I opened my eyes, feeling the sunlight streaming in through the window. I suddenly sensed something unusual around my chest area. Looking down, I realized that Nyau was sleeping on top of me, covering me like a blanket.
Yesterday, Nyau had cried herself to sleep, so I had placed her on the bed before I went to sleep myself. I had intended to sleep as far away from her as possible at that time, but she must have moved closer to me while we were asleep.
"It's warm," I thought as I gently stroked her head. Nyau's body temperature felt warm, like that of a small animal. So, I pulled her a little closer to me, wanting to feel her warmth a bit more. Right now, I found Nyau incredibly endearing.
However, I also knew that becoming too attached to her could be dangerous. In this timeline, where the hero was absent, the world was likely destined for destruction. When I reset through a death, I would go back in time to a point before Hero Eligion died, and any relationship I built with Nyau would be reset as well. So, if I got too attached to her and then lost her, the shock could be devastating.
But, even knowing all that, I had made up my mind to live for Nyau in this particular timeline.
"Good morning," Nyau said, suddenly opening her eyes.
"Good morning. Sorry if I woke you up," I replied.
"No, it's okay. I was planning to wake up soon. But, um… What's the situation here?" Nyau asked hesitantly.
I understood her concern. In the bed, I was holding Nyau, and it might indeed look like a rather confusing scene.
"Because you're cute," I said.
"Because I'm cute, what were you going to do…!?" Nyau responded.
"I was going to reach out my hand," I replied.
"Nyaahhhhhh!" Nyau screamed and quickly retreated to the corner of the room.
I had no intention of actually reaching out to her, but I just wanted to tease her a little. However, she reacted far more strongly than I expected. It hurt my feelings.
"Hey, Nyau," I called out.
"A-are you going to eat Nyau…!?" Nyau panicked as she quivered in the corner.
As I approached her, Nyau began to tremble and panic.
Seeing her like this, I felt an emotion welling up from deep within me.
I wanted to tease her more.
This had been true since we first met. For some reason, when I looked at Nyau, I couldn't help but want to tease her. It must be what they call sadism.
"Hey, Nyau," I continued.
"Yes?"
"Didn't you invite me to share the bed first?"
"Well, Nyau did say she wanted to share a room with you, but that's because Nyau was just feeling a little scared."
"Don't you know? Sharing a bed is pretty much the same as inviting someone, you know?"
"Is that so…?" Nyau stammered, her speech sounding a bit off.
"Isn't Nyau an elf and an adult woman?"
"Yes! Nyau is an elf and an adult woman!"
"If you're an adult, experiencing something like this is normal, right?"
"N-Nya…"
With a strange noise, Nyau's eyes started to wander.
"That's right! Nyau is an adult! So, Kiska, please enjoy Nyau thoroughly!"
With a determined expression, Nyau made her point.
It was unexpectedly easy to get her to say that. It made me wonder if she would easily be fooled by other men, and I started feeling a bit anxious. Also, her choice of words, "enjoy Nyau," was quite unusual.
"What, are you taking the joke seriously?" I asked, laughing and pointing it out.
"Huh…? Was it a joke?"
"Yeah, it was."
Upon my confirmation, Nyau seemed to freeze on the spot and remained motionless for a while. Suddenly, she let out a strange noise, "hanyanyanya," and her face turned bright red.
It seemed like she had finally realized that she had been fooled.
"Kiska, you're so mean! So mean!"
Afterward, I was subjected to Nyau's punches for a while.
◆
After getting ourselves ready, we headed towards Ritzken Empire by horse as planned.
"Is it uncomfortable for you?"
"No, it's not a problem!"
"Well, that's good."
It turned out that other villagers who had sensed the movements of the Demon Lord's army were also trying to evacuate by using horses, and there was a rush to get horses. We had hoped to secure two horses, but in the end, we could only borrow one. As a result, Nyau and I ended up riding together, with me in front and Nyau in the back.
"Hey, Kiska!"
"What is it?"
"Well, about what you said earlier…"
By "what you said earlier," she was probably referring to when I teased her this morning.
"I already apologized for that earlier, didn't I?"
"No, it's not about that… I was wondering if you were joking when you said I was cute…"
Ah, I see. She was concerned about that.
"No, that was my honest opinion."
"…I see. So that means you think I'm cute, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
With that clarification, Nyau let out a somewhat creepy laugh.
I couldn't see her expression clearly in this riding position, and I could only imagine that she was giving me an unsettling, smug look.
"Nyau didn't like her own appearance very much…"
"Is that so?"
It was surprising to me. After all, I thought her appearance was cute even by general standards. What could it mean for her not to like it?
"Yes, that's right. Elves are an immortal race, and they typically stop growing around the age of twenty, not changing much after that. However, Nyau, unlike other elves, stopped growing with this youthful appearance."
"I see…"
"So Nyau was considered a bit of an anomaly among the elves and couldn't really fit in with the others."
Hearing about Nyau's past reminded me of my own.
I, too, was persecuted in Katarov Village because of my silver hair.
"I'm sorry about that."
"Why are you apologizing?"
"Because I teased you about being a child. I didn't know you cared so much about your appearance."
"I'm not really concerned about that. But if you want to apologize, I won't say no."
"Thank you for saying that."
While saying that, we continued to ride the horse.
It seemed like it would still take some time to reach the Ritzken Empire.
Then, Nyau, who was sitting behind me, deliberately shifted her position, moving closer to my back, sitting snugly against me.
Thanks to that, her body heat was transmitted to my entire back.
Well, her chest was quite modest, so I couldn't really feel the touch on my back that clearly. It's really too bad.
"I was really happy when you called me cute. Thanks to that, I started to like my appearance just a little bit."
"I see."
I had said 'cute' rather casually, but she seemed surprisingly delighted by it, and that was a pleasant surprise.
"You really are a cute one."
"Waah! What's with that all of a sudden!?"
"I just spoke my mind."
"It's not that I mind, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't say things like that all of a sudden."
"Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute, cute."
"Nyaaahh! Are you trying to embarrass Nyau to death with your compliments?"
"Hey, stop squirming! You'll fall!"
We kept joking around like this while heading towards the Ritzken Empire.
I knew that our time together like this was limited. Once we reached the Ritzken Empire, we would have to face the Demon Lord's army.