Danmachi – Card Wizard - Chapter 42

“Let’s go and to the beach.” Said Aidan as he pulled Ais along with him. Neither of them had ever seen the sea, and they were both quite curious to see it.

As they arrived at the beach, they could see the sand separating the land and the water. Looking at the lake, they saw water as far as they could see. “This is pretty huge, huh.” Said Aidan in amazement.

“Yes.” Nodded Ais as she stood next to him, looking at the extent of water. “I really can’t wait to learn how to swim.” She continued as she glanced at some of the members of the familia who were already swimming in the lake.

“Yeah. Riveria should come soon.” Nodded Aidan as they both went to a changing cabin of their respective gender to put on their swimsuit.

The changing cabin was pretty average. It was only four walls made of wood and a wooden door to hide the people getting changed.

Changing quickly and storing his clothes in his card, Aidan left the changing cabin to allow the others to use it while he went to get ice cream. He didn’t know how the ice cream shop owner managed to get the ice cream this cold when it was so hot outside. However, he was more than happy to buy two strawberries ice-cream cones.

Sitting on the bench as Ais took her time to get changed, he waited for her, holding both cones as he looked at the water peacefully. He felt pretty relaxed as he saw the waves crash in a certain rhythm on the beach.

With the scent of the seawater, the sounds of the waves crashing and the heat on his skin from the sun, he decidedly found one of his favourite places along with the peaceful abandoned church back in Orario.

“So, do you like it?” Asked his elf teacher as she sat down on the bench next to him in her green bikini.

“Yes, it’s pretty relaxing.” Nodded Aidan as he glanced at Riveria before turning back to the beach.

“So, where’s Ais?” She asked before continuing. “Forget it. Here she is.” She pointed towards the changing cabins and Ais, who was running towards him in her pink swimsuit.

As they watched the young girl running towards them, Aidan offered the ice cream that had already started to drip due to the heat.

“Thank you.” She said as she immediately took it and started to lick the drops of ice cream that were slowly flowing down the cone.

“It’s fine.” Nodded Aidan as he continued to lick his own before turning to Riveria. “Do you want one?” He asked as he would go and get her one if she wanted.

“No, I’m not a fan of those products.” She answered, shaking her head from side to side. “When you two are done with your cones, I will start your swimming training.”

With a nod of their heads, they increased the pace of eating their ice cream and three minutes later, they were done entirely with sticky hands due to some ice cream falling on them. “We’re ready.” They said as they supported a grave face, knowing that it wouldn’t be as easy as it looked.

“Alright, let’s go.” She nodded as she brought the two of them towards the side of the beach. On the beachside was a small ravine that was deep directly on the side of the land. As such, it would allow Riveria to teach them while standing on the ground next to them.

“So, what do we do?” Asked Aidan as he looked at the elven women with an inquiry.

However, instead of an answer, the green-haired women directly pushed the two of them in the water, making them touch the bottom straight away. With eyes opened to their maximum, he stared at the far surface of the water and gave a strong push with his legs to reach back to the surface.

With a big breath of air as he didn’t want to miss it again, he looked on his side and saw that Ais, just like him, had just resurfaced and pulled herself out of the water. “What was that for, old hag?” She shouted while staring at Riveria.

“Oh? Old hag, huh?” Answered the elf as a dark look appeared on her face, and before any of the two youngsters could notice, she tied up a piece of metal to her waist, and the elf threw the metal in the water while pushing Ais in it.

At the same time, she glared at Aidan. “You’d better help her swim, or she’ll drown.” She said as she stood on the side of the water, showing no intention of helping them.

With wide eyes, he once again descended to the bottom of the water with his limited skills and went to Ais as she was trying to move the block of metal.

Approaching the girl, Aidan helped her hold the metal piece, and the two of them once again pushed from the bottom of the lake towards the top of the water, barely making it before starting kicking as fast as they could in the water to stay at the top.

“Good, at least you weren’t stupid enough to store the adamantine in the card or use your telekinesis power, or I would have doubled the amount.” Said their teacher as the two youngsters desperately forced their bodies to stay on top of the water as they held a considerable weight with desperation and regret written clearly on their faces.

“Continue this way for the next ten minutes.” She said as she sat down on the side of the ravine and started to explain to them how to swim while giving a glare at Ais, who had called her an old hag.

Soon enough, the ten minutes were completed, and both Ais and Aidan were utterly exhausted as they found it a lot harder than just running around. “Alright, you can take off the weight.” Said the elven women as Aidan rapidly used his telekinesis to hold the metal as they reached the side of the land and placed the metal on the side of the ravine filled with water.

“Take two minutes to relax and go back in the water. You were lucky that your parameters are so high, or you’d have had a lot more problems swimming.” She said as she counted the time and pushed them both back in. However, this time, they didn’t have as much difficulty staying the head out of the water. Surprisingly, forcing themselves to keep their head out of the water when they had to support metal was a great way of learning to swim.

“Well, now that you can both stay the head out of the water without drowning, I’ll show you how to swim properly.” She said as she slowly descended into the water and started to teach them.

By evening, both youngsters could stay in the water without drowning and could move. While they wouldn’t compare with other more experienced people, they would survive if they ever fell into the water.

“Well, it was a productive day.” Said the executive of the familia as she glared at Ais once again for having called her an old hag. “Next time you call me that, I’m going to give you twice the weight, and Aidan won’t be allowed to help you.” She threatened the girl who had already gotten a phobia of deep water.

With a meek nod of the head, Ais stood close to Aidan as the three of them walked back towards the inn. Both girls had worn a shirt to hide their bikini top while they had their beach towel around their waist while Aidan merely had his beach towel around the shoulders.

“Go and take a shower to get rid of all the sand.” Said the elf as she handed them the key to a room. “Since the two of you have been living together for a while, Loki arranged for a single room for the two of you since there was little room in the inn. We’ll meet at the dining hall an hour later.” She said before going on her way.

“Let’s go.” Said Aidan as Ais followed next to him with the key in her hand.

“You know, you once told me that I would be in trouble for calling her an old hag. I think I’ve received it.” Mumbled Ais towards Aidan as he showed a slight smile as he remembered when he said that.

“Well, the worse has happened, and we’ve both learned how to swim, so it’s a plus.” Answered Aidan to her mumbling. “Now, let’s just make sure not to be late later. I don’t want to see an angry Riveria in the short term.”