I crouched down to give Olivia-san a piggyback, prompting her to whisper in a trembling voice.
"Miyama Kaito-sama, this is a grave matter... It is truly, profoundly daunting. In any other era, this would be considered a slight so disrespectful that my execution would be all but guaranteed."
"No, it wouldn't. No matter the era, if I’m the one offering the ride, there’s no world where you’d be put to death for it."
For now, I understood that Olivia-san was feeling incredibly apologetic, but I was just going to have to ask her to let it go.
Now, there was a practical concern: the task of actually carrying her up the mountain to the stone monument. Olivia-san looked light, but hauling another person up a hill still required a decent amount of physical strength. On flat ground, it wouldn't have been an issue, but even a gentle slope would prove challenging for me.
...Or so I would have normally thought. I hadn't been negligent, however. During our earlier break, I hadn't actually been drinking the same sports drink I’d given Olivia-san.
Instead, I’d been sipping a beverage Alice had brewed using a Fruit of the World Tree I’d received from Nebula. The fruit’s effect boosted physical ability and magic power by fifty percent for about an hour.
With this, my physical ability was one-and-a-half times my normal state... but that wasn't the whole story. The key factor here was the magic power boost. Since my meager mana pool was temporarily expanded, the effectiveness of my physical enhancement magic increased in tandem.
Between the magic-boosted physical enhancement and the direct stat increase from the fruit, my total physical capacity was currently elevated to roughly three times its normal state.
Heh heh heh. My own power was terrifying. I’d never really spent much time on punching machines, so I didn't know my exact force in numbers, but if my normal punch was a hundred kilograms, I was now throwing three-hundred-kilogram strikes. A true Murderous Punch.
Not only that, but my speed and power were on an entirely different level compared to my usual self. It was enough to make me feel like I could actually hold my own in a battle manga.
...Though, to put things in perspective, Hina-chan’s multipliers for her physical enhancement magic reached into the tens or even hundreds. She was already breaking the sound barrier. At that level, she was practically an elite character in an action series.
Even Aoi-chan, who wasn't particularly specialized in enhancement, had a multiplier of about ten times. Yeah, as I thought, combat just wasn't for me. If anything, I felt like Aoi-chan could still take me out with a single hit.
Regardless of my combat prowess, I certainly had more than enough strength to carry Olivia-san to the summit.
"Um, Olivia-san? It’s a bit awkward for me to stay crouched like this, so please climb on."
"...Y-Yes. Understood."
When I nudged her again, Olivia-san whispered as if making a final, desperate resolution and slowly climbed onto my back.
I felt a sudden jolt in my heart at the soft warmth and the pleasant scent wafting from her, but I focused on supporting her firmly. I tucked my hands under the back of her knees and stood up... and wow, she was light!
I might have overdone the power-ups. Honestly, my ordinary physical enhancement magic probably would have been enough.
"M-Miyama Kaito-sama... are you quite alright? Am I not a burden? Even if I am not particularly large, carrying a person is quite a strain for a human body..."
"You're lighter than I expected. Honestly, it's no trouble at all."
"I see... Then you must possess a truly sturdy physique."
"A-Ahaha..."
Sturdy? As far as I knew, the only acquaintance of mine with lower physical ability than myself was Tre-san. I generally considered myself fairly frail.
Maintaining a wry smile at her assessment, I started walking cautiously to find my center of gravity. Once I grew accustomed to the weight, I picked up the pace.
The boost to my physical stats gave me plenty of breathing room. I didn't feel winded at all; I could easily maintain a conversation or enjoy the view as we climbed.
"Such a steady gait suggests an incredible core. And your back... I can feel its strength. I am truly impressed."
"U-Um, thanks?"
"To handle such a difficult task so effortlessly... I can say nothing except that it is exactly what I would expect from Miyama Kaito-sama."
"Erm..."
"Your eyes are fixed so firmly forward, as if seeing through everything, yet they also house a brilliant light of intellect. As expected of a noble individual, you possess a hidden intensity that cannot be concealed, even in silence..."
Wait, wasn't she laying it on a bit thick? At this rate, she was going to start praising me just for breathing.
She was also the most talkative she’d been all day. I used my sympathy magic and quickly realized the cause.
"...Olivia-san, let's try to calm down. I understand that you're feeling incredibly apologetic about this."
"Ugh... Y-Yes."
Yeah, as I suspected, the heap of praise was the result of her being so flustered over the piggyback that she’d started panicking.
...I see. So Olivia-san becomes a fountain of compliments when she's flustered. I'd better keep that in mind.
"Anyway, it’s dangerous if you’re loose, so please hold on a little more firmly."
"U-Um, how exactly should I do that...?"
"Just wrap your arms around my neck."
"In some worlds, would such an act of disrespect not lead to being burned at the stake?"
"No such world exists, so you're fine."
It looked like I was going to have to do something about Olivia-san’s overwhelming sense of humility before we could actually enjoy any small talk or the scenery.
Serious-senpai: "It sounds like she's exaggerating, right? But the thing is, if someone besides Kaito suggested this, or if someone climbed onto him when he didn't want it, I can think of quite a few people who would seriously try to execute them for the slight."
Machina: "Is that so?"
Serious-senpai: "Wait, you're at the top of that list!"