Companionship (1)

"Hehehe."

Lu flew up over the lake, raising the corners of his mouth.

Then he quickly rotated his body, creating a sleep powder.The sleep powder created from Lu's body fell onto the lake,and shortly after, a few fish floated up to the surface of thewater.

They were fish that had fallen asleep from Lu's sleep powder.

Lu didn't stop there and this time used a flight powder to levitate the sleeping fish into the air, then pushed them with his hands to move them onto the ground.

On the ground, Ariel and Ghost were standing blankly.The fish dropped plop in front of Ariel and Ghost.

"See, Ghost? This is the fairy way of fishing. Amazing,right?"

Lu spoke proudly with his hands on his hips, but Ghost didn't seem interested.

Ariel next to him was the same.

"Hmm."

Embarrassed, Lu cleared his throat and said,

"Anyway, sis, since I caught the fish, shall we have them forour meal today?"

At Lu's words, Ariel looked at the scattered fish on the ground.

"..."

Ariel's face darkened. She clearly didn't want to eat them.

"Not interested? This, even if it looks a bit off, if we clean and grill it, it's quite deli... Ah, sister?!"

Somehow, Ariel had already turned her body and

started walking away.

"Ghost. What about you? You originally eat wild animals...No, you too!"

Ghost also started walking, following Ariel.

Left alone, Lu quickly followed the two.

"Wait for me, sister!"

Ariel sat down on a nearby rock and took out some jerky from her inventory.

It was jerky she had bought in the city of Sierra.

She gave some to Ghost and also put some in her mouth and chewed.

"Sheesh, eating just jerky or desserts like that every day is

bad for your health, sis."

Lu started nagging.

"You need to eat fish like that sometimes to get nutrients.That's how you'll grow taller..."

Ariel handed Lu some fruit wine.

"Thank you!"

Lu quickly took the fruit wine and gulped it down.

"Kwah! The best!"

A while later, after peacefully having their meal by the lakeside, Ariel got up from the rock.

By the way, the direction Ariel was currently heading was westward.

She had heard from the merchant Lloyd that there were Dwarf Mountains in the west.

Ariel really wanted to meet dwarves.

In fact, the first thought she had when starting her adventure was 'I really want to meet dwarves.'

For some unknown reason, she had liked the dwarven racefrom long ago.

Their stout, thick bodies, rough beards, crafting skills, etc...If there was a dwarf character when playing games, she would always choose them without fail.

'I'll be able to see them soon...'

And then, Lu shouted from far away.

"Sis, sis!!"

Ariel looked towards where Lu was.

Ghost, who had been eating jerky, suddenly stood up, and Lu was jumping around frantically in his spot with an urgent expression, pointing behind Ariel.

Ariel turned around. At the same time, a huge creature emerged from within the lake.

It was a gigantic crimson-bodied caterpillar.

Its size seemed to be around 5 meters or so.

As the massive caterpillar rose up, it cast a shadow over Ariel's surroundings by blocking the sunlight.

"Kieeeek!"

The caterpillar let out a dreadful screech and opened its mouth wide.

Inside its mouth were densely packed, thorn-like sharp teeth.

"Sister! That's a dangerous monster called a Minokaon! Youhave to evade it right now...!"

Lu started flying quickly towards Ariel, and Ghost also leapt into the lake, approaching her.

At that moment, a purple sphere was fired from the Minokaon's mouth, enveloping Ariel.

Ariel tried to deploy her shield.

She didn't know what the purple sphere fired from the Minokaon's mouth was, but it seemed like it would be unpleasant if it hit her.

However, just before Ariel could deploy her shield, a white barrier unfolded above her head.

Passshh The Minokawn's purple sphere struck that white barrier and immediately dissipated along with smoke.

The white barrier then also disappeared.

"Are you unhurt?"

Suddenly, two people were standing next to Ariel.

A red-haired woman and a golden-haired man.

They were both young.

"Phew, that was a close call."

The red-haired woman said that while looking at Ariel, thendrew her sword from her waist.

Shring!

"Mitchel, I'll take care of the Minokaon, so take the child and get out of the lake."

"Will you be alright alone?"

"Don't you trust my abilities?"

"I do."

At that moment, the Minokaon opened its mouth again.

Inside its mouth, that purple sphere from before could be seen swirling around.

"Hurry up and go!"

The red-haired woman leapt up towards the Minokaon.

And the man called Mitchel said,"Excuse me then,"

scooped up Ariel, and exited the lake.

"Sister!"

Lu, who arrived a bit late, looked at Mitchel with suspiciouseyes.

"Hey, who are you? Why are you carrying our sister?"

Ghost also growled while glaring at Mitchel.

"Haha, so you had companions."

Mitchel smiled softly as he walked.

"Don't worry. I'm just trying to keep her safe."

After sitting Ariel down on a rock, Mitchel checked if she was injured anywhere.

Ariel quietly watched Mitchel.

Mitchel was dressed in priest's robes.

That meant the white barrier that had protected Ariel earlier was undoubtedly cast by Mitchel.

"You must have been very surprised. The Minokaon is a monster that suddenly appears in quiet lakesides like this to catch and eat people. You have to be careful."

Mitchel took out a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to Ariel.

But Ariel turned her gaze towards the lake where the Minokaon and the red-haired woman were, instead of accepting it.

"It's okay. If it's Jenny, she'll definitely defeat the Minokaoneasily."

Though Mitchel said that as if to reassure her, Ariel wasn't particularly worried from the start.

She was just looking because the Minokaon was novel to her, being such a huge caterpillar.

In any case, as Mitchel said, the red-haired woman, Jenny, swiftly defeated the Minokaon and came walking out of the lake.

"Mitchel, is the child alright?"

"She's fine."

The one who wasn't fine was rather Jenny herself.

A purple liquid was smeared on one of Jenny's arms,

smoke rising as her skin melted away.

"As expected, the Minokaon's venom is potent."

As Mitchel muttered, Jenny frowned.

"What are you marveling at? Quickly heal me."

"Understood."

A white light formed in Mitchel's hand.

Mitchel brought that white light to Jenny's wound, and soon her wound was cleanly healed.

It was a priest's healing magic, with an effect comparable to a fairy's healing powder.

Jenny was quite a beauty.

Her vibrant red hair and slender figure honed by

swordsmanship.And Mitchel too had a handsome face, dignified blond hair,a slim yet tall build, and a soft smile and way of speaking.

The two looked well-matched as a beautiful couple, but they didn't seem to be lovers at all.

Yet they didn't seem like just colleagues either, with an ambiguous relationship.

Mitchel was wearing priest's robes while Jenny was dressed like a wandering adventurer.

Jenny bent down to meet Ariel's eyes and asked,

"Hello, what's your name?"

"Ariel."

"Ariel, huh? Ariel, what were you doing by the lakeside?Swimming?"

"Hey, human! Don't treat our sister like a child!"

Lu shouted from Ariel's shoulder.

Jenny looked at Lu and gave a wry smile.

"Wow, a healthy-looking fairy. I could get a good price selling you in a bottle."

"...!"

Lu shuddered at Jenny's words. Seeing that, Jenny waved her hand dismissively.

"Just kidding, just kidding. By the way, you all are quite peculiar. An elf, a fairy, and is this...a wolf? It's huge."

As Jenny reached out to pet Ghost, Ghost backed away while growling fiercely.

"Oh my, scary."

Jenny withdrew her hand again and looked at Ariel.

"So Ariel, where are you headed?"

This time, Lu answered for her.

"We're going to the Dwarf Mountains in the west."

"Really? That's the same direction. Since we've met like this,why don't we travel together?"

Jenny asked that while glancing at Mitchel behind her, andMitchel just shrugged as if leaving it up to her.

"What do you say, Ariel? Come with big sis. I'll keep you safe while we're together. I may not look it, but I'm super strong, you know."

"Hmph, that won't work on our sister. Our sister took downa troll with one punch."

At Lu's words, Jenny covered her mouth with her hand andopened her eyes wide in mock surprise.

"Heeh, really?"

It was clearly an adult's gesture of feigning amazement at achild's boasting.

"Ariel, you're super strong, huh? Then I guess Ariel will haveto protect big sis instead."

Jenny nonchalantly reached out and pinched Ariel's cheek.

"Ariel, you'll come with big sis, right"