The Neighborhood High School Girl, Miss Isezaki, Is the Great Saintess Returned from Another World~ And I, Suddenly Awakened as Her Exclusive Mana Supply Uncle, Travel Between Earth and Another World with Time-Space Magic~ - 55. Night of the Red Moon

55. Night of the Red Moon

“Huh? What’s up, Matsunaga-san? Just admiring the moon, huh?”

Finishing up his healthy chicken salad, Matsunaga-san was gazing at the crimson moon when Geeta called out to him.

“Yeah, well… I thought it had a creepy color, kind of ominous, you know? Don’t you feel the same?”

“Huh, really? Isn’t it always like this during the Crimson Moon season? It does have a creepy color, yeah, but if we worry about every little thing like that, we won’t be able to survive as adventurers, right? Or maybe merchants are superstitious about the color of the moon after all?”

Geeta glanced briefly at the night sky before losing interest.

It seemed that to them, the color of the moon wasn’t all that unusual. It would be odd to appear overly concerned about it.

“Ah… well, when you’re in the business, you can’t help but pay attention to these things. Anyway, Geeta, it’s your turn for the night watch tonight. Thanks for your hard work, and good luck.”

“Yeah! Leave it to me!”

Geeta clenched his fist with a bright expression.

The night watch duty was rotated among us, so one person was responsible at a time. Thanks to this system, I could always sleep soundly. It was truly something to be grateful for.

By the way, while I and the other adventurers usually slept near the campfire, Lady Levia and Isezaki-san slept in the carriage, a little distance away.

Well, as nobles, it wouldn’t be appropriate to have adventurers too close to their sleeping quarters. But it was reassuring to have knights guarding them.

And so, on this night as well, as I gazed up at the starry sky while listening to the crackling of the campfire, I gradually drifted off to sleep.

—

“…Huh?”

I woke up for some reason. Turning my head, I saw that the flames of the campfire were still flickering brightly, indicating that it was still nighttime.

I had never woken up at this hour before, but perhaps it was because I had seen the ominous moon before going to bed.

Looking up at the night sky, the red moon was still casting its eerie light.

“What’s wrong, Matsunaga-san? Need to pee?”

I was called out to by Geeta, who was by the campfire. It seemed my sleep was shallow, and it wasn’t yet his turn for watch. Come to think of it, the other day, another adventurer had called out to me in the same way.

Well, logically speaking, there was no reason to wake up in the middle of the night except to relieve oneself. There were no convenience stores or internet cafes around here, after all.

Since I was up anyway, I might as well go take care of business. Thinking so, I got out of my sleeping bag and stood up――

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

In the distance, there was a sound like something hard piercing through something. Wondering what was happening, I turned my gaze toward the source of the noise――

Thud!

This time, the sound came from under my feet. Huh? An arrow? An arrow was stuck there!?

“Hey, everyone wake up! It’s bandits!!”

At Geeta’s loud shout, the adventurers all jumped to their feet.

Huh!? What!? Bandits!? I looked in the direction of the noise I heard earlier――towards the direction of the carriage.

The silhouette of the carriage, illuminated by the red moon, could be seen with several arrows stuck in it.

“Isezaki-san!!”

I shouted, but there was no response from the carriage. Instead, I saw a knight who was nearby hastily entering the carriage.

But right after that, an arrow pierced his leg, and the knight fell to his knees.

What’s going on here? What’s happening!?

“Aaaah! Let’s go, you bastards, kill them all!!”

“Wooooaaaahhh!!”

At the sudden roar, I turned around to see men dressed in shabby clothes, armed with long and short swords, running towards us from behind the rocky outcrop.

There were more than twenty of them, outnumbering us significantly.

“Protect Lady Levia!”

Two uninjured knights stood in front of the carriage. One of them raised both hands.

“Grant me strength, oh Earth! Unnnh! Earth Arrow!!”

Together with the knight’s voice, a pillar, too thick to be called an arrow, appeared above him. It flew straight towards the bandits.

The earth-colored pillar plunged into the midst of the group of bandits, hitting several of them like they were hit by a cart and flinging them away.

The bandits stopped in their tracks. One of them shouted.

“You bastards, how dare you mock us! Hey, boss! Do something already!”

Then, from behind the bandits, a figure dressed in a black robe appeared silently.

Standing in front of the bandits, the figure extended their right hand towards us.

“――Summon.”

A strange, resonant voice reached my ears.

In front of the man, a red pattern the size of a tennis court appeared. It looked just like a magic circle I had seen in an anime.

And from within the red magic circle, emerged a gigantic creature, large enough to be several trucks combined.

Its skin was covered in what seemed to be tough scales, and its features were as expressionless as a lizard’s. From its twisted mouth, I could see rows of sharp teeth.

The front legs were thick and sturdy, with their weighty feet giving the impression that they could easily flatten a car with a single stomp.

But the most striking feature was undoubtedly the thick and gigantic shell covering its back. What appeared before us was a truly enormous――turtle.

“First, take care of those annoying adventurers. Target the carriage.”

“Yeah!”

At the command of the robed man, the bandits headed towards the carriage, while the gigantic turtle took a step towards us. The ground trembled with each heavy footfall.

“Wha… What is… that?”

My voice echoed, and Geeta, standing beside me, simply widened his eyes without blinking. The other adventurers reacted similarly.

Instead, the answer came from the leader who had somehow moved to the front of the group of adventurers.

“That’s an Earth Dragon.”

“Dragon…? But, everyone here is skilled adventurers, so we can handle it, right?”

“That thing is classified as an A-rank monster. Even if all of us attacked it together… Haha, it might be a bit tough.”

With his back still turned to us, the leader replied in a hoarse voice.