Chapter 114.2

The following day. After preparing ourselves and going out we saw that it was actually snowing. 　

The whole area had been turned pure white. 　

It appears to have snowed all night.

Unlike yesterday, today’s road was covered with a layer of snow that reached up to our ankles. 　

It will probably amass even more by the time we go back…

While I was thinking that Milly jumped out of the tent.

「Whoaaa! It’s snow♪」

Milly began running around with a joyous attitude, her breath becoming mist because of the cold. It appeared like she was having a lot of fun. Her joyous attitude combined with her twin tails moving up and down made her seem just like a puppy.

「Zeph!」 I heard Milly’s energetic voice behind me. 　

She’s in such high spirits… She really is a kid. 　

Thinking that I turned towards her just to feel something cold hit my face.

It was snowing. Milly had thrown a snowball at me.

「Milly……」

「Hahaha♪」

I glared at the Milly who was running away while laughing at me…

Haha, I’ll take you on then. 　

I kicked the ground with all my strength and fiercely dashed at the running Milly, catching up to her I grabbed her and threw her on the snow.

「Z-Zeph! That’s not fair! I hit you with a snowball so you should throw one at me as well!?」

「I’ll take you up on your offer then.」 saying that grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it down the back of the struggling Milly.

「Kyaaaa!?」

「Fufufu, this is what you get for making me mad.」

Even though she was letting out pitiful screams Milly somehow seemed like she was still having fun. 　

While continuing to sit on top of her I shoved even more snow down her back.

「Haha♪ this is so fun」 said Lydia.

「You two seem to really get along.」 continued Shirushu

「….That looks nice.」 said Claude.

While being watched by everyone I continued to tease Milly for a little bit more.

◆　◆　◆

While Zeph and the others were playing in the snow, Silverie was at the halfway point of the Cresta Great Snow Mountain.

She had spent the night within a cave dug out with magic. 　

Silverie didn’t own a tent. 　

To Silverie who primarily travelled alone a high grade disposable item such as a tent was inefficient. A disposable barrier that would ward against monsters was enough for her. 　

Or that’s how it was in the East Continent which was blessed with pleasant weather. This time that efficient characteristic of hers proved to be her enemy.

《It’s still snowing…》

If one were to look out of the snow cave one would only see a frightening snow storm. 　How many times was it now that she had to use her already numb hands in order to clean up the entrance from the piling up snow so that it wouldn’t be closed completely. After cleaning the snow Silverie went to the back of the cave and created a floating Red Ball with which she warmed her hands.

《I got too carried away. I ended up doing something stupid….》

She hadn’t expected that there would be a snow storm. 　

Due to having lived in the East Continent where it didn’t usually snow and because of not having encountered a snow mountain in a long time, Silverie ended up underestimating it. 　

She tucked her warmed up hands into her coat and sat in the back of the cave. Luckily she had food in her pouch so she wouldn’t die from hunger. 　

Silverie rummaged through her coat only to take out a pack of Portable Food. 　

The Portable Meal was something that the Magician Association had come up with. It was food that could be stored for long periods of time and as long as you had hot water with you, you could easily make a meal. You could really call it a magical food. She put hot water into the cup sized container and the dried noodles inside became soft and edible. 　

Even so there was no way it could be tasty but it still had the advantages of being light and easy to carry, on top of that it was cheap so it was really popular with adventurers. On the other hand, the nutritional balance was bad and if your diet consisted of just this, it wouldn’t be great for your health, however for Silverie who hated troublesome things she eats this quite often.

「Time to eat.」

She put her hands together and started slurping the noodles that passed from her two chopsticks and entered her stomach.

She originally didn’t like the taste, however today it tasted even worse than usual. But in order to not let her strength fall she had to eat.

《I wonder if Zeph is eating something tasty right about now…》

He was surrounded by women after all. There should have been at least one or two of them that were good at cooking.

《I guess that doesn’t concern me…》

Silverie was strong. 　

To Silverie who could solo hunt bosses, there was almost no need to share her loot or have to bother with teaming up with an annoying party. 　

Even if she did defeat a boss with the help of a party, if in the case that a single boss card dropped, it was entirely possible that the party would argue over who would get the property over the card, or how they would split the money after it had been sold. Thinking of those risks, to Silverie who mostly aimed for important bosses, the disadvantages were way more. 　

On top of that she was bad at speaking with other people. That is why she hardly even teamed up, even if only for a little bit, and didn’t have any companions.

《…Enchant Spell》

When Silverie cast her spell a black snake was brought forth and it wrapped itself around Silverie’s arm. 　

The black snake that was summoned with Silverie’s unique spell Enchant Spell had various abilities and Silverie sometimes even used it to console herself.

「I don’t need any companions… Isn’t that right Kuro」 when Silverie said that to the black snake, it stretched its head near Silverie’s cheek and licked off the excess food that had been stuck to it.

◆　◆　◆

「Triple Blue Gale!」

An enormous water tornado enveloped the Rock Dragon and sliced it up. While staggering the Rock Dragon fired off a Fire Breath. However, Claude blocked the fire with her shield and Lydia easily dodged it.

Due to Fire Breath being a wide range attack, me and Milly, who were tasked with firing off spells from the back, were situated in a far off place in order to avoid it.

Still, Lydia is amazing for being able to continuously dodge that wide range attack.

From her movements it seemed like she was able to read the attack. 　

When the Rock Dragon finished firing its breath it aimed at the coughing Claude and slashed with its fangs… However, at the same moment Lydia’s axe landed on the Rock Dragon’s body. 　

It was an attack that was aimed right between the gap of the Dragon’s hard scales. Even the Rock Dragon couldn’t help flinching from that attack and stopped his attack for a moment. 　

Without missing that chance Lydia made another powerful blow, which averted the Dragon’s fang attack from Claude. 　

Lydia flew back from the recoil and did a backflip in the air after which she landed on the ground. She still had that composed smile on her face. 　

It was precisely when fighting with strong monsters that Lydia could display her strength. 　

As always, she had her inhuman movements.

《Everyone, there’s a Rock Dragon coming towards us.》

Shirushu who was standing guard at the room’s entrance informed us. 　

Even from here I could see Shirushu’s small ears twitching on top of her head.

She’s probably searching for them through sound.

「I’ll go meet it.」 I said

「Be careful, and don’t worry about bringing back a souvenir.」 said Lydia while waving her hand.

Focus on the fight for christ sake. 　

My role was ranged support and controlling the monsters. It’s dangerous to fight two Rock Dragons at once so there is a need to prevent any monster from unnecessarily entering. 　

I walked up to Shirushu side and peeking through the entrance I really could see a Rock Dragon getting close.

「It doesn’t seem to have noticed us just yet, however that’s just a matter of time.」 Shirushu said excitedly while resting her hands on my shoulders. 　

It seemed like she’s pumped up due to being able to help for the first time today.

「There’s no point in dragging it even further away considering it’s still that far off.」 I said while casting Blue Wall at the entrance. 　

The continuously appearing ice wall blocked the entrance and closed the way to the small room that we were currently in. 　

If faced with the Rock Dragon’s Fire Breath this Blue Wall probably wouldn’t be able to hold. However, if I were to set it up before it noticed it, the wall would blend into the Cresta Great Snow Mountains ice, creating a perfect cover to fool the Rock Dragon.

「I’ll continue maintaining the Blue Wall like this. Tell me when the Rock Dragon goes away.」

「Okay!」

I turned my head back to look at Milly and the others fighting the other Rock Dragon.

I can finally be calm now that they have fought them a number of times. With the way they’re doing now, even without my help they’ll still do fine. My Magic Power has drained quite a bit as well. I guess I’ll just rest for a bit and watch them. 　

While closing one eye I leaned against the rock wall.

「Zeph! What are you doing slacking off over there!」

「Considering there’s a Rock Dragon nearby I can’t let the Blue Wall fall for even an instant. Do something about that one over there without me.」

「Hmph!」

Milly didn’t stop glaring in my direction, however in the end she turned towards the Rock Dragon and continued fighting. 　

After that a bit of time passed and from within the place where the Rock Dragon’s body disappeared Milly joyous voice could be heard.

「Whoa! Zeph, everyone! Come here, come here!」

Being pulled in by her voice we all gathered. At the place where the Rock Dragon had disappeared there was definitely a huge fang. 　It was a Rock Dragon Fang.

「Whoa it’s so big!」

「It really is.」

「Phew…It finally dropped…」

It finally dropped after 13 battles.

Everyone looked at each other with faces of relief.

「Everyone we did it♪」 said Milly energetically while spreading her hands on top of mine and Claude’s shoulders.

She wasn’t able to reach Lydia and Shirushu as well, however Lydia covered for her and Shirushu imitated them as well. 　

We formed something like a circle and Milly showed a smile of satisfaction.