Although they went through a lot of ups and downs, in the end, the hunting system of the first semester of the 3rd year ended safely.

Aside from the fact that important figures, Prince Antonio and my sister Delfina, almost lost their lives, what we gained from that incident was also more than expected.

First of all, a commendation was given to me for my achievement in protecting Prince Antonio, and I also received a letter expressing gratitude from Lady Hilla’s family, the Margrave of Warburg.

As a bonus, a little bit of gold, which can be seen as the price of her life.

It was not polite to return the money already received, so I decided to accept the amount I received from the Margrave of Warburg.

It was also a family that had nothing bad to do by making a kite, and there was no reason to reject money that fell from the sky.

As a result, I made a pretty decent connection in my own way, but it was nothing compared to my sister Delfina.

Delfina was sure to fall into the eyes of Prince Antonio because of this incident.

Similar to the principle that Stella and I became close to in previous lifetimes.

It was a self-evident fact that once you had the experience of risking your life fighting together against an enemy that was difficult to defeat, even a somewhat awkward relationship quickly became close.

Even though Prince Antonio and Delfina were defeated against Coil Mouse, they probably knew best that each other did their best in battle.

In that sense, winning or losing didn’t matter. At least to be used as an opportunity to build a relationship of trust.

For reference, it was decided that some of the bodies of the Orc Lord and Coil Mouse were sold to the Academy Pension Department at a fairly high price.

It was a rare monster material that you would never normally see, so it must have been a coveted item for the alchemy department professors.

The request for disassembly was entrusted to the students of the Department of Technology through the Hunting Guild, and the general manager gave Lulu the qualification to act as my deputy and delegated full authority.

Lulu didn’t have a schedule to leave the academy during vacation, and she had the highest level of understanding of monster materials among the people I knew.

In many ways, there was no one like her as my substitute.

“My, am I Conrad’s substitute?”

“yes. I’m sorry to make you do troublesome things, but I have no one else to entrust you with.”

“yes? Oh no! No hassle at all! I’ll do it!”

“Still, since you’re dealing with students from the engineering department, it won’t be very difficult. You’re a little familiar with the kids in the same department, right?”

“… Joe, a little bit?”

To be honest, there shouldn’t be a sense of uneasiness at all, but it would be nice if Lulu could improve her shyness even a little bit with this opportunity.

And most of all, I didn’t have two bodies.

I couldn’t just stay at the academy and set aside other things to do this summer vacation.

‘Dagdak, dagdak, dagdak.’

My body on the saddle moved up and down every time the sound of the horses’ hooves hit my ears.

In front of a close distance of less than 10cm, Xian’s green ponytail swayed left and right.

Because, now she was the driver of the vehicle I was riding.

“Senior Xian, I think this is a bit of a strange question to ask now.”

“What question do you have, junior Konrad?”

“Did you really need two people to ride on one horse like this?

I think it would have been much better to rent a carriage.”

It was a really inconvenient way to travel.

It was nice to visit the Forest of the World Tree at the suggestion of senior Xian, but I never thought the way to get there would be two people riding a horse.

I wouldn’t deny the fact that I could move faster than a wagon, but that reason alone wasn’t enough to explain the situation.

“It can’t be helped. Because Conrad’s junior said he couldn’t ride a horse alone.”

“So you could just rent a carriage.”

“I’m sorry, but the wagon can’t enter the forest of the World Tree. There are so many trees and grass.

Can’t we cut down trees in the forest just to make the road a little wider? We just need to be a little uncomfortable.”

“… If you were in senior Xian’s position, that would be the case.”

The elves considered damaging nature as one of the major sins.

In particular, it was their rule not to touch even a single tree in the forest of the World Tree unless the highest elders unanimously agreed.

How many meetings of the elders would he have to go through to make a road for the wagon to enter the center of the forest?

Even if I push forward from now on, it would be impossible to complete it before I die.

I was a person who fully respected the culture of other races, so I had no choice but to agree with Xian’s explanation that the wagon was not allowed to enter.

That doesn’t mean the situation wasn’t uncomfortable, of course.

“By the way, isn’t Xian-senpai uncomfortable?”

Of course, now I was in a position where I was beaten by Xian-senpai’s words, so I, as a guest, couldn’t complain to her first.

Instead, I changed my expression and carefully asked Xian if there was anything uncomfortable.

Although I knew that Xian-senpai was not interested in human men, this situation was in many ways undesirable.

Senior Xian, who sat in the front seat, would have to hold the reins, so naturally, I, who sat in the back, had no handles to hold my body.

In the end, it meant that I had to hold onto Xian-senpai’s body somewhere in order not to fall.

After struggling and struggling, I was in a situation where I was barely holding her thin waist with both hands.

It was an unavoidable choice due to the elimination method.

Grabbing the arm or shoulder would get in the way of driving, but grabbing the neck or head would be rude.

If you move your hand up or down even a little from your waist, a bigger disaster will happen.

That’s why, out of senior Xian’s body, the waist became the safest handle.

In addition, to avoid physical contact with senior Xian as much as possible, the body and hips were kept as far apart as possible.

After moving in this position for hours, rocking and moving, I was sure to get very tired.

“No matter how much senior Xian says he doesn’t consider me a man, the feeling of being grabbed by a man by the waist won’t be unpleasant at all.”

“… Listening to it makes me uncomfortable.”

“As expected, it would be better for me to get off and walk separately. Fortunately, I know the location of the World Tree Forest, so I’ll probably arrive on time after walking for a few days… .”

It was a conclusion I came to after thinking about it in my own way so as not to make senior Xian uncomfortable.

She paused for a moment, then gave a completely different answer than expected.

“Don’t say anything strange, and stay close to driving comfortably.”

“Yeah?”

“If I’m in such a halfway position, I can’t concentrate because the uncomfortable thoughts like Conrad’s juniors will fall off their horses.

So, in order to change the posture stably, the junior Konrad should stick closer than now, right?”

“… … .”

“What are you doing, hurry up. Do you think I have strange thoughts about junior Konrad?”

“… No, senior Xian couldn’t do that.”

Because I wasn’t confident that I could overcome her with words.

I calmly pulled my body forward and faced Xian’s back.

“Tighten your hips even more.”

“… Yeah.”

“Even your hand on your waist will be uncomfortable, so stretch out your arm in front of you and wrap it around it.”

“… … Yeah.”

“Okay, now driving is more comfortable.”

Senior Xian, who showed a satisfied smile, raised the reins again and started the horse the two of them rode.

Her body and my body were swaying up and down tightly, so there was no other hardship like this.

It was time to test the limits of how well I could memorize the academy’s school song.

* * *

As a result of riding a horse for about 8 hours from the morning, I was fortunate to be able to move to the village right before the world tree forest before the sun went down.

Incidentally, I succeeded in maintaining composure in my mindset without any other mishaps.

If I had just calmly held on to my waist, it would have ended at a point where my body felt uncomfortable, but moving with my body close together like overlapping was an act equivalent to training.

Xian sunbaenim said it was nothing, but if I showed a strange reaction, it would be rude to her.

Even in my previous life, I often got into trouble with Xian-senpai’s unrestrained behavior.

Elves had different senses from humans in many ways, so it was inevitable.

After hearing Xian’s explanation that it would be too late to enter the forest from now on.

The schedule was finished by staying overnight in this village and leaving for the forest tomorrow.

“You worked hard driving, senior Xian.”

“Yes, junior Konrad too.”

For dinner and a light accompaniment, we sat down in the restaurant on the first floor of the inn and toasted lightly with senior Xian.

The refreshing feeling of the cool ale passed over the throat, and the fatigue accumulated due to tension was washed away at once.

“Comrad junior, the salad here is delicious.”

“Thank you, Senior Xian.”

“The fried egg dish is also excellent.

It’s a restaurant where you can eat a lot without unnecessary killing, so it’s a place I frequent quite often even before I entered the academy.”

“Ah, was it a regular place?”

“yes. Because this is the closest village to the forest of the World Tree.

If you leave the forest at dawn, you will arrive at this village around noon. If you eat a meal and walk into the woods, you can return before sunset.”

It was not for nothing that she said that among the elves, she had the least sense of authority.

Unlike ordinary elves who never step outside the forest, she had her own principle of action that was clearly different in that way.

So, even among the elves, who fell into racial supremacy because they were pooling among themselves, they must have had their own beliefs and decided to mix with other races and study at the academy.

“How long have you been a regular?”

“Well? I don’t know because I don’t have the habit of counting years. It probably wouldn’t have been more than twenty years… ah.”

It’s been over 20 years at least.

It seemed to be a store I liked quite a bit if I had been going there for a long time, comparable to my age.

In other words, it’s been 20 years since I’ve been a regular at this store, no matter how old Xian’s actual age is… .

“Do not.”

“Yeah?”

“You were just rolling your eyes and trying to figure out how old I was, don’t do it.”

“What’s wrong with being old? Originally, the senior races lived for a long time, so it didn’t matter much… .”

“I told you not to.”

“… … Yeah.”

He was warning me with an expression that looked like he would get angry at any moment, so there was no need to show reckless courage to upset her.

We need to quickly change the subject so that sparks do not fly.

“Then, in order to reach the World Tree forest by tomorrow morning, we must at least leave at dawn.

Oh, there’s a horse, so you don’t have to leave so early? Then after breakfast?”

“What do you mean, Junior Conrad? From here we have to walk to the forest. Tomorrow we will leave at dawn.”

“Yeah?”

“In the first place, the horse we rode was borrowed. I just returned it.”

“Did you borrow that? Of course, I thought it was senior Xian’s personal horse.”

Somehow, it seemed like they were renting an inn without a stable.

… for a moment. But isn’t it a bit strange to think that I was going to return the horse I rode today here?

“Senior Xian, I have a question for you.”

“What is it, Junior Conrad?”

“If you were going to leave your horse in this village and go into the forest on foot, wouldn’t it be okay to ask to be dropped off at the village even if you came by carriage?”

“… … .”

“I was a little curious about why it was necessary for two people to come on one horse, inconveniently.

Of course, the cost would have been a bit more for the wagon, but considering the rest time in the wagon, there was… .”

“It’s been a while since I rode a horse, so I got tired. I’m sorry, but I’ll go in first and rest, Junior Conrad.”

“… Yes, please rest in peace.”

Xian sunbaenim avoided answering my question and went to his room, and I remained alone in the lobby and thought about the reason quietly.

What are the advantages of renting a horse instead of renting a carriage?

If you had to argue, it would be that you could move while facing the fresh air, but for that reason, renting a carriage with windows would solve it to some extent.

If not, have you ever wanted to ride a horse just the two of us?

… I hope it can’t be

After putting aside the ridiculous assumptions, there was only one answer that seemed natural.

“If you forgot to borrow the carriage, you can just say you forgot.”

It must have been that senior Xian, who did not want to be found out about his mistake in the search for transportation, was trying to make up for his mistake by borrowing words in a hurry.

It was a mistake that wasn’t like Xian’s senior, but he still showed a personable side.

Still, when I go back to the academy, I’ll have to arrange a wagon.