Chapter 5

Finally, the day we depart came. Fin and I were already out of town, doning our equipment and carrying our bags.

"I can't believe I get to travel with you like this, Eria-sama!" Fin excitedly shouted.

Fin is still wearing his usual academy uniform, and along with it, he wore a cyan-colored cape and an old-fashioned witch hat. He also has eight magic rings each on his fingers, leaving only his thumbs empty. Those rings were unbelievably expensive, but as expected of a noble kid, he has an unusual amount of them. As for his weapon, he has his usual staff. The staff he was holding was almost as tall as him, it was uneven in shape and has a dark-purple color. It must've been even more expensive than all of his rings combined.

As for me, I wore a short shirt that exposes my stomach inside a vest that only goes down to my waist, along a tight shorts that goes down just above my knees. Since this will be a long adventure, I was to wear something comfortable and easy to move in. This is what my usual travelling outfit looks like, and unless I'm going on a quest, I don't wear armor. Monsters that usually appear on the road don't even require me to lift a finger to defeat, so I do not worry about it much. Still, as a precausion, I have a short sword on my waist. It's my last line of defense if my magic somehow disappears or was sealed.

Looking at the map, I can see that we have a really long way to go towards the next town. Like most towns and villages in the vicinity of the kingdom we're in, its name was simple, it was called "Root". We will pass a few villages along the way too, so it might take us a few weeks, maybe even a month to get there. If we don't pull any stops, we might be able to get there within a week at most, but that's not how I usually do things.

"Do you not hire carriages to get from town to town, Eria-sama?"

"I do... But don't you think it's more exciting like this?" then I did a little pose with my arms and said, "And I also like moving my muscles! It's boring when you get there so easily without putting in any effort."

"I-is that so?"

Obviously staring at my breasts, Fin turns to blush a little.

The road ahead of us is a smooth path. On each side of the road, there were the usual fields of green grass and colourful flowers, along with some occasional trees. There were also rare wagons and carriages that meets us along the way.

"Are you really fine...?"

"Yes, Eria-sama..." Fin wiped the sweat off his face as he answers. The tiredness was evident in his disheveled appearance.

It's been a few hours already since we left the town. Since I'm used to walking and my energy is many times stronger than the average person, I was fine, but I don't think the same can be said for Fin. Now I'm starting to regret taking him along a little... I thought it would be fine since it wouldn't hurt to have a companion or two on the road, but...

"Let's go take a rest."

"No, Eria-sama! I can still keep going!"

I decided on it already, but Fin was still reluctant to follow. I can understand why he's so eager to continue, but if he goes on as he is now, he might not have any energy left for tomorrow.

"Don't worry, it's not like we're in a hurry," I tried to convince him, "And we'll have to stop and eat soon anyway."

"Is that so...?"

"Fufu... That's right, so let's rest and eat for now..."

"I'm sorry for this, Eria-sama..." Fin apologizes, just before he finally nodded along.

Fortunately, it didn't take us long to find a nice spot to settle in. The tall trees that can shade us from the sun were abundant after all.

"So? Did you pack your food?"

"A-as you said, I brought just enough for two days."

"Good, we'll go hunt for food ourselves tomorrow."

I could've had him pack food just enough to keep him going until tomorrow morning, but just in the case we couldn't hunt anything tomorrow, I had him pack another day's worth. I didn't want him to get hungry and think I was stupid because I somehow made a mistake.

Seeing me take out my bento, Fin also followed through and took out his. My launch consists of simple-looking food I made myself, while Fin's was obviously made by some kind of master chef. Just from it's appearance, you could tell it was. Feeling insulted, I unintentionally frowned at him.

Fin ate with glee as I watched over him. He asked me if I wanted a share of his food, but I declined, saying I've had enough.

We chatted again for a bit and we resumed on our journey. Although the sun was high in the sky, it didn't feel too hot. We're in a part of the world where the temperature can never get too cold nor too hot, so travelling isn't too difficult. We continued on a smooth path, and the day passed uneventful.

"How about this, Eria-sama?"

"What? No way! That's too expensive! We'll use this!" I panicked, refusing Fin's suggestion.

What he offered me to use was the most expensive monster repellant incense there was. It was something that could repel even a wyvern, and it's not something you would use when you only want to repel weak and pesky monsters like goblins. What I took out instead was a decent enough incense, effective enough for repelling monsters at the level of orcs.

"But..."

Fin was hesitant even to the end, but I ignored him and used the incense I have. After that, I put out the campfire we made for our camp, and finally, it was time to sleep. Our futons were a little apart from each other since Fin seems a little shy to be sleeping close to me. I let him be and I quietly slept on my own.