“Where are they? Didn’t you say they were here to camp and would definitely keep heading up the mountain?”
The two bandits had been waiting here for quite some time now.
They had both changed into ordinary, coarse cloth clothes, carrying baskets on their backs filled with a few pieces of firewood and some herb-like items.
The burly man still held an axe in his hand, pretending to chop wood beside a tree stump.
Anyone who saw them would probably just think they were ordinary people living on the mountain.
He was already getting impatient from waiting, his mind fixated on the beauties he had glimpsed earlier.
“Why’s it taking so long? Still haven’t seen them? Are you messing with me?”
The burly man tossed his axe aside in frustration and started complaining to his companion.
He’d finally seen some women—and such beautiful ones at that—but not only had he not gotten to have any fun, he’d even lost the chance to feast his eyes on them.
“It’s all your fault! You insisted they’d come up the mountain. Look now, they never came up at all, did they? I’d have been better off just getting a few more glances earlier!”
“Shut up! You idiot, just keep chopping wood and don’t bother me!”
The companion immediately snapped back at the burly man’s complaints, then picked up his telescope and began scanning around, searching for traces of Liyakade and the others.
He was feeling pretty annoyed too.
Beautiful women had shown up out of nowhere—if he couldn’t seize the opportunity, he’d be kicking himself.
“What did you say? You dare call me an idiot?!”
Hearing his companion’s insult, the burly man flew into a rage.
He tossed his axe aside and stormed over to his companion, grabbing him by the collar.
“What are you doing?”
The companion being grabbed remained calm, meeting the burly man’s glare with a steady gaze and a questioning expression.
“What do you think I’m doing? The beauties are gone, and now you’re insulting me. I’m taking it out on you!”
“Heh, calling you an idiot and you still don’t believe it!”
The companion let out a cold laugh, forcefully smacking the burly man’s hand away from his collar.
Then he shoved the telescope from his other hand into the burly man’s chest and pointed at a spot diagonally below in the distance.
“Look for yourself.”
“Look at what?”
Though confused, the burly man followed his companion’s instructions and picked up the telescope, aiming it in the direction he had pointed.
Through the telescope’s lens, he could see that the three beauties were indeed climbing up the natural mountain path.
“They… they really are coming up!”
“Would I lie to you?”
The companion spread his hands, showing utter disdain for the burly man’s brainless and impatient behavior.
“I told you they’d come up. The way they were laughing and chatting down there, it’s obvious they have no idea there are bandits in this area.”
As he spoke, the companion picked up the axe the burly man had casually discarded and tossed it back to him.
“Take it and get back to chopping wood!”
The burly man was startled by the axe flying toward him, but he quickly manipulated the wind element in the air, catching the axe steadily.
“You scared me! That’s dangerous! Couldn’t you just hand it to me properly?”
“Aren’t you a wind element user? This is nothing for you, right?”
“Hmph…”
The burly man clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction but eventually backed down, hefting the axe and returning to chopping wood obediently.
“Fine, since you were right, I’ll listen to you and keep waiting.”
***
After Alice and Field’s full-body massage—no, wait, their ruthless flower-crushing session—most of the slime had been wiped off Liyakade’s body.
Then Alice used the light element to purify the remaining slime from all three of them.
However, although Liyakade felt that some of the sticky substance had been removed and her clothes had been somewhat dried by Field’s magic power, making them less transparent, her body actually felt stickier than before.
Liyakade had the feeling that Alice and Field hadn’t just removed some of the slime—they had spread it evenly all over her body.
Now she felt sticky and clammy all over.
Add to that the fact that the two of them had been taking the opportunity to grope her, even reaching inside to touch sensitive areas, and Liyakade was now somewhat dazed.
It took a long while of walking before Liyakade finally recovered from that state.
At the same time, she once again sensed that gaze from above, as if someone was watching them—no doubt the bandits from earlier.
“Liyakade, what’s wrong with you? Walking this short distance and you’re already tired?”
Field, who was walking ahead, slowed her pace slightly, looking back at Liyakade with a teasing tone.
“Or could it be… because of what happened earlier…”
“Don’t say it! That’s not it at all!”
Liyakade immediately became flustered.
She quickened her pace, catching up to Field in a few long strides.
“Haha, fine, fine, it’s not that. Why are you getting so worked up?”
Seeing Liyakade catch up, Field grinned and ran ahead, dodging Liyakade while continuing to tease her.
Crack—
Just as Liyakade, her face flushed red, was chasing Field in playful horseplay, the three of them suddenly heard a faint sound coming from above.
The sound was short, crisp, and loud, even echoing slightly.
“Is that… someone chopping wood?”
Noticing the sound, Alice tried to identify it.
It did sound like someone splitting firewood.
“Yeah, it does sound like chopping. I see.”
Field nodded in agreement with Alice’s assessment, then looked at Liyakade.
“Chopping sounds mean there are people living up there. No wonder you didn’t just go drag them out directly, Liyakade. It’s because they’re not bandits—they’re original residents of the mountain, right?”
“Hmm?”
Liyakade just hummed in response, neither confirming nor denying.
“Huh? Is that not the case?”
Seeing Liyakade’s reaction, Field suddenly felt her assumption might be wrong.
“Heh, you’ll know when we get up there.”
“…Fine.”
Crack—
The sound of wood chopping continued to echo through the forest.
Guided by the sound, Liyakade and the others began climbing toward it.
The chopping grew closer and closer, and as they approached, they finally spotted two figures beside a tree stump.
They looked like two woodcutters.
One of them…