‎PMEVBO 20

I wanted to dance a lively jig, but there was no time for that.

5m 21s

My original goal had already been achieved. But human greed knows no bounds, so I wanted to grab just one more thing while I was at it.

Just one more.

But then Seriha started fumbling out his story, constantly touching his flushed earlobes.

“…Well, no one has ever complimented my eyes before. …Everyone just said they were disgusting.”

Ah, right. Seriha had a complex about his eyes. He’d been picked on so much about them. I was too careless. I shouldn’t have said anything about his eyes to someone like that….

“…So, did my compliment about your pretty eyes sound like teasing too?”

“Th-that… Some people tease me like that too. I’m sorry I misunderstood your kind compliment…”

His downcast face looked just like a puppy about to get scolded.

“It’s alright. I guess I was confusing too.”

To be precise, it was my mistake for spouting off compliments meant for quick hits. Since things had come to this, I should at least properly compliment his eyes.

What did Isabelle say about Seriha’s eyes again?

4m 9s

One scene flashed into my mind.

‘Three sunflowers.’

‘One’s right here, but where are the other two?’

‘In your pupils.’

‘Huh…?’

‘Because your pupils are as pretty as sunflowers.’

Seriha beamed with delight at this outrageously flattering line. Should I steal this one?

…Forget it. No matter how desperate I am, how could I steal the heroine’s flirtatious line?

Let the sunflower flirtation stay with the heroine, just like in the original. I decided to just share my honest impression instead.

“Your eyes… they’re like a total solar eclipse.”

Isabelle had compared the orange ring around Seriha’s iris to sunflower petals. But when I first saw his eyes, I thought they resembled the sun’s corona that stands out during a total eclipse.

“Um… a total solar eclipse? You mean when the sun is completely swallowed by the moon? That… symbol of the end…”

…The end? Why bring up such a grim word here?

Ah, come to think of it, eclipses were seen as omens of doom in medieval times. …Guess it’s the same here.

Thanks to that, I ended up becoming someone like Dr. Jekyll¹. No, even Dr. Jekyll wouldn’t have transformed this drastically…

To make matters worse, a distinct look of disappointment began to cloud Seriha’s gentle face. That glistening in his eyes… Could it be tears…?

Hey, no! That’s not what I meant, so don’t cry…

Guilt and bewilderment tangled together, creating a chaotic festival in my head. But I forced myself to stay calm and opened my mouth.

“A total solar eclipse does go well with the end.”

“……”

“If the world ends, we’re all going to die anyway. So wouldn’t it be less tragic to die while seeing the most beautiful thing in the world?”

“……The most beautiful thing in the world?”

Seriha, who had been looking at me with tear-filled eyes, gaped. After briefly averting my gaze from him, I let out a hollow laugh and said.

“I just… wanted to tell you your eyes are as beautiful as a total solar eclipse.”

I’d thought it since we first met. His eyes were more beautiful than I’d imagined from reading about them. Ah, but explaining the solar eclipse took an agonizingly long time.

0m 58s

Just as I was thinking it was time to say goodbye to Seriha, he fidgeted with his fingers and asked.

“Um, Lucariel, if it’s alright with you, would you accompany me to the duke’s castle?”

“I can’t do that.”

Don’t look at me like a puppy whose walk was denied. What can’t be done can’t be done.

“Let’s meet at the duke’s castle in half a month.”

With that, I took off running. Worried Seriha might be disappointed, I didn’t forget to wave back over my shoulder as I sprinted.

There was a reason I was rushing off like Cinderella after the clock struck twelve. If the person who was chatting with him just moments ago suddenly vanished, he’d be shocked out of his wits.

Even though this was a world where a former priest could resurrect as a demon after suicide, the fundamental concept of magic itself didn’t exist here. A world without even the commonplace teleportation scrolls, that says it all.

When I ended up alone.

0m 0s

The status window began glowing bright white.

“Ah, damn, my eyes…!”

After getting hit by a return beam from the status window and opening my eyes, I found myself back in the vegetable garden of the annex.

And I was met with an unexpected harvest.

(5/15)

Without me realizing it, my praise quest completion rate had multiplied from three to five.

At least one seems to be thanks to the total solar eclipse.

The wording about his eyes being like a total solar eclipse must have pierced the world’s cynicism and landed in Seriha’s heart. I’d worried I might have unintentionally hurt such a pure-hearted person, but I’m relieved he was happy enough to boost the quest completion rate.

But when exactly did the other one happen?

There’s no way it got completed because he was happy to part with me, right……?

Anyway, did I really complete three in ten minutes? No way. It took Iser, who’s five or six years younger than Seriha, nearly ten days to fill three.

…Opening up this easily to strangers? I have no idea how he plans to survive in this harsh world. He’s got the perfect personality for getting taken advantage of.

Of course, from my perspective, having to twiddle my thumbs for 15 days out of the 20-day time limit due to the location lock issue, I was grateful Seriha had this personality.

At least Isabelle is the capable type.

Seriha, so easy to take advantage of. The reason he hasn’t been taken advantage of yet? Isabelle. I really hope those two meet sooner rather than later.

…But right now, lunch was more urgent.

What should I make with these wild asparagus shoots to please Iser?

***

“What happened to your hand?”

Iser, who had been staring at the shoot pasta I’d finished with one hand, suddenly asked.

Good observation skills.

I hadn’t untied Seriha’s handkerchief yet. I figured feeding the kid came first.

After switching from my usual tight gloves to loose ones, the presence of my significantly thicker middle finger was somewhat less noticeable. But how on earth did he spot it so instantly?

I answered flatly.

“I hid candy inside the gloves.”

“…Stop talking nonsense and take off your gloves, now.”

Not working.

His attitude was clear, he wouldn’t budge until I removed them. Reluctantly, I fumbled to take off the gloves. When the thickly wrapped handkerchief at the tip of my middle finger finally came into view, Iser frowned and asked.

“What did you do to break your finger?”

He seemed convinced my finger was broken. Well, yeah, considering the intensity of Seriha’s first aid, it would make sense if it were a fracture.

“It’s not a fracture, just a minor scrape.”

Saying that, I propped up the middle finger in question alongside my index finger, like a human leg, and made it run around the tabletop. Watching the running fingers with a bewildered expression, Iser asked again.

“Then why did you wrap it up so thickly?”

“So it heals faster.”

Seriha must have wrapped that handkerchief around my middle finger with exactly that intention. But once I said it out loud, I just sounded like a professional exaggerator.

Iser burst into a soft, giggly laugh. A bright, petal-like smile spread across his previously sullen eyes. Though we’d been together for over ten days, this was the first time I’d seen Iser laugh.

Mesmerized by his smiling face, I didn’t even notice my fingers had frozen over the table. Suddenly, Iser grabbed my two fingers with his cold hand. Immediately, a pain like a needle prick began to surge through my injured hand.

“Ugh.”

“Bear it even if it hurts. You said you wanted to heal quickly.”

Iser, who had already returned to his usual sullen expression, whispered softly.

Just as Iser said, the painful treatment ended in the blink of an eye. By the time he released the finger he had been holding, the tingling pain I had felt at the tip of my middle finger had completely vanished.

I hadn’t planned on asking for treatment…

It was only a minor wound, barely a scratch on the skin. It wasn’t a serious injury that would prompt Iser, who had suffered all this time because of his ability, to voluntarily use his power.

Guess I owe Seriha a favor.

It seemed the sight of my hand being excessively treated with the handkerchief had sparked Iser’s imagination. I felt a twinge of guilt, like I’d become a shameless person who’d coaxed a power out of a good little kid by exaggerating his pain, but the feeling of gratitude was stronger.

“Thank you for healing me.”

“……It’s fine. It was nothing.”

Iser replied before turning his head to the side.

My middle finger still had the handkerchief tightly wrapped around it. Iser, who had been eyeing it, even snatched the glove off my perfectly fine hand.

Like a cat carrying off its favorite blanket. Did he like the gloves? My guess gained credibility as he began putting the gloves he’d sequentially stripped from me onto both his own hands.

They were loose on my hands, but they fit his pretty well, huh?

Come to think of it, Iser had unusually large hands and feet for his height.

If he were well fed and cared for, he’d grow into quite a strapping lad.

Just then, Iser thrust his large, gloved hand abruptly toward me.

“Give me your hand. I’ll untie it.”

“Huh?”

Caught off guard by the unexpected turn, I froze. Iser frowned and pulled the hand wrapped in a handkerchief toward him.

“How did you hurt your hand?”

He asked as he began unwrapping the handkerchief tied around my middle finger.

“I got a little careless picking wild vegetables.”

His disapproving gaze stung quite a bit. But I didn’t regret lying. Who would believe me if I said I got hurt swimming like a madman in the valley because of a random skill activation?

Wait, but I’ll have to explain the skill to him eventually. I’ll have to use the Guidance skill when I send him out of this castle.

I was gauging how to broach the subject when Iser spoke up first.

“By the way, who is Abel?”

1. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is an 1886 novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It explores the duality of human nature through the story of a respectable doctor who transforms into a violent alter ego. ↩︎