Leave a comment

I put on my clothes silently to not disturb the other students’ sleep. There was no time to bring any extra luggage, so I chose the academy gym uniform.

It was currently a hot summer, so it was a gym uniform with exposed buttocks and kneesocks suited for mountain climbing. I went with the sturdy academy boots as well, and put on a hat after roughly tying up my hair with a string.

If anyone saw me walking outside like this, they’d definitely think of me as a kid that snuck out to enjoy the nightlife.

“I wonder if it’ll be safe to step out looking like this?”

I couldn’t see it being a smart move to walk like this at night. Of course, the blacksmith didn’t live in this city but in the nearby mountains, so I should have no problem with being seen as long as I manage to slip out of the city itself. I shouldn’t… But the problem remained until I actually left it.

“Oh well, I have a guardian with me now, so it should be fine. Besides, it’s Maxwell so even if some weird rumors do spread…”

Ever since he was engaged in politics, he had a bad reputation for his mischiefs. A rumor that he took the daughter of his friend out at night wouldn’t add much to his already bad reputation.

The only problem would be Lyell who’d snap out afterward… But I couldn’t care less about that part.

After erasing the sound and presence and put my clothes on, I put Kabby under the blanket in my place and left the room.

Kabby alone was too small, so I added Maxwell’s familiar as well. With that, the blanket had a big enough swelling that you’d think there was a child sleeping there.

If I made too much noise it could wake up the kids. Letina, in particular, was quite sensitive to noises due to always accompanying me in battles.

But that was that. I used to be the top-ranking assassin back in the day. It was a child’s play for me to slip past the eyes of some kids.

I stepped out from the back door and headed to the appointed place in the backyard. The familiar told me about it beforehand. Maxwell had arrived in advance and was standing under the shade of a tree.

If only he kept his mouth shut, he would become quite a picturesque sight, given how tall he was.

“Ah, you’re here, Reid.”
“Hm? Wait, you called me Nicole back there, didn’t you?”
“It was not wise to call you with your old name in a place where you never know who might be listening.”
“Oh, so you were being considerate for once.”

There were other students in that room, even if they were supposedly sleeping. Albeit faint, there was still a possibility of one of them waking up from his voice.

“Since you were feeling so tactful, lend me a coat while you are at it.”
“A mantle? For what?”
“If they see me walking in this getup, they’d definitely get suspicious.”

My current appearance was that of a student doing physical training. If they saw a kid dressed like this, it would give rise to weird rumors, as I already mentioned.

“True, even I wish to avoid such rumors. Here, wear this then.”

He took off his own robe and passed it to me. Since our heights differed so much, it was so big for me I could live inside. But he had no spare on his person, so beggars couldn’t be choosers.

Just rolling it up wouldn’t help, so I had to adjust the length around the abdomen twice before I could finally wear it. Honestly, I looked like a kid that forcibly put on her parent’s dress. I looked quite pathetic, but there was no other choice.

Under the coat, Maxwell was wearing minimal armor like a ranger on his tough body, so he looked quite valiant, like a skilled Adventurer.

“That’s so unfair… Oh well, let’s go. We are heading for that mountain to the west, can you send us there?”
“I have never set foot in there, so it is impossible.”
“I suppose we have to walk then.”

Teleport magic had one flaw, it could only teleport people to places the caster had visited before. But that was its only flaw, so it was quite a frightening magic.

After preparing ourselves, we left the inn behind.

We gathered a lot of stares. On one side was an old man with minimal armor and dagger, on another a kid that tried to put on an oversized coat like a dress but failed.

However, Maxwell was giving off such unexpectedly intimidating air that no one tried to call out to us. We ignored the passersby glances and quickly left the town, then…

“Maxwell, hold on. I can’t keep up.”
“Oh, tired already…? Can you really climb the mountain in such a state?”
“I’ll have you know, my stamina has increased a bit.”
“I fail to see it.”

Along with his exasperated mutter, he picked me up and shouldered me like a bag of wheat. It made me look like a little girl in the middle of getting abducted.

“Hey, you can’t be serious about this!”
“You are so demanding.”

He turned me around, and I assumed a position with my waist on his shoulder. Just like that, he started dashing through the western grasslands with speeds unthinkable for a magician.

“This is pretty good. How about you keep carrying me like this in the future.”
“You sure like working this old man hard, little girl.”
“Stop calling me a little girl. I’ll be back to being a guy before long!”
“Be careful not to get pregnant until then. You can be too defenseless.”
“Hey, stop with the scary stuff, okay!?”

Like that, we soon arrived at the western mountain that towered over the surroundings. This Mount Maleva was one of the specialties of Maleva city. It was quite a big mountain, but it wasn’t part of a mountain range and instead stood isolated.

It was covered with a deep forest from midway down to its base, filled with various monsters and beasts of prey. It seems that it had lumberjacks, hunters, and charcoal makers working there, but the eruption that occurred long ago had wiped them out.

Because it had such a history, no one lived there yet… Except one.

Maxwell headed towards the summit as he followed a faint animal trail. That blacksmith lived here, but the path towards him was not maintained at all. It was a total mystery as to how he was resupplying his daily necessities.

Maxwell kept ascending while pushing aside the thick undergrowth. Where he got that much power in that body of his was yet another mystery to me.

“Old man, isn’t your stamina a little too weird?”
“Indeed. It is because I am using strengthening magic on myself.”
“There’s a magic like that?”
“It’s the Cargo magic. It was originally developed for the workers that handled cargo. It can abate the fatigue to some degree.”
“Aint that amazing! Teach me.”
“Unfortunately, it is part of the Puppetry system.”
“…Oh well.”

Puppetry magic was used for manipulating Golems and such. Perhaps by treating your body like a Golem, it earned you longer working time. At times like this, I felt quite sad that I could only use the Interference magic.

“Ah, head to that side next.”

I pointed towards what looked like a dense thicket at a glance and made him alter his course. After that, we changed our direction a few more times based on my instructions… And arrived at a giant wall of rock.