episode_0008

“Is this the right path? I can’t see any traces of people passing by”

Elisias swings his sword and cuts off the vines and branches that block his view, clearing the way ahead.

I followed behind her and took a quick look around.

“If I remember correctly, it is this way.”

After making the potions needed for exploration, we headed to the eastern forest as planned.

The eastern forest doesn’t have many monsters and is just a forest full of tiny creatures, literally small animals, but I came here for a different purpose.

“Ah, this way. At the fork here, take the uphill road on the right.”

I searched this place to farm items and collect materials during my 3rd playthrough, and by chance I found out that this was a bonanza with many hidden items.

“Huh…Huh…Huh…”

Not long after starting to go uphill

How much exercise has this body not had?

I hadn’t walked very far or climbed the hill, but before I knew it, sweat was forming on my forehead and my legs were shaking like a newborn calf.

“Trigram, are you okay? It’s a face that looks like it’s about to die.”

“It’s not okay…”

Elisias looks at me with worried eyes.

My pride was hurt, so I tried to force myself to take one more step, but my legs were screaming to save me.

“Leave it alone and go up first… I’ll follow you soon…”

Elisias thought for a moment, then exhaled, bent down, and gave me his back.

“What is it?”

“Upload it, it seems like it would be faster.”

I wanted to retort because my pride was hurt, but my body couldn’t move anymore.

Does pride feed you? no.

When I got up and climbed onto her crouching back, Elisias quickly started running up the hill as if I was nothing.

Elisias’ back was a little wider compared to his body, and perhaps because of the muscles attached to it, it was stiffer than expected.

No matter how strong she was, the weight of an adult man would have been considerable, but she continued climbing quickly without breaking a sweat as if there was no problem at all.

“Hmph…Hmph…Sniff…Hukka sniffka…”

I sense an artificial sweet scent from somewhere.

It had a fruit-like scent, and it seemed to reassure me a little and tell me that I was okay.

Ah, this smell is the scent of peaches.

Where did the scent come from? I followed the scent, closed my eyes, and began to smell it. My nose, which had become sensitive, soon became like a puppy looking for food and followed the source of the smell.

“Hee, hee! What, what is it!!! Suddenly!”

Elisias was startled, quickly stopped and looked at me.

“Oh, no!! It’s wrong!! Where does the sweet smell of peaches come from! Because I want to!”

The source of the smell was none other than the nape of Elisias’ neck, and when I came to my senses, I had already stuck my nose into the nape of his neck and was smelling it.

In an unconscious action, I quickly removed my face from her neck.

“Hmm, if that’s the case, I don’t know if it’s because of this.”

Elisias took another step and took out something from the adventure bag on his waist and handed it to me.

“What is this?”

I asked about the bottle filled with orange liquid, and Elisias looked as if he had eaten bitter chocolate.

“This is the perfume my mother gave me before she left on a trip…”

With those words, Elisias began to climb the hill again, little by little.

I was a little curious about her mother, who only appeared briefly in the game.

“What kind of person was your mother?”

At my question, Elisias smiled slightly as if she was reminiscing.

“He was the one who always loved me, and if there was anything I wanted, he would give it to me.”

“Hmm…really? You are a good person”

I answered curtly and handed the bottle back to her, and she put the perfume bottle back in her bag.

“So Harry, what is your mother like?”

“Huh? My mother?”

“Yes, Harry, you too must have parents who gave birth to you.”

[I was a fool for expecting… from you.]

The hateful, abominable voice I had forgotten again tightens my throat.

That voice felt like it would grab my limbs at any moment and tear me apart beyond recognition, like a torn test paper.

“Harry? Harry!!”

When I am being consumed by the black clouds blooming in my heart, Elisias urgently calls me.

“Huh? Oh no! Hey, the ride quality is better than that, right? The destination is the summit! Hey!”

Only then did I come to my senses at the call, turning my head back and forth and patting her on the back with my hand.

“It!! Don’t treat people like a means of transportation!!”

He gets angry and immediately shortens the distance to his destination.

As we ran through an area filled with vines and bushes, an exit of white light greeted us from afar.

“Hmm?? Is this right? This is a cliff?”

After reaching my destination and regaining some of my stamina, I carefully strengthened my legs and got off her back.

“For this, I prepared this potion.”

As I approached the cliff, I blocked the dazzling sunlight with my hand, looked at the cliff on the other side in the distance, and searched the inside pocket of my robe.

I open the cork lid of the potion I just made and smell it a few times.

A smell like rotten socks that had been soaked in the rain and dried came from the potion, and I ended up plugging my nose because of the foul smell.

“Wow…the smell is so bad…”

I was a little worried about the nauseating smell.

In the game, you just have to force the use button and Elisias will automatically take the potion.

Even after smelling this, will she obediently agree to drink the potion? No, I will never respond.

What I made is [Acceleration Potion]

It is a potion that increases movement speed and strength over a fairly long duration of 10 minutes.

Elisias must drink this potion because she can use this ability to jump over to the cliff on the other side.

“This is why I want it to smell…”

Of course, I thought about how to drink the potion, but there was no way that my body, which almost died while climbing the hill just now, would be able to carry Elisias on my back.

“Now that I think about it, Harry, what was that potion made from?”

As Elisias, who was behind me, looked at the potion I had made with a curious expression, an incredible thought occurred to me.

“Ahh! this? no! no! Rather, Elisias, would you like to come here for a moment?”

“Huh? Why is that?”

Elisias approached me with an innocent face.

I was afraid that this smell might reach Elisias, so I closed the mouth of the potion with my thumb and turned my back to hide the potion.

“Now, I will cast a spell on you that will make you extremely strong.”

“Does this mean that it will cast a buff magic? Um, yes, as much as you want!”

On the contrary, when I saw Elisias nodding his head with his heart out as if he was happy, I forced the corners of my mouth to smile at him.

“Yes, but as you know, I am the explorer from that legend, right?”

“Yeah…right?”

I spit in my mouth and clear my throat a few times.

“My magic is so high-level that it would be a big problem if other people saw it, right? It’s like people have become monsters! Anyone who sees my spell will be petrified!”

“Seokhwa? That’s a big deal!”

Elisias was surprised and looked at me with worried eyes.

“So, Elisias, will you close your eyes while I use the magic? Ah, with your mouth open!”

“This, your mouth? Why are you wearing…?”

“Uh! It’s like some kind of ritual! If you don’t do it, you won’t see the results properly!”

I was momentarily embarrassed and couldn’t come up with any excuse.

“Is that… something like that?”

Elise closed her eyes tightly and carefully opened her mouth. Now is her chance.

I turned around behind her and quickly stuffed the potion into her mouth, quickly covering her chin with my hand to prevent her from spitting it out.

“Woo, wow bub bub!!”

Elisias resists by waving his arms around.

I suddenly stopped her actions with a back-chalk stance, and she glared at me from the corner of her eye with resentment in her eyes.

“Mi…I’m sorry…”

Elisias soon stopped resisting and began to swallow the potion obediently, and only after confirming that the liquid in the potion was disappearing little by little did I release her.

“Puha!! Yes, your guy!!!”

Elisias wiped away a little of the potion on her lips with her sleeve and glared at me.

There were little teardrops forming in my reddened eyes, and I looked at the ground to avoid their gaze.

“Well, still…don’t you feel like you’ve really gotten stronger?”

Elisias examined his body and clenched and unclenched his fists several times.

“Definitely, I feel like my body has more strength than usual. The excitement in my heart overflows and I feel like I can do anything…”

“That’s because what I gave you is a potion that boosts your strength and movement speed, but it’s true that you’ve really become stronger, so don’t think too strangely…”

Elisias, who had frowned upon hearing my voice creeping in, sighed deeply.

“ It happened… So what was the reason for giving this potion?”

“First, just carry me on your back and run as hard as you can to the other side of the cliff over there.”

When I pointed to the cliff opposite with a bright expression, Elisias looked at the cliff with trembling eyes, as if she was slightly frightened.

“Hmm…are you serious?”

I gave a thumbs up to Elisias, who cleared his throat and asked with a solemn expression as he put his hand on my shoulder.

“Yes, honestly. You can do it, Elisias”

When I said this with a smile, Elisias was shocked and shook her head back and forth.

“Hmm, why can’t you give such a certain answer! Ho, if anything goes wrong…”

Elisias is anxious and lowers his eyes.

Seeing that he looked unsure of himself, I put my hand on his head and patted him lightly.

“Just trust me and don’t worry.”

“Harry…Are you not scared? It’s like entrusting your life to someone you met for the first time yesterday.”

“Of course it’s scary. If I’m not scared, I’d be crazy, right?”

Looking at Elisias who hesitated, she smiled and answered, and she lowered her head.

If you say it’s scary, it’s really scary.

In the game, you can jump very easily, but that may be possible because you were running alone in the first place, and since it is a potion made on the spot, I am not sure if it will be as effective in the game.

“Then why do you trust me so easily? This body has always been a body that couldn’t live up to someone’s expectations…”

As Elisias responded in a loud voice, I carefully moved my hand to her head and stroked it.

“It’s okay, I believe it because it’s you, Elisias, and no one else.”

“Why…”

As I watched Elisias close his eyes tightly, I tried to bring out the story that had been buried in my heart for a moment.

“Unlike me, you have always worked hard and never given up even if you only made mistakes and failures. If you don’t trust the daughter of the Grand Duke of Grindea, who can be called the price of such efforts, then who can you trust?”

“…”

He responds to my words with silence, but I can see that his body, which was shaking from tension, has stabilized.

I took my hand off her head and placed my hand on her shoulder.

“So, try to trust yourself a little too. Elysias, who never gave up even when things were tough, right?”

Elisias did not respond, but lifted me as if lifting a light burden, as shown by his actions.

“Wait a minute! Is this posture a little embarrassing?”

Elysias, who lifts me in the posture of holding none other than a princess.

Feeling ashamed and deprived of his pride as a man, his face turns red and he struggles to get out of this position.

Elisias, who was blushing and smiling slightly, looked down at me with eyes that had somehow become kind.

“Don’t worry, if you do this, I will be able to save you from any unexpected situation.”

“Now, wait a minute!”

With those words, Elisias runs away at full speed.

Without giving her even the slightest time to mentally prepare, she ran off the edge of the cliff at full speed.

During the flight time, which felt quite long, I looked down and was startled by the scenery.

“Aaaa!!!!! Please save me!!”

The scenery at the bottom of the cliff leading to the endless abyss gave me goosebumps all over my body, and I closed my eyes tight and grabbed Elisias by the back of his neck and hugged him.

A floating sensation took over my body like when I was riding an amusement ride, and as I held her tighter, a small sound of laughter was heard in my ears, and within a few seconds, I felt the impact of landing.

“Uh…uh…am I alive?”

When I carefully opened my eyes, we had already arrived on the other side, and Elisias was still looking down at me, holding me in her princess embrace.

“Now you’re finally putting on an expression that suits your face.”

When I saw Elisias smiling, my cheeks and ears instantly heated up and I quickly turned my head.

“What does it mean! That’s it.”

“It means that he has a slightly cute face.”

When I see her smiling and speaking calmly with a different face than usual, my face instantly becomes hot.

I let go of my hand holding Elisias and quickly covered her face, and only then did she carefully look down and let go of me.

“Ah! Harry! You go together!”

“City, it’s noisy! Don’t follow me! You idiot!”

As I quickly run away from the spot, it follows me with quick steps.

I don’t want to show this expression anymore. I want to be alone, but it prevents me from being alone.