Dragon X The Power to Reach the Top Shelf

Fun. I really was having fun.

“Ah. There's some more ore in that rock over there.”

“Roger,” Iris answered, summoning her trusty handheld pickaxe once again and getting to work. I kept watch as, with a series of taps and clinks, she pried another chunk of ore free from the cliffs of the small forest ravine.

I could hear the birds calling and chirping through the branches, as the wind shook the boughs of the towering trees high, high over our heads. The farther we got from Alharth, the larger the flora – and fauna – had become. We'd gone far enough north that we must have been nearing the borders of the Sylvan Greatwood by now, I supposed – though even though we were presumably getting closer to it, I still hadn't seen any sign of the mountain Gray and Dairoku had mentioned in their descriptions of the secret area. I had wanted to scout out the area a bit while we were out traveling, but...

Just as well. From the sound of it, that place was absurdly dangerous – it probably wouldn't be a good idea to approach it without Iris having access to any of her combat abilities. This area of the forest, on the other hand, seemed quite peaceful. Aside from a couple wandering <<Feral Lizardmen>>, which I dispatched with relative ease thanks to my earlier practice fighting them, we didn't even run into any hostile mobs.

It was just the two of us. Me, always moving ahead to search for enemies or the gathering points they protected, and Iris, wandering off in some random direction seemingly every time I turned my back. Despite the fact that I was running [Detection], somehow, she was still spotting resources before I could. Maybe my Skill was too low-leveled... or maybe it was just the difference in our actual gameplay experience.

But it was fine. She seemed happier now that she was focusing on the game, and not on... me. And as for me, I was having fun, too.

I was having fun, but...

“Wait a sec, Iris. Up there on the ledge – there's some herbs that you missed.”

“I didn't miss them. I just can't reach them without my magic.” She hopped in place a couple of times, craning her arm to try to grasp the plants fluttering in the breeze just beyond her. She wasn't exactly tall in real life, either, mind you... but ingame, she was positively tiny.

I walked up beside her, reaching up myself. It would have been a simple matter for me to grab it, but she bopped my outstretched hand with her staff before I could.

“Don't. Without the [Harvesting] Skill, if you pick them they'll just end up ruined. It has to be me.”

“...Could you hook them with your staff, maybe?” It was kind of sickle-shaped, and the inside of its head looked sharp. Maybe she could snag them with that and cut them... But as she tried following my advice, the brim of the ledge kept getting in her way, and this prospect too was swiftly abandoned.

“There's no other choice. Here, bend down for a moment.”

“Huh?” I didn't get where she was going with that, but did as I was asked – only for her to unexpectedly clamber up onto my back – grabbing hold of my horns as she did so and using them to hang on as I hastily shot back up to my feet.

“What are you doing?!” I yelped, trying to ignore the emotionally concerning fact that I was suddenly giving a certain someone a piggyback ride that I hadn't expected or mentally prepared myself for – and the physically concerning fact that she kept twisting my horns this way and that as she adjusted her balance.

“Reaching the herbs – if you'd stop moving around so much. Just hold still!”

“Urk... You could have at least warned me before you –”

“There. Got them!” Just as suddenly as it had started, she hopped down from my back and dusted herself off, leaving me to nearly stumble face-first into the cliff as I tried to regain my balance – and my composure. I waited until my face stopped feeling like it was burning, then turned around, but as it turned out, she wasn't even looking at me anyway, so my efforts to preserve my dignity were entirely wasted. Instead, those always-blank eyes of hers had gone all starry again, and she was fussing with the bundle of plants in her hand with a slightly creepy grin on her face.

“Ooh, I've never seen this type of herb before! I wonder if it's poisonous?”

...I was having fun. This was a game, and I was having fun playing it. But at the same time, wasn't it weird for us to suddenly be like this? After last night, I had expected her to be cold to me – I'd even fully prepared myself to try to slowly make amends for pissing her off. But now, she was acting almost like she used to when we were kids – as if nothing had happened at all. Maybe she was fine with that, so long as we were just playing a game together. So long as we were just playing.

A feeling I couldn't quite name gnawed at my thoughts. Like I was relieved but disappointed at the same time – like the distance between us was close enough to reach, yet so far that I never could.

Ayame... Just what is going on inside that head of yours?

“...What are you staring at?”

“Eh? Oh, uh...” Shit. Was I staring? Maybe I was – but not like that. I was just, uh... dazed, from nearly having my scalp pulled off via my horns. Yeah. That.

...No way in hell that was going to work as an excuse, though. But seriously, why had she even done that anyway? Couldn't she just have... Wait, actually, hang on a second!

“No, I was just wondering why you didn't just jump.”

“I tried jumping, though.” She tilted her head to the side. “See?” Hop. Hop. She bounced lightly in place a couple of times demonstratively, but I shook my head.

“Not like that – like you would in combat. Isn't your DEX score crazy high? When you went full speed during our fight last night, I couldn't even see you move.”

Iris blinked – then furrowed her brow – then placed a hand to her chin. Then, finally, after thinking about it for a moment...

“...Oh. You're right. I could have just jumped,” She said lamely. “I usually just float with magic for things like that, so I didn't even think of that.”

...As my palm collided with my forehead, I couldn't help but wonder if this was how Dairoku felt while gaming with me. I had no right to criticize someone else for not thinking things through before she acted, but even so – why was using me as a stepladder the first thing she thought of!?

Still, I held my tongue. I'd probably caused her enough physical discomfort by picking her up while she was paralyzed, or by staying overnight in her tent. Even if she didn't show it on that face of hers, I'm sure she must have been embarrassed, deep down. It would be crass of me to tease her over something like –

“Hm? There's something shiny over there.”

...Aaaand she wasn't even concerned in the slightest! She was just running off after the next thing that caught her eye.

“Oi! Iris! Hang on a moment, there might be enemies, let me go first so I can –”

But Iris was already trotting fearlessly out of the ravine, and into the clearing beyond it. And, before I could stop her, the shiny object she was going forward to investigate started moving. There was a loud roar, and a yelp of surprise. I drew my sword on instinct as a giant something collided with the ground where she had just been standing, and as she threw herself backward in the nick of time, narrowly avoiding being split in two by a giant set of claws.

As I interposed myself between her and her attacker, my eyes moved from the claws up to the big, furry paw they were attached to – then up the arm that paw was attached to – then up, and up, and up, until they finally settled upon the visage of a gigantic –

“Huh. Are bears supposed to grow to the size of houses?”

“No... At least, I don't think they are.”

“He's very fluffy,” I observed. “You think maybe he'd forgive us if we pet him a little bit?”

“What? No, why would you even – Wait a minute, is this because of that time I –”

Ah! Good. She remembered. But much though I would have liked to tease her about it and reminisce over good old times some more, bears – particularly not colossal bears with glowing red eyes that looked to be covered in some form of glowing crystal – are not known for their patience, or for their practice of etiquette. So, naturally, our unwanted guest did the only thing that a colossal, murderous crystal-bear-thing would do in that situation.

It roared at us, then tried to smash us both into paste.