Chapter 485: A Step Forward
Chapter 485: A Step Forward
“Silvia and Matilda, too…”
“Ah, no!”
“…Huh?”
I was naturally planning for all of us to relax together, including Silvia and Matilda, but for some reason, Silvia was vehemently shaking her head.
“Uh, um, well, it’s just…!”
“Please, just the four of you enjoy your time today. We’re perceptive enough to know when to leave you be. Right, Silvia?”
“Yes! That’s exactly it!”
Matilda immediately covered for the flustered Silvia, who affirmed her words by nodding furiously.
“No, you don’t have to be that considerate…”
We all slept together last night after you two left, anyway.
You know that, since you were waiting outside the room this morning, right?
“Well then, we have something to attend to, so we’ll be going.”
But despite my words, Silvia and Matilda amicably excused themselves together.
Because I’d already kissed Rachel, I was planning to advance my relationships with Silvia and Matilda a bit more, at least until I could properly confess to Rachel again.
That was one of the preliminary steps I mentioned before to solidify my relationship with Rachel.
But at this rate, it seems I’ll have to give up on that for today.
After all, they went out of their way to show me such kindness; it felt wrong to insist and try to push our relationship forward.
Let’s just spend the day cozily, the four of us.
And so, having this rare chance to spend the day as a group of four, we really didn’t do anything special.
We just drank tea and chatted.
But I guess eighteen days was a long time, because even just talking like that, we never ran out of things to say.
Mostly, the girls talked about how much they’d suffered while looking for me, and I just listened.
That’s because I didn’t have much to say about the eighteen days I was stranded.
No. To be precise, I didn’t have much to say to them about it.
If it had been a gathering of just us guys, I would have launched into a grand speech, mixing truths and lies about the incredible adventures I had for eighteen days, but telling these girls would only make them worry more.
Especially Sara. Considering how she fell into a panic when I tried to move away a little earlier, I couldn’t even imagine how she’d react to a story like that.
“After you were swept away by that sperm whale, you have no idea how much Sara cried.”
“Fufu. It’s true. I never thought I’d see you so flustered, Sara. I guess when it comes down to it, you just can’t help how much you love Guwon.”
“W-What…! L-Leia!”
“What’s there to be embarrassed about? It’s all true, isn’t it? Come on, Sara. You can snuggle deeper into the arms of this big brother you love so much you can’t help yourself…”
“Sh-Shut up! Be quiet, Guwon!”
As I teased her, Sara started lightly slapping my chest.
Hahahah! It doesn’t hurt anymore! My Durability stat shot up again as my Martial Artist level increased!
…Thanks to that, my Durability stat is even closer to its limit, which means all that’s left is for it to vanish into thin air as I level up.
Ugh. If only I hadn’t poured all those bonus stats into Durability back then…
Well, putting depressing thoughts aside, as you can see, Sara was back to normal for the time being.
Well, it only seemed that way on the surface.
In reality, even while she was slapping my chest, one of her hands was gripping my sleeve tightly and not letting go.
If I were to sneakily pull it away, would she regress to a child and start bawling again?
“If you’re going to bring that up, Diana and Leia were the same way!”
Completely unaware of my thoughts, Sara returned to her usual cool expression and put on a brave front.
“What are you talking about? I led you all to the surface with my precise judgment.”
Despite Sara’s counterattack, Diana spoke with her chest puffed out confidently.
“What?! Diana, you were calm even when I was stranded?! H-Has your love for me cooled…?”
“Why would you jump to that conclusion! Will you stop with that shocked expression that’s so obviously an act! Back then, I had to react calmly to have even a slightly higher chance of saving you! For your sake, I suppressed my emotions and made a precise judgment!”
“That’s all because of your age… ahem. I’ll admit that part, but you were in a total panic once we got to the surface. ‘My darling is in danger! You all, hurry! Faster! Faster! We must find my darling!’”
Ah, she was about to mention her age but stopped, right?
It seems even Sara couldn’t bring herself to attack Diana about her age.
“Th-That’s within an acceptable range, isn’t it?!”
“For an ‘acceptable range,’ your reaction was quite intense. You were even crying. ‘Waaah… my dar… my daaarliiiing…’”
Hey. Why are you dealing so much damage to Diana?
Honestly, the moment she gets a little embarrassed, she tries to break the damage meter. Just like a Hero.
Watching Sara do a pretty realistic impression of Diana, I decided to help Diana out by gently pulling my arm away from Sara’s grip.
“My dar… eh? W-Waaaaah! Why?! Whyyy?! Why did you pull away nowww?”
At that, Sara, who had been realistically acting out Diana’s crying, froze with a blank expression as if she couldn’t process the situation, and then promptly burst into real tears.
“No. Uh, sorry. Yeah.”
Seriously. That reaction is way too extreme.
I didn’t run away, I just pulled my arm back.
Calm down a little.
I thought her symptoms might have eased a bit since we’d been talking for a while.
“Guwon. Even if it’s a joke, there are good jokes and bad ones. Sara is in a slightly unstable state right now. Please be careful.”
And Leia, too, seemed to think I’d gone too far this time, as she deliberately put on a stern expression and scolded me.
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
I apologized obediently and took Sara’s hand, interlocking our fingers.
“Sniffle… Really… this idiot…”
At that, Sara gradually began to compose herself again.
She was trying to act tough by calling me an idiot, but seeing her still sniffling, it was clear she was terrified of being separated from me.
“So, Sara. Would you care to repeat what you were saying about me?”
“…Ugh…”
“Hmph.”
Hey, Diana. I’m the one who helped you.
Don’t get all smug just because you won for once.
“For a while there, I wasn’t sure what would happen, but now that it’s over, we can laugh and talk about it like this.”
But her smugness was brief. Diana didn’t press her advantage against Sara and simply wrapped up the conversation.
She just wrapped it up as if it were some heartwarming story, but it wasn’t a good story at all. When did you and Sara laugh and talk? You were mercilessly digging into each other’s embarrassing moments.
“Fufu. That’s true. Besides, seeing your face, Guwon, makes me feel even happier than before. So it wasn’t all bad.”
The angel is an exception. The angel always says nice things.
Seeing your face makes me happier than before, too, my angel.
“Leia…. Yeah. Me too.”
“M-Me too! Seeing your face makes me happy, too!”
As Leia and I gazed at each other, Diana must have felt a sense of crisis, because she jumped in and broke the mood.
Seeing her face turn bright red, it seemed she’d spoken out of desperation but was still embarrassed.
Well, of course. That kind of thing… only our angel could say something like that. Normally, you’d be too embarrassed to say it out loud.
“Ah, yeah. Okay.”
“Isn’t your reaction completely different!”
“That’s just how it is. It’s always disadvantageous for the latecomer. And as for your face, Diana…”
“Wh-What?! What about my face?!”
I beckoned her closer, and Diana approached me with an anxious look on her face.
I brought my mouth to her ear and whispered softly so Sara and Leia couldn’t hear.
“I saw your face in the video whenever I was bored.”
Well, actually, it just made me miss her more, so I tried to watch it once but couldn’t, and I sealed it away after that.
“Wh-Wh-What…!”
Diana, who had flinched slightly as if my breath on her ear tickled, froze solid, as if she’d never imagined I would say such a thing.
“I’m indebted to you.”
“Wh-What do you mean, indebted!”
When I put my hands together in a prayer-like gesture with a sly grin, Diana quickly started patting my chest.
“Aww, you know what I mean.”
“Y-You… you are…!”
“D-Diana? What’s wrong?”
“Suspicious…”
“Y-You two don’t need to know!”
Of course, Diana’s sudden behavior only made the other two curious, which in turn sent Diana into a deeper spiral of flusteredness.
“No, actually, the thing is…”
“You shut your mouth, too!”
As I playfully pretended I was about to spill the beans, Diana covered my mouth with one hand and tapped my chest with the other.
“…The meal is ready.”
And with perfect timing, Vanessa arrived to inform us that lunch was ready.
“Phew. I’ve had my fun teasing Diana, so shall we go eat now?”
“You! You!”
“Honestly, Guwon. You really do adore Diana, don’t you?”
“How is this adoring her?!”
“I’m the youngest one here, though…”
“What’s this, Sara? Jealous?”
“O-Of course not! Idiot!”
“Call me Oppa, and I’ll tease you too, Sara.”
“I-I told you, I don’t need that! Who would call you Oppa…”
“Shoo.”
“Oppa! Don’t leave Sara behind…!”
And so, just like usual… no, Sara’s a little different than usual.
Anyway, chattering boisterously, we all headed to the dining hall.
“Huh? Where are Silvia and Matilda?”
Everyone was already gathered in the dining hall, even the people from the Mage Association, but Silvia and Matilda were nowhere to be seen.
That’s strange. I can understand Matilda, but Silvia is always faster than me.
“The two of them said they would eat separately later.”
“Huh? Both of them?”
“Yes.”
…Come to think of it, this morning, when Matilda was leaving, she said they had something to attend to.
Was she not just saying that? Did she really have something to do with Silvia?
But what could the two of them possibly be doing together?
Of course, all my party members get along well, even without me.
Thanks to her attitude, Silvia fit into the party right from the start, and Matilda also has a perfectly normal personality as long as there are no men around, so I know they all get along with each other.
But even considering that, I couldn’t imagine what business Silvia and Matilda could possibly have together, just the two of them.
“What are they doing right now? If they’re eating separately later, that means they’re still in the mansion, right?”
Well, it’s not like Matilda is in a position to go out carelessly anyway.
“…Well. I’m not sure.”
That’s the reaction of someone who knows perfectly well.
“Then where are they now? You’re not going to say you don’t know that, too, are you?”
“…They are in the bathroom.”
Ah. I see. They were washing up.
I wondered why they’d be bathing at this hour, but if that was the case, I could understand why Vanessa was hesitant to say what they were doing.
I mean, it’s not like I’m going to barge into the bathroom and do something weird, so she could have just told me they were bathing.
Or is there some other reason she can’t tell me?
“Right. Anyway, I get it.”
Feeling a subtle sense of unease, we went ahead and had our meal without Silvia and Matilda.
“You guys go on ahead. I’m just going to the bathroom for a second…”
And since I still felt that something was off, I decided to take a quick peek at what Silvia and Matilda were doing before heading back to my room after the meal.
It’s definitely not because I thought it was a golden opportunity to legally peek into the bathroom or anything.
It’s just that it’s strange for the two of them to be bathing at this hour, even skipping a meal, right?
So I was just concerned. Yep.
However, my attempt was thwarted before it could even begin.
By the hand of our cool-faced, age-regressed girl.
“…Sara. I have to go to the bathroom…”
“Yeah. So go.”
“…Don’t you think you have to let go for me to do that?”
“I’m not letting go. Just go, don’t mind me.”
“…If you don’t let go, you’ll have to follow me to the bathroom. You’ll see me doing my business.”
“Yeah. I don’t mind.”
“Well, I mind! Hah!”
I took advantage of Sara’s carelessness to pull my arm free and sprinted toward the bathroom with all my might…
“Waaaaaah! Guwooon! Don’t leave Sara behind!”
I couldn’t escape.
“Guwon! Sara is…!”
And with our angel acting like that, it was even more impossible.
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
In the end, I obediently apologized and let Sara grab my sleeve again.
And just like that, Sara instantly stopped crying.
This girl… she’s not doing this on purpose, is she?
No. Probably not.
There’s no way the prideful Sara could act and bawl her eyes out like this.
Well, if she’s not doing it on purpose, that’s even more troublesome in its own way.