We run through the forest and reach the Toggle cliffs.

(Fast, fast...)

　It took less than 10 minutes to get through the forest.

　Even though she was carrying me and a big luggage backpack, her legs had run all the way here in that short amount of time.

　Then, Illtimina-san finally loosens her legs and starts walking here.

'Phew.'

　A long, feverish exhale.

　But my breathing is not greatly disturbed.
　Great stamina.

(Is this an awesome adventurer?　(Or is Mr. Illtimina great?)

　I don't know, because I have no standards.

　With me craning my neck in my mind, she walks through the site of the collapse.

　As we walked through the nearly thirty meters of large rocks, scattered debris, and fallen trees, we eventually came to the corpse of a red tusked dragon.

　The smell of blood and decaying flesh wafted around the area.

　Illtimina-san took a glance in that direction, but quickly removed her gaze as if she had lost interest.

　It seems that adventurers are great at switching back and forth.
　They seemed to cut everything else out of their consciousness except for fulfilling their purpose.

　We walked past the lying red behemoth and headed towards the sheer toggle cliffs.

(.........?)

　What is it?

　I suddenly felt a strange feeling of discomfort.

　For some reason, I couldn't remove my gaze from the corpse of the Red Fang Dragon Gad.

　The scarred red behemoth lies in a sea of purple blood.

　One of its fangs has been broken and is now piled into Illtimina-san's backpack right behind me. The open wounds all over its body are still intact, as is the fatal wound above its right eye.

　In particular, there was nothing different from when I saw her the other day.
　But.........

(...something about it makes me feel bad.)

　My chest feels as if it is being pushed hard.

　This feels similar to the first time I found the Purple Light - the Skeleton King from the watchtower.
　Why?

　sizzling sound

　I couldn't help but feel the strength in my hands as Illtimina held onto me.

''?　What's wrong, Merle?

　She notices and asks me curiously.

　But Illtimina-san doesn't seem to feel anything.

(Then am I mistaken?)

　I guess I just feel that way because I'm in a different state of mind, and I'm nervous, too.

　As I stared at the red fang dragon, I was unsure.

　I couldn't even come up with a good explanation, so I shook my head.

''.......................Nope, it's nothing.''

　Illtimina-san looked at me with a slight tilt of her head and then nodded, "I see.

　As it was, we walked through the dirt and debris, leaving the Red Fang Dragon behind.

''..........''

　I looked back just one more time.

　The red-scaled monster lying there didn't move, after all, and I was a little troubled, and then I turned to face forward.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇


　The "Toggle Cliffs" that stretched far up high - it has now collapsed to about the middle of the road.

　The crumbling earth and debris has flowed underneath it, making it look like a slope.

　Illtimina's healthy legs were now sinking their feet into the dirt and sand as she made her way up the slope to the halfway point.

'Am I okay with not going down?'
'I'm fine, Merle. Thank you for worrying about me.

　She smiles at me and starts walking forward again.

(Is that okay?)

　I'm sorry I have to rely on you.

　As I was troubled, I suddenly felt a breeze at my back. As if invited by that wind, I turned around.

(Ugh, wow...)

　It was an amazing view.

　We are located at a height of 50 meters above the earth's surface in the midst of a hillside.

　From there, we could see the entire landscape of the Great Aldrian Forest, the deepest part of the forest.

　A sea of green trees stretches to the horizon.

　Beyond that, the blue mountains and the shimmering ocean beyond.

　Up close, atop a hill in the forest, the tower we lived in looks like a miniature building.

(I feel like a bird.)

　The view from the watchtower is incomparable.

　If it had been clearer, it would have been even nicer, but.......I guess that's called luxury, yes.

　As I nodded to myself, my body shook with a crunch.

(Oops...?)

　Ms. Illtimina stopped.

　I hurriedly clung to her neck and looked into her face.

'What's wrong?'
No, we're on the midriff anyway...

(Huh?)

　When I looked back, the slope of dirt and debris was over, and in its place was a wall-like, near-vertical cliff.

　While I was taking in the view, she had reached the middle of the road.

'I'm sorry. I didn't notice.
No, I'm fine.

　Illtimina chuckles at my panic.

　Then her expression changes and she looks up at the toggle cliffs.

　I'm trapped too, and I look up.

　Perhaps due to the effects of the collapse, the area from the hillside to the top of the cliff is an uneven rock wall. If we could use that as a guide, we could reach the top...

(Still, we only have 50 meters to go...)

　It's not easy.

　For once, I was going to get out of Illtimina-san's arms too, but she's still looking at the cliff with a serious expression on her face.

　Her crimson eyes seem to be moving from side to side, confirming something.

'Good.'

　Illtimina nodded in agreement.

　Then she turned to me.

Merle, this time you're on my shoulders.
...Yes?
Don't you see?　A shoulder carriage is a way of straddling my neck, with Marle riding on both my shoulders--

(No, no, no!)

　I buzz and wave my hands in the air and sue.

'I'm fine!　I know the shoulders!　...but why the shoulder?　Shouldn't I come down this time?
No. Merle can't go up here.

　He denied it outright.

　........a bit of a shock.

　But with a calm look on her face, she points a white finger at the cliff in front of her.

''Between those rocks.......At that distance, a child's limbs cannot reach it. There are several similar situations beyond that. I've tried to think of another route, but it would still be difficult to get to on Marl.
..........
'I'm sorry, Merle. Just let me handle it a little longer.

　Finally, he apologized with an apologetic look on his face.

　Oh my God.



　I had to be honest enough to admit that I was helpless.

　I'm her shackles - and if she can't accept that fact, then I'm only a further shackle to torment her.

　If we're going to have the same fetters, we should at least make sure they don't add any more weight to the fetters.

(Utterly ... do I feel sorry for myself, Marl?)

　I take a big deep breath and slap my cheeks with both hands with a pan.

　Ms. Illtimina looks at me as if she is horrified.

　I said to her, "I'm sorry, Ms. Illtimina.

I'm sorry, Ms. Illtimina," I said to her. Please take care of me a little longer.
"...Merle.

　A surprised look.

　But then he laughed right back.

Yes, ma'am. --Male, now, often, leave it to this Iltimina Wong.

　He nodded dependably.　


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇


　And so I straddled Illtimina-san's neck.

　I feel a little nervous as I press my crotch against the back of her neck.......no, no, no, normalcy.

　I take a deep breath and calm my mind.

(Well ... so what do I do now?)

　I regained my composure and looked at her.

　And Miss Illtimina lifted the white spear in her opposite hand to the front of her beauty.

　hummock

(...what?)

　And then she sucked it into her mouth.

　With a plop, she shook her free hands and hooked one of them into the unevenness of the wall.

　Grunting.

　With her heavy backpack and me on board, she began to climb the "toggle cliffs" in a rock-climbing fashion.

(Huh?)　(Oh?)

　It's pretty shaky.

　I panicked, and I clung to her head with every strand of my beautiful, shiny hair.

　Her hair is so silky and comfortable to the touch, and it smells sweet, which makes me a little nervous.

(No, no, this isn't the time, Merle!

　I couldn't help but plunge into it myself.

　Meanwhile, Illtimina-san used her long limbs to climb up the cliff.

　DON'T, BAGAN!

　Suddenly, he jumped vertically for about two meters, and the large rock he used as a foothold collapsed.

(Hee........)

　Clang, clang, clang.

　The large rock tumbled down far below, crushing the wall below.

''Huh ... haha.''

　Illtimina-san's strong exhalation leaked out from time to time through the gap in her spear-sucking teeth.

　She is putting a lot of energy into it, and from the seriousness of her expression, I could tell that she was concentrating on it.

　I also try not to shake my body as much as possible and take care to keep my center of gravity in place.

(Don't get in the way, don't get in the way...)

　And so about fifteen minutes have passed?

　Her movements stopped.

(?)

　The top of the cliff is only about ten meters away.

　And yet, she used both feet and one hand to support herself, while not extending her remaining hand to the next uneven surface.

　It went on for nearly a minute.

"...Illtimina?　What's going on?

　As expected, I called out to her.

　Illtimina-san's crimson eyes turned to me.

　And she held the white spear she was holding in her mouth in one free hand, and exhaled loudly with pooled drool and hot breath.

''I'm sorry, Marle I can't find the route ahead of us.
What?
From down there, it looked like I could climb...
..........


(Wha...?

　By route, I mean a place you can climb, right?
　What, you don't have that?

　In a bit of a panic, I looked up at the cliff I had left.

How's that big end?
Probably won't be able to support our weight and will collapse.
Okay, let's just...
The same.
Okay, then, what's the, uh, what's the bump?
It's so narrow, it can only take the tips of my fingers. Now, with my weak grip...

　Illtimina-san looks at me, who is stunned, apologetically.

(But, after coming so far.......................to go back down again!

　I mean, can we go back?

　And if I take a different route up again, will I be able to get up there properly?　If that's the case after coming so far, I can't believe I can go.

　I look at her as if I were squirming.

　The crimson eyes that look back at me have a painful, painful gleam in them. It tells me that she can no longer do anything about it.

(No way...)

　I lost strength.

　I thought I could finally, finally, escape my life in the forest....

　For the last time, I asked her one last time.

"Really, it's impossible...?

　The crimson eyes are sadly lowered down to escape my gaze.

''I'm sorry, Marle. ........I'm sorry.

(Oh...)

　Ha! I came to myself.

(My a**h*le!　(I can't believe I'm making her apologize again...)

　In my mind, I'm stretching myself.

　You put the blame on her alone, what are you going to do!　She did the best she could, and that's enough, right?

　All of the various emotions that come up are crushed in the back of my mind.

(It's okay, it's okay!)　(We can figure out another way, no problem).

　That's what I told my mind and let myself think.

　I close my eyes and let out a big "Whew" breath.

　Then I open my eyelids.

　Ten meters to the top of the cliff - it looks like it's almost there, but it's so far away.

　From that vantage point, a bird flew in the sky above the cliff.

　Oh, if only I could fly like that bird.....

''Eh........fly?''

　It just occurred to me.

(Maybe I should just fly?)

　Up on the cliff.

　--I will.

Miss Illtimina, can I ask you something?
Yes, sir.
Do you think they could throw me over there?
What...?

　She pouted.

　Immediately she realized what I was going to say and thought about it for a bit.

　Then she nodded.

'I think I can.'

　Really!

(Yes!)

　He cheers in his mind.

'But, but just barely, as far as distance goes. If we fail, Marle will fall straight down the cliff--
Mr. Illtimina, are you going to fail?
No, not like that!
Then I'll be fine.

　I laughed.

"Because I believe in you, Miss Illtimina.

　She takes a small breath.

　Then she exhales heavily and stares at my face.

　There was a light in those crimson eyes that only a person who was prepared to do so could have.

''I understand. --Then, Marle. First of all, please take the rope from the side of my backpack.
Yes.

　I turn upside down and grab the rope that's curled up next to my backpack while Illtimina grabs the leg I'm carrying on my shoulder.

'Got it,'
Then hold on to it and never let it drop.
Yes.

　Giggling, I hug my chest with both hands.

　Ms. Illtimina takes a deep breath and then

I'll take Merle off your shoulders.
"Hm.

　My shoulders are at an angle, and my body drops downward as the legs I was straddling come off.

　Click.

　I cringe for a moment, but I am supported only by the ankle I am being held on to.

　Then, as I swayed and planked, the scene in front of me stretched out to the bottom of the cliff, where I would never survive a fall.

　But.

...not as scary as I thought, right?

　Even I was surprised.

　I knew it, ''If it's Illtimina-san, you'll be fine! And my mind accepts it.

　That trust is probably the strongest suggestion I've ever had. So I can ignore my fears and feel safe.

　Then I hear her serious voice in my ear.

'When you get to the top of the cliff, turn the rope around a nearby tree and drop it to me. I'll climb up through it.
Yeah, okay.
So, shall we go?
Anytime.

　I took a deep breath.

　Strangely, I could see that Illtimina-san also took a big breath.

(Now--!)

　buzz

　Just as I expected, a strong force struck my whole body at the exact moment I thought it would.

　My vision drifted at a frightening speed, and then it suddenly slowed down - I struggled to reach out to the edge of the cliff that was in front of me.

　Gasp.

　My elbow hit me and I felt pain.

　But it didn't matter, I fumbled and kicked the cliff and scrambled up the last ten meters to go.

'Marl!'
I'll be fine!

　I answered Illtimina's worried voice without looking back and managed to climb up.

　Yah, I did it!

　And the landscape in front of me is the landscape of the Great Aldrian Forest, above the toggle cliffs, not deep.

　It is, after all, a forest world of coniferous trees in disarray, like a sea of trees.

(But we'll get to the emotion later!)

　I dash to the nearest tree and drape the rope around it in a circle.

　I thought about tying it up there, but with the strength of a child, I don't know if I could tie it up strong.

　The load Iltimina is carrying must weigh nearly 100 kilos.

　So I tie the two ends of the rope together to form a large loop. This will allow you to grab both ropes and you'll be safe in case you need to.

(Okay!)

　I tied it off as best as I can now.

　Now I just have to run with it.

Miss Illtimina!

　He said he'd only have to aim down at her at the cliffs and drop her--

'Merle, are you all right?　...Good.

　Not good!

　She wasn't safe, she wasn't safe.

　She must have recoiled from throwing me. She was hanging from the cliff with only one hand. What are you doing?

　She tosses the rope in a hurry.

　She takes the white spear in her mouth again and grabs the thrown rope and hangs there.　

　Bing, gishie.

　The ropes were taut and the sound of them scraping against the tree trunks echoed.

　As I looked on in concern, Illtimina climbed the rope with great force.

　Finally, she placed her hands on the cliff and let her entire body climb up.

''Ha ... phew.''

　She dropped her heavy backpack and white spear on the ground, and as it was, she sat there and let out a long exhalation.

　As I approached her, she noticed it.

"Merle.
Ilte--what?

　My white arms were stretched out and I was hugged as hard as I could.

　Her long hair, damp with sweat, rubbed my cheek and her hot breath tickled my neck.

　Then she held me in her arms, but she didn't say anything.

　I think I couldn't say anything because I was filled with a lot of emotions.

".........

　I was the same way.

　So, without saying a word, I too, with my little hand, patted her back, lightly, with a pat on the back.

　With a lot of effort and gratitude -- with a lot of effort and gratitude.

　--And so, Illtimina-san and I succeeded in climbing the "Toggle Cliffs" that had been blocking our way.