“What the heck?!” Ashley shouted. “You should be taking this more seriously!” It didn’t seem like she was angry, per se. More that she was genuinely concerned about the safety of Moichi and his shop.
“Look at it this way: Whether I take it seriously or not, they say they’re comin’. In that case, isn’t it better to just roll with it? Don’t worry, Ashley. Nothing’s gonna happen anyway.”
“Moichi,” said Filia abruptly, “if it isn’t too much of a bother, may we guard your shop tonight?” Filia turned her silver eyes toward me. “Hey, Yuri, these people are graciously allowing us to stay in their village, so isn’t this the least we can do?”
“No, no, you got it all wrong, Filia. ‘The least we can do?’ You mean ‘we gotta do it!’” I said firmly.
Of course, all this could well be a prank. But if it wasn’t, then the culprit would be coming to Moichi’s shop. And with the way the culprit announced their arrival in advance like that…it had to be someone strong! Besides, I wasn’t so good-natured that I’d let an opponent like that slip by. I had to fight!
Moreover, as Ashley’s friend, I couldn’t just sit back when her village was in danger.
“Moichi, let us handle it,” I said. “We’ll keep your shop safe for sure!”
“Yuri is right. We’re quite confident in our abilities,” added Filia.
“You guys… Thank you. I’m countin’ on you.” Moichi held out his hand, and Filia and I took it firmly.
“Big Sis, Yuri…”
“Ashley, you got some good friends, eh? That makes me happiest of all,” said Moichi, roughing up her head once again.
Ashley let him do it, then bowed to me and Filia. “Thank you, both of you. I don’t know what else to say, but…thank you.”
“Come on, don’t talk like we’re strangers,” I said. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“You’re a little sister to me, Ashley. I’m not about to let someone wreck something as dear to you as your village.”
“Okay,” said Ashley, her eyes lighting up brightly, “but I’m fighting too. This is my village. I wanna protect it myself.”
“I’m not gonna stop you, but are you sure?” I asked her.
“Well, of course! I am the S-Ranked adventurer, Ashley Arisietta!” she replied, smacking her chest with a thump.
Well said. I couldn’t help but smile at her. Filia and Moichi looked happy too. Ashley had spoken so confidently, after all.
Then Moichi clapped his hands together twice. “Enough with the serious stuff! Now that you’ve come all this way to our village, you need to have some fun!”
With that, the feeling in the air changed. Moichi was exactly right; it would have been rude for us to not have fun. I looked over at the Fire God idol again. Even from a distance, I could tell it was modeled with distinct facial features. It was plain to see that it required a lot of delicate work to keep it going so well.
“Can I get a closer look?” I asked Moichi, deeply interested in the elaborate idol.
“Sure thing.”
With Moichi’s approval, Filia and Ashley and I got in closer to the blazing flame. The closer we got, the more we realized just how incredibly abnormal it was. It was definitely fire, but it seemed so alive. I didn’t know much about non-muscle magic, but this idol was, without a doubt, the culmination of magical wisdom. It impressed even me.
“It really is amazing. The arms are especially realistic,” said Filia in admiration. Even an elf like Filia, who knew a lot about magic, was impressed.
Ashley chuckled proudly. “I know, right? I was a kid when I first saw it, and that’s when I fell in love with the color red.”
“You’re still a kid though,” I said.
“Huh? Mentally, I’m older than you.”
Hey, hey, what the heck was that about?! She was like twelve or thirteen years old. From my perspective, that was basically a baby. I looked to Filia for her undoubtedly objective opinion. “That’s not true at all, Filia, right?”
“I suppose that if I had to judge, I’d say that Ashley is the more mature one.”
“Yay! I love you, Big Sis!”
That couldn’t be, right? I mean, did I really seem so childish? I looked over at Ashley hopping up and down. Did I look even more childish than that? This was shocking indeed.
“But, in terms of physical ability, I can’t lose!” I shouted, jumping into the air to relieve my frustration. I quickly shot up into the sky!
In fact, I shot up to the point where I couldn’t just see the village—no, I could see the entire area around the village in fine detail. I…might’ve jumped too high. I took a quick look around.
Just as my body began to feel the effects of gravity, I spotted something flying near the horizon.
“What is that?”
I didn’t even have to strain my eyes to see there was something flying my way at breakneck speed. From the looks of it, it seemed like a creature. A humanoid one, at that.
“What should I do?” I muttered.
I hesitated for a few moments, thinking about letting out a roar to see if whatever was coming had the will to fight. If it was an enemy, that’d be great…but if it was just someone in a hurry, I’d just startle them. As I wondered, the figure drew closer.
Ah, forget it. I’d just roar as loud as I could. If it wasn’t an enemy, I’d apologize later.
But when the figure was just a hundred feet away from me, it abruptly changed course and streaked down, landing in Ashley’s village.