identity, Zeratul nodded immediately. Lev and I exchanged glances.
“Alright! Let’s run!”
“We should chase it down.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Didn’t you say we should run?”
“Weren’t you saying we should pursue it?”
“Zeratul…”
Zeratul looked at us and sighed.
“No! We need to run right now! If we stay here any longer we’ll die!”
“What nonsense. If running still carries a chance of death, we should obviously counterattack and strike first.”
“Hey! Running gives us a much higher chance of survival!”
“We have more than enough chance of beating it!”
“Ze… Zeratul.”
At that moment, Zeratul stepped in to stop us and said something.
“Zeratul, Zeratul. ZeratulZeratul.”
While speaking, Zeratul pushed both me and Lev away.
“What the…?”
“Zeratul…?”
“Zeratul!”
Zeratul pushed us toward the forest.
“Why is he so strong…!”
“Gaaah! As expected of a Great Warrior of the Jungle…!”
“Zeratul! Zeratul!”
It seemed like he was telling us to quietly leave the forest.
“He wants us to leave quietly?”
“Zeratul!”
Zeratul nodded as if I had understood correctly.
“Then… what about you?”
“Zeratul, Zeratul!”
He nodded as if to say not to worry and patted our shoulders.
“But…”
“Wait, what’s—”
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, something came flying fiercely from behind us.
Whirr—
“Damn it!”
“Zeratul!”
My body naturally moved thanks to the Emergency Dodge Maneuver, and Zeratul pushed Lev out of the way while simultaneously swatting the arrow aside with his front leg.
“Zeratul…!”
Zeratul growled angrily and charged into the depths of the forest.
“Lev! Are you okay?”
“Yeah…”
“…We’re going after him too!”
“…!”
Lev looked at me in surprise when I suddenly changed my mind, but he quickly understood and stood up, heading into the forest.
“Let’s go! We have to help Zeratul!”
“Understood. I’ll take the lead.”