After steamrolling the Fire Giant, the five heroes were raring to get on the move again, but Dr. Tricia still couldnât move on her own after her fall earlier. Isnât it a show of her willpower that she didnât wet herself accidentally? Michelle and Letina were also panic-stricken but they seem to have lost grasp of themselves.
âWai, hold it⦠my backâ¦â âEhh, guess it canât be helpedâ¦â
While the others were still confused, I went to go lend a shoulder to Dr. Tricia, we donât know whatâs going to happen in the future so the five heroes need to keep their hands free. That means the only ones who could lend Dr. Tricia a hand were us students.
âTh-thanks, Ni.. cole?â âYou can call me whatever youâd like.â
Dr. Tricia put her arm around my shoulders, and as she tried standing up⦠she started crushing me. Is it impossible for me to carry an adult woman after all?
âOooffâ âAhh! Nicole is being pushed down by Tricia!â
Seeing me get crushed under Dr. Tricia, Cortina gave out a dumb shout. And of course, the first to react was Lyell.
âWhat was that!? To be groping my Nicole, Iâm so jea- no, itâs unforgivable!â âBut Dear, theyâre both girls.â âAll the more reason, I need to get a front-row seat!â ââ¦Dear?â
Even if I couldnât see his face while being crushed, I knew that Lyellâs tension quickly died down from the point of yelling with a clenched fist. Lyell took a step back while shivering, after confirming that, Maria gave Cortina an order.
âCortina, you carry Dr. Tricia on your back, you can still direct battles like that.â âWait just a little mo⦠no, itâs nothing. Please carry me.â
Cortina started heading towards Dr. Tricia who had quickly changed her tune just like Lyell. I knew from my past memories that when Maria used that fierce pressure, she was seriously scary. Cortina picked Tricia off me and put her on her own back, however, she was too short and the doctorâs toes were dragging on the ground.
âAww, what a disappointing back⦠If only I could get on Lord Gadiusâ back.â âWhoa, youâre aiming for Gadius?â âI mean, out of the six heroes⦠Lord Gadius and Lord Maxwell are the only bachelors.â âNo matter how you look at it, isnât that impossible!?â
Gadius is a Dwarf, and Maxwell is an elf, whatâs more, heâs getting on in years. If youâre aiming for a guy, thereâs no other choice than Gadius⦠even if heâs from a different race.
âMan, if only Lord Reid is still here, Iâd have gone after him hard.â âAlright, letâs leave her behind.â âJu-just kidding, kidding!â
Hearing that made me twitch suddenly. At the time, the nature of my work caused everyone to fear me, but could it be Iâm popular now? If only Iâd have stayed alive!
âIn the first place, when Reid died, you were only 10 years old, werenât you. That age gap is too large.â âShut up you spinster.â âWazzat?â
Despite Dr. Tricia being on her back, the two managed to skillfully pull on each otherâs cheeks. True though, the human doctor would have a hard time matching up with us, whether itâs a dwarf, an elf, catkin, or a half-demon, our lifespans are much longer. Dwarves and catkin can live for 300 years, elves last twice as long. Half-demons and gnomes have exceedingly long unconfirmed lifespans.
Seeing the two pulling their cheeks like that caused Letina to finally reboot mentally. Michelle, who had been hugging her, spoke up as she came back to her senses as well.
âUmmâ¦â âHm, what is it?â âAre we just going to leave the Fire Giantâs corpse like that? Iâm pretty sure we could get some high-quality materials from it though.â
As she said, the Fire Giantâs hide could be used to make some sturdy armor. The bones that supported the giantâs great frame could have several uses. For my part though, Iâm curious if I could use the hair as a strong wire-like weapon.
âHm⦠Well, skinning and disassembling a human-like monster in front of a bunch of kidsâ¦. As youâd expect, thatâs a bitâ¦â âAnd so this time, we wonât be taking any Fire Giant materials ok.â
Cortina and Maria both refuted the idea were standing next to each other. In other words, theyâre saying weâre leaving the Fire Giant as-is for now for the sake of our mental health. Luckily, the Fire Giant forced most of the creatures normally living in the forest to evacuate, so we have the option of coming back for the materials later.
Besides, because of our subjugation of the evil dragon, weâre all fairly wealthy thanks to its materials, and that includes myself. If I could reach my stash, Iâd have enough assets to buy a small town, however that stash is located in one of the Great Three Kingdoms in the south, the Alecmarle Sword Kingdom, but I currently have no way of getting there.
âWell, with this level of material, the gear I have now is far better, and any money we get from it would just be pocket change. That said, letâs get a move on.â âUmm⦠But this material is enough to cover several years worth of my salaryâ¦â
Mariaâs comment surprises Dr. Tricia, and leads her to another truth.
âDoes that mean, youâre also loaded?â âLetâs see⦠I guess I could buy about half the land in Raum with what I got?â âNo way!? Even though you live in that raggedy place!?â âDonât call it raggedy! I just donât feel like living in the lap of luxury.â âSo next time we go drinking itâs your treat?â âYouâre suddenly mooching!? Is friendship between girls so fickle!?â
Cortina started moving while raising a racket and we three chased after her in a hurry.