CH 153

Chapter 153 : Climbing The Slope Once Again

「Umm… We’re not in a hurry, so shall we slow down?」(Celine)

Celine said that while looking at Nicola.

To maintain her good image as the cutest girl in the town, Nicola never complains and being an annoying girl in front of people except me and our parents, so every time she wants to complain about something, she will rant with telepathy.

However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t hide her tired face.

「…Un!」(Nicola)

Nicola replied to Celine with a smile and started walking while hugging Celine’s waist.

『Ahh~ She’s really an angel!』(Nicola)

『Did you forget your real identity as an angel…?』(Mark)

『I didn’t. The thing is, I’m everyone’s angel, but Celine is MY angel!』(Nicola)

『……..』(Mark)

I don’t understand what she’s talking about, but I’m glad for her.

Yesterday when we climbed this slope with Bian, we walked a bit fast, probably because Bian was so excited that his leg was healed.

Now that Bian is staying in his store, we can take it easy and walk slowly.

However…

After climbing the slope for a couple minutes, Nicola started breathing heavily, and her clothes started drenching in sweat.

『Hahh… Hahh… We’re walking slower than yesterday but why am I as tired as yesterday…?』(Nicola)

『It’s because you don’t have much stamina. We’re almost there. Keep going.』(Mark)

I grabbed Nicola’s hand and pulled her as we walked.

『Say, Onii-chan, I have an important request… Can you turn this slope into a giant slide with earth magic so that we can just slide our way down when we return?』(Nicola)

『Don’t be ridiculous…』(Mark)

Sliding down from this height is too dangerous. Besides, Bian may scold me if I mess up the only path to his warehouse.

When we arrived at Bian’s warehouse, I immediately made a large table and five chairs for all of us.

Although the warehouse was built in the middle of a flat ground on the mountainside, there was more than enough space here for us to relax.

Nei was surprised when she saw me make a table and chairs with earth magic.

「Whoaa! Not only can you use healing magic but you can also use earth magic!? That’s awesome!」(Nei)

「Well, actually my earth magic is better than my healing magic.」(Mark)

「Hee…」(Nei)

In Fatia Town, people think of me as a child who is good at earth magic, so Nei’s reaction feels fresh for me.

While grinning a little, I also made a roof in classic eastern-style to impress Nei even more.

「Whoaa… It looks like a mini pavilion… This is so cool!」(Nei)

Right after I was done building it, Nicola immediately sat on a chair.

「Onii-chan, water please~…」(Nicola)

I took out an empty cup, filled it with water using magic, and handed it to Nicola.

「Here.」(Mark)

「Thanks…」(Nicola)

She then immediately gulped down the water, and then put her head on the table sluggishly.

『Ahh… I don’t wanna move an inch for a while…』(Nicola)

After saying that, she closed her eyes and stopped moving like a robot with a dead battery.

I guess I’ll just leave her alone for now.

I decided to prepare tea for everyone else. While I was doing that, I looked at the mine on the other side.

Near the entrance to the mine, there were three men who seemed to be miners looking over here with confused and surprised faces. Seems like they were surprised because a pavilion suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Apparently, just as we can see them from here, they can also see us from there.

「Hahaha! It’s not weird if they’re surprised. Even I, who watched closely how you built it, was surprised.」(Nei)

Saying that, Nei turned toward the mine, raised both of her hands and waved at the miners.

「Oooiiiー! Jimzaaー!!!」(Nei)

One of the miners replied to Nei with a wave of a hand too, and then the two others followed him. Looks like they are Nei’s acquaintances.

When Nei and the miners exchanged greetings, I saw something that looked like a big gray lizard wriggling around entrance to the mine.

「Nei, there’s a stone lizard behind them!」(Mark)

「Aa! Guysー behind youー!!!」(Nei)

Nei warned them but they didn’t seem to hear what she said. They kept waving their hands at her.

「Don’t worry. Those monsters rarely come out of their nest. I don’t think it will attack those miners, but… Thinking that Bian was attacked when he was strolling around the entrance, I’m kinda worried…」(Celine)

Celine frowned anxiously as she looked at the Stone Lizard behind the miners.

「Celine, we should help them!」(Mark)

「I was thinking of letting you do it but it’ll be bad if your stone bullets hit the miners.」(Celine)

She’s right. It’s quite far away and my accuracy is not as good as Celine, so I might miss my shots.

「Can’t be helped. Guess I’ll do it then. Watch me~」(Celine)

Celine took out her magic wand from her cleavage, made a pose as if she was using a bow, and shot a Fire Arrow.

「Fire Arrow!」(Celine)

The Fire Arrow flew straight toward the mountain on the other side, slipped through the gap between the miners, and hit the Stone Lizard behind them.

The miners were taken aback. Their bodies were stiffened for a moment when Celine’s Fire Arrow slipped through them.

They turned their faces around and saw the burning corpse of a Stone Lizard behind them.

Realizing that Celine just saved them, they turned back at us and waved their hands. Celine then waved her hand back at them.

「Celine, your accuracy really impressed me.」(Mark)

「Fufu. Thank you~ You know what, I’m good at long-range shooting because I once lived in a place where you won’t be able to live unless you’re good at it.」(Celine)

Saying that, Celine smiled bitterly and sat on her chair.

I rarely heard about her past. Perhaps I should ask her to tell me someday…

After I prepared tea for everyone, we were chilling in the pavilion, enjoying the view of the mountains while sipping our tea.

――――――

It’s almost noon but we’re still waiting for the adventurers.

「They’re late… I wonder what they are doing…」(Mark)

When I was murmuring, Nei pointed her finger to the foot of the mountain on the other side.

「Look. They’re finally here.」(Nei)

I looked at the direction Nei was pointing at and saw seven men walking toward the mine.