episode_0013

The next morning.

Waking up at dawn, I first stepped out into the clearing and lightly stretched my body.

Last night, thanks to Killua’s training, I had used more magical power than expected, so some fatigue remained, but it wasn’t enough to make moving my body difficult.

“Good morning!”

“Killua-nim?!”

Had she been agonizing alone all night? Instead of Rai, who usually overslept unlike her, Killua walked out to the clearing, lightly yawning.

She had already changed into simple activewear, with light leather layered over cloth, and stood beside me, beginning to lightly warm up.

“Climbing a mountain is harder than I thought. I need to prepare thoroughly too.”

Unlike me, who was simply loosening my joints and muscles, Killua, as if demonstrating her flexibility, bent down to touch the ground with her hands, or stretched her legs vigorously in various directions, beginning to loosen her hip muscles.

“You’re incredibly flexible, aren’t you?”

There was a stereotype that wizards, who lived buried in books to research or develop magic, or meditated to feel the flow of magical power, would have dull reflexes or stiff bodies.

But Killua, as if neatly shattering such stereotypes, skillfully stretched with her flexible body.

“Exercise used to be my hobby, you know.”

Come to think of it, even during her days as the White Wizard, Killua often enjoyed light sparring with her escort knights in the evenings, or simple ball games with her followers.

I, who disliked physical activity and was busy with inventory management of ingredients or office work, only vaguely knew that fact from the shouts and cheers heard outside the house.

“Phew!”

Killua, having pleasantly loosened her ankles, knees, and hip joints, stretched her entire body while inhaling the dawn air deeply.

And perhaps she didn’t dislike the refreshing feeling she was experiencing, as she flashed a lively smile.

“I… I overslept!!”

Just then, Rai, who had woken up much later than usual, rushed out to the clearing, hastily throwing on his coat.

Killua and I, turning to look at him as he rushed out, calmly greeted him good morning.

“Good morning.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Ahahaha. Good morning.”

Perhaps embarrassed by the fact that he had overslept, Rai scratched his cheek, and awkwardly laughed as he returned our morning greetings.

Rai, looking back and forth between us who had greeted him as usual, seemed to have lightened the heavy burden he had been carrying alone in his heart, and wore an even brighter smile than before.

“Killua. Could I ask what you’re looking for?”

Rai, who belatedly joined our stretching, asked about the item Killua was looking for.

Then, as if there was no longer a need to hide it, Killua answered Rai’s question.

“I need slime mucus. And it has to be clean mucus, from slimes that have only eaten trees and grass.”

“Hmm… If that’s the case, you’ll have to go deep into the forest.”

After hearing Killua’s answer, Rai, who had been frowning and thinking for a moment, pointed out where the item she wanted could be found.

“Deep into the forest?”

“Yes. Because slimes on the outskirts of the forest are likely to have consumed village waste or the carcasses of wild animals.”

Rai’s conjecture was not wrong.

The stench that emanated from the slime we first dissected was a mix of the smell of decaying corpses and the unpleasant odor of waste.

However, going deep into the forest, which had been devastated by the mass proliferation of slimes, was not an easy task.

“It sounds like it’ll be dangerous…”

The dense interior of the Lime Forest was the perfect place for slimes to hide by camouflaging themselves with their surroundings.

A single slime wasn’t threatening, but a swarm of slimes in a place like the Lime Forest, where they had proliferated abnormally, was dangerous enough to make even trained soldiers tense.

Killua, who knew that fact well, gazed at Rai intently, as if hoping he would join them.

Rai, meeting Killua’s gaze, seemed to have easily caught on to her true feelings.

But he smiled wryly, as if apologetic, and walked towards the birdcage set up at one side of the clearing.

“I’d like to help, but… I’m busy with my own tasks. Instead, I’ll introduce you to a good friend of mine.”

At the fact that he wouldn’t be joining them, a fleeting hint of disappointment crossed Killua’s face.

But then, at his words about introducing a good friend, Killua perked up her ears and her eyes sparkled.

“Friend?”

Killua seemed to know something, but I had never seen anyone of a similar age in this village that Rai would call a friend.

“Deep inside the Lime Forest, there’s a herbalist who is familiar with the geography and ecology of the forest.”

He opened the birdcage set up next to the clearing and took out a bluebird from inside.

After feeding a few seeds, taken from his pocket, to the bluebird perched on his arm.

He sent the bluebird flying off somewhere.

“A herbalist?”

As soon as he revealed that the friend was a herbalist, Killua’s eyes, which had sparkled with interest, cooled down.

“Yes, a herbalist. They’ll be here soon, so just prepare your equipment beforehand.”

“Hmm… Alright.”

Killua, reluctantly nodding her head at the instruction to prepare the equipment in advance, left Rai, who was belatedly stretching, and pulled me, moving towards the workshop.

“Did you hear that Rai had a friend?”

Killua seemed to have known about it to some extent, but I couldn’t help but be shocked that there was someone of similar age who had befriended Rai, besides us.

“No. This is the first I’ve heard of it too.”

Killua opened the workshop door, and answered my question with a hint of dissatisfaction in her voice.

Inside the workshop, Killua took out the basket, pole, and scraper we had packed yesterday, and casually tossed them to me.

I skillfully caught the equipment she tossed in mid-air, and, hugging them, asked her back.

“Killua-nim, you seemed to react as if you already knew something?”

At my question, Killua stopped taking out the equipment and turned to look at me.

And, as if pitying my incompetent observation skills, she clicked her tongue and shook her head from side to side.

“The necklace around Rai’s neck. Do you remember it?”

“The necklace?”

Come to think of it, he seemed to have been wearing a cheap necklace with a crude design.

But I, who had no interest in the necklaces worn by men, couldn’t remember exactly what kind of necklace he was wearing.

“It’s a necklace containing a crudely refined low-grade magic stone.”

“A crudely refined low-grade magic stone… Could it be!?”

Upon hearing Killua’s explanation, I struggled to recall a faint memory and pictured the shape of the necklace Rai wore around his neck.

It was a very simple necklace, with a hexagonal magic stone of low quality and turbid color, set clumsily into a handmade wooden mount.

But the meaning of the necklace he wore around his neck was more important than its form or value.

“Could it be that it’s the first magic stone refined by a wizard…”

A crudely refined low-grade magic stone. That was the biggest hint.

It was a sort of custom for those recognized as wizards to refine a magic stone using their own magical power as a way to commemorate that moment.

However, a magic stone refined by someone who had just been recognized as a wizard was bound to be insignificantly turbid and pitiably small in size.

However, the meaning of the first magic stone refined in one’s life, on the day of being recognized as a wizard, was more profound than anything else, so wizards treasured their first refined magic stone as a great treasure.

Handing over such a precious treasure to another person had two meanings.

“If it were someone of the same gender, it would mean a soulmate to spend one’s life with…”

“If it were someone of the opposite gender, it would be a marriage proposal.”

Killua, as if expressing her exasperated feelings, let out a long sigh, then picked up another scraper and came out.

“So, Killua-nim, you also had feelings for Rai.”

“You… you idiot!”

From her action of letting out a sigh full of blatant regret, I could be certain that Killua had feelings for Rai.

At my blunt words, Killua, as if telling me to shut up lest Rai hear my words, put a finger to her lips in a silencing gesture.

“Weren’t you already aware of it yourself?”

Killua glanced at Rai, who was calmly stretching in the clearing a little distance away, seemingly having heard nothing, and asked me in disbelief.

Then, with the items she had handed me clutched in my arms, I lightly shrugged my shoulders and replied nonchalantly.

“I never imagined that the White Wizard-nim would personally like someone.”

“……”

At my answer, Killua stared blankly at my face with a sullen expression.

Soon after, she again shook her head twice from side to side, as if pitying my incompetent observation skills, and with only a single scraper held in her left hand, she simply moved first towards the clearing where Rai was warming up.

“Love, huh…”

Killua, approaching Rai who was finishing his stretching, showed him the scraper she was holding and engaged in a small conversation with him.

Rai, too, seemed to welcome the conversation with Killua, and with an undisguised smile on his lips, he began to talk with her.

Rai, with his tall stature, impeccable appearance, and polite and gentle personality.

Even I, as a fellow man, found him to be a man with a very likable and warm impression.

Furthermore, it was natural for Killua to fall for Rai, who had saved her life and even healed her severe injuries.