How to Suck Honey at a Warrior’s Party

Screwed.

We were well rested and ready to get over the mountain pass, but we weren’t in a hurry to get to the next town, which wasn’t a day’s ride anyway.

As soon as we turned north, the slime started to appear.
In the original fantasy world, the north was a demon-infested region, and the gods would have picked out a hero and his companions.

I could have been forgiven for expecting slime-like creatures to start popping up in the lower regions.

However, what was unexpected was the skill of my colleagues.

As it turned out, there were four slimes in the group.
It was a simple calculation, one slime at a time.
I thought it was very simple.
A slime is a slime, even if it’s red, blue, or a rainbow of colours.

It was very easy to think, ‘No way is a party of warriors going to have trouble with a slime?’

The warrior was doing well against the slime.
I was taken aback at the slower pace than I expected, but it looked like the battle would be over soon.
For a moment, he thought, ‘I’ll just have to be slower than that.’

“Ugh! Sylph! Sylph!”

Herrhin screamed, searching for the lesser elemental,

“Way to go! Yap!”

The slime slammed into Reg’s shield, seemingly unaffected by the blow.

This was the ‘first battle’ event that I needed to take care of to solidify my position within the Warrior Party.
I looked at the slime that was bobbing up and down in front of me with a wistful face.
I gave it a tentative punch with my enchanted fist, and the slime rolled three times and backed away.

I was in trouble.

For the life of me, I couldn’t think of a clever way to show that I wasn’t better than those two.

It was obvious that playing here was going to have the opposite effect of my intentions.
But how could I be the ‘wizard fellow who’s not as good as them, but still holds his own’….

I mean, even in a coming-of-age fantasy, that’s just too much.
Isn’t that balancing the abilities, my lord….

Ughhhhhh! You shouldn’t have picked me if you were going to do this, I’m supposed to be the only one rolling in the early game!

I barely had time to grunt to myself.
If I dwelled on it any longer, I’d probably end the battle and look back at my companions, and they’d see that I’d been blindly taking a beating from the slime.

I don’t want to be incapacitated, but I also don’t want to look capable!

I quickly swung my hand away.
I formed a wind blade just in time for Herrin to call the sylphs back.
The slime in front of Herrin shattered.

I used gravity magic as Reg pushed against the shield.
The slime exploded.
Debris scattered in all directions.

I paused for a beat, then raised my fist in a swift motion, smashing the slime in front of me.

Thwack!

The slime’s cute little scream was the last of the four to leave.
Silence fell on the quiet forest path.
Slowly, the warrior turned to look back at his companions.

Are they thinking about their first victory?

The warrior’s lips twitched a few times, and then he smiled.

“Good work, everyone, but first let’s find a campsite for the night.”

Everyone nodded, and they slowly walked away.

I had been admiring my own quickness, and my lips pouted at the warrior’s nonchalance.

Phew, yeah.
Acknowledgement was one thing.
I’m greedy.

Once again, I’m on my feet, and suddenly I’m being pulled towards him.
A panicked glance at the magic chamber reveals no sign of tampering.
It was simply a mistake in my mana control.

Despite the suddenness of my approach, the warrior smiled broadly and spoke to me.

“Hale.
Is something wrong?”

“Oh, no.”

“Well, then, while you’re here, can you do me a favour?”

The sun slipped behind the warrior’s head like a halo.

“What is it?”

“Can you use detect magic? I think we should set up camp around here, I wonder if there are a lot of monsters around.”

Well, there were plenty of demons around here.
If more than four slimes attacked, I would have a hard time hiding my skills.

I nodded grimly.
The warrior smiled even more brightly and thanked me.

I immediately spread my magic around.
A few vital responses were caught in the fog that enveloped the forest.
Next, I used emotional magic.

Emotion magic is usually used to identify things of value, such as jewellery, but when combined with search magic, I could roughly deduce the identity of the object I was searching for.

I could smell the fishy scent of Magi on the tip of my nose.

“There are three monsters 600 meters away.”

“…Aha.”

My response was a little shaky.
I looked at him questioningly and saw that he was still smiling.

“Thank you.
Do you happen to know how big they are?”

“Um… bigger than a human.”

“Then it could be an orc or a golem.”

I nodded and moved away from the warrior again.

Soon the campsite was chosen.
The valley was close by.
Words were exchanged about who would gather firewood, who would gather food, and the order in which the nets would be set up for the night.

In the middle of it all, I couldn’t help but do some serious thinking.

The loads on their backs didn’t seem so heavy.
Weapons, clothing, and water were probably all they had, minus their camping gear.

It looked like we were going to have to sleep on the ground or in a tree.

Would I be able to handle it, already accustomed to a fluffy bed? Would I be able to get a good night’s sleep as a pseudo-medieval person with a medieval body and a 21st century mind?

I kept thinking about the house in subspace and the queen-sized bed I had yet to sleep on.

I might never get to use it, now or later.
And when I do, I’ll wonder why I didn’t take it out in the first place.
My mind flashed back to the stormy ending of Timple in my previous life.
It was different, but I didn’t think it would be much different from the abuse I’d received for communicating an error in hindsight.

I swallowed hard and slowly raised my hand.
It was a polite gesture.

A true leader, a warrior, locked eyes with him.

“What’s wrong, Hale?”

“I-I have a home!”

“What? I do too… but it’s in Morocco….”

“Not that….”

I finally waved my mates off with a hand gesture.
I looked at the plot of land, which was big enough for a house, and opened the subspace.

My Sweet Home, three years in the making, appeared out of thin air.
The house settled into the ground without a single noise, and it was still standing.

“Whew.”

Behind his back, Herrin offered a short comment.

Reg and Herrin left of their own accord, not to get firewood for the fire, but to get firewood for the heat.

I was left alone with the warrior.

For some reason, I felt like I was stuck with him from the moment I started the journey.
Moreover, Herrin, who was supposed to be the heroine, seemed to be closer to Reg than to the warrior.

What the hell was this handsome warrior doing while they were flirting?

Is training that good, huh?

I was muttering to myself a question I couldn’t bring myself to say out loud.

“…The bed looks nice.”

“Fufu, I bought one in the capital.”

This was a bed that was supposed to be supplied to the imperial family.
The shopkeeper’s high nose gave me faith.
I was so pleased with the bed that it became my new treasure.

As I stood by the bed and pulled the arm of the warrior who was watching, I realised that there was a sweetness to this mattress that could not be seen from the outside.
Handsome, a true leader, and a bit of a dick, he deserved to sit on it.

“What do you think?”

“Yes, what?”

“Fluffy, right?”

It was so fluffy that my cheeks flushed.
The five shops hadn’t been in vain.

I stretched out on my back.
I looked at my back, which was as straight as it was when I was sitting on the bed.
To be able to sit on this mattress was a feat of endurance.

My body, which hadn’t moved much in a long time, complained of fatigue.
Sleepiness clung to my eyelids.

“Warrior….”

“Please call me Mohan.”

“Yes… Mohan.
If I sleep, wake me up….”

It sounded like the warrior had added something more.

My thoughts stopped.
If it’s important, he’ll tell me later.

‘What’s this guy’s identity?’

Mohan Wood, the heir to a marquis turned warrior in an instant, could not comprehend the strange wizard in front of him.