Chapter 91

Three Ortem carts were completed .

They are simple structures with four wheels and handles on a large box .

Of course, the front is carved with a face, just like Ortem .

Its been a while since Ive done a good job .

I was about to lift the balm bird with both arms and load it onto the Ortem cart when Gordon stopped me .

Abel-san, Id like to check something before we stack them up . When you catch a balm bird, it comes with a little something extra . If you have that many birds, it must have something, please lend them to me .

An added extra?

I didnt know what it was, but I had no reason to say no .

I silently handed the balm bird to Gordon .

Gordon takes the balm bird and sits down on the ground with his hips and puts the bird on his lap .

With his right hand, he spreads the balm birds beak and sticks his fingers in it . Then, with his other hand, he taps vigorously

What are you doing?

This is a miss . Im sure the one I missed is mixed in with the others, so at least one of them is oh, here it is! just a little more, a little more! s.h.i.+t! d.a.m.n it! s.h.i.+t! I got it, I got it!

Gordon happily pulled out his right hand .

In his hand, he held a drool-coated gold coin .

In short, the extra was apparently a gold coin that had been used by other adventurers as bait and eaten away, sometimes remains in their mouth .

Even if it was happily offered to me, Im a bit reluctant to accept it .

Well, Ill give you what comes out of their mouth . Originally, you guys were chasing after the balm bird took the gold coins, right?

As of now, Gordon is having his work cut out for him .

However, its also useful as insurance against Gaston, although its partly because hes the one who poked and prodded me and gave me a lot of trouble .

Im thankful that he has muscles that I dont, and since he seemed to be seriously afraid of me, hes unlikely to betray me .

Considering that its likely to continue to be useful in the future, Id better be prepared to pay the price .

Theyre going to have to buy another bow for Mordon, but I dont think they seem to have much money to spare .

Its only a few gold coins or so, which is insignificant in terms of the number of balm birds .

Besides I dont want to touch those sticky gold coins .

I-Is that okay? Really? Abel-san no, Brother Abel!

An impressed Gordon approaches with his hands outstretched .

Stop with the brother . Hey, get that hand away from me!

At any rate, before enough time had pa.s.sed, the gold spitting was finished and the balm bird stacking process was over .

I had Mea and the Gordon brothers push the Ortem cart and started walking towards the city of Lomarn .

Even though we were divided into three equal parts, there were still a lot of balm birds .

Compared to the Gordon brothers, whose muscles were for sale, it was a little tougher for Mea .

Mea would occasionally stop to wipe the sweat off her feet and let out a breath of agony .

Then she took a quick breath and gained momentum to move forward and make up for her delayed steps .

Are you okay?

No, really, Im perfectly fine! In fact, a little bit of a ha.s.sle is just fine for Mea!

Mea, who said this while breathing slightly hard, looked like she was having a hard time with it normally .

The position of the handle might have been a little high for Mea, too .

Should I have changed it to fit for the person a little more?

If theres a next time, Ill consider it .

I thought about at least carrying my own luggage by myself, but I dont have that much time to spare either .

The more delicate a piece of magic is, the more it wears down your spirit .

And my legs are also bulging .

Even I can only walk as hard as I can . No, really .

On the way home, Gordon compares me to Mea and Me, squinting and scratching his head in frustration .

He was mumbling something, but when his eyes met mine, he quickly looked away and forced his expression back to a bland expression .

What is it, is there something on my face?

Hey little girl . That one on your back, Ill carry it .

Gordon suggests to Mea .

I, I dont want to! This is what Mea was entrusted with by Abel!

Mea speeds up her walk as if to escape and pulls Gordon away from her .

I appreciate the sentiment, but I dont even have anything that important in there, and it would be better if he carries it for you

I called out to Meas back as she moved away .

Mea was wobbling from side to side due to the fact that she forced herself to increase her speed .

Brother Abel too, you know, you can at least carry the weight on her back .

Gordon mouthed as he looked away as if it was hard to say .

N, no I wish I could but Im too busy, and Im doing my best just from walking or something but honestly I think its time for you to take a break

Now youre joking

Gordon looked back at me and stopped his mouth from saying something .

What? Whats going on?

Whe-, when did you get so sweaty, brother Abel

Even with this, I think Ive gotten a lot better since I left the village .

Sorry Mea, I think its time to take a short break . Mea, hey!

I call out to Mea, who is walking ahead of me .

Mea looked back a little, she tried to stop the Ortem cart but the force pulled her back and she slumped down on the spot .

Kyah!

Meas body fell with such force that the Ortem cart almost fell into the path below the steps .

Not good .

I take out my wand and thrust it into the ground .

A magic circle appears and the ground around me is engulfed in light .

Oh earth, alteration

The dirt under Meas feet sucked the soles of her shoes in, forcing her to get into position .

Ah Huh?

Mea opened her closed eyes and tilted her head confused .

The front wheels of the Ortem cart, too, were protruding out of the road, but it had stopped moving in that state .

It was a scene that as if time had stopped .

Phew!

Since it was on the spur of the moment, he took a wider range in favor of certainty, which altered Gordons foothold as well .

This caused Gordon to hit the knee of his right foot, which had been off the ground, into the suddenly stopped Ortem cart .

Oh, sorry . Gordon .

N, no, just this Ouch

Id like to disarm the magic, but if I do, Meas Ortem cart will fall off the road .

Its not that high on the bottom step, so it can be picked up normally, but if its tipped over, the balm bird will be damaged .

Land

I wave my wand .

The light from the tip of my wand reaches directly underneath the Ortem cart that is about to fall .

The terrain deforms and the soil rises .

The ground appears underneath the front wheels of Ortem cart .

Alright, with this were good now

Oh, thank you Abel Im saved .

Mea seemed to finally relax when she saw that the Ortem cart was safe, and her body, which had been tense to look at, relaxed easily .

H-, hey, who are you really?

Gordon stared at the newly emerging scaffolding, his face twitching .