“Is that girl a monkey…?”
I muttered to myself while watching Akari, who was swaying her long black hair and leaping along the mountain path with incredible ease.
Her natural physical ability is probably high, but even so, her movements are too good. Is her physical enhancement functioning properly even in this environment?
“R-Rourke…”
As I was thinking that, a dying voice reached my ears from behind. When I turned around, I saw Lily, who looked even closer to death than before, slowly climbing up.
“Lily, shouldn’t you just drop out?”
I suggested dropping out to Lily out of pure goodwill. No matter how you look at it, it’s impossible for her to finish climbing this mountain in her current state. She should go back to the foot of the mountain and rest before she collapses.
“N-No… I want to be with Rourke…”
“But in that state…”
“I-I’ll try. Leave it to me…”
“What exactly am I leaving to you?”
Sighing at Lily, who was starting to lose the ability to think straight, I approached her and made up my mind to call a Minor Spirit from its vessel.
“I’m counting on you~”
Muttering as if in prayer, I flowed spirit power into the Minor Spirit and attempted a temporary contract.
[…]
While desperately trying to stop the Minor Spirit from flying off due to the chaotic energy in the air, I managed to form a connection and succeeded in the contract. I immediately activated a spirit art, creating a small block of ice in my hand.
“Alright…”
“……!”
I wrapped the ice I created in a cloth I took from my bag and pressed it against Lily’s forehead. Lily flinched at the cold sensation, but soon closed her eyes as if it felt good.
“Hold that yourself with one arm and press it against the back of your neck.”
“Rourke?”
Using the effect of the makeshift cold pack, I hoisted Lily up onto my back as if giving her a piggyback ride. Her eyes regained some life, and her thinking power seemed to recover slightly.
“……Eh?”
“Phew. There wasn’t a rule saying people couldn’t carry other people. That said, this is tough for me too, so walk on your own once you’ve recovered, okay?”
I told the bewildered Lily that as I started walking. Yeah, this is heavy.
“………Thanks.”
“A bit late for that.”
Maybe it’s because she’s tired and weak, but Lily thanked me meekly. I gave a wry smile and started advancing with my physical enhancement at full blast.
“……Ah.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“……It’s nothing.”
I was curious because Lily made a sound as if she remembered something, but when I asked, she just shook her head happily, saying it was nothing.
What? What did she remember?
“Well, whatever, just make sure you recover.”
“Nn.”
Since it would be hard to carry her the whole way, I warned her again as I wiped the sweat from my forehead and pushed my feet forward.
After about ten minutes had passed, I spoke to Lily on my back.
“……Hey, aren’t you hugging me a bit too tight?”
“Not really.”
“Really? I can’t breathe…”
She was clinging to me so hard you could almost hear a “squeeze” sound effect. I wouldn’t drop her even if she didn’t hold on that tight, and more importantly, I couldn’t help but feel a “softness” against my back that I shouldn’t think too deeply about.
“Loosen your grip a bit, Lily.”
“No.”
“I’m gonna shake you off… Hey, don’t wrap your legs around me so tight! Wait, you’re already recovered, aren’t you!? Minotaur, pull her off!!”
[Bu, Buo…]
I asked her contracted spirit for help to pull off Lily, who had locked her legs around my waist as if she’d never let go, but it just let out a pathetic sound that didn’t match its appearance and was no help at all.
“Cow-head, hurry up!!”
“No, absolutely don’t.”
[Buoooooo…]
The pathetic cry of the high-ranking spirit caught in the middle echoed through the mountains.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
Several hours of climbing later.
After some pointless bickering and taking breaks, Rourke and Lily finally managed to reach the 8th station, the site for this camp.
“W-We made it…”
“Huff… puff…”
[Grururururu]
Having carried Lily part of the way, Rourke muttered while oozing exhaustion.
A little behind him, the person in question—Lily—had reached her limit after walking at a snail’s pace while drenched in sweat, and she collapsed face-down on the ground.
Right next to Lily was the Silver Wolf spirit, Beowulf, sent by his master who was worried about the two trailing behind. He was continuously emitting a weak chill to cool her body down.
“Good job, you two.”
“I’m seriously wiped out…”
Rourke managed to reply to Gareth’s words of appreciation while looking around.
There were several tent-like structures set up nearby, and students who had arrived earlier, including Loxley and Leia, were each taking a rest.
“Here, water.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as Rourke received the canteen from Gareth, he tilted it back and drained the water inside in one go. The cold water flowed into his body, and the heavy, leaden fatigue clinging to his entire being felt just a little bit lighter.
“……Phew. By the way, is there anything scheduled after this?”
“Apparently we’re doing some light exercise, but the real work starts tomorrow. There won’t be any heavy training today.”
“I see… that’s a relief.”
Rourke breathed a sigh of relief at Gareth’s words. If he’d been told to continue training now, he would have literally died.
“Anyway, you should rest in the tent. Can you move?”
“Piggyback.”
“It seems you still have some energy left.”
Rourke tried to mimic Lily by asking for a piggyback, but Gareth just looked exasperated and turned away.
Thinking it wouldn’t work after all, he turned his gaze from Gareth to Lily, who had crawled onto the back of Beowulf as he walked toward them.
“Ugh…”
“Good job, you worked hard.”
“You’re surprisingly soft on Lily, aren’t you?”
Rourke patted the head of the groaning Lily and gave her a word of praise, to which Gareth teased him as they walked ahead.
“……Well, they say the more trouble they are, the more endearing they are.”
“Hahaha, I know the feeling.”
“I-I’m…………”
“Yes, yes, you just stay quiet.”
Upon hearing Roark’s words, Lily looked up as if to protest, but she was immediately met with a light chop to the head. Letting out a pathetic “Gufu!” she sank back into Beowulf’s thick fur.
After delivering the completely exhausted Lily to the girls’ tent, Roark and Gareth made their way to the boys’ tent they had set up.
“By the way, did you guys set up this tent?”
“There’s no way we’d have the time or energy for that. It was prepared in advance.”
“I see.”
According to Gareth’s explanation, it seemed Misha had set up the tents here in preparation for the training camp.
“It looks like the tent assignments are already decided. You and I are in the same one.”
“Ohh~, seriously? That’s a lifesaver.”
Roark muttered, letting out an involuntary sigh of relief.
Since it was a training camp, he knew he’d have to share a living space with someone, but having it be a close friend he was comfortable with was a huge relief.
“Incidentally, our tent is for three people, so there’s one more person sharing it with us.”
“Is that so? Well, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.”
Even if it wasn’t someone he was particularly close to, they were classmates from the same academy; it was unlikely the atmosphere would turn that sour.
As Roark said this, Gareth fell silent with an indescribable expression on his face. Feeling suspicious of Gareth’s reaction, Roark reached the tent and pulled open the entrance.
[Aaah~]
[~♪]
The first thing that entered his vision was two beautiful women… no, two Spirits, clinging to a boy sitting between them.
Clinging from the left was a beauty with swaying golden hair and wings sprouting from her waist—the Spirit Siren. She was singing in a blissful voice while intertwining her arm with her master’s left arm.
On the right was a beauty whose lower body was that of a fish—the water Spirit in mermaid form, Lorelei. Much like Siren, she was clinging to her master’s right arm, letting out a melody of joy.
The boy, Kay-Trallus, sat half-naked in a chair flanked by these two Spirits who wore expressions of pure ecstasy. As he stroked the Spirits’ heads, he noticed the entrance had opened.
“…There, there. Oh, you’re bac—”
Before Kay could finish, Roark had already slammed the tent flap shut.
“…………”
“…………”
Gareth remained silent, having already grasped the situation.
Beside him, Roark looked as though his brain was still struggling to process the information he had just seen.
“…………Is this really our tent?”
“Yeah.”
After a few moments, Roark finally “rebooted” and asked Gareth with a deadpan expression. Gareth nodded.
“No, but there are already three people using it.”
“Two of those three are Spirits. Technically, it’s just one person.”
“No, no, it might as well be three. There were three of them in there!”
Roark flatly rejected Gareth’s logic.
Strictly speaking, he thought he saw a tiny dwarf pouring wine into an empty glass on the table, so it wasn’t even just three, but he decided to let the small details slide.
The only problem was the fact that a half-naked classmate was cuddling with half-naked beauties.
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