Pretending to Be a Girlfriend？ 108

Chapter 108 – The Core of the Past (8)

“Are you here?”

It was pitch-black darkness behind the place illuminated by the magic lamp hanging from the carriage.
It was quite a distance to his father’s grave, and Starchis began to suspect that this might have prevented Stion from coming.

As I sat in the carriage, which rattled irregularly as it ran down the bumpy road, the carriage stopped when my back hurt.

Their destination was a village.
It smelled like human life.
The smell of something burnt, the smell of muddy food, the smell of human excrement.

Even if this wasn’t our destination, it was fortunate that we didn’t stop and camp on the road.

“I have arrived. This is the right destination.”

The coachman said so and told Stachis to get off.

“I got the money, so you can just go. The inn is right in front of you, so take a break there.”

“Thank you. How late would you like to eat?”

Stachis, hungry, lightly proposes to the coachman.
He, too, would not be able to choose to return to the city in this darkness.
The coachman, like himself, had no choice but to stay here for a day.

“I have acquaintances in this town… So it’s okay.”

But the coachman politely declined his offer.
Afterwards, they nodded to each other, and the coachman drove the carriage back into the darkness, while Stachis headed for the inn’s light in the distance.

Starchis shivered in the cold of the night.
He was swallowed up in darkness as the driver drove the carriage away.
For some reason, loneliness came to him again.

“…”

The feeling that had always been by my side, and now I’m used to it, was unpleasant today.
The reason is, of course, because of the three that disturb the mind.

“Anybody home?”

With the confused mind behind, the people in the inn open the door and enter, pretending not to be surprised.

Starchis couldn’t help but laugh as he entered.
It was because the innkeeper here was dozing in her familiar position of her, just like her innkeeper in her own inn.

For some reason, that alone made me feel cozy.

The innkeeper was so deeply asleep that he could not hear his voice of her or his presence of her.
It was said that the night was deep.

It was long past dinnertime, and everyone who drank heavily and ate food with a smile had all gone to bed.

-Smart.

Starchis woke her up with her innkeeper knocking lightly on the table where she was sitting.

With a startled movement, she woke up and stared blankly at Stachis, blinking her eyes for a moment.

“Is there a room?”

He asked.

The awakened innkeeper was silent.
The innkeeper was a middle-aged woman, a little thin, with her hair starting to go gray and wrinkles around her eyes.

Starchis also quietly waited for her to come to her senses her.

“… I was surprised to see a large young man suddenly in front of me.”

She was the first to speak to her.

“You seem to be in a deep sleep.”

“I’m sorry. I was tired from work today. How long are you staying?”

“It will take one day. It’s late, but do you have something to eat? Leftovers from dinner are fine.”

“I thought I had some leftovers from the stew…”

“Give me that.”

Stachis said as he sat down at the table next to him.

At the same time the innkeeper got up and went to her kitchen.

Starchis waits while rubbing his eyes for a moment, and the innkeeper brings a bowl of stew.

“It’s hard to light the fire again, so it’s getting cold.”

“It’s okay.”

“I will not take any money. I was going to throw it away tomorrow anyway.”

“Then thank you even more.”

The innkeeper put down her bowl and pulled out a chair in front of Starchis to join her.

“… ?”

I am momentarily puzzled by her behavior of her,

“Let’s talk for a while. Eating alone is lonely.”

Starchis didn’t feel particularly repulsed by her grown-up coziness of her.
When she is left alone, she may be able to forget for a while any feelings that come to her.

And it would be fun to tell the party members about this meeting later…

“…”

It would be fun to tell Rose.

Habits are really scary.
Even though the feeling of betrayal I felt from them is still painful and vivid, when I see them come to my mind first.
It’s like this even though they don’t want to meet yet.

Starchis nodded at the innkeeper’s suggestion and began to eat her soup.

“Where is your destination?”

She asked.
Starchis seemed to think that he was only staying here for a while because it was late at night.

“This is our destination.”

“…Are you going here? What are you doing in this corner town…”

And as if surprised by his answer to her, she looked at him with a slightly worried expression.
From his physique and the scars here and there, he seemed to have inferred that he was living a somewhat rough life.

“…You’re not trying to cause trouble in this town, are you?”

“Is it a problem?”

“…”

At first, I wondered what she was talking about, but I understood it through her eyes as she nervously watched Stachis’ waist.

He must have been worried that he had come to this village with a knife.

“Ah… No. I have business to do for a while, but I have no intention of causing trouble.”

“Sorry. There are a lot of people who pass through this village, and sometimes they cause trouble, so I’m worried…”

There must be more than one problem at this inn, Starchis guessed.
In a small town like here, there were no guards, so it would have been no big deal, but regular problems like quarrels would have to be resolved by the villagers.
Her mind her was also understandable.

Starchis grinned to reassure her, and continued scooping up her food.
It was cold, but the taste was good.

“This is delicious.”

“I was wondering what it would be like when it cooled off… I’m glad it did.”

All the innkeepers wanted to be good at food.
Well, the power of the inn might come from the taste of the food.

“If you’ll excuse me, can I ask what you do?”

She still seemed to mind the scars on her body.
She looked as if she had finally asked her itchy question.

“Gatherers… Do you know?”

They are not scars from hurting someone, but the product of a confident battle.
Stachis was not ashamed of his scars on her.

“Ah… So.”

And at the word gatherer, the innkeeper nodded her head.

“Aren’t you afraid of being a gatherer?”

“It’s scary. But I am used to it.”

As he was about to take the next spoonful, Stachis hesitated.
The questions that had been floating transparently in her head her materialized.
And impulsively, he wanted to get the idea out of his mouth her.

Anyway, this relationship will pass,
The answer to the question might be forever.

“… I don’t know if I will continue.”

And as if nothing had happened, he continued to put food into his mouth her.
Pretending to be a light idea, it was a question asking what her thoughts were.

It was a question he had yet to answer.

However, it is clear that recent events have weakened his motivation.

Realizing that, without her will her, she is morbidly copying her older brother her,
She also realized that this did not help her loneliness.
Eventually, he realized that none of the party members were dreaming of an A-level party.

He thought it was the path he had chosen,
Looking a little closer, he wonders if this is a cage he came in without knowing.

“Why?”

“…It’s complicated.”

I tried to pretend nothing was wrong, but when I asked for specific answers, it became difficult to act.
Acting has always been difficult for him.

“Aren’t you happy?”

He wouldn’t have answered that if a peer asked him about happiness, he wouldn’t say what kind of strange things he said, but the feeling this relationship gave him was different.

There is nothing to be ashamed of, just speak your mind.
Like I said, it’s a fleeting relationship.

“Rather than that, I don’t think there will be something I desperately want at the end of this road.”

What will be left if you have an A-class party?
…Lily, Bien, Russ?
Will they fill your loneliness?

…Not likely. It may be a temporary feeling, but right now he hated them.

Rose can’t stay by her side either.
He avenges Hiannisti’s kindness of her and asks him to give him a rose, but he is not the one who will allow it.
After knowing his sorrow, I knew he would be strong in that part.

“..Okay.”

Stachis wanted her answer from her, but he didn’t.
Ultimately, you know you will draw your own conclusions.
It’s selfish, but I just tried to think that I was very lucky to be pointed in a direction I hadn’t seen.

“…When weighing, you have to put away your fears about the future.”

She says.

“What do you mean?”

“Because fear is temporary. If you put your fears on the scale, you might end up regretting it… Fear of being hated by someone, fear of change..”

Starchis didn’t seem to be saying it to herself.
Her eyes on her are slightly out of focus.
She wondered if she might be talking about her past her.
Then, in a flash, she raises her head and says.

“Oh, I’m not great enough to give advice to anyone.”

“Do you have any regrets?”

Starchis thought it was her turn to listen to her this time.
And as if grateful for his consideration of her, the innkeeper smiled and replied.

“…I did a lot when I was young. Fortunately, I haven’t done that in the last decade or so.”

“That’s nice. I will listen to your advice. You haven’t done it in the past decade.”

The two laughed together and ended the conversation.
Starchis’s food had run out.
He greeted her well, paid her her money her, and went up to her own room her to put her to sleep.

****

Bien bit her fingernails.

Recently, she has been living in Barefoot’s stronghold.
She talked to the church and cut down on going to the medical center.
Now she wasn’t in the mental state to heal anyone.

Lily and Russ looked directly at him and felt his anger his, but not Bienne.

She couldn’t even face him.
The day after I came to apologize, he disappeared like smoke and has not returned to this day.
I heard that he was coming back, but he might have left forever… There was such a sense of fear.

Rather, she envied Lily and Russ.
I was envious of the women who had the opportunity to face him.

The scariest hawk of her life was approaching Bien.
In a way, the two of them had a chance to apologize to him.
She watched his reaction to her and had a chance to kneel before him.

It wasn’t Vienne.

She didn’t even get a chance to apologize.
I couldn’t even fathom how angry I was.

I couldn’t even imagine his anger at her.

He was a man who never got angry.
Like a ghost in a closet, I was more afraid because I couldn’t know the other person’s appearance.

But she knew.
Whatever she imagined, she knew that his true form would be more frightening than that.

You can tell just by looking at Russ and Lily now.
The two of them cried and regretted like deaf people.

As for Bien, when she saw them like that, her body trembled along with herself.

That kind Starchis,
Not at all, not at all her grievances her, not at all her mean words her,
Even though he was forced to laugh, he exploded.

He couldn’t help but tremble.

He had never been more terrified.

…No, once. With the exception of one where Stachis nearly lost his life, he has never been more terrifying.

I haven’t been able to pray properly lately.
Every moment he thought of Starchis, he couldn’t concentrate.

I also couldn’t sleep properly.

I only dreamed of Starchis screaming, raging, and leaving with cold eyes at the end.
At such times she would wake up screaming, her whole body wet with sweat.
Even after that, her surprised heart she did not calm down for a while, and she wept on her bed.

Her fellow apprentice saints were worried.
Even the story that Vien, who was so picky, recently woke up crying from a nightmare, spread openly in the church.

She bit her lower lip and repeated her apology in her mind.

None of that was satisfactory.

– Kik.

Suddenly, the base’s door opened and bright sunlight poured into the base.

Russ and Lily, who were sitting at the base with Bienne, also looked at the door in amazement.

Is he the one they’ve been waiting for?
My heart started pounding and beating in an instant.

But the one in front of the door was Stion.

“Is everyone here?”

Stion’s atmosphere is vastly different from when Starchis is by his side.
If he is by your side, if he is a warm and benevolent person,
When he wasn’t there, the leader of an A-level party overflowing with charisma and a bit scary, that was it.

When he entered the base, Russ asked first.

“S-Where’s the Starchis…?”

“Previously.”

He brushes off her words a little coldly.

“..What did you guys do to my brother?”