Since drinking alcohol so early in the day was kind of iffy, I decided to leave it for later.

  I placed the box of alcohol underneath the parasol on the sandy beach. I was about to move them when…


  「Daichi-oniisan what are you doing~?」


  Athena trotted over.

  「That’s…alcohol? Did you go into town to shop?」


  「No, I received this. There are some acquaintances nearby and they gave me this. Actually is the town that close to here?」


  Hesty had shown me a map of the area once and the lake looked fairly distant from the Fort City. Maybe I was remembering wrong.

  「Uh-uh, it’s far from here, but I heard you were going to go somewhere with Onee-sama so I thought you had teleported there.」


  Oh I see. She was talking about Dianeia guiding me around the area.

  「Well, it’s true that we’ll be going places, but that’s in the afternoon.」


  「Oh so that’s what it was~. I wanted to come with if it was in the morning…but it’s my training time in the afternoon. Hmm…ok, I’ll just cheer Onee-sama on from here!」


  I don’t know why she has to cheer her on for walking around, but since she was smiling happily it was fine. Actually what bothered me more was…


  「You’re doing your training time here?」


  I’d heard that Athena and Karen were doing magic practice…but they’re even doing it here?

  「Un. We fell behind thanks to the break yesterday. Since we came to the resort I thought we wouldn’t have to…..but now that Karen is here with Daichi-oniisan she seems way more enthusiastic.」


  Athena said with a giggle.

  「She’s getting fired up because she’s in front of me?」


  「Un, I think she wants to show off her power in front of you. You know that Karen uses showing her power as a greeting right?」


  「I don’t really get Dragon King greetings. Actually…what kind of training is it to show off her power?」


  I asked. Athena hesitated for a bit and looked out to the beach and lake.

  Then she slowly started to speak.

  「Umm, normally we jump into a dungeon…but here we’ll probably run on the beach, swim through the water, and repel some light attacks from Karen…I think.」


  「That’s quite sports-like.」


  「Un. But since it’s magic practice we’ll most likely apply different magics to accomplish these things. Like train how to use magic with the beach for defense or control sand…stuff like that.」


  Athena said while putting her hands in the sand.

  Then she quietly chanted a spell.

  「—The sleeping power of nature within my hands harden. 《Sand Shield》—」


  The moment she finished her spell the sand in her hands transformed into a small circular shield.

  「See? Like this. Using something from nature to be a shield and deflecting or dodging Karen’s attacks……but with my training I’m only able to do this much.」


  「Oh that’s pretty amazing. A shield of sand?」


  I’ve used wood, ground, and water but to use sand which was so scattered…


  I’d like to try this out.

  I thrust my hand into the sand…


  「Umm….Create the Sand Shield in my Mind —《Shield》—!」


  For now I decided to create a shield that I had imagined in my mind. Then…


  —Zuoo!—


  With fierce momentum the sandy beach before my eyes began to rise up.

  Then what appeared was a great shield large enough to hide my body.

  「……I see just learning by watching made it larger than I expected.」


  「Eh, umm…when it’s this big it’s less a shield and more of a wall. It’s much thicker than mine as well……D-Daichi-oniisan wasn’t this the first time you made things with sand?」


  「Well….yeah.」


  I had made a mistake trying to imitate her and made it way too big.

  After I admitted it, Athena’s mouth dropped open.

  「Wow for you to make such detail on the shield……Daichi-oniisan is really skilled!」


  「No….I’m not really you know?」


  「Eh? Really!?」


  As I said that Athena opened her eyes in surprise. I don’t think it deserves that reaction…


  My knowledge and technique are still far from good enough. Even the small details were from my previous golem making experience.

  「This is simply me using my experience in making things. I’m still inexperienced in controlling sand.」


  「Hoe~ Daichi-oniisan thinks that way huh?」


  「Yeah, because of that I was thinking of doing some practice.」


  Unexpectedly making a new type of golem from sand might be interesting.

  With those thoughts in mind I wanted to use the time I had until lunch to try it.

  「—ok then, I’ll be playing around and practicing a bit.」


  I muttered and Athena looked at me in surprise.

  「You’re doing it now? Then can I join you Daichi-oniisan?」


  「Un? I don’t mind.」


  「Alright! Then I’ll watch Daichi-oniisan’s magic and study a lot!」


  Athena said happily and started putting her hands in the sand.

  I started getting prepared.

  And just like that, Athena and I played in the sand until lunch.