Chapter 21 - Keeping Cool At The Stream

After we enjoyed the venison cuisine, we were relaxing in the living room drinking some apple mint tea with the satisfied feeling of having full stomachs.

Flora brewed the tea with the apple mints grown by Fiona-san.

「Ah, the tea brewed by Flora is so good」

「Hehe, thank you」

It’s as Aisha said, the tea brewed by Flora was very fragrant. Although I’ve tried to make it myself after hearing the tricks to it, it was never quite right.

It seems like there was quite the depth to this, such as the time spent brewing, the temperature of the water used to brew with, and accounting for the temperature of the day and so on. I wonder how many cups of tea I would need to brew to get to her level.

It was nothing like the previous time with the soup where it was just about finding out the hidden ingredient, the pico.

I enjoyed the fragrant scent of the apple mint, and then I took a sip.

The sweet, refreshing taste of the green apple gradually filled my mouth. I really like this type of tea that calms you down once you drink it.

「Hey, how do I look? Do I look like a noble lady? 」

Aisha said as she tried to imitate the graceful behaviour of a noble with a composed expression. Then, she tried to slowly place her cup of tea back down on the table…

*Pon* , the sound of glass hitting the table echoed.

「Haha, is there a noble lady who is this clumsy? You’re sitting with your legs open too 」

「Shaddap. Even though I put the cup down carefully on your table, it still made a sound like that. It’s your table that has something wrong」

「There’s no way that’s true」

Toack was being a party pooper to Aisha as she drank her tea while extending her elbow out.

The nerve-wracking etiquettes mandatory for nobles is not for the lazy Aisha. It’s because there’s a lot of things you have to be mindful of.

「Aldo looks way more elegant compared to Aisha」

「Yeah. There were no sounds coming from him just now when he drank the tea. Classy」

Toack and Flora spoke words of admiration as they looked my way.

「R-really? 」

To become an A-ranked adventurer you would have to rely on a noble’s nomination. Therefore, it was necessary to learn proper noble etiquette in order to not appear rude before them when you try to get such a request.

I guess I’ve subconsciously goten used to drinking tea this way.

Well, it looks like drinking tea in a slightly elegant manner like this would be a bit strange.

I practiced with the guild master until my mouth turned sour, so it’s hard to break the habit now.

For the next little while, we talked with each other as we hung out sipping on tea.

「Okay, Aldo. Let’s go fishing. I want to have some salted fishes for dinner」

Toack said to me with fishing tools in his hands.

Since his usual poker face has softened up a little, I know that he was looking forward to this moment.

「Yeah, let’s go. We can do that at the stream nearby. But, what are you guys going to do, Flora and Aisha? 」

「Hmm. It doesn’t sound too bad to relax outside once in a while. We’ll come along」

「Yes, I’ll come too」

I was worried that they wouldn’t be able to since Aisha just pushed her workload onto her family, and Flora was called out by us suddenly. However, it doesn’t look like there will be any problems there.

「Okay. Everyone, let’s go!」

◆ 　◆　　　◆

In no more than two minutes, we’ve reached the stream walking from my house.

The weather is nice today, the whole sky is blue and there are no clouds in the sky.

The warm sun of spring felt nice.

The wind brushed my cheeks gently, as the flowers that grew around the stream swayed.

It made me feel cool and comfortable just from listening to the sound of the water flowing down the stream.

While enjoying this natural sensation, we walked along the stream and looked for our targeted fishes.

「After getting so full, it makes me want to take a nap here」

「Ohh, I know what you mean」

Flora and Aisha had friendly chats as they walked behind me and Toack.

I feel like falling asleep here too after having my stomach filled. I wonder if it’s going to be alright. Am I going to fall asleep while we’re fishing?

I let out yawns unintentionally as we’re bathed in the nice and warm sunlight.

When I looked next to me, I saw Toack doing the same thing. He did not let out his voice like me, but there were tears at the corner of his eye showing that he was a bit sleepy.

「Maybe we should wash our faces with the stream water to freshen up?」

Washing our faces with cold water would blow the sleepiness away.

It would be a bit hard to catch fishes right now in the state we’re in.

「Ah, Yes. It would feel good to dip our feet into the water since it’s so warm today」

「Yeah, that does sound nice 」n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Flora and Aisha replied happily to my suggestion.

Oh, it would be very refreshing to dip our feet into the water.

「…Yeah. At this rate, we’ll fall asleep while we’re fishing」

Toack looked as if he wanted to start fishing right away, but he came to an understanding since he could not beat his sleepiness either.

「Hora, it looks like there’s a good spot over there with the rocks. Let’s go, Flora!」

「Eh, hold on a sec! You’re going too fast, Aisha! 」

Aisha took Flora by her arm as she started to run toward where she was pointing at.

Flora was surprised by Aisha who suddenly started dashing out; it felt like she was struggling because she wasn’t good with exercises.

We also started to run after them as their long red and blonde hair swayed in the wind.

The place where they ran to was the place where the stream expanded in width.

Over there were four rocks that broke out on the surface of the water. If it’s that spot, we would be able to settle down and relax there.

「….*haa, haa*, Aisha, you were going too fast」

When Toack and I caught up with them, we saw Flora taking a little time to catch her breath.

Although it wasn’t even a thirty meter run, it was hard for Flora to keep up with since she did not deal with intense exercises normally.

「Your physical strength will go down if you don’t run once in a while, you know? You won’t be able to run in times of emergencies」

Certainly, it would be bad if you can’t run when you’re attacked by monsters.

But of course, in order to prevent something like that from happening, Loren-san, Kyle and I will thin out any monsters that we come across since we’re the hunters. However, nobody knows what will happen in the future.

What Aisha said was right.

「Aisha has the physical strength cause she works in the vineyard」

「Yup」

「There’s that, but it’s also because she runs from her sister for various reasons」

Toack spilled out the truth just when Aisha was nodding in agreement.

「….Yeah, that too… When times called for it…」

I stared at Aisha after hearing what Toack said, and Aisha answered as she started to take off her shoes to move on from the subject.

Please return the feeling of admiration I felt toward you just now.

As I felt scammed, Toack and I took off our shoes as well, along with Flora who had recovered.

Before putting our feet in the stream, Toack and I washed our faces first since we were especially sleepy.

It felt good as I splashed water on my face.

The cold water took away the heat on my face, and all the sleepiness I felt was being blown away at once.

「Ahhh~ so refreshing」

「Ohh, not bad」

Toack said after he dipped his face in and out of the stream.

That looked like it felt good, so I imitated him and did the same thing.

The feeling of having my whole head soaked in the cool water felt very comfortable. It was especially refreshing when I swung my head back up. The drops of water dripping down my neck was also somewhat pleasant.

All my sleepiness was gone.

I drained my hair that was soaked in water and brushed it back.

「Hahaha, your hair turns straight right away after it gets wet, Toack. Even though it’s normally messy and spiky」

Toack’s blonde hair that is usually spiky is now all straight down.

Now that he has front bangs, I couldn’t help but laugh at how that made him look younger than he usually looks.

「Shaddap, it’ll be back to normal once I’m dry」

Toack replied with a displeased look, but I find it amusing that he looked like a child who’s sulking right now.

He noticed my teasing smile and walked into the stream with a displeased look.

Aisha and Flora were just chilling, looking comfortably as they sat next to each other.

I also put my feet into the water following Toack.

It feels nice to have the cold water wrapped around my feet.

I quite liked the water calmly flowing down. Since the water level was around ten centimeters below the knee, it wouldn’t reach the knees even at the deepest center part of the stream.

As I breathed in and out to this nice feeling, we walked back to where the rocks are while the water splashed.

「Pfff, hahahaha」

Aisha burst out laughing as she saw Toack when we got close.

Flora also shifted her eyes to Toack’s direction.

「Ah, that’s Toack-san…right? He looks a little cuter with his hair down, doesn’t he?」

「Ughh…. 」

Toack squatted down with a distorted expression on his face after hearing Flora’s words that only had pure intentions behind it.

「U-ummm, Sorry. Did I upset you? 」

「… 」

Flora apologized to Toack as she saw his reaction even though there was nothing for her to apologize for. For sure, this is a spot where he would want to be left alone instead.

「U-Ummmm… 」

Flora became more lost at what to do seeing Toack knitting his brows.

It’s because Toack’s expression is awkward even for “Toack”. It’s a craftsman’s temperament.

I can somehow understand this because I’ve dealt with many people with this kind of temperament in my adventurer days.

The mood between those two was getting heavy, but it was all blown away by Aisha’s laughter.

「Ha! hahaha! I know you meant no harm, Flora, but don’t bully the poor Toack so much! Hahahahah—Fuuu?! 」

Water was splashed on Aisha’s face, who was pointing at Toack, laughing.

「HEY, WHAT’S UP WITH YOU?! 」

「I was just shutting your noisy mouth up」

Toack said with a refreshed expression as he watched Aisha desperately wipe off the water on her face.

Seeing his face, veins formed on Aisha’s forehead and then she splashed water at Toack.

「Gouuhhh!? 」

Toack let out a startled voice since he was hit on the face down to his neck.

「Hahaha, you sound funny」

「You b****, you’re gonna get it! 」

Ahhh…This is where the water fight begins….