I was picturing a simpler place when I heard the word village, so this is beyond what I imagined.
“So how do alfar live?”
From what I can see, they utilize protuberances in the precipice to make houses, but I don’t really see many things that could be called passages.
The houses down here are one thing, but what about the ones positioned higher?
“Alfar worship fire, earth, and darkness spirits. We can be closer to them by being one with the mountain.”
“I see.”
That doesn’t really answer my question, but it’s fine.
My goal is to one day have fun and rowdy days with people of various races, so I should respect how they live, and try to understand their way of thinking.
“Should we start by going where the village chief and the others are?”
“Yes. But where?”
Asks Reina.
“There.”
Katima says as she points to the highest point of the precipice. It looks small because it’s so far up, but it’s the biggest and nicest mansion here.
And the path there is pretty rough.
“…I’m a normal human, so if I fall, I die.”
“Why are you looking at me?”
“No real reason, I was just thinking that you would probably be fine.”
“Can you stop treating me as if I wasn’t a human so casually? I do still think of myself as a human.”
I say, and she looks away.
Seriously, what am I becoming in Reina and the others’ minds recently?
“Would you die if you fell from here, Arata?”
“…Probably not.”
Reina is looking at me like she’s thinking ‘see?’. Well, I don’t think anything would hurt this body.
“By the way, when Katima was a kid, she fell around there and got hurt.”
“I see, then you probably wouldn’t get hurt either. You’re like me.”
“…Katima doesn’t really like that idea.”
“Why!?”
As we’re making noise like this, I notice eyes pointing at us from inside the houses in the precipice.
I look around, and see people with brown skin and gray hair, just like Katima, nervously looking this way.
“Alfar have quiet personalities, so everyone’s curious, but no one’s coming out.”
“So they’re a quiet race…”
“It took me a while to understand what you mean.”
“…Why are you two looking at Katima like that?”
Because people of such a quiet race don’t get dragged down a river like that.
Regardless of whether or not they really are quiet, it is true that they are all watching, but no one gets close.
Anyway, for now, we should just do as Katima said, and meet the elders that invited us here.
“Katima’s going ahead.”
“Eh?”
“Oops.”
Katima suddenly faces the precipice, and starts going up like a rock climber.
Her speed is incredible. She’s going faster than when she was walking up the path.
“Eh…”
“How should I put it… It’s a pretty surreal sight.”
Maybe this isn’t a good way to put it, but she reminds me of a bug.
As I think that and look up at Katima, there’s a strong gust of wind, and her skirt…
“Arata!”
“…Sorry!”
I quickly look away, but that was obviously beyond my control.
Not to mention that she’s only wearing cloth wrapped around her to begin with, and she already has a lot of skin exposed. And if she moves like that, I’m going to end up seeing it, wind or no wind.
That said, Reina’s face looks scary. She’ll probably be mad again if I look up now.
“It’s nice that you said you were sorry, but say that to Katima later.”
“Yes… Not that I think she cares.”
I don’t think the girl that got dragged down the river really feels embarrassed. Not to mention that if she cared about that she wouldn’t be dressed like that in the first place.
It’s probably related to her race as a whole. But what did she mean, they’re quiet?
“…It’s fine, Katima is done climbing.”
“Ahh…”
I look up again, and it looks pretty high. It’s incredible how she managed to run up so quickly. I get why she calls alfar mountain people.
“Can you climb, Reina?”
“…Probably.”
She doesn’t sound too confident, probably because she’s thinking about the risk of falling. I can probably climb too, but I think I’ll fall if I grab the wrong thing.
“I’ll take you then.”
“Eh? Kyah!?”
I hold her under the knees, and lift her. It’s what’s commonly referred to as princess carry.
“Wai, Arata. What are you doing!?”
“It’s more reliable this way.”
“I guess… But you could carry me on your back!”
“No way.”
“Why!?”
Because that would put your surprisingly big chest in direct contact with my back.
Obviously, I can’t say that, but it’s either this, or it would end up looking like she was hugging me from the front. I think that would be more stable, but my heart wouldn’t handle it, so this is the best option.
She squirms a little in my arms, and although she’s embarrassed, it doesn’t really look like she has that much of a problem with this.
I breathe a sigh of relief, and hold her a little tighter to secure her better.
“Hyah!?”
“Come on Reina. I need to put my arm around your neck if I can.”
“Y-yes…”
I can hear her breathing as she gets closer.
Hum, you don’t have to stick that close… I mean, this kind of negates the whole reason why I didn’t want to carry you on my back…
And it feels warm, and her hair smells really nice.
“Hum, I’m starting to feel a little embarrassed, if you stay quiet like that…”
“S-sorry. Let’s go then.”
“…Yes.”
I take a small jump, and slowly go up using magic.
We would reach our destination right away if I suddenly accelerated, but I need to be careful not to drop her accidentally. That means I can’t go too fast.
That also means I have no reason at all to feel guilty about it.
I tell myself that, as I feel the warmth of her breathing, and slowly float up.
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