The Neighborhood High School Girl, Miss Isezaki, Is the Great Saintess Returned from Another World~ And I, Suddenly Awakened as Her Exclusive Mana Supply Uncle, Travel Between Earth and Another World with Time-Space Magic~ - 195. The Second Magic Stone Mine

195. 195. 195. 195. The Second Magic Stone Mine

Giving up on recovering the stuffed animals and cushions, we moved on and arrived at the foothills of the magic stone mine.

As an important base with both a mine and a fortress, the area was surrounded by heavy fortifications and there were soldiers standing guard. One of the soldiers saw us approaching and shouted loudly.

“Stop! Beyond this point, entry is strictly forbidden to unauthorized persons! You don’t look like soldiers or workers, so who are you—Huh? Ah, n-no, uh, ah, ahhh, you are…”

The soldier, who had been shouting aggressively, gradually lowered his voice and his face turned pale. His gaze was fixed on Maristel, who was next to me.

Maristel, who had been burying her face in the stuffed animals, suddenly popped her head out.

“What’s the matter? I’m an authorized person, aren’t I? This is my home area. And these two are also authorized. So, we can come in, right?”

“M-M-M-Maristel-sama!! You’re out today! So, these people must be with you!?”

“Yes, that’s right. Can you figure that out?”

“Y-Yes! I understand, I understand! If that’s the case, of course, you can pass through! Please, go right ahead! Please—please—go right throughーーーーーーーーー!!”

The soldier stepped aside and bowed deeply. However, I still had the permit given to me by Captain Hige. It would be a waste not to use it.

“Wait a moment. I have a permit, so could you please at least take a look at it?”

“N-No, no! If you are with Maristel-sama, that’s fine! It’s really fine! So please, just go quickly! Please, just disappear from my sight as soon as possible! P-Please, please, pleaseeeeee!!”

Crying, the soldier then prostrated himself and started trembling. What is this… We exchanged glances.

“Uh, Maristel… What did you do to this person?”

“Hm? Oh, this guy here… It’s not really a problem if he looks at me with lecherous eyes. But since he kept pestering me even though I repeatedly said no, it became quite annoying. So I had the dolls play with him for a long time, just to get it out of my system?”

“Ah, I see. Is that so…”

Considering his scared reaction, it must have been quite a terrifying experience. I decided not to ask what kind of play it was.

Anyway, I remember Maristel seemed to have quite a bit of fun turning the Digram soldiers into living dead.

I had thought Maristel was welcoming to anyone—

“What’s with that face, Matsunaga? Did you think I’m a loose woman who would go with anyone? That’s a bit surprising.”

It seemed my thoughts were showing on my face. Maristel was pouting with annoyance. She then quickly changed to a seductive expression and leaned against me.

“Even I will uphold my virtues when I choose a man, you know? So it’s been quite a while… I still really want you…”

“Whoa, wait—”

“Stop, stop, stop!”

Before I could push her away, Isezaki-san intervened and pushed Maristel away.

“What’s with you, Isezaki? Women who monopolize a good man are disliked, you know? A man can’t be satisfied with just one woman.”

“That’s not true! My husband is satisfied with me! Well… yes! He’s amazing every night!”

Isezaki-san said something outrageous. Maristel’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“Really? I’m very interested in what kind of person Matsunaga, who is usually so indifferent, becomes. Do tell me.”

“Eh!? W-Well… I’ll tell you one thing! —One day, my husband came home later than usual. He must have been tired from a long business meeting. He slumped onto the sofa, looking exhausted. I decided to make him his favorite sweet tea to cheer him up, so I started boiling water in the kitchen… When I turned around, my husband was behind me and suddenly hugged me tightly from behind. I placed my hand on his arm and asked, ‘Husband, is something wrong?’ He hugged me even tighter and said, ‘Right now, I want you more than tea,’ and then he—”

“Waaaaaaaaaaait, stop, stop!!”

“Husband! We’re just getting to the good part!!”

“Yes! Why are you stopping!?”

Despite Maristel being excited, Isezaki-san seemed just as into it. Maybe she’d been practicing such conversations to avoid awkwardness when talking about our married life.

“Um, Isezaki-san, you don’t need to answer questions about such private matters, okay?”

“I-I’m sorry. I just… got carried away…”

“Che, how boring.”

Isezaki-san apologized with her face blushing, while Maristel kicked the ground in disappointment.

Seeing the soldier still curled up and shaking on the ground, I decided to hurry the two of them along and leave the area.

◇◇◇

We moved past the busy workers preparing the infrastructure for the mine’s reopening and stopped at the base of a sheer cliff. By the way, both of them did let me recover the stuffed animals and cushions.

“Alright, let’s start by going up from here. I’ll touch your shoulders—[Levitation].”

I touched Isezaki-san and Maristel’s shoulders and cast [Levitation].

Immediately, the three of us floated up. I began to ascend along the brown rock face, aiming higher. Maristel started to fuss.

“Wow, wait, you can use this kind of magic too!? And all three of us at once!? It’s a bit scary!”

“You’ll fall if you let go of my shoulders, so please don’t move too much. …And it’s not much different whether it’s one person or several. Why are you so concerned?”

“H-Huh!? You can’t use magic the same way for one person and three! Do you know how delicate magic control has to be? I was amazed by Isezaki’s light magic, but are you really that different?”

“Fufu, my husband is amazing!”

“Why are you so proud?”

Maristel looked at me in exasperation, but Isezaki-san stood tall and proud.

As we continued to rise, the brown rock face gradually gave way to grassy ground. As we reached the middle of the cliff, the surroundings had transformed into a dense, lush forest.

We landed on the ground there.

From this height, even the once-massive fortress looked tiny. We had clearly climbed quite high.

Maristel sniffed the air and commented.

“Hmm, I can still smell the dense magical essence. There should be plenty of high-quality herbs here. But—”

“But what?”

“It means strong magical beasts are also common in places like this. Look, they’re already coming!”

Maristel pointed towards the forest. I looked in the same direction and saw that there were just trees and grass—Wait, what??

“Are those trees over there moving? It looks like they’re forming a group and coming closer…”

“Of course they’re moving and coming closer. Those are Treants, magical beasts that look like trees.”

“Eh… Treants!?”

I’d only seen Treants in games, but they were creatures with tree-like forms that walked on their roots.

“Hey, Matsunaga, Isezaki, get rid of them quickly.”

With that, Maristel leaped onto a tree branch above using [Leap Warp].

“Wait, Maristel-san! Aren’t you going to help us!?”

“Even if you ask, I can’t do anything since I don’t have my dolls with me.”

“Ugh… Isezaki-san, what should we do?”

“Of course, we have to handle this ourselves. Don’t worry, with you around, everything will be fine!”

Isezaki-san clenched her fists and looked straight at me.

“R-Right…”

As usual, being trusted so much by Isezaki-san meant I couldn’t afford to be unreliable.

“Got it. Stay back; it’s going to be dangerous.”

“Yes, my husband!”

I had Isezaki-san step back and slowly extended my right arm towards the approaching group of Treants.