Chapter 134: The Sleeping Catfish

Chapter 134: The Sleeping Catfish

After taking a leisure day off to rest and enjoying the Neman’s eatery specialty, I took off from the city and headed north through the northern exit with the Trident’s Keystone, with the destination of the small but deep lake located north of Neman… Incidentally, I came across a familiar face.

“Well now, do you have a request for me?“

Coco followed me while her snake had its tongue protruded out, and she greeted me with her tongue sticking out similar to the snake as she was being mischievous.

“Why are you here at such a place?“

“It’s obvious of course, since I was waiting for you Eijii.“

I knew it could be too good to be true, as Coco beckoned me on a little bit.

I have a bad feeling about this…

“Eiji, let me hang around you a bit.“

“Yes?“

“What is that giant tower about? For such a secret to be embedded in the middle of the lake. When I heard about the discussion, I wanted to witness it with my own eyes. So please take me with you.”

Excuse me..What do you say?

Seriously though…for it to come to this.

Well, it’s alright for her to come with me.

“Will you be alright though? It’s going to be quite difficult ahead.“

“Is it that difficult? Isn’t it possible to warp to the location in an instant? You mentioned yesterday that you found a crystal or something with such capability.“

“It appeared you only heard things half way through.“

“Fu-eh?“

“It only functions based on the location you’ve gone to before using the imbued magical power of some sort. In other words, you must travel to the destination on your own two feet at the beginning, as it won’t do it for you.“

Coco stopped at the spot after hearing my words.

Her face was distorted as she stuck out her tongue, as though she had eaten something bitter.

“So then, do I technically have to walk there?“

“Un.“

“I’m getting tired just hearing that.“

“Un.“

“That’s not what I meant.“

“Un.“

…….

“After all, it can be helped!“

“I don’t have the confidence to do this!“

Coco puffed her cheeks out and kicked the ground in frustration.

“The giant’s tower is quite far away. You have to go through the deserts and multiple caves.” (Coco)

“That’s right. I think it’s more of an adventure than anything else.” (Eiji)

“I only want to have fun and see interesting things. I’m the type of person who wants the travelers to come home safely. This is why I feel discouraged coming with you.” (Coco)

“You truly may not have the guts to do this!” (Eiji)

“It’s about the differences in values. Nnn, what can I say. Well then…So then~…Well, I’m just happy that you can escort me to the lake at least. It’s not too far from here, and I can walk with Mitia-chan [1] there. Un, that sounds like a good idea. This should fulfill Coco-chan’s expectation. Since I decided to do just that, I’ll gladly let Eiji be the guide.” (Coco)

Coco twirled in a circle since she was in a good mood, as if she was impressed with her own suggestion. Her skirt fluttered softly.

“Well, you don’t have any particular reason to decline my request…” (Coco)

“Oh ho, this is. What could be happening here. Ah, it’s about the walk with Mitia-chan.” (Eiji)

“Un. Then I’ll go to the lake with Eijii. It appears to be interesting.” (Coco)

“To the lake location? The place is a bit unusual….But, is it okay with you? There are a lot of grasses and trees, along with flying insects.” (Eiji)

“Geh-geh, insects? … Well, it’s okay with with me. I think of them as if I am touching butterflies.” (Coco)

Coco stiffened her face in nervousness but pounded her chest in confident.

……I wonder if she would be really fine.

* * *

“By the way, is there a reason for your sister to be here?” (Eiji)

“She’s going to assist Eiji in sealing the earthquake issue.” (Coco)

“That’s right. Fu-un. I’m sorry about that. I tagged along at the last moment.” (Ally)

Coco was grinning and poking Ally’s cheeks with a *puni puni* (pokey pokey).

Ally’s face flushed completely red as she attempted to keep Coco’s hands away from her face.

“Wha-wha, what are you talking about all of a sudden. I didn’t say such a thing. I’m hoping that Coco doesn’t get tired out along the way from the unfamiliar path.” (Ally)

“Yes, yes. I’ll leave that to you to decide. Well, even if I say I’m not coming, I’ll still go if I decided to go. There’s nothing to think about, so let’s get going already.” (Coco)

Coco raised her hand with joy as she entered into the forest. She believed she was a good sister, and all of this sounded enjoyable.

“I’m sorry, Eiji-sama. As her sister, I will take care of her.” (Ally)

“No worry. It’s not a hassle for me because she coming along. There seems to be no apparent danger around here.” (Eiji)

“I wish I could feel such comfort like that…If she gets in your way, please mercilessly throw her aside in the forest.” (Ally)

“Ahaha…just throw her away.” (Eiji)

Ally was being quite merciless with her sister.

Well, although Ally’s sister treated her poorly, her sister was still a good person after all.

“That’s pretty fast. You two already started flirting with one another.” (Coco)

“I’m not flirting at all! Coco! Aah, watch out for the danger at your feet since there are grasses with thorns on them, and watch your back as well.” (Ally)

Ally quickly tailed her while paying close attention to Coco. She seemed to be quite anxious about her little sister.

“Well then, I better be getting going too.” (Eiji)

I followed them as I witnessed the rarely unseen sight between the two sisters.

* * *

“It’s so itchy, my legs are tired, and it’s so hot. Uh uh uh…” (Coco)

It was Coco sitting on the roots of a thick tree that protruded out of the ground. Mitia was busy working on soothing the back of her hand by licking.

“Thank you Mitia-chan. You are so kind.” (Coco)

“That was why I asked if you were okay to take this on. Here, it’s water.” (Ally)

Ally presented her water bottle to Coco as she was stroking Meetia’s scales. Coco swiftly wiped her mouth by swiping the water away.

“Ha~ah, This adventuring is defeating me. My sister always did such difficult things.” (Coco)

“That’s correct. It’s not so difficult once you get used to it.” (Ally)

“I can’t believe I’ll eventually get used to it. No matter how interesting it may be, I found it impossible for me. It’s better to discuss things at home.” (Coco)

Coco sighed, turned and glanced around with her neck, then she nodded with a stern look on her face.

“But it’s certainly a good sight to observe.” (Coco)

Trees were completely overgrown, flowers were blooming everywhere, fluffy fruits were dusty, the areas were dim all over and on the soft humus, while the birds continued to sing their songs.

Coco enjoyed the enriched fun-filled experience since such a forest would have never been experienced by her so much like this before.

It was definitely fun, I was sure of it.

However, I was quite certain that I was just as tired.

“This is true. It’s quite wonderful. It’s nice to see all the surrounding wonders here…To enjoy the wonderfulness like this, I’m telling you that says quite a bit.” (Ally)

Ally brought her face closer to Coco to solicit her opinion. But Coco pushed her back with the the palm of her hand.

“It’s fine. I’m satisfied doing this just once.” (Coco)

Ally’s mouth unfortunately sharpened into a grin. To witness such as cute sight, I was glad I came.

While we were resting here, I decided to look around. And after a little exploration of the area, I easily found the lake. I went back to the resting location.

“There is really a lake around here. It’s really right over there.” (Eiji)

By that time, Coco seemed to have recovered a little of her stamina, with her face looking refreshed, she hollered out while quickly standing up.

“Heh…so there really was one. Well then, let’s go.” (Coco)

“Eeh. Let’s get our job completed.” (Eiji)

Ally then tagged along with me.

Un, I wish that all I’m worrying about would be fine. After all, it’s usually quite difficult to walk into such a location, especially for Ally.

“…Is there something on my face?” (Ally)

“Eeh? No-no-no, there’s nothing.” (Eiji)

I shook my head in denial as Ally questioned, and I guided them to the lake.

It was just a short walk away from where we were, and the view of the lake could be seen right through the surrounded thick trees, with it being fairly wide and translucent that could be seen clear to the lake’s bottom along the shoreline.

“I wonder if the halberd should be struck to the bottom of the lake from here?” (Coco)

“Un.” (Eiji)

“But, how are you going do it? It was said that there was an attestation.” (Ally)

“That’s where my skill comes in — I’ll take care of it.” (Eiji)

I called on the water spirit Ondine to use its spirit magic and combined it with magic craft to create a spherical film.

When Ally and Coco approached it, it had an appearance similar to the soap bubble film and confirmed their curiosity by touching to get its sensation.

“It’s flexible and feels good. You managed to make something strange like this, Eiji-sama.” (Ally)

“It’s a skill I’ve learned when I was in Prowkai recently, and I use the skill called “Forged Copy” to duplicate what I could craft.” (Eiji)

By touching the membrane and reactivating the skill again, the same thing appeared beside the last one. If the skill got reactivated once again, another would appear.

“Eeh ~ you can make multiple items of the same one.” (Coco)

“Un. It’s difficult to make one of these films because it wastes a lot of magical power, but if you use the skill to copy what you made through alchemy, you can make the second and subsequent ones with much far less magical power. Thanks to that, even I can make up to the three for usages.” (Eiji)

Ho, before us were the three membranes to look at. Ally touched them with interest, and entered into it as it was once she confirmed they had no resistance toward her.

“Uwa~, you managed to trap my sister haven’t?” (Coco)

“No, I haven’t. This is merely something for you to enter inside it. I can also use spirit magic, so I learned how to use it by touching things. Once inside, it’s okay to enter the water with it. It is apparently quite normal while we’re in the film. Our ability to walk is normal as well.” (Eiji)

As expected of Ally, even though she only had the source of the spirit magic, she easily comprehended it with ease. As she had expected, this was a film that allowed her to act in the water. When I entered the membrane and went to the edge of the lake, Coco also placed her feet into the membrane.

“Eeh, this might be quite surprisingly comfortable.” (Coco)

“Fufu, that’s right. It’s fine to just simply jump in.” (Eiji)

.

I explained to Coco as I jumped into the lake.

As I was entering into the water, the spherical film adhered to the body and form-fitted us. It conformed to the body, did not cause the body to get wet, and breathing was just like usual. It was a success.

Ooh, it was quite an interesting sight.

The inside of the highly transparent lake was even more vividly visible when we entered into the water.

There were so many spherical algae on the bottom of the lake, and the shrimps were shredding them into pieces with their blue claws and eating them.

When I saw small bubbles rising from the bottom of the lake, the whole area suddenly became pitch dark. When I raised my face, a school of fishes crossed over our heads.

Although it was a lake, it broke the common sense as it was in a different world, where the creatures like the big octopus and squids were swimming about.

As I glanced back, I spotted Ally and Coco were also twisting their bodies all about, while moving their heads all over the place, then turned upside down as they enjoyed being in the lake in their own a fun way.

―― Yikes, their under-skirt covering could easily be seen when they turned up-side-down――

In that reverie moment, it was a pleasant sight for my eyes.

Oh yeah.

I quickly look away. This shouldn’t have cause any grievance…for merely a glance. I glanced over gain, then *buu ohh*!

Coco quickly approached me.

Could she be pissed off !?

It could be that she was frightened, but that wasn’t seem to be the case. Coco poked at my shoulder, pointed down at the lower depth and retracted.

That’s right, that’s the entire purpose for being here.

It was said that this was the deepest location, but it could be because something caused the bottom of the lake to sink.

All three of us us safely arrived at the bottom of the lake.

At this depth, only the weak light reached down from above. So I retrieved the Trident’s Keystone from the dimension bag.

I gave the visual queue single to Ally and Coco that I would be stabbing the halberd into the ground at this location using both of my hands!

The area should have been a hard rock, but the halberd sank as if the bottom was soft like clay until it pierced half way through.

……Could this location be the right one?

While thinking about that, the halberd suddenly began to emit a faint light when the three of us were looking at each other

Orange light projected upward from being buried in the ground, it turned into particles of light and scattered in the water as it reached the top of the water.

According to the story that Kuykul had taught me in how to handle this halberd, it appeared that this halberd would continue to work automatically once it was pierced into the ground rather than being activated by a human’s method. It was said that the energy accumulated in the earth was always releasing little by little.

The story was told that by gradually releasing the energy accumulated in the earth, it would prevent a sudden large release similar to an earthquake even. Another approach was similar to preventing the floods from occuring by discharging the water behind the dam appropriately.

So that means…it was a success.

In knowing the mission was completed, the three of us enjoyed the light show at the bottom of the lake for a while in relief.