Ch.43Meeting Place (7)

“If you’re asking what I think you are… I believe it’s about Count Vladimir.”

At my words, Seria’s body gave a slight jolt.

I must have hit the mark.

There could be no other reason for her to come all this way despite the opposition from the Elders.

Considering how strongly she’s been fixated on me since the old days, the reason she specifically sought out the Blood Tower must be to ask about Count Vladimir’s current situation.

Current situation…

‘The fact that I’m standing here is the current situation, but anyway.’

I inwardly gave a bitter smile as I muttered to myself.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t just tell her that directly.

“That’s right. That’s what I wanted to ask about.”

“I expected as much. Your relationship with Count Vladimir is quite well-known.”

At my words, Seria’s eyes widened.

After a moment,

“W-well-known? What are you talking about?! This is the first I’m hearing of this?!”

She began stammering with her face turning bright red.

First time hearing it? Yeah, right.

It’s something everyone knows, circulating as an open secret even on the forums.

“Really? I’m pretty sure I’ve both seen and heard about it… that the Green Tower Master was once a member of the Hero’s party and has feelings for Count Vladimir.”

“Eh, um… uh… Th-that kind of talk? Was going around?”

As I smiled slyly, Seria grabbed her cheeks with both hands, looking utterly confused.

Honestly, I couldn’t believe it at first either.

Of course, I had a vague idea.

But I never thought she actually liked me that way. I only recognized that she followed me around a lot, nothing more.

If it weren’t for the posts about Seria liking me and Irina’s testimony, I probably still wouldn’t believe it.

If the object of her affection wasn’t me, I wouldn’t be reacting this way at all.

To be frank, who Seria likes isn’t really my business, is it?

If I had feelings for Seria, that would be different, but I only ever saw her as something like a little sister.

But if that little sister’s object of affection turns out to be me, doesn’t that change things?

It makes everything much more serious…

‘Seria isn’t really my type.’

That’s not to say Seria lacks feminine charm.

It’s just that she looked too young for my taste, that’s all.

Though ironically, my current appearance looks much younger than Seria’s.

‘When she finds out my identity, I’ll have to give her an answer…’

If she still harbors such feelings after a thousand years, I can’t even imagine how heavy Seria’s emotions must be.

She might cling to me demanding an answer as soon as she sees me.

That’s why revealing my identity was extremely awkward.

Originally, I planned to play around a bit and then naturally reveal my identity, but if things go this way, it becomes very troublesome.

‘How could I have known someone would love the same person for a thousand years…’

It’s not that I didn’t notice.

Back then, I just saw it as the puppy love of a young girl who was wary of women getting close to me.

I thought by now she would just consider me a former colleague she once liked, but if she’s blushing this much when talking about it…

‘This is bad…’

I was just testing the waters, but I could tell immediately.

She still seems to like me…?

It makes me wonder what I ever did to make her like me this much.

‘Well… I did keep her company a lot and saved her life several times…’

As for companionship, among colleagues who had few people to talk to, Seria especially had no one to talk to like a friend since she was a young elf.

I didn’t have anyone I could comfortably chat with either, so I approached Seria first, and it just continued from there.

Saving her life is something any colleague would do, so that’s even more perplexing to me.

What should I do…

‘I’ll have to reject her, I suppose.’

While I was inwardly contemplating how to reject her, Seria seemed so embarrassed that I knew about her feelings for Count Vladimir that her face was burning up.

I wonder if she might actually catch fire at this rate.

After writhing in embarrassment for a moment, she must have thought it was too unseemly to show in front of me, so she stopped and cleared her throat.

“Ahem… Did Vladimir… tell you himself…?”

While pretending otherwise on the surface, she couldn’t hide her underlying expectation.

Somehow, I feel sorry for her.

‘The man you love doesn’t exist anymore…’

If only I were still a man, I could reveal my identity and ask if she would still accept me like this.

Unlike my current female form, if I were still a man, proving that I am Count Vladimir would be simple, no matter how dramatically my appearance might have changed.

The memories of our adventures together weren’t meaningless; sharing memories that only we would know would be enough to prove my identity.

The reason I was confident I could reveal my identity despite my changed appearance was because I expected Seria would recognize me just by explaining our past adventures.

But…

‘How would she react if I told her the man she’s loved for a thousand years has returned as a woman?!’

Just thinking about it makes me breathless.

Even though I’m not in her position, if someone I loved changed like that, I might collapse from shock right there…

This is driving me crazy.

‘Why couldn’t they have kept me as a man when they made me a True Ancestor…’

It’s especially frustrating since becoming a woman wasn’t my choice.

Why did becoming a True Ancestor change my gender…

“…Blood Tower Master? Is something wrong?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Oh dear, was I lost in thought for too long?

I forced a natural smile and told Seria, who was looking at me with concern, that it was nothing.

Though it certainly wasn’t nothing.

But more importantly…

‘It feels really awkward speaking formally to her…’

Since she spoke informally to me from our first meeting, I did the same, and we always spoke informally to each other.

So…

“Green Tower Master.”

“Yes?”

“Shall we speak informally?”

Let’s start by dropping the formalities.

Seria blinked at my words.

She looked as if she couldn’t believe what I’d just said.

‘Hmm… was I moving too fast…?’

It might seem strange to suggest speaking informally when we haven’t known each other long.

I did it because I felt uncomfortable, but from Seria’s perspective, she might have wanted to get closer gradually, or perhaps maintain a professional relationship between Tower Masters.

I was about to open my mouth to apologize for being too hasty when—

“Can I really speak informally?”

Surprisingly, Seria’s response was positive.

“Yes, well…”

“Really? Then I’ll drop the formalities right away! Haah… I was dying to get closer to you since you’re Vladimir’s successor.”

“…”

She immediately drops the formalities just because I said she could.

Human nature never changes…

While inwardly sighing deeply, I felt somewhat reassured seeing Seria chatting cheerfully, seemingly unchanged from the old days.

After naturally becoming closer by speaking informally, we talked about various trivial things until,

“I think we’ve strayed too far from the topic. Should we get back to what we were discussing?”

When I tried to steer the conversation back while subtly teasing her, she abruptly cut me off.

Here it comes…

“What we were discussing… You mean how you were whining about wanting to see Vladimir?”

“Yes, yes, that… No, not that!!”

I chuckled as Seria shouted in protest.

This was still fun.

She was always enjoyable to tease, and she hasn’t changed a bit from the old days.

“Alright… You want to talk about being Count Vladimir’s successor.”

“Yes. Now that we’ve come this far, you know how much I want to know about Vladimir, right?”

Indeed I do.

Taking my silence as confirmation, Seria exhaled a trembling sigh and faced me directly.

Beyond her pure, innocent eyes, a faint expectation was rising.

Could I really answer that pure affection?

Me, in this changed form?

“Vladimir… what happened to him?”

Seria’s question came straight to the point.

I remained silent.

Not knowing how to answer, wondering if telling the truth was the right thing to do.

The silence that seemed like it would last forever… was soon broken.

“Count Vladimir is…”

“…”

My tightly closed lips parted slightly.

“Alive.”

I won’t lie.

At least, not about this.