Serein had to hide her grin as she compared Sam to those tsundere 2D characters she usually saw in countless anime and mangas. It was quite adorable if you asked her, which she didn't expect as she felt rather bored and annoyed with these characters whenever they appeared in front of her.‘I think it's because he's cute.’She nodded to herself. Indeed, adorableness would make any personality loveable. Not to mention how she liked reptiles.A biased thought it might be, but who cares, right?Her silly opinion on this didn't concern anyone anyway.—Or so she thought.“Awww, you think we’re cute, little human? You’re cute too!”Pam praised after the soft breeze that she felt had been confirmed to be Aiston passing notes to Pam on what Serein was thinking.“Ahem.”Blushing lightly, Serein cleared her throat. To which, Cevahir found it amusing that the girl would get shy over this rather than her loud stomach earlier.“Yes, I do find you two cute, in addition talented, and from the lack of
In the midst of the knight’s intense rambling, it wasn’t his childhood friend slash liege who stopped him from continuing with his crazed murmuring any further– no.It was someone else. Or, to be exact, a certain soft yet unsettling yelp coming from the expected–“Little Human!”“Oh, hey!”Pam and Sam exclaimed in worry as the adventurer staggered a bit before rooting back on her spot while wiping the black substance that tainted her pale lips as if nothing significant ever happened. Or well, the young lady was definitely expecting this turn of events, looking at her terrifyingly calm demeanor.“What did you do?” While Cherry hastily helped Serein to get seated, Cevahir asked in suspicion because this disgusting smell he caught a whiff of was definitely not the smell of normal blood. Rather, it was the smell of rotting blood. There was no way he would mistake such a major difference.Injuries would usually lead the victim to let out some fresh blood unless it was contaminated by pois
The red path, known to be more of a trail for a one-man journey, was located in the neighboring kingdom led by a tyrant of a king. The path that originated from the Northwest side of the Blaphemos Woodland was undoubtedly closed off. No one ever dared to approach the entrance except for equipped officials who exploited their claim to the 'safe land.'Looking up to ask for confirmation of his second guess, he was met with another cough instead. Harsher this time, and it definitely made the adventurer lose more blood – if that nasty black goo still counted as blood anyway.“You idiot,” Cherry grumbled in annoyance to mask her worry. “Seirin-shi, you’re such an ignorant fool.”Glaring at the weary adventurer, the mage tried to use her healing magic to help the guide.“Aye, it’s fine. There is no need.”Serein waved her free hand in dismissal, trying not to croak out her reply and tainting her own words with a rasp that would definitely cause these people to give her even more unnecessary
Dawn arrived, and the first thing that Serein noticed was the black line flowing down from her nose– it’s dripping.‘A nosebleed?’Followed by that, she then realized the aching she felt all over her joints.“Uh-huh…”Well, either way, after wiping the abnormal nosebleed away, she tried to stand up as discreetly as she could while testing the limit of her motoric control.Seems like she won’t be able to do anything extreme with her current poor condition.‘Well, this sucks for sure.’Scoffing once she realized that she couldn’t even go as far as jumping without causing a brain-splitting headache, Serein was rethinking her whole reckless plan and was about to rearrange it to suit her current messed-up condition, but to her luck, she wasn’t as quiet as she had thought.“Serein-shi?”The knight, who seemed to awaken from his barely rested state– he woke up but looked very sleepy still– sat up and blinked away his sleepiness almost immediately to stare at the other silhouette in this dark
“Ah, our sleeping beauty is awake? I apologize for not noticing your holy presence, your highness.”Glancing, Serein could see the mage getting seated, presumably having been eavesdropping for a couple of moments ago from how stable her breathing was now compared to someone who supposedly just woke up from their deep slumber.“Cut the flattery, Serein-shi.”Cherry, who didn’t know the reference to ‘sleeping beauty,’ thought that it was mere flattery when it was more of a form of teasing from the adventurer. Not that it mattered much–“Back to my question, what’s with Sirens? Are you planning to hunt something that has vanished for the past decades?”—Well, technically, she’s not exactly right about this.After all, Serein did remember one Siren that was planned to be in her original novel. Though she had forgotten the Siren’s name and the exact timeline on when the MC should meet them, that adventurer remembered doing a lot of research about the said being before putting them into the
In the end, this was how the situation concluded as the morning came.“All’s good? Nothing’s left behind?”Serein asked as she turned to her two companions who nodded back at her in reply.“Good, I absolutely have no desire to see you punks here anymore. You better get out of my sight as soon as possible.”With crossed arms, Cevahir said so, and the two other humans were more nervous than the adventurer who seemed to be rather disappointed instead.“Are you really not going to leave this place, Cevahir-min? Like… Ever?”To which, that half-blood then eyed her sharply as he curtly responded,"Mind your own business, little girl. We are not friends; you'd better stop crossing the line while I'm still being kind."That was indeed the truth. Serein, despite having Aiston’s knowledge by her side, had no reason to push her request to either of the three draconic members to join her on this… Pretty much aimless journey.Well, aimless might not be the proper word to use here; however, she’s i
“...Um, Serein-shi?” The words quivered in the air, carrying the weight of uncertainty. Gil, the one-legged knight, hesitated, his voice laced with discreet nervousness. To him, the air around them seemed to tighten as he grappled with the consequences of their actions, his gaze shifting anxiously, fearing repercussions from the formidable dragon.“Aren’t we going to get… Terminated by Cevahir-min for… Well… This?” His whispers was so low, it was barely audible.He can't help but feel increasingly worried. His mind spirals, anticipating the worsening situation. After all, given Cevahir's proximity and protectiveness, that half-blood would undoubtedly hunt them down for abducting one of his little brothers soon.“What do you mean? We did nothing, though?” The corners of her mouth tugged upwards as her eyes twinkled in mischief, “He told us to leave without him, and that’s exactly what we did. We haven't committed any wrongdoing, so why would Cevahir-min hound us?Ah.Finally picking up
Although Serein has been calling them "Little Gremlins," the brokers aren’t exactly their childish, greenish counterparts. More sly and cheeky as they make deals with desperate humans, the brokers are more intelligent and actively seek victims who would easily fall for their precarious deals. Sometimes, they even work together with the tricksters, the gremlins, who love causing minor inconveniences to their targets. Nothing major, really, just letting the cage of the stocks open, dropping the jugs, or sometimes hiding things such as glasses. However, these small behaviors, more often than not, become the last straw for their prey. Perhaps the hidden thing was crucial at the moment; maybe the broken item was extremely expensive, or perhaps the stocks they had in the barn were their lifeline through the cold and harsh winter. In other territories, those minor and inconvenient losses might be recoverable, or even become a laughing stock at the bar. But in this kingdom? Where these p