#025
“…Huh?”
“Hurry up.”
Carlisle urged with an expressionless face.
“…Why?”
My desire to ask ‘Why don’t you do it yourself?’ must have shown clearly.
“You’re the one who opened this place, aren’t you? You’re the only one who can catch that thing.”
“How do you…”
I wanted to ask ‘How do you know that?’ Anyway, this is both our first time here, so couldn’t we at least try?
But I had already delayed too much time, and the important thing was to obtain that item. Honestly, I didn’t know what it was, but since it was a hidden quest reward, there was no harm in taking it. I was just anxious and uncomfortable not knowing Carlisle’s true intentions in helping me.
‘Surely… he doesn’t plan to steal it from me once I obtain it since he can’t catch it himself?’
My feelings were complicated, but this wasn’t a situation to hesitate, so I swallowed a sigh internally and took Carlisle’s outstretched hand.
“Ugh…!”
Due to Carlisle’s strong pulling force, I collided with his solid body almost violently. At the same time, I couldn’t come to my senses from the cold, strong baptism of water pouring over my head. My body instinctively shrank. It felt like being beaten. Once we went inside completely, the feeling of being beaten subsided, but in that brief moment I had already gotten soaked like a drowned rat.
“Stay alert and hold tight.”
Carlisle warned. Warning or not, I clung to Carlisle without any gaps. I wrapped around him with both arms and legs, hanging on. To avoid the fierce water stream, I even buried my face in his neck. This wasn’t the time to worry about dignity as a man or think about his unpleasant ulterior motives. If I died, everything would be over. I was hugging him with all my strength, but because I was wet, every part I was gripping was severely slippery. If I let go of my hands carelessly, I would fall straight down and get caught in the whirlpool.
“……”
I thought he would move upward immediately once I grabbed onto him, but Carlisle didn’t move. The muscles around his shoulders and chest that I was clinging to seemed to stiffen momentarily.
‘What, did a monster appear?’
I carefully lifted only my face that had been buried in his neck to look around. There was nothing.
“Why aren’t you going up…”
I turned my gaze to Carlisle to question and urge him, then paused. His face was right in front of my nose. It was natural since I was hugging him, but it was excessively close.
Perhaps because he was wet, his face had a strange atmosphere and was, though not surprisingly, excessively handsome. Water droplets continuously flowed from his straight forehead to his long eyelashes, from his sharp nose bridge to between his full lips. Along with his eyelashes, his thick lips—which rarely gave a soft feeling to his masculinely sharp face—were pressed together while thoroughly soaked.
‘Isn’t the atmosphere a bit… dangerous?’
It was a face perfect for being entranced by, but I was rather tense. I couldn’t understand the intention behind his stare looking down at me. I unconsciously swallowed my saliva.
‘What’s the reason for staring at me like this? Is he in a bad mood because I’m hugging too tightly? No, naturally he’d be in a bad mood. Places that shouldn’t be touching are all touching… Even if we were complete strangers he’d hate it, let alone someone he’s grinding his teeth at. I understand, I get it. But there’s no choice, right?’
“…Why?”
I asked while carefully gauging his mood. My voice was hoarse and blocked somewhere due to the uncomfortable tension.
“…Nothing.”
Only then did Carlisle slowly open his mouth and tilt his head slightly.
“I was wondering why you’re being so obedient for once.”
What are you talking about? I haven’t particularly rebelled against you until now.
“There’s no choice. If I fall, I’m finished.”
And I’m not even sure you’d save me if I fell. Swallowing the latter part internally, I grumbled.
“Well, that’s true.”
The corner of Carlisle’s mouth went up crookedly.
“If you want to live, hang on tight.”
Saying that, Carlisle wrapped his free hand around my lower back and pulled me close. It was strong force. The touching flesh was pressed to the point of being crushed. At least until we obtained the target, he seemed to have no intention of dropping me.
‘That’s a relief at least.’
Finally the rope wound up and our bodies began moving upward. The speed was faster than expected. It felt like riding an amusement park ride without safety equipment, sending electricity to my fingertips and toes. I tried not to look down with my eyes tightly shut.
The arrival was instantaneous, but even when I was in a state where I only needed to reach out my arm, I couldn’t easily let go of Carlisle. Because I was thoroughly soaked, my body had slipped quite a bit even in the short moment of coming up. Though I generally call it stamina, both the underlying concepts of strength and endurance were in terrible condition, so the moment I let go of my arms, I felt like I would lose my grip on Carlisle and fall vertically. (This wasn’t groundless fear—in the tutorial, I had fallen several times when my arms couldn’t hold out while hanging from cliffs.)
I thought I heard Carlisle clicking his tongue near my ear, then his leg pushed between my legs. Soon I was in a position as if sitting astride one of his thighs. He supported my buttocks with one leg and held my waist with one arm. Of course, with his other arm and leg he maintained his grip hanging from the cliff.
My face would have burned bright red. That is, if it hadn’t been for the tranquility potion. Being treated like a child as an adult man, even someone as shameless as me couldn’t help but feel humiliated.
“Hurry up. How long are you going to stay like this?”
Carlisle urged. Despite the content, his tone was leisurely. His downward gaze and loose lips seemed to be subtly mocking. If he had gotten angry or annoyed instead, I would have accepted it. I could have even boldly retorted asking what he expected me to do when I was scared.
Anyway, I also wanted to quickly end this pathetic and embarrassing situation, so I stretched out my trembling arm and barely managed to grab the tree-shaped cluster of light.
Flash!
The common effect seen in games exploded and the surroundings became a festival of light.
Ting!
[You have obtained the Wanderer’s Plains Hidden Quest reward!]
[Fragment of the Sacred Tree 1/5]
[Essence of Earth]
[Farmer’s Axe]
Along with the notification sound, a reward window began to appear. My mouth opened automatically. Not so much from joy as from surprise. The Fragment of the Sacred Tree and Essence of Earth were rewards I’d never seen in the game.
The Sacred Tree did exist in the game. It was basically a nature god concept, where you could offer various crops, gathered items, products, etc. to this Sacred Tree and receive various abilities or items as rewards. For example, you could gain instant teleportation abilities or unlock functions like glass greenhouses or fish farms.
‘Since I’m not in a situation where I can offer crops or products, I guess it changed to this method.’
I looked down at the reward in my hand. The other two seemed to have gone directly into my inventory, but the Fragment of the Sacred Tree was still clutched in my hand, perhaps because I had grabbed it directly.
‘For a god’s tree, it’s pretty shabby.’
Unlike a moment ago when it looked like it was made of light, the Fragment of the Sacred Tree was disappointingly just a pathetically dried tree branch. It was just that, how should I put it, like a miniature tree split vertically, having thin branches, trunk, and even roots all intact was a bit unusual. There were even three or four leaves on the branches that were so dried they looked like they’d crumble any moment. It only looked like a winter tree, but at least it wasn’t contaminated, so I thought it wasn’t complete trash.
‘So I need to find four more of these. Does that mean there are at least four more hidden quests?’
“Hold tight.”
I had momentarily forgotten the situation while focused on the reward. With Carlisle’s warning, my body suddenly dropped downward. You know that feeling when your heart seems to float when you suddenly fall?
“Waaah!”
No matter how many times I experienced it, I never got used to that unpleasant sensation, so I frantically hugged Carlisle’s neck again in shock.
The movement was instantaneous. We even safely exited the waterfall while still in an embraced state, but my limbs felt rigid and I couldn’t easily separate from Carlisle.
“You’re not a baby koala.”
There was a hint of laughter mixed in Carlisle’s tongue-clicking voice. I barely managed to move my stiffly rigid limbs to stand on the ground, but my legs were shaking and I almost collapsed wobbling. Carlisle reflexively caught me, but seeming displeased with himself for doing so, he immediately pushed me away with a frowning face and mocked:
“You do all sorts of things. Are you imitating a newborn deer this time?”
Koala and deer… what kind of analogies are those…
I wanted to say something back, but even I thought my condition was too shameful to retort, and not knowing what might happen if I unnecessarily irritated that guy with his thuggish tendencies, I just kept my mouth tightly shut.
Cough cough.
I pretended I couldn’t respond because I was coughing for no reason and turned my head away.
‘Yeah, mock me all you want. Once I reach max level, someone like you will immediately…’
No matter how strong an NPC might be, wouldn’t the final strongest be the player anyway?
This wasn’t originally that kind of game, but anyway, the fundamentals of games were universal. Low-level players become max level and become the best, something like that.
“I don’t have to carry you princess-style to the exit, do I?”
This bastard, really, I’m trying my best to endure by carving the character for patience, but just how long does he plan to keep being sarcastic… Exit? The exit appeared?
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
