Episode -5 A

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  Before they knew it, Eat had approached the unconscious giant beast and was examining it here and there.

  Then he walked over to the lifeform that might be an octopus alien.

  "Where is this place? And who are you?"

  "I… I am…" While the octopus alien and Eat talked for quite a while, the excited children kept chatting among themselves, each conversation filled with their own wishes.

  Even as the children happily chattered, Eat kept asking him this and that.

  "Is that so? Then ‘Neb,’ you guide the way." Eat instructed Neb to lead them.

  Quick-witted Eti ran over.

  "What, what! What’s ‘Neb’?" Eat looked at Neb and answered Eti.

  "This guy’s name is ‘Neb.’ He says he’ll guide us to the village where he lives~"

  Eti: "Then he’s guiding us to the demon king’s castle?"

  Eat: "No, he said he’ll guide us to the village where he lives."

  Neb: "Yes! If you follow me, the misunderstanding will be cleared up."

  Eti hurried back into the group of children and relayed what had just happened.

  Then Dabi fell into deep thought.

  Dabi: "Going to the demon army’s base with no equipment at all is kind of…"

  Rogi: "We don’t even know if it’s a village or a demon king yet, right?"

  Leo: "What if it’s a trap?"

  Eti: "We have Leo brother!"

  Leo: "Huh?"

  The children decided they had no other choice and agreed to follow Neb.

  Just as they were about to leave, Eli screamed.

  "Kyaak, Leo!" Leo startled and turned around— and the giant beast that had been unconscious earlier was slowly approaching.

  The children screamed too, but the giant beast came up beside Leo, sniffed with its nose, and lowered its head.

  Then it stood quietly. Sensing something strange, Leo relaxed the fist he had clenched and brought his palm to the tip of the beast’s nose.

  The beast moved even closer to Leo. Leo touched its face and even patted its body, stroke after stroke.

  Still, the beast remained calm. Watching, Rogi asked,

  "Leo, isn’t it dangerous?" Leo answered, "No, it’s gentle?"

  At Leo’s words, Eti took out a few fruits she had saved earlier because she couldn’t finish them, and placed them right in front of the beast’s nose.

  The beast checked the scent and began eating the fruits.

  Eti’s face brightened, and she immediately started patting the beast too.

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  The children were scared, but they slowly approached, touched the beast, and all wondered why the violent beast had become gentle.

  Watching, Eat said, "Maybe it thinks Leo is the leader?"

  Then Leo, pondering, said, "But is this kid a pig, or a hippo?"

  "Should I give it a name? Hm…" Leo thought for a moment.

  "‘Poppy’ would be good!" At Leo’s decision, the children smiled and began calling Poppy one after another.

  But Pai, in particular, was afraid and couldn’t approach easily.

  Before long, even Neb, fascinated, came closer to the giant beast and carefully touched it.

  Then Neb suddenly turned and asked, "How did you do it? This can’t be… This savage beast…"

  The children looked at Neb, who couldn’t hide his shock, with amazement.

  Eat: "Neb, you were being chased by this beast, weren’t you?"

  Neb: "Yes. Because of these beasts, we Kurak have suffered tremendous damage."

  Pai: "Kurak?"

  Neb: "Yes, our tribe is Kurak."

  Soon after, the children began moving forward under Neb’s guidance.

  Neb led in front, and behind the children, Poppy also followed quietly.

  Seeing the dense bushes forming a path on their own, Neb asked in admiration,

  "Who are you all? Truly~ you possess incredible power!"

  Then Dabi said with an extremely serious expression.

  Dabi: "We are space warriors!"

  Neb: "Ooh~ So you are space warriors!"

  Pai: "Dabi! Do you want to die?! Why space warriors!"

  Pai: "...This is my story!"

  Rogi: "Dabi, if you keep it up, we might end up using magic in e space warrior story…."

  Dabi: "Eek~" \[Dabi covers his mouth with both hands]

  After walking for a long time, Yona, whose footing was uncomfortable, began to fall farther and farther behind the group.

  Before long, Yona was walking even farther behind than Poppy, and as strain started building in his feet,

  he looked extremely exhausted. By chance, Poppy looked back and made eye contact with Yona like that.

  And a little while later~

  Pai: "Neb, how much farther do we have to go?"

  Neb: "We’ve come about halfway now."

  Eti: "Ugh…"

  Leo: "Mm, it’s kind of far…"

  Rogi: "Neb~ aren’t you hungry or anything?"

  Neb: "I’m fine! Thank you for worrying about me."

  Eat: "The path is uneven, so the fatigue is building."

  At Eat’s word “fatigue,” Rogi jolted and shouted with a startled face.

  "Right—Yona! Are you okay?" Rogi looked around but couldn’t find Yona. "Yona’s gone!" When Rogi shouted,

  "I’m right here~" Yona’s voice was heard. Rogi lifted her head toward where the voice came from.

  There, she saw Yona riding on Poppy’s back.

  Rogi: "Yona, how did you get up there!"

  Yona: "Yeah~ Poppy bit me on the back and tossed me up~"

  Eti: "Wow! Me too, me too!"

  Eti ran to Poppy and made a pleading face,

  and Poppy grabbed the back collar of Eti’s clothes and placed her onto its back as if tossing her up precisely.

  Its back had thick mane that was easy to hold, and it wasn’t slippery.

  It offered an unbelievably comfortable ride.

  But Rogi refused because she wanted to walk on her own, and Pai refused because she was afraid of the beast.

  At that moment, Leo saw Eat hesitating, lifted Eat, and lightly tossed him onto Poppy’s back.

  Eat: "Aah~ Leo!"

  Eat: "Thank you…"

  Leo: "Yeah~"

  As time passed, far ahead, a path through the forest began to appear. Then Neb said,

  "Everyone, the road to the village has appeared. We’ll reach our destination soon." In a better mood, Neb ran excitedly toward the village.

  The Kurak who had been in the village spotted Neb running from afar and stopped what they were doing.

  Then one by one, they began gathering at the village gate to welcome him.

  But… when they noticed the enormous Poppy behind Neb, they shrieked in horror and hurried to run away and hide.

  "Everyone, no—it’s not that! Please don’t worry~ It’s safe!"

  No matter how much Neb shouted, the Kurak all hid wherever they could and wouldn’t come out at all.

  Only after Poppy and the children entered the village—and only after they saw that Poppy was gentle—did the Kurak who had been hiding reveal themselves one by one.

  Among the frightened Kurak, surprisingly, some overcame their fear out of curiosity and approached Poppy, reaching out their hands.

  A gentle Poppy… The Kurak were astonished. How had that terrifying existence become so gentle?

  As Pai looked over the murmuring Kurak, all she saw were the injured.

  "Why are there so many injured people!" Someone had a bandage wrapped around a foot, someone around an arm, and on heads and waists—patients everywhere.

  "They were hurt by these beasts!" the village Kurak shouted. They stared at the beast with eyes filled with hatred.

  At the same time, Yona, Eti, and Eat, riding on the beast’s back, waved their hands at the Kurak.

  "Goodness!"

  To the Kurak, the children looked unbelievably great.

  The eldest person in the village stepped forward and asked the children,

  "Wh… who in the world are you?"

  Then Neb shouted the name with immense pride. "Elder! These people are… space warriors!"

  Neb’s resolute eyes were full of hope.

  Neb’s cry moved the village Kurak, who had been drowning in despair, to cheer in emotion,

  while space warrior Dabi was screaming as Pai grabbed him by the collar.