“So, how did we end up here again?” Liluetta’s disgruntled voice reached me as I scratched my head.
Spread out before us was the sea and the sky blending together in a stretch of blue. The salty breeze felt a little sticky, but there was something about it that made my heart race. The gentle sound of waves tickled my ears, and the feel of sand beneath my feet was odd but interesting as we left clear footprints on the beach with every step.
It was only my second time seeing the open sea. This time, there was a girl with a pouty face walking beside me.
“The smith told me to go pick up my spear in the evening,” I told her.
Liluetta flinched. The spear had broken during our fight with the goblins, which was partly her and Yune’s fault.
“Oh, that explains it. I was wondering why you weren’t wearing your armor or carrying your basket, Kiri-o,” Yune said, walking beside Liluetta.
Yune seemed like she was back to her usual easygoing self. She had her armor on under her robes today, and her long-handled mace was strapped to her back. I felt a little bad about that, but I hadn’t gotten the chance to tell the girls we weren’t going adventuring.
“But it’s kind of refreshing to see you out of your armor, Kiri-o,” she added. “You look really different without your headband too.”
“True. That leather armor really doesn’t suit you. Right now, you look like a normal kid,” Liluetta said.
“Yeah. I guess I do.” Honestly, I had never even imagined I would become an adventurer until not too long ago.
“Hey! Over here!” Chikka waved to us from a rocky outcrop just ahead. The sandy beach gave way to a rugged area where massive rocks piled one on top of another jutted out into the sea. “Watch your step. These rocks are wet and slippery. If you fall into a crevice, we might not be able to pull you out!”
“Then don’t bring us to dangerous places like this,” Liluetta grumbled.
“Oh, come on! You’re an adventurer, aren’t you? This spot’s a hidden gem. Fishing is just like treasure hunting. Step one is finding the right place, tiny,” Chikka said cheerfully.
Fishing’s just like a treasure-hunting adventure? Huh. Haven’t heard that before.
“Hey, Kiri,” Liluetta whispered, “is it just me, or is that halfling way too fired up today?”
“Chikka loves fishing,” I replied. “I think she became an adventurer just so she could fish.”
I was more interested in gathering herbs than fishing, so I’d always turned Chikka down when she’d invited me before. But yesterday, after my spear broke, she’d introduced me to that smith. He’d told me it would take a full day to fix my spear, and she’d jumped on the fact that I would have nothing to do while I waited. I really didn’t have anything planned, so I couldn’t say no.
I’d tried telling her I wasn’t in the mood, but then she’d launched into this whole speech about how that was exactly why I should go, that sometimes a change of pace was best, and that listening to the waves helped clear your mind. She’d worn me down, and that was how we’d ended up here today.
But I did not expect this many people to come with us.
“Hey! Is it okay to leave our stuff here?” Waine shouted.
“Sleepy...” Sheya murmured.
“Of course, those two showed up like it’s the most natural thing in the world,” Liluetta said.
“Yeah, I have no idea why they’re here either,” I admitted.
Waine was hauling a huge pile of gear by himself, with Sheya still half asleep and shuffling beside him. Liluetta clenched her fists so tightly she was trembling and scowled at them with a bitter expression on her face.
That’s odd. Didn’t they have a nice heart-to-heart yesterday? If that’s the case, she definitely shouldn’t be making that face right now.
“Hey, tiny. You two newbies too. I’ll lend you some rods, so give it a try,” Chikka called. She wasted no time tossing us some fishing rods once Waine had set down the supplies. There were enough rods for everyone, and I happened to know this wasn’t even her full collection.
“Oh, right. Here’s the bait. You okay touching it?” Chikka pulled out a small container.
“Eep!” Yune squeaked.
“Wha... Bugs?!” Liluetta gasped. “Are those bugs?!”
Why are they so freaked out? I’m pretty sure the ones you use for bait aren’t poisonous.
“Well, that’s not surprising,” said Chikka. “You okay, tiny?”
“Huh? Yeah, I think so.”
“Cool. I’ll show you how to hook the bait once, and then you can do it for both of them.”
“Uh, sure?” I tilted my head and thought about asking why I had to, but Liluetta and Yune looked so terrified that I just accepted it. Besides, after I watched Chikka, dealing with the bait didn’t seem hard at all. I didn’t mind being put in charge of something so simple.
I carefully climbed the wet, slippery rocks and found a spot where three people could sit. Then I called Liluetta and Yune over, baited the hooks on both of their rods, and did the same for my own.
“Kiri, you’re amazing,” Liluetta said in awe.
“Kids from the countryside really are tough,” Yune added.
What the heck? Why are they more impressed by that than anything I did during our actual adventure? That doesn’t seem right...
There was something really unsatisfying about that, but I decided to sit down and cast my line. I didn’t really know what I was doing, though I knew I was supposed to give the line a little flick from time to time.
“Catch a lot. Enough for me too,” Sheya called from down below.
“You’re not going to fish?” I asked.
“I’ll get the fire ready,” she replied, then wandered off to settle herself a short distance away.
Sheya could light a fire with magic in no time, so what she’d really meant was that she was planning to slack off. She did say she was sleepy, so she was probably just going to start napping right there. She liked eating fish, but catching them seemed like too much trouble for her.
“Fishing’s not really my thing,” Waine grunted. “I don’t like sitting around waiting. Gets on my nerves after a while. I’m gonna go dive for shellfish or something.” Just like that, he grabbed a wooden bucket and started swinging it like a weapon as he marched toward the beach.
It’s warm out, but is the water cold? I wondered. Or maybe the sea’s different from a river?
“Well, I’ll be a bit farther down. If anything happens, just holler real loud,” Chikka said, taking her rod and bucket and heading off. Maybe she had a favorite fishing spot, or maybe she didn’t want our voices to scare off the fish.
I watched as the adults all went their separate ways to do their own thing. That’s just like them, I thought with a sigh. Adventurers are free spirits. Even when they go out together, they scatter. Well, maybe that’s just these three, but still.
Liluetta, Yune, and I glanced at each other with the same exasperated look, then chuckled. It felt like we were all silently agreeing: There’s no point saying anything to the three of them, so let’s just let it go.
We settled back into our spot on the rocks, sitting side by side as we recast our lines.
The sun was warm, the sea breeze felt good, and the sound of the waves was soothing. In the distance, a seabird drifted through the sky. Compared to yesterday, which had been like a firestorm, today felt almost too peaceful to be true.
“Hey, Kiri,” Liluetta said.
I turned to look at her. “What is it?”
She held her fishing rod with both hands and kept her eyes on the tip as she spoke. “I’m going to become the kind of adventurer you would want to ask to stay in your party.”
I remembered what Yune had told me when I’d made Liluetta angry. “Basically, the young lady wanted you to ask her to stay.”
Back then, I’d assumed the two of them would soon leave and join another party. The idea of asking them to stay hadn’t even crossed my mind.
I peered at Liluetta. “Even if I did ask, wouldn’t you just leave anyway?”
Someone who chose to leave a party might want someone to ask them to stay, but that didn’t change the fact that they wanted to leave. If I’m no longer useful to Liluetta and Yune, then letting them go for their sakes is still the right thing to do.
“That may be true,” Liluetta said with a nod.
But she looked dissatisfied, with her cheeks puffed out just a little. The waves rolled in and out a few more times before she spoke again.
“So you should work hard too, Kiri. Make sure we don’t want to leave you behind.”
I looked up at the wide blue sky, then closed my eyes and relaxed my shoulders.
“Yeah. Got it,” I said.
That, I finally realized, was what it meant to be in a party.