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Mirabelle raised her head to look at the place that Kirsten brought her to. A look of surprise flashed across her face, as she was astonished by the scenery here. Indeed, the scenery was quite magnificent and grand.

The two of them were currently at the foot of a large mountain. They had followed the river which provided water for their village all the way up to this tall mountain.

“This is… the place you wanted to take me to?”
“Yes…”
“This is such a beautiful place? Why is nobody living here?”

Mirabelle looked at the waterfall descending from the sky. The tall mountain in front of her had stopped the magic beasts from attacking.

Walls were carved into the mountainsides to block the magical beasts.

“Well, it’s quite troublesome to go up and down from here every day, which is why we had no intention of living on the mountain. Besides, this mountain is a natural barrier. Our inner walls were made by following the mountains. More importantly, we don’t need the wood from the mountain as a resource for starting fire anymore, as most homes will have a hearth that can transform magic into fire, which is why cooking and lights both use that as an energy source…”
“I know. The energy source is magic. Magic provides all energy in this world…”

Mirabelle naturally knew this as it was a setting in the game she had designed. Magic – that was the mysterious power which was hidden in every living creature’s body.

It was because of magic that the environment hadn’t been destroyed by humans or other living creatures.

The only unstable creature produced by the environment would be magical beasts.

“It’s because of this, which was invented by someone amazing yet unknown, that our world is so wonderful…”

Kirsten turned towards Mirabelle and showed a sincere smile.

“I… I’m not that amazing…”
“Eh?”

Kirsten glanced curiously at Mirabelle, who realized what she said and hurriedly waved her hand.

“N… nothing at all…”
“Your reaction just now was as if you were the one who invented it all. I suppose that someone who invented all this wouldn’t possibly come to such a place…”
“You’re right, ahaha…”

‘So sorry for coming to such a place,’ Mirabelle sardonically thought to herself rather helplessly.

“We’re almost there, just follow these stairs upward…”
“So there are actually stairs here…”
“Eh… The stairs were constructed alongside the walls since it was convenient to do both.”

Kirsten suddenly turned a corner and arrived at a nearby staircase as she walked in front.

“That does make it easier… Eh? Such a long staircase?”

When Mirabelle saw the long staircase reaching all the way up into the clouds, she was surprised as she thought she could easily reach the mountaintop, yet the stairs turned out to be so long.

“Otherwise, why would I say that this place was completely quiet?”

Kirsten teasingly blinked her eyes.

Only then did Mirabelle realize that Kirsten was referring to this place up high when she said she knew a quiet place.

Mirabelle finally realized why nobody was willing to come to this place high above the waterfall.

It had nothing to do with energy. These stairs were simply too long.

It would take more than half a day to travel here and back, and the trip was also exhausting.

There also wasn’t anything useful here, which was why this place was really quiet.

Well, it didn’t matter, since it was fine as long as she could test her arrows.

“We should walk faster…”

Kirsten took Mirabelle’s wrist and led her up the stairs.

Mirabelle was exhausted to the point of collapsing before she even ascended one-fourth of the way up.

“W… wait for me, Kirsten, wait for me… I’m so tired, I want to rest a little…”

She only had 45 Endurance. It was far too difficult for her to climb such a long staircase.

She already felt pain all over her body just from walking up this much.

Her muscles felt like they were burning up. Her stamina was truly atrocious.

“Hah… hah… hah…”

Mirabelle sat down on the staircase as alluring pants constantly came from her small mouth.

Kirsten couldn’t help but swallow her saliva when she heard those alluring pants from Mirabelle’s small mouth.

“Alright, let’s rest here for a little while.”

Kirsten also sat down by Mirabelle’s side.

“Honestly, it’s so unfair…”
“What are you saying is unfair?”
“Your stamina! Why is it so good!?”

Mirabelle went up to Kirsten’s face and viciously interrogated her.

“About that, I think it’s because I achieved such stamina from often going out to train and hunt?”

-Indeed, Endurance was highly connected to one’s level. Since Kirsten was already level 162, going up such stairs wasn’t any effort at all for her.

However-

“It really is so unfair. My foot hurts so much and I don’t want to walk…”

Mirabelle turned her head away and began to act spoiled as she held onto her sandaled foot with both hands.

Kirsten glanced at Mirabelle’s crystal-clear fingernails.

No matter what angle she looked from, she felt that Mirabelle was really cute. Mirabelle’s spoiled tone also made her seem especially cute.

“Well… if you won’t walk, then how about I leave you behind?”
“Er… leave if you want, but I refuse to walk anymore…”

Kirsten intentionally acted like she wanted to abandon Mirabelle, while Mirabelle continued to act willfully.

“Then, what do you want to do, Mirabelle?”
“Will you agree to any condition that I want?”
“I suppose so, if it’s a condition I can meet…”

Mirabelle immediately arched her lips up in a wicked smile when Kirsten said this.

A while later, Kirsten carried Mirabelle on her back again.

“As I expected… well, since I have the stamina, I might as well carry you up there. This is a one-time favor only…”

Kirsten had said that the last time as well. However, Mirabelle didn’t expose her. It felt quite nice to be spoiled by someone.

“Thank you, Kirsten…”
“No need to be polite. I chose this place to begin with. I’m so sorry that I made you walk for so long in the end…”
“No no no, you wouldn’t have needed to carry me if it wasn’t for me mentioning first that I wanted to try the arrows. That’s why it’s my fault. You had to carry a burden like me before your injuries could completely heal…”

Mirabelle’s tiny butt was gently slapped after she said this.

“As I said, don’t say such things again. Didn’t I say it before? Whether you’re a burden or not isn’t for you or others to decide. That’s right, Reyne’s not the one who decides, either. I decide that. I say that you’re my companion, so you’re my companion. This is something that will never change. Mirabelle, if you can’t accept it no matter what, then please become stronger. Not only will you obtain my recognition, but you’ll also obtain others, as well as Reyne’s recognition…”
“Yes, I understand…”

Mirabelle had a resolute expression on her face. She was definitely going to become stronger in order to protect what was important to her-

Mirabelle Brillana no longer wanted to feel such a sensation again. Her own family and friends had been killed right in front of her eyes. Mirabelle had sworn to never have to feel that helpless feeling ever again.

If she wanted to protect Kirsten, first she would need to truly become Kirsten’s companion. She would need to become as strong as Kirsten was – no, she needed to become even stronger than Kirsten. That was the only way she would be able to protect Kirsten.

Mirabelle’s heart was filled with resolution.

After a long while, she finally arrived at the top of the stairs, where Kirsten placed Mirabelle on the ground. When they turned to look below them – they could see almost everything on the entire island. This was where the elves resided.

Walls, houses, and the elves below the mountain. Everything seemed to be so tiny.

“Such beautiful scenery…”
“Indeed, this is a nice place for a picnic. However, we didn’t come here to play today. When I have time, I’ll take you to have fun at an even prettier place.” Kirsten glanced below her by following Mirabelle’s gaze as she gently caressed Mirabelle’s soft blue hair.

Mirabelle also nodded and silently accepted her caressing.

Originally, she didn’t want to have anyone she hated touching her head. However, she didn’t resist, which probably meant that she had accepted Kirsten?

“Yeah… you’re right…”
“Now then, weren’t we going to test these? Let us see how strong these arrows are.”

It was precisely because of wanting to test the two types of arrows that the two of them had gone to the trouble of coming to the top of this tall mountain where nobody would disturb them.

“Although I’ve already seen the power of the blinding arrow before, you were the one who used it last time. Could you let me try this time?”
“Yes, I can, but you can’t get too close, since your eyes might even be permanently blinded by the strong light if you get too close. Hide behind this rock and just shoot the blinding arrow on that tree over there…”

Mirabelle found a rather large rock for her and Kirsten to hide behind.

Kirsten prepared the blinding arrow and aimed it at a distant tree. First, she adopted a shooting posture –

“Okay, now you just have to inject your own mana into it…”
“Inject my mana? How do I do that…?”
“Try and imagine doing it. Since I can do it, you can do it as well…”

Mirabelle believed that much in Kirsten.

Kirsten raised her bow and then tightly closed her eyes –

‘Mirabelle believes in me, so I must be able to do it.’

When Kirsten felt a certain something in her body being absorbed by the blue maple paper, Mirabelle saw some words begin to glow light blue. This light meant that the spell formation had been activated.

Thus, Mirabelle loudly shouted to Kirsten,

“Right now!”

Kirsten immediately released her hand upon hearing Mirabelle’s voice. The arrow shot at the tree with incredibly fast speed.

Mirabelle hugged Kirsten, who was observing with great interest.

When the arrow hit the tree, it released an incomparably strong blinding light. Everything in the area was illuminated really clearly despite it already being day.

Kirsten’s eyes would have been ruined if she saw this strong light directly. Luckily, Mirabelle had covered Kirsten’s eyes as she hugged her behind a rock.

The blinding light effect from the arrow finally disappeared after persisting for about five minutes.

Mirabelle hugged Kirsten for about ten minutes before finally opening her eyes to look at the sky when she felt it was about time.

The strong light had already dissipated.

“It’s fine now, Kirsten…”

Mirabelle helped Kirsten up after tightly hugging her for so long. Mirabelle then stood behind the rock and told her, “It really was so close just now. Are your eyes alright?”

Mirabelle looked at Kirsten’s purple eyes from a close distance.

Kirsten’s face suddenly became bright red. Nobody had ever been so physically close to her before apart from her parents.

Mirabelle also hurriedly backed away a step or two after noticing how red Kirsten’s face was.

“S… sorry, I didn’t notice that you… next time, I… I’ll pay attention…”