“Hey~! What are you doing over there?”
“You are always like this don’t you? You are too timid… grow up! You are a man aren’t you?”
“What can we do… you never change man! Keep your kindness, never forget those feelings!”
‘This… no… ‘
“Don’t be afraid… we will protect you!”
“Together… we will survive!”
“Listen to your best friend for once! Go!!! Don’t look back!!!”
‘No… no… no…’
“STOOOOOOOOOP!!!!”
Reaching out his hand, he screamed with all his might.
Rough Breathing, face full of sweat, disheveled clothes, his condition is truly pitiful. As if he swallowed a menacingly bitter pill his face was pale.
Slowly he moved his body to the edge of the bed. Wondering what caused him to feel so sick, and then he remembered….
The dream, what happened at that time… he stiffened, paler than before, his breathing became rougher.
“Haaa haaa haaaa haaaa haaaa haaaa…”
As if being chased by a ghost from his past, his heart beat became abnormally fast. He held his chest enduring the emotion that filled his heart, his mind cloudy as if a thick fog have entered his mind.
*Krieeeek*
The wooden door opened, and from there the figure of a small Faery, Fol could be seen, Worrying about the condition of her master.
“Master? I heard a scream, are you okay?”
She flew through the dark room holding both of her hands in front of her small chest worryingly.
“Wha?! Master?! What happened?! You are really pale!”
With the small light that she created using her magic, she saw the pitiful figure of her master on the edge of the bed. Then she hurriedly flew to her master’s side in order to check his condition.
“Your pulse is?! It’s abnormal! I will use healing magic on you… Light of healing, bloom and protect!
Yellow lights started to appear and covered Master’s body and shortly after that, his condition started to slightly improve.
“Did it has no effect? Maybe it’s not physical? then… Spirits, come and destroy!
Yellow membrane of light appeared on top of Master’s head and shined for a second before it seemingly vanish from thin air.
The mental protection, coupled with the healing from before finally manage to recover enough of Master’s self control and stabilizes his condition.
After a short while Master finally spoke.
“Fol…”
“Y-yes master?”
She jolted in surprise and anxiously wait for her master’s next word.
“Thank you…”
“Ah… yes! More importantly master… what happened? Are your body okay?”
“Hm? Yeah, I’m okay now…”
With a complicated look, he answered while silence descended as soon as he’s done talking.
Unable to stand the silence, Fol decided to speak up.
“M-master? Do you want to talk about what happened? W-well if you don’t want to then it’s also fine, I just don’t want to see you acting weird like this…”
“You still didn’t know huh…”
“K-know? What do you mean by…”
“Do you remember the first time we met? The day you became my familiar?”
“Of course I remember~! That is the day I fell in love with you after all~!!!”
With an outburst of sudden cheerfulness, she flew in front of Master’s eyes and replied while hitting her small chest proudly.
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A beat later, she realized what she was doing and apologized.
“Don’t apologize, that is also one of your good points… that is what make you charming… Fol…”
He smiled softly as he praised her.
Fol on the other hand became flustered, her face is beet red and she flew unsteadily to the bed and sat beside her master.
“Uuuuuu~ this is why you are a beast, master! No wonder us three are totally smitten by you!”
“Really? Hahaha, thank you for the compliment.”
He smiled once again, seemingly able to throw the disgusting feeling that was in his chest a moment before. This conversation with his precious companion, Fol has truly cheered him up.
A short while after that, he showed another smile, this time bitter.
“Listen well Fol… I will tell you this once… and the rest is your decision, if you want to keep traveling with me or go back home. I will properly make sure you go home safely so…”
“No! I will keep travelling with you! No matter what past you hold!”
She shouted with resolute eyes. ‘No matter what, even if hell froze over, I will not leave your side!’ This is what those eyes seemed to convey.
Master then chuckled, he felt gratitude towards her. He then renewed his determination in his heart.
“Thank you, Fol.”
He whispered.
—————————————-
“You guys ready?”
Master equipped with his hunting gear turned around and throw a question to his companions.
Which was replied with cheerful affirmation.
“Good! Time to say farewell to this place then.”
One month after their encounter with the hooded mercenaries. They went toward the nearest biggest port town in shura continent, Port town
They are only five days away before reaching their destination, and were just finished camping near the edge of the forest.
…actually what they did can not be considered camping, they used a house in place of tents, which erases the point of camping.
Using the dagger
They went out of the forest and continued their travel following the highway.
It has width of 15 m and stretched from endlessly from town to town. The highway is generally safe, because the adventurer’s guild periodically issues quests to exterminate monsters and monster’s nest that might threaten the highway’s safety.
It’s been three hour since they walked following the highway but Master had only seen a few carriage and only a handful of adventurers.
This bothered him quite a bit. Is there a dangerous monster appearing on the highway? It’s a possibility he thought. Since they also did not encounter any monster and that is generally not a good sign.
Even though the highway is generally safe, encountering a monster or two is actually normal.
Master thought about this for quite a while, but he dicided not to think too much about it and joined in on his companions conversation.
“What are you guys talking about?”
“We were talking about our lives in the forest~!”
Fol flew in front of Master’s face and spoke with cheerful attitude.
When a tamer make a contract with a monster, three essential bonds is created. The Contract Line, The Mental Line, and the last is The Mana Line.
The Contract Line is the proof of contract, so long as this exists, the familiar will always be bound by the master.
The Mental Line connects the subconcious of the master and the familiar, enabling them to communicate directly.
And the Mana line let the master supplies mana to their familiar in order to strengthen them for a certain amount of time.
During a battle, the mental line between Master, Len, and Kyu were severed and that made them cannot speak directly with each other.
However, the sheer amount of time and difficulties that they have went through together proves to be able to surpass even the rule of the world.
They are able to understand each other, albeit not perfectly, just fine. Although giving too specific orders during battles still poses to be quite the trouble, but nothing worth noting so far.
“Hooo… when was the last time we left the forest again? Two months ago?”
“Three months and 12 days, master~! We arrived at Shakku village exactly two months and 11 days ago~! And ever since then we have never left the forest even once! Isn’t that an accomplishment already?”
“It’s not a really grandiose accomplishment though… I felt like a neet surrounded by trees all the time like that. Even Shakku village is also surrounded by trees.”
“But the view is breathtaking~ especially at dawn~! Kyaaaa~ it’s so romantic!”
Fol’s act of squirming and fidgeting around while holding both her cheeks and flying around Master’s head somehow struck a chord inside of Len’s head, and so she slapped Fol to the ground.
“Owch! What was that for!?”
While still on Master’s shoulder she shook left and right seemingly wanted to tell something.
“B-bug?! What do you mean I act like a bug?! There is no way a beautiful Faery such as me is on the same level as a bug!”
Fol approached Len and slapped her a few times, and in return Len dragged a struggling Fol into her body, drowning her.
“Gebubububuruburuu!!!?!!!?!!!”
While these two usual comedic routine started, Master only laugh it off while Kyu snorted with a gaze which seemed to convey ‘Fol is understandable, but why is ane-san act that childish?’.
“Don’t be so stiff Kyu, moment like this is what improve our relationship which each other~. C’mon Len, spit her out.”
Following her master’s order Len spat Fol out of her body with a *Ptuih* to Master’s hand.
She coughed and stretched her body while doing her best to dry her wings with magic.
“Cough! Cough! Aaaaa…. Len is so cruel~… how can you drown me like that~! I could die you know?!”
Len squirmed as if to say ‘you won’t die with only just that.’.
*Piku* vein popped on Fol’s forehead.
“Of course I will! Even Faery need to breath to stay alive you know! You are a slime! So there’s no way you can understand the importance of breathing!”
Shocked by what Fol said, she imagined a scene which she and her master chasing each other on a sandy beach while shouting;
‘chase me if you can, Len~’
‘please breath with me master~’
A truly bizarre scene. But for a slime like Len, which didn’t understand the concept of breathing, such a thing was understandable. The supposed joy of being able to breath the same air as her master made her jealous of Both Kyu and Fol.
Len shook weakly and then with amazing speed, tried to drag Fol back into her body. One could almost imagine the shining eyes of envy float about behind her.
And their quarrel continued.
After a while, Master intervened and separated the two.
“Okay that’s enough! Here, use this to dry yourself. Len, you should consider your place here… you are older right? You should set a good example for your junior, and Fol… you look pretty erotic when you are wet you know?”
“Fuaaah?! M-master… geez~!”
Master smiled naughtily as he teased Fol.
Their heartwarming exchange continued and without them feeling it, the day become dark. It’s already evening.