Chapter 74: Young Branch Squad
“Thanks for the other day! You really saved us! Oh, I’m Victor. I’m part of a party called the Young Branch Squad. That’s Fred, Colette, and Lauren. They’re my party members.”
Victor pointed to his companions one by one. The large boy holding an axe was Fred. The green-haired girl with a ponytail was Colette. The small red-haired boy was Lauren. Perhaps still a little wary, they stared at Ren and gave small greetings.
“I’m Ren. Nice to meet you…”
Ren introduced himself as well, slightly nervous. Victor glanced at the horn rabbit hanging from his hand.
“Oh! I gave up on butchering it in the grassland and brought it back like this. I tried again after that, but once I started draining the blood, those guys came swarming in! There was no way we could process it outside!”
He lifted the horn rabbit casually and laughed.
“Oh, you don’t use the guild’s butchering facility?”
“Huh? What’s that!? There’s such a thing!?”
“What?”
“What is it?”
“There’s something like that?”
The group crowded around Ren. The three in the back stepped forward as well. Overwhelmed by their energy, Ren took a small step back.
“…I’ve never used it, but… I think there’s a place behind the guild where you can use it.”
“Seriously!?”
“Let’s go!”
Victor and the others exchanged excited looks. It seemed they immediately decided to go check it out. Lauren had already dashed out from the guild entrance.
“We’re going! Thanks for telling us!”
“W-wait a second…”
Ren hurriedly reached into the pouch at his waist. The drawstring was tightly tied, so he fumbled a bit before pulling out something wrapped in cloth.
“The magic stone from that horn rabbit.”
He unfolded the cloth and held out the stone to Victor.
“Huh? Seriously? You picked it up?”
Victor’s eyes widened in surprise. He took the magic stone and broke into a grin.
“You could’ve just kept it for yourself, you know. You were the one who found it.”
“I didn’t actually defeat it.”
“Haha! You’re pretty serious, huh. Alright then, I’ll take it. …Thanks. See you later!”
Victor glanced toward Fred and Colette waiting at the entrance, then gave Ren a quick farewell before running after his companions. Fred and Colette also waved lightly as they left.
Watching their backs disappear, a smile formed on Ren’s lips. Being thanked with a smile felt nice. He was glad he picked up the magic stone.
Still smiling faintly, Ren returned home and delivered the moss-red cockatrice meat to the kitchen.
His mood remained light.
(I’m glad they were happy…)
As he passed through the backyard, he noticed Yona.
“Ah! Yona!”
Ren called her name and ran over. Yona blinked in surprise.
He had approached more energetically than usual, making her wonder what was wrong. She stopped the water she had been about to release and turned toward him.
“Ren-niisama… what is it?”
“I was thinking…”
He stopped in front of her, slightly out of breath, glancing at the leaves in the bushes where droplets of water had gathered.
(Yona… she was practicing again today.)
He remembered the sad expression she had when she said, “Water magic just makes water.” Ren wanted to encourage her.
“Yona… you said water magic is just about producing water, but that’s not true.”
“Huh?”
Yona’s eyes widened.
“You can fire water masses. If you can shoot them strongly, you could even take down river magic fish.”
“Water masses…?”
“And if you could move the river itself—splash it all out with the magic fish inside—you could even catch them!”
“Magic fish…?”
Yona blinked repeatedly.
Ren wanted to show her that water magic wasn’t limited to just producing water. It had more potential than that.
He waited nervously for her reaction.
Yona tilted her head slightly, narrowing her eyes in confusion.
“Magic fish… what’s that?”
“Fish-type monsters. We had them for dinner, remember?”
“…Fish are something the kitchen prepares, right?”
“Huh? But…”
“Are you telling me to go catch fish myself, Ren-niisama!?”
Her eyes began to well up.
“Y-Yona, no, that’s not what I meant—”
Ren panicked, trying to explain. The idea of demonstrating it crossed his mind, but he wasn’t capable of shooting water masses strong enough to defeat magic fish. While he fumbled for words, tears began to spill from Yona’s eyes.
“Yona, don’t cry…”
“Because it’s water magic… I can only make water… and now you’re telling me to catch fish…!”
“I didn’t—”
“Waaah!”
Yona turned and ran away in tears.
“Yona!”
Even though Ren called after her, she didn’t look back and disappeared into the house.
It hadn’t gotten through at all.
Ren sighed as her figure vanished.
He looked at his palm and gathered mana. A sphere of water formed in his hand.
“I just wanted to say water magic can defeat monsters… but now that I think about it, I can’t even do it myself…”
With a small flick, he sent the water sphere flying to the ground.
“Maybe I wasn’t understood because I told her to do something I can’t even do…”
He looked in the direction Yona had run, let out a quiet sigh, and fell silent.