Lyla watched Marilyn wrap her arms around Zich, and he didn’t push her away. It was a familiar scene, just like how the relationship between the Witch and the Demon Lord of Strength had been. It was nothing strange, but…
Throb!
Yet, her heart ached every time she saw a sight like this. She kept feeling this as the days passed by, and their designated time to go to Violuwin’s burial site edged closer. Marilyn and Lyla went to the market to prepare for their upcoming arduous journey. Although they had most of the necessary items inside their magic boxes, the party had used a good amount of their supplies from all their traveling. Furthermore, since the place they were going to was especially dangerous, there was a possibility they could fall into a trap and be forced into hiding for an extended period of time.
The conversation between Lyla and Marilyn usually flowed with Marilyn asking questions about things she was curious about, and Lyla answered these questions. Marilyn was interested in many things, and after asking yet another question, Marilyn said, “Lyla.”
“What is it, Marilyn?”
“I think I actually love Sir Zich!” Her eyes sparkled as if they had changed into stars.
Throb! Lyla’s heart squeezed again. Yet, she didn’t show it and spoke indifferently as if she didn’t care much. “What a surprise. It’s as if you don’t tell me how much you love Zich every other day.”
“I thought I could be mistaken. I’m not the type of person who believes in love at first sight.”
“You don’t?” Lyla asked like she couldn’t believe it. So what did all the behavior that Marilyn had shown up until now mean? Still, Marilyn nodded confidently.
“Yes. I didn’t think I could fall so deeply for someone I just met!” Marilyn placed both hands on her cheeks and shook her head. She looked like a girl deeply in love.
“…Is that so?” Lyla answered a bit late. “Hm, Marilyn.”
“Yes?” Marilyn stared at Lyla, and Lyla pretended to be carefree as she asked, “I don’t mean to offend you, but what if you really are mistaken?”
Lyla immediately regretted saying those words and thought, ‘Of course she isn’t!’ Originally, Marilyn Frill was a person who fell for Zich instantly at first sight in every timeline; it was as if they were destined to be together, and it was ridiculous for Lyla to suggest that Marilyn was mistaken. Yet, Lyla couldn’t stop herself from talking. “I thought you didn’t even believe in love at first sight. Perhaps, your misunderstanding grew as you began to doubt your beliefs.”
“It could definitely be a possibility.” Unexpectedly, Marily nodded in understanding. Lyla’s face brightened slightly. Yet, the response she got back wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
“But I still want to enjoy this feeling a bit more. It’s not like I’m trying to marry Sir Zich right now or anything,” Marilyn said. She let out a small, embarrassed shriek after saying the word ‘marry.’
“So, Lyla, can’t you help me a bit?”
“…Help you?”
“Yes! After all, you have stayed with Sir Zich far longer than I have. You have an important voice in the party and according to the atmosphere, you seem to be the closest to Sir Zich.” After she said all this, Marilyn looked a bit concerned. “Lyla, do you perhaps also like Sir Zich?”
“As if.” Lyla waved her hand. “We are just friends. If I really had to describe our relationship, he’s more like a troublesome younger brother.”
“Haha! Seeing your personality, I suppose you can feel that way!” Marilyn laughed. “Then could you help me from now on?”
Okay. It seemed almost impossible for Lyla to say this simple, four-letter word. All she could think of were extremely poor excuses. Her outstanding brain seemed utterly useless now.
All she could manage to say was, “I’m not sure if I can help you since I don’t know much about romance.”
Yet, Marilyn pressed on. “Then, let’s discuss it together. I also don’t have much dating experience. I’m sure two mages can come up with something good. Yup, no matter how many times I think about it, I think it’s a good idea. You stayed with Sir Zich for a long time while my personal tastes match his. If we collaborate, we’ll be able to come up with a good method.”
“…All right, I will help you.” In the end, Lyla couldn’t help but utter these words.
“Oh, thank you so much Lyla! You really are a great friend!”
Marilyn grabbed both of her hands, and Lyla smiled awkwardly.
* * *
The day that they had to go to the burial site finally arrived. Zich and his companions headed to Violuwin’s ruin. The ruin was crowded with people as usual. Although tourist attractions related to the heroes who saved the city were thriving, previous attraction sites still retained their popularity. Zich and his companions weaved through the crowd, passed through the familiar attraction sites, and came inside the ruin.
“Are we allowed to come here?” Marilyn’s eyes widened as she asked.
Zich responded while laughing. “We can’t.”
“Huh? Then, are we doing something illegal?”
“Technically, yes.”
Marilyn blinked.
“What is it? Do you want to drop out from this group now?” Zich asked jokingly.
Marilyn smiled at Zich’s playful banter and said, “In order to perform heroic deeds, it can’t be helped that laws have to be broken sometimes.”
“As expected, you’re very flexible in your thinking. You really are a suitable talent for this group.”
“Yeah, right!” Lyla clicked her tongue and pushed their backs. The two chuckled and walked forward—they really got along well.
Zich and his companions continued to walk through the tunnel. Even though it was a very complicated path, there was no hesitation in Zich’s footsteps.
Lyla asked, “Do you remember the way?”
“Of course.”
“That’s fortunate. If you forgot, we would have to borrow the power of your coy sword. Ah, would it not teach us this time? Since your sword is extremely haughty, it might ignore our requests and think that teaching us one time would have been enough.”
“I feel upset because your words really hit the mark.” Zich tapped Windur, which was on his back, with his finger. “If that happens, you can help.”
“Yeah, that’s also true. Of course, I’ll be expecting a suitable payment.”
“I hope you’ll be able to feel touched by granting kindness to this amazing and talented person, Goddess.”
“Are you really going to compliment yourself like that? Wait, no, but before that, I told you to not call me a princess or a goddess!”
“You secretly added in ‘princess’ as well. As expected, you also really love yourself.”
Lyla wielded her staff. Of course, Zich was not the type of person to get hit by such attacks, and he moved his body this way and that to skillfully avoid them. Their conversation was light-hearted and frivolous. It was the type of conversation that they normally had. However, Lyla did not know why she felt so happy about this pointless conversation.
“Uhh…” Marilyn let out a sigh while watching them from behind. ‘As expected, I won’t be able to act that friendly, right?’
There was definitely a clear difference in how Zich treated Lyla and Marilyn. Zich was still keeping a certain amount of distance from Marilyn. Of course, considering the short amount of time they had been together, they were very close. However, it couldn’t be compared to Lyla’s relationship with Zich. It didn’t matter if they were just close. Their relationship seemed one step further from just being close—it was either love or friendship.
‘I don’t know about Sir Zich, but Lyla’s is definitely more towards love.’
Even right now, whenever she approached Zich, Marilyn could clearly see Lyla flinch every time. However, it was also clear that Lyla wasn’t aware of her feelings yet.
‘She probably started liking him romantically recently, or she might have had no experience with love and doesn’t know what emotion she is feeling. It’s either those two.’ Marilyn stared at Lyla.
Since Lyla turned her face to the side to talk to Zich, Marilyn could only see her side profile. However, even just this amount was enough to show Lyla’s unearthly beauty; it seemed as if she was emitting light by herself. When Marilyn first saw Lyla for the first time, she thought her breath was going to stop. Even though she had been confident in her own beauty, Lyla’s beauty was on a completely different level. If Lyla really decided to seduce someone, no one would be able to resist falling in love with her.
‘Sir Zich is really amazing. Even though Lyla is right next to him, he can just treat her like she’s a friend.’
Marilyn had even been suspicious that Zich might be gay, but fortunately for her, that didn’t seem to be the case. Marilyn wanted to immediately separate them, but she repressed her feelings.
‘If I try to tear them apart too much, it’ll be counterproductive.’ Marilyn was already sticking close to Zich way too much. If she tried to forcibly separate Lyla for no reason, there was a high possibility that she would face resistance. Thus, Marilyn just stared at Zich and Lyla playfully conversing with a sour look.
After a while, Zich and his companions reached the secret door.
Thuuud!
Just like before, when Zich approached the door, it automatically opened. Marilyn opened her mouth wide as if she was shocked. “There was something like this in Violuwin?”
Lyla replied, “I know it’s surprising, right?”
Zich also added, “Honestly, Ms. Marilyn, the real reason why we came back to Violuwin was to come back here. We have matters to finish beyond this secret tunnel.”
“Amazing!” Marilyn shouted, “I can’t believe you know such a place like this! As expected, heroes are different!”
“I think this has nothing to do with being heroes though,” Zich smirked. “Ms. Marilyn, you need to be cautious. Dangerous beings that even we couldn’t defeat last time exist here.”
“…Dangerous beings that even all of you weren’t able to defeat? Marilyn asked with a surprised face. “Um, then, is it be all right for us to go in?”
“You don’t have to worry. Our skills have considerably increased since the last time we came here. Moreover, we also now have a trustworthy companion to help us out.”
Marilyn blinked her eyes and pointed her thumb at herself. “Are you perhaps talking about me?”
“I had no idea that I’d be able to recruit a skilled curse caster in this city. We were very lucky. I was thinking that since our party is very attack-focused, it would be great to have someone act as a support, whether they can use heals or curses.”
“…It seems as if I’ve dug myself in a hole.”
“You can’t run away now.”
Marilyn burst into laughter at Zich’s humorous threat. “Don’t worry. I was able to meet my destiny in the grave I dug for myself, so at this point, I think I’ve picked the perfect spot to set my gravestone.”
Then, she raised her staff up high. “Tell anything to come at me! I’ll curse those stupid monsters or smelly undead or crazy villains!”
“I like your energy. I hope that you can continue with the same mindset.”
Zich and his companions stepped inside the secret door. Marilyn looked around in curiosity. “Is our destination far away?”
“No, we’re almost there.”
Marilyn tilted her head at Zich’s reply because there were only tunnels around them. Then, Zich took out Windur. He found the gap on the wall again and pierced Windur. Then he turned it around.
Thuuuuud! A secret tunnel that looked exactly the same as the one from last time appeared. Marilyn stared at this sight in surprise.
“Ms. Marilyn, our destination is up ahead.” Zich pointed inside and spoke cheerfully. However, his eyes quietly stared at Marilyn as she looked at the entrance with a shocked expression.