In the past two days, Rurushi Ru had spoken at length with Hestia and the other girls, gradually learning more about Noa and his usual behavior.
Through those conversations, she slowly came to understand something she had not fully realized before—she had indeed been subtly "led" by Noa during that day's events.
Although the final outcome was exactly what she wanted, the process itself had clearly been guided in a way she did not fully notice at the time. That realization left her with a faint sense of dissatisfaction.
Why did he have to use such methods when he could have simply told her directly?
Did he know she would feel embarrassed afterward?!
And because of that, the other sisters in Great Tree Village had laughed at her for an entire day.
Although they meant no harm and were simply amused by her reactions, it still made her feel extremely self-conscious.
Did she, Rurushi Ru, have no dignity at all?!
At the same time, she also came to understand something important: while Noa was not particularly sharp in emotional matters, he definitely had a wide range of subtle "tricks" and methods. If one was not careful, it was very easy to be guided into his pace without realizing it.
Because of this, Rurushi Ru began maintaining a certain level of vigilance in her daily interactions with him, making sure she would not be caught off guard again and end up embarrassing herself.
Seeing that Rurushi Ru had become slightly more guarded, Noa could not help but feel a bit helpless.
He naturally understood that she was now wary of him.
But was he really the type of person who constantly played tricks just for amusement?
Obviously not.
However, it was also true that he had handled things poorly that day. When he made that decision, he had already mentally prepared himself for the possibility of later consequences.
At the time, his priority had simply been to secure the outcome. As for the emotional aftermath, it was something he intended to deal with gradually afterward.
Now that he had been misunderstood, he could only accept it.
Some things could not be explained away with words alone—they required time and consistent actions to gradually correct.
So Noa did not offer any further explanation. After reminding Rurushi Ru once more, he left the pharmaceutical workshop.
However, after stepping out, he paused slightly.
He suddenly realized that in the current state of Great Tree Village, there was very little that truly required his direct involvement anymore.
The matters that needed his personal attention had already been handled. The improvements to magical systems, the refinement of spell integration, and the research on thought-based magical input had all been completed over the past two days.
The remaining work had already been delegated appropriately.
In a sense, things were running more smoothly than expected.
"But this is fine."
Noa looked around the village and thought calmly.
"It means the original goal of gathering people here has already been achieved."