LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 482.
Chapter 482. Heading to the Peak: The Ascent. (5/5)
After an hour of climbing, after we exited the sea of trees, we took a short break.
Sweating buckets, I dropped the bag on my back, then laid flat down on the side of the mountain looking up at the sun in the sky. I squinted my eyes from the blinding brightness creating a glare in my vision. The heat from the sun’s rays after we exited the shade of the trees was no joke.
I shut my eyes fully wanting to just fall asleep when I felt two hands on the back of my head. Rosa raised my head up a bit off the ground then rested it back down on top of her lap. I reopened my eyes and I was greeted by Rosa’s upside-down face looking at me with a small towel in hand.
She wordlessly used it to wipe off the sweat from my forehead, the sides of my head, neck, and shoulders.
“You don’t have to do this, I can do it myself.”
“I want to do it though, so just let me.”
“Suit yourself. You haven’t even broken a sweat yet.”
“You may have me beat when it comes to cold weather but it looks like I win when it’s hot weather.”
“Summers can still get pretty hot in our city though.”
“Not compared to the desert.”
“You’ve stayed in a desert?”
“Yeah. A few different ones. But my longest stay was two months in the Sahara Desert during summer. I asked my father to let me follow him on one of his missions. A high-profile target was hiding out in a safe house set up in the middle of the desert and it took forever to track them down. Compared to that hell, this heat isn’t much.”
“Two months, that sounds awful.”
“It was pretty good survival training. I was pretty convinced we were going to die though. When we ran out of food and water, we had to survive off water from cacti and rely on scorpions and snakes to fill our bellies.”
“Why would you even ask your father to allow you to accompany him on a mission like that?”
“Because…”
“What?”
Rosa averted her eyes to one side and mumbled, “I wanted to spend time with him. He was always busy on the move and accompanying him on his missions was the only way I’d really get to see him.”
“I see.”
“You thirsty?”
“Yeah, can you hand me a bottle?”
“Sure.”
Rosa retrieved one of the bottles of water from my bag. When she removed the cap, I raised my hand to grab it but she grinned and pulled it away up to her mouth. She drank from it first before she lowered the bottle back down. When she placed the bottle in my hand she bent over me and touched her lips to mine. She used her tongue to pry my lips open and allowed the water to slowly flow out into my mouth.
I gulped it down bit by bit until she pulled away and whispered sweetly with an impish smile, “Would you like something to eat with that?”
“I would but I’d like to eat it normally. Don’t go chewing it up for me like I’m a baby bird.”
“Hehehe, I wouldn’t go that far.”
She pulled out some jerky from our bag, picked out a piece, and poked my lower lip with it. When I opened my mouth to bite it, she pulled it away.
“What are you doing now?”
“It was just a little prank. Open your mouth.”
When I did as requested, she moved it closer until it was inside my mouth and poked my tongue. Right when I closed my mouth my teeth bit into nothing but air.
“Hehehehe. Too slow~” She teased as she pulled it away again.
“I’ve lost my appetite.”
“Jeez, relax. I’m just teasing you a little. To make up for it, here.” Rosa held the jerky out between her lips before she leaned forward again. She delivered it directly into my mouth and naturally didn’t miss the chance to kiss again.
“How does it taste?”
“Like jerky.”
“But don’t you think it tastes better than just normal jerky?”
“Now that you mention it... it does taste better than usual… what did you put in it?
“Love ♡” She made a heart with her fingers.
I squinted my eyes and asked suspiciously, “You didn’t mix in your hair or something, did you?”
“Pfft. Of course not. It’s love~ did you want me to do that though?”
“No. Absolutely not. Please don’t ever do that.”
“Really though, just what sort of weird things are you expecting me to feed you?”
“Haha… Sorry… I’ve just read one too many weird stories lately.”
We spent the rest of our little break eating the jerky and rehydrating ourselves. Once we were finished we resumed our ascent up the mountain.
When we reached an incline at a seventy-five-degree angle we spotted two white mountain goats nearby scaling the wall. I couldn’t help but admire how effortless they made it look. I’d once seen a video online of a mountain goat scaling a vertical dam and all I could say was I was truly impressed. They were animals that definitely had a few loose screws in their little heads.
Rosa took the lead and scaled the wall first. She skillfully positioned her hands and feet between gaps in the rocks as she seamlessly ascended fifty meters to the top of the ledge. Having seen it done one step at a time, I closely shadowed behind her in the exact same path she traversed the wall.
When I got to the top, she held her hand out to me and pulled me up. From below the ledge, it looked like this was the top of the mountain, but my heart sank when I took in the view.
It seemed there was still quite a distance before we made it to the summit. Gauging the exact distance was difficult. All I knew was it was still quite a long way to the top.
Resigned, I followed behind Rosa who happily trod along while humming to herself in a good mood. I kept my eyes glued to her legs from behind the majority of the time with the exception of when wildlife appeared. It sort of reminded me of playing a video game and selecting a female character just so you had something pleasant to look at while running around the world.
When we got to another scalable wall that I thought was surely the end, I was only left disappointed when I made it to the top.
The next time, the same result.
This depressing cycle of getting my hopes up for it to be the summit only to be disappointed continued to happen over and over again. Eventually, I just started asking Rosa at each wall, “Are we there yet?”
Every time she said not yet, my heart was crushed.
I was exhausted.
It was difficult to catch my breath.
The air was thin.
We had to take breaks more frequently because of my exhaustion.
I wanted to collapse.
I couldn’t take it.
I was losing my mind.
This mountain looked neverending.
It was getting colder the higher up we ascended, but that didn’t stop me from sweating buckets thanks to the lower pressure at higher elevations.
My lungs hurt.
My throat was sore.
I felt cornered.
As if the weight of the mountain was pressing down on my back telling me to give up and concede defeat.
You can’t do it.
Give up.
Turn back while you can.
You did your best, there’s no shame in not being able to make it all the way to the top.
It was as if the mountain was speaking to me and conveying all these things to me.
But seeing Rosa in front of me leading the way without voicing a single complaint, I couldn’t stop.
So I continued.
I grit my teeth.
Clutched the straps of my bag and trudged along behind her.
One step at a time.
I could hardly focus on anything deemed unnecessary. The only thing I could pay attention to was her movements and following them precisely. Matching where she placed her feet. How her arms moved. How she meticulously shifted her center of gravity. The way she controlled her breathing. How her hair swayed and blew with the gentle gusts of wind.
I had to learn from her. To adapt if I wanted to make it through this.
At some point, my mind blurred everything else out.
All that remained was the two of us moving through a world shrouded in darkness. Rosa’s radiant soul was the only beacon of light guiding me forward.
I continued like this mindlessly following in her footsteps until suddenly… she stopped in place without warning.
She turned to me with a beaming smile and asked, leaning forward, taking in long steady deep breaths through her nose while resting her hands on her knees, “You aren’t going to ask?”
“Huh? Ask what?”
“‘Are we there yet?’ You were constantly asking me that before, weren’t you?”
“Oh, yeah.” At some point, I’d forgotten and just mindlessly followed behind her.
“Jeez, are you so tired you didn’t even realize that we’re finally here?”
“Here? You mean…”
I shifted my heavy eyes away from her and the darkness gradually dissipated. My field of view expanded from the light around Rosa.
The copper ground, littered with scattered rocks.
A top-down view over fourteen thousand meters high in the air.
A green valley mixed with golden spots and copper peaks.
It looked like there was mold growing up the sides of the mountain ranges, only, it was not mold, but countless trees. Each and every speck was its own tree.
They looked so tiny and insignificant from here. When up close on the ground they towered overhead as though they were mighty lords looking down upon us. But to a mountain, those trees were no more than peasants prostrating in worship.
The vast deep blue lakes sparkled vibrantly under the sun within the mountain basin. They felt as if they were tiny puddles for the mountain to dip its aching feet.
Beyond the distant copper peaks laid a wide green forest that stretched all the way across the clear blue skyline.
Taking in the view, the muscles in my body all relaxed at once. I fell back onto my ass exhausted and exhaled out a long breath.
It was… a scam.
The view and scenery didn’t move me at all. It was completely underwhelming as far as I was concerned.
However, that didn’t mean I didn’t feel anything at all.
I felt relieved.
Relieved the long uphill battle was over.
Satisfied.
Satisfied I made it to the top.
Seeing the distance I’d traversed, that was where this sense of fulfillment came from. Something tangible that could be seen for the work put in. You could see how far you came from where you started.
This wasn’t something you understood by seeing it in a picture.
It wasn’t the view here that moved people, it was being able to look back and see your journey. The hardship you endured to get to this summit.
That was what brought people to tears.
Without that hardship, this view meant nothing.
It’s a situation where you had to experience it once to understand why the view was so beautiful and moving to those who traversed that path. Seeing a picture alone wouldn’t be able to convey and capture this moment.
Rosa broke the silence and asked, “How is it?”
“How is what?”
“The view?”
“It’s pretty shitty. It’s a total scam.”
“Hahaha! Right? But how do you feel seeing it?”
“I guess I’m moved.”
Rosa’s smile widened when she heard my response.
I leaned back and sprawled my body out flat across the rocky terrain like a starfish.
“I’m taking a nap.”
“Aren’t you afraid you’ll roll off the mountain in your sleep?”
“I’m too tired to care right now.”
“Sleeping on rocks isn’t good for your body.”
Too tired to respond, my eyes gradually shut on their own, and I dozed off.
“Just don’t blame me if you’re so defenseless and you get attacked by a wild animal while you’re asleep~”
…