Chapter 192: Dirty Water-like Mind
「Still, this is amazing. This water ball. Even if we don’t need to go to the river if we have this and be at ease」
「The feeling of the gentle current flowing inside the water ball is also nice. It feels like being in the river, it feels nice and cold」
Cladded in the water ball, Torr and Asmo is talking while walking on the riverside.
Perhaps it’s due to the water ball covering their chest until their thighs that their silhouette ends up looking ridiculous.
If I were to compare it with something, then it would be something like a creature with limbs that grows from a ball? The more I look at them, the more they look like strange creatures.
When Torr and Asmo first saw me, they were making a subtle expression.
But, only Asmo’s silhouette doesn’t change from his usual appearance. I guess it’s because he’s chubby?
「What’s wrong Al?」
Perhaps he notices my gaze since Asmo turns around toward me.
「……nah, I just thought that it doesn’t feel out of place for Asmo for the water ball to wrap your body」
「You actually wanted to say that my stomach is usually bulging like a water ball, right?」
「Hahahahahaha! That’s for sure!」
Torr clapped his hands and laughed after hearing Asmo’s words that exuded his anger.
And Asmo looks to be offended, maybe because he was displeased with Torr’s attitude.
And then he lumbered and approaches Torr and started to hit the water ball that wraps around Torr *bashabasha*.
The water ball around Torr wets the ground to no purpose.
「Wait! Stop it, you! You’re making my water ball shrink! If you want to that, then I’ll play along with you!」
Realizing that his water ball is shrinking, he began to resolutely hit Asmo’s water ball to reduce Asmo’s water *bashabasha*.
Every time they made their slapping and chopping moves, their water balls are shrinking.
Hey, did you guys forget that I’m the one who is maintaining those water balls?
If I feel like it, I can make it so that the water ball doesn’t shrink in size even if the two of them are hitting it, but I don’t feel like going out of my way to trouble myself for such an unsightly quarrel. Just fight it out as much as you like.
But, maybe it’s because they look like a mascot character, I guess?
But Torr and Asmo’s unsightly quarrel is looking kinda cute. Strange things do happen.
While I was watching them with a smile on my face, Torr who was hitting the water ball - suddenly send out a kick.
「Eat this!」
「Aaaahh!? Torr, don’t put sand in it!?」
「Hehehehe! This will be the end for your water ball. It will be nice to be surrounded by dirty water that was muddied by sand! 」
「Peh」
「Uuooooohh! I can’t believe it! This jerk, to spit on my water ball!」
「Hahaha! It’ll be great for you to keep on wearing a water ball that was mixed with my spit!」
「This is seriously disgusting! Wait, how do I remove this! I don’t want to keep on wearing something mixed with Asmo’s spit!」
I take back what I just said. Sure enough, their quarrel is really unsightly.
Thanks to the water ball, only their appearance looks cute but their mind seems as filthy as a dirty water ball.
◆
I guess it’s all thanks to Torr and Asmo’s stupid quarrel that the water of the water balls become dirty.
It was filled with sand and spit. No matter how you look at it, one wouldn’t want to be wrapped in that kind of water ball with such things mixed in.
And sure enough, Torr and Asmo demanded a new water ball.
「I’m not gonna make you more the next time you make them dirty again, all right?」
「「Heーi」」
I wonder if they really understand it? Looking at their brazen attitude, I feel like they’re going to do it again.
「Do you really understand? If there were no water balls, then you will experience the hellish heat again, and you have to walk down the road while sweating, you know?」
「「I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!」」
Torr and Asmo suddenly came to their senses and reply to me while standing at attention, maybe they remember the pain of reaching this place.
So I nodded, thinking that it would be fine after seeing them like that, and made water balls around their bodies again.
「Okay, now you guys will lead me to the place where there are slimes, all right」
「I know. Though, we’re just going to walk near this river」
「The slimes around this area often gather near the river after」
After saying that, I follow them as they start walking.
It seems like the living things around here are living near the river. As I thought, I guess they’re active mainly in places where there are foods? All sorts of creatures are gathering in the river after all.
But, slimes are omnivorous and can eat anything, so I can’t say that to generalize them. Creatures that live in the rivers, mountains, and plains are different after all, so slimes may also have their preferences in food.
So I look for slimes while thinking about those kinds of things.
And so we’re looking for slimes while walking but, we can’t easily find them.
Remembering Torr and Asmo’s words, it seemed like we would be able to find them if we walk for ten minutes, just what happened?
Could it be, they want wholeheartedly skip work for a long time so now they’re stalling?
「……hey, Torr. There are no slimes you know?」
「What? There’s none? But we should be able to find one or two of them around here easily」
「Yeah they’re usually here, that’s strange」
But, as far as Torr and Asmo’s expression goes, they don’t look like they’re thinking about looking for slimes. They look like they were looking for slimes normally.
I’m happy that they showed me the place but, I feel a little impatient since there are no slimes at all.
「There’s none of them at the place they used to be. I wonder what’s going on?」
「It’s strange, isn’t it?」
Torr and Asmo are looking for slimes even while I’m speaking.
Asmo has also gone to check the blind spot in the bushes, but there seem to be no slimes even in that place.
The two of them are constantly tilting their heads.
And even when we continue to search for them, we can’t even find a single slime.
「It’s tiresome, but why don’t we return to the forest on the other side? There might be some of them over there」
「Yeah. It appears that there are no slimes here」
It’s on the other side of the river we’re at. If Torr and Asmo were not here, then I won’t hesitate to use Teleport.
Just when I’m thinking like that, Torr says to me while looking a little apologetic as he scratches his head.
「Al, sorry but shall we return?」
「Let’s go to the forest on the other side from here」
「U, un. Sure, but……」
「Hmm? But what? You don’t have any more time?」
「Somehow I have a bad feeling when Torr and Asmo ask others like that」
「「I’ll hit you, you know!」」
I mean, Torr and Asmo are usually thinking about something bad when they’re behaving appropriately. So it can’t be helped for me to think like that.
So they yelled in anger, turn their backs and start walking toward the road to the village.
Guess that means 「Follow me」.
And so I follow after Torr and Asmo after guessing their action while laughing a little.
We head for the forest on the other side to look for slimes, going from the river by way of Koryatt village while wearing the water balls.
Of course, we don’t forget to look for slimes on the way to the village. Just in case, there might be slimes in the field’s ditches or plains.
We walk down the road while looking for slimes with our eyes looking all over the place we passed.
Though the afternoon sunlight is getting hotter, we felt really cool thanks to the water ball. It’s a different situation compared to when we first started heading toward the river.
Perhaps Torr and Asmo also feel thankful for the water ball that they mutter as if admiring it.
「I realize once again how amazing this water ball is. I feel coolness while walking down the road, even in this darn hot weather」
「It’s like being in the river the whole time」
Yes, it’s exactly like Asmo said. Though we’re walking under the blazing sun, it feels like we’re in the river. Sure we can feel the heat from the sunlight, but we can fully protect ourselves from the heat by pouring water on our heads.
If you want to perfectly cover yourself from the heat, then you could wrap your head with a cloth or wear a hat.
「Ah, it’s Alfried-sama and the kids――but, what’s with those appearances?」
It appears that the villagers working in the fields have noticed us.
They look as if they’re seeing some odd creature.
「Hm? What’s wrong with those three?」
「Err, there’s something like round water sticking to them, but……」
「……it’s true. There’s some round water sticking to them. What’s going on?」
The villagers are puzzled since they don’t really understand how this magic works.
Though it’s just making a water ball float and controlling them.
We continue to walk toward Korryat village despite being stared at by the peculiar gazes of the villagers.
However, Torr and Asmo suddenly turn away from the road and start to walk on the grassy path.
「Huh? Where are you going? It should be this way if we want to go to the forest on the other side, right?」
When I wonder what are they doing and ask them about it, Torr and Asmo say while looking at me,
「If we were to take that road, then my mom and Asmo’s might be there, don’t you think?」
「I don’t know what should I say to them if we get found out, so we’re taking a detour」
Ahー, indeed there’s Torr and Asmo’s fields if we take this road.
I don’t know whether Myula-san and Dorothea-san are working in the fields all along, but the chances of meeting them are high.
Torr was leaving his work forcefully, while Asmo was leaving his work and didn’t inform Dorothea-san by himself.
Both of them are doing something underhanded. They won’t be brought back to work, but it will be troublesome if we met them.
「Okay. Then, let’s take a detour」
I can sympathize with their situation, so I obediently nodded.
I also often tried to avoid Eleonora-neesan after all. But, I was often caught because of her mysterious sensing ability of hers.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦