"Great goddess of life, in my name, by your power, grant those who have lost their strength the power to stand up again—Azure Crown."
As the azure light enveloped my face, the burning pain finally disappeared. I hope it doesn't leave any marks, otherwise how can I go out and face people?
"Leon...I'm...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"It's alright, it's not your fault, Katya."
Although I can't see Lilith's expression at this moment, I can roughly guess that she is trying hard to suppress her laughter and secretly enjoying herself.
"Ah...it really was a complete defeat..."
I thought that thanks to Sylvie's training, I was completely immune to topics like flirting, but I still lost to Lilith.
Looking at Katya's face, which was still completely red, it was a result of receiving Lilith's strange knowledge.
Although Katya used the Azure Crown to alleviate her pain in time, she was still feeling depressed.
—I must get my hands on Lilith if I get the chance!
This damn kitten that's in heat all the time!
~~~
Three days in Robebia.
On the very first day, I deeply felt the importance of Julius, and thankfully I had him as my companion.
Putting aside the fact that its little head is filled with an inexhaustible treasure trove of knowledge, its possession of "field radar" makes reconnaissance incredibly easy.
In short, this little guy is incredibly useful.
"If it's convenient, could you please teach me various kinds of knowledge?"
"Meow... Leon doesn't seem like the type to study hard, so why has he suddenly developed this interest?"
Forehead……
In short, if you say anything slightly complimentary, Julius's nose will stick out to the sky, giving the impression that he's begging Julius to teach me knowledge.
—This really annoys me.
It's just a cute little kitten, why is it so arrogant?
"Please, Julius! I desperately need knowledge!"
Let me make it clear that I'm not the kind of person who would compromise my principles for a living. Right now, I still have the mental capacity, and it's much more useful to fill my brain with useful knowledge than with empty platitudes.
"Mmm! Since Leon is so determined, then I will mercifully teach you properly. Just tell me! What knowledge do you want to learn? There's nothing in this world that I don't know!"
What about the "Angel God"?
"I don't know, meow~"
"What about 'gluttony' and 'jealousy'?"
"Never heard of that, meow~"
"Then please teach me barrier magic!"
"I don't meow at all~"
—Hey! How can you be so arrogant when you're completely useless?!
"You simply don't want to teach me, do you, Julius!"
"Not really, meow~ There's always knowledge I don't know, meow~"
"Didn't you just say that there's no knowledge in this world that you don't know?"
"You have to pay a price to gain knowledge, meow~"
"What do you want me to do? Buy you a pound of dried anchovies when we get to Robbie?"
"Completely unnecessary, meow? I don't eat that kind of mundane stuff!"
—Hey! Your eyes lit up when you heard about dried fish, didn't they?
"Fine! I won't learn it then!"
I take back my earlier thought that Julius was particularly useful. This guy is obviously making fun of me. I must teach him a lesson when I have time.
"No, Leon! How about this? If you kneel down and beg me to become your apprentice, maybe I'll teach you even more advanced magic!"
"Tch~ I don't care!"
You wouldn't agree to me kneeling down and becoming an apprentice to a cat the size of a fluffy ball, even if you put a knife to my throat.
Although Julius does possess magic I've never seen before, and I'm unsure whether it belongs to the King-level or Emperor-level magic, this temptation is completely useless.
"Let's do it here!"
At this point, Lilith would find a secluded spot to park the carriage, as driving on the main road would become extremely dangerous after nightfall.
Putting aside the fact that many monsters would come out to cool off at night, since Julius is the radar that can detect monsters from any distance, the main issue is that Lilith has been driving the carriage all day and needs to get some rest.
"Haha! Got you!"
Taking advantage of Julius's momentary daze, I grabbed its body and, without bothering to prevent it from flying away, began to vigorously rub its waist.
"Hahaha... Leon! You actually launched a sneak attack! Haha... Meow..."
"Let's see you get cocky! Let's see you get arrogant!"
"Stop fooling around! Leon! There's a monster nearby!"
Before I could get my hands on him for a while, I heard Lilith's voice mentioning the word "monster," so I had to give up and let Julius go for the time being.
"Can you detect what it is?"
Lilith and Julius seem to have innate sensory abilities. Lilith mainly relies on her nose to smell, and she can detect the scent of nearby monsters.
Julius, however, is different. It seems to rely on sensing magical fluctuations, and its perception range is even much wider than Lilith's.
In short, with these two radars in place, monsters generally cannot get close, unless they are monsters that can conceal their presence. However, such monsters are extremely rare, and even intelligent monsters rarely conceal their presence.
"I don't know...it's very faint. I can only be sure it's ahead. Can Julius detect it?"
"Hmm? That's strange, meow? I didn't sense any magical fluctuations, meow?"
Julius first broke free from my grasp, then flew into the air to a place out of my reach, before observing his surroundings.
"Is that so? That must have been my imagination. In that case, let's rest here! Leon, don't wander off. I'll go look around for something we can light."
Lilith had a lot of faith in Julius's perception abilities, after all, he had solved a lot of trouble for us along the way. If it weren't for him, things might have become very difficult for just Lilith and me.
"Lilith! Let me help you!"
Although I don't know much about the tricks of camping in the wild, I can still help to some extent in finding firewood that can be lit. Besides, I've been taken care of by Lilith along the way, so I should do what I can to help.
"Alright then! I'll let you know immediately if there's any danger!"
"I want to go too, Leon!"
At this moment, Katya would also peek out from behind a corner of the curtain and shout, clearly not the kind of obedient child who would stay put.
"No, Katya! This is for the older kids! Little ones, stay in the carriage and wait for us to come back. Julius will protect you!"
Of course, the "big kid" here refers to Lilith. I'd say I'm a big kid too, but I'm not an adult yet. Lilith isn't either; she's just a few years older than me.
"Leon is a child too..."
Hearing me say that, Katya would pout and murmur like I did back then, but I had already walked far away with Lilith and didn't hear her.
There's another trick to finding firewood: just keep walking along the path where there's firewood until you feel the distance is about right, then start picking it up.
Starting from a distance, even if you can't carry it all with both hands, it's easy to turn back a second time, because the remaining distances are all very short, and you can pick up and add more firewood even if it burns out.
Of course, Lilith and I were going in opposite directions, but we weren't too far apart, so that Lilith could warn me in time if she noticed any danger.
"Uh... they're just some small branches."
The route was through terrain with significant elevation changes, and some places even required climbing. Although it was just a simple step for an adult, I was not tall enough to reach it.
"Why don't we go over there and take a look? We can hear Lilith calling from this distance."
To build a campfire that can burn all night, these small branches are far from enough; you must find a large, dead tree trunk.
I don't plan to climb over the terraced terrain in front of me, because then I won't be able to see Lilith's location. Besides, I can't guarantee that there won't be a cliff behind me. It would be too dangerous to climb over such terrain rashly.
To make sure I was within earshot of Lilith's voice, I headed in the other direction.
I could clearly feel that I was going uphill, and I could see the lights of the carriage. Even though I wasn’t far away, the lights were right under me.
"Robobia's terrain is really complicated. Let's leave it here."
A thick tree trunk appeared before me. Although it was difficult to see exactly how thick it was in the darkness, it was enough to fit my whole body inside.
"That's it!"
Such tree trunks could burn until tomorrow, and there would be no problem even if they were reused.
"Heave-ho~~"
"It's a bit much to ask a magician to do this kind of hard labor, but I've trained before, so don't underestimate my biceps!"
Whew~~
"It didn't budge an inch!"
I tried to push it hard, hoping to use the terrain to make it roll down on its own, but it didn't budge at all under my biceps.
"What's going on! Even the tree trunk is underestimating itself?"
"I won't give up so easily! I accept your challenge! You wretched, withered tree!"
Heave-ho!
Even after exerting all my strength again, it still wouldn't budge.
"Never mind... let's invite Lilith along!"
Just as I was about to call out to Lilith, a strong feeling of palpitation suddenly came over me.
When I looked back, I was surprised to find a dead tree standing beside me, swinging its thick branches toward me.
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