🦊 🦊 🦊
“MM… Hehe…”
“Oh? You’re awake, Miku? Morning! Haha! You were smiling in your sleep.”
I open my eyes to see Claire giggling at me, already dressed and ready to go.
What?! Nooo! I was smiling and talking in my sleep? How embarrassing!
“Morning, Claire. Mmm… I had a dream about when we were kids.”
“Oh, yeah? Was there something funny enough to laugh about in your sleep?” Claire asks, gazing off into the distance, as if lost in thought. I’m sure this is just the start of another day for her, but I can’t help but wake up every morning, excited for what surprises lie just around the corner!
“More importantly, the guys promised to take us to their favorite restaurant today, right?” Claire reminds me. “Which means we have to make sure we get our work done first!”
“That’s right!”
Remembering our plans for the day, I immediately sit up in bed. Claire’s been so busy filling our bellies with so much delicious food lately that Ektor wanted to treat us to a fancy meal for once.
“Tired of my cooking already?” Claire had asked, slightly annoyed, although the slight blush on her cheeks gave me the feeling she knew it was his attempt at giving her a break. Ektor was in such a hurry, I’m sure he didn’t notice, which is a shame. I felt so bad! Claire has trouble being honest with herself. I wanted to explain how she acts grumpy to hide her embarrassment and discomfort, but it was too late.
“Let’s do this!” Claire says, firing us both up.
“Okay!”
We’re still limited to keeping the house in order and running simple errands, but we do what we can, one thing at a time. Maybe later I should ask for some tips on expanding our repertoire.
We spend the morning tidying up the Lanakiller guildhall and then head off to complete a simple fetch quest in the afternoon. We’ve been tasked with completing some of the jobs assigned to the guild since we joined…basically, all of the really easy ones.
With the guild already having built up a reputation of dependability with the folks here in the city, I’m grateful they trust us, despite being so new here. There’s no way we’d be able to find as much work without the name of a mid-tier guild behind us, which is a huge advantage. Granted, we wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for Ektor and the Lanakiller guild. It’s been an overall invaluable experience that I’m constantly grateful for!
“…We might have gotten a tad carried away,” Claire sighs.
“We went a bit overboard, huh?” I echo the sentiment.
And now, we’ve managed to get lost in the forest. Out on a mission to gather medicinal nuts, we stumbled on a huge cluster, quickly picking more than enough, which was great at first, but…
“I didn’t think they’d be this heavy…”
After filling our bags full of the nuts in question, we went to head back only to find them almost too heavy to carry. I felt bad tossing away some of the nuts we’d gathered after working so hard to get them, so we decided to head back to the entrance of the woods while taking plenty of breaks to rest along the way. We ended up slumped in the shadow of a tree, exhausted, which is when I looked up and realized I had no idea where we were.
“What should we do? Call for help? You could use your wings to fly over to Ektor and the other guys while I wait here,” Claire suggests.
“But won’t it be dangerous for you to be here all alone?”
“Don’t worry! I can take care of myself.”
It’s true that Claire is much stronger than me, especially when it comes to combat. With my ability to fly, I can move faster than she can on foot, so it makes sense for me to get help… But a part of me worries about the monster horde that attacked our village and if there are any stragglers still around.
If I hurry, maybe it’ll be fine, right?
Just at that moment…
“There you are.”
“Huh? Err… Macro? What are you doing here?” Claire asks.
We’re both still sitting on the ground, and we immediately look up in the direction of the voice to find Macro looking down at us, clearly annoyed, his arms folded. In response to Claire’s surprised question, Macro explains how we were late coming back from our errand, and since they couldn’t leave for the restaurant without us, the three guys decided to split up and see where we might be.
Now that he mentioned it, the sun’s already starting to sink… I hadn’t realized how late it was.
“I’m so sorry,” Claire apologizes. “We came out here to get some nuts, and we ended up getting so worn out from carrying them that we got lost.”
“Sorry, Macro. We got a little carried away…”
He glances over at our bags, which are practically overflowing with nuts, and heaves a huge sigh. Claire’s ears droop sadly, and I’m sure mine do the same.
I guess there’s no point in feeling bad about it. We’ll get back to the city faster if we just ask for help!
As I jump to my feet, Macro, who seems to be one step ahead, is already in front of us, reaching for both bags of nuts.
“W-Wait, Macro! Those are really heavy…” Panicked, I hurriedly call out to him, but he swings both bags over each shoulder as if they weigh nothing.
What?!
“It’s no problem at all. Now, let’s hurry back.”
“W-Wow…”
Macro immediately stomps off, as if carrying two bags of feathers. I’m really impressed! Completely enchanted by his show of strength, Claire whispers quietly in my ear.
“Macro’s a dwarf, remember? They’re renowned for their strength. He might be short, but he’s probably more powerful than any of us.”
“Really?! That’s a little hard to believe…”
I definitely have a hard time doing so! Although thinking back to the monster attack on our village, I vaguely remember Macro relying more on physical attacks over magical ones. Watching him send monsters that were double his size flying with his fists and his feet was truly a sight to see. At the time, I’d been so overwhelmed by the entire situation that I’d simply been impressed by everything.
He’s apparently great at hand-to-hand combat, huh? That’s good to know!
“Thank you for carrying our stuff, Macro,” I say. “We really appreciate it.”
“…It’s fine.”
His response is blunt, and he refuses to look at either of us, but I can tell he’s only covering up his embarrassment. I look over at Claire, and we share a secret smile.