I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain. In Retaliation, I Chose Amenity over Strength.

「Er, what’s a snow leopard doing here…. 」

And why was it holding its own tail in its mouth?

A large snow leopard is in front of me… it’s a snow leopard, probably.

Well, this guy had chubby paws and its fur was white as snow, but its body resembled that of a black leopard. Its ears are round, and the tip of his fat tail was ebony. A beautiful, faintly luminous, spiral, pearly horn stuck out of its forehead.

「….tss 」

The snow leopard purred with its tail still in its mouth.

「 What is it? 」

「 He’s asking if the Deer can appear before you.」

A huge white buck stands beside the leopard. Magnificent white antlers spread like branches from its head, and for some unknown reason, a few pieces of slightly glowing bells adorned the tips.

Three, round, red horns protruded from its forehead, too.

It’s interpreting!?

「 Deer came here on the premise that I’m in the forest, after all. 」

The deer continued ‘interpreting’ Snow Leopard’s tss.

Eh, wait a sec, I thought snow leopards live in cold, mountainous areas?

「 ….tss 」

「 Yes, I normally stay in a place further north. 」

They don’t have black panda eyes so, these two are probably the so-called divine beasts, huh.

I returned to the depths of the forest to continue where I left off, when the two of them suddenly approached me from the other side. So, based on what it said, they were normally much, much deeper in the forest, but they went out of their way just to come here, huh.

「…tss 」

「 I have a request. 」

The snow leopard is unexpectedly expressive, but this Deer maintains a poker face, with nary a single quiver, as it stares right at me. Only its mouth moved. Hey, are you a professional interpreter?

「 What is it? 」

「 ….tss 」

「 Please form a contract with Magir and save him. 」

Is Magir another divine beast, too?

「 Who is Magir? 」

Hey, don’t tell me all the divine beasts are like these, huh? I am actually more bothered about that than our convo.

「… tss 」

「 He’s my best friend. 」

……Er, only the overzealous protagonists of shounen manga would come up with that line, I guess.

So, a friend of a divine beast , huh — it is still in spirit form? Then the contract referred to naming, I guess. Magir is probably one of the spirits who are starting to dissolve, then.

「 Is that something I can control? And what will I gain in return? 」

「 …tss 」

「 Let’s build a sanctuary in this forest, and you can choose the place. 」

「 Sanctuary? 」

「 A place that would draw monsters, black spirits, and those who bear grudges. 」

In short, I could make a base within the forest, huh. That would be convenient if I could also use that to name the normal ones over here.

「 Where should I go? 」

「 …tss. 」

「 Ride on the Deer. 」

This deer is standing bolt upright, so is it really fine riding him? I hesitate, but he doesn’t even move a single muscle, so I jump aboard.

「 Whoa!! 」

It dashes off the moment my butt touches its back. It is really fast, mind you. I didn’t even have a moment to prepare myself, so my upper half ended up bending backwards due to its momentum.

I didn’t fall off, fortunately. I grabbed his antlers and righted myself. The bells’ tinkles overlapped and the sounds faded into the forest as we sped through it. The snow leopard silently ran beside us, the tail still in its mouth. Wouldn’t it choke?

Flashes of monsters and spirits entered my peripheral vision, but they all disappeared right away. Even the trees were fading into the background as we galloped on like we’re flying.

「 Halt! 」

We had been dashing at top speed, then we suddenly made a full stop without any warning. It was a miracle that I didn’t slip — what kind of physics did they have in here? Well, even if I didn’t bang myself into anything, my innards were churning, so I wished they didn’t do that.

「…tss 」

「 Magir, Mau is here. 」

The deer turns to a place nestled closely in between trees and a huge boulder. Is it because the leopard can’t let go of his tail? Is it similar to the snake part of an ouroboros, or something like that?

And ‘Mau’ referred to the snow leopard, huh.

A gigantic black horse sluggishly appeared from the shadows of the rock. Its body is see-through, and its shoulder has disappeared.

Oh right, they did say that unicorns and pegasus reside deep in the forest. Still, this horse is not a monster, nor is it a divine beast. It is still a spirit. It doesn’t possess anything yet, so it is a horse-shaped, gigantic spirit.

「 …Why did you bring a human here! 」

A deep, groaning voice resounded.

「 Please excuse me. 」

I alighted from the Deer, then dashed towards the horse, encircled my arms around his neck, and pulled him to the ground then and there.

Good thing it isn’t an animal, I don’t have to worry about breaking its bones..

「Wha…! 」

「 Yes. Your name? 」

I tilted my head and peered into his face.

During naming sessions, I would let the spirit introduce itself first before forming a contract with it. I could also use a new name, but that would strengthen our bond, so its original name was enough if my purpose was just to heal its body.

「…tss 」

「 How terrible. 」

The interpreter deer didn’t have a single ripple in his expression, but the snow leopard’s ears were flat against its head..

Oy, I already experienced how impossible it was to persuade a black spirit! This was already peaceful compared to submitting after being half-killed right!?

「 It’s not scary, it’s not scary, okay~? 」

「 You bastard…! 」

I continued putting my weight against the struggling horse while coaxing it. Getting kicked seemed really painful, so of course I didn’t want that.

It took me around an hour of pushing while transferring mana. The floundering horse kept on pawing on the ground, so a hole was gouged out and it was really messy.

「 Ugh….Magir….. 」

「 Alright, Magir, let’s form a contract. 」

「 Blast it, human! 」

The horse’s eyes burned red.

「 Let’s form a contract. 」

「 …….Let’s form a contract. 」

I ignored him and said the same thing, and the horse finally submitted and repeated what I said.

The response of the spirits varied when we formed the contract, but once they responded with the right words, I would feel huge amounts of mana flowing from me towards them, and that would be my cue that the contract was a success.

Oh, he thoroughly depleted my stocks, huh. I somehow managed, since I didn’t chase after the black ones today, as well as yesterday, too.

「 Huff, we did it somehow, huh.」

Yep, I sweated a bit with all the effort.

「 …tss. 」

「 How terrible. 」

Ah, you said the same thing twice!

「 Blast it!! I thought you would use a magic circle or a cage with an amulet, so you caught me unprepared….! 」

The horse bitterly snorted.

(……)

Eh, don’t tell me… capturing spirits isn’t done by physical force, but by using those things, huh……..

I unwittingly avert my eyes.