Water Magician

Extra chapter thanks to my Patreons~

A series of huge mountains towered in front of Ryo and Abel.

When Ryo first saw it, he thought of the Himalayas.

The mountain ridge that separates the Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian continent. Home to the world’s highest peak, Everest, the summit of the Gods locally called Chomolungma.

If they were on Earth, it would have been extremely difficult to scale the summit without oxygen.

Moreover, they didn’t have decent equipment.

But even on Earth, some Nepalese high priests stay at the summit of Everest for 32 hours and spend 11 hours of which without additional oxygen supply.

In that case … it shouldn’t be difficult … maybe … for those who trained in 『Phi』to climbing without oxygen.

There was something that Abel found strange.

Abel was a B-class adventurer and Swordsman.

There was no doubt that his physical strength, including stamina, was top class among all humankind.

Ryo, who was keeping up with him without any problems, was a Magician.

Although it wasn’t a rule, fundamentally Magicians had poor physical strength.

If they were adventurers, they would have better physical strength than the average person, but they would still be considerably weaker than a Swordsman.

In fact, Abel’s party member, Rin, the Wind Magician, had terrible stamina.

Her low endurance was considerably bad even when compared against the priest in the same party.

And yet.

Since the day he started traveling with Ryo, Ryo had no problems keeping pace with Abel’s movements and he didn’t even break a sweat. He wouldn’t have any problems even if he entered battle directly.

In a sense, it might even be possible to say that he was abnormal as a Magician.

“Hey, Ryo.”

“What’s wrong, Abel?”

They were still at an altitude that could still be called the 『foothills』. There was no need to cut down on conversations to preserve oxygen.

“Ryo has considerably physical strength for a wizard.”

Ryo replied with a bold smile, chuckling 『Fufufu』.

“You’ve done well to notice, Abel. I gained a lot of endurance while living alone. I shouldn’t have a problem fighting continuously for about five hours.”

“No, well, you’ll run out of magic.”

Abel retorted that Ryo was supposed to be a Magician.

“At any rate, I’m confident in my physical strength so Abel doesn’t have to worry about me and it is okay to go at your pace.”

“Oh wow, that’s some confidence.”

“Of course. B-class adventurer Swordsman or thereabouts can’t beat me in that area.”

Ryo provoked for no reason.

“Interestinggg, if you want a fight, I welcome it!”

Abel rode on the provocation.

“Fufu, I’m not scared at all even if you have dried meat in both hands.”

“That’s the same for you!”

While having foolish bickering, they walked toward the mountain.

As the sun approached the zenith, they felt extraordinary pressure.

“What?”

Abel looked left and right.

However, 『It』 flew down in front of them from the sky.

“Griffon …”

Abel could only say that and stiffened completely.

Ryo couldn’t move at all either because of the sense of intimidation or presence coming from the Griffon.

Griffon.

The Champion of the Sky, the God of Death of the Sky, the Ruler of the Sky … it was the governor of the sky with multiple aliases.

If it is the Behemoth that reigns on the ground, then it can be said that the Griffon controls the sky.

A terrifying monster with the upper body and wings of an eagle and the lower body of a lion.

Such a monster flew down in front of them and was staring at them.

After about 20 seconds, Ryo finally regained his senses.

Then, on a whim, he slowly released the dried meat he had in his right hand toward the Griffon.

Paku

The Griffon dexterously caught the dried meat that flew toward it with its beak and ate it.

That was when Abel finally regained his senses too.

Ryo also threw the dried meat in his left hand to the Griffon in a similar fashion.

This time, the Griffon opened and caught the meat directly in its mouth before chewing.

After finishing, the Griffon’s gaze clearly turned to the dried meats Abel was holding on to.

“Abel, dried meat.”

Ryo whispered in a voice that could barely be heard by Abel.

As prompted by it, Abel threw the dried meat he had in his right and left hands to the Griffon.

When it finished eating the dried meat that Abel threw to it, perhaps it was satisfied as it leaped into the sky with a large flap of its wings and the Griffon went away.

The two were rooted for a while.

It wasn’t until well over five minutes after the Gryphon left that they were finally able to speak.

“Abel, I’m glad we’re alive.”

“I totally agree.”

They sat down at the base of a large tree nearby and took a breather.

“That was good thinking, tossing the dried meat.”

Abel praised Ryo’s decision to toss the dried meat to the Griffon at the start.

“I thought of trying to first appeal that we weren’t its enemy and then I remembered the dried meat I had in my hand. I imagined that Griffons won’t hate meat.”

“Yeah, that was a great decision.”

Ryo was shy from Abel’s continuous praises.

“Even so, it had a great sense of presence.”

“Yeah, that was insane. Behi-chan was amazing too but that was a distance away. The Griffon was right in front of our eyes …”

“I’m glad it didn’t become an enemy.”

“It’s probably impossible to win if that becomes hostile.”

Ryo nodded as he replied.

“That’s not an opponent that humans can fight …”

“It’s better to deal with six Wyverns than to deal with a Griffon.”

“No, I would hate dealing with either of them.”

For the time being, since it was lunchtime, they decided to take out the dried meat in their bags to eat.

However, it goes without saying that they looked around when taking it out.

It would be a ridiculous turn of events if a Griffon suddenly appeared again …

“Nevertheless, Behi-chan, Griffon and such, there are all kinds of monsters.”

After calming down, Ryo muttered.

“Just like the Behemoth, humans have not reported sightings of a Griffon in the last few hundreds of years. I think this land is quite unusual.”

“It’s rude to call this land unusual. Isn’t it because humanity is not putting in enough effort?”

“What effort!?”

It seemed that their mental states had recovered to the point where they could finally make jokes.

“I wonder if that northern mountain range is preventing Behemoths and Griffons from coming to human land.”

“Well, they don’t have to worry about food here. They probably wouldn’t bother making the effort to go over the mountains to the other side.”

“It seems it would be difficult even for the Griffon to cross that mountain.”

“But there seems to be a Swordsman trying to cross that same mountain …”

Ryo sighed ostentatiously.

“My bad! It can’t be helped. I was washed over from the sea but I don’t feel like returning through the sea.”

After all, there was a Kraken in the sea.

“Behi-chan on land, Kraken in the sea, and Griffon in the sky … Land, sea and air, you’ve collected them all.”

“I would have been happier not collecting them!”