I Don't Want To Work! - Chapter 159

CHAPTER 159

“Wow.” 

How far did we travel using teleportation? 

Lionel and I arrived at the entrance of a dense forest. 

The forest was originally a place where people lived their lives. 

People cut down trees in the forest, gathered food ingredients such as mushrooms, fruits, and fish, and even made money by collecting herbs. 

In short, there were often villages formed near the forest.

But this wasn’t one of them. 

Not even close. 

No people were passing by, let alone villages. 

It felt like a place you shouldn’t enter, with dense trees blocking the sunlight, thick grass, and occasionally eerie cries. 

This was a place you really shouldn’t enter, considering the staggering mortality rate. 

Even the small flowers blooming under the trees were poisonous, and the snakes slithering through the dense bushes were venomous enough to kill instantly. 

There were even ferocious animals and monsters. 

It wasn’t just a gloomy forest that people avoided; it was Cranis. 

“It’s been a long time….” 

But it felt different to me. 

As soon as I felt the gloomy atmosphere, I had this feeling.

“Home, home! I’m finally home!!” 

I smiled broadly as I pushed through the dense bushes with no path. 

“Nothing has changed!” 

“…It feels gloomy.” 

Lionel, who was following behind me, muttered. 

He even made a short groan while pointing at spiderwebs here and there.

He’s quite fastidious. 

“Master.” 

“Yes?” 

“Did you really… live in a place like this?” 

“Ah, this place is bustling, bustling.” 

Over there, you can see a watchtower in the distance, and in about two days’ travel, there’s a village. 

That’s quite impressive, isn’t it? 

“The tower I was in was right in the center of Cranis. You couldn’t see any animals, let alone people.”

The center of Cranis was a place where even tigers and wolves were driven away. 

My tower was there. 

“Thanks to that, I lived a life where I couldn’t even smell people. Ah, but there were plenty of rare herbs, so that was nice.”

I smiled broadly.

“Since people didn’t come, it didn’t get polluted, and there was no worry of someone picking them.”

Even magic didn’t work there, so even mages who could use teleportation couldn’t do anything. 

The only thing that worked was elemental magic, maybe? 

Thanks to that, I did a lot of research on rare herbs. 

Ah, now that I think about it, the herbs I’ve collected so far come to mind. 

Is there anything useful? 

When should I go plunder the tower? 

“Hmm.” 

Lionel, listening to my words, frowned and silently followed behind me. 

“The place Achel mentioned is-.” 

“Hmm? Lionel.” 

Something caught my eye as I looked at Lionel. 

Something small on his shoulder. 

No, honestly, is it small? 

At least compared to my fist. 

“Don’t move.” 

“What’s there…?”

It seemed that Lionel only just detected the movement on his shoulder. 

“No way.” 

Lionel’s face began to pale. 

In the meantime, I detached what was hanging on his shoulder and handed it to Lionel. 

“It’s a spider.” 

It was a spider with bristly fur, about the size of my fist. 

The spider, caught off guard, made a clicking sound as it wriggled its eight legs.

“It’s not poisonous. But if it bites, it’ll hurt a bit. Ah, it’s good to see you after so long.” 

“….” 

“The silk this spider produces is quite strong, so it could be used as a substitute for thread. That’s why it’s not poisonous.” 

Most creatures just get caught in the spider silk. 

“So, to get the silk, I released a few of them in the tower’s basement and raised them. It’s all nostalgic.” 

I smiled as I gently stroked the spider’s head with my finger. 

But there was no response from Lionel. 

What’s wrong? 

I turned my head. 

“…”

Lionel stood there, halfway fainting.

* * *

“Are you scared of spiders?”

“…Don’t tease me.”

His face turned red. 

Very, very red. 

“I’m scared of spiders.” 

When I poked his cheek, Lionel’s eyes narrowed sharply, as if to say he was angry. 

But with his face so red, it didn’t have much effect. 

“What about other bugs?” 

“….” 

“Lionel? Lionel~.” 

When I grabbed his arm with crossed arms and he still didn’t answer, I turned his head sharply. 

“If you don’t answer, I’ll remove the water shield.” 

“….” 

We were currently advancing within the water shield created by Shu. 

It’s a place where even magical formulas go awry. 

Lionel said he would cut down the visible spiders one by one, but well. 

‘That’s not possible.’ 

Ignoring the hundreds of spiderlings crawling over my head, I pulled Lionel’s arm. 

We had to get out quickly before he fainted. 

“Hmm? Lionel.” 

When I elongated my words and pretended to cling to his arm, Lionel covered his mouth with his hand. 

“…I’m going to lose it.” 

“Huh?” 

“You’re just teasing me.” 

Lionel opened his eyes wide. 

“Right?” 

“Yes.” 

I immediately nodded. 

Lionel’s expression subtly changed. 

“Because you’re so positive, it’s…,” 

“Even if I say no, you won’t believe it, right?” 

I gently kicked away bugs and snakes crawling near my feet as we moved forward. 

The bottom part of the shield seems to be slightly weakened because Shu is still young. 

The top part is perfect though. 

And that over there… 

Let’s leave it for now. 

I might be able to use it later. 

“So, you should be positive, right?” 

Lionel’s expression became even more subtle at my words. 

“And, although I’m teasing you a bit…”

I suddenly swept away a salmosa that appeared out of nowhere with my foot and grinned. 

“I’m glad to have gotten to know a side of you that I didn’t know before.” 

His gaze at me seemed to change slightly at my words. 

“You didn’t seem particularly afraid of bugs when you were younger.” 

At that time, Lionel was pushing the world away. 

It was a bit difficult even to find out what food he liked. 

“…That’s because…” 

Lionel’s voice was slightly choked. 

It sounded like a confession. 

“It was nice. Not having bugs around, the little bed you gave me, and you.” 

I glanced up while pushing aside a millipede. 

“Nice?” 

“Yes, of course.” 

Lionel nodded. 

“At first, it felt like there was some catch, so I was cautious, but still, it was nice.” 

He slowly continued, looking into the distance. 

“You gave me a room just for myself. Bought a new small bed. It was the first time I had my own bed, my own room…” 

Lionel wiped his mouth again with his large hand. 

“It was nice having someone make food for me every day, remembering what I ate a little more.” 

It was the sincere sentiment of young Lionel that I had heard for centuries. 

I looked at Lionel. 

“Why didn’t you say anything back then?” 

I was worried. 

Whether he’d like the bed or not. 

Whether giving him the room with two windows after clearing out the herbs was a good idea. 

If the food suited his taste when the wounds that could only be seen at night would heal. 

I wanted to make him better without causing pain. 

I had to swallow those words every day. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know back then.” 

Lionel looked at me and smiled wryly. 

“That’s why I thought I could tell you later. It felt like you would always be by my side.” 

He can tell me anytime. 

I’ll always be by his side. 

Just a little later, just a few more days. 

“But that wasn’t the case.” 

Death came in an instant, and parting was swift. 

“…After you passed away, I went back home alone.”

Lionel’s eyes were looking into the distance again. 

It seemed like he was looking at memories from the past. 

“It was lonely.” 

“…”

“I felt like you would knock on the door any minute and come in to chat with me.”

Tears welled up under Lionel’s blue eyes, and one by one, they fell. 

“I felt like you would come back.” 

Nothing had changed. 

The house was exactly as usual. 

The wood grain on the walls, the drawer leaning to one side from being too old, the window that would always open when the wind blew hard at night. 

Nothing had changed except for one empty spot. 

“So, I opened the door and waited.” 

When he opened the door, he could see far away, so he opened the door and waited every day.

Like that, for a day, two days, three days. 

Time passed, and the footsteps of the people who used to come pityingly also faded away, and the seasons continued to pass. 

“But you didn’t come.” 

By the time all the food in the house had gone bad and mold had started to grow on the dried herbs exposed to rain and wind, he knew I wasn’t coming. 

“….” 

I bit my lip until it bled.