Ch.206Side Story 2. The Story After, Esmeralda (3)

The Story After, Esmeralda (3)

Honestly, Esmeralda didn’t have that kind of desire.

No, rather, it made her uncomfortable.

How could she, who couldn’t even fully accept her own emotions, dare to discuss sharing a bed?

What made her despair was simple. She now knew that she liked Lug.

Yes, she decided to admit it.

It would be ridiculous not to acknowledge it at this point.

‘Jealousy? Yes, I feel a little.’

She was human after all.

It’s natural to feel some jealousy when someone gets ahead of you.

But she could understand it.

She wasn’t ready yet, so falling behind wasn’t her fault.

The problem was “everyone.”

The fact that Esmeralda was last. Given Lug’s personality, unless he treated his wives differently, that meant everyone Esmeralda had forced him to marry.

Yes, that included Lilith and Garnet, whom Esmeralda had persuaded to hide her own embarrassment.

“Sob…!”

She had dug her own grave.

The reason for her despair wasn’t that she was the last, but that she herself had created this situation.

“Would you like to?”

“No, I wouldn’t!”

Lug casually asked since Esmeralda seemed so distraught, but her response was vehement rejection.

“W-what do you take me for…!”

“…My wife?”

Lug stated the obvious, but Esmeralda shuddered at his words.

“…?”

Why was she acting like this?

Was she denying it? At this point?

They’d already had a wedding ceremony. Lug’s head was filled with question marks.

He couldn’t figure out Esmeralda’s intentions at all.

Well, perhaps it was best to observe the situation? Lug decided to stop talking and watch Esmeralda, who was writhing alone.

“Huff, huff.”

After some time to calm down, Esmeralda, who had been face down making all sorts of strange noises, got up.

Her eyes were vacant.

“Let’s stop talking about this for now.”

“Isn’t this important? If you want to break off the engagement…”

“Ah! That’s not it, so just shut up!”

“I understand. It must be that time of the month. Now I get it.”

“I’ll kill you!”

Esmeralda strangled Lug for his unnecessary comment. She looked like she might actually kill him.

This time, Lug was in the wrong.

But there was no more perfect explanation for Esmeralda’s pricklier-than-usual state.

At least that’s what Lug thought.

“Don’t put me in the same category as those frivolous women.”

“But we’re married! It’s not frivolous. It’s natural between spouses.”

“Shut up.”

“Yes.”

Esmeralda knew.

That all the words she was spitting out were just excuses.

But it was difficult for her to admit it now. She had acknowledged that she had come to like Lug, but she couldn’t see beyond that.

Yes, to put it simply…

‘H-how could that thing enter my body! It’s absurd!’

She was afraid.

The problem was her prior knowledge that only she possessed.

Others could only confirm the truth when faced with the irreversible situation, but Esmeralda had already confirmed its atrocity, so she couldn’t bring herself to take that step.

“Let’s keep things platonic.”

“What does that mean?”

“…Let’s have an emotional exchange.”

“Could you please let go of my collar first before discussing emotional exchanges?”

Swish.

Esmeralda stopped unconsciously grabbing Lug’s collar and threatening him, then nodded.

She had arbitrarily decided that he accepted her proposal, even though he hadn’t agreed.

“…Well, fine. I’ve always known the Hero was quite shy.”

“…”

It wasn’t just shyness.

This time, fear was greater.

Esmeralda didn’t bother to point that out.

“Alright, let’s think about what we should do now. That’s more important at the moment.”

“Well, that’s true.”

What should two lost people do now? That was a much more important and practical issue than “who did what with whom.”

It could even be a matter of survival if they made a wrong move.

“First, I don’t think it’s a good idea to move around aimlessly at night. So let’s camp tonight.”

“Camping, that’s a good idea. It reminds me of old times, which is nice.”

Esmeralda nodded at Lug’s suggestion.

Yes, moving at night wasn’t good. They were already lost, so staying put was better than venturing further into unknown territory.

“But we don’t have much to do. At most, we can cut some wood and make a windbreak.”

Slash!

As Esmeralda swung her holy sword, the surrounding trees were instantly cut down and transformed into usable lumber.

This was an unfairly simple solution for Lug, who had to endure a painful journey to find Esmeralda.

But now, he had even better information.

“Come to think of it, with the Hero’s physical abilities, you could just jump into the sky and check what’s around us.”

“There’s nothing but forest around here.”

“It might look different to me. Even if the environment has changed, the terrain probably hasn’t.”

“Ooh… That gives me hope.”

“But since my physical abilities are closer to human, you’ll need to hold me and jump into the sky.”

“Well, I can do that much.”

“And since it’s dark now, we wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway, so it’s better to try this tomorrow when it’s light.”

“Lug, you seem unusually competent. It makes me a bit uneasy.”

Esmeralda giggled.

She was feeling hopeful enough about their situation to make jokes.

Yes, unlike Esmeralda, Lug had spent a long time in the demon realm.

Moreover, he had served as a guide, so if they checked the surroundings from a high place as he suggested, they might easily find their way.

“Then let’s prepare for camping and go to bed early today.”

“Yes! Yes!”

Esmeralda excitedly nodded repeatedly and began stacking the lumber she had cut.

With her overwhelming physical abilities, she was able to build a makeshift hut sufficient for the two of them to stay in briefly. Of course, it could only block the wind, but that was enough.

“Yay! Now let’s go in and rest!”

“Yes!”

And so the idiot and the fool… no, the two of them entered the hut amicably with hope for tomorrow.

Before falling asleep, Esmeralda was anxious about being alone with him, but fortunately, she was able to fall asleep without tossing and turning for too long.

And so, the two who went to bed with dreams and hopes for the next day…

“…It’s raining.”

“Looks like it’s going to rain for a while.”

Were stuck again because of the downpour.

***

Naturally, their plan to climb to a high place to look around and find their way couldn’t even begin.

While Esmeralda wouldn’t have a problem getting a little wet, with Lug’s physical abilities, it would be impossible to peer through the rain to survey the surroundings.

They didn’t even try from the start.

She would have to hold Lug and jump into the air, but failure was guaranteed.

Knowing this, attempting it would seem like she had ulterior motives to embrace Lug, so Esmeralda decided to postpone the challenge.

Fortunately, they had the hut they built to block the wind, and with a little reinforcement, they could withstand this storm for a while.

Of course, there was a minor problem.

“…What about dinner?”

“It’s not a good idea to wander around in this weather… But it might be better to gather food before it gets even later.”

The fruit they had picked earlier was all gone. Half had been eaten, and half had become inedible.

The fruit had been so soft it barely needed chewing. Being at the end of its season, it couldn’t be stored for long.

And the condition of these tree fruits caused another problem.

“This… can’t be used.”

Esmeralda, who went out to look for food, saw that all the tree fruits she had been picking until yesterday had fallen to the ground and were smashed.

Another consequence of the overly soft fruit.

The fruits that couldn’t withstand the storm had fallen to the ground, and the impact of the fall combined with being rolled around by the wind had crushed them all.

In other words, they were no longer edible.

And since they were fruits that couldn’t be stored for long anyway, they had run out of food to replenish.

“If we continue to go without food and hunger persists…”

It would be quite difficult.

In the worst case, Lug, who was extremely weak by Esmeralda’s standards, could starve to death.

Of course, this was just imagination.

Lug wasn’t that weak and had the physical abilities of a reasonably robust adult male.

But from Esmeralda’s perspective, that was barely different from a newborn baby.

“I have no choice…”

Then they needed to find other food. The only problem was that they might not be able to distinguish between edible and inedible food.

In other words, Esmeralda was in a situation where she had to gather potentially dangerous foods.

And what caught her eye as she went out to look for food was…

“…Aren’t mushrooms okay even in humid weather?”

It was a mushroom that looked suspicious at first glance.