Ch.9494. In the Piercing Wind (7)

“…Huh?”

Through Sione’s silver hair fluttering above my face, I could see her dumbfounded expression.

As expected, she must have thought I was sound asleep.

Unfortunately for her, I was still awake, contemplating things for tomorrow rather than falling asleep right away.

I thought if I quietly pretended to be asleep,

I could avoid any troublesome conversations and just go to sleep.

But it seems my lack of response has made things escalate like this.

“…What are you doing awake?”

“Ah, ah…?”

Sione let out a startled sound before freezing completely.

“You… were awake…?”

Instead of verbally confirming her question, I slowly closed my eyelids and opened them again.

My eyes reopened, sparkling brightly with focus precisely fixed on her pupils.

Sione could only let out a silent scream, showing no other reaction.

“May I ask what you were trying to do to me?”

“T-That’s…!”

Sione’s pupils began to tremble frantically.

She rambled on incoherently with her explanation.

Cutting away all the unnecessary details, the gist was this:

She wanted to have some intimate skinship with me, like lovers do.

To fulfill her small wish, she was about to press her lips against my forehead while I was sleeping.

And with perfect timing, I opened my eyes.

I wrapped my arm around the nape of her neck as she tried to avoid my gaze by rolling her eyes around and moving her face away.

“If you want to do it, go ahead.”

“What… really?”

“It’s just your forehead, not like we’re kissing on the lips.”

Just the forehead.

Isn’t Sione gradually trying to respond to her feelings for me?

As I said, it’s not like we’re kissing on the lips.

“If you want, it doesn’t have to be tonight. You can do it anytime.”

Gulp.

Sione swallowed hard at my words.

She was so nervous that I could see her Adam’s apple move.

“But there’s a condition.”

However, I had no intention of offering my forehead without getting something in return.

“What condition?”

“Call me ‘oppa’ when we’re alone.”

“…Really?”

“Really.”

Sione hesitated for a moment before asking.

“…Do you want me to call you oppa that badly?”

“I wouldn’t have made it a condition if I didn’t.”

“I don’t understand why you want a grown woman to call you oppa so much.”

Ignoring Sione’s words, I pulled her closer with the arm I had wrapped around her to prevent her escape.

The distance between us suddenly closed again. Our hot breaths intermingled, tickling each other’s faces.

After staying like that quietly for a moment, Sione finally surrendered.

“…I’ll do it, oppa.”

With those words, Sione gently leaned in.

Smooch.

After briefly kissing my forehead, Sione’s face turned bright red.

Though Sione’s business was done, I didn’t release my arm.

Instead, I embraced her tightly.

“Eek…! Oppa…?”

With our cheeks pressed together, I lightly kissed her ear.

Then I released her without hesitation and said:

“Does it feel more like we’re lovers now?”

As I confirmed Sione nodding quietly in response to my words,

I felt satisfied—

“Now go back to your bed. It’s getting late.”

Since I was tired too and needed to get some sleep,

I shooed her away from my side.

* * *

As always, after the long night, the sun rose high again.

From when it began rising in the eastern sky until it reached its zenith, Sione and I killed time by wandering around the base, returning to the tent when it got cold, and chatting casually.

Normally, after sunrise, we should have moved to secure the route connecting the County of Sianella with the northern part of the kingdom. But considering the chaos the orcs caused yesterday,

The knights and Rangers who witnessed it were unintentionally given a day of rest until they could bring back definitive answers.

Those who couldn’t handle mana as skillfully as Sword Users would have a hard time if excited orcs came charging in groups. If they ventured out on a whim and encountered a pack of orcs… While Sione, the Sianella nobles, and I might be fine, our comrades would likely have their heads smashed before they could behead the creatures.

“The sun is already high, but there’s still no news. Don’t you think, Ray?”

After greeting me with a kiss on the cheek this morning, now she’s trying to slip away like this.

Finding her quite vexing, I responded to her words with a cold gaze instead of agreement.

“…Oppa.”

“Lady Siabel said she would make a decision by noon, so we can wait patiently.”

“Sigh… you’ve become so mischievous overnight…”

Some time passed.

With no tea to enjoy slowly or sweet snacks to satisfy our boredom, I had to entertain Sione’s restlessness all by myself.

During this time, Siabel Sianella, whom we had been waiting for, finally came to us.

“The knights and Rangers have just returned.”

“Sister, what happened with the orcs?”

“They said they couldn’t find any orcs in the area no matter how much they searched. It seems they’ve already hidden themselves elsewhere.”

The situation, as relayed through Siabel’s words, could only be described as fortunate.

The Rangers found numerous footprints that appeared to belong to orcs in the area. They expanded their search from the center where these traces converged, but apparently couldn’t find a single orc. It seemed the orcs had long left the area where Sione and I were supposed to go.

The only monsters the search party found in their assigned area were several kobolds and wild beasts.

Since quite a number of creatures were hiding widely throughout the undergrowth, they couldn’t eliminate all of them, but they did manage to reduce their numbers significantly.

This meant less work for us who were tasked with clearing the passage.

After briefly explaining the situation, Siabel stroked her long hair and said:

“We should prepare to go hunt the remaining kobolds soon.”

“Understood.”

With those words, Siabel turned around sharply and headed toward the tent entrance.

Just before leaving, she half-turned to look at us.

For some reason, Siabel was wearing a mischievous smile.

“By the way, Sione. It seems you’ve gotten closer to Ray overnight.”

Sione’s eyes widened at Siabel’s words.

“Pardon? What do you mean…?”

“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop this time either, but I kept hearing your voice from inside the tent.”

“My voice?”

With a gentle smile blooming on her face, Siabel nodded.

“Oppa. Ray oppa.”

Siabel’s voice, so calm it seemed languid, echoed inside the tent.

She was clearly teasing Sione, but Siabel quietly looked at me instead of her sister and even gave me a smiling glance.

Sione began to fidget as if she wanted to find a mouse hole to hide in.

“Was… my voice loud enough to be heard clearly from outside?”

“Well? I wonder?”

Siabel laughed, and Sione whimpered.

And I could only feel Siabel’s intense gaze piercing my skin for a while.

It was silent pressure demanding to know what exactly happened last night.

* * *

My first impression of Flora wasn’t bad.

She was a quick learner. Just as Siabel said, I only casually offered advice about vigilance and reconnaissance, yet she quickly internalized my suggestions and showed skill in applying them.

The only disappointing aspect was that when entering combat, she would become excessively tense, often failing to demonstrate her true abilities…

But I didn’t think this was a major problem. After all, even while nervous, she displayed decent archery skills.

Even if her arrows didn’t precisely target the enemy’s heart, they flew toward arms, legs, or nearby areas, providing sufficient cover.

If we were only hunting kobolds, there wouldn’t be any need for more exceptional skills, so I considered her a perfectly adequate companion.

But now the situation was different.

“Ah, shit.”

Why is that idiot just standing there…!

Flora was doing exactly the same damn thing my master Sione had done half a year ago.

The difference was that while Sione had frozen stiff when seeing an orc charging to kill her,

Grrrr!

“Ugh…!”

This Flora was standing dumbfounded watching a wolf that had leaped with its jaws wide open to twist her neck.

In the end, one wolf that had been watching us suddenly jumped out to hunt us.

It was too close to Flora to simply shoot away with an arrow.

Moreover, the person about to die showed no signs of dodging.

She just stood there staring blankly at the wolf’s open jaws, which was frustratingly hopeless.

I threw myself forward before her neck could be punctured.

“Hyah!!”

Thud! Roll roll roll.

I embraced Flora and rolled on the ground.

In the spinning world, I could still see the wolf drooling as it continued to target us.

Why on earth did I have to be rolling on this frozen dirt?

Shing!

I immediately drew the sword at my waist and pierced the head of the wolf that was charging at Flora and me.

“This is insane.”

Annoyingly, the wolf’s blood that splattered on my face felt disgustingly sticky.