CH 62

62 – Before the Nice Hot Spring

It was a world of white.. As far as I could see, the ground was covered in snow. The skies were clear, but the temperature was low. Other than the people that Eleanor teleported here, there was no person in sight. She took a look around and then said,「Beautiful, isn’t it?」

The long silver-haired, blue-eyed Eleanor looked a little uneasy – as if worried that this scenery before us would all melt away the moment you took your eyes off of it. But her worries were unfounded. Even if all the sparkles of this snowfield were put together, it would be no match to the beauty of the way the sunlight shines off of her brilliant silver hair.

I nodded. 「Yeah, it sure is.」

After a little while, I tilted my head. 「By the way, where’s the hot spring?」 We’re supposed to be going on a hot springs trip today.

「There is an establishment that Florence built, but it is slightly further from here.」

That’s right, the businesswoman Florence, who brought all the royal capital’s gambling dens under her control, owns land outside of the royal capital. One such land is a hot spring holiday home.

It seems Florence originally wanted just the two of us to come here, but that plan was immediately leaked to everyone; one thing led to another, now a whole bunch of other people came along too.

Florence looked happy despite the frustration that was written on her face. I wonder if The Seven actually somehow get along?

「Are we going there on foot? I’m fine, but won’t it be tough for the little ones?」I asked.

Right now, it’s just me and Eleanor. I can use Teleportation too, but I need to know where I’m going before I can do it. That’s why I asked Eleanor to bring me here. From here on, we’ll teleport back and then teleport everyone else to the holiday home, but…

「No, this is…a playground of sorts.」

「Playground…」

「I shall tell you the details later… Please rest assured that this land also belongs to Florence, so there is no need to worry about disturbing anyone around us.」

What an odd rich person you are, Florence…

We returned to the capital for a moment, geared the kids up in cold resistant clothes and were ready to go. I wore a large coat over my Hero equipment. Mika was on my hip. On my neck was the miniaturized white fox, curled around it.

The people coming with us are…

The magic swordswoman of the Demon King Army’s Big Four, Eleanor the Silver Teleporter.

Teacher from the Magic Academy, Louto of the Holy Barrier.

Demon King Army royal escort cum exclusive maid, the Weapon of Annihilation Lejie.

The Demon King Army’s Chief intelligence officer, Vivi of the Heavenly Network.

The Demon King Army’s sole Magic Tool engineer, Monana the Peerless Magic Tool Engineer.

Yup, all seven of The Seven are participating.

There are also altogether six children with us, including the bunny-eared Carro, and the fox-eared Ur; and there was also Ferris, my personal maid and Lejie’s older sister, and Florence’s faithful servant, Celine the sheep Demi-human stewardess. It had become quite the crowd, but I’m sure we can manage.

With our magic, Eleanor and I teleport everyone to the snowy fields. The kids couldn’t hide their amazement, and the women marveled at the snowy scenery.

「We’re at the playground, but what do we do, I wonder.」I thought out loud.

『If this was a Savior’s mission, all this snow’d be a hindrance.』responded Mika.

I gave a slight nod to Mika’s remark. Unlike my time with the Saviors, I have the leeway to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Still, I can’t imagine playing in the snow. Your speed is decreased, your temperature is sapped away, and if there was a snowstorm, your visibility would worsen.

「Mister He~ro!」

Hopping around on the snow, Carro called out to me. As I turned to look at her, I saw her throwing something. It looked like a…ball of snow.

It was hurled clumsily towards me. I could easily defend against it or dodge it, but maybe this is a kind of game? I’ll just let it hit me and see what happens…but it didn’t reach me. That’s because a black shadow zipped beside me and dealt with the ball of snow.

It was a small-figured Majin girl with jet-black hair. She looks close to my age or older, dressed in a tight-fitting costume and a knife in hand. It was the last of The Seven, Madge. With a flash of her blade, she sliced Carro’s snowball in two. 「Are you alright, Sir Rain?」

「Huh? O-oh, yeah. I’m fine.」

She said「Is that so?」in response and nodded. Apparently, she was protecting me.

「Whoaaa!」 In contrast to my bewilderment, the kids were in high spirits. Excluding Carro, the kids started hurling small snowballs at me, or rather, Madge.

「…Futile.」 Madge cuts them all to pieces with her quick knife work.

「Is this how the game is played?」I ask.

『A game involving knives would be way too scary.』said Mika.

At that moment, the black-haired maid Ferris put her lips to my ear to explain it to me. Her warm breath felt ticklish on my ear. 「While one does not use a knife like Lady Madge, a game where one throws snowballs at one another does exist. I believe it is called a snowball fight.」

「Huh…」

I bent down to touch the snow. It’s very soft. I scooped some up, packed it into a spherical shape, turned to Carro, adjusted my strength, and threw it. Bullseye. The ball scatters into snow as it hits Carro right in the shoulder. Carro laughed with joy and started making snowballs to hit me back. Of course, the children’s snowballs were all split in two by Madge.

「A-ahem. On this day, upon this land that I possess… Will you listen to me?!」Florence’s cry rang out. No one was listening to her, the landowner, greeting us.

「Hm?」

I sensed mana, but I didn’t sense evil intent. A soft snowball fell from above onto my head. There was hardly any impact, but the sense of coldness made me shiver for a moment. I wiped away the snow falling down my face, and I could see a shocked-looking Madge looking back at me.

「I’m sorry…Sir Rain. I let my guard down.」

「Don’t worry about it. It couldn’t be helped.」I replied.

That snowball was teleported above my head, after all. Eleanor had a rare playful smile on her face. 「You were wide open, Sir Rain.」

「This is just a game…but if it was a match, I wouldn’t lose.」 I grin and start making a snowball to fight back.

「…M-my perfect hot spring ploy…」

「Something like that failed the moment it was exposed to the others, my lady.」

I can hear Florence and Celine doing their master-servant back and forth…