### Chapter 16: Chuunibyo Erza, Worried Patriarch
Almost as soon as the words fell, a 5 or 6-meter-tall humanoid ape-like monster covered in green fur rushed out from the forest behind them and landed in front of them with a 'bang'.
"Hee hee hee, look what I found, two human cubs who strayed into the forest.
Looks delicious~~"
Seeing the monster appearing in front of her, Erza's pupils instantly shrank, and she said happily:
"It appeared, a Vulcan, my mission target!"
At the same time, a light blue Ki blast flew swiftly past Erza and crashed straight into the Vulcan who had just appeared and hadn't had time to show off its might.
"BOOM!!"
After an explosion, Jiro's excited voice sounded from behind.
"I know! Go, Erza, I'll cover you!"
"Okay! The first target, I, Erza Scarlet, will take it!"
After shouting, Erza swung her knight sword and strode towards the Vulcan covered by thick smoke after the explosion.
But after rushing forward a few steps, Erza gradually realized something was wrong and slowly slowed down.
Behind her, Jiro, who was charging a subsequent Kamehameha, saw this and reminded anxiously:
"What are you doing, Erza? Don't zone out at a time like this!"
Erza remained silent and didn't answer. While Jiro was anxious and puzzled inside.
A gust of wind blew past, dispersing the thick smoke, instantly revealing the Vulcan lying on the ground, charred all over and lifeless.
Jiro: "...."
Awkwardly putting down his hands, Jiro quickly walked around Erza to the Vulcan and kicked it hard twice.
"Hey, big guy, don't play dead. Do you know there's a rule called 'No damage with smoke'?
Where is there such a weak monster killed by one Ki blast? Get up quickly!"
Saying this, he turned his head and smiled awkwardly at Erza:
"Um, Erza, why don't you give it another stab?
Maybe it's playing dead to trick us. These monsters are very cunning."
With her head lowered and eyes covered by her bangs, Erza exuded a depressing aura all over her body.
Just raised her sword and shouted a passionate declaration, but in the blink of an eye, the target died in a comical way. The embarrassment made her want to dig through her steel boots with her toes.
Jiro sniffed the awkward atmosphere in the air and very sensibly changed the topic quickly.
"Um, how do we deal with the dead monster? Cut off the head, or which part to take as proof?"
"Ta-tail, just take the tail off."
Jiro looked at the green tail under the Vulcan. Just as he was about to act, he hesitated for a moment.
With a monkey tail also growing behind him, Jiro actually had an inexplicable illusion of killing his own kind.
"Damn it, who is of the same kind as you!"
With a loud shout, his left hand turned into a hand knife and cut off the Vulcan's tail, which was much thicker than his.
Holding the green monkey tail, Jiro actually felt a faint phantom pain for a moment.
Touching his precious tail that he was now used to, Jiro muttered affectionately to himself:
"Don't worry, I will absolutely not let anyone cut you off."
The comical action and the silly look of talking to himself finally succeeded in making Erza laugh.
Looking at the smile blooming again on the girl's small face, Jiro silently wiped the non-existent cold sweat on his head.
*Really difficult, kids these days. Luckily I have a few tricks.*
After this small episode, the two cleaned up the aftermath and hit the road again.
The east forest was originally close to human-inhabited towns, and Vulcans were almost the strongest monsters in this forest.
After seeing that the overlord of the East Forest was so vulnerable, the mood of the two obviously relaxed a lot, and they were also more confident.
It was just that their luck afterwards didn't seem very good. After searching for the whole afternoon, they only encountered one more.
This time Jiro didn't make a move again and left it entirely to Erza to handle.
Watching Erza easily dodge the Vulcan's big hand fan and then pierce its heart with one sword.
After Erza took off the opponent's tail, Jiro stepped forward and proposed:
"Let's call it a day. Go back to the guild first, and tomorrow we'll search from another direction."
Erza looked up through the gaps in the branches, looked at the sky that had long turned dark, and nodded in agreement:
"That works too. If we don't go back, the Master should be worried."
So, the two packed up their things and prepared to return.
Thanks to the compass provided by Knight, the two didn't get lost even in the dark forest.
Walking side by side, until they were about to walk out of the forest, the two finally relaxed and began to complain about today's mission process.
"No wonder the uncles don't like this mission. According to today's progress, we have to run into the forest at least four times to complete the request."
Hearing this, Erza also nodded in agreement.
"Being in an unfamiliar forest, one must keep their spirits up at all times, constantly paying attention to the surrounding environment, alert to dangers that may arise at any time.
This feeling of being constantly tense is probably one of the reasons why those uncles resist this mission."
Chatting casually, the two quickly walked out of the forest and onto the main road.
Without the dense foliage in the forest blocking it, the bright moonlight immediately illuminated the field of vision in front of them clearly.
After identifying the direction by the moonlight, the two immediately quickened their pace towards the guild.
...
At night, the guild was as lively as ever.
A group of idlers gathered in the guild drinking wantonly and making noise.
Originally, Makarov should have been mixed in, but watching the sky outside getting darker and darker, he couldn't help but feel anxious inside.
*Why haven't those two brats come back yet? Could they have really encountered danger?*
At a long table in the hall, the two little ones, Gray and Cana, were also worried about their companions' safety.
Fortunately, after a while, the guild gate was kicked open fiercely.
Jiro and Erza's figures appeared in the sight of the three one after another.
Immediately, Gray and the other jumped off their chairs joyfully and went up to greet them.
Makarov breathed a sigh of relief secretly inside, then immediately pretended to be angry and scolded:
"Jiro, you brat who doesn't learn, how many times have I told you.
Push the door properly, kicking with your feet is prohibited. Are you deaf?!"
After proudly waving the trophy tails on his body to the two little ones who came to greet him, Jiro turned back to deal with Makarov:
"I learned all this from you, Lord Master.
Before educating me, reflect on yourself first."