It took quite so ti to calm Emma down.
Despite minutes of comforting and persuasion, she was still blushing. I could almost see steam rising above her deeply bowed head.
She must have been that embarrassed.
At most, she was just nibbling on so dried mushrooms. In fact, it wasn’t really a scene that warranted such sha.
Yes, that’s what I should have told her.
But I hesitated and couldn’t bring myself to offer that reassurance.
Because the scene from that mont kept replaying in my mind.
The sight of her, on the verge of tears, gnawing on those dried mushrooms.
Her face was like a work of art, embodying a profound gratitude for life.
From her crouched position to minimise physical exertion to the pitiful effort of deliberately softening the dried mushrooms with her saliva before eating them.
It was a sincerity that only soone who hadn’t eaten for a long ti could display.
Of course, neither hunger nor poverty is a sin.
They were just unavoidable conditions of life.
Life sotis functions on such irrational foundations. I had no intention of blaming or shaming her for that.
If soone did feel the urge to do so, they probably had little else to boast about.
But this was rely my personal opinion.
Emma already harboured an inferiority complex about being of common birth.
Though she spoke informally, pretending to be on equal footing with ,her self-deprecation often showed through her deanour. Especially now, when she felt indebted to , it was all the more apparent.
And on top of all that, she had now shown that she couldn’t even manage a proper al.
It was not surprising that Emma felt ashad.
Furthermore, I didn’t want to see her like that either.
It wasn’t because I was disappointed or embarrassed.
It was simply because it pained .
Emma was struggling so much and the fact that I was one of the reasons made it unbearably painful.
So, in front of her, I couldn’t pretend that nothing was wrong.
Because I was probably the main cause of her being like that.
But Emma seed to misunderstand the emotions revealed on my face.
With a voice still choked with sobs, she apologised.
“I-I’m s-sorry… I must look pathetic…”
“No, not at all!”
I imdiately denied her words.
If things were left as they were, it would be dangerous. Emma’s mood might endlessly spiral downwards.
With that sense of urgency, I uncharacteristically managed to continue convincing her without faltering.
“Why would you look pathetic? Rather, I was glad to see your unguarded side… And, well, you looked kinda cute too…”
“…Cute?”
At my offhand remark, her moist erald eyes turned towards .
She didn’t look sad or distressed.
Desperate not to miss the opportunity, I nodded vigorously.
“Y-Yes! Of course you were cute. You’re usually ticulous, but at tis like this, you seem so clumsy.”
Like that, after anxiously fidgeting for a while, I eventually let out a deep sigh.
Fortunately, Emma’s mood seed to have lightened a bit.
I decided to speak from the heart.
I gently grasped her delicate hand.
Emma flinched slightly with a small gasp, but she didn’t pull away from my touch.
A faint blush appeared on her cheeks.
“…But Emma, I really don’t want you to suffer. I hope you eat your als regularly and don’t overexert yourself. Every ti your face turns pale, my heart aches too.”
Emma just blankly gazed at without saying a word.
She didn’t seem inclined to refute my words.
That was at least a positive sign.
I just hoped this would serve as a turning point for Emma’s daily life to improve, even if just a little. She was so devoted that, if no one stepped in to rein her in, it could beco a problem.
Even just a mont ago it was like that.
Emma said she recently went to the Alchemy Guild. From what I heard, she finally sold her potions out of desperation, so she should have had enough funds for a while.
But if she was still chewing on dried mushrooms, there could only be one reason.
She squandered all of it on ingredients.
Unable to hold herself back, all for the sake of research.
At this rate, no matter how much money I give her, there would still be a limit.
Even if the quality of her als improved, her sleep ti might decrease instead.
That must not happen.
“Just as I am precious to you, you are incredibly precious to too… So please, don’t overexert yourself. From now on, for every hardship or shortfall you face, I’ll be there to make up for them…”
“…S-Stop it.”
But I couldn’t finish my words.
Because Emma, with her face flushed bright red, averted her gaze and said that.
I was sure she was responding well just a mont ago.
I was left speechless and with no choice but to close my mouth.
“You, please stop doing that. Holding my hand and looking at so seriously like that… I-It will make misunderstand.”
“…Misunderstand what?”
At my question, asked with a tilted head, Emma cleared her throat and spoke.
Of course, she still couldn’t bring herself to look in the eyes.
“T-That you an it…”
“I do an it.”
“Aah, seriously!”
She finally couldn’t take it anymore and raised her voice.
Her lovely face, now on the verge of tears, turned toward .
“…This is why I can’t bring myself to stop.”
It was a slightly sulky complaint.
I had no choice but to silently wait for her next words. It was only natural, since I didn’t even know what she was talking about in the first place.
Not long after, Emma let out a deep sigh.
It was a sigh of reflection.
“I-I didn’t intend to spend all my money from the start either… But I kept worrying about you, and then the alchemy materials just caught my eye…”
Each word she hesitantly mumbled felt warm.
That was Emma’s true nature.
A warm and caring woman, like a pebble imbued with warmth.
Just being by her side made feel at ease.
I couldn’t help but give a wry smile.
My firm resolve to give her a stern talk had long since vanished.
How could I possibly be stern with such a kind woman?
Emma, feeling dejected, glanced at furtively.
“…Sorry, for making you worry for nothing.”
“No, Emma. Thank you… for thinking of so much.”
After that, we spent ti catching up, pleasantly chatting for the first ti in a while.
Of course, I had to sowhat downplay the story of how I faced off against the Evil God’s Underling. It was because I feared her reaction if she found out that I had almost truly died.
She might stay up all night, saying she needs to make better potions.
Or she might just faint, and when awake, only shed tears.
Emma was fragile.
I had to protect her.
Perhaps my judgent wasn’t wrong, as my conversation with Emma proceeded in a rather gentle atmosphere. At certain parts of the story, she even gasped in surprise.
However, there were things that, no matter how much I tried to move past them, wouldn’t just disappear.
For , that was the farewell with Ned.
I tried to tell the story as calmly as I could, but I couldn’t escape Emma’s worried gaze.
She cautiously asked ,
“…Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I am now.”
I swallowed the word that almost followed—‘Maybe.’
I didn’t want to cause her unnecessary worry.
But it was a futile effort, because Emma, as always, was quick to notice.
Yes, just like always.
Emma silently observed my expression, then hesitated before pulling into an embrace.
For a mont, I thought about resisting.
Even so, it wasn’t long before I found myself, as if entranced, burying my face into Emma’s chest. Her sweet scent softly filled my senses.
Her embrace felt soft and supple.
For now, I decided to simply enjoy that warmth without thinking about anything else.
“You’ve been through a lot, Ian….”
Scenes of my hotown flashed by.
Amidst the burnt and collapsed debris, the villagers wept as they buried the unrecovered corpses. Tombstones stood in countless rows, like newly sprouted saplings.
It was painful and agonising.
Loss engraves a heavy pain onto the heart. It seems like I could forget if I tried, but the cries of that day occasionally resurface, making suffocate.
Ned’s younger sister, May, asked .
“…Young Master, where did my brother go?”
It wasn’t a question she should have been asking soone like , who was wrapped in bandages head to toe.
But she was just a child, perhaps too young to even properly understand death.
I didn’t know what to say.
I simply, simply couldn’t think of anything.
All I could do was place my hand on her head.
A barely squeezed-out excuse followed.
“He went to keep a promise.”
“…Why?”
As if she couldn’t understand, May asked, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Why did he have to go to keep a promise? Leaving even behind?”
“Because…”
Because he had to protect you.
Because that was Ned’s only vow.
Burying all those words in my heart, I answered her.
“…Because a great knight never lies.”
I hoped that in her mory, he would remain a great knight.
Now, even when I recall all those mories, tears no longer co.
I simply soothed my aching heart with Emma’s scent and warmth as if, by doing so, all those painful mories were being completely covered up.
Emma held tightly until I was ready to let go.
I wasn’t sure how much ti had passed.
Only after my heart had settled did I slowly lift my head that had been buried in Emma’s embrace. An awkward cough escaped out of embarrassnt.
Even so, she just gave a gentle smile and silently looked at .
Though she didn’t say anything, her sentint was conveyed.
Just that alone gave a great sense of strength.
After so ti had passed, Emma forced out a cheerful voice to lift the subdued mood.
“Oh, by the way, Ian. Do you want to see the ingredients I bought? I found so rare ingredients in the city this ti!”
I was certain they’d be things I wouldn’t recognize, regardless of whether I saw them.
But I was grateful for Emma’s thoughtfulness toward , so I got up with a faint smile.
“You an the ingredients you traded for your als, right?”
“T-That’s right! Yeah… But I don’t regret it!”
Emma, with a determined expression, pulled out the sack she had placed on the shelf.
Inside were plenty of softly glowing white moss.
They were things I had never seen before.
At my puzzled gaze, Emma imdiately began to explain.
She straightened her shoulders and placed a fist on her chest; that pose was quite cute, making my smile deepen a bit.
“This is a moss that only grows in the Coniferous forests at the farthest northern region! It’s a plant that absorbs the mana of the permafrost as it grows, making it hard to obtain… As you know, one of the Seven Deadly Sins’ curses lingers in the northernmost part of the continent.”
The North and the Seven Deadly Sins.
As I listened to Emma’s story, those two words lingered in my ears for a mont.
Co to think of it, I rember hearing about it during a mythology lecture before.
The reason why the North is surrounded by eternal cold.
Before I could continue my thoughts, Emma, unable to hide her pride, continued speaking.
“Because it’s such a cold place, not only is it hard to harvest, but it’s difficult to even enter the area where it grows. And yet, to find this much… Isn’t it amazing?! So this is the ‘Snow Frost Moss’… Huh?”
That’s when I sensed sothing was wrong.
Emma’s tone, which had been excited, suddenly dropped. I could only look at her face, not knowing what was going on.
Emma, in a daze, stared at the handful of ‘Snow Frost Moss’ in her hand.
“Th-This isn’t ‘Snow Frost Moss’…?”
“…What? Are they all fake?”
Emma slowly shook her head, then began to examine each of the ‘Snow Frost Moss’ in the bag. And with a crestfallen look, she ca to the following conclusion.
“About one-tenth of them are fake. That’s strange…? This rchant has never done sothing like this before, so why all of a sudden…?”
One-tenth, huh.
It was quite an ambiguous ratio.
Whether it was a preditated scam or the result of trying to deceive even professionals like Emma by leveraging their trust.
Unnoticed by Emma, I fiddled with the hatchet at my waist.
“…You even spent your food expenses to buy that.”
At my remark, she let out a groan.
She began to break out in a cold sweat, stealing glances at .
It seed Emma also firmly believed the false rumours about .
I’m nothing but a pacifist, but from Emma’s gaze, she seed to treat like a ticking ti bomb that could go off at any mont.
Forcing a bright smile, she said,
“I-It’s okay! Mushrooms are tasty! Especially these days, white stump mushrooms are common in the forest and there are many dishes you can make with them! Blanched Mushroom, grilled mushrooms, stir-fried mushrooms, mushroom juice, dried mushroom and tangerine salad…”
Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms.
No matter how long I waited, the only food Emma ntioned was mushrooms. Even though she counted over ten different dishes on her fingers, it was still the sa.
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, I let out a deep sigh.
And said just one thing.
“…Where does that guy live?”
I asked the only question that mattered at that mont.
Emma hesitated and avoided my gaze, but I inwardly gave a wry smile.
The ‘North’ and ‘Moss’, huh.
What an odd coincidence.
It seed that the rest of my conversation with Emma would have to wait until next ti.
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