Chapter 298: Disorganized Reunion
With Maxwell’s help, I arrived at Cortina’s ho in advance. The door seed to be locked, which ant I made it in ti to arrive before her.
This ti, I wore black clothes and a coat so she could tell who I was at a glance. I had gauntlets on my arms, but instead of the Aste’s new designs, I camouflaged it to look like the one I used to wear in my past days through the illusion ring.
My body was real, so I didn’t think she would realize even if I was camouflaging the gauntlet designs alone.
I stood at the entrance as I racked my brains.
Would it make for a better surprise if I slipped inside the house instead?
As I stood there contemplating on that, I heard a soft thud of sothing hitting the ground behind .
Turning around, I saw Cortina frozen in place as she stared at .
It was also my first ti eting her in this form, so I didn’t know what to say.
“Ah, err… H-Hey.”
“…Reid?”
Her voice sounded hoarse. Her eyes were being flooded with tears.
“Uhh, I made you wait for a long ti, but I’m finally back.”
“………”
She did not respond. I suppose she was still doubting that I was real. I suppose I had to talk about sothing that only the two of us would know to prove that I was real.
“Err, oh right. We t at the park the other day, didn’t we? I had so circumstances and couldn’t talk then so—”
“U…”
“U?”
It seed like she finally accepted it was , she muttered in a small voice. But that wasn’t a “word” that held any aning.
Before long, she raised her disheveled face, and glared at with her usual expression. That gaze no doubt belonged to the Cortina I knew.
But still, did she really have to glare at like that…
“Ah, I an, my circumstances made delay this. Look, getting reborn would co with a lot of ss to clean up, right?”
“Uu…”
“Um, it makes happy that you cry for , but—”
“Euu…”
“Uhh, Cortina?”
Seeing her lower her posture, I imagine a punch would fly my way any mont now. Nevertheless, I decided to accept that punch. I was aware that I more than deserved it.
“Um, I’m really sorry, okay. I wanted to et you faster but…”
“UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!”
With a shriek, she charged at . She dashed with a low posture like a fierce animal.
Imagining the punch that she could draw from that montum, I closed my eyes and grit my teeth. I expected the punch to hit my face, but I felt the impact in my abdon instead.
Cortina charged at my abdon without raising her first at all.
“Bfgu!?”
I was by no ans tall, but Cortina was even smaller. So when soone like that lowered her posture even more, her head would naturally hit my stomach instead of my chest.
Still, given my light body, Cortina’s charge, who excelled in physical abilities despite her petite build, would naturally be beyond to stop in place.
Pushed by the force, I was blown back.
I stood in front of the entrance, so since I turned around, behind was—yes, a tightly locked, sturdy door.
I heard a dull slamming sound from the back of my head. That impact caused my current, faint-inclined body to lose consciousness.
The next ti I opened my eyes, I was on top of Cortina’s bed. It seed that she carried inside and nursed while I was knocked out.
“Where am I…”
“Ah, you’re awake?”
“Yeah, that was quite a violent welco.”
“S-Shut up! That was just, yeah… Just your imagination.”
“Is that so?”
“So then? Where have you been until now, Reid?”
“You should know that as well, right?”
“Ah, so you really were that Haua woman.”
“Yeah, though it’s just an alias.”
“Alias?”
“It’s the na of an Adventurer that has helped once. I feel a little bad for using it though.”
She helped when we were heading to the Elven settlent. I didn’t lie here.
“Now that you ntion it, I think I have seen them before too. It was an Elven woman. Seed quite experienced too.”
“Oh, really? Now that you ntion it, she did work around these parts. It’s no surprise that you have t her.”
Of course it was not — we t her together, after all. I was quite shaless here even if I say so myself. Still, since I gave her the na of a real person, there should have been so legitimacy behind my statent.
“I see, so it’s her…”
“Of course, she might not even rember . This happened soti after my reincarnation.”
I didn’t make it clear how long it has been, but this wasn’t a lie, either.
“Maxwell told you were quite stressed, so I forced myself to co today.”
“Why didn’t you co any sooner?”
“Well… There are reasons.”
“I bet you were just embarrassed because you got reborn as a girl, isn’t it?”
“W-Well, that’s part of it.”
Then she put a finger to her jaw. It was her typical habit when she was pondering.
“You just ntioned it too… But that surely isn’t all to it, right? Then what is the reason you couldn’t co until now, and also, that appearance?”
“Ah, right. I just asked a magic toolmaker that I know to make a magic tool to cast Polymorph on .”
“Wait, that spell couldn’t be cast on the others, could it?”
“Yeah, it was quite a reckless thod, so even the effect ti was halved, and the pain of transformation was also beyond normal. Never thought it’d make even faint.”
“That much…?”
I intentionally only answered one of her questions. In exchange, I gave plenty of information on that front.
I couldn’t ntion Aste’s na, but if I gave her a lot of information I could dodge the other answer… Or so Maxwell told .
Also, in order to avoid any further investigation from her part…
“That aside… We t after all this ti. Don’t you think we should talk about sothing we can only talk about now?”
I knew it was pretty sly of . But I had limited ti, so I was feeling a bit rushed.
Cortina did not object to my statent either.
Taking that as a yes, I stood up and drew close to her.
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