episode_0061

I scratched my forehead with my fingertips, which was coolly exposed thanks to my bangs being swept back and fixed with hair oil, as I waited for Ariel.

When I looked at myself in the mirror, it definitely gave a much neater impression than when my hair was falling down.

However, I couldn’t hide my anxiety about trying a new hairstyle for the first time.

“Ohh~ Sweeping back your bangs makes you look neater than I expected!”

“I was worried since it’s my first time trying this hairstyle… It’s a relief you think it looks neat.”

Ariel, who had spotted me, let out an exclamation full of surprise and complimented my new hairstyle with a bright smile.

Thanks to her compliment, I gained confidence in my new hairstyle and finally gave a small smile, expressing my gratitude for her praise.

“Did Killua-nim do it for you?”

Ariel, who had lightly and swiftly approached me, naturally took a spot beside me and intimately linked her arm through mine, asking a question.

“Ah… Uh… Yeah…”

Her embarrassingly close and intimate behavior, and the soft touch that naturally brushed against my elbow as she linked her arm, made me answer her question without thinking.

“Wow… As expected of the White Mage-nim. Not only are you great at magic, but your fashion sense is outstanding too!”

Thanks to Ariel, who smiled brightly and answered as if she knew it would be like that despite my awkward reply, I missed the timing to correct the false impression.

Since I had received a compliment from her, I couldn’t just stand there silently. I quickly scanned Ariel’s appearance and outfit as she stood beside me, her arm linked with mine.

“Your fashion sense is amazing too.”

The clothes Ariel was wearing were ordinary leather garments, made from a mix of cloth and leather for mobility and warmth.

But to differentiate them from ordinary leather clothes, Ariel had embroidered small yet striking decorations on the sleeves and waist of the leather garments with red thread that matched her elemental aptitude.

And the most striking thing was the red jewel ornament below her neck, which fastened the cloak she wore for a casual outing.

The ornament itself, flaunting its presence with a vivid red light, was captivating enough, but below it, through the slightly open collar, the cleavage of her ample chest naturally extended.

The beauty of the ornament combined with the beauty of her body created a dizzying and provocative fashion that made my mouth drop open unconsciously.

“Hmm~ Exactly where does it look so tasteful?”

As if my simple compliment wasn’t enough, Ariel subtly wrapped her arm linked with mine even deeper and asked me, giving a playful eye-smile.

“Uh… Hmm…”

Instantly, the warmth of her soft skin wrapping around my arm and the allure of her cleavage drawing my gaze made my mind stiffen up.

“Th-the ornament that fastens your cloak is very refined…”

The words “ample chest” echoed in my mouth, but somehow suppressing my raging instincts, I gave a reply that was similar in meaning but as rational and elegant as possible.

“Oh~ I thought the word ‘chest’ would pop out… That’s quite something?”

Ariel burst out laughing, as if amused by my desperate effort to suppress the word ‘chest’ and squeeze out such an elegant reply.

“Men are so predictable. When you wear clothes that just slightly emphasize the chest like this, their eyes naturally gravitate here.”

Ariel slightly brought her arms together to emphasize her chest, as if showing off her pride and confidence in her body.

“They say women are sensitive to men’s gazes… Is that true?”

“Of course. I can clearly feel how intensely their gazes sweep over my body!”

Ariel raised her fingertips and pointed at her chest, as if embodying a man’s gaze. Then she slowly moved her hand up and down from her chest to her thighs.

“That must feel really bad.”

“It was quite unpleasant when I was a student… but once I got used to it, it felt strangely lacking without it~”

“A student?”

“I was educated at the Imperial Magic Academy! You might not think it, but I was the top graduate!”

We exchanged various stories about her student days, including happenings, professors she disliked, and classes she enjoyed.

We slowly walked along the forest path, chatting about this and that.

However, it wasn’t long before we had to stop at a small fork in the path.

One path was a trail leading down to the village, and the other was a path to a small valley where the hero drew water.

“I said it was a date, but… I didn’t even think about where to go…”

It was a date Ariel had suddenly requested, so I had simply left the house with her without any special plans.

But Ariel, as if she had expected it, smiled cheerfully, took my arm, and led me along the fading traces of the trail between the forks.

“Just trust me and follow!”

As Ariel led me down the faint path, which was slowly disappearing due to disuse, Killua’s warning that she was suspicious echoed in my mind.

Swallowing dryly so she wouldn’t notice, I slowly followed, observing her movements as she walked ahead, pushing through the bushes.

“By the way, Jazel-ssi, what did you do before you became Killua-nim’s secretary?”

Ariel, walking ahead, casually threw a question my way.

“I used to lead a merchant caravan that traveled all over the continent.”

“So you were a merchant like Tom Bolt-ssi, who occasionally visits the village! But how did you end up quitting your merchant work and becoming Killua-nim’s secretary?”

At her follow-up question about my past, I remained silent for a moment, mulling over her question.

Was this an attempt to subtly interrogate me and dig out Killua’s secrets through me?

I replayed her question in my mind about three times, but it didn’t seem directly related to Killua.

“The merchant caravan I led disappeared. Because of one wrong contract, you see.”

To answer her question, I briefly brought forth an old memory that I had buried in a corner of my mind for a long time.

I thought enough time had passed for all the toxins of that bad memory to drain away, but looking at it again, my mind and heart began to ache.

“A contract? Your caravan was ruined just because of one contract?”

“No. To be precise, it was taken from me. It was a fraudulent contract where they presented two contracts overlapped, preventing me from checking the contents of the one hidden behind, and then forced me to sign.”

At the bitter memory of the past, a deep, heavy sigh unconsciously escaped from my chest.

Just then, Ariel, who had been walking ahead, stopped without warning.

“Whoa?!”

I, who had been walking with my eyes on the ground to avoid tripping on tree roots, belatedly realized that Ariel had suddenly stopped and lightly bumped into her.

“Careful~!”

But Ariel, who had stopped without warning, embraced my waist lightly as if she knew we would collide, steadying my swaying body.

“No… How can such a contract make sense?!”

Then, her eyes narrowed sharply, and she expressed anger on my behalf over how my entire merchant caravan had been stolen by such an absurd fraudulent contract.

Looking at Ariel, who was getting angry for me, I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.

“I was caught off guard. While it’s a promise and tradition among merchants to not tamper with contracts, staking their honor on it… there wasn’t any absolute prohibition against it, you see.”

“No, no… There’s a limit to how good-natured someone can be! No matter the outcome, that bug who doesn’t know tradition or honor swallowed up the entire caravan Jazel-ssi worked so hard to build and nurture, all with just a piece of paper!”

Ariel, unable to contain her surging anger, began jumping up and down in place, her hand still lightly wrapped around my waist.

Even if she knew that bug who disregards tradition and honor was actually the Golden Empress, would she still get angry for me like this?

Nonetheless, her actions of getting angry on my behalf were strangely admirable and cute, so I simply smiled as if everything was fine, hiding the truth.

“It’s fine. Well… thanks to that, I was able to escape being an ordinary merchant and work for Killua-nim. And somehow, I’ve survived well enough to get to this point and even go on a date with you, haven’t I?”

At my answer, which somehow accepted the past positively, Ariel stopped jumping and stared intently at my face as she spoke.

“You really have a fascinating personality.”

Meeting her eyes that were staring at me, I let out a small eye-smile and made a joke.

“So, you don’t like it?”

Then Ariel also gave a bright eye-smile and replied to my joke.

“The more I get to know you, the more I completely fall for it!”

At her cheerful reply, Ariel and I burst into laughter simultaneously.

Amidst that laughter, the faint suspicion I held towards her subtly faded away.

Not wanting to lose her, the one who got angry on my behalf and burst into laughter at my words, I hesitantly raised both arms to embrace her, who was lightly circling my waist.

“Alright~ We’re almost there.”

However, the accidental brief skinship ended there.

Ariel, as if the destination was just around the corner, gently slipped out of my embrace, lightly gripped my wrist, and walked ahead, pushing through the bushes.

“This place is…”

Leaving the regrettable skinship behind, when we emerged through some more bushes, we arrived at a small clearing.

There were a few tree stumps, indicating someone had done logging here, but it seemed to have been a long time ago, as moss and various unknown grasses grew on the cut stumps.

“This is the clearing where the hero cut down trees to build his house!”

Ariel honestly and unreservedly revealed the identity of this clearing.

When I realized that the timber making up the hero’s house and the stumps remaining here were of the same material, I too could somewhat guess that this was the clearing where the hero had done his logging.

“But why did we come here?”

“Didn’t you say you needed exercise for toxin detoxification?”

Ariel walked into the clearing, looking around here and there.

And she easily found an axe leaning against one side of the clearing.

“Ta-da!”

She showed me the axe she had found, accompanied by a loud sound effect she made with her own mouth, as if she had unearthed a magnificent treasure.

Its surface had a bit of rust, but the axe blade itself still held enough sharpness for logging.

“That’s amazing…”

It was remarkable that the metal axe blade was still intact, but even more impressive was the axe handle.

If this was an axe the hero left behind after building his house, it would have been about four years ago, yet the wooden axe handle remained sturdy enough to withstand being swung with full force right now.

“But what does this axe have to do with our date?”

Gripping the axe Ariel handed me, I tried swinging it a few times in the air, then asked her the reason for bringing me here.

“A clearing for logging, a usable axe! And a sturdy man who needs exercise! What should one do?”

However, Ariel’s reply to my question was a riddle so simple it made me scoff.

Understanding the clear intention behind her question, I looked at the tree remaining on one side of the clearing.

“So… you want me to cut down that tree here?”

“That’s right!”

At her clear answer, I adjusted my grip on the axe and roughly estimated the tree’s thickness with my eyes.

Judging by its thickness, which I could barely hug with my arms, it seemed I would have to swing the axe for quite a long time with my strength.

“Is this some kind of test? Like a physical assessment?”

I simply couldn’t understand Ariel’s intention, dragging me to this clearing suddenly for a ‘date’ and then abruptly telling me to log trees.

“It’s to leave Jazel-ssi with an unforgettable memory of me!”

“Make me never forget you?”

At Ariel’s still vague answer, I looked at her with slightly suspicious eyes.

But Ariel still looked at me with a bright, smiling face, full of goodwill, without any hostility or malicious intent.

“Alright… well… it’s not a difficult task.”

Ariel hadn’t harmed me or done anything suspicious even once yet.

Although there was a slight suspicion, I couldn’t distrust her to that extent, so I gripped the axe firmly and stood before the tree as she wished and requested.

“Huu…”

Normally, when splitting firewood, I swung the axe from top to bottom, but for logging, I had to swing it horizontally.

Nervous about the unfamiliar muscle movement, I took a small deep breath. Then, I used my upper body muscles, which I had trained splitting firewood, and swung the axe horizontally with all my might.

Thwack!

The axe blade, swung with full force, carrying the weight of the axe, struck the side of the tree.

However, compared to the noisy movement of twisting my waist forcefully, the axe blade only penetrated about 2cm.

“This… I don’t think I can do this with my strength…”

These trees, logged by the hero to build his house, boasted high density and hardness, suitable for construction.

The first swing, wielded with all my might, only penetrated about 2cm.

Along with the doubt of whether I could log this tree by myself today, I began to imagine my pathetic figure, exhausted before Ariel’s eyes without even cutting down half the tree.

“Tsk…”

But it was too embarrassing to declare surrender after losing confidence from just the first swing, so I gripped the axe firmly once more.

“Hwoop!!”

And the moment I swung the axe again, with a yell that seemed to draw strength from my core.

A warm sensation, starting from both my shoulders, gently enveloped my arms.

Thump!

And the axe, swung with incomparable power compared to the first time, dug deep into the tough wood.

“This is…”

The warm sensation enveloping my arms seemed to slowly permeate my muscles, making explosive vitality surge.

“It’s Ariel-brand magic. Did you really think I’d just stand behind you, clapping and giving only verbal encouragement while Jazel-ssi struggled?”

As I gazed at my arms with astonished eyes, at the magical warmth embracing them and the surging vitality.

Ariel’s playful voice came from behind me.

Turning to Ariel at her exclamation, I saw her giving a bright smile with a thumbs up.

“Alright, alright! You can do it!”

Her cheerful encouragement made me let out an involuntary chuckle. I gripped the axe firmly with both hands, now enhanced by her magic.

“Hwoop!!”

And with clear confidence that I could fell this large tree, and with surging vitality, I began to swing the axe with all my might.