Only with Your Heart

Looking at her puzzled face, Lukrov began explaining.

“I thought you said they eat fish raw in your country. Recently, all you’ve been eating is the meat of wild beasts, and you’ve been suffering from heartburn due to that.”

Then Lukrov sat down comfortably next to Chizuru.

This person was unbelievably big from Chizuru’s point of view, but every word and action he made was quiet and stealthy. There was a certain trained elegance and refinement about him that other knights did not have.

Chizuru stared at the fish in amazement for a while, and then looked back at Lukrov fearfully.

Lukrov’s black eyes were still glued on Chizuru.

What did he expect from me? Did he expect me to thank him and then bite into the fish he caught?

“Lukrov!”

 Chizuru raised her voice, unable to hold back her laughter.

“Raw doesn’t mean that we eat it alive! It’s true that we eat it uncooked, but we don’t just eat it like this!”

Chizuru laughed and turned away to look up at the sky. Lukrov’s serious face gradually began to loosen up.

There was even a hint of a smile that could barely be seen at the corner of his mouth.

The shadow of Lukrov’s masculine figure in the orange light of the bonfire.

The river’s rustling sound at night.

The crescent moon hovering high in the sky.

It was the first night she felt close to him.

“But thank you …… for remembering.”

Chizuru muttered to herself, but Lukrov didn’t move an inch. He didn’t even blink. He just continued to stare at Chizuru.

The fish was fresh, but Chizuru had no idea how to handle raw fish.

In this other world where medical and hygiene knowledge was as limited as it was in the Middle Ages, Chizuru didn’t dare to eat raw fish that she didn’t even know the name of.

In the end, the two of them roasted the fish over the fire, sprinkled a little salt that Lukrov had brought with him, and ate it together.

Alone in the middle of the night with a tall, handsome knight in his wet underwear, eating around a campfire, sharing a single meal.

It was impossible.

It should have been impossible, but it was definitely real.

If one observed them carefully, they would notice that Lukrov ate only the parts with many small bones that are difficult to eat first, and left the rest of the easy-to-eat meat for Chizuru. 

He was a gentleman by all means. She didn’t know if such a notion existed in this world, but Lukrov was kind. He hid that kindness under his heavy iron armor, his frightening sword, and his stern expression.

Chizuru couldn’t help but laugh.

Why had fate brought her here in the first place? When morning came, they would start another forced march in pursuit of the evil dragon. Somehow, Chizuru had to defeat that dragon. They say this is why Chizuru had been summoned from a different world. ……

“Why are you smiling?”

Lukrov suddenly asked. Chizuru shook her head and smiled.

“I don’t know how I ended up in this situation. I’m just a normal high school student who was taking an exam in Japan.”

The words “Juken” and ”Kokosei” were not familiar to Lukrov and his friends. Lukrov furrowed his eyebrows a bit as if he was puzzled. But he soon schooled his expression into a serious one.

“What kind of life have you been living there?”

Yet another question.

But the evening was quiet, the fire was warm, and Lukrov was blunt but kind, this sort of environment made her want to talk. Chizuru spoke up slowly, gathering her thoughts a bit.

“Kokosei is… a high school student… I’ve been studying. I wanted to be a nursery school teacher or a kindergarten teacher in the future. As a result, I had to go to a difficult school called a university, and for that, I had to take a ‘Juken’ which is an exam.”

Lukrov shifted his eyes to the fire and listened to her talking as he remained silent.