"...This doesn't sound like something a good kid would do."
"I never said I was a good kid."
Of course, this is all predicated on me actually achieving something and having a mentor as a guarantor. Other students who wanted to follow suit would have been dragged back and scolded so badly they wouldn't even recognize their own mothers.
“You sound quite proud of yourself,” Miyuki said.
“No, I just wanted to be able to be lazy better,” I said. “Initially, I accepted my parents’ suggestion to learn magic because I had the talent and they had high expectations of me. On the other hand, I heard that as long as I could graduate from the academy, I could have a well-paid and extremely easy job.”
Unexpectedly, after accidentally stumbling into his mentor's room, he suddenly became even busier. Just when he had finally resolved a mess of troubles and had a couple of weeks of respite, he ran into Hikari and the others who had accidentally missed their coordinates and fallen into the Little Garden, forcing him to run around with them again.
Okay, I should have known better than to be lazy. I should have installed all the doors and security equipment first.
But it's too late to regret it now...
Okay, I admit it, at least when we don't have to run around everywhere for various reasons, it's really nice to have a few more people living in the miniature garden. It's a bit more lively, isn't it?
You can roll around with a cat on a green lawn, snuggling together in the warm sunshine; you can listen to Yao quietly reading a book in his calm, even tone, for an entire afternoon; and you can listen to Hikari's exclamations of surprise while helping her prepare ingredients she's not particularly good at...
When he was really unhappy, he would go back to his little room, draw the curtains, open the items he had picked up from the antique market, and play games all day and all night with the controller that his mentor had repaired.
Life is really pretty good, isn't it?
Therefore, these annoying things should be dealt with as soon as possible.
With a hint of resentment, I spread the branches of the lightning tree around me. The intersecting flashes of light accurately struck the monsters that had been marked by my senses, charring their already abnormally dark bodies and giving them a perfectly smoky aroma of roasted meat amidst their stench.
"Are you hungry?"
She shattered the last two monsters that lunged at her with ice, then, without even glancing at the scattered pieces of flesh behind her, she glanced more at the smoky, fragrant chunks of meat before slowly sheathing her sword and approaching.
I smiled and didn't answer.
Her gaze moved downwards, landing on my wrist: "If you don't need it, why wear it?"
The test tube containing the [liquid metal] remained securely bound to my wrist. The silver liquid flowed quietly, and under the protection of the test tube with the applied barrier spell, it did not react to any of the spells I cast.
"It's not time yet." I replied. Miyuki seemed slightly puzzled, her brows furrowing, but she ultimately nodded gently without asking any further questions.
About an hour later, as the sun rose above the thick clouds and gradually moved toward the center of the sky, the clearing operation of the small group of monsters in front of the city gate was nearing its end, as confirmed by the city guards stationed on the city walls.
The rest was just chores like finishing off monsters that were still alive, collecting materials, and cleaning up the battlefield.
According to the task assignments before departure, this part of the mission was handled by the city guards, assisted by the fairies. The combat personnel only needed to count and separate the wounded, rest briefly in a confirmed safe zone, and then continue moving deeper into the forest.
Watching the rescue team rushing to the scene and the city guards assisting, carrying more than a dozen severely injured people into the city, and then a few people choosing to quietly retreat halfway through, the number of people leaving the city suddenly shrank to about half of what it was originally.
"If you choose to quit halfway, the blade will become dull."
Miyuki also noticed what those people were doing, but in the end she just stood there and watched from afar, without choosing to stop them or take any further action.
"That's nothing more than the coward's indulgence and freedom."
I heard her seemingly whispering to herself: "But I will no longer allow myself to become weak."
"If I choose to retreat here, should I also choose to retreat when faced with even more difficult problems in the future?"
She didn't say anything more after that, but just gazed at the sky for a while before following the moving group to a small open space not far away. With a knife in one hand, she huddled under the shade of a tree and closed her eyes to rest.
My unfortunate friend Hiro suddenly appeared out of nowhere, covered in steaming hot, blood-soaked skin. He startled me, who had just noticed him. I could hear worried whispers all around, but no one dared to approach. I kicked him to the nearby river and washed him thoroughly before he felt a little better.
"How did it get like this?" I asked, puzzled.
Hiro pouted, ignoring the fact that his clothes were wet, and vigorously wrung out the excess water. He then shook them a couple of times in the wind before preparing to put them on: "I rushed too far ahead. I was busy dealing with the pack of demon wolves that were closing in, and I didn't notice that a passing demon bear had given me a crushing blow. I had no choice but to disembowel it, and as a result, I got soaked."
No wonder I couldn't find this guy in the crowd when I scanned the area; turns out he'd been fighting his way into the beast horde.
If you think about Hiro's usual spell, its shape is a longsword formed by magic power. It combines two spells in one, and its shape is light and swift, yet extremely durable. It also has good magic power conduction, and the additional spells are stable and convenient.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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