“Wow…”
Shin Da-eun let out a gasp of amazent.
“Should I call this a spectacle?”
As she looked at the mountain of monster corpses, she turned her gaze toward .
“What do you think, Kana?”
“…Why are you asking that?”
“It’s best to ask the artist about the intention behind the art, right? What if I interpret it my way and you say, ‘That’s not what I ant at all’?”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that.”
This isn’t a work of art, and I’m not so kind of artist. What intention could there be?
“Would anyone even see that as a work of art in the first place?”
“Kana, even if it seems aningless to us, if the creator is trying to convey sothing through it, then it can be considered a work of art.”
“But I’m telling you, I’m not a creator.”
What kind of ssage could there be? I’m not exactly soone who’s into art, after all. If I want to say sothing, I’d just say it outright instead of delivering it in such a roundabout—let’s call it cultured—way, which just feels suffocating to .
Along the sa lines, I’m not into appreciating art, either. When was it again…?
Ah, I rember. It was when I got invited to a banquet hosted by a noble.
***
‘I’m so proud of this piece.’
‘Hmm…’
‘I spent over a hundred gold coins just to acquire this!’
‘…That much?’
‘Yes! Even soone as uneducated as you must have heard of Fernando, right? This is his tenth masterpiece. Being able to acquire it was nothing short of a miracle… all thanks to Edel’s grace.’
‘No god would grant grace for sothing as trivial as buying a painting.’
‘Trivial?! What do you an by that?! It’s an item you can’t buy, no matter how much money you have!’
‘…Sure, sure. But is this why you called over?’
‘Yes, isn’t it magnificent? …Ahem! Well, if you’re interested, I could give you a special explanation about the piece…?’
‘No need. I’m not really interested.’
‘…How could you! Fine, whatever! I’m busy too, you know?! I made ti for you, and this is the thanks I get…!’
***
Was she the daughter of an earl or a marquess? Anyway, a noble around my age hosted the banquet and bragged about acquiring a rare painting. But since I’d never even heard the na “Fernando” before, her bragging didn’t leave much of an impression on .
When I reacted indifferently, she ran off with a face that looked like she was about to cry or sulk—I wasn’t sure which. “Ran” might sound odd, but her hurried steps could only be described that way.
By the way, when I told my father about this when I returned ho, he said to :
‘…You need to be a bit more sensitive.’
I still vividly rember the subtle, indescribable expression on his face when he said that.
The point of this story is that I have zero interest in art. If she’d shown a famous sword instead, I might have had a more passionate reaction.
‘Yeah, that happened.’
I finished my brief reminiscence and lifted my head. Around the pile of monster corpses, mbers of the Demonic Race were busily moving. What they were doing now was extracting Magi from the corpses of the monsters.
It wasn’t sothing my group, including myself, could help with, so we just stood by and watched them extract the Magi.
Now that we’ve co this far, there’s truly no turning back.
Not that I ever intended to turn back anyway… If I had to make a comparison—right, it’s like putting at on the fire. You can’t take half-cooked at off the fire.
“Uh, um… that’s a very Kana-like analogy…”
“A Kana-like analogy?”
“There are other comparisons you could have made, but you specifically went with at. It really shows how much you love at.”
“…Is there sothing wrong with that?”
“No, it’s not wrong. It’s just… cute, that’s all.”
“There’s a lot of things you find cute.”
I brushed off Da-eun’s playful comnt as I was used to it.
A brief pause settled in our conversation. Even as talkative as Da-eun could be, she couldn’t speak non-stop for 24 hours, so naturally, there were monts when our conversation would lull.
Usually, Celine would jump in during these pauses, but today, she remained unusually quiet. When I glanced over at Celine, her face was visibly tense.
“Are you nervous?”
“…Yes, I suppose I am. It’s my first ti being entrusted with such an important role. When I think that if I make a mistake, Kana might be in danger, I can’t seem to calm down… Was it that obvious?”
“Yeah, a lot. Anyone would think you were the one performing the ritual, not .”
“Aren’t you nervous, Kana?”
“Of course I am.”
I’m human too, so how could I not be nervous? Da-eun’s mouth fell open at my answer.
“You can get nervous too, Kana?!”
“…If that’s what you thought, then why did you ask?”
“No, I just… hearing you say it out loud is surprising…”
“What’s so surprising about it?”
“Well, I just can’t imagine you being nervous, Kana. Even now, you say you’re nervous, but your expression and actions don’t seem like it at all.”
A tense face, sweating, fidgeting nervously without being able to stay still.
“That’s how most people are, right?” Da-eun said. There was only one response I could give to that.
“I can act like this because I’m used to it.”
How many tis have I put my life on the line?
When I first headed into battle, I was incredibly nervous. Though I don’t rember it well, I might have been shaking like there was an earthquake.
But when sothing like that happens dozens or hundreds of tis, you can’t help but grow numb to the tension. The fact that I had beco strong enough that my life wasn’t easily threatened also helped.
“And I’ve told you several tis already—I don’t plan to die here.”
“Kana, do you know what’s the number one last word among young n? It’s ‘It’s fine, I won’t die.’ None of the people who die in accidents thought they would die. Accidents always happen unexpectedly. You need to be careful, always!”
“…Ugh, you’re nagging.”
Blah, blah, blah. Who doesn’t know you have to be careful? She’s so loud about things everyone already knows. As Da-eun’s rambling ca to an end, I removed my hands from my ears.
“Anyone would think you’re my mom.”
“…Having a cute daughter like Kana would be great, but for now, can’t you just call ‘big sister’? Saying I have a grown-up daughter makes sound too old!”
“Grown-up…”
I nodded.
“Sure, I’ll do that.”
“What, what? Did you like the word ‘grown-up’ that much?”
“…No.”
“As if! The corners of your mouth are practically touching your ears.”
“…!”
I reflexively put my hand to my mouth.
My lips were in a straight line, not showing the slightest movent. While I couldn’t see myself in a mirror, I knew my mouth wasn’t curved upward the way Da-eun described.
When soone says the corners of your mouth are touching your ears, it ans you’re smiling broadly.
As I shot Da-eun a sharp look, she smiled cheerfully.
“See, you liked it, didn’t you? If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t have checked. Gotcha!”
“I wasn’t checking because I felt guilty, I was checking because it was absurd. There’s no way I would have smiled that big.”
“…Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen you laugh out loud. I’ve seen you smile or chuckle lightly a few tis, but that’s about it. Celine, have you ever seen her laugh?”
“No, if even Joanie hasn’t seen it, how could I have?”
“Hmm…”
“…Why are you looking at like that?”
“I an, you can smile sotis, so it’s not like you don’t know how to laugh…”
“Shall we try a healing spell?”
“Oh, that’s a great idea!”
“…?”
Wait a minute. I had just said that absentmindedly, but suddenly they were having a whole discussion about it.
It wasn’t a joke, apparently, as Celine’s holy power swept over my body. Feeling the warm sensation enveloping , I stood there bewildered as Da-eun and Celine whispered to each other with surprisingly serious expressions.
…This is ridiculous.
“Do I really need to laugh like that? It’s not like I never laughed at all, just like Joanie said.”
It’s just that nothing’s happened to make laugh that way.
“That’s true… But it’s been quite a while since we first t, hasn’t it? Are you saying that in all that ti, nothing has ever made you laugh out loud?”
“From what I’ve seen, Kana seems to have a very high threshold for expressing emotions. Even beyond laughing, I haven’t seen her display strong feelings all that much.”
“Oh, it’s not always like that. If sothing bothers her, she shows it right away. Like when she disapproves of my swordsmanship or when there are vegetables on the table…”
“Aha, I see. As expected, Joanie knows Kana better than I do.”
“Hehe. It’s all about the ti we’ve spent together. If you try harder, Celine, you might reach my level. Kana is surprisingly straightforward.”
“Right, I’ll do my best.”
“…You do realize I can hear everything you’re saying, right?”
I’m not so tree standing by the roadside, so why are they talking like I can’t hear them? As I opened my mouth, struggling to hide my disbelief, Da-eun clicked her tongue and wagged her finger.
“Gossiping behind soone’s back is an. That’s why I’m saying it to your face.”
“Wow. This is the first ti a ‘fair point’ has sounded so unfair.”
Da-eun seed to have a talent for making everything she said sound like complete nonsense.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain why her words sounded so strange. Even if Da-eun were to say that the sun rises in the east, I’d probably question it once.
“Honestly, reading Kana’s emotions isn’t that hard…”
“…?”
“Is that… so?”
“You can kind of see it. Like, ‘Oh, she’s in a good mood now,’ or ‘Better not bother her, she’s in a bad mood.’ By the way, right now, you’re feeling incredulous, but you’re not in a bad mood.”
“This is seriously ridiculous.”
“Alright! I’ve made up my mind!”
Da-eun clenched her fist with determination.
“From now on, my goal is to make Kana burst out laughing!”
“So, you’ve finally decided to switch to being a bard. Good choice.”
Even though choosing one’s path is a personal decision, it’s hard not to feel pity watching soone waste their talent. That’s why I applauded Da-eun, who seed to have found her calling.
“Huh? A bard? What are you—”
“Let’s end the cody act there.”
A voice cut in, interrupting Da-eun’s words. It was Justina, who had been moving around busily, now standing beside us.
“The extraction is complete.”
“That was pretty quick.”
“Now all that’s left is to withdraw the barrier. Once that’s done, there’s no turning back. If you have any second thoughts, speak now.”
Second thoughts, huh?
Suddenly, Da-eun placed her hand on my shoulder. Her hand was trembling slightly. She had pretended to be calm up until now, but it seed she couldn’t hide her nerves at the last mont.
Even though I was the one at the center of this ritual, why were others more nervous than I was? I wondered if Da-eun realized…
“No, I don’t.”
…that her trembling actually helped to solidify my resolve. I have to keep moving forward, so there’s no turning back for .
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