Read Novel Full Chapter 54 – Hopping Around
It’s Ko-Fi’s Supporters’ chapter (8/43), enjoy~
Chapter 54 – Hopping Around
After eating in the development room, I visited the waiting area where Danan was in order to return to the temporary fort again… As soon as Pirna saw Isla and me, she shivered and said.
“…How is it?”
“Kosuke has accepted me.”
While hugging me tightly, Isla replies to Pirna in a soothing voice. When Pirna hears this, she looks astonished. She is once again mumbling something about having been beaten. It’s a little scary.
“What are you going to do, Kosuke?”
Danan, completely ignoring the exchange between Pirna and Isla, began to ask me about my course of action. I respect Danan for ignoring the circumstances and saying that. And so, I’ll also go along with it.
“I’ll run back to the temporary fort. The liberated people should be arriving by now, so I’ll leave it to you to prepare for their reception and transport”.
“Leave that to me. But are you planning to go alone?”
“Well, it’s too dangerous to go alone. If something unforeseen happens, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Me! I’ll go with you!”
The stunned Pirna regains consciousness and begins to hop around*, flapping* her wings. There is a lot of onomatopoeia, but that’s the only way I can describe it. I can feel the desperation in her voice.
[T/n: he said pyonpyon and patapata here.]
“It would certainly be helpful if Pirna could scout ahead for me.”
“Right?”
“But I need at least one more person to accompany me…”
To be honest, I feel uneasy about being alone with Pirna. It becomes like a single action + single action for both of us, and if something unforeseen happens, we might be stuck. The Harpy Pirna is always like that, so she might be okay with it, but I’m pretty nervous about it.
“That’s true. Then, how about we, the harpy unit, accompany you? If five of us go with you, two to take cover and three to scout ahead and keep an eye on the surrounding area, I think there will be no problem. The speed of movement will also be faster, and I think it is better to place personnel capable of aerial bombardment on the front line in case the enemy approaches the temporary fort.”
Hmm… if you say so, that’s certainly true. I won’t lose to Gizma as long as I’m not taken by surprise. Even if they surround me, I can escape upwards through block jumping and shoot them with my gun unilaterally. As long as the harpies are on guard, there’s certainly no problem with me running on the ground alone.
When I looked at Danan, he seemed to think that Pirna’s suggestion was reasonable and nodded back. And then there’s Isla, who’s still hugging me.
“…..”
“…..”
She was staring at Pirna. Even more so than before. On the other hand, Pirna, who is being gazed at by Isla, seems somewhat uncomfortable and averts her eyes. I wonder if this is like a crow that doesn’t like a scares eyes balloon*.
[T/n: One of a bird repellent devices.]
“Don’t force yourself.”
“Yes.”
“Ask Her Highness for permission first.”
“Yes.”
I feel like they’re talking about my chastity right in front of me, without any intervention from me. Danan? Hey, don’t look away so blatantly.
“…You have to prepare yourself for what’s to come.”
“…Don’t forget you spat those words at me yourself, okay?”
I know, in fact, Danan is being secretly pressed by the wives of widows with children. That’s what Qubi told me. As for Qubi, I never heard and saw anything about him… He often plays with children, though. Hmm? Maybe he’s a pedophile…? I’ll try to find out next time.
☆★☆
After dumping the excess supplies in my inventory into the warehouse at the front-line fort, I started moving to the temporary fort with Pirna and the other harpy scouts.
By the way, the number of harpies belonging to the Liberation Army is 18 in total, of which nine are stationed at the temporary fort, five are accompanying me, one is stationed at the front-line fort, two at the main base, and one at the first base closest to the Black Forest.
The harpies at the front-line fort will be short-handed. Still, it seems likely that a number of them will be sent to help the liberated people. Those people will be used to send out messages to the various locations. In the first place, communication between the front-line fort and the main base has been established using golem communication devices, so there is no need to use harpies to send messages.
“Today, we’re skipping one underground shelter and going to the second shelter.”
“If all goes well, we should meet up with the liberated people.”
“I think so.”
Suppose the liberated people left the temporary fort two days after us. In that case, they should be able to reach the second shelter before sunset today if all goes well. The lodgings for tonight might be cramped. Many people may not be able to accept me right away yet.
If I want, I can build a sturdy house on the surface… or maybe I can just build an aerial base. Yeah, let’s do that. That way, we can both have a relaxing moment. I felt much better when I thought about it that way. Okay, let’s run as hard as we can.
So, I ran as if I were flying, making full use of my own running and command actions to move, run, and jump. No, it’s more like hopping.
“Isn’t that mysterious jumping move of yours really quick, Kosuke-san?”
“I guess so. You think it’s creepy, right?”
By using command actions to move diagonally and accelerate my jumps, as well as repeating subtle twists of the waist and jumps on my own, I’m hopping around the wilderness at an apparently abnormal speed. To the casual observer, my movements look absolutely creepy. It’s like the laws of physics go to hell.
“No, I won’t go that far, but… what’s the principle?”
“I don’t know either.”
I’ve been trying to recreate the so-called “Bunny Hop” or “Bhop” or “Strafe Jump” technique while moving, which I’ve been doing a lot since the other day, and I’ve finally managed to do it. I’m jumping at an abnormal speed while changing my direction slightly in the air… It’s abnormal no matter how you look at it.
“It’s just like the way we’re flying, isn’t it?”
“Is that so?”
“Why can’t we fly too? If you ask us why we can fly, we can only answer that we can.”
Pirna says so as she glides over me as I hop from one place to another. Certainly, considering the size of the body, it is unlikely that Pirna and the other harpies would be able to fly with the size of their wings. I wondered if they were using wind magic or something similar, but they don’t seem to be consciously aware of what they’re doing.
“If we continue like this, we’ll be able to get there earlier than planned, right?”
“I guess so. Let’s make a comfortable place to sleep and take a bath.”
“A bath sounds good. I heard from Fronte and the others that it’s really nice.”
“Baths are good.”
I’d like to spread the habit of bathing to everyone. I’ve heard that the main base can use an infinite amount of magic power. Since it can also use an infinite amount of water, wouldn’t it be a good idea to build a public bathhouse? That sounds good, a public bathhouse. Let’s build them. Then spread the culture of bathing to the whole world. Oh, I feel like taking a bath as soon as possible. Let’s hurry up.
☆★☆
“Kosuke, Kosuke, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you just fine. Over.”
“No problem here too. As expected, there’s no problem at this distance.”
Arriving at the second shelter while the sun was still high, I left Pirna and the others to guard the area and search for the liberated people. I finished building temporary accommodation for Pirna and the others and me at five meters above the ground.
Right now, I’m waiting for Pirna and the others to arrive and testing the golem communication device.
“I will try to communicate twice tomorrow, once when I reach the third shelter and once when I reach the fourth shelter.”
“Yes. That would be great. Theoretically, it should be able to reach as far as the temporary fort. Still, I don’t know how far it can actually go without problems.”
It seems that the magic wave used in the golem communicator is of a special wavelength designed to reach a considerable distance, but how far it can actually reach is still unclear because there is no precedent. Theoretically, considering the output power and wavelength, we can guess how far it can reach, but we don’t know if it will actually do so.
“In some cases, it might be better to use a relay station.”
“Relay stations? What does that mean?”
In other words, the idea is to build a base station that can only receive and re-transmit magic waves between communicators to widen the reach. Suppose the receiver’s antenna is larger and the transmitter’s antenna is placed higher. In that case, the reach of the magic wave can be further expanded.
“The problem would be to secure the power to keep it running and to maintain it. Also, I think we need a special golem core.”
“Yeah, but I think I can manage that. Kosuke’s idea is interesting. I’ll discuss it with Sykes and the others as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, don’t get too worked up.”
“Yeah. You too, be careful.”
“Okay. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, good night. I love you, Kosuke.”
“O-oh… thank you.”
The communication ended. Aaaaah! No, no, no! You can’t do that, lady! I’ll be so embarrassed if you throw out favors so straightforwardly! Aaaaah!
“I’m back… Kosuke-san, what’s wrong?”
When I was writhing in agony, covering my face with my hands, Pirna, who had just returned, gave me a strange look. What a timing!
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, Kosuke-san…”
“Oh, I’m glad you came too.”
The place where we were staying was getting a bit crowded. Apparently, all the Harpies who had been following the liberated people on their migration had also arrived.
“I, Fitch, and Ray came here on a post-transportation mission.”
Fronte, the blue-feathered harpy, smiles dazzlingly as she says this. Fitch, the orange-feathered harpy, and Ray, the jet-black-feathered harpy, nodded in agreement.
“We’ll go lead the liberated people, right?”
“All right. I’ll get the bath and food ready.”
“Oh, a bath? …Um, can we come in too?”
“Yes. It’s okay.”
“Right, after you get the liberated people into the shelter, that’s fine.”
“As expected of you, Captain, you know better.”
Fronte and the others hugged Pirna, who permitted them. You can’t stop bathing once you’ve taken a bath, can you? I know, I know. I think the construction of public bathhouses is a must.
“I’m off then.”
“See you later.”
Pirna and the others are flying off again. After seeing them off, I prepared a bath in the aerial accommodation, prepared a meal, and then expanded the accommodation a bit. Fronte and the others would probably be staying here, too.
Come to think of it, Fronte and the others seemed to be involved in the matter of my lack of sleep, didn’t they? Should I get their testimony before questioning Sylphy?
No, I don’t know. If it’s as I imagined, it might end up like stepping on a landmine…? But even if I questioned Sylphy, she might just say nothing. No, I don’t think that’s the case with Sylphy. But still.
As I was working and agonizing over the problem, the sun was beginning to set. I was worried about whether the liberated people would arrive in time, so I went outside and found that they had just arrived. As expected, a thousand people are quite a large number. Perhaps it was because it was already the third day they stayed at the shelter, but they formed a line and smoothly entered the shelter. From the looks of their faces, it seems that morale is not extremely low. Or rather, there are a lot of people looking up at the accommodation where they’re staying.
I waved my hand to show my friendship, but only a child waved back. Damn, I’m not sad at all.
In the meantime, Pirna and the others came back, washed their hands, and it was time to eat. Harpy and the others aren’t very skilled with their hands, or maybe their wings. They are not very dexterous, so they prefer food that they can eat with their hands. They can use a fork and a spoon without any problem, but they’re not good at twirling a fork to eat pasta or carving meat with a fork and a knife by themselves.
“Today, we’re going to have doner kebab style.”
“The vegetables are fresh and delicious!”
“The sauce goes well with the meat.”
Having a hamburger every time would be a bore, so this time I decided on a kind of grilled meat sandwich with lots of fresh vegetables, doner kebab style. I had time on my hands, so why not? For dessert, we had fruits of the forest brought in from the Black Forest. It looked like wild strawberries.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had these berries.”
“We ate a lot of them when we were in the Black Forest.”
The harpies chatted happily as they proceeded with their meal. Hmm, everyone is cute when I look at them this way. In this world, the percentage of beautiful girls, or rather the percentage of beautiful women, is strangely high. And the men are all handsome.
Well, what I’m trying to say is that it’s a blessing to see cute girls enjoying themselves and eating delicious-looking food. I love it when they eat a lot of food.
After the meal, the next step was to take a bath.
“Well, go ahead and take a bath. I’ll be back later.”
“No, no, no. You go first. We can do it later.”
“That’s right. I think you should be the first one to take a bath.”
I didn’t teach them the concept of the first bath, though. For some reason, Pirna and the others urged me to go in first. Hmm, maybe they don’t want me to get in the leftover water or some such?
“No, if it bothers you, I can change the water. Ladies should be first in such matters.”
“Then let’s go in together!”
Fronte started to say something outrageous. That’s not a good idea!
“That’s good! I’ll wash your back, too.”
“Eh, no, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
Pirna agrees, and the other harpies are also on board. No, no, no, no, no.
“It’s okay; it’s okay.”
“Let’s go.”
“Wait, wait, you guys should be a little bit more embarrassed ― Wait, you’ve got more power than expected.”
“We’re doing this as a token of our gratitude.”
“We’re really grateful, you know.”
Despite my rather serious resistance, a total of eight harpies dragged me slowly to the bathroom. No! No! Stop it! You’re going to do something nasty on me and call it a service! It’s just like in doujinshi! Just like in doujinshi!
The whole body wash and massage using Harpy’s feathers was very pleasant. Yes. Once I tasted this, it was unbearable… I didn’t have to worry about my chastity, but I was able to see everything.
No, wait a minute. Don’t massage there. I said no! That’s out! I said out! Now I’m worried about my chastity! As long as it’s not real, it’s safe. Otherwise, it’s a deception!