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“We… cleared it, right?”
“We did, Master.”

From where we had emerged, we looked at the large hole where the dungeon used to be¹. Said hole had already turned into an ordinary crater, without any entrance to be seen.

“Master, what are we going to do now?”
“That’s obvious. Get outta this forest. As we are now, we’ll probably manage it.”
“Yeah… you’re right. In that case…”

The next moment, magic power could be felt from Rir and she was enveloped by an aura that resembled black wind. Though it wasn’t simply black… it felt more exquisite. I wasn’t sure how to put it, but it wasn’t ordinary.

This was Rir’s “Flying God Vigor of the Stormshadow” skill. While this omitted various things it could do… one of its effects was that it allowed the user to fly freely through the air. By using it, we could fly up from the bottom of the valley.

“Master, please get on!” Rir told me as she presented her lower back.

In other words, she wants me to ride on her back as she’s flyin’ through the air, don’t she?

As a matter of fact, Psychic magic would’ve been enough, seeing you could use that to hover in the air… At least if you had about as much spellpower, dexterity, and MP as I had². However, when Rir obtained this skill, she had proclaimed “We’re in a relationship, so when we finally make our climb out of the valley, let’s do it together.”

And that’s how it turned out.
…I thought she just meant holdin’ hands, so I agreed.

“Hey, Rir. I… didn’t think you’d carry me on your back… Can’t we just hold hands as we fly up there?”
“Woof~… Why?”

When I asked her that, Rir looked at me with puffed-out cheeks, so I corrected myself.

“Well, for me to ride on your back… It’s a bit…”
“In that case… you can hug me from behind. Though you’ll need to hold on tight… would that work?”
“…I guess,” I agreed in resignation.

Huggin’ her will be embarrassin’… though it’s better than bein’ carried on her back. Yup.
If you ask me what the difference between the two options is… guess it’s not having somethin’ holdin up your legs and how it feels³.

I put my arms around her.
She’s as soft as always… Nope, not the time for that.

“Eh-heh-heh… You’re warm, Master… Alright, let’s go.”

Rir rushed up towards the sky, while I used my arm strength and Psychic Magic to keep myself from falling.

____
__
_

“We’ve arrived.”
“Right.”

I got off Rir’s back.

I’m quite a bit taller than her and she has a tail, so it was a pretty weird position to be in, though ridin’ on the back of a girl my age was a rare experience, so I won’t complain.

…Even though we went through all that hardship and disaster, we did fly through the air for a moment, y’know.

“Now… how’ll we get back to the city?”
“We can probably get there by running.”

It would take several hours from here to the city by carriage.
That’s equivalent to several days of walking… even if we make use of all our quickness and run, it’ll probably still take quite some time. More than anythin’, we’ll get tired.

“Oh, I see, exhaustion is an issue. Then, should we look for the nearest village and…”

As Rir was about to elaborate, we heard the voice of a middle-aged man from the shadow of a boulder.

“Oi, what are you doing here!? Who gave you permission!?”

The owner of said voice closed in on us. My own physique paled compared to his; he had bulging muscles, like those of a professional bodybuilder⁴, and long, blond, curly hair.

Also, ain’t that guy more than two meters tall?

Finally, on his shoulders, he was carrying a gigantic hammer.

“Erm… Who are you, Sir?” I tried asking him for a start.

However, Rir apparently knew who the man was, and immediately told me.

“Master… That man is an SSS-Ranker.”
“Seriously!?”

What the hell is an SSS-Ranker doin’ in a place like… Oh, right, guess he came here to defeat that normal Mountain Eater.

“Gah-ha-ha-ha! It’s like the little miss says! I am Thor… the Ruler of Thunder! Gah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

The middle-aged man, who was apparently called Thor, laughed in a booming voice.
So, he’s one of these middle-aged man… the powerful ones.

“Then, why are you here?” he asked. “This area should be off-limits.”
“Ah, well… That explanation is going to take a while…”
“Hm~…?”

The hell?
The middle-aged man immediately got close to me and peered at my face, as if to check for something. He smelled of alcohol and tobacco.

“Oh~!? You kids… You didn’t accept a request here close to one week ago, did you!?” he inquired.

Maybe he knows that we’ve gone missin’? That’d make our explanation easier.

“Yes, we certainly did.”
“I see, I see… Well, I came here to take care of a Mountain Eater who has been showing up since several days ago. I’ve already finished that job, but… a boy with black hair and black eyes and a slave girl wearing a red hood came here to do a request on the day that bird first appeared, and then went missing…”

So, he did come here to defeat the Mountain Eater after all… and he already killed it. SSS-Rankers are as strong as expected. That moniker ain’t just for show.

Also, it really is known that we went missin’. That’s good.

“Well~… there were rumors of you kids being dead… but to think you survived! Gah-ha-ha-ha-ha! You’re sturdy, aren’t you? Gah-ha-ha-ha! What have you been doing?”

We gave… guess I should stop callin’ him “that middle-aged man called Thor” in my mind and just use “Thor” instead…

We gave Thor a somewhat modified account, in which we were met with disaster a few days ago, survived in the forest by defeating magic beasts, and finally flew through the air with a skill we obtained thanks to the skill points from all the level-ups during those days, which brought us to the present.

“I see~! Gah-ha-ha-ha! Gotcha, gotcha. I was just about to go home… Should I give you a ride in my carriage?”
“Yes, t-thank you very much!”
“Thank you so much!”

He’s a kind middle-aged man.

Thus, we were able to hitch a ride on Thor’s carriage.

TL notes:
Back to Shuu and Rir who finally got out of the forest.

While Shuu doesn’t have Alim’s OP gear, his quickness stat should still allow him to run to the city faster than any carriage, though he probably never tested how fast he can run (also, he’d have to carry Rir since her stats are a lot lower).

It’s nice that we’re meeting Thor again, especially since we know from Kanata and Sakura’s chapters that he’s a good guy. Maybe he can even help Shuu find those two?

1. This is, for whatever reason, written in third person in the original. I guess the author was still in Kanata & Sakura chapter mode at that point.
2. That’s a pretty high bar to clear. A normal person would have to use Reincarnation 70 times to get the amount of STP he has.
3. He could also ask her to pick him up in a princess carry instead. I’m sure she’d love that.
4. The original here is ビルダーレベルのゴリマッチョ (“Gori-Macho of Builder Level”), which I assume means a “Gorilla-like macho man on the level of a bodybuilder”. I don’t mention this since I am unsure if this interpretation is correct, but because I think these abbreviations are hilarious.