Chapter 66: Bored "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing…… You have a good physique," I told the knight, who was tall enough for me to have to look up, what was on my mind and he laughed.
"Thank you very much!"
I hadn"t intended to say something that he had to thank me for, and some of the knights were looking at him in jealousy.
But, those people are fit enough as it is.
I thought that Leo-san"s build was really good when I"d first met him, but these knights here won"t lose to him.
Whether it be in height or thickness.
When I say thickness, I don"t mean fat, but muscle.
They were so muscular that Captain-san would look slender next to them, even though he wasn"t thin.
I don"t even need to bring up Head Magician-sama.
Captain-san said they were all known for their defence, but aren"t they known for their muscles?
"Do you like guys who are fit?" The person who had called out to me was Leo-san. He was on the opposite side of the knights.
"Pardon?" I reflectively asked him to repeat himself.
"Why are you asking all of a sudden?"
"It seems like you"re really charmed by the Knight-samas."
"I, I"m not. It"s just rare to see such tall people."
"Really? There are a lot of knights with good physiques."
"But today, the knights here are all the tallest ones."
"I see."
I really don"t admire muscles.
But, my friend in j.a.pan would probably look at them with fascination.
"Hmmm Boss, aren"t you a little too worried about 【Saint-sama"s】type?"
"Whoa, spring has finally come for Boss!?"
"Huh? What"re you saying?"
"He always pays attention to 【Saint-sama】~."
"You guys…… Don"t fool around and watch your surroundings!"
"Boss got angry ~."
"Hey."
The mercenaries also joined in when I talked to Leo-san.
Or rather, they were making fun of him.
The mercenaries all seemed to get along really well, and even if a vein had popped up on Leo-san"s head, they just laughed and replied to him.
It was all thanks to everyone that we could talk while travelling like this.
The journey towards the slime forest was great, and we were progressing faster than the last time I went there.
One of the reasons behind this was that we had more people than last time, but the biggest reason behind this was because Head Magician-sama was here.
"It"s here!"
"It is. 『ICE SPEAR』."
The mercenary in front shouted and Head Magician-sama went out to the front and dealt with it in a calm manner.
A thick ice wedge drove into the demon that looked like a pitcher plant and it was defeated in a single attack.
Yes.
Even if demons appear, they were defeated straight away by Head Magician-sama.
For example, Head Magician-sama defeated demons, which took normal magicians several attacks to defeat, in a single attack.
He"s too strong.
At the moment, the forest hasn"t been damaged that much.
The only damage done to the forest right now was when someone cast wind magic and it missed the target and cut off a tree branch.
I had asked Head Magician-sama to be careful in the carriage, so it seemed like he was carefully picking which attributes to use.
"Ooh, amazing."
"He killed it in one blow!"
The mercenaries said in admiration because the battles finished without anyone having to get ready.
It probably looked extremely amazing to them because they weren"t used to seeing magic.
I also applauded the first time I saw him finish a demon in one blow.
On the other hand, the mages looked horrible.
"Erm, we don"t have to attack, right?" Airchan was bored because she had nothing to do, so she frowned and spoke to the mage next to her.
"Yeah, it"s not a good thing though……" Although the mage said it wasn"t good, they didn"t feel like stopping Head Magician-sama.
They frowned like Airchan and smiled bitterly.
Even if they did try, he might not stop.
For some reason or another, a depressed aura surrounded the mages.
"We don"t have it this easy when we go on normal subjugations."
"Yeah, but it"s always like this when we"re with Head Magician-sama."
"It is. But it was really dangerous at the West Forest."
"Head Magician also seemed like he was having a hard time then."
"There"s a limit to how much a person can handle, so it"s hard to deal with a large number of demons."
"He"ll probably be able to handle it if a large number of demons appeared."
"If he does then the forest would be completely gone!"
"""Aah……"""
Their conversation was unsettling.
Are the mages remembering that incident that the mercenaries were talking about where Head Magician-sama got that nickname?
Either way, I really want him to hold back from destroying the forest.
We progressed towards the forest in this manner. We were close to the slime forest so they decided that it was a good time to take a break.
We gathered in an open s.p.a.ce and began our break.
Several people were on alert and everyone took turns to take their break.
I thought about helping with preparations, but a nearby knight set up a folding chair and urged me to sit on it.
Everyone"s still preparing, is it really fine for me to sit down?
I hesitated a little, but the matter was settled when he held out his hand to a.s.sist me.
Nothing would be accomplished if I stayed standing, so I gave up and sat down.
"Thank you very much."
"It"s really nothing!"
"Mm, I want to help with the preparations……"
"You don"t have to! Please rest here Sei-sama! We"ll do the rest!"
I talked to the knight after I sat down and he replied energetically.
He"s definitely from the 2nd Knight Order.
I thought as I looked at his glistening eyes.
Should I talk about something?
It"s slightly uncomfortable to sit here in silence.
Now then, what should I do……?
I looked around and saw that Captain-san still looked busy since he was talking with Head Magician-sama and the knights.
I was lucky that Airchan happened to walk pa.s.s, and quickly spoke to her.
Airchan hesitated, but the mages urged her to go, so she approached me nervously.
The knight also prepared a folding chair for Airchan and encouraged her to sit next to me.
"Good job."
"Thank you, though I haven"t done anything……"
"Me too. We didn"t even have the chance to cast healing magic."
"Nor offensive magic."
"Head Magician-sama quickly defeats all the demons. He"s so amazing."
"He is."
My discomfort decreased because Airchan was here.
I would feel really bad if I was the only one taking it slowly while everyone around me was busy.
But, I didn"t feel so bad with an accomplice.
Although, I did feel guilty for making her my accomplice.
I heard someone"s footsteps approaching while we were talking and giggling.
I looked towards the direction of the noise and saw Head Magician-sama walking towards us.
Speaking of the devil.
"Good job."
"Thanks for your hard work."
Head Magician-sama had finished his conversation with Captain-san and so he decided to take a break with us.
I thought he was going to sit next to me, but he didn"t and asked me to pa.s.s him the cup.
Why? I thought as I pa.s.sed the cup to him and he filled it with water.
"Here you go."
"Thank you very much," I gave him my thanks and looked into the cup and saw ice floating in it.
He combined ice and water magic?
I was thankful because I was getting hot.
Head Magician-sama also made water for Airchan in the same way.
Airchan took the cup as if she was extremely grateful for it and was surprised when she saw the ice in the cup.
It was only ice but even so, it was ice.
Ice was precious in this world, so of course people would be surprised if someone gave it to them without hesitation like Head Magician-sama did.
Airchan thought the same thing as me and asked Head Magician-sama if he had used ice magic as well.
You"re somewhat like a Court Mage…… Even if you say something like that he is a Court Mage.
"Eeh! You only used water magic?"
"Yes. The trick is to imagine cold water when you cast the spell, so that you"d produce cold water."
"Water can turn into ice with just imagination?"
"It can. I tried to see how cold it could get and it turned into ice."
Ice produced only with water magic.
Head Magician-sama laughed and replied to Airchan when she asked him questions in surprise.
Then Head Magician-sama suddenly turned his head towards me. I tilted my head in confusion and he said another surprising thing, "I thought of it when I saw the【Saint】technique."
"When you saw it?"
"Yeah. You used the same technique but the effect was different, wasn"t it?"
He"s probably talking about the time at the research inst.i.tute and West Forest.
As he said, when I used it at the research inst.i.tute it had increased the effects of the herbs and when I"d used it at the West Forest it had purified the black swamp.
"It"s impossible to imagine fire turning into water since they"re two different things, but it"s possible to change the temperature of water."
"So, you did that to change the water into ice?"
"Yes. But, you need to be able to manipulate your magic to a certain degree."
He even brought up magic manipulation here.
Magic manipulation sure has a lot of uses.
If ice can be produced with water magic, then I wonder if Jude and Airchan can make it.
Though I don"t know how much they need to be able to manipulate their magic.
However, they haven"t tested if a person who only holds water magic could cast ice magic.
Simple magic, such as producing fire, water and ice, could manifest if one just imagined it, but they haven"t discovered what would happen with complex magic.
Captain-san also came towards us when we were talking about this.
He had several bags in his hands.
"Good job." Our voices all lapped together and we all laughed.
Captain-san sat next to me and gave us the bags.
"Are these cookies?"
"Yeah. We probably won"t be able to take breaks after this, so it"s better if you have them now, right?"
"It is. Thank you very much."
I thought the shape looked familiar and it turned out that these were the rosemary and walnut cookies I had made for rations.
Captain-san also pa.s.sed the bags onto Airchan, Head Magician-sama and the nearby knights.
Everyone opened their bag and started eating after they confirmed that Head Magician-sama was sitting on the opposite side.
The smell of rosemary faintly drifted in the air.
"Did you make these, Sei?"
"Yes, I did. They"re not that sweet, so I hope you like them."
"Wow! Thanks for the food!"
Airchan picked up a cookie and put it into her mouth.
The cookie was small so she could fit the whole thing in her mouth.
Airchan smiled after she"d finished eating and I was a little relieved.
"It"s been a while since I"ve ate something you"ve made."
"I can"t eat her food like I do in the Royal Capital."
"You too Captain Hawk? But you were here together."
"I"ve only had it two or three times since I"ve come here. She can"t borrow the kitchen much while we"re here."
"Oh, that"s true."
After the conversation had finished, both Captain-san and Head Magician-sama each put a cookie in their mouth.
Captain-san, who had tasted the samples, ate the cookie happily like he always did.
I know that Captain-san doesn"t like sweet food, but I wonder if Head Magician-sama likes it.
I wonder if it"s not enough since he likes sweet food.
I"m worried about his reaction because I"m the one who made it.
"Do you like it?" I waited for him to eat the cookie before I asked him this question.
"It"s not that sweet, but it"s alright as a meal. The rosemary and walnuts give it a nice smell. It"s delicious."
I was worried, but his evaluation was better than I thought it"d be.
Head Magician-sama didn"t mince his words when he told me his thoughts on the cookie because he was also a researcher.
I also asked everyone else afterwards, and it seemed like they all liked it.
A lot of people wanted this as rations for subjugations so I will adjust the recipe once I get back to the Royal Capital.
1)Future talk I couldn"t make the rations at the research inst.i.tute on top of my work with potions, so I"ll probably be entrusting this to another store.
Captain-san told me this after he"d returned to the Royal Capital and had a talk with Director.
Then, when everyone finished their break, we headed towards the forest again.
References [ + ]
1. ↑ Future talk Translator: Blushy
Editor: Sam