Redo of a Romanceless Author’s Life Devoid of Love; Another Chance at Youth

Chapter 481.

Chapter 481. Heading to the Peak: The Ascent. (4/5)

“Jeez, stop spacing out.” A set of clothes suddenly landed on my chest when Rosa said that. She’d pinched them between her toes and tossed them over to me.

“Hurry up and get dressed unless you plan to climb the mountain naked.” Rosa continued as she poked my cheek with her big toe. Looking up at her from below, she was already fully clothed.

“Aren’t you a bit too excited?”

“Of course I’m excited. I can’t wait to get to the top. It’ll definitely be very memorable.”

“Didn’t it rain last night though? Won’t it be a lot more dangerous to climb now?”

I stood up and started to get dressed 

“Don’t worry. Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. If we’re lucky, the rain might keep people away and we might end up with the peak all to ourselves thanks to it.”

“I doubt it. Did you forget what day it is?”

“Oh yeah. I forgot about that. You think there’ll be a good show tonight?”

“How would I know? It’d be nice if there is.”

“Yeah. I hope so, considering how I missed out last time.”

“Missing out was your own fault for pulling that stunt.”

“You’re just mad because I won that time.”

While we bickered back and forth we had something to eat before we packed up our things. An hour after we woke up, we embarked on our journey to the peak.

The sun was high in the sky.

Clear blue skies as far as the eye could see.

We traveled for twenty minutes along the side of the lake heading in the direction of the mountain we’d set our eyes on.

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On our right, the water. Our left, a dense population of colorful trees and vegetation. We were walking along a trail. There were many small twigs that would snap whenever we stepped over them. Small pebbles we kicked up while we walked would roll forward along the path.

“Hey, Rosa.”

“What is it?”

“I only now realized it, but where’d you get that second backpack from?”

“You’re only now noticing it?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you too busy staring at my ass or something?”

“It was your legs actually.”

“Perv.”

“You’re the last person I want to hear that from. Anyway, where’d you get it?”

“I borrowed it from Dawn.”

“Oh. What’s in it?”

She shot a glance my way and said with a mysterious smile, “That’s a se-cret~”

A chill ran down my back when I heard those ominous words.

“You’re not carrying around a machete in there and planning to cut my body up into pieces then bury it somewhere deep in the mountains, are you?”

“Aww, you ruined the surprised~”

“Can you please not joke around like that? It’s not funny.”

“Who’s joking? Did I not say I’d assassinate the old you?”

“I mean… you’re not wrong, you did say that. I guess I should be preparing my heart to die here. Good to know.”

“It’s obviously a joke, dummy. So don’t start digging your grave yet.” She teased as she poked my cheek with her index finger.

“So what’s really in it if it’s not a machete?”

“I’m not telling you~”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s a surprise. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

Even after pestering her for ten minutes, she didn’t budge. I could only wait to see whatever the surprise she prepared for me was.

Half an hour later we’d made it past the lake and were tracking through a small trail sandwiched on both sides by the trees. We encountered an abundance of wildlife.

There were countless different species of birds sitting atop trees, flying overhead, and jumping about from branch to branch. There was a wide variety of different chirps that could be heard.

Mixed in among the chirping birds, the sound of grasshoppers and crickets could be heard. We caught sight of a few every now and then. A light green grasshopper sitting atop a blade of bent grass blending in. A dark brown cricket slacking off on top of a dark fist-sized rock.

Caterpillars nibbling and slowly creeping along the leaves of plants. Dragonflies occasionally zooming by in a rush as if having places to go and places to be. A spider making its way up a tree with an unsuspecting beetle in its sight. The occasional worker bee buzzing about from flower to flower doing its little bee business.

We happened across squirrels running about the ground, climbing and hanging still on the side of trees watching us curiously with their little beady eyes as we passed by.

Frightened hares that stiffly turned their heads toward us before running off with their tails stuck between their legs the second their eyes locked with Rosa’s. 

I couldn’t help but laugh and tease Rosa when I saw their reactions. They instinctively knew she was bad news.

While we mindlessly walked taking in all these sights we came across a greedy snake in the middle of its meal swallowing a pitiful toad who succumbed to its poison whole. It definitely wasn’t something we expected to see along the way.

Rosa was rude enough to pull out her phone and stand there for five minutes recording a video of it.

“Seriously, how would you feel if some stranger walked into your house and started recording you eating?” I couldn’t stop myself from berating her.

“Hahaha!” Rosa burst out into laughter when she imagined it. “That’d like totally suck when you put it that way.”

“Right?”

“Well, I guess I recorded enough.”

“Shouldn’t girls be more grossed out by these sorts of things?”

She tilted her head to one side and tapped her lip with one finger as she questioned back, “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t get why. I think it’s an interesting sight to see.”

Tatatatatata!

Startled by the rapid tapping from the tree directly to my side, I flinched away.

Rosa looked up at me and burst out into laughter, “Pfft hahahah! So laaaame. What’re you getting so scared for? It’s just a woodpecker.”

“That little bastard scared the crap out of me.”

“Aww, did your heart skip a beat for a bird? It must be love at first peck~ hehehehe.”

Rosa continued to poke and nudge me playfully as we proceeded on our way along the trail through the trees.

About an hour walk later, the trees gradually grew more sparse until we finally made it to a clear opening and I stopped in my tracks. We had a clear view of the mountain up close now.

It was… huge. Imposing. Daunting. Looking up at it from here it was far more intimidating than when viewed at a distance. It really made you feel tiny. Insignificant like an ant. We were a speck of sand on a hill compared to it.

We were... going to climb this? We’d already been walking for so long, my body was sore to begin with, but there was still this much left? This is… hell.

“What’re you standing around looking dumbfounded for! Let’s go!”

When my eyes lowered, Rosa was fifty meters away looking back and calling out to me.

With shoulders slumped forward, I picked up the pace and caught up to her. My feet, back, and shoulders were killing me.

We trudged up the mountain slope as it gradually grew steeper. What was once twenty turned into a forty-five-degree angle incline. Needless to say, every step forward became a laborious task and drained significantly more stamina.

I couldn’t help thinking about how nice it would be to just lay down and roll back down the mountain. However, when I looked behind us and saw the distance that tumble would be, it became apparent only death awaited you should you try that.

There were jagged rocks sticking out from the ground, rolling over some of those would no doubt easily cut through flesh.