Our party safely exited the cave after Pina’s rage state was lifted, but…
“I’m sorry… Licht…”
“It’s okay, Pina.”
She was currently healing me while gently rubbing my back. Only Pina Grancia could perform this unique healing that no one else could provide.
“I got hurt because of me…”
“Stop that already. If you were caught by an Apostle’s ability, it couldn’t be helped.”
I had heard that she could heal me after sharing her mana circuits, but seeing it in action was something else entirely.
It felt warm and comforting, like holding a hand warmer. I wonder if this was how it felt when I used the Savior Sword.
“Please don’t hate yourself so much…”
“Licht…”
Every time she touched the spot injured by the crystal magic, a sharp pain surged, but I gritted my teeth and endured it.
Wearing a helmet hid my pained expression, but it was a mistake made by someone I loved.
This was bearable. It’s better than hurting someone else.
“I’ll make the pain go away quickly…”
As if aware that I felt pain, tears glimmered in her eyes, and the number of divine light orbs around her increased.
How could I not be moved by this? She has the gentlest heart of anyone.
Then it happened. The moment I felt her tender touch through my clothes, a translucent status window popped up in front of me.
[Lee Soo-hyun ♡ Pina Grancia 3% ‘NEW!!’]
A pink heart burst out along with the text.
It might only be 1%, but my affection level had risen. I immediately focused intently on each letter.
‘Just a finger touch on the lips raised it…?’
What on earth is the criteria for this status window? In the case of the Celestial Demon or Dennis, when the head was killed, it shot straight to 100%.
If this is how slowly it rises, then what should I do if it drops?
“Licht…?”
“Nothing.”
As the sharp sensation from my back subsided, I gestured to Pina to stop the healing. The rage state of the monsters had already been released since the caster had died a long time ago.
“Now that it seems to be all healed, could you please take your hand off my back?”
Sophia suggested that we could pull back the defenses guarding the northern territory.
“I don’t want to…”
But Pina opposed this, slowly shaking her head. Her white, shiny hair danced like the snowy background.
“…Pina?”
“It’s a pity…”
Swish. Once again, her white tail wrapped around my body. The soft and warm fur of a wolf’s tail contrasted sharply with the cold, snowy environment.
“I… actually… my memory is a bit hazy… Licht.”
“…”
The eyes of a skilled hunter were fixated on me. My heart raced at the sudden height difference, but this was definitely a trap.
It’s an obvious lie to anyone.
It was the same when Nex and I fell victim to Servi’s ability, and it had been the same during the gluttony incident.
“That… was really a kiss, wasn’t it…?”
Here, I must exercise my right to remain silent.
There’s no way it could affect my memory. She was definitely asking knowing this. Her golden eyes looked at me sadly.
“It didn’t taste like lemon…”
Her wolf ears drooped as if reproaching me for the finger kiss. Where did she hear that the first kiss tastes like lemon?
“Oh dear… My junior… You wouldn’t mean to say that….”
“I have nothing to say. I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
Holding her hand tightly, I began to move forward.
It was the first time I held a girl’s hand consciously, and it felt sweaty and awkward. I hoped Pina was okay with it.
“Let’s talk after we descend the mountain safely.”
“Ah, ugh…”
Eep. Pina’s drooping wolf ears perked up, and a faint smile appeared on her lips. Thankfully, she seemed to be alright.
In reality, the mountain was filled with roots obscured by snow and steep slopes, so I had another reason to hold on.
And besides, those ears looked adorable like that.
“I’ll let it slide… Licht…”
As if returning my earlier words, she intertwined her fingers with mine, and a rush of blood coursed through my entire body at the sensation of our hands being one.
When I turned to my side in surprise, she seemed bashful, glancing down, unable to meet my eyes.
I had seen her quivering eyes, but there was hardly time to think about that.
“Pina, just what is your relationship with this man?”
Sophia, with her black bear ears, squeezed in closer to Pina, querying her.
“A precious person…”
The white-haired princess hesitated for a moment when she answered with “precious person.” Why?
“Then, did you kiss in the darkness earlier?”
Considering the shadow fangs, they wouldn’t know what we had done, so it’s only natural that the northern duchess had her suspicions.
From their perspective, it must’ve looked like I was carrying a fainted Pina.
“I absolutely did not.”
I had nothing to be ashamed of. I hadn’t really kissed her, nor had I even pecked her cheek.
We just touched each other’s lips with our fingers.
“But why are you both acting all shy as if you actually kissed…?”
Just as I confidently protested that such things hadn’t happened,
Hiccup. Hic.
The moment Sophia uttered the word “kiss” for the second time, she cutely began to hiccup, and Pina, feeling frustrated, started patting her chest.
“…Pina? Are you hiccuping?”
“No, Sophia…”
Did I really make a major mistake here?
She must have remembered the finger kiss. Had she really not overreacted this much?
“I don’t hiccup, okay…?”
She had been tapping her lips repeatedly with her fingers ever since earlier, so she must have been startled to be caught by a friend.
“Pina, are you okay?”
“Yeah… Licht. I’m… fine… hic.”
Seeing Pina hiccup raised doubts in my mind. We had merely touched our lips indirectly; was the stimulation that intense?
I thought she seemed fine during the tomahawk indirect kiss. Grasping my helmet, I pondered.
“Pina, hold your breath for a moment.”
“Ah, sniff.”
Following my advice, she inflated her cheeks like a squirrel while holding her breath. Clearly, from how she spoke, she seemed inexperienced in romance just like me.
‘In romance novels, they say a kiss is cherished…’
If she had any romantic experience, she’d know that such things were just fantasies. Of course, her beauty was stunning.
‘If I said I’d give just a lip bump, I bet people would come flocking to the Grand Hertz Academy.’
But I couldn’t just steal her first kiss. I had to respect her feelings.
It would be heartless to just kiss without her consent and expect love to blossom. Not to mention, I hadn’t fulfilled all the conditions of the Grand Route yet.
‘That Magic Hat is casting a shadow over me.’
The Demon King who acknowledged me earlier.
And until I capture the highest probability magician who made Pina the Nameless Saintess and put her in danger, I must hold off on anything further.
I didn’t come to seize love but to save Pina’s life and bring her happiness as a player immersed in this game character.
‘I’m just her pure-hearted Black Knight.’
I wasn’t a cunning hero aiming to catch the Demon King and marry a princess without mutual feelings.
Eheh.
Just as I was lost in thought like that, Pina, no longer shaking, seemed to finally calm down.
“You can breathe now, Pina.”
“…It’s true. It stopped.”
It seemed she might be thinking of relationships between men and women in a distorted way due to having learned faulty information. Like when I failed to recognize Pina during my time as Mardol.
“Thank you, Licht.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Her obsession with me might also be a part of that. As she matures in her feelings, that empty glass-like appearance might fade away.
‘Perhaps she’d reconsider me. There are plenty of good people in this world besides me.’
However, the tip of the white wolf’s tail was still gently swaying. Come on, loosen up a little. It won’t be like this when the Academy opens.
“Hehe, you really are… kind.”
Thankfully, unlike those early days when I was confined after first arriving in the north, there was less pressure now, making it easier to walk.
She seemed satisfied after even receiving a finger kiss that her gaze was becoming softer.
If I matched steps with her, perhaps one day we might reach that happy Grand Route ending I had seen in illustrations.
‘If I can’t stand alone at the starting line, I’ll support her and walk together instead.’
A common, cliché, and hard-to-understand tale even if explained verbally.
Love itself is just such an emotion.
*
Pina Grancia felt a sense of regret.
‘A kiss… it wasn’t.’
In truth, she remembered only the way Licht had brushed his lips with his finger, and,
“What’s wrong, Pina?”
Glancing with a tinge of irritation, she shot a sideways look at the man in the Black Knight helmet.
Pina had felt anxious due to the strange sensations that stirred her heart whenever she was around Licht, especially after her recent hiccup.
“Licht is just a playboy.”
“Why would you say I’m a playboy, Pina…?”
Asha Aureus had been staring at the two, shock written on her face, but Pina paid her no mind.
“You’re just too charming.”
“…”
The playboy character she had read about in novels was overlapping in her mind, along with the golden-haired beauty who was now her rival.
“By the way, you mentioned you both are students from the same Academy, right? You two…”
“Yes, Asha. Licht and I are friends.”
Setting aside the dignity of a princess for a moment, Pina continued to assert her ownership over him.
“Licht. I’m sorry.”
When she had been overwhelmed by the Apostle of Rage, she had chosen to hug him as a way to block it.
And it was he who replaced the kiss with a gentle finger touch when she was out of her right mind.
“I’m sorry for hurting you and locking you up…”
“It’s alright, really.”
The Black Knight, who put others before himself.
How many people like this existed in the world? Surely someone who understood Pina Grancia’s trauma and became her mental support.
“It’s not solely your fault, Pina.”
“Really…?”
Only Licht could make her feel this level of comfort. She pressed her body closer, feeling even more at ease.
“Yes, I also bear fault for worrying you, Pina.”
“Hehe, Licht.”
That instant retort brought a blush to her cheeks, and she perked her wolf ears, showing an interest.
“…Thank you for saving me again, my Black Knight.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Pina playfully tapped her lips with her fingers. Licht’s fingers were larger and thicker than hers, making her ponder.
“Pina, what are you doing…?”
Attempting to replicate the electrifying sensation from earlier, she used her thumb and index finger to mimic it.
“What’s wrong…? Licht?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
She didn’t feel that electric sensation like before.
No matter how much she thought about it, Pina couldn’t understand why there was such a difference.
A girl who knows nothing of love was still oblivious to the little spark within her heart.
“Licht, could you once more…?”
She was about to ask him to press his fingers against her lips again to resolve her confusion.
But then…
The air trembled, causing the trees within the mountain to sway. With a thud, snow began to fall.
Grrrraaahhhh—!!!
Something massive rose from behind Licht’s party.
It looked like a great undead monster sewn together with various types of leather, resembling a rag doll.
“It’s not an advanced demon summoning circle, but necromancy!!”
A large undead creature with a bear shape and mixed features of various beasts.
“…Necromancy.”
The man in the Black Knight helmet stepped to the front the moment he spotted the enemy, readying his Mind Sword to fight.
“Deliberately letting enraged monsters die and using that to create undead…”
“This is a complete trap! If that thing heads down to the northern territory, it’ll be bad news.”
Drake, along with Sophia and Asha, also fell into a combat stance.
Having missed the chance to kiss, Pina stared at the monster summoned by the Apostle of Rage and grumbled,
“That’s annoying.”
Biting her lower lip secretly, she showcased the anger stronger than anyone else.
