Translator: P411

Editor: Evelet

Read at Watashi Wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 071 – Horse Riding Double Date

We parted ways after leaving the shop. 

I went along with Vidello-san to the horse rental place. Yuuta’s group split in two and would be having a fun time in Quattro for the first time in a while. Today was a perfect day for a date. For the [ Mad Ride ] party members, it looked like they would soon attack the dungeon that Vidello-san had told them about. They left in haste, all with excited looks on their faces. 

In the case of Kairi and Brave, they disappeared on the way to the restaurant holding hands, thus leaving us with Yuuta and Yui. 

“Mac, what are you going to do now?”

“I’m gonna have a date with Vidello-san.”

“Huh. You accused me of being a normie who is perfectly enjoying my life but aren’t you one yourself right now?”

“Well, you see, I’m filling up this gauge and it said it’ll transform to something when it’s at max.”

When I proudly showed him the percentage I had accumulated in the feather, Yuuta had a strange, funny smile on his face. 

“Yui, Yui. You see that stone, it’ll change to something when the gauge becomes full.”

“I see. I’ll be looking forward to it. But this really is beautiful and it has very fine craftsmanship. If  we had to buy one, it would definitely be expensive.”

“Well, that’s that and we’ll leave that for later.”

Yuuta patted Yui’s head with a gentle smile on his head.

What the?! A handsome guy! There’s some handsome guy here! 

I happened to witness a rare side of my friend being a gentle boyfriend, so I couldn’t help but stare at him in surprise. But Yuuta, noticing my gaze on him, had a shy look when he saw what I was looking at. 

“Anyway, Mr. Gatekeeper.”

“What?”

“Mac isn’t under a curse, is he?”

Having thrown a straightforward question at him, Vidello-san just kept silent, only showing a bitter smile. 

“You don’t look like a careless type. So, most likely, Mac made some weird thing and the result of using it is what he looks like now. Is my guess correct?”

Ah, you hit the mark. Why do you catch on to these things so quickly? I thought. My expression right now could easily give away the answer, so I sneakily hid behind Vidello-san. Vidello-san had the same bitter smile looking at me, too. 

“I have no comment on that.”

“Well, it’s okay, but if Mac can’t even give me an answer, it might be the case that he can’t tell anyone else. Anyway, can we go along with you? Like a double date?”

At his unexpected suggestion, we looked at each other. 

Come to think of it, lately, we haven’t been able to simply enjoy this world together. 

When I looked at him, he nodded and said, “I think it’s fine.”

“Then, let’s all go to the lake together…” I suggested.

“A lake? There’s a lake here…?” Yuuta asked.

We didn’t tell them where we were heading earlier, so Yuuta nodded his head in agreement, saying something like whenever he was with me, and one thing led to another, our journey to unexpected places became interesting. Then, all four of us headed to the stables. 

We rented two horses and rode them together. It was better to ride one horse per person, but I didn’t know how to ride a horse. In the case of the Quick Horse, it was a completely different matter because he just ran by himself and all I had to do was just get on his back. 

I would sit in front of Vidello-san and he would support me from the back. Mr. Horse, I hope we aren’t too heavy for you to carry. 

Yuuta also changed into light armor and carried Yui in front of him. 

“I’m really looking forward to it. I quite like it whenever Mac-kun and Takahashi are together. It’s because he becomes more excited than usual,” Yui commented.

“What are you talking about?” Yuuta asked.

“Usually you have a full aura of a leader, but whenever you’re with Mac-kun, ah, you’re so cute,” she replied.

“You…”

Ah, were they in the middle of a lover’s spat? 

As we headed to our destination with our horses side by side, I couldn’t help but look at Yuuta with warm eyes. 

More unexpected was that Yuuta was able to ride a horse. 

From what I heard, it seemed that Yui-chan could also ride horses. 

They had been leveling up their horseback riding skills properly, as horses were the most convenient means of long-distance transportation. 

“I wish I could also ride a horse. Then, I might be able to travel to many different places easily,” I opined.

“You can go together with me on my days off,” Vidello offered.

“Then, you can’t have a proper rest with me. Well, I’m happy that I can be together with you, though…”

When I complained with a little bit of shyness, he smiled, planting a kiss on my head. 

And this time, I was the one who Yuuta looked at with warm eyes. I wanted to tell him, “Stop, don’t keep looking at me.”

All the monsters that attacked us were at a level a little higher than those around Quattro, so even we could handle them with ease. 

Yui’s personal level had reached above 80, so she was a lot stronger than me. Well, I already knew this when we went to the secret dungeon together, and I also knew she showed no mercy at all. 

Even Vidello-san looked surprised watching her combat style. 

Yuuta was also being himself. He watched Vidello-san’s swordsmanship and learned a lot from it. 

It looked like their styles were different in many ways. I didn’t understand it very well, but according to Yuuta, the cause might be that he was using a heavy broadsword, so he ended up using brute force a lot. In Vidello-san’s case, he parried the attack and was able to exert maximum force with minimal strength. But Vidello-san explained that this could be done with any type of sword, so Yuuta just had to get the knack of it, and so, he was giving instructions to Yuuta. Should I also learn swordsmanship from Vidello-san? Then, my material collection might become easier.

When I asked him, he responded with a bitter smile, “Maybe when you became a bit more skilled.”

Damn! I sulked with my lips pouting, and Yuuta put an end to my tiny little hope with his words.

“What I did just now used my sword skill, so you can’t learn it.”

Did that mean there was no hope for me unless I got a sword skill? But I didn’t have time for that!

Frustrated, I vented my anger on the rare monster called a mountain spider by throwing a bomb inside its mouth. As for the threads that spit out in my direction, I caught them with a plain wooden stick in my inventory and added it to my material collection! Come on, come on! Spit it all out and give it all to me! 

For the last attack, I finished it with my sword. When I snorted with a haughty expression, all three of them gazed at me with warm eyes. 

“This is my first time seeing someone collecting materials like that! Mac-kun is really amazing,” Yui commented.

“Well, he is a flower pharmacist, so he has his own strange style of fighting,” Yuuta replied.

“You work hard, Mac. Are you hurt anywhere?” Vidello-san inquired.

All of them were talking warmly to me, who was still holding a sword. In the end, this was the only way I could fight and this was me. The weakest here was also me. I knew it. 

We went back to our horses and headed down the narrow path. 

Along the way, there was a fork in the road and Vidello-san explained that if we headed down the other path, it would lead to the dungeon in the deeper region. While explaining, we headed the other way straight on the path to the lake. 

Along the way, monster attacks became frequent, but we shook them off as much as we could with our speed. If it looked possible, we rested our horses at a safe place and engaged in battle with monsters. And finally, just before noon, we arrived at the lake. 

“Wow… beautiful.”

Yui’s voiced all of our thoughts. 

The water in the lake had a mysterious, emerald-green color and it was not muddy at all; in fact, it was very clear. We could clearly see the stones at the bottom of the lake. 

There were lotus-like leaves floating in the water, and big flowers were blooming on top of it. The occasional popping sound on the water was proof that there were fish in the lake. If I remember right, I had a simple cooking set in my inventory. Alright. But I didn’t have a fishing rod, so how could I catch them? 

There was a boat at the far end of the lake, so it seemed like some unknown person had been working there. Was he possibly the one fishing? The marker on the map was telling me that he was an NPC. 

As we got closer to the shore of the lake, the red enemy markers on the map disappeared at once, so this must be a safe zone. 

“Can I look around, appraising here and there…?” I murmured while stealing glances at the lake.

“I’m glad that you like it,” Vidello-san answered with a bitter smile. 

I couldn’t stop myself from just watching them when I saw all those new materials lying around everyone. I was sorry that I wasn’t such a romantic person as Vidello-san. 

Unlike the normie couple beside me who were hugging their shoulders and looking at the lake, it was an impossible task for me. I just wanted to see all those new materials as soon as possible! 

“I understand because it’s so like you, Mac.” 

Vidello-san, who went with me, was like my perfect lover. I like him ❣️

Appraising all the small fruits and nuts lying among the weeds, the flowers floating in the water, and the body of water itself, I was brimming with joy and excitement. 

“The fruit on that tree looks like it can be used in an antidote! I don’t use them in making my usual cure potion, so I kind of want it…”

Looking up, there were blue fruits in abundance. When I appraised them, it came up like this.

[ Blue Bell Fruit: It has an antidote effect. The taste is bitter. ] 

I looked up wanting them, and then, I suddenly remembered the magic I could use.

“Do you want me to climb up and get them?”

“Uhh, there’s something I would like to test, is that okay?”

I declined his offer and stood in front of the tree. I think this was a good opportunity to test out the Storm Press magic I got from the secret dungeon the other day. Yuuta’s magic was at a level that could flutter the tree leaves, so I was sure I was at the same level as him. I had a small MP amount, but could I use it to drop those fruits? 

I had been so busy these days, I didn’t encounter an opportunity to use it and I couldn’t use magic in the city. 

I stood a little further away from the tree and put my hands out in front of me. I was just imitating the way Yui cast magic, well, her posture. 

I read aloud the [ Storm Press ] spell that was visible on my game screen. 

“Wind that represents freedom, now become my blade and crush my target! Strom Press!” 

When I chanted the spell, all the MP drained from my body. It was the same feeling I had when I was doing alchemy. 

Then, after a whooshing sound, something invisible gathered in front of my hands.

“W-Whoa!”

The wind blade fired out from my hands with a loud noise.

“KABOOM!!”

The impact of the attack pushed me back and I was blown into the air. 

But Vidello-san immediately caught me.

Wow, magic was amazing!

I looked at my hands and looked back at the tree again. The tree had bent over and most of its fruits had fallen to the ground. And not only that but almost all of the fruits of the surrounding trees had fallen to the ground. 

“Ah, haha… I never knew it was this powerful. I thought this would be like a gentle breeze like Yuuta’s magic…”

My heart was still racing from the action a moment ago. Releasing magic really made one feel really liberated, didn’t it? 

When I checked my MP again, nearly all of it was blown in one go. 

I hurriedly took out the magic potion from my inventory and drank it.

“…What?”

I realized my MP didn’t recover.