“… What did you say?!”
Because of snow storm that started in middle of their path, Riley and others decided to rest for a bit at a cave nearby. One of them screamed.
“J… Just now… What did you say?”
“Ms. Sera, please calm down.”
“Do you think I can calm down?!”
While resting, they decided to prepare lunch too, so they were at it. However, it looked like something was up between the two. Riley, who was looking outside the cave, scratched the back of his head. He looked like he was not sure about what to do.
“Y… You are not yet cured of your illness? You are not completely well? I thought you came back after being healed completely!”
It seemed Sera was very shocked by what Nainiae just told her. Sera strained her eyes in concern and looked at Nainiae.
Facing Sera, Nainiae had apologetic look on her face. Before Sera worried more, Nainiae said she won’t be dying at least.
“I’m on this trip so I can be healed.”
“Young Master! Did you know about this all along?”
It seemed Sera was feeling she was tricked. She quickly turned her head and started to stare at Riley. Riley avoided her gaze and said,
“That’s right.”
“So, this trip is also for that?”
Sera asked in disbelief, and Nainiae nodded.
“It’s because of me.”
“I didn’t even know this and…”
There was a flame that was flying around the area. To be precise, the flame was Heliona, the summon spirit. Sera looked at Heliona and put up dumbfounded look on her face. She then turned her face red as if she was mad as she glared at Nainiae.
“Nainiae! Nainiae, you really…!”
Sera was half shocked and half upset. With those feelings in her heart, Sera glared at Nainiae. Sera tightly grabbed on Nainiae’s shoulder and started to talk as if she was disappointed.
“Why didn’t you say anything to me?”
“I was concerned you might worry like this.”
It seemed Nainiae was sorry. She was unable to look at her in the eyes. Nainiae merely fiddled with her fingers. Watching this made Sera even more angry. Sera shook Nainiae’s shoulder.
“Still!”
“Actually, we were never going to tell you, but… since you ended up going with us on the trip, Young Master said it would better to tell you, so…”
“Young Master did?”
Sera was yelling at Nainiae while holding her on the shoulder. Sera casually turned her head and looked at Riley who was sitting near the cave’s entrance.
Shrug…
Riley’s eyes met with Sera’s, and he shrugged.
“… Ugh!”
It seemed seeing Riley shrug made Sera feel a little better. She sighed big time and looked at Nainiae again.
“All right. At least you told me now. It’s fine.”
“I’m sorry.”
Nainiae, with sincere look on her face, apologized. Sera placed her hands to rest on her waist and said,
“I knew something was up. It was not like our Young Master to say he wants to go on a trip during the winter. I thought it was so out of the blue that I wondered if the sun was going to rise from the west the next morning…”
“Ah, hahaha.”
“In that case, I guess Lady Iris was wrong about her worries. That’s unusual also…”
“Lady Iris?”
“That’s right… Actually, I was added to this trip because she was worried about our Young Master. She asked me to go with you.”
Sera didn’t cause ruckus for long. She went back to preparing the lunch again. She watched Riley who was sitting at the cave entrance and slowly blinking his eyes.
“Well, looks like maybe Lady Iris was just overly concerned.”
“…”
Listening to Sera mumbling, Nainiae steadily watched Riley as she thought that Iris’ worries were not baseless. Anxious, Nainiae bit her lower lips.
‘The trip…’
While Nainiae was deep in her distracted thoughts, Sera wiped off her hands with the apron. It seemed she was done with preparing the lunch. She went to Riley.
“… Young Master? Young Master!”
Riley was blinking his eyes as he watched the snow storm outside. He was about to doze off, but because someone shook his shoulder, he opened his eyes big and turned to look who it was.
“…?!”
“H… Here is your meal.”
Somehow, Riley appeared to be on the edge. Sera shriveled as she gave him lunch.