Chapter 1630 – Intermission: The Sage of the Forest's Rumination

Arriving at the castle and walking to the dining hall with Laguna-san’s guidance, while Fors was having a casual conversation with Kaito and Laguna, she was thinking about the situation.

(Thank goodness we made it to the castle in one piece. Although I wasn’t optimistic about my prospects, expecting it would take several days even under optimistic assumptions, so it was fortuitous that we made it here with time to spare. I have to give him my sincere thanks. Unnn…… No, but……)

Fors is conducting conversation as usual, and her demeanor is no different from normal times. However, if one were to ask whether she was the same as normal even in her heart, that was not really the case.

Although she is quite desperate in pretending to be calm, she’s considerably panicking deep inside, and the reason for that is……

(……H- How long are we going to hold hands like this?)

Yes, Fors is still walking hand in hand with Kaito, and that is the primary factor making Fors’ heart restless.

(His primary objective of making sure I don’t get lost until reaching the royal castle has already been accomplished. It should be okay to let go now. N- No, but why do I have to be the one to initiate such a thing? Moreover, the reason we’re holding hands is me in the first place, and he’s doing it out of pure goodwill, so wouldn’t me doing such a thing be no different from putting a damper on his intentions? Well, but if we consider arriving in the castle as the completion of the objective, then is it the right action to regard the moment we sit down in the dining hall as the endpoint and continue holding hands until then…… A- Alright. To begin with, this is the first time for me to walk hand in hand with someone of the opposite sex. I’m overwhelmingly lacking in knowledge and experience that could have guided my actions…… Rather, it would be best to wait for him to take action.)

Fors is basically a recluse who rarely ventures outside of Rigforeshia. She has never been conscious of the opposite sex, and being the oldest of the Elves, she has always regarded the Elves around her as children, either her nephews or nieces.

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Perhaps that’s why, even though she was keeping up appearances on the surface, as Laguna had pointed out a while ago, Fors was embarrassed and in an unsettled state of mind.

(Kuh, while I’m in this state, you sure are quite composed over there. Shows how much of a playboy this guy is. No, in fact, in terms of romantic experience, I’m probably not anywhere close to his level. Kuh, is the act of holding hands really something that can disturb one’s heart to this extent?)

When she glanced at Kaito’s direction, he didn’t seem to be conscious of the fact that he was holding hands with Fors, and was just conversing with Laguna and Fors in a very relaxed way.

It doesn’t look like he was trying to keep up appearances like Fors, but rather, he seemed to be relatively accustomed to the act of walking hand in hand like this.

(Kuh…… Looking quite carefree…… Good grief, I feel like shouting at him at least once. “Are you not the slightest bit conscious of how I perceive you? Even if we exclude the individual preferences regarding facial beauty and the like, I want you to reflect on your actions up to this point. You have repeatedly appeared dashingly at the moments when I was in trouble and helped me out. I want you to thoroughly consider how moved my heart had been by such actions.”)

At the time of the Six Kings Festival, at the White God Festival, and again this time, Kaito appeared before Fors at truly opportune moments. Just when her thoughts were leaning towards optimism, only to be snapped back to reality, making her seriously start pondering what to do now, Kaito always appears.

She jokingly referred to him as the “Messiah”, but in fact, he’s like a Hero who appears at the right moment to save the day.

(Although getting lost is already a common occurrence to me, I still feel anxious and flustered when I get lost. If there’s a charming individual who appears dashingly and repeatedly helps me in such situations, given my limited social and romantic matters, it would be more than obvious that I would be easily charmed. I strongly hope you will take these aspects into consideration…… Ahh, no, even if I’m just having these thoughts in my mind, I’m well aware that these thoughts are quite nonsensical. Expecting you to understand this is probably unreasonable, and rather, even understanding this would also open up a new bag of troubles for me. Hmmm…… A person’s mind sure is beyond one’s control.)

After pondering all that, Fors let out a small wry smile and once again glanced briefly at Kaito.

[Unnn? Is something the matter?]

[Ahh, no, I was just thinking about what might be served for lunch. Since we’re in Hydra Kingdom, it would probably be seafood, right? I can’t imagine them not serving a signature delicacy that represents their country……]

[Ahh, fish sounds great. Symphonia hardly uses fish in their cuisine……]

As Kaito turned away and continued engaging in trivial conversation, just for a little bit, Fors subtly tightened the grip of the hand she was holding.

(Yeah, it truly is beyond one’s control. Even though I still consider when to let go of his hand, there’s still this part of me that doesn’t want to release it just yet. What contradictory and illogical thoughts. Truly perplexing…… It’s just, hopefully…… I’ll be able to let go before my heart beats too loudly and he accidentally hears it.)

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [Wait…… Wait, wait, wait! The flow of things doesn’t look good! Doesn’t things look really bad there!?]