I jump off Hipopo, and we calmly walk together as a way to cool off.
I check its status with a 《Transcribe》 just in case.
It looks like that last jump consumed a lot of magic elements. It won’t be a problem as far as essential activities go, but I’ll have to give it something for it when we get back.
“Good job out there Hipopo! That last acceleration was really great.”
“Bumoh.”
Hipopo sounds a little tired, but still proud. I pet it a lot. There was almost a collision back there, but Hipopo’s quick wittedness got us out of it.
After walking slowly for a bit, it looks like Hipopo’s heartbeat has gone down, so I send it back to the scroll.
“Thank you too, Rose.”
Rose waves its vines, and also goes back to its scroll.
Now that I’m alone, I walk faster towards the mausoleum.
As I get closer, I start to see everyone’s expressions.
Princess Lily is really trying to play it cool, but her face is deep red as she looks down towards me.
Zoroa and Lismist are doing their best to remove all the branches and leaves covering her body, although they’re also covered with leaves.
They seem to be having an especially hard time removing a branch that’s stuck in Princess Lily’s braided hair. If they try to force it out, they’ll probably undo her braids.
They look at each other, nod, and give up.
Then they turn their attention to their own bodies and start removing the leaves.
Eh? You’re just giving up!? It really stands out, you know? Especially after you cleaned all the other branches and leaves on her body. Now it just looks like there’s a branch growing out of her head.
I end up doing commentary in my head.
Princess Lily’s face is finally starting to return to her normal complexion, and her usual composed look.
She’s straightening her back and putting on a serious expression to try to retain some degree of majesty, but the branch on her head spoils the whole thing.
Not too far from her is Roa, looking very pleased. I’ve never seen her smile like this.
She doesn’t usually show a lot of emotion towards anything that isn’t related to food, so this is pretty rare. She’s thanking Charil too, but keeps peeking at Princess Lily and her knights. And every time she does it, her smile gets wider.
I turn my attention to Charil, in part because it’s hard for me to look directly at Princess Lily with her head the way it is. First, I check its status with the still active 《Transcribe》 scroll.
“Hum, Charil is fine. Looks like you did a good job riding it… We won, uh!?”
I casually show Roa the palm of my hand, and she slaps it with a smile on her face.
“Master Rust, that last acceleration was incredible! Is Hipopo all right?”
I think she’s worried because she saw me return Hipopo to its scroll right away. I smile and explain, to ease her mind.
“Hipopo is a little tired because it used almost all its magic elements, but it’s fine. I’ll treat it when we get back to the capital, and he’ll be back to normal in no time. Ah, that means you have to let me ride Charil on the way back.”
“Got it.”
Roa breathes a sigh of relief.
“So, what are you going to do about that?”
Says Roa, while signaling with her eyes to Princess Lily and the knights.
I approach Princess Lily, who has been silently looking this way the whole time.
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