CH 226

“It’s so white…”

“Is this your first time seeing snow, Hikari?”

“Snow? Yes… It’s cold…”

That’s the first thing that happens when we step outside.

According to Hikari, it’s never snowed in the Kingdom of Elesya.

Then again, she told me that before she was left outside, she was always in a dimly lit place, so maybe it does snow and she just never saw it. She said she was trained in a special place, but…

She scoops up some snow, and looks at it and touches it with an intrigued look on her face. Ah, now she’s diving into it.

I feel like I was just as excited the first time I saw snow, and Rurika is watching her with a smile on her face.

“Chris and Sera were like that too…”

“You too, Rurika.”

Sera fires back, and for some reason that starts a snowball fight.

Hikari joins in too, but I get the feeling that a snowball fight between them might get nasty.

I know they’re not serious, but their fastballs would turn a pro baseball player pale.

Chris makes sure to back off to not get caught in the crossfire.

“Master, my hands are cold.”

Well, of course they are. You’re grabbing snow with your bare hands.

From there, it turns into a conversation about how to fight, for some reason. Of course, after we go back to the cabin.

“You should have a more set way of fighting, Sora.”

“You are very talented, but I agree with Rurika, master.”

“Yes, that is true.”

Rurika and Sera point out that flaw, and Hikari agrees. But don’t talk while you eat, Hikari.

“And what about, uh, gun? It didn’t look very effective.”

She’s talking about how the regular bullets aren’t much of a threat.

I ask her to explain further, and she says that unless I shoot from close range, the enemy will probably block or dodge them. But they do work on enemies that don’t know what it is.

“And it works if it explodes. But if you’re using it at close range, it’s always going to occupy one hand. And that thing you do sometimes when you get close and use magic without an incantation works better.”

“That’s true. And since Mia and Chris have better defense now, you can probably go in front more often. If you get close and fire magic, that’s harder to block. And in your case in particular, if you can attack with your sword in front and activate magic behind the enemy, that’ll really throw them off.”

As I listen to Sera and Rurika, I think about whether that would work.

I can probably change where magic is activated, but I think I’ll need to practice it.

“Remember that thing you said before, jack of all trades, master of none? I think you’re going to turn into that.”

Lately, Rurika has been getting stronger faster. The difference in level meant we were close to evenly matched when we first started exploring the dungeon, but now I’d lose in a pure sword fight.

I feel like I’ve had less time to do mock battles, since I’ve been spending more time on stuff like Alchemy.

They have a point in that I’ve had too much to do and I haven’t been able to focus on one single thing…

“I think it’s nice to be able to do lots of things. I can only use a sword, so I’m actually jealous. But you still need to come up with a set way to fight for when things get tough.”

“Yes. If you run after two hares you’ll catch neither.”

I look at Hikari with surprise, and ask her if she knows what that means. She says she doesn’t, and that she doesn’t understand why she said that.

If I mix Transfer with magic bullets, that might make the gun more useful, but it’ll probably be rough on my MP.

I could also rework the gun and make it so it shoots faster, but even with Parallel Thinking, it might be hard to use a gun and a sword at the same time.

I generally use my sword with one hand, but I need to use both when I’m being overpowered. Especially when superior species use their big bodies and ridiculous strength to attack.

“You’ve been slacking lately. You should do more mock battles with me.”

Says Hikari after finishing what she was eating and sitting next to me.

Is that because a lot has been going on lately, and we haven’t been spending as much time together?

I pat her head, and she leans towards me while happily squinting.

“What are you talking about?”

Chris and Mia come out from the back.

Mia immediately apologizes, but it’s not her fault she’s not feeling well. I’m not used to mountains either, and it just so happened that it happened to Mia.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes, I’m fine now.”

I look closely, but it looks like she’s telling the truth.

“Let’s just eat well to recover our strength and leave tomorrow. But if it starts to feel tough, we’ll stop, of course.”

“H-hum, I could leave right now.”

“Ah… But there’s a lot of snow. We’re not leaving today either way.”

“Snow… I hope it melts by tomorrow…”

Chris’ concerns aren’t unfounded. The temperature is low, so will it actually melt?

“Chris, wouldn’t that work?”

“…I don’t know, we’d have to try it… I’ll ask.”

Chris undoes her disguise, and calls spirits.

They’re talking about something, but from here it just looks like Chris is muttering to herself.

“Yes, I think it will be all right. It would be tough now, but what about tomorrow when we leave?”

She asks, and everyone nods.

And then, it just flows naturally into them asking Chris and Mia to cook, so I can do mock battles in this cold air.

They say it’s so we can shake the cobwebs, but I feel like there’s more to it than that.

My feet get caught in the snow and it’s hard to move. Doing this in an environment I’m not used to means I start sweating just by moving a bit.

I need to use Basic Daily Life Magic to clean myself and dry the sweat when this is over.