Tiamat, I'm going to find a girlfriend!

Dust drifted past Artoria's eyes; it was soil that had broken off from the roots.

The boy, carrying the tree, looked at her expressionlessly.

"Is this okay?"

"Artoria."

“Eh, this…”

Looking at the tree that Ian had uprooted, Artoria patted her cheeks.

"Yes, it's okay."

"it is good."

Boom.

The uprooted tree was thrown to the ground by Ian with a loud thud.

"Is there anything else to do?"

"..."

"Could you break it into smaller pieces?" Artoria asked cautiously.

"no problem."

Click——

Click——

The sound of wood breaking came from behind.

Completely abandoning the use of the axe, Ian demonstrated to Artoria what it meant to cut wood with bare hands.

Trees that once seemed incredibly resilient have become extremely fragile in his hands.

What used to take an hour can now probably be done in just over ten minutes, right?

"I didn't expect you to be so strong!"

Artoria, who had suddenly become free, stood with her hands behind her back.

"Is it from training?"

"No."

"I've always been like this from the beginning."

Ian said this as he worked.

But suddenly, he seemed to realize something and stopped.

He turned to look at Artoria and asked:

"Will I look strange like this?"

"The kind of feeling where I can't fit in with you guys."

"Eh?"

I never expected Ian to ask that.

However, looking into the other person's extremely pure eyes, Artoria hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"There is still a little bit."

"after all--"

The girl glanced at the tree that Ian had pulled out with his bare hands and now lay on the ground, and couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.

"A normal person wouldn't do that."

Artoria didn't expect that as soon as she finished speaking, Ian would pick her up.

To be precise, it was as if he was being lifted up by having his armpits pinched from both sides.

"Then Artoria, tell me what to do."

"What do I have to do to be like you?"

"..."

Meeting Ian's gaze, Artoria felt her heart race.

"Well, there's nothing to do about it!"

"Nothing needs to be done?"

"Yup!"

Altria nodded.

Why do something on purpose?

"Everyone is different. Just do what you want to do, right?"

"Otherwise, wouldn't everyone look the same?"

"..."

As Ian listened to Artoria's words, his gaze slowly moved downwards, finally landing on her breasts, which could only be described as cute.

"Do what I want to do—"

"this is not OK!"

Artoria immediately understood what Ian meant and pushed away his head that was leaning towards her.

"I only made an exception for you that one time to save you."

"The bite mark you made is still there!"

"So absolutely not!"

"That's it..."

Ian's eyes became somewhat disappointed.

He really wanted to do that.

However, realizing that Artoria was unhappy, he held back.

"Please don't do this..."

Sensing the other person's obvious frustration, Artoria felt a little guilty.

"Although this won't work, we can consider other things."

"Other things?"

"Well, for example, besides this... this special hobby, you must have other things you want to do, right?"

As soon as Artoria finished speaking, she felt something pressing against her stomach.

That familiar temperature, that familiar shape.

She knew what it was.

"no!"

Artoria started making a scene.

"Why is that all you can think about?!"

"Is there anything else?"

"I do not know."

Ian shook his head.

But his gaze never left Artoria.

"I get this urge the moment I see you."

"like……"

"I'm sorry to bother you."

"You have to say 'sorry,' right?"

Very polite, but at the same time full of absurd ideas.

Artoria simply couldn't understand how these two attributes could be mixed together at the same time.

He was like a gentlemanly beast displaying his instincts.

"never mind……"

"You didn't do this on purpose."

Artoria glanced at the timber that Ian had already processed.

That was work that I was supposed to do.

"Consider that a reward for all you've done today."

"but!"

"Stop right now!"

Can it really stop?

Artoria, who said this, actually had no confidence at all.

She could sense that the other person's perception was completely different from her own.

just now……

He's holding on to himself like this.

Can it really be stopped so easily?

If he were to forcefully push down with both hands...

I just...

A storm raged in the girl's head.

However, things did not develop as Artoria had feared.

Ian quickly put Artoria down.

He continued his work until he had completely torn the tree into usable firewood.

"Is this okay?"

"Hmm...that's about it."

"So where should we go next?"

"go home."

"This much firewood will last us a long time."

Everything seemed quite calm.

This gave Artoria the illusion that she might have just satisfied Ian.

She wanted to say something, but couldn't say anything at all.

They remained silent and returned to the village entrance.

Artoria noticed that the villagers were gathered together, discussing something.

And his older brother, Kai, was among them.

"Brother Kai—"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, it's not a very ominous prophecy."

"prophecy?"

"Ah."

Kai nodded.