“Um...why am I carrying your suitcase now?”

“Whaaa ~ Isn’t this such a magical day? Starting an adventure and…”

Ignoring Magnus, I closed my eyes, basking in the sunlight, and continued refreshingly, “The sun really does feel especially nice today.”

“Ok, so it’s officially ‘ignore Magnus day,’” Magnus sighed as he resigned himself to his fate.

“I-It really is such a nice day today, right? Hahaha…”

Felly laughed awkwardly as her smile twitched, and Angie soon joined her after a “Right ~?”

We were currently on a small dirt road amidst a wide grassy plain that occasionally had a few flowers and bushes. And…

Angie glanced back and gulped, “It really is too hard to ignore that…”

However, Felly didn’t even let herself turn back as she forcefully looked ahead, trembling quite a bit, “T-That? W-wha-what ‘that’? There is no ‘that’…haha…ha…”

Her forced laugh was quite pitiful, and tears could already be seen forming in her eyes. One would think it was quite a horrifying sight, but ‘disturbing’ was more like it.

A full grown man (actually a teenager with killer abs) was using anything he could to ‘hide’ himself from us as he followed from some distance behind. With puppy eyes he would look our way when he thought we couldn’t see, and then suddenly he would go back to ‘hiding,’ while staying quite in sight and looking even more like a sulking, guilty boy, a finger in his mouth as he crouched and looked quite…longingly our- well, my way.

“Pfthahaha! Oh my gawd! Look at him now! A flower! A flower! He is using a flower!”

Angie couldn’t take it anymore and burst into a crazy fit of laughter, even stopping to kneel down on the ground as she repeatedly beat her first down, tears forming in her eyes and her other hand holding her stomach.

“Eh? A flower?”

Even Felly turned now, curiosity getting the best of her. Frozen in place for a few seconds in shock, her body suddenly started to tremble uncontrollably as she put a hand over her mouth to suppress the upcoming laughter. But, even she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and so the two girls were sprawled against the ground, laughing to death.

“…”

I looked at the disgraceful sight and no words could even describe how I felt. There he was, Ezekiel in all this glory, holding a tiny little pink flower over his head…to hide himself. Even though we were obviously looking his way, he didn’t even bother to hide his gaze as he thought he was quite well ‘hidden’ from sight.

Magnus was also laughing quite uncontrollably, but still managed to pause enough to say at my side, “How did this guy manage to be the first of his class again? Hahaha! This will so not be a boring journey!”

“Hmph! We all know this is all Ellie’s fault. Why else would such a perfect man turn into…into…well, that.”

Looking at Ezekiel once more, who in turn was looking at me with big, shiny expectant eyes, I had had enough. Leaning down, I picked up a small pebble and slowly but surely, just like the feeling welling up inside m, it started to grow darker and darker in color. Then, silently, I locked onto my target, swung back my arm…and launched the stone. Landing squarely on Ezekiel’s forehead, with both the strength of my throw and the dark aura surrounding it, the pebble was able to throw Ezekiel several meters back.

Everyone grew silent as they stared at the boy flying back, leaving a trail of dust behind. And then he landed, twirling to a stop, butt up and twitching just like before.

“Hey ~ If you don’t come here right now, we will leave you behind!”

“…where did she pull out the speaker from?” Felyn asked with a dumbstruck look.

“Eh? Don’t you know? She always carries one with her. Makes it easier to command her army- er, ‘friends’.”

As Angie spoke matter-of-factly, she suddenly grew shy, scratching her face as she imagined a whole army of boys lined up with their heart-shaped eyes. I know this because she later drew a picture and showed me. She laughed then just as she laughed now, trying with all her might to hold in her laughter but failing miserably as she trembled with the giggles uncontrollably.

When Felly asked what was wrong, even through holding in her laughter, Angie managed to beckon her to her with a finger. Then, she proceeded to tell Felly what she imagined, and the two fell into laughter together…I can hear you, dammit!

Anyway, while this happened, like a loyal dog Ezekiel moved as soon as he was called. Even though there was a huge wound on his forehead bleeding profusely, he ran towards me even faster than he had flown backwards, and was now kneeling in front of me with his tail…w-wagging…as the two girls laughed.

“So? What are you doing here again? Or did you think I wouldn’t notice your snippy comments? Sempai.”

Choosing to ignore the ‘dog,’ I faced Felyn with a serious expression on my face. She gave her usual arrogant ‘hmph!’ but soon her whole person changed as she entwined her fingers and looked up at the sky with hearts for eyes.

“To meet beautiful and handsome men, of course! The capital is so boring, with only humans and brutes! I heard that beyond the wall there are even elves? Of course I have to meet them! No way I would let this opportunity go! Ah, how I long to find you, my true love! To find someone who appreciates true beauty like mine…”

“You mean a troll?” I asked quite seriously, but inside…inside I knew I was messing with her.

Sure enough, Felyn started fuming, “What do you mean by that?! Huh?! Let’s fight this out, sister! I’ve had enough of your bullshit!”

She was practically snarling, twisting and turning in the strong, wide muscular arms that held her back…

“Now, now. I understand you wanting to challenge a beauty and strength as grand and majestic as Ellie’s, but understand that doing so would be suicide. She has become quite strong and even more beautiful lately, and you would hardly last a second. How about you train a bit more before you challenge my angel?”

The words were quite soothing and calming, like they came from a wise and gentlemanly soul. The tone was graceful, like flowing water, but the face of the one who spoke…A strong muscular jaw belonging to a tanned complexion, sharp eyes closed as they imagined some utterly graceful sight.

Felyn looked up at the tall person behind her holding her back. In turn, the man noticed the attention, opening his eyes, “Hm?” It was such a gentle and loving expression, and looking up at it from such a close distance, a blush formed on Felyn’s cheeks. She remained frozen for a few second, her mouth trying to form words to no avail as the gentle man stared at her patiently, like one stares at a child. Then, she finally managed to speak.

“D-Don’t…don’t touch me!”

Quickly bursting out of his embrace, Felyn was panting from some unknown pressure. With a haggard expression, her eyes suddenly flew towards me, cold and glaring.

“This is all your fault!” she screamed while pointing a finger at me. And then she panted some more, her breast heaving with each breath.

“…”

“Hey…guys. What is that?” Felly suddenly interrupted us as she pointed in front with scrunched brows.

While Felyn had gone on and one about her crazy romantic ideal and later transformed into a rabid dog, we had managed to walk further until we entered a small forest. Now, we seemed to be at what would be the end of the forest. A high stone wall full of thick vines reached up into the sky and past the clouds, and huge trees with trunks as least ten times as large as the ones we had previously passed by were glued to them, the roots coming up from the mossy ground and making an uneven terrain that signaled the end of the path we had followed.

Magnus, who was holding the map and had led the way thus far, kneeled down near one of the trees and, after moving away some large leaves, revealed a small hole between the tree’s roots. Examining it, he spoke, “If I’m right…the passage should be through here…”

“Get back.”

“Eh?”

Shocked at my sudden command, Magnus looked back at me confused, but I merely repeated myself.

“Get back.”

“O…kay?”

Uncertain, he got up and backed away a few steps behind me. Once I had ascertained that everyone was out of the way, I pulled out a thin black ribbon from my pocket, pulled my still golden hair to the side, and loosely tied the ribbon around it.

“Disappear.”

With that one single word, a storm of black aura suddenly burst forth from the ribbon and enveloped the whole scene in front of me. This caused a huge gust of wind as backlash, and everyone had to use their arms to cover their faces as the harsh wind pushed them a few steps back, leaving trails in the earth.

“Ugh! What is this?”

Magnus tried to peek through, and as the black aura started to dissipate, a whole new scene appeared before us.

What was a wall became the end of a huge cliff. If you looked down, it was enough to cause even the bravest nausea. However, if you went past the fear, you saw an endless beauty of forests; the closest right below the cliff, and further there were also hills, valleys and plains, with a few small cities visible in the distance. It was such a wide world we were not used to, the wide blue sky above us, so everyone stayed silent in awe for a few moments.

Finally, I decided to speak, “It was an illusion.”

“I…I see…” Magnus twitched as he spoke, realizing that going through that hole would have led to suicide.

“And you knew this because?” Felyn raised an eyebrow as she questioned me.

“Instinct.”

“I see…”

She looked dumbstruck and helpless at my simple answer, but I didn’t care. There was something else I was trying to ignore…

“Ah! Ellie with a black ribbon in her beautiful golden hair! It’s too perfect!”

Ezekiel clasped his hands together and gazed at me with heart eyes, completely ignoring the beautiful view before him.

“…And just how did that loosely tied ribbon manage to stay in place in that violent wind?”

A snapped my head towards Felyn and answered seriously, “Fashion!”

“That makes no sense…”

“Since when does Ellie make sense? Right ~?”

Angie laughed as she spoke, and Felly joined, “Right ~? Hahaha!”

“…”

All I could do was glare at them viciously and hope they would stop.

“Why don’t they burst into flames when you glare? This is discrimination! And- ahhh!!!”

Growing annoyed and impatient, I pushed Magnus forward. He stumbled, trying to balance himself at the edge of the cliff, and had to, in the end, jump.

“What are you doing?! You could have killed me!”

“Let’s go!”

With no expression, I yelled in a fakely excited way as I jumped forward, landing on the rock and making Magnus have to jump onto the rock in front of him.

“Like I said, stop trying to kill me!”

“…Do we really…have to go this way?”

Felly was trembling uncontrollable as she hid behind Angie, holding onto Angie’s right side as she peaked her head out from behind. I could already see Felly’s nails digging in, the constant trembling acting to further puncture Angie’s side, causing her expression to look quite grim and painful as she tried forcing a smile and consoling the ‘pitiful’ Felly, “It’s the only way, but don’t worry. It’s not hard. See? Ellie is doing it!”

Beyond the cliff was a trail of small stones floating in the air, leading to a floating piece of blue land we could see in the distance. Even though it wasn’t certain what was beyond that point, the only way to go forward was through the trail. Or else, jumping down…

“But Ellie is a monster!”

“…”

Well, sorry for being a pale monster! I cried bitterly in my heart as I glared their way. Feeling my intense gaze, Felly shivered and hid further behind Angie, her nails sinking further in. Seeing Angie’s extremely painful expression, I couldn’t help but feel remorseful as my gaze softened. Ah…Sorry, Angie…You’re sacrifice shall not be in vain! …I think?

“W-Well, see! Magnus is doing it too! And he’s a weakling.”

“Well…if Magnus can do it…”

Felly looked a bit unsure, but like she was being convinced. She looked down as she thought for a bit, and finally nodded her head in approval, “Okay.”

“Hey! What is that supposed to mean?!”

Magnus yelled angrily, but I had forced him to jump so far away, that they could barely hear him and see his blurred figure, fist raging in the air.

“Ellieeee!!! Wait for me!!”

The earth started to shake as Ezekiel’s heavily muscular body started running towards the cliff, the once steady stones trembling slightly with each jump of his. Not bearing to have him catch up, I jumped as fast as I could forward, never looking back, and causing Magnus much strain as he tried to catch up in front of me, and not fall to death. Only one fit on each stone, after all.

“Damn it!!”

The three girls could hear Magnus yelling in the distance as he ran- well, jumped for his life.

“…We should have gone before Ezekiel, huh?”

The stones suddenly looked a lot more dangerous now that Ezekiel had passed by them, so Felyn couldn’t help but comment. The two other girls nodded twice in silent agreement, tears now streaming down Felly’s face.