Characters
by Afuhfuihgs
When I finished the foundation of the island by releasing mana, Ellie was growing her island by using the corpses of adventurers. The island absorbed the corpses and used them as nutrients. There were that many ways to grow an island.
There’s the method of collecting things from the city submerged under the sea to grow the island, and the method of using the corpses of living things as nutrients to grow the island. Or, you could steal an island created by someone else and absorb it into your own.
Thanks to starting in a good place, collecting was more efficient than hunting. To move and absorb another island, you have to move the island itself. Moving an island was only possible after the island had grown to a certain extent. In the end, everyone has to grow their island through collection in the early stages.
Unlike me, who simply made the island’s area wider, Ellie’s island was smaller than mine, but the bubbles had already disappeared and turned into complete soil. Judging by the green peeking out between the soil, it looked like plants would grow soon.
Unfortunately, the plants on this island couldn’t be grown with mana or magic. If I could use the seeds I had stored in my space warehouse and rapid growth magic, I could have filled the island with plants… but such tricks didn’t work here.
“Ross, are you done?”
I washed the bubbles off my hands with seawater and turned my head to Ellie to answer, but I closed my mouth and subtly lowered my gaze. She had already finished preparing for swimming, and Ellie had only changed her clothes while wearing her mask… it was a swimsuit with more skin exposure than I thought. A swimsuit with a design that made me wonder how she wore it, as it looked like it would come off completely if I just untied one string.
“If you’re done, come over to my island. Let’s go collecting together.”
At Ellie’s suggestion, I said I understood and took out my swimsuit from the space warehouse. Thanks to knowing the environment of the 3rd floor in advance, I was able to prepare. The reason for changing into a swimsuit wasn’t just to increase swimming speed, but also to prepare for the rapidly changing weather in the evening.
The 3rd floor of the labyrinth is like the dawn in the north, when the surroundings darken, the temperature drops rapidly. The seawater here has a special characteristic that it doesn’t easily evaporate even with fire, so if you’re wearing wet clothes, you won’t be able to avoid the cold even if you light a fire.
I changed into my swimsuit and used the ice stepping stone that Ellie made to cross over to Ellie’s island. Well, saying it’s a swimsuit, it was no different from just wearing shorts. As soon as my feet touched the island, Ellie ran up to me and struck a strange pose that a model might do.
“How is it?”
At Ellie’s question, I reflexively frowned, forgetting that I was wearing a mask.
“…What.”
“Don’t be shy, tell me. Isn’t my swimsuit outfit sexy?”
When I subtly shifted my gaze elsewhere, Ellie, who had moved her gaze along with mine, sent me a look demanding an answer. With a sigh, I nodded slightly, and Ellie let out a giggle, taking out the staff she had put between her chest straps.
“Hehe, then watch my sexy ass to your heart’s content.”
Saying that, Ellie swung her staff and cast a magic that helped with swimming on me, then threw herself into the sea. I let out a faint sigh at the sight. The quick-witted Ellie had noticed that I wasn’t in good condition. So she was deliberately acting more playful than usual.
I tried to sweep my face, but I ended up fixing my mask by accident, and feeling frustrated, I threw myself into the sea after Ellie. I had never learned to swim separately, but thanks to Ellie’s magic, it wasn’t difficult to move.
It’s not that I’m conscious of Ellie’s words, but because Ellie, who is also good at swimming, took the lead, I had to follow behind Ellie. The city, which didn’t seem very deep when viewed from the island, was quite deeply submerged. The design of the collapsed buildings looked similar to those in the capital.
We couldn’t talk underwater, but Ellie skillfully gave instructions with the tip of her staff. When I went into the building that Ellie pointed to and pulled out things that would help the island grow, Ellie used magic to make the objects float to the surface.
It was a suitable division of roles. I could use my strength, which I was somewhat confident in, and Ellie could comfortably use magic with her staff. Thanks to that, we were able to get quite a lot with one dive.
“Puhah!”
Hearing Ellie’s sound of exhaling, I used space magic to keep only my head out of the water and looked around. There was a possibility that enemies had appeared around us while we were diving.
Fortunately, there were no people or islands around. It could be that they don’t know the conditions for creating an island yet, or it could simply be that we’re lucky.
When I took my head out of the dimensional passage, Ellie picked up the objects that had floated to the surface and divided them fairly. Most of them were decorations or wooden planks that were rotting in the water, but surprisingly, they were things that helped the island grow.
Ellie, who was organizing the objects, turned her head to me. Her transparent skin, reflected in the sunlight, shone. Ellie, removing the wet hair that was sticking to her neck, said.
“We don’t need to make a fish trap, right? Because you have a space warehouse.”
“Yeah, I don’t need it. I filled it with food in advance.”
Ellie, shrugging her shoulders with a satisfied look, nodded and said.
“I’m so lucky to be paired with you on the 3rd floor. But I’m worried about whether Eunice and Lamine are doing well… Reuelan, who’s just unlucky, will take care of himself.”
I said it because I thought she was worried, but for some reason, Ellie looked at me without saying anything. I realized my mistake late because of the strange gaze looking at me.
“…Do other people feel like characters you created?”
I tried to scratch my head because I thought I had made a mistake, but I realized that my hair was wet from the water droplets dripping from my hair and organized my hair that had fallen down. Ellie stared at it intently as if observing it.
For some reason, my lips felt bitter. Was it because of the seawater? I pondered for a moment and then honestly told Ellie as always.
“…Some of them.”
“Then what about me? Do I seem like a character too?”
At Ellie’s appearance of asking me right away as if she had been waiting, I answered right away without hesitation.
“No, not at all. You’re… an unpredictable person who keeps proving my expectations wrong. Thanks to you, I had a really hard time.”
For some reason, it felt like Ellie was very satisfied with my answer.
You wicked thing.
Ellie stretched greatly and said in a voice mixed with laughter.
“I’ll be sure to live up to your expectations.”
“…Please, don’t do that.”
Ellie laughed at my sincere request. I sighed at Ellie’s appearance of not taking it seriously and took my things back to my island.
I felt a sense of reverse disparity for a moment. When I objectively compared my island, which I had worked hard to create by releasing mana, with Ellie’s island… there was a shabbiness that seemed to have been made carelessly everywhere. I subtly watched what Ellie was doing, and then I secretly started decorating the island again by releasing mana.
***
As it got dark, Ellie crossed over to my island. Fortunately, thanks to pouring in effort before that, I was able to transform the shabby-looking island into something decent and confidently welcome Ellie. Of course, Ellie still pointed out many things, as if it was still lacking in her eyes… but I was satisfied that the time for meddling was short.
Isn’t it true that people live by soothing great sorrow with small joys?
Ellie, who had installed several alarm magic spells around the island, took off her mask. She doesn’t usually wear a mask, so it seems like she finds it very stuffy to live with a mask on. Well, thanks to that, I was able to take off my mask with peace of mind.
Ellie, sitting in front of the adventurer’s campfire that I had set up, asked with a slightly tired expression, bringing her face to her knees.
“So, what’s today’s chef’s menu?”
“There’s what’s already made and what can be made.”
There are enough cooking utensils and ingredients. The already completed food will also be warm as if it was just made, as it was put into the space warehouse as soon as it was packaged. Ellie stretched her lips out long as if she was having a pleasant dilemma.
“…I want to eat what Ross made. I don’t know when I’ll be able to eat it again. I have to eat as much as I can when I have the chance.”
“Well, we’ll be here for a few more days? Won’t there be plenty of opportunities in the future?”
I subtly appealed to my tiredness, but Ellie didn’t even pretend to listen.
“Then you can just keep cooking while we’re here.”
Isn’t she thinking about my annoyance and efficiency? I glared at Ellie, narrowing my eyes with those thoughts filling my head. But the expression and gaze in Ellie’s eyes looking at me contained an incomprehensible emotion. I thought I had learned a little about Ellie, but I still couldn’t interpret her current expression.
“…Work hard for me, slave.”
She’s clearly joking, but the emotion underlying that voice was the kind that couldn’t be hidden. Feeling an uneasy feeling that made my heart tickle for no reason, I chimed in with Ellie’s joke.
“Yes, yes, I’ll serve the most delicious food to my master.”
While taking out the cooking utensils and preparing the ingredients, I could feel a persistent gaze following me without missing a single moment. Unable to withstand that gaze, when I subtly looked at Ellie….
The smile that Ellie made naturally when our eyes met,
For some reason, it overlapped with the smile that Ailee had shown me last.
0 Comments