How to Suck Honey at a Warrior’s Party

truth.

“So if you’re not going to cover your face, will you take off your robe?”

“Maybe, no?”

“What?”

“There’s a difference between being unmasked by your mates and being unmasked by the sun.”

“…The sun, the sun, um, you mean that thing in the sky.”

I nodded dutifully.

In retrospect, the warrior wasn’t that tanned.
His skin was pearly white from running around in the sun every day.
Compared to the milk chocolate coloured skin of the leg in front of me.
I thought, ‘There’s no sunscreen here, but he’s not tanned.’

I wonder if they’ve invented sunscreen by now?

As soon as we left the capital, we were on a forest road.
I missed the magic of space travel.
There was no way a warrior who was supposed to be building his reputation by dealing with the chaos of his people along the way, would agree, so I kept my mouth shut.

My legs were beginning to ache.
I hadn’t walked this long in a while.
Isn’t there such a thing as a moving walk?

Then I had a flash of an idea.

‘I’m lazy, why am I walking honestly, I could just use wind magic to float through the air!’

I felt like shouting, ‘Eureka!’ I decided to stay about five millimetres away from the ground because it would be noticeable if I openly floated in the air, and then I would walk again when my magic power decreased by half, and float again when my magic power increased again.

Huhu.

I executed the spell, ignoring the fact that the warrior was next to me.
My legs were too sore to pay attention to my surroundings.

Okay, should I just follow him around like a balloon? Maybe I could secretly tie my magic to his ankle?

The annoying pain pounding through my brain urged me on, and I had the conscience to pull out a very thin thread of magic and send it flying at the warrior’s ankle.
It wouldn’t be noticed unless you were a five-star swordsman, and he was a three-star swordsman.

My legs tingled under the spray, his battered soles throbbing.

A researcher wasn’t supposed to be a physical person, so to be able to walk this far was a feat in itself, and very, very commendable.

“Hm, Hale, are your legs hurting?”

“What?”

Did I get caught? I don’t think he’s noticed the magic thread tied to his ankle, and did he notice my height that was only 5 millimeters taller? Is this the eye of a 3-star Auror user?

But my magic is mine to use….
You don’t think I’m going to waste it on a sore leg, do you?

Despite my frustration, my mouth was already making excuses.

“… I’m a researcher.”

After a moment of silence, the warrior called the two ahead of him to a halt.
He stopped walking, and so did my body.

I was nervous, not knowing what he was going to say.
My palms were sweaty and I kept wiping them on my robes.

“Shall we take a break here?”

Heh, a true leader.

I nodded coldly and dismissed the spell.
He glanced up at the distant sky, where the sun had yet to set, and caught sight of Herrin and Regs opening their mouths in question.
With a quick blast of magic, I covered their mouths so they couldn’t refuse.

“Eup! Eueueup!”

“Eueuk!”

I watched for a moment as they stammered through the magic, then asked.

“Herrin and Regs are good, right?”

They exchanged glances and nodded, and I untied their mouths.
With their mouths free, I quickly dragged the warrior and hid behind a large tree in case they were angry with me.

Huff, huff, huff.
So good.

I crouched down, letting my robes sink as far into the shadows of the trees as I could.
The warrior standing beside me hesitantly crouched down beside me and asked.

“…Is there something here?”

“Yes? no.
I just dragged you here because I’d be noticed if I ran away alone.”

“Ah….
Can you stay with me then?”

“Thanks!”

The hood slipped back at the rough nod.
Earlier, I would have been annoyed, trying to think of a spell to fix the hood, but now I just felt good.
I couldn’t stop smiling, even with the hood on.
The honeyed relaxation was too much for me.

The warrior stayed by his side until he found Herrin and Regs, who were resting dazedly outside.

As we set off again, I levitated myself with magic and linked the magic thread to his ankle.
For some reason, I felt like he kept glancing at me.

I must have attracted too much attention.
In my sleepy head, I realized I had acted too impulsively with my sore leg.
I’ll be more careful in the future.

Now that I’d figured out how to keep my leg from hurting, I decided to go back to being a quiet presence.