“What a pain…!”
Said an irritated Xena as she dodged a log that approached her.
The log was fastened to a tree and swung back and forth in the same place. It was a trap set up by the bandits, and someone hit by it could easily end up with one or two broken bones.
“Don’t just dodge it Xena, destroy it. If you dodge it, we have to dodge it too.”
“Sorry sorry. I did it reflexively.”
Celia, who was walking right behind her, barely dodged it, but Theo did not have very good reflexes, and would surely be hit… If Helvi did not step in front of him and easily destroyed the log.
With the same kind of light knock one would use to knock on a door, Helvi pulverized the log that could easily send someone flying.
“T-thank you!”
“I barely did anything.”
As the group approached the top of the mountain, they started encountering traps set by the bandits.
They were so cleverly hidden that even Xena and Celia could not detect them until they were activated, but they could still easily dodge them, so they were not much of a problem.
They would pose a big problem for Theo, since he could not avoid most of them, but he had Helvi by his side, who could not only detect them before they were activated, but also destroy them before they came close to harming him.
“Stay close Theo.”
“Y-yes…!”
Helvi put her arm around his waist to keep him close.
Theo felt bad about his heart racing as he got close to her voluptuous body, since she was sincerely protecting him. By looking at his red face, Helvi could tell what he was feeling without needing to read his mind.
(Yes, cute. It really does fit better if I am the one on the offensive. I want to take my time looking at him like this and feel…)
But Helvi also did not forget what happened the previous night.
(…Well, it would also be good to reverse the roles again sometime.)
She thought as she picked Theo up, who was about to fall into a pitfall.
Since she picked him up sideways, he was in the position commonly known as ‘princess carry’.
Maybe prince carry would be more appropriate here.
“Ah, hum… Thank you. I-it’s a little embarrassing, so can you put me down…!?”
“Fufu, we could just continue like this. It would make it easier to protect you.”
“…! I-I would rather not…!”
In this position, their faces were always close. Theo could feel his face becoming red, and was embarrassed because Helvi was looking at it so closely, so he hid it with his hands.
“Uwah… Theo is too cute…!”
“How nice… Usually it would be the opposite, but for them it’s perfect like this.”
The two walking in front looked with envy at the nice mood developing behind them, but were also soothed by it.
“We’ve never done that. I’d love to hold him like that too, but I doubt she’d let me.”
“Of course. That Helvi… Ah, Xena!”
“Yes… Hn? What?”
“The log.”
“Eh? Uboh!?”
A log trap was activated, and it smashed Xena in her flank.
Since it came completely out of nowhere, Xena had no time to prepare and was blown away.
“Ouch…!”
“Uboh? That’s not very lady-like.”
“Shouldn’t you be worried about me instead?”
“You’re fine. You’re using steel magic.”
“I guess, but it still hurt.”
As the log that hit her swung back at her, Xena yelled ‘damn you!’ while destroying it with one hit.
“Do you think Theo heard that?”
“It’s alright, they didn’t even notice you were hit.”
“That’s kind of sad in itself…”
Helvi put Theo down, and they continued their way up the mountain.
“Now that I think about it, we haven’t seen a single bandit so far.”
Said Xena as she destroyed another trap.
Despite the number of traps they were encountering, the bandits themselves had yet to make an appearance.
“They’re probably preparing an ambush somewhere.”
“Ah, that’s probably it. They want to strike at us when we’re weak.”
“They haven’t weakened us at all though, even though one of us did get careless.”
“S-shut up!”
“Eh? Are you alright Xena?”
Said Theo.
“I-I’m fine!”
She was happy that he was concerned, but felt it was a shame he was not watching.
“But still, it seems you two are correct.”
“Eh?”
“There is an ambush waiting for us. The traps will stop soon as well.”
“Ah, I see. Hn? Hold on, are you telling me you know where the traps are?”
“Of course.”
“Then why didn’t you tell us!? Or why didn’t you walk in front!?”
There was little point changing who was in front at this point, since the traps were almost over, so they continued walking.
And then, Helvi whispered…
“Here they are.”
They were attacked by logs and spears, almost as though all the traps they had encountered were activated at the same time.
And then, fire and earth magic was fired at them from all directions.
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Thanks for the chapter
Thanks for the chapter…Looking forward to the next one…