#11. Showdown ( 10 )
The next morning, a welcome voice resounded in the clearing of the Secret Forest.
“ah! You were here!”
It was Neil. After waking up in the morning, he realized that Soya was missing and searched for her until he arrived at this place. Soya got up before Zain did, stood in the clearing, reflected on yesterday’s fight, and Nael grabbed his hand. Nael smiled broadly and spoke.
“I’ve been looking for a long time! I was worried because it suddenly disappeared at dawn!”
Maybe it was because he let go of his sentence, but this time he was able to respond innocently to Nael’s words without worrying about his duty. Soya replied with a light smile as if he was sorry.
“sorry.”
“Why were you here?”
“I felt the devil, so I came to catch him.”
“okay? So did you catch it?”
Soya placed her hand on her chest, closed her eyes, and spoke softly.
“Caught. clearly.”
“I’m glad!”
Nael grabbed Soya’s hand and shook it. It was then. Jain came out of the tree passage. Jain, who had just woken up, was walking out into the clearing with disheveled hair and yawning. Nael looked at Zain and his eyes widened. On the other hand, Zain, who had just come out, looked at Soya and Jain, who were close to each other, as if they were embracing each other, and looked strange.
“What is it, do you guys know each other?”
“yes! I went to Elbenheim and went with him on the way back, and we became friends… ah!”
Nael pointed at Zain with his hand and said.
“This guy! This is the friend I was talking about back then! The guy you said was the hardest to get along with! Say your name is Jain!”
Upon hearing this, Soya sighed briefly. It was because I remembered what I had heard.
“Right. come… No, this man was the man. ah.”
Nael clearly said. The man went through something bad in the past, so he chose to go alone. But I think I overcame it. It was a fact that supported Soya’s reasoning that he must have found a way to purify demons and escaped from the demon.
‘Am I living under the name Jain now?’
The misunderstanding only went deeper. Soya nodded. And, I was curious. How and with whom is his older brother living? Soya glanced back at Nael and said.
“The offer from that time, is it still valid?”
“yes? What suggestions?”
“An offer to introduce you to my friends and the city when you stop by Lothern.”
“Of course! What, did you mean not to hear?”
“No, that’s it.”
Soya smiled at Nael who held her hands. It was the brightest smile I had in a long time. And, Jain was looking at the warm appearance of the two with a serious expression. It was to the extent that he wrapped his lower body with one hand and was even thinking about it. Jain had a reason not to view the contact between Soya and Nael positively.
‘Could I have fallen for that guy?’
As Zain knew, it was because Soya in the original work was a lily character.
That is, they were known as the Reds. It’s not exactly officially confirmed, but it was known as an established theory among players of the original. It was because he took an extremely passive attitude towards men, refused to talk at all, and only talked to women. At first glance, Soya’s tone, which sounds like a man, also encouraged such an interpretation. It was all because of her brother’s trauma, but there was no way Jain knew that.
‘Then it’s a crisis of Nael’s chastity.’
As is often the case with lily characters, in the secondary creation, Soya was portrayed as a carnivorous character. Even Jain, who had been scouring the game community for information, knew about it. So, it was natural for Jain to be wary of Soya after receiving that information. Just looking at the friendship between the two, it seemed like they had already passed half way. Zain took a step forward and lit a candle in the air of the two people.
“no. Just quietly disappear.”
Soya kept her mouth shut, but Nael immediately protested. After wrapping it around Soya’s shoulders, he asked Jain.
“What, why are you acting so coldly?”
“It sounds like everything is fine. no. Let’s break up here.”
“Do you two have any relationship? Why are you doing that?”
“that is… ”
Jain couldn’t find words for a moment. Nael said with a snort.
“I was disappointed. Even if he seems cold on the outside, I thought he was warm to women.”
Jain scratched his head and sighed. Because I couldn’t explain the details. And even that appearance was fostering Soya’s illusions. At most, they denied the relationship as siblings by spending time, but it seemed that they were doing that because they were afraid that they would find out that they were older brothers after they had been together for a long time. Soya hurriedly stepped forward and tried to deal with it.
“Don’t say that. Over… There is a reason Jain says such things.”
“reason? Oh, what are you two really doing?”
“no. The two of us are never, definitely, not related.”
Neither side could openly say why. In this complicated twisted and twisted situation, Nael just tilted his head. Nael stretched out his chest and crossed Soya’s arms.
“Anyway! As promised, I’ll take Soya to Lortern and give her a tour of the city. Any disagreement?”
Thanks to that complicated situation, it was Nael’s stubbornness that won in the end. The three people who suddenly came together walked towards Lottern bathed in the morning sun.
*
And, Helena’s cafe.
“What, did you pick up a girl again?”
Seeing Soya sipping green tea, Helena said as if she was fed up with Jain. As soon as he returned, Zain, who finished his back lightly, replied as if he was unfair, drying his wet hair with a towel.
“Or what. I didn’t pick it up.”
This time, it was a voice that seemed genuinely unfair. Helena heard the tone and stopped teasing. However, he couldn’t convince Ren, who was uncomfortable with the number of women around Jain these days. Ren asked a small question as he deliberately wiped the dishes with a squeaking sound.
“If you didn’t pick it up, what is it? The look in your eyes from earlier is unusual.”
“a look?”
“yes. Pretending not to be interested, but that woman looked at the side of her face twice, her chest once, and her back view once in the past 10 minutes. What are you doing?”
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
“yes. right. The two of us really, really, are not related.”
Jain, who thinks Soya is a crazy psycho lesbian, answered straight away. Soya also helped. It was a support shot that could only be silenced. However, Ren’s stinging eyes did not disappear. As he took the order and moved to the table with the tray, Ren continued to glance at the two of them. When the atmosphere became so vicious, Nael naturally grabbed Soya’s hand and stood up.
“right! Soya is my friend, and I came here because I have something to see! I decided to give you a full tour of what kind of city Lortern is, so let’s go then!”
First of all, it was because of the decision to release this sudden alert atmosphere. Soya stood up from his seat while holding on to Nael’s hand. The two beauties holding hands would have looked like friends to most people, but it looked different to Jain.
‘I’ll need a preventative measure.’
Zain, whose expression hardened, walked towards the corner of the cafe with a towel hanging around his neck. In that corner, Elaine had been sitting holding onto the dictionary and whimpering.
“What are you doing?”
“A crossword puzzle! The crossword puzzle in this magazine is notoriously difficult! They said they would give you a prize if you solved it! Three bags of potatoes!”
“So, did you solve it?”
“But it’s difficult… I’ve only been able to solve half of it yet. It’s crazy, so don’t tell me.”
Jain quickly snatched the crossword puzzle from Elaine’s hand. And he said it was stupid.
“What, you only solved one problem? What do you mean half solved?”
“Beginning is half done! What, are you here to pick up a fight? Give it back quickly!”
“Old.”
“What are you carelessly writing about… uh?”
Elaine blinked at the crossword puzzle Zayn returned. It was because Zain solved all the problems in an instant and returned them. Jain sat across from Elaine, whose eyes were wide open, and started to get to the point.
“Now, because I saved you half a day. Please do one favor of me for half a day.”
“What, what is it? If you ask me out on a date… ”
“Now Nael and that woman named Soya are going out together, so catch up and keep an eye on them.”
“Surveillance?”
Elaine, who was spitting on the stamp of a letter to be sent to the magazine, opened her eyes wide and asked again.
“What surveillance?”
“that is… because i’m worried Well, I would like you to keep an eye on it so that nothing bad happens.”
Jain scratched his head and said. Since Soya is a homosexual, he didn’t dare say that he should keep an eye on Nael so he couldn’t touch him, so he had no choice but to gloss over it. But that alone seemed to be enough for Elaine. Elaine tucked the letter between her breasts and stood up triumphantly.
“but! It’s only when these two tough-looking people wander the streets, they might fall for some kind of scam! Don’t worry, cute I’ll keep an eye on you to make sure nothing bad happens!”
“Well. okay. Thank you.”
Jain, who was stumbling over something, gave up and nodded his head obediently. As if that fact excited Elaine, Elaine jumped up from her seat and caught up with Soya and Nael, who were just getting ready to leave.
Did this relieve you of anxiety? Jain muttered and sat there, taking out the gramhilt and starting to clean it.
*
And when it was almost sunset, Elaine returned to the cafe with her hands full of presents.
“Hey, that person, he’s a good person!”
Elaine, with a broad smile, was holding a special product of Lothern in her hands, and even wore a crown made of the branches of a holy tree, a tourist souvenir, on her head. It seemed that he was caught up in the purpose of giving Soya a tour, and returned to enjoy himself more. Jain, who had been grooming Grahamhilt until then, sighed and said,
“What have you been doing?”
“What are you doing, enjoying all over Lothern with Nael and Soya… I’m not creeping, I’m watching!”
Elaine, who belatedly recalled the request Jain had made to her, hurriedly changed her words. That was a fact that could be known just by looking at Elaine’s behavior now. Importantly, it was different.
“But why did you come back alone?”
“When I stopped at the slime throwing stall in the middle, I dodged them all with agile movements, but both of them got soaked in slime. The two of you decided to stop by the bathroom and take a bath before coming back?”
“What?”
Jain hardened his face and stood up from his seat. Surprised by Jain’s sudden attitude, Elaine shrank slightly and asked again.
“Why, why?”
“You two go to the bath together?”
“yes… ”
“Nude?”
“That, right? Can’t you get dressed and wash?”
Elaine looked at Jain’s face with a puzzled expression. Jain’s face changed to that of a father who received a text saying that his daughter had just walked into a motel with a guy.
“Why, why? Are you a girl?”
It’s a problem because it’s a woman. Jain swallowed his words and jumped up from his seat. The destination was Lothern’s specialty, the giant bathhouse.