* * *

A few hours had trickled by, but it didn't seem like Lynstella was going to wake up any time soon. It was almost noon. Thankfully, since they were under a tree, the leaves had projected a shade on them so it wasn't that hot. The beads of sweat that were on her face earlier had already dried off, leaving a faint glistening effect on her face.

It's almost time for lunch, Seth thought.

"Hey, Lyn. Wake up," he said, slightly nudging her head with his shoulder.

"Mmm... huh...? Ah." She immediately sat upright. "S-sorry."

"It's fine." He straightened the wrinkled area of his robe where Lynstella had leaned her head against. "Are you feeling better now?"

"A little bit." Rubbing an eye, she looked away from Seth as she yawned.

"I wouldn't wake you up actually, but it's almost noon," Seth told her as he repositioned himself.

"It's fine. I've already slept long eno—"

In an instant, Lynstella whipped her head to Seth, teary eyes ablaze from yawning.

"No way! I've been sleeping for hours?!"

"Seems so."

"Ughhh... I had something to do," she frowned as she stood up. "But at least it isn't past noon yet so I'll go now."

"Me too."

Seth stood up as well, but he remained still afterward. His legs were numb for staying in the same position for hours.

"Hey, let's go." After straightening her hair, Lynstella began to move her feet.

"O-okay."

Seth walked alongside her as they left the shade that had kept them from the sun. Evident by the beads of sweat running down on Lynstella's cheeks, it was obvious that the change in temperature was affecting her.

"It's hot!" she complained, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

"Not really," Seth said matter-of-factly.

"You're lucky that you're a fire mage."

"Why not use your wind to cool yourself off then?"

Lynstella raised her eyebrows. "...I didn't think of that."

"Maybe you're still half asleep," Seth chuckled.

"Y-yeah." She aimed her hand to her face as her rune beamed in white. "Haa... Feels good~."

Because they were enjoying talking, the trip felt like it only took a minute as they arrived at the place where they had to take different directions.

"Bye bye, Seth!" Lynstella waved her hand at Seth.

"Bye!" Seth returned the gesture to her. "Make sure to sleep if you don't want to end up looking like a drunkard later."

Seth turned his back to her and continued to walk, still paying more attention to the surroundings because of that noble brat earlier.