Interest for the Unknown

The Sorcerers

*...*-Thoughts

After I parted ways with Taiju and Yuzuriha, I came across a young girl who was stuck under a tree, probably one of the people who lit the fires. I was able to free her using Archimedes' Pulley system. The girl introduced herself as Kohaku.

Now we're heading to sleep when I notice something.

"What are you, a new species of hominid that sleeps with a weapon or something?" I asked.

"Makes it obvious I don't have love on the brain." She said immediately without opening her eyes.. She looked over at me. "Look, I may be curious about your ways, but I'm not sure how much I can trust you yet. Besides, it's a force of habit, because I watch out for myself, so don't take it personally."

I turned over towards the tree next to me as I responded. "I'm not enough of a hero to attack a lioness like you, so quit wasting time and get some rest."

"'Lioness?'" She questioned. "I am a person! With feelings! You might've seemed like a gentleman at first, but you're actually kinda rude, ya know that? I'm afraid I might accidentally end up killing you."

"If you just go to sleep, there won't be any accidents. I'm not too keen on the idea of dying twice in one day."

It was silent for a moment before she spoke again.

"You're fighting against that long-haired man, aren't you?" She asked. "I'll help you with that."

I opened my eyes and looked over my shoulder. "I'm not the type to just run away with my tail between my legs." She continued.

I sat up before answering. "Yeah. That's why I'm setting out to build a kingdom of science." I looked away. "But what I need...is manpower first."

"Oh, yeah?" She said, standing up. "So you're lookin' for allies, are ya? Well, then why don't you come along with me?"

I smirked, looking over. "So you've got some more lion buddies? There a whole pride of you somewhere?"

"That's right. I'm sure they would be great allies for the battle. Especially one guy in particular. I'll lead you to 'em, Senku. You just gotta follow me."

---------------------Time Skip---------------------

It was next day when the Lioness and I packed up camp and started for her pride. We were walking by some hot springs when she took the jar she had and scooped up some of the water.

"Hot spring water?" I questioned.

"Yeah." She replied. "I'm taking it back home for a bath. It's good for the healing process."

"Why do you need to take a healing bath when you're obviously, like, ten billion percent healthy?" I asked. "The thought of an overpowered lion girl like you running around is kinda terrifying."

"I am not a lion! And for your information, it's for my sister!" She yelled back at me. She turned away from me. "Honestly, carrying this big, heavy thing of water is a lot of trouble to go through. But she's been especially sick for way too long now. Sometimes I feel kinda guilty for being so healthy. If only we could switch bodies once in a while." She started to walk away.

"Looks to me like that jar probably holds a bit less than 50 liters. Doesn't seem like enough
to fill a bathtub." I observed as we walked down a hill. "I wonder how often you have to lug that heavy-ass thing back and forth. A few times a day, right?"

She let out a laugh. "I've made it a part of my daily training. Thanks to these trips, I'm a lot stronger." She looked back at me, not paying attention to where was walking. "I know I was complaining earlier, but honestly, I'm pretty grateful tha-