Soon enough, Kiki returned with a large bundle of dry wood, and Caius stored it neatly into his spatial ring.

  Then the big guy and the little catgirl started skipping stones together, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

  “Six skips! Big guy, am I awesome or what, meow?”

  “Awesome, but not as awesome as me. Watch this!”

  “Shoom... plop-plop-plop...”

  “Thirty-one... thirty-two... thirty-three skips! That's amazing, meow!”

  “Teach me, meow! Teach me!”

  “Alright, alright. Look closely, the trick is in how you throw it. This technique works for throwing knives too...”

  And so, Caius patiently taught the little catgirl how to skip stones. She practiced until she got the hang of it, eventually managing over twenty skips on her own.

  Still, Hilda hadn’t returned.

  “That girl... don’t tell me she got lost again?” Caius raised an eyebrow.

  By right, with Hilda’s speed, a round trip should’ve taken no more than fifteen or twenty minutes. But it had already been close to forty.

  Uneasy, Caius signaled Kiki to follow him and began tracking Hilda’s footprints.

  Half an hour later, Caius and the little catgirl were lying prone on a cliff, peering down at Hilda below.

  “I think... I think it’s this way...” Hilda muttered to herself, holding a map and hesitantly pointing in one direction.

  Caius couldn’t help but call out, “Pretty sure it’s the other way.”

  Hilda blinked. “Oh—oh, the other way...?!”

  She looked up and instantly spotted Caius and Kiki grinning down at her from the top of the cliff—dozens of meters high.

  Her face flushed red in an instant.

  Yep, Caius had guessed right. She was lost.

  After scouting a seemingly good campsite, she’d tried heading back to Caius—only to realize, halfway through, that she’d taken a wrong turn.

  And when she turned around again, not only could she not find Caius, she couldn’t even find the campsite she’d just discovered.

  A few nimble leaps later, she bounded up the cliff and came to Caius’s side. Seeing him holding back a laugh, she puffed up her cheeks and muttered, “Just laugh already...”

  “Pffft—hahahaha!”

  Caius and Kiki burst into laughter in unison, the echoes of their voices rippling through the mountain forest below.

  Clearly, he’d been dying to laugh for a while.

  Hilda looked completely exasperated. That was just how she was—what could she do?

  No wonder something had felt off earlier. There hadn’t been a cliff on the way there... but on the way back? Yep, totally missed the right direction. She should’ve gone the other way.

  After a good laugh, and seeing Hilda stomp her foot in frustration, Caius finally calmed down. “Girl, you got lost on a route barely ten li long?”

  “So basically, you didn’t listen to a word I said earlier, huh?”

  “I—I did! But... it didn’t help...” Hilda’s cheeks flushed as she struggled to maintain her composure, then muttered indignantly, “Maybe you just didn’t teach well enough!”

  “Alright then, I’ll teach you another method,” Caius said with a grin. “It’s super effective for not getting lost.”

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Hilda’s ears perked up instantly. “What is it?”

  Caius reached out his hand. “Just hold my hand, and you’ll never get lost again~”

  Hilda blinked. She looked up—and right into Caius’s mischievous grin. Immediately, she realized she’d been tricked.

  “Hmph! I’m not talking to you anymore!”

  She gave him a light kick and turned away, pretending to storm off.

  Three seconds later, she came back.

  “You go in front!”

  “Hahahaha!”

  “No laughing! I already let you laugh once!”

  “Okay, okay... pfft—HAHAHA!”

  “...”

  “Hey, hey, hey, drawing your sword is a bit much, don’t you think?”

  Caius bolted away in mock fear as Hilda, lips pouting, sheathed her rapier. For some reason, she found herself smiling too, a slight curve tugging at her lips.

  No one had ever teased her like this before.

  But... it didn’t feel bad.

  She’d been angry at first, sure, but looking back, this kind of banter—it felt like real friendship.

  Not the fake kind, where people made excuses for her, sugarcoated her mistakes, and flattered her endlessly just to gain her favor.

  Being around Caius felt natural. Genuine.

  Still, she figured she should act a little angry, or this rascal would think she was too easy to mess with.

  So, she forced her smile away, adopted a slightly grumpy expression, and chased after Caius.

  If she let him run too far ahead, she’d lose him again—and Caius would probably laugh all night.

  After a short detour, Caius found a good spot for their camp.

  “This is the place I found earlier,” Hilda said proudly. Caius nodded approvingly—the spot was solid. Her judgment had been right.

  “But you did get lost,” Caius pointed out.

  “...”

  “If you keep teasing me, I’m really not going to talk to you anymore!” Hilda stomped her foot.

  “Haha, alright, alright. I’ll stop. As compensation, I’ll even share one of my weaknesses.”

  That piqued her curiosity immediately.

  “What weakness?”

  To her, Caius seemed strong in every way. What kind of weakness could someone like him possibly have?

  “My weakness...” Caius said with a dramatic pause, “...is that I can’t use Magic.”

  Hilda blinked. “That’s not really a weakness. Lots of warriors can’t use Magic.”

  “But I’m a mage,” Caius said, holding up his warhammer. “See this? It’s my magic wand.”

  “I’ve always been a mage who smashes people with his ‘wand’. I just happen to be built like a tank.”

  Hilda stared at him, wide-eyed—then burst into laughter.

  “Pfft—hahaha! What kind of mage does that?!”

  Caius chuckled. “Well now you’ve laughed at me too. We’re even, yeah?”

  Hilda folded her arms, adopting a haughty tone. “Fine. We’re... a little even.”

  A little?

  Caius didn’t mind. If anything, he thought Little Swan was getting cuter by the minute.

  “Alright, let’s build our camp. Those two trees over there look good. We’ll use them as supports, place a thick branch across the middle, then lay some broad leaves for the roof...” Caius explained while getting to work.

  His efficiency was astounding. In no time, a simple but practical temporary shelter took shape.

  Hilda looked on with surprise.

  The camp was basic but functional: a lean-to built from wood, twine, and leaves. The ground was padded with thick wood shavings for bedding.

  In front was a stone-lined fire pit, already filled with firewood, just waiting to be lit.

  Around the camp’s perimeter stood a circle of short wooden stakes—makeshift fencing, but it looked proper.

  “This counts as done?” Hilda asked.

  “Mhm. A quick but solid job.”

  “Mhm, just something temporary. Nothing too fancy,” Caius said as he pulled out two sleeping bags from his spatial ring and laid them on the wooden mat inside the makeshift shelter.

  He had bought them specifically when restocking supplies—after all, the nights in the wild could get chilly, and the little Catgirl didn’t handle the cold well.

  The extra one had been a spare, and now it was just right for Hilda.

  “You and the little Catgirl can sleep in these tonight,” Caius said.

  Hilda nodded, looking a little excited.

  She had never used a sleeping bag before. Sure, it couldn’t compare to the large bed at home, but it would certainly be far more comfortable than sleeping in tree branches.

  Besides, the camp had a different kind of atmosphere. It was simple, yes, but there was a fullness and a sense of anticipation that hadn’t existed when she was traveling alone. She was looking forward to the next few days of camp life.

  Then she noticed there were only two sleeping bags, and asked, “What about you?”

  “Do you really think I’d fit in one of those with this body?” Caius asked, gesturing to himself.

  Hilda looked at Caius, then at the sleeping bag. “Well… yeah, I guess not. But won’t you be cold at night?”

  “Not at all. We’ve got the campfire,” Caius said casually. “Don’t worry. My physicality is stronger than yours—you don’t need to fuss over me.”

  Hilda nodded, then her lips curled into a grin. With a small wave of her hand, a lovely little wooden table appeared in the camp, complete with an elegant tea set and a tray of delicate snacks.

  Caius blinked in surprise.

  With graceful satisfaction, Hilda said, “You provide the camp, I provide the afternoon tea. Not bad, right?”

  “Haha, not bad at all,” Caius laughed.

  As expected of the Little Swan—no matter where she went, she never failed to bring a touch of elegance and refinement.