I descend from Table Mountain, the mountain of the gods.

I continued on through the great forest that surrounds Table Mountain.

I see birds and fawns. This forest is a fertility forest.

There aren't many forests in Midnia as rich as this one.

"I don't know. I don't know, I've never been down the mountain.

I give the obvious reply, but in fact, my mind is not here.

My first time down there, my mind is distracted.
I was curious about the woods outside of Table Mountain.

"That tree looks a little different.

It's called vegetation. Different regions have different trees.

"I see.

In warmer regions, the trees are more dense, small and jungle-like. In colder areas, there are more conifers and other trees.

"Ronin Dad can't go up north because he has cedar pollen allergy.

I laugh and Luna Maria agrees.

I suppose so. Well, it's been quite a while since we left, don't you think we should have lunch?

"Good idea. . let's have the sandwiches that Dad Ronin made for us.

and Lunamaría begins to put down a sheet. I also start a fire and boil the water. Neatly.

I'll help you," she says, and sticks out her right hand and stops.

"As I told you the other day, I'm Master Will's squire. It's my job to prepare the food.

But it's more efficient for both of us to do it together.

"Now is not a rushed trip. I will travel slowly to the north. In the meantime, Master Will, enjoy your first taste of the Lower Mainland.

For now, why not take a walk around here?

I accepted the suggestion that I should go to the beach.

No matter how much I said, it didn't seem to change Luna Maria's decision, and she was right, I was eager to enjoy the world below for the first time.

I decided to go and see the waterfall I had just found.

There is a waterfall at Table Mountain, but there are also fishes in this forest that are not found at Table Mountain.

As fishing is one of my hobbies, I wanted to see what kind of fish were there.

For that reason, I went to the waterfall basin, where I had a new encounter.

I found a boy who was fishing in the waterfall basin.
He's probably younger than me. He looks to be around twelve years old. It was a boy with golden hair.
He was tying a line to a wooden pole and dipping it into the waterfall. He seemed to be fishing.
The scene reminds me of a scene from a novel.

...... Um, can you fish in a situation like this?　You can ask, "What do I do?

Murmur to no one.

I'm nervous because it's the first time I'm talking to someone other than Luna Maria. It's the first time I've talked to a girl of the same gender.

I thought that maybe we could be friends and the first greeting is crucial, so I cleared my throat and called out to her from behind.


I cleared my throat and called out from behind me, "Oh, um, it's nice to meet you!　My name is Will!　What's your name?


The boy who called out to me was quite groaning and also loud, so I called out to him, "Wow! and bounces in place.

He was so excited that he almost dropped his fishing rod, so he rushed to catch it in the air.

What is he up to?　And looks at me, but seems relieved to find out that I'm human.

Just blame him for being startled.

"Don't talk to me all of a sudden. I thought you were a bear.

I'm sorry, you seemed to be having a good time, and I just wanted to say hi.

"I didn't expect to meet people so deep in the woods,

That's me too. It sounds like you're pretty far from the village at the bottom.

Yes, I'm a follower of a certain someone, sir.

"Squire?　Who?

"The hero. I am the squire of the hero of the sword.

Ahem, and a boy who throws out his chest.

"Sword hero?　Oh, you're a valiant squire? Huh?　But we're not in the neighborhood, are we?

You look around, but there's no one there.

I focus and widen my range further, but I don't see any sign of anyone other than Lunamaria.

"...... Well, the hero of the sword is at the edge of the forest. He's waiting for me to catch a fish there.

"Did you come here just to catch fish?



"Yes. The Sword Hero insisted on eating the lord of the forest.

"Lord?

"Yes. In this forest here in this waterfall basin there is a fish called the Lord. An alien species from the east, a fish called the carpenter.

Koytaro. It's so big that it's called the Lord.

Perhaps.

But that's terrible. Letting a kid like you go fishing alone.

Haha, I'm used to it.

And the boy laughing to himself.
Apparently, this kind of thing is common.

If you want to eat melon in the middle of the night or Japanese food first thing in the morning, the hero of the sword seems to be a master of selfishness.

When you pity him, he ducks his head and says, "I forgot about that.

My name is Lynx.

That's a nice name. My name is Will. It's nice to meet you.

And, holding out his right hand, he shakes it.

Following Ronin's words, "From a strong handshake comes friendship," you put your strength into it, but do it at one-third of full power.

The Vandal says that a normal person would break a bone in a handshake with full power.

You'll be able to see that it's still pretty strong, or maybe Lynx's expression is a little distorted, but once the handshake is established, the atmosphere of the place is relaxed.

After that, they talk about nothing, but halfway through, Lynx realizes something.

Oh, I need to get back to work now.

"Work is koi taro fishing?

Yes, I have. We've been at it for three days now, but we haven't been able to catch anything.

There's no such thing as a Koytaro.　Or maybe it's the wrong bait?

What do you use for bait?
asked the boy, returning the fishing rod to him.

"I use live ducks as bait.

"A live duck?

Look into the waterfall basin and you'll see a duck. A thick string is wrapped around the duck's neck.

The duck is swimming at leisure.

"............

I may be a naive person, but when it comes to fishing, I am a fussy fisherman.

The moment I opened my mouth to tell him that he would never catch fish with that kind of bait, the boy's fishing rod bent.

This is it!

The boy's face changes color. I can see that he is excited.

That pull must be Koytaro.

If you look, the ducks that were here just now are no longer on the water. Some kind of animal had preyed on it.

The bait worked. And this could be a really big one.

"Yes. Koytaro is very big.

and pulls on the wooden pole, but it's so big that it almost pulls the boy in with it.

I support him from behind and pull with him, but the pull is extraordinary.

What a pull. We'll be pulled into the cauldron. Let go of my hand.

I can't do that. Bring Koytaro to the heroes, or they will fire your squire.

They'll eat you whole.

The time is then. It is better than firing a squire.

What about life? You're so selfish and brave.

But I didn't speak of it.
And we weren't drawn into the waterfall either. And we didn't get pulled into the waterfall either.

The pole couldn't catch such a huge fish.

Lynx was disappointed that his rod had broken, but he could only be disappointed for a moment.

The next moment there was a sound from the surface of the water, and then a huge fish jumped into the air.

A giant carp, three times my size, leaps at Lynx.

It looks like it's going to prey on Lynx.

What a monster!

I'm dumbfounded, but Lynx has lost his voice too.

He's just standing there helplessly.

The Lynx will be preyed upon by the carp. --If this is the case.

But that's not going to happen. My right hand was already stretched out to the dagger at my waist.

I chant a two-character spell.


"Zan!


and the mithril dagger glows blue and the word Zan emerges.



It's a rune character called the oriental Chinese character.
Zan means slash.

Casting this charm made your sword flashes many times stronger.

I'll use it to slay Koytarou.
I'll cut Koytaro in half!
A blue-white sword flash that runs past Lynx's boy.

It shoots straight at Koytarou and slices through the giant fish.

Lynx watches, stunned, as the giant fish is torn apart in front of him. He cowers and mutters, "What a sword flash!

What a flash. Not even a master of the sword could make a sword flash like this.

The boy was staring at me as if pinched by a fox.