Hero Audition Ch. 74

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/74/

Horse Riding

After shutting herself alone in her room for a while, Nerine proclaimed that she would be able to finish the magic tool by the end of the day.

Since we were already able to secure a source of magic to power the thing, today’s dragon-slaying training came to an end, and we were given free time to do whatever we wanted.

I had the mind to head back to my room and enjoy an afternoon nap when Lily approached me.

“Liffy. We should do some monster hunting. Go invite Ran and Peony.”

I should’ve ran. I’m just going to end up watching them fight from the back anyway, so I’d rather sleep in a nice, soft bed than the cold, hard ground.

“Would I even have anything to do?”

“What do you mean? Of course you will. I would like you to support me with your Sword Dance.”

“Oh…. you’re right.”

I can use my dances to support everyone. I forgot I can do that. I guess my loser mentality is more deeply engrained into my brain than I would have thought.

“You don’t want to just be protected anymore right? I am counting on you.”

After saying that, Lily moved towards the stables. She’s probably going to get the horses ready, so I left to get the others. They were apparently lucky enough to actually make it back to their rooms.

I decided to call Ran first since it seemed like she would be the easiest to convince. When I came to the front of her room and knocked on the door, it opened up without an answer. She must’ve just gotten out of the bath because her black hair was dripping with water, and her slightly tanned skin was completely bare.

“S-Sorry!”

“It’s fine if it’s you. We’re already close enough that being naked together means nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Ran let me into her room as she wiped her hair with a towel. She’s a martial artist, so her body is her capital. Her butt is tight, yet it’s pronounced as well. It’s enough to make me jealous seeing how suited her body would be for dancing.

“Lily wants us to head out for a monster subjugation now. You up for a warm-up before tackling a dragon?”

“Yet bet! Let’s go! I’ll get dressed right away, so just wait a bit!”

I walked out of the room to give her a little privacy, but she was back out of the door before I could really say I had waited at all. Her wet, drooping hair hung loosely over her ears. I was going to encourage her to properly dry her hair, but since she’d probably just say something like, “The horse ride will dry it for me,” I let it go.

Next is Peony’s room.

I knocked on the door, but it was a long wait before Peony finally opened it with a clearly displeased face.

“What?”

“Um…. we’re going to do a little extra practice by subjugating some monsters…. together…?”

Her glare was way too intimidating, so I backed off and my invitation ended up being more of a week question.

“I’m fine. I won’t be fighting at all anyway. And it’s not like you three will end up getting hurt.”

“Come on~. You’re making me sad. So in the unlikely event, and it really is an unlikely event, that a monster gets the better of us, beats us, and we die, you’re saying you’re just fine with that.”

When Ran cut in from the side, there was a twitch in Peony’s brow. Ran seems to know how to handle Peony much better than I do.

The truth is it would be for the best to have her nearby. It’s always safest to have a healer nearby in battle for the worst-case scenario, and it would be vital for Peony to get somewhat used to being near monsters, so she doesn’t get too nervous when we battle a real dragon. Ran was doing a rare showing of trying to convince Peony with logic rather than just using muscles to drag her along.

“Y-You don’t need to go that far! I was trying to compliment you!”

“There’s no way I would understand if you tried complimenting me in such a roundabout way! Then I guess you’re coming with us? All right, let’s go!”

In the blink of an eye, Ran had hold of Peony’s hand and had dragged her out of her room. I truly wish I had the ability to just push through like this.

By the time we made it out to the garden, Lily had already prepared two horses. One was a pure white coat while the other had chestnut hair.

“Just two again?”

“Yes. We will not be going far, so it should be okay. Come on Liffy.”

I immediately moved towards the white steed Lily was riding on her invitation.

“Wait, I’m with Peony again!?”

Ran deliberately shouted out an objection. It’s not like she’s actually mad about anything, so she’s probably just trying to mess with Peony a bit.

“Run if you don’t like it. You can move faster than a horse anyone since you’re so stupidly physical.”

“You’re actually complimenting me on how fit I am!? You’ve finally learned how to talk properly!”

Somehow Ran and Peony’s prior time as a team have put them in sync. They were still arguing with each other even as they mounted the chestnut horse and we started on their way. They ended up leaving Lily and the white horse completely behind.

“Um…. did you already tell them where we’re meeting up, and I just didn’t pay attention?”

“I did not. Well, this girl can catch up to them. Quickly get on.”

Once I took Lily’s hand and tried to get on, Lily shook her head and stopped me.

“Today you will be riding in front.”

“What…. I don’t think I could.”

“I will support you from behind.”

I had no confidence that I would be able to handle riding a horse, yet one word from Lily was all I needed to baselessly believe in myself enough to sit in front. As soon as I took the reins for myself, Lily hugged me from behind. No, maybe it isn’t so much as I’m being hugged as she’s just trying to support the reins in my hand.

“You’re pretty close….”

“Am I? It cannot be helped here.”

She said it like it was a simple matter of fact, but I could hear a tinge of joy creeping into her voice. Maybe the only reason she wanted me to ride in front was because she wanted to sit close to me like this?

“Then we should leave before they get too far ahead of us.”

Once it received the signal from Lily, the horse broke into a full gallop. It was so sudden I almost fell backwards, but since Lily’s body kept me firmly in place, I didn’t feel uneasy at all.

We ran down the highway, chasing down Ran and Peony who had already moved out of sight. As our speed increased, it made me feel more and more like a blade cutting through the wind itself.

“Lily! The wind feels amazing…. is something wrong?”

When I turned my head a little, I found my hair wildly flying into her open mouth. It looked like she was trying desperately to avoid it all since she hadn’t started eating any of it yet.

Now that I think of it, we probably should’ve tied my hair before leaving huh? When we moved into a full gallop, my hair probably slapped back into her face like a whip.

“S-Sorry! Are you okay?”

“Fine. There was nothing particularly unpleasant about it other than a loss of visibility, but we should tie your hair up just in case.”

I could feel Lily’s hands running through my hair behind me as she tied and pinned it up with a barrette.

“Actually, will this be the first time you’ve seen me with my hair tied up?”

“It will. Keep your eyes forward then. I am looking forward to seeing your full appearance from the front when we arrive.”

As small a thing as it was, hearing that Lily was looking forward to seeing how I look was able to make the corners of my mouth naturally curve upwards.

♠

It was a refreshing feeling having the wind blow against my entire body as we came closer and closer to the forest’s entrance.

Ran and Peony were already there waiting for us and had starting chatting amongst themselves after demounting their horse.

I did a good job of slowing the horse down as we got closer, but since I had absolutely no idea on how to bring it to a full stop, we ended up just circling around them again and again.

“Lily, how do you stop this thing?”

“Just pull the reins. And be gentle.”

With Lily’s hands over my own, I was able to pull the reins just hard enough to get the horse to stop walking.

I got a little ahead of myself though, and when I tried getting off first, my leg got caught in some straps, and I fell over. My arm got caught, there was a loud, unpleasant sound as it got twisted underneath me.

“What are you doing….”

I could hear Lily’s flabbergasted voice from the top of the horse, but oh sweet lord this hurts so much!

“I-I broke my arm!”

“It would have made more noise if you had actually broken it. It is just twisted.”

“But…. it’s broken!”

“….Nothing I can do about it even if you look at me like that. Peony! A little help!”

Lily called Peony over, and for some reason, she looked really happy when she saw me doubled over in pain.

“I’m really glad you’re here. Thank you.”

I have no idea why peony is so hard on me. No, maybe I do. There was that prank Lily and I played on her in the bathroom. Well it was mostly Lily bullying her by herself, but I’m probably guilty by association since I was enjoying it too.

“Peony. Thank you. Please be my friend. My arm is broken.”

“It’s not broken. Come on, show me.”

Peony grabbed my arm and violently yanked it, making me scream out in pain. Lily was smiling to herself for some reason the whole time. It’s like she’s completely forgotten what we came out here for in the first place.

“Look at that, it’s not broken after all.”

“R-Really? Thank goodness….”

“Do you want me to heal you?”

I didn’t like the way Peony was looking at me. It was reminding me a lot of the way Lily likes to look at me sometimes.

“Isn’t that obvious!?”

“Then shouldn’t you be begging? I won’t force you to apologize for yesterday, but call me Peony-sama at least. And make sure you keep that nose in the dirt as you do it too.”

Lily’s stupid joke has definitely set something ablaze inside Peony. But it’s burning in a completely different direction. At this rate, it might just explode and start a whole new fire.

“Peony. Save the playing around for tonight. We have a job now, so do it quickly.”

Thankfully in terms of strength, Lily still outranks Peony. With one warning Peony became obedient and immediately got to work making my pain go away.

Chapter 73 ⊥ Chapter 75