The four rode their horses across a grass-covered plain, and reached the foot of the twin mountain some time after noon.
“Ahh… I’m kind of tired already.”
“Me too…”
Said Xena and Celia as they got off their horses.
Riding horses for so long made their backs hurt.
“Are you alright Theo?”
“Y-yes, thank you.”
Helvi got off the horse first, and extended her hand towards Theo who, while a little embarrassed, grabbed it and safely landed.
Theo’s cuteness and Helvi’s coolness made this scene not feel unnatural at all, even though the genders were reversed.
This sort of fooling around and flirting happened the whole way there.
While they were riding their horses, Xena and Celia could not hear their voices, but they were sticking very close together.
“Hmm, so these are the twin mountains.”
Helvi hung on to Theo’s hand, and looked up at the mountain before her.
It was not very big, but had two peaks, and from top to bottom it was mostly covered in green, with little to no bare rock.
“I have never been to such a large mountain, although I have destroyed a few.”
“Helvi, what are you talking about?”
“You can’t destroy the mountain, can you?”
Helvi, who exterminated most monsters in this continent long ago, destroyed more mountains than she could remember.
It was not a big deal to Helvi, who could cause natural disasters on her own, but it was a long time ago.
“Well then, shall we go in right away?”
Asked Helvi, to which Theo responded.
“It’s already noon, so how about we stop here and eat?”
“Oh! I’ve been waiting for this!”
Xena was clearly very pleased to hear this, and while Celia did not show it as much, she also looked forward to enjoying Theo’s cooking.
However…
“Now… Did our things make it here in one piece?”
Said Xena to Helvi, with doubtful eyes.
They did not need to rent a wagon, and minimized exhaustion because they did not need to carry all that luggage, but that would be for nothing unless Helvi brought it safely to their destination.
“I looked up out of curiosity but didn’t see anything. Are you sure it’s there?”
“I was thinking about it too. Are you sure it’s alright? I don’t even feel any magic.”
Celia was also suspicious, because Helvi did not make any gestures one would associate with casting a spell.
“It is all up there. I will bring it down now.”
As usual, Helvi snapped her fingers.
It seemed as though nothing happened, but after they looked up, they did see what appeared to be something coming down.
“Oh, it’s coming! …But isn’t it coming a bit too fast?”
The descending luggage moved faster than if it were only free falling.
“Wait wait! If it crashes at that speed…!”
The food and camping equipment inside would be obliterated.
They tried to stop her, but it was too late.
The luggage crashed into the ground at an incredible speed, causing a tremor… Or so they expected.
It stopped just before hitting the ground, stood there floating, and gently hit the ground a few seconds later.
“Use your common sense. It should be obvious that I would not simply let it drop at that speed.”
“You’re the last person I want to hear talk about common sense!”
Carrying luggage in the sky went well against what they considered to be common sense.
This time, Xena’s complaints were entirely valid.
“Only one descended. Is this the one with the food?”
“Yes, I packed this one. I’ll start cooking right away.”
Theo opened the bag and took out the food and his cooking utensils.
He could not pack raw food, and opted instead for things like vegetables and rice.
“Hmm, it’s only vegetables… I’m sure it will be good because you’re the one cooking, but…”
“We could’ve gotten some meat if we encountered a monster on the way… But there weren’t any to be found.”
Even though they rode through the grassy plain for hours, they did not encounter a single monster, which was very rare.
Usually they would be happy about not having to stop for pointless fights, but this time they were a little disappointed about not being able to procure more food.
“Do we just need meat, Theo?”
“Yes. I have seasonings, so all that’s missing is meat…”
“I see, then… I killed a monster.”
“Eh, you did…?”
Not ‘I will kill a monster’. She said ‘I killed a monster’.
They looked around, but there were no monsters to be found.
“What do you mean? Where is that…”
Half-way through Xena’s question, a strange noise could be heard from above.
When they looked up, they saw something bigger than before falling.
“You don’t mean…”
“I do not feel like stopping it before it hits the ground, so dodge it.”
“Wai… No way!?”
It was falling straight towards Xena and Celia’s heads, so they scrambled to move out of the way.
And then, with a big thud, a huge bird hit the ground.
This monster that measured five meters in length would be more than enough for their meal.
“Ah… that scared me…”
“Helvi! Can you please not do something so dangerous?”
“I would not have done it if I did not know you could dodge it.”
Normally, people would be surprised that someone effortlessly killed a monster that flew high above their heads, but the other three were not going to be surprised by such things anymore, and simply accepted it.
“Theo, can you cook this?”
“I can, but I’ve never dressed such a big bird, so it will take some time.”
“I can help. I am good at this.”
And then, Helvi mostly used magic to dismantle the big bird, and it was ready to be cooked.
“Seeing those two work together is really charming… But what they’re doing kind of brings it down.”
“I really don’t think we’re going to be able to eat that entire bird. What are we going to do?”
Join my patreon to support me and read ahead.
Thank you, looking forward new chapter
Thanks for the chapter…
The most powerful being of em all. To tame a devil. No one can beat that
One who bang a devil 🙂