INFINITE - 30 SPECIAL!!!
Juro eventually stood back up before clapping his hands together once.
"Alright!"
He smiled brightly.
"Time for lunch."
Marc immediately raised both hands excitedly again.
"Yeah!!!"
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Juro looked down at the two of them and said, "I'll go look for more stones we can use as a table. You two worked hard, so just stay here and get some quick rest."
Marc nodded immediately. "Okay, Teacher Juro!"
Juro smiled before turning around and walking deeper into the area, searching for something usable.
As he walked, he muttered to himself, "I said I was going to get stones but... it'd be a hassle carrying a bunch of small ones."
A few moments later, his eyes landed on a decently sized boulder ahead of him.
Juro walked closer and examined it with interest. "Ooo... it's almost as tall as me. Pretty wide too. Yeah, I think I could make a nice table out of this."
He crouched slightly before gripping the boulder with both hands. The moment he tried lifting it, his arms tensed a little.
"This one's a bit heavy... hehe, might need some mana."
Mana slowly flowed through his arms and into his hands. Faint mana spread beneath his skin as the massive boulder gradually lifted from the ground.
Once it was fully off the ground, Juro adjusted his grip carefully. He slid his right hand underneath the boulder while his left stabilized it from the side. Then, little by little, his left hand let go completely until the entire weight rested on a single arm.
He raised it higher above himself with ease.
"Finally. This'll do. At least now I can actually see where I'm walking."
And just like that, he casually walked back toward the tree without the slightest struggle.
As he arrived, he was about to call out to them.
but the moment he stepped closer and saw the two of them, the words quietly died in his throat.
A soft smile formed instead.
Bell and Marc had both fallen asleep beneath the tree. Bell rested against the trunk while Marc's head leaned against Bell's shoulder, completely knocked out.
Juro quietly lowered the boulder onto the ground, careful not to make too much noise.
After that, he picked up the three plumpias and moved them a little farther from the tree before slowly freezing them to preserve them.
Once he finished, he stretched his arms for a moment before glancing up at the blue sky, a small smile lingering on his face.
"Two years, huh... guess I gotta step up my teaching game again..."
Time passed quietly.
Bell and Marc had pushed themselves far beyond what they were used to, and their bodies had completely given in to exhaustion.
Hours later, the sun had already begun to set.
A faint flickering light danced across Bell's closed eyelids.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw a pile of sticks and wood burning nearby.
"Did I fall asleep again...?" he muttered to himself. "Augh... I'm really not used to this..."
Still half-awake, Bell turned his head slightly.
And immediately noticed Marc's head still resting on his shoulder.
Except now his neck was bent at a horribly awkward angle.
Bell looked at Marc with slight concern.
"..how... how is he sleeping fine with that..(-_-;).?"
Marc's neck was twisted at such an awful angle that Bell genuinely wondered if it should've hurt.
Bell slowly looked around and noticed the sky glowing orange.
The sun was already beginning to set.
"I guess we really did sleep for a few hours..."
"Oh, hey Bell. You're awake."
Bell turned toward the voice.
"Where are the plumpias?"
"They're at the back," Juro replied casually. "I froze them to preserve them."
"I see... well, that's good."
Juro simply sat there on the ground, quietly staring into the fire.
Bell ended up doing the same.
The crackling flames filled the silence between them.
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
In the middle of that quietness, Bell found himself thinking,
"This is kinda awkward... I'm technically thousands of years older than him, but I'm stuck in a child's body right now... so this whole thing still feels weird..."
A few more seconds passed before Juro suddenly spoke.
"Y'know... sometimes I feel like you aren't actually a kid."
Bell looked over at him. "I get that a lot. I guess it's one of the cons of being a very talented kid."
Juro smiled faintly. "Who said it was a con? Most kids try way too hard to act like adults and grow up fast, yet you're over here calling maturity a bad thing."
Bell stared quietly at the fire for a moment before answering.
"I guess it's just what people expect from me. You get smart enough to a point where nobody really thinks you're allowed to act like a child anymore."
Juro's expression softened slightly.
"Are you sureeee you ain't The Greatest Mage's secret child~~~"
Bell slowly turned toward him with a completely blank expression.
"Seriously...?"
Juro burst out laughing.
"But seriously," he said after calming down a bit, "even if you're smart, and even if you think differently from other kids... you're still a kid. So don't rush yourself out of those moments."
Bell smiled softly before turning back toward the fire.
Not long after, Marc slowly lifted his head off Bell's shoulder and rubbed his tired eyes.
"Mmm... Teacher Juro... are you cooking now...?"
"Nope."
Marc, still half asleep, stared at the fire.
"Then why'd you light a fire...?"
He looked around lazily.
Then looked around again.
He blinked twice.
Looked around one more time..
And suddenly his eyes widened.
"EHHHHHH???? THE SUN'S ALREADY SETTING?!?!?! I swear it was just afternoon!! Whaaaattt we slept THAT long????"
Juro laughed loudly.
"Hahaha! You two must've pushed yourselves way too hard if you slept that long."
Marc stretched his arms with a tired groan.
"Hehe..."
Then his eyes suddenly lit up again.
"Ah! What happened to the plumpias we caught?"
"Behind the tree," Juro answered. "I froze them to preserve them."
"Ooooo... wait..."
Marc squinted toward the distance ahead of them.
"Wait... Teacher Juro... is that...?"
He narrowed his eyes even more before suddenly realizing what he was looking at.
"AH! There's a carriage heading this way!"
Bell and Juro both looked ahead.
Sure enough, a carriage was racing toward them at high speed.
But something immediately felt wrong.
There were no horses.
The carriage itself looked completely out of control.
Juro simply smiled.
Without panic, he slowly extended one hand outward.
Mana flowed from his palm like an invisible current, spreading toward the speeding carriage. The moment it reached it, the wildly shaking carriage gradually began slowing down.
At the same time, the mana stabilized its balance, preventing it from tipping over as it skidded across the ground.
The carriage finally slid to a complete stop right in front of the campfire.
Juro lowered his hand calmly as the mana around the carriage faded away.
Marc immediately stood up and slowly walked closer to it, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Woaaah... a real-life carriage..." he muttered. "It looks so fancy... there's gold on it too... woaaah..."
The carriage door slowly opened.
A man stepped out first.
Although he looked fairly old, there was a refined elegance to the way he carried himself. His posture was straight, his clothing formal and clean, and even the way he moved felt disciplined.
He looked toward them before speaking in a careful, polished tone.
"Excuse me, but were you the people responsible for stopping the carriage?"
Marc stared at him for a second, visibly admiring how elegant his words sounded before casually shaking his head.
"Nup. It was our teacher over there."
Juro, still sitting near the fire, raised a hand lazily.
"Yo. Glad the carriage didn't crash into anything."
The man looked toward Juro before immediately bowing deeply.
"I must humbly thank you, kind sir. You have helped us greatly."
"Nah, don't worry about it."
"I still wish to repay your actions with some coins, if you do not mind."
Juro grinned instantly.
"Awww, you don't have to...( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) buttttt if you insist, then I wouldn't mind~~~"
The man bowed once more. "Then please give me a moment. I shall retrieve the reward from the carriage."
As he turned around, the carriage door opened again.
But this time, it wasn't him who opened it.
The man's eyes widened immediately.
"Ah! Princess! Why would you step out of the carriage?! It could still be dangerous!"
Marc's eyes lit up even more.
"WOAAAHHH A PRINCESS???"
The princess calmly stepped out of the carriage despite the man's panic.
"That would be rather rude of me," she said gently, "to not personally thank the person who prevented our carriage from crashing."
"B-but Princess—"
"It's fine."
The princess walked toward Juro gracefully before giving a polite bow.
"Thank you, kind sir, for helping us."
Juro waved both hands casually.
"It's fine, it's fineee. I'm just glad you two didn't crash."