Ch.183182. Reunion (3)

# 182. Reunion (3)

Sensing something strange in my words, Aelin questioned me.

“Do you usually call me ‘honey’?”

“I was just trying it out. So where is she anyway?”

“We need to go to the western border.”

The western border of the Orion Kingdom was guarded by the 7th Division, 11th Division, and the Kainis Support Corps.

Since it was close to the Babylon Kingdom and frequently saw combat, they apparently had no choice but to station a large number of troops there.

“How long does it take to get there?”

“Walking… about three hours? It’s not far, by car we’d get there quickly.”

“Then let’s go.”

“But even if we go now, you won’t be able to meet her because of her schedule.”

“So what do we do in the meantime?”

“Date with me?”

I ignored that annoying question and continued the conversation.

“I asked what we should do.”

“We can just sightsee here and there to pass the time, don’t you think?”

“That’s a bit…”

“We have no choice.”

“Can’t we just go quickly and watch them train?”

Of course I knew that wouldn’t be possible.

Still, I asked anyway, just in case.

But Aelin’s response was exactly what I expected.

“Are you serious? Do you really think that’s possible?”

“Yeah… of course not. Then let’s just get there early and wait.”

When I said that, Aelin spoke with an exaggeratedly serious expression and voice.

I wondered what the hell she was going to say with such dramatics, but the content wasn’t serious at all.

“Sis, do you hate dating me that much? When such a pretty and cute little sister is asking you to play with her, are you really going to refuse?”

“Of course I’m going to refuse, you crazy girl.”

“Why…?”

“Why would I play with you… Go ask him to play with you…”

Come to think of it, Aelin was leaving her boyfriend alone and only bothering me.

She could just bother her boyfriend and ask him to play with her.

But Aelin didn’t see it that way.

“That won’t work.”

“Why…?”

“We didn’t come here just to date.”

“Then?”

“It’s more like a family trip? That kind of feeling.”

“There’s only you and me as family here.”

“Being in the same party makes us family.”

“?”

“Being in the same party makes us family, got it? If we’re going through thick and thin together, how can we be strangers?”

Certainly, I couldn’t say we were just strangers, I’ll admit that.

But to call us family… that was quite a stretch.

‘Still, maybe I can humor her occasionally?’

In truth, that thought wasn’t for Aelin’s sake but my own rationalization, knowing I couldn’t escape anyway.

Somewhat resigned, I asked Aelin.

“So… where are we going and what are we doing?”

“Huh? Have you finally decided to play with me, sis?”

“Speak before I change my mind.”

“But I haven’t really planned anything.”

“?”

I frowned at Aelin.

She scratched her head and spoke.

“How could I plan anything? I don’t even know what’s here…”

“Then why did you ask me to play with you?”

“We can just do whatever we see along the way, how about that!? At times like this, you’re supposed to be spontaneous and just go with it.”

It was a strange thing to say, but it didn’t feel entirely wrong.

I was similar to Aelin in that way.

“Then you take the lead.”

“Alright! Everyone follow me!!”

“…”

‘This is worrying… I feel like we’re going to get lost.’

I followed behind Aelin, hoping that thought wouldn’t become reality.

Luna and Leo, who had been silently listening to our sibling conversation, burst into laughter and began walking behind Aelin as well.

***

About three hours later from when we started.

I asked Aelin, who was scratching her head with cold sweat.

“Where are we?”

“Well… haha… where could this be?”

To cut to the chase, we were lost.

At first, it was fine because Aelin had a map of the area.

We went to a karaoke place and ate delicious food at a restaurant.

But somehow, she lost the map.

Honestly, that wasn’t a problem until then.

We could have just waited and headed toward the border.

“But why did you suddenly start running when you don’t even have a map?”

“Well… I saw a girl going alone in this direction…”

“?”

It was a reason I never expected.

I scolded Aelin for only telling me this now.

“Why are you only saying this now?”

“But I’m not sure… it was ambiguous. She might have just been walking normally, and I misunderstood.”

“That was worth running for… let’s go check it out. Lead the way.”

“Okay.”

After that, Aelin walked quickly ahead, and I followed with the others.

However, no matter how much we walked, we couldn’t see the people Aelin mentioned.

“Are you sure you saw them?”

“I told you… I might have been wrong. Why are you blaming me?”

“But if that’s the case, aren’t we in trouble? Where are we now?”

Since we had been walking without thinking about the consequences, the situation had gotten worse than before.

Earlier, we at least knew where we had come from, but now we didn’t even know that.

“Damn… we’re screwed… Let’s just keep going since we’ve come this far. We’ll find something eventually.”

“That’s a brute force approach.”

“I know… but what choice do we have? And originally! It’s your fault!! We ended up like this because you suddenly ran off!!”

When I raised my voice, Aelin hung her head as if she had committed a crime and said.

“But I definitely saw it… a girl going into this gloomy alley…”

“Shut up and let’s just go. We’ll find something eventually.”

So we walked.

We walked and walked and walked some more.

It was certainly a gloomy alley with quite a few motels around, but we just ignored them and kept going.

After walking for about two hours?

We arrived at some building.

And at the entrance was Riel, with an expression that said, ‘Why are you guys here?’

“Looks like we found our way after all.”

From her perspective, our sudden appearance seemed to genuinely surprise her as she asked us.

“Why are you guys here? Everyone just finished training, so it’s not a problem, but…”

“Where’s my honey?”

“You… did your brain get damaged along with your appearance?”

“So where is my honey?”

I accidentally spoke informally, but Riel didn’t seem to mind.

“Over there.”

As she spoke, Riel pointed behind us.

I looked where Riel was pointing.

What came into view was a beautiful woman, unexpectedly well-suited in a military uniform.

She was staring at me with wide eyes for some reason, and I greeted her.

“Oh? Honey, hello? It’s been a while. Didn’t you miss me?”

“It really… seems to be Albert… that’s surprising…”

She seemed quite shocked, perhaps because of my way of speaking.

It was certainly understandable.

A different appearance, a different voice, and a different way of speaking.

But since I was still me, she recognized me.

“It’s definitely Albert… I think it’s you… but why are you acting like this? Are you sick?”

“I just wanted to try it. I thought it would be fun.”

When I spoke in my normal manner, she let out a sigh of relief and finally said what I had expected.

“But really… you look like a woman.”

“I am a woman, right, sis?”

“That ‘sis’ was directed at my honey, right?”

“I was talking to you?”

“Just stop…”

I left the increasingly incoherent Aelin alone and spoke to the woman I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“This appearance makes things awkward… but let me talk first?”

I looked at her, who was always attentive to my words, and began speaking.

“It’s been a really long time, noona. I’ve missed you a lot… how about you?”

“It feels strange when you call me noona with that appearance… but of course, I missed you too.”

“Noona is still… as beautiful as ever…”

She was certainly perfect in appearance, both then and now.

After about a year and a half, she seemed slightly more mature, gradually becoming closer to the image in my memories.

“Albert is also… still… pretty.”

“What?”

“You’re really pretty? This could be a bit dangerous.”

“Dangerous? What do you mean?”

“Who knows?”

At that moment, Aelin, excited by her words, spoke up.

“She’s worried about losing sis to another man.”

“Is that it? I thought she meant she might do something to Albert?”

A festival of nonsense.

As expected of the Royal Academy’s craziest women.

Hearing their words, I spoke to Riel, who was giving me a sympathetic look.

“Now you see? It’s been like this all day.”

“So that’s why you were acting crazy earlier?”

“To survive among crazy people, you have to become crazy yourself.”

“You really have it tough…”

It felt a bit better that at least Riel understood.

Even with Aelin continuing to act up.

But thinking about the two of them, a thought occurred to me.

“Hey, was the girl you mentioned earlier Senior Riel?”

“Uh…? Maybe?”

“Girl…?”

Riel reacted excessively to the word “girl,” implying she was young.

However, unfortunately, Riel didn’t have time to get angry about it.

-Beep! Static!-

Suddenly, Riel’s and her walkie-talkie sounded.

Unexpected words flowed from the device.

-Enemy forces have been spotted within a 5-kilometer radius from the border. All soldiers in the unit, upon hearing this message, are to proceed to their positions immediately.-