Ch.133Growth (3)

*

“…Seems like I overdid it.”

Silvia muttered as she looked at me lying on the ground.

“…Mmm,”

I nodded with an awkward smile.

Morning had come and daylight broke, but I couldn’t get up normally as usual.

Muscle pain had spread throughout my body, especially my legs and feet were swollen, and my thigh muscles were visibly cramping to a serious degree.

Even when Silvia channeled her holy power into me, it only provided temporary relief. My leg muscles continued to twitch incessantly like a separate living entity with its own will.

Silvia sighed and said:

“I didn’t expect this. To think you’d end up like this just from running that little bit.”

“…I think it’s more because of what we did last night.”

“We do that every day.”

“Not after running around all day. And in the end, you collapsed first, so I had to do all the moving.”

“…”

Silvia blushed and slowly turned her head away.

She seemed embarrassed about always being the first to surrender during our nighttime activities despite criticizing my stamina.

She cleared her throat softly and continued:

“Let’s rest today. It might be better to run every other day.”

“So, I’m resting today?”

“I can’t just let you play around. We don’t have time. How about training your magic or that spirit art thing? Of course, I probably can’t help you with that.”

“Spirit…”

As she said, I didn’t have anyone who could teach me spirit arts.

The only one would be Pia, but even she didn’t seem particularly knowledgeable about spirits other than herself.

In the end, my spirit arts were essentially limited to coordinating with Pia.

It was closer to being a magical beast tamer controlling a familiar than a spirit artist.

I nodded and said:

“Yeah, okay. I’ll talk with Pia and try to learn as much as I can.”

“Well, that sounds good, but…”

“…Silvia? Is something bothering you?”

Silvia scratched her cheek as she spoke:

“It’s a bit scary seeing Ash talking to someone when there’s nobody there.”

“…”

As I remained silent, Silvia hastily waved both hands and continued:

“Ah, of course I understand! It’s just that the spirit isn’t visible to my eyes. I absolutely don’t think you’re untrustworthy or crazy.”

“…”

She still doesn’t believe me.

Or rather, she’s half-doubting it.

She wants to believe me because it’s coming from me, but since she can’t actually see anything, it’s hard for her to accept it completely.

I sighed and said:

“I understand, Silvia. You don’t need to scramble to cover it up.”

“Ah… yes, thank you, Ash.”

“Once my abilities develop enough to prove I can handle spirits, I’ll demonstrate it to you first.”

“Prove? It’s not that I don’t believe you…”

Silvia scratched her cheek with an awkward smile.

I looked straight into her eyes with a half-lidded gaze.

Silvia gradually rolled her eyes, avoiding my stare.

Feeling somewhat dejected, I sighed.

“I meant I’ll show you first.”

“Y-yeah. Wow. Looking forward to it…”

“…Silvia.”

Silvia hurriedly changed the subject.

“Ah, Ash, are you hungry? Let’s eat breakfast first. When you have muscle pain from physical activity, you need to eat well for the muscle strength to develop. I’ll catch some fish right away.”

I figured I was at fault for not being able to prove myself.

With that thought, I nodded and replied in a weak voice:

“…Okay.”

*

Having become quite skilled at fishing, Silvia quickly caught two large fish and threw them into the campfire.

We had planned to eat one fish each after they were nicely browned, but because Silvia hand-fed me fish meat due to my stiff body, her portion ended up completely charred.

More precisely, it was because all her attention was focused on the sight of her fingers entering and leaving my mouth as she fed me the fish meat.

Although there was no need for it, she deliberately inserted her thumb and index finger until they touched my tongue. I tried to complain about this,

But her unusually flushed eyes, her equally red cheeks, and her slightly rough breathing created an atmosphere that somehow felt untouchable, so I finished my meal carefully, trying not to provoke her.

After the meal, Silvia caught her breath for a moment, then stood up with a flushed face, saying she would patrol to check if anything unusual had happened in the forest.

The reason was that the number of magical beasts might have increased since we hadn’t explored the forest for a while.

I worried that Silvia might be hungry since she hadn’t eaten properly, but she shook her head with a surprisingly refreshed and happy expression, saying she was fine.

She smiled, saying she was already full even without eating.

“Pia.”

About an hour later, when I could finally move on my own, I called for Pia.

As always, Pia suddenly appeared from outside my field of vision, approached me with tiny steps, and sat down in front of me.

“What.”

Pia’s voice sounded somewhat curt.

Her ears, perked up on top of her head, were stretched forward as if they were horns charging to stab me.

I asked in a puzzled voice:

“Pia? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“No… the atmosphere seems a bit…”

“…Hmph.”

I tilted my head for a moment, then asked with a hesitant tone:

“Are you… angry?”

“I’m not.”

“…?”

Pia puffed up her cheeks, turned her head to the side, and squeezed her eyes shut.

She looked like she was clearly trying to convey that she was angry.

I had no idea why Pia was upset, but I needed to somehow appease her. Despite my aching body, I slowly reached out toward Pia and stroked her head.

Pia still kept her head turned away and snorted, but judging by her ears twitching in sync with my hand movements, her anger seemed to be subsiding gradually.

“Don’t be mad.”

“…Tch.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Yes, you did.”

No matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong.

Had I made some mistake with Pia?

No answer came to mind no matter how much I pondered.

In fact, I hadn’t even summoned Pia for quite some time.

“…Well, I’m sorry anyway.”

“Anyway?”

“I’m sorry.”

I decided to apologize first without knowing what I had done.

Asking what I had done wrong might only provoke her further, and with Pia’s limited vocabulary—equivalent to that of a six-year-old girl—it would be difficult for her to properly explain her feelings.

Fortunately, my apology seemed to have somewhat soothed her feelings. Pia’s ears relaxed downward before perking up again.

“You did wrong?”

“Yes, I did wrong.”

“You won’t do it again?”

“…Um, well, I’ll try not to.”

“Ash…”

“I won’t do it again.”

I’d need to know what “it” was to avoid doing it again.

Satisfied with my apology, Pia crawled over and nestled between my legs.

Then she pressed the back of her head against my chest, as if asking for more petting.

I nodded and gently stroked her hair.

It felt like a large puppy begging to be touched.

Well, foxes are canines too, so my impression might not be far off.

“Hehe.”

After about thirty minutes of stroking Pia’s head, she finally started humming with a pleased smile.

I sensed this was my opportunity to ask her about spirit arts.

“Pia.”

“Yes?”

“I have something to ask you.”

“Ask away.”

I paused for a moment, trying to choose my question carefully.

I had intended to ask about spirit arts, but I knew so little about them that I wasn’t sure where to begin.

I didn’t even know what I could do with spirit arts at this point.

Considering the various miracles performed by the Green Lady and the story of Malis building a castle overnight in the past, it was difficult to gauge the extent and limitations of spirit power.

All I knew was that Pia could assist or enhance my magic.

But spirit arts surely had more uses than that.

Otherwise, in my original fate before everything went wrong, I wouldn’t have needed to join the hero’s party.

After careful consideration, I cautiously asked while being mindful of Pia’s mood:

“Pia, you’re a spirit, right?”

“Yes.”

“Wow, then what can you do?”

Pia answered while kicking her feet alternately:

“I can do anything you want.”

“…Hmm.”

That wasn’t particularly helpful.

I tried asking more specifically:

“That’s amazing. Like what, for example?”

“I told you, I can do anything you ask me to.”

“…”

Pia tilted her head as if wondering what kind of question I was asking, and lifted her chin to look up at me.

I felt momentarily confused by her vague, childlike answer, but tried not to show it as I continued praising her and stroking her head.

“That’s cool. Pia, you’re amazing.”

“Pia is amazing!”

“You sure are.”

“Ash is stupid, Pia is amaziiing.”

“…Amaziiing.”

Swallowing a sigh that threatened to escape, I asked once more:

“So if I wanted to cut down all the trees in the forest, or teleport home, you could do that for me?”

I deliberately mentioned impossible requests.

Of course, I didn’t actually want to cut down all the trees in this forest or go home.

Since I didn’t even know what Pia was capable of, I intentionally made unreasonable demands, hoping her refusal and explanation would help me understand the extent of her abilities.

Pia stared at me with round eyes, then answered in her usual cheerful voice:

“Yes.”

“…What?”

“I can do it.”

.