A Debt of Gratitude
"Oh, come on. Instead of getting jealous, they should put in some effort. Eeeefffort."
Unlike Jun, who nodded as if he understood, Fortuna crossed her arms and spat out a lecture like some old fogey.
No matter how hard she tried to hide it, her age always showed through.
"Our Juni, what are you thinking right now?"
"I wasn't thinking anything, Mom."
Fortuna's eyes gleamed murderously.
Jun blurted out an excuse and forced a blank expression onto his face.
Juni doesn't know anything. Our mom is young and kind.
"If they were the type who could do that, they wouldn't have given up from the start."
"That's a pretty scathing critique. And you were hanging out with them until just recently."
Fortuna sniped, as if to say he had been one of them too.
Donald snorted as if to tell her not to get the wrong idea.
"I only hung around with them as a second-best option because I didn't want to go around with airheaded idiots like you lot. Well, it was the worst decision I ever made. Who knew they'd be that hopeless."
"Hmm, I don't really buy it, but since Skinny said you didn't hit anyone and even stopped the others from hitting, I'll specially believe you."
"Hmph! Believe me or don't."
"Honestly, you're no fun at all."
Donald gave a haughty snort.
Fortuna stared at him in disbelief, then quickly flew around him, poking and prodding his body to tease him.
Donald, who had been leaning against a tree with his arms crossed striking a pose, ignored her teasing at first—but after taking a roundhouse kick to the cheek, he forgot all about his dignity and tried to catch her.
Jun, Leon, and the girls watched the scene and laughed cheerfully.
Just then, the murderous intent that had been grating on Jun's nerves vanished.
Wondering why, he turned his head toward where Frank and the twins had been, and saw the three of them ambling out of the backyard.
Before leaving the backyard, Frank casually turned his head and looked somewhere.
At the end of that gaze was Leonard, who seemed to have just washed up and was towel-drying his hair.
Come to think of it, those guys had first shown murderous intent right after Leonard had briefly disappeared following his conversation with Fortuna.
Still, it seemed Leonard still scared them for now.
But why do their retreating figures feel so ominous?
Fortuna seemed to feel the same, glaring at them sharply.
I should keep my guard up around them.
"Kids!"
While Jun was warily watching their backs, Harry approached him and his friends with an armful of something.
"Skinny, what's that?"
"Jun, Leon, and Donald's toiletries and change of clothes. Father said there's no more training today, so just go wash up."
Harry said this and then pulled Jun, Leon, and Donald to their feet.
Jun stood up and tried to take the load from Harry, but was refused.
Harry pointed out Jun's sweat-soaked body and said the things might get dirty, so he'd carry them instead.
He really was a kind-hearted friend.
To think they beat up a kid like this just to steal money for snacks.
Jun regretted once again that he hadn't punished Frank and the other bullies hard enough to make them scream back in the clearing.
Jun and his friends headed to the well in one corner of the backyard.
While they had been talking, the kids who had retired from training earlier must have come and washed first—the well area was wet with water, but no one else was around.
Jun, who disliked crowded places, nodded in satisfaction.
Even if they were kids, he didn't want to wash crammed together in a tight space. They'd keep playing around, and he wouldn't be able to wash in peace.
Leon and Donald brought the screens that had been placed beside the well and set them up around it.
Meanwhile, Jun drew well water to fill the wooden tub beside the well halfway, then placed his hand on the tub and activated his Magic Core.
Mana flowed through his hand into the magic circle carved into the bottom of the tub, and soon the water inside began to bubble and boil.
Jun drew more well water and adjusted the temperature inside the tub to something suitable for washing.
"Magic really is convenient, huh."
"Agreed."
Leon and Jun snickered and laughed, then peeled off their sweat-soaked training clothes.
Donald, who had been stripping off his training clothes after them, glared at someone who had followed them inside the screens and opened his mouth.
"Hey, Chest Monster. Why'd you follow us?"
"Why, of course—to wash our Juni for him."
"That guy's not some little kid! What washing?! Just shut up and get out! You pervert fairy!"
Donald said this while covering his upper body with the shirt he'd taken off.
Jun and Leon were used to her presence, but Donald—who had always washed with other people until now—seemed quite bothered by her being there.
When he did that, Leon also glanced at Fortuna and quietly followed suit.
Until now he'd been so used to it that it hadn't bothered him, but once he started being conscious of it, he seemed embarrassed.
Pfft.
"What are you covering up for? Even if you told me to look at bodies like yours, I wouldn't. What's there to see?"
Fortuna scoffed at them as if she genuinely found it ridiculous.
Then she flew over and sat on the shoulder of Jun, who was hesitating over whether to take off his pants.
"At least our Juni has something worth looking at."
At her words, Leon, Donald, and Harry—who had been tidying their clothes—all fixed their gazes on Jun's body at once.
"Whoa~"
"...Hmph!"
"Amazing!"
Jun's body looked strong, and beautiful as well. The muscles showing here and there looked solid but not excessive, and his entire body, with its fantastic proportions, was like looking at a statue carefully crafted by a master artisan.
Squish squish.
"Hngh, it's way too different from mine."
"We eat the same things and train together, so why is it this different? Is it the elixirs' influence?"
"He's tall. About the same as Frank, I'd say."
Harry made a tearful face while touching his chubby belly, Leon analyzed the differences between himself and Jun, and Donald envied his tall height more than anything else.
Embarrassed by their reactions for no good reason, Jun yanked his pants off in one go so he could wash quickly and get out of there.
Swing, swing.
"..."
"..."
"..."
At the appearance of the massive eel, the three boys fell silent,
"Sss! *Gulp.*"
and one fairy swallowed her drool.
Having hurriedly finished his bath amid awe and greed, Jun got dressed and then chugged a cup of pure white milk... no, a cup of black, murky elixir to cool his heated body.
Leon and Donald, who finished bathing after him, tried to follow suit and drink the elixir—but they couldn't even get a single mouthful down and instead spat out everything in their stomachs.
In the end, the two had to wash themselves all over again, and the elixir they'd left behind went into Jun's stomach.
"Jun, where are you going?"
Harry asked, watching Jun leave the church.
Jun answered with a bitter smile.
"To the lake. I drank the elixir, so I want to help it digest a bit. And I'm curious how that guy's doing."
"Ah, the electric eel. Is he still out of energy these days?"
"...Yeah. He can barely move these days. Looks like his time is almost up."
Whether from pushing his electricity to the limit a week ago to protect the special meal, the electric eel had grown noticeably sluggish over the past week.
Because of that, every hunt he attempted failed, and even when he luckily succeeded, he couldn't properly eat his prey.
If Jun hadn't brought him food that was easy to eat and digest, the creature would have long since departed for the heavens.
"Jun, you look really lonely."
"Yeah. Looks like I got more attached to him than I realized."
Saying so, Jun forced a bright expression onto his face.
Then he patted Harry's shoulder so he wouldn't worry any more, and left the church.
"Jun! I'll pester Father for some holy water! Hang in there!"
"Yeah! I'll be looking forward to it!"
After answering Harry's shout, Jun immediately activated his Magic Core.
Then, using two skills and one spell, he leaped through space and arrived at the lake in an instant.
"Eel, I'm here."
As usual, Jun settled under the tree that overlooked the entire lake and immediately checked on the electric eel's condition.
Sensing Jun's presence, the creature cracked open one eye slightly to look at him and gently swished its tail.
"Oh! Look who's awake for once."
"For once? You usually have to call him forever before he wakes up."
Jun and Fortuna felt glad that he was awake, yet at the same time felt a sense of foreboding.
If they had truly been children and not just looking like them, they would have been thrilled that the electric eel had recovered his energy—but they were adults who well knew that such convenient things rarely happened in this world.
The two smiled bitterly and pulled soft bread they'd bought the day the merchant caravan came, along with pills made from ground medicinal herbs, out of subspace and tossed them to him.
The creature ate a few pieces, then shook its head left and right as if to say that was enough.
Then it took the wish pearl—the orb it had never once released from its pectoral fins that were like front legs—put it in its mouth, and gently closed its eyes.
"What's that guy suddenly doing?"
"Beats me. Did electric eels have a habit like that?"
"You've lived that long and you've never heard of it?"
"I told you not to bring up my age."
Fortuna ground her teeth and grabbed the corners of Jun's lips, pulling them wide to either side.
After punishing Jun like that for a while, she treated his lips with holy power as if giving medicine after the disease, and said:
"Stop fooling around and let's train already. Before your muscles fully recover."
"Yes ma'am."
Jun reactivated his Psychic Core, which had just begun to cool down.
Activation
Then he used Activation as well, and through Spatial Specialization, he modeled his own body and input it into his mind.
A male body with a height hard to believe for a ten-year-old, a solid build, and well-trained muscles took shape in his mind.
"Ready."
"Heh heh. Then shall we begin our Juni's body modification?"
Fortuna's eyes blazed with desire like a gamer crafting a character for self-insert fantasies.