I was accidentally injured by God and I just want to be an ordinary person

The pleading tone made it impossible for Ella to avoid the question, so she thought about her answer.

"Um, excuse me, what are mutants? I've lived in a human city since I was born, so there are some things I'm not quite sure about..."

"Ah, I'm so sorry for asking without explaining anything. Mutants are a term only found in the demonic territory to the west. They refer to demons that can use magic other than offensive magic. Since mutants have only recently appeared, it's normal for us not to know about them. Please don't blame yourself."

The demon man in front of her carefully placed the bucket beside her and explained to Ella.

Can I use magic other than offensive magic? I've overlooked this. Judging from the appearance of this demon, mutants must be very important to them. I hope I won't be forced to do anything in the future.

Ella nodded slightly.

"Well, if that's the case, I should be considered a mutant. Are mutants important to us demons?"

"Yes, it's very important. Although there has only been one mutant among the demons so far, the only special magic this mutant knows is the 'Purification' you just used. This magic is the most important thing for us demons."

Is it important in this sense?

When Ella thought of mutants, she immediately thought of their use in wars, never considering their potential to improve quality of life. Purifying water wouldn't be a problem, but forcing herself to constantly use purification magic every day would be a challenge.

Although they are pitiful, this is not a reason to restrict one's freedom.

Perhaps thinking that Ella's silence was due to her shock at this incident, the man bowed deeply.

"Please allow me to lead you, Lady Ella, to the nearest town, Kepa, to rest. It's truly inappropriate to leave such an important figure in such a dangerous place. If those guys in the east knew about this, they would definitely use it to mock us."

"Eh? No, thanks. I'll go tomorrow. I have other things to do today. Thank you for your kindness."

He quickly tried to decline. Although there was nothing wrong with going to the town to rest now, he still had the task of removing the distance between himself and Nina. If he went to the town, the time he and Nina spent alone together would definitely be reduced a lot. Besides this most important reason, camping life in a different world was also something he wanted to experience.

After hearing Ella's words, the demon man in front of him hesitated for a moment, then showed a complicated expression as if he found it difficult to accept, and finally nodded slowly.

"Well, if that's your decision, then there's nothing we can do about it. It's just that someone as humble as me isn't worthy of honorifics, so please just address me as 'you'. Besides that, there's one more thing: please be careful when camping here. If someone like you gets into danger, it would be the fault of all of us demons."

"Yeah, I will. I'll stay at Kepa tomorrow for a while."

Ella nodded to the demon man, indicating that she would indeed go.

The man bowed to Ella again, reminded her to be careful, then carefully picked up the bucket, held it in both hands, and turned to leave.

The demon had only taken a few steps when Ella seemed to have thought of something and quickly trotted in front of the demon man.

"Oh, by the way, could you please not tell anyone that I'm a mutant?"

"Hmm? Why? If Lady Camisia knew about this, she would definitely promote you to the rank of noble, right? And as someone who can use purification magic, you will surely be respected by everyone, and the profits gained from using purification magic will be completely yours."

In order to be able to look at Ella while talking, the demon placed the water he had been holding on the ground.

"Well, it's like this. If you're respected by everyone, you'd be uncomfortable interacting with them, right? Being liked by everyone isn't necessarily something to be ashamed of, but I've had a strange disease since I was a child. Whenever I'm in a crowd, I faint from discomfort. If I become a noble, I'll definitely be admired by many, right? So, this is also for my own safety..."

As if feeling very embarrassed, Ella lowered her head and her long eyelashes drooped.

It feels so bad to cheat people...

As Ella thought this, the demon male let out a low nasal sound.

"Hmm—Okay, I won't tell anyone. But, has this illness never been treated by a healer or high priest? Although we don't have enough demons who can use this kind of magic, we can still pay to hire healers from other races. Do you want to see them?"

"Eh, no, that's not necessary. I've already seen a healer in a human country, and he said this disease will disappear on its own by adulthood, so there's no need to waste money on it."

"What a good girl... Even if someone of her status didn't save the money, no one would say anything. So, are all mutants kindhearted?"

As if recalling something important, the demon male narrowed his eyes slightly and for the first time shifted his gaze to the distance.

Hmm? All of them? Could it be that the other mutants mentioned earlier are also female?

Feeling a little curious, Ella directly told the demon in front of her what she was thinking.

"Hmm, there's another mutant in Park City too? She's a girl about the same age as you, Ella-sama. She might have a strange personality, but she's a good girl, you know? If I were a dozen years younger, I'd definitely be one of her suitors, right?"

Although I really want to complain about why the uncles in this other world all want to be a dozen years younger, in order to avoid being surrounded after entering the town because of exposing my true identity, it is more important to ask more about the information of mutants.

"It might be a bit rude, but could I ask about the mutant's characteristics? Like special abilities and levels, because I want to see if there's anything different about me."

"That's not a problem. Everyone in Park City respects Master Doshi, so even if you tell her, it won't have any negative impact on her. Master Doshi is currently level 11. As the first mutant among the demons, in addition to the offensive magic that all demons can use, she can also use a single, but very important auxiliary magic called "Purification," which can remove all impurities. Master Doshi is a treasure to us demons, who have extremely scarce water resources. So if Master Ella meets Master Doshi in the future, she won't dislike her because of her personality. She is kind at heart."

The man lowered his head and pleaded with himself in a sincere tone. The setting sun pulled the shadow of the man in front of him over the bushes in the distance, making the shadow look tattered.

Ella, who wasn't used to this kind of atmosphere, gave a wry smile, picked up the bucket on the ground in front of her, and handed it to the man.

"Okay, okay, I'll pay attention. Thank you for your help."

"The fact that the demon tribe has someone like you must be a gift from the Demon King. Please don't say that."

"Uh... okay, bye then."

"Well, have a nice night, Lady Ella."

The man picked up the bucket again. Perhaps because he was afraid that the water in the bucket would shake out if he moved too fast, his walking posture became strange.

Looking at the back of the demon in front of her, Ella always felt that she had forgotten something. This thing was not remembered until the demon had walked more than ten steps away.

"Oh, by the way, I forgot to ask your name."

"There's no need to remember the name of someone like me, Ella-sama. That's all."

This time the man didn't look back, as if he really felt that there was no need to be remembered.

"Is that so... The demons are truly a strange race..."

On the riverbank, only Ella's low murmurs faded into the air.

Chapter 5 Obligations of the Master

After finishing the conversation with the demons on the banks of the Ankhhil River, Ella took out a vessel that looked like a sacrificial bowl from the storage.

"This is the only thing I can use to hold water without getting it contaminated by magic... Isn't that a waste?"

This vessel, carved with various intricate patterns, is an item known in F.Wing as the "Witch's Tableware." While it may not appear to be anything special, if magical power is injected into it, it will produce any magical liquid the user desires, including the "Blood of the Saint." Of course, if one wishes to use this item to produce the "Blood of the Saint," which instantly boosts all attributes by 50%, then not only will magical power be required, but also a large amount of other materials and the gold coins in F.Wing.

No matter how Ella looked at it, she felt that using such a precious item as a container for water was a waste. However, there was nothing she could do about it. Although her own storage could also serve the purpose of storing water, if the natural water was imbued with magical powers by storing it in the storage, then it would not achieve the effect Nina wanted.

Furthermore, she hadn't yet told Nina about her possession of the storage. Rather, Nina was completely unaware of her own strength. Beyond her apparent strength, she knew only that she possessed both a swordsman and a healer. Considering Nina's age, she might unconsciously reveal her abilities, so Ella didn't plan to share as much information as she had with Lotte. Therefore, it was best not to use the storage directly in front of Nina.

Considering how Nina was disappointed because he thought it was a waste, it seemed better to use the "Witch's Cutlery". As long as he didn't inject magic power into the "Witch's Cutlery", it would just be a water container like any other container.

“Ah~ah, I really don’t want to get close to here…”

Holding her breath, Ella lowered the "Witch's Cutlery" into the water. Once it was full, she stood up and headed towards the camp.

Leaving the riverbank and passing a path made of low shrubs and a few weeds, Ella arrived at her previous campsite. Lotte could be seen sitting sideways on the driver's seat of the carriage, peeling fruit, while Nina was sitting on a raised rock, fiddling with something in a bowl-like container.

"I'm back."

"Welcome back, Miss Ella."

"Welcome back, Master."

When they noticed Ella coming back, they both stopped what they were doing and stood up to greet her.

Feeling that she was interrupting what Lotte and Nina were doing, Ella looked a little embarrassed and waved her hands awkwardly.

"Uh, that's not necessary. Just keep doing what you're doing, Nina. Is this water okay?"

"Huh? As long as it's water from the river, it should be fine, right?"

"Is that so... But the water in this river doesn't look very clean. Can we still use it?"

Ella looked at the bowl of water she was holding, which she couldn't clean up no matter how hard she tried, and hesitantly handed the "witch's tableware" to Nina.

But for some reason, Nina didn't seem surprised at all. She took the "witch's cutlery" as if it was something she handled every day.

"Hmm—isn't it clean? It's already good enough that there's no sand or anything like that. When I used to draw water from the village well, there were even dead animals there, you know?"

"Really?... Sorry, I said that unintentionally."

Looking at the colors flashing in Nina's green eyes that were pure and without any impurities, Ella felt as if her heart was being whipped and she felt uncomfortable. She glanced at Ruthie next to her and found that Ruthie also seemed to have no objection to the water quality, so her guilty feeling increased.

"It's okay, huh? That's all in the past. Now that I have Miss Ella, I haven't come into contact with anything like that at all."

Perhaps noticing Ella's depressed mood, Lotte handed the peeled fruit to Ella with a nonchalant smile.

"Um……"

She nodded slightly in response to Lotte.

Because of me... In that case, I'll have to work harder from now on.

Having made up her mind, Ella bit the fruit that Lotte handed to her viciously, as if she wanted to eat away the unpleasant mood she had felt before.

"It's getting late, let's get ready for camp. I'm in the middle of the night... so I'll go to sleep in the carriage. Good night, Miss Ella, Nina."

As if she was really feeling sleepy, Lotte yawned with her hand covering her mouth, then turned and walked towards the carriage. However, as she walked past Ella, she winked at her playfully and whispered something.

"Miss Ella, you should seize the opportunity in the first half of the night, okay?"

Then he got into the carriage and started to rest.

Seizing opportunities at night or something... that sounds so weird.

Feeling a bit embarrassed by Lotte's words, even the way she looked at Nina became a little strange. Ella slapped her face, banishing the strange thoughts from her mind.

"Alright, alright, are you ready? Let's get started making the potion."

"Okay, Master."

Completely oblivious to the strange interaction between Lotte and Ella, Nina began to transfer the water from the "Witch's Tableware" to the bowl-shaped container she had been fiddling with.

The sun finally sank completely into the earth, bringing darkness with it. The cloudless sky made the stars shine even more dazzlingly. Since it was summer, there was no need to build a fire to keep warm. As for light, the magic lamp provided a source of power, so there wouldn't be any problems.

Ella took out a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the sweat from Nina's head.

Both Lotte and I had magical clothing that could keep our body temperatures constant, so we weren't very sensitive to the temperature, but Nina didn't have such clothing, so sweating was normal.

As for why Nina didn't have one...it wasn't because he didn't want to give it to her, but because there was really no clothes that fit Nina's body size.

She had taken out all the clothes that looked suitable from the storage one by one, and then asked Lotte to give them to Nina to try on. But no matter which clothes they were, they seemed too big for Nina, so much so that she had to roll the hem of the skirt into strips to barely put it on without hindering her movement. Although she had considered cutting the skirt shorter, the reason why magic clothes were called magic clothes was because there were magic circles engraved inside them. If cutting the skirt shorter destroyed the magic structure, it would be a waste of effort.

Although he finally gave Nina the long dress that could be worn by rolling up the hem, Nina felt that it was not suitable for her to wear such precious clothes as casual clothes, so she never used it and usually appeared outside only in a maid outfit.

Nina looked up when she found that the sweat on her head had been wiped off. She saw Ella putting away her handkerchief. She stopped mixing the potion instantly, her lips trembled slightly, and she began to stutter.

"Master, do, this kind of thing..."

"Don't worry about it, Nina, just keep mixing the potion. Taking care of the maid is the master's job, isn't it?"

"Yes……"

After agreeing to Ella, Nina refocused her attention on the vessel in her hand, but her movements seemed a bit sluggish no matter how she looked at it.

Well, now it’s time to eliminate the barriers.

With a light breath, Ella looked at the starry sky without any cloud blocking it, and then began her first attempt.

"Is Nina really into alchemy?"

Chapter 6: Closer Distance?

"I like it."

Nina was stunned for a moment, then looked at Ella with a slightly uneasy look.

Eh? Is that all? Shouldn't I continue to talk about why I like it and what I like about it? Oh no... I have no idea what to say next...

Turning her gaze away from Nina's face, Ella sighed as if talking to herself.

"What a nice weather today."

"Uh-huh……"

Nina responded softly.

Hey, shouldn't you be saying something like, "It's night time, why are you saying the weather is nice?"? Why are you seriously agreeing to something like that?

As if she could feel a non-existent bead of sweat flowing down her forehead, Ella wiped it.

No, we absolutely can't just stay silent all night. We finally have a chance to be alone together, and we must make progress.

But then again, where should I even begin? If I follow up with a question like, "Why do you like it?" Nina will probably answer truthfully, but that's probably just the beginning. Once that question is answered, there'll be nothing left to say, and that'll definitely make things even more awkward than it already is.

After all, the reason why Nina and I are not familiar with each other until now is because I sent Nina to Yajie for such a long time, and I didn't have the chance to visit her because of working to make money. If I could spare some free time to visit her more often, there would not be this situation where I need to force myself to find opportunities to get closer.