CHAPTER 41 SUNRAY MOUNTAIN RANGE

–Foot of the Mountains—

Today the four of us met up and came to the mountains.

We left in the morning on a horse-drawn wagon and arrived just before noon.

I could've teleported us over but, "since we have the opportunity we might as well enjoy the trip!", Lydia suggested, so we decided to get on a carriage.

If I teleported this distance I might've been on the point of collapse, they might've been taking my needs into consideration.

We weren't alone in the wagon, there were other adventurers in their own parties. The foot of the Sunray Mountains is a pretty popular hunting spot, so quite a few adventurers go there.

「Oooh~Amazing Zeph! Look at how tall the Sunray Mountains are~!」

「Milly is this the first time you've come to this mountain?」

「Mmhmm, I can see such beautiful scenery!」

「Zeph-kun you're even younger than me and yet you know quite a lot huh…」

「Wellllll, this is quite a famous mountain….」

「First of all, let's eat our lunches before we go out to hunt! Mmmm~ I'm starving~」

And so, we sat down near the wagon and ate our lunch. The driver and horses were near the watering hole and ate as well. Each day they take adventurers out this way and earn their living expenses.

The lunch that Lydia made was the Beruta town's specialty Taikoyaki, the two of them devoured the sweet delicious treats. The beautiful atmosphere of the mountains made Lydia's cooking seem even more delicious than usual.

By the way, Lydia herself was staring at Milly, who had her cheeks stuffed with taikoyaki like a chipmunk, with a love-struck deredere kind of face. I guess this was the reason Lydia gave Milly the largest one huh...

After we finished eating, we went up the mountain path a little, and saw the adventurers that we were travelling with in a battle with some monsters. The foot of the mountains is home to a type of monster called Stonegell, it looks like a mix of rock and jelly. It is a type of monster that is pretty tough against physical attacks, but it doesn't usually attack others and it can drop ore and minerals, so beginners are advised to hunt them. Almost immediately, a stonegell wells up by Lydia's feet.

Let's see what'cha got.

*Walking briskly*

As the three of us notice the stonegell, Lydia ignores it and keeps on walking. Milly, looking very confused, casts Blue Gale and defeats the stonegell in one hit. And luckily it drops some dull iron, Claude places it in the bag while inquiring.

「Lydia-san, are we not going to hunt any stonegells?」

「Nn, yeah? Dull iron is normally sold in stalls, my aim is the Roc Bird」

「…..Roc Bird is a monster that appears at the summit right? Are you planning on going now?」

「I want to go halfway up the mountain and stay in a mountain hut for one night, then I was thinking of starting our hunt the next day…..oh, it would've been better if I told you that earlier right? Sorry! I don't usually party up with other people so I kinda....if it's no good we can go back, ok? 」

The three of us are standing there glaring at Lydia, who is apologizing.

Maybe it wasn't on purpose.....

「....well I don't really care, but next time you had better tell us beforehand. And about the materials, this time you're buying them at a higher price.」

「Ohoho of course~ I'll give you some good service Boss♪」

She says this and rubs her hands together while squeezing her breasts between her arms.

This girl definitely did this on purpose…..

As expected of a greedy merchant, how underhanded.

Milly keeps glaring for a bit and then

「Zeph-kun is this really alright?」

「Though the Roc Bird is a pretty strong monster, level-wise it is about the same as an Aqua Elemental. There are also relatively few of them so we should be able to handle them one way or another.」

「We used Screen Point to nullify the magic of the Aqua Elemental and defeated them, so it's hard to tell how strong we are in comparison…..」

That's a pretty sharp comeback.

Ah well, we're already almost halfway up, let's find a few Roc Birds, and if we see that we can't fight them then we'll just leave. I say so to soothe Claude.

「Anyways let's go and take a look! If it's impossible then we just need to leave!」

Milly and I seem to be of the same opinion.

「As expected of Milly-chan! You understand me~」

As Lydia says that she tries to grab on to Milly, but Milly smoothly dodges.

Huh? Lydia's face seems to say as her hands grab onto nothing. She looks up at Milly who has a face filled with triumph. It seems like she's gotten used to the sexual harassment, so now she understands Lydia's patterns and was able to read her moves and dodge beautifully.

We are climbing the mountain (though I say that it's honestly a pretty gentle slope) slowly and leisurely while at times teleporting. On the way, there are some times when we see some monsters, because I need to conserve magic I don't fight. The view is good, so it'd be a waste to teleport the whole way.

「Blue Gale!」

Milly fires a big spell at a group of Stonegells.

As always she just forces her way through.

Well, it's fine anyways.

I thought that Milly's teacher just had a fighting style that wasn't really smart or stylish, but that was probably just prejudice, now that I think about it, her teacher's fighting style may not have suited her so she uses this one, and anyways this fighting style just doesn't suit me so I can't really come to any conclusions. The only thing I can say is that one needs to find a fighting style that suits them.

Though I say this, your teacher can have a huge influence. I have to admit, even my Time Square, was heavily influenced by my teacher's unique magic.

Though I'm embarrassed to say that.

As I was lost in my thoughts, a cry comes from the shadow of a rock and a long neck appears. A white head, red crest, and black-haired lines. It's neck stretches, and it stands up on its thick looking legs. When it does it seems to be even bigger than Lydia. It has sharp and curved claws and an equally sharp beak that seem to be able to tear people apart easily.

「That's….a Roc Bird」

「Alright! Let's do it~!」

「Blue Gale!」

The tornado hits the Roc bird head on, but it endures it and charges right over.

It quickly attacks with its claws and Claude takes the attack on her shield, Lydia sticks her hand between her breasts and takes out her bag from between them. She then proceeds to take out her great axe from the bag and she swings it.

...but with a skillful movement of its neck, the Roc Bird dodges her big swing smoothly. Then it aims its cruel looking beak at Lydia who's unbalanced.

...but another example of skillful movements is shown, this time by Lydia, she dodges and then at the same time kicks off of the Roc Bird's head.

.....she's as monstrous as ever.

Myself aside, Claude, who's nearby, seems quite surprised.

At this moment, it's movements have stopped.

I fire my magic at the temporarily stunned Roc Bird.

「Pyro Shot!」

The magic ball I shot, drills right into the Roc Bird, and it stops moving.

「Blue Gale!」

The magic tornado that Milly shot, surrounds the Roc Bird, and sends its body flying into the sky and it disappears.