CH 173

Chapter 173.1: Red Sport Car

「KYOAAAAAAAAAAA, GUGAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The one who raised that ferocious roar was the red raptor with its burning red scales.

「OOOOOOOOh, it’s so fu*cking coooooooooooooooool.」

I embraced the red raptor, completely satisfied with its appearance. Man, it was even more satisfying since they were used to being my opponent.

Naturally, this red raptor was 『Corpse Doll』.

In fact, I had decided in my heart that I wanted to ride this guy the moment I caught a glimpse of it. In the first place, I had already proved the usefulness of raptor as a mount. Having pair of feet that could run agilely in any kind of terrain would be an extremely useful asset for the dungeon capture whose end had yet to be seen.

I was okay with a normal raptor, but my greed triggered at the sight of this special individual.

A big and splendid physique, one time larger than a normal raptor. Two sharp horns grew from its head, and the red scales lent it a majestic, exclusive personalized aircraft feel.

Yup, this is wonderful. It was as if I just bought a red sports car. Maybe I should nickname it “Countach” to honor that awesome-looking sports car.

「Hey, Mei-chan. I wonder what’s the first name you’d come with if I say it’s sports car?」

「Uhm, Alfa Romeo?」

「Yosh, your name is Alfa!」

I mean, it would be rude to call it red raptor forever, right?

「Well then, let’s test drive Alfa immediately.」

Hearing me, Rem the 3rd AKA Red Raptor AKA 『Alfa』who was lying down obediently raised an adorable purr. Honestly, I could hardly believe that such terrifyingly brutal and cunning boss had now turned into an obedient Rem. Even though there was almost no change in its outer appearance, she was much more adorable right now.

I even prepared a new saddle and stirrup for my adorable Alfa. The saddle was made with materials that I had stocked since the jungle tower, but now that I had all the materials that I needed, experience in making it once before, I could manufacture it in a better way with 『Simple Alchemy Formation』. I could even brag that the quality of the finished product surpassed the previous one.

It was made by guessing the rough size from seeing the red raptor’s appearance but… yeah, it fit perfectly. Maybe I’m more suited for a manufacturing job. I mean, most of my curse was geared for production. Don’t you agree with me, Ruinhilde-sama?

Anyhow, now that I had installed the stirrup and leather saddle, all the preparation for riding was already completed.

「Yoosh, let’s run along the beach shore like this under the evening sun!」

The red new car ignited her engine as I rode on her back in high spirit, and gripping the reins, and then she dashed at full spe―― SO FAST!?

「Are you okay, Kotaro-kun? No injury?」

「Fuhehehe, I’m okay, okay. Thank you, Mei-chan.」

I fell spectacularly from the ride since I was unable to withstand the sudden acceleration and was caught by Mei-chan who standing by behind in case something like this happened. Aah, the back of my head was wrapped in such wonderful air ba— wait a minute, this wasn’t the time to be lovestruck like this.

I patted Alfa’s head who returned immediately with an apologetic look on her face while making a tough man face to Mei-chan who was worrying about me-in order to hide the fact that I actually enjoyed her twin, supreme airbag-.

「Ma~n, my bad for that, it’s definitely not Rem’s fault. I mean, I tried to ride her with my extremely lousy riding skill after all.」

「GRRR~」

I gave words of comfort to Rem who was feeling down. Which reminds me, when Rem received her Ashidaka’s form before, I scolded her for running while ignoring my condition(motion sickness). Thus, she kept paying attention when I used her as my mount.

It seems this incident had caused quite a great shock to her since it turned out that she still had more to go with the care of the passenger… But, honestly speaking, the problem might be lie in me this time for being physically unfit. I get this feeling that I might not have fallen if I had gripped the bridle stronger next time though.

「It seems I need the training to be able to handle Alfa when she ran at full speed.」

Maybe I should prepare a seat belt with black hair bind this time. The figure of me seating with a safety belt might look neat and safe, but it came with the danger of being unable to react quickly to an ambush. It was necessary when I used Alfa to escape with her during dangerous situations though.

Anyhow, we’ve accomplished the goal of defeating the red raptor and turned them into corpse dolls for now. There was no more reason to stay in this resort-like hotel any longer.

I felt a pang of regret, but it was time to depart.

===

The next morning, all preparation had already been put in order and my mana had restored too, so it was time to depart.

Which reminds me, yesterday’s battle was a rare battle in which I came to the front line despite fighting with a party. Mei-chan on the other hand had stayed hidden until the last moment to deal a finishing blow to the red raptor.

Since I didn’t just have Rem, the existence of high-zombie and skeleton as my sacrificial pawns enabled us to execute this tactic. My male instinct whispered to me to execute this strategy so that she who always came out first as vanguard could have an easier time. This was also to prevent her from getting bored of fighting small fries.

After this, maybe it was better for Rem and me to fight if it was only the opponent around the level which we could take care of. But then, the chance for such a monster to come out constantly was close to impossible.

「It was really amazing just now, but I’m really sorry since I’m the only one who rode the Alfa.」

I suddenly noticed something when I saw Mei-chan speaking cheerfully as she walked beside Alfa. Just what kind of a bastard am I for letting a girl walk while I rode on the motorbike AKA Alfa?

「It’s okay. I don’t mind at all.」

I was assaulted by a pang of guilt seeing her smiling innocently like an angel.

「Moreover, it makes it easier for me to evacuate you, Kotaro-kun by placing you on Rem-chan’s back during the emergency.」

And then, she spoke in a way that made it look like I was really weak and needed her protection… or not, I mean she was right on the point, I was really weak, and this had already been established the moment I received 『Shaman』 as my vocation.

I mean, it’s not like I could say 「Please give me cheat-like power that makes me strong!」 to RUinhilde-sama at this point.

「Thank you. I’ve been saved time and again by your words.」

「Don’t worry about me. I mean, you’re dead set on riding the red raptor, right?」

Uwa~, for her to see through even my childish dream of riding a red raptor, how embarrassing.