After some time we had both finished our meal."Ahh. That was great. Meals you don"t have to pay for truly are superior!"
"Did you forget that you"re going to be paying me back for the supplies when we return to the city?"
"What? Did I say that? It doesn"t sound like me…"
"Don"t whistle to get out of this!"
"Come on man! Hasn"t my magic been payment enough?"
"Unless you"ve forgotten, we"ve both killed an equal amount of monsters!"
"Yeah but my magic made it easier!"
As much as I hate to admit it, he"s right. His magic really has streamlined a lot of the combat we have experienced. I doubt I would have come out unscathed in that goblin encounter without him as backup. I have to swallow my pride and admit it.
"All things aside… Thanks for the backup today. I doubt I"d have been able to come out unscathed without your help."
"H-hey wait, you"re supposed to act like I wasn"t a big help or anything! Don"t actually appreciate me!"
���What are you talking about? I"m not some tsundere from a manga."
"What"s a manga?"
"Forget it."
"Well anyway… I can say the same for you. I"ve wanted to go on an adventure like this for a while now, so you coming with me has helped a lot. So I guess I want to say… Thank you."
"Heh. Jeez man. We"re acting like two childhood friends confessing to each other! I thought you said you don"t swing that way!"
"Haha!"
We sat around the campfire for a little while until it became dark. The sound of birds chirping was replaced by the sound of owls who"ing and crickets chirping.
"Alright. You take the first watch since I cooked dinner."
"What? Why don"t we do rock paper scissors?"
"Because your luck stat is higher than mine and I don"t want to take a chance at something I have a disadvantage in. Just do it."
"Fine. You have that one mundane cla.s.s anyway. I"ll wake you up in a few hours."
With that, I pulled out my sleeping bag and got close to the fire. I like the heat and the outside is cold at night.
I"ve been laying in the sleeping bag for a long time. For some reason, I can"t sleep. I"ve never slept outside before and I"ve never had to rely on someone else for safety so I guess I"m feeling tense. After a bit of fidgeting, I decided that I wouldn"t be able to sleep after all. I might as well let Tael sleep while I keep watch.
"Hey Tael, I think it"s time to switch for now. Since you don"t have a sleeping bag I"ll let you use mine for the night."
As I got out of the sleeping bag, I looked around to find that Tael was nowhere to be found.