"Suya... Suya..."
"...Morning."
Rest and Yuri had succeeded in their wyvern hunt, but the day had already gone dark, so they decided to camp out for the night.
They hadn't brought a tent or anything like that. Or rather... their guide Ribery had been the one to bring one. All Rest and her companions had were the bare essentials—their own rations and water.
Rest once again used magic to conjure a dome-like shelter, and inside it, she and Yuri huddled close together to sleep.
Mountain nights were bitterly cold, but they used fire magic just enough to stave off the chill without suffocating, and with Yuri—whose body temperature ran high—serving as a living hot-water bottle, they managed to keep from freezing.
"Mmmn... I can't eat anymore..."
"That's such a cliché thing to say in your sleep... I can't even move."
Yuri had latched onto Rest, wrapping around her like she was clutching a stuffed animal.
Soft, squishy sensations pressed against her from every direction... but rather than anything pleasant, what won out was a stifling discomfort, as though she were being trapped in some kind of joint lock.
"Yuri, Yuri! Wake up. It's morning!"
"Mmmn..."
"Time to eat! Breakfast!"
"Breakfast!?"
At the word "breakfast," Yuri sprang wide awake. So easy to handle.
"Good morning... Now that you're awake, let me go."
"Mm? Oh, right.
...Warm.
You were, Rest."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
"Oh, speaking of which — there was something hard stuck to your crotch area, wasn't there? It didn't feel like bone, so what exactly was that...?"
"Forget about it!"
It was just a natural male phenomenon.
Rest's face turned crimson red as he shouted.
"More importantly... let's just eat breakfast quickly! Once we're done, we're heading down the mountain right away!"
He declared with an indignant scowl.
If they dawdled, they'd run into wyverns again.
If they were spotted transporting their companions' corpses and swarmed by a whole group, that would be a serious pain.
(Fighting them off would probably be easy enough, but even if I took out a bunch of them, I can't carry them all back...)
"Breakfast can be something simple, alright? As soon as we eat, we're pulling out."
When they stepped out of the dome they'd used as a shelter, a similar mound of earth sat right beside it.
When Rest broke it open to check, it was the wyvern's remains. He'd buried it in dirt so other monsters wouldn't snatch their prey.
"Good, this one's intact too. Let me reapply the ice magic just to be safe."
After taking proper precautions against decay, they ate breakfast and prepared to leave.
Rest and Yuri worked together to transport the wyvern.
Hauling a five-ton colossus was no easy task... but Rest was a gifted magician, and Yuri possessed superhuman strength of unknown origin.
Rest used the Levitation magic to lift the wyvern off the ground, then tied a rope to it and had Yuri pull.
"Heave-ho, heave-ho."
"Are you okay? Want to take a break?"
"No problems here. Are you sure you're okay, Rest, using magic the whole time?"
"I'm fine... The return trip should be faster than the way up."
Since a route had already been carved out, the descent was quick.
Along the way, they encountered several monsters, but each one was the kind Rest could take down with a single spell. Perhaps wary after yesterday's incident, not a single wyvern was seen flying today.
"Rest, I can see the base of the mountain."
"Yeah... It was tougher than I expected. As expected of wyverns."
One or two would have been easy enough, but a whole flock holed up in the same spot was a real pain.
"With this, we should be able to manage the main meat dish..."
"Do you need other ingredients too?"
"Hmm, House Rosemary is probably gathering all sorts of things, so it's not strictly necessary, but... it might be nice to have some fish dishes, alcohol, appetizer vegetables, and the like?"
They didn't need to assemble a full-course meal like some gourmet manga, but they had the time, and it wouldn't hurt to pick up some other rare delicacies along the way.
"I see... Oh, I can see the village."
The village at the base of the mountain came into view.
It seemed they had managed to descend safely.
"Well then... let's stop by the village, grab a meal or something, and then head home..."
"O dear travelers, may your souls rest peacefully as you ascend to heaven..."
"M-May your souls ascend to heaven..."
"...Huh?"
Rest and the others had returned to the village, but something felt off.
The village square was packed with residents, all praying with desperate fervor.
"May those who lost their lives on the mountain find salvation... May the souls of climber Rest and climber Yuri find eternal peace..."
"May they find eternal peace..."
It seemed... a funeral was being held in the village.
On the altar set up in the square stood what looked like scarecrows carved into male and female figures—probably part of some local indigenous religion.
"Could this be... our funeral?"
"Uuu... I'm sorry. If only I had stopped you properly, none of this would have..."
Rest's face twisted in distress.
In this village, when someone died on the mountain, they apparently held a ceremony like this to send them off.
Among the funeral attendees was Ribery as well, tears welling in the corners of her eyes as she offered her prayers.
Rest pondered what to do, but... he couldn't just leave things as they were.
Rest and Yuri appeared before the villagers.
"Uh, so... we're actually alive, you know?"
"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"
The moment they saw the two faces, the villagers let out screams.
They looked as though they had seen actual ghosts, and began making an absolute commotion.