Millishion was built over a massive lake—the sprawling Gran Lake, connected to the gentle Nicolaus River, brimming with life flowing down from the towering peaks of the Blue Dragon Mountains. The areas adjacent to the city center were divided by artificial canals. Walking along them, Isolde could see cargo boats and people constantly coming and going, contributing to a scene that was simultaneously bustling with brilliant civilization and peaceful with nature.
Walking down Millishion's main road toward the center, taking a turn down literally any alleyway would lead straight to the banks of the Nicolaus River. From there, you could see the single largest piece of architecture Isolde had ever laid eyes on, towering right in the middle of the lake: the Golden Sanctum, the heart of the Millis Faith. It was the place every devout lamb wished to visit, to pray and receive blessings. For legend had it that Saint Millis passed away right there; his mana had blanketed the place for thousands of years, dispensing blessings to anyone willing to brave countless hardships to find him.
Isolde should have felt thrilled, ecstatic even, to see the Sanctum from this close. She should have burst out in awe and dragged Atur along with her to visit it.
Yet that joy and excitement couldn't even make an appearance on her face, let alone in her mind. All she felt was anxiety, insecurity, and absolute bewilderment.
After Atur had suddenly left his room earlier than usual, he declared that since it was their last day in Millishion before hitting the road again, everyone should go out for a stroll. Naturally, Talhand and Roxy declined with some incredibly half-assed excuses. Like still being drunk or wanting to sleep in; even Larry knew better than to third-wheel and bolted immediately. As a result, the group outing abruptly turned into a two-person date.
Without even needing to look, Isolde knew for a fact that those two were grinning with total amusement right now.
And that was why Atur and Isolde were walking under that blue sky dotted with white clouds, along the riverside path, in the most beautiful and romantic city in the world.
Even though the young girl's heart was thudding like a beaten drum, louder than the clamor of the marketplace, she maintained her usual ice-cold expression, walking alongside the teenager boy like it was no big deal. Or to be more precise, like it's not a date at all.
Meanwhile, Atur looked completely oblivious, just like any other day.
"Did you know we're looking at a marvel of magic tools, Isolde?"
Asked point-blank, Isolde flinched; the mask of the aloof girl cracked for a second. She hadn't been paying the slightest bit of attention to what Atur was saying this whole time. But it wasn't easy to make a Water King panic. She only stalled for a second before nodding, calmly asking back.
"You mean the magic towers?"
She asked, her gaze drifting toward the colossal towers surrounding the Golden Sanctum. Those were the magic towers protected by Saint Millis, keeping the place safe from the rainy season's floods—or at least, that was what she'd heard.
"I've heard that's why this place doesn't flood during the Great Forest's extended rainy season," Isolde added.
"Yeah, but that's only part of what they do. The tower itself isn't exactly the magic tool; it's a shell to protect what's inside," Atur nodded, then began explaining. "Nobody actually knows what they look like on the inside, though. Only the important folks with clearance are allowed near them. Even the principles of how they work are kept totally under wraps. All people know is that as long as the seven towers remain standing, Millishion and its people don't have to worry about any disasters—whether it's attacks, floods, or even plagues."
"Even plagues?" Isolde asked again. "I thought healing magic required direct contact?"
"I'm not sure. But maybe because it's Saint-tier magic, or maybe even higher, it has those kinds of overpowered effects. It's not like just anyone has access to Saint-tier healing magic and above anyway."
"Makes sense..."
"Right?" The teenager grinned ear to ear. "That's why I'm saying it's hard to guess anything. They look like cold, lifeless pillars on the outside, but they're packing all sorts of hidden mysteries. Every time I think about it, I just want to break in and take a look at that magic tool—"
"Keep talking like that and the Holy Knights will throw you in jail."
"Ack. I completely forgot." Atur immediately darted his eyes around, only letting out a sigh of relief when he saw no one nearby.
Normally, if someone showed intent to commit a crime—especially regarding holy relics like this—Isolde wouldn't just be disgusted, she might even report them herself. But for some inexplicable reason, as the Water King watched the teenager chuckle like that, she found him so stupidly cute she wanted to pinch his cheeks.
Clearly, no one could guess the true feelings hidden inside a girl who could wear a mask as well as Isolde.
And so, they continued their stroll and sightseeing.
Isolde walked parallel to Atur, listening to every single word he said; her eyes didn't leave him for even a moment. She couldn't even bear to blink.
And just like always, Atur was the one running his mouth, while Isolde occasionally replied, joked around a bit, laughed, and repeated the cycle over and over. This kind of thing happened all the time, just like back in the Royal Capital when they'd occasionally go to church together like this. Afterwards, they'd drop by some food stall or somewhere interesting.
Come to think of it, almost ten years had passed, hadn't they?
And yet everything still felt like the very first time. Fresh, fun, and genuinely comfortable.
Though there was also a salty hint of sadness to it.
...
In the blink of an eye, it was dark.
They had walked all around the city, hitting all four outer districts and even making their way into the central area, entering the Sanctum to pray together. Eating together at the fanciest restaurant. Then mutually complaining that the food here was seasoned way too sweetly. By the afternoon, the Commercial District had festival-like activities. They joined in, winning some, losing some; Atur even blew a whole Millis gold coin because of his hyper-competitive streak at the ring-toss game.
Then, when it was all over, they strolled along the path by the cool lakeside, heading toward a place called the 'Bridge of Trust'. It was a massive bridge, easily over a kilometer long, stretching across the river, built from elegant, pure-white stone blocks. It was built ages ago, probably four or five hundred years back during the Laplace War.
Back then, Millishion had been heavily attacked and suffered massive damage from the relentless assaults of the Demon armies. To maintain and resolve the travel issues between districts—especially the Commercial and Residential Districts—they built this grand bridge under the strict supervision of the Church, with the King himself even coming out to support it.
That's right, even if many people forgot, the Holy Kingdom of Millishion had a king; they still did actually. There was a time when they held power in the country they ruled, but they gradually lost their status after the Laplace War.
That was why they had the authority to order the construction of this kilometer-long bridge. On the day it was finished, legend says the reigning king of Millishion walked across it and slipped, nearly falling. Many feared it was a terrible omen. But luckily, his Queen caught him in time, and they held hands and crossed the bridge together, becoming a symbol of trust and the steadfastness of love. That was also why it had that name.
So, when crossing the bridge, there was a belief that if you trusted someone, or loved each other, you'd hold hands and walk across. Do just that, and the two of you would be happy and peaceful for the rest of your lives. And that was why this place had become an absolute must-visit spot for anyone making a pilgrimage to Millishion, praying for their love to endure forever.
Just like those couples walking past over there. They really did look incredibly happy to be by each other's side.
Looking at scenes like this makes me want to—
"Whoa!"
Maybe because she was busy watching other people, or maybe just because of the road, the Water King tripped in a pothole, lost her footing, and completely lost her balance.
But fortunately, she was caught—by the very hands of the boy walking next to her.
"Are you alright?" Atur asked.
"I'm... I'm fine." Her face red as a tomato, all four of her limbs hastily scrambling to regain her balance. "
Kill me now! Isolde genuinely just wanted to jump off the bridge and be done with it.
"Relax, everybody gets careless sometimes." Yet Atur, instead of teasing her like usual, had become bizarrely mature. "Hell, sometimes I even accidentally swing my sword and slash my own hand."
And the result only made Isolde feel even more embarrassed. But the Cluel girl stayed calm; she gave a slight nod as if completely unimpressed by what just happened. Yet right as she was about to take another step, she noticed a problem.
Oh... My shoe broke!
Because when she tripped, she didn't just lose her footing, she snagged it on some sharp shards from the cracked stone. Isolde wasn't hurt—she was a Water King, after all; even outside of combat, her Battle Aura was far too durable to be affected by this kind of stuff. But her leather shoe wasn't so lucky. The sole had snapped. While she could technically still wear it, the uneven height was going to make walking insanely annoying.
And Atur noticed it immediately.
"Take it off."
"What?" Isolde asked back.
"Take off your shoe, I'll fix it."
Isolde stared blankly for a second before complying. She hadn't expected him to be carrying a needle and thread on a walk like this. But this was Atur, right? Who could ever predict what he'd do or carry with him?
However, what he did was completely outside of Isolde's calculations. The teenager, instead of fixing the shoe, touched her bare foot. Before the girl could even react, broken shards of stone clung to her foot, instantly transforming into a brand-new stone shoe.
"There, try walking on it." Atur said.
"You... can seriously make a shoe just like that, that easily?" Isolde marveled.
"It's actually not as hard as you'd think," the teenager replied. "Just takes a bit of focus and a bit of calculating."
Not hard? In this entire world, you're the only person I've ever seen do that!
People could use earth magic to create foundations or simple things like a mold for pouring hot metal. But practically no one on earth could just whip up an entire shoe.
Isolde stood up and did as he suggested. Her foot touched the ground after leaving the teenager's hand, taking a few slow steps on the bridge surface. Pretty comfortable—that was her verdict. Not only that, but it perfectly matched the height of her other shoe, and was even as soft on the foot as if it had been made of fabric.
"Surprising, right? I combined it with water magic to make the earth softer, like clay. The outside is still as sturdy as normal, though." Atur started rambling. "This is a technique I just thought of."
"Just thought of? As in, you just thought it was possible and immediately made it happen just like that?"
"Well, not exactly." Atur shook his head, though his face was tilted up looking incredibly smug. "I thought of it maybe a month ago and tested it a few times, but it just now succeeded. Awesome, right?"
"Um... Yeah." Isolde nodded. "You really never stop surprising me, do you?"
"That's just because you set the bar so damn low for me."
"I've always set my standards for you incredibly high, and you still manage to surpass them." Isolde sighed inwardly, looking down at the brand-new shoe on her foot that had been conjured up in less than a minute.
"What's wrong?" Atur asked again, flashing that same obnoxious, amused smile. "If you don't like it, I can just piggyback you back to the inn, you know."
"..." The Water King froze for a second before glaring at the boy. "Don't joke around like that."
"Haha. Sorry, just kidding. No need to glare at me like that." So he was just joking. Isolde was genuinely disappointed, because honestly, a piggyback ride sounded fantastic right about now. "But I figure you're not exactly the type who likes being carried anyway."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Hmm. Let's see. You're the type to act cold and aloof twenty-four seven" Atur replied. "That's how I see it, anyway. So if you really want it, you will still act like you don't. So it's only natural for you to decline."
Bullseye. Isolde hadn't expected him to read her like an open, embarrassing book.
Her pride, however, immediately staged a rebellion.
"I'm not that ridiculous." She shrugged casually. "If you don't believe me, you can carry me. I don't mind."
"Uh... I mean, I do mind, but… are you serious?" Now it was Atur's turn to look flustered. But unlike Isolde, he looked more like he thought he needed to get his ears checked. He even took a step back, slipping into a defensive stance. "If I actually agree, you're not going to look at me like I'm garbage or something, right?"
"..." Isolde wasn't looking at him like he was garbage; she was just staring blankly at the boy. "Depends."
"Depends on… what?"
"Depends."
"..."
And so they stood there, staring at each other. One was embarrassed but desperately trying to play it cool. The other clearly had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on and was visibly running through dozens of wild hypotheses in his head.
Talhand was right; Atur was a complete and utter idiot when it came to romance. Even the clueless pedestrians strolling by could probably tell Isolde was crushing on him, yet the male lead himself remained blissfully oblivious.
"Don't want to, huh?" Isolde crossed her arms.
"Of course I wa-" Atur started to say something, then caught himself. "You're trying to trick me so you can make fun of me again, aren't you?"
He scratched his head, then his forehead. The Water King could plainly see that the boy was... scared. Atur was terrified of Isolde, for whatever ridiculous reason. That realization annoyed her. And apparently, her annoyance was so obvious that even Atur noticed it.
"Fine, I'll just walk back by myself."
"Hey, hey, calm down." The boy threw his hands up, starting to stammer. "I just mean, you're never usually like this, so..."
But Isolde just started walking away. That was when the boy finally admitted defeat. He sighed, crouched down, and offered his back to her.
"Alright, alright. Hop on."
Seeing him blushing with embarrassment, Isolde gleefully climbed onto his back.
//
And so he carried her across the long bridge, sharing the space with other couples. Whenever someone walked past, the Millis followers would look on in awe, some even offering their blessings. Every time that happened, Isolde's heart would pound with pure joy, while the poor sap carrying her just seemed to grow increasingly terrified.
Come to think of it, Isolde had felt this exact same way during their little "wedding" at Necross Fortress. Back then, she had been the one carrying Atur. He was much smaller then—shorter, far less muscular, with a childish voice. If there was anything truly identical between him then and the Greyrat boy now, it was probably just his face and his personality.
He had changed, slightly. But that arrogant idiot—who was nonetheless weirdly disciplined—was exactly the same. Even though Isolde intentionally pressed her chest against Atur's back, he just arched his spine forward, deliberately trying to avoid contact. Guess you really can't force the impossible, huh?
And yet, that was exactly why she fell for the idiot.
Thinking about it filled Isolde with an overwhelming sense of melancholy.
Eventually, they made it across the bridge. Now, the only light guiding the boy's way was the full moon hanging overhead. The road they were on was deserted; just the two of them walking in silence. Atur's footsteps were as quietly muted as the silence they were currently sharing.
Isolde had no idea what Atur was thinking. It was rather difficult to use her "reading" ability when she couldn't even see the guy's face.
But she could easily guess that he wasn't overthinking things nearly as much as she was right now. Or if he was, it definitely wasn't about her. Atur always had way too many things on his mind. Sometimes she found herself getting jealous over the stupidest things. Like Larry, for example. She was genuinely jealous of a cat just because it could rub against Atur whenever it pleased.
"Hey, Atur," she called out his name suddenly.
"What's up?"
"What are you planning to do next?"
She had no idea why she even asked that. Maybe because she actually cared?
"Hmm... Probably leave Millishion and head to East Port with everyone first," the boy replied, throwing up a thumbs up. "I hear the food there is even fresher than here."
"It's always about food with you." She rolled her eyes.
"I eat to live. If you live without eating good food, life is just downright tasteless." He turned his head back slightly. "What about you? What are you planning to do?"
"I'm heading back to Asura to start my training to become a knight."
"Huh? What for?"
"Because it's the rule," the Water King emphasized. "You say you want to be the Water God, but you really don't know anything about it, do you?"
When it came to things nobody knew about—like "Plasma" whatever, or those "scientific" rules Atur occasionally babbled about—he was an expert. But things that literally everyone knew? He couldn't care less.
And so, Isolde had to explain it. According to the rules of the Water God Style, besides mastering two secret techniques, to achieve the title of Water Emperor, one had to serve as a knight for a minimum of five years. And to even become a knight, one had to be trained in the regulations and serve as a squire for a few years prior.
The Water God Style was a school that prized principles and a chivalrous spirit, after all. And more importantly, your reputation had to be squeaky clean. So, becoming a respected knight was crucial for major nations—especially Asura—to take their sword style seriously.
It could be seen as an effort by the Water God Style to secure its standing against the increasingly popular Sword God and North God Styles.
To become the Water God, one had to be respected by the other Water Emperors and be officially recognized as a true knight, which ate up years of organizational work and knightly experience.
"Ah, I see," Atur nodded along. "No wonder Master sent me a letter telling me not to get in the way of you becoming a knight."
"Master actually said that?" Isolde was curious; she knew Atur had received a message from their master, but she had no idea what it said.
Suddenly, Atur's face visibly darkened. He had definitely been threatened. "Aside from some incredibly dangerous remarks, Master ordered that if I didn't have any romantic intentions towards you, I should stay as far away from you as possible until you become a Water Emperor."
"Is that so?" Isolde suddenly felt like something wasn't adding up. "So that's why you looked so terrified when I asked you to carry me earlier?"
"You know I'm terrified of Master."
Who wouldn't be?
After all, their master was the Water God. Even if she wasn't one of the Seven Great Powers, her strength was absolutely nothing to joke about. The two of them were still a long way off from even touching that kind of monstrous power.
"But you still carried me in the end, didn't you?" Isolde smirked. "So that means you have a feeling for me huh?"
"Please, don't talk nonsense." Atur immediately protested. "I did it because I was more afraid of seeing you sad than I was of Master's words."
Isolde honestly didn't know how to react to a line like that. He just finished saying he had no romantic interest in her, and in the very next breath, he claims he's afraid of upsetting her. This agonizingly ambiguous way of speaking...
"This exact way of talking is exactly why girls keep falling for you left and right."
"I'm just telling the truth?"
"If that's the case, it's even worse."
"Really?" The boy stopped walking. "Anyway, never mind. But I am wondering about one thing... Master said that if I did like you, I should tell it to you before you become a knight. Why is that?"
"It's all about reputation," Isolde sighed again.
If the two of them were a couple, the fact that Atur was already famous as the hero who defeated the Immortal Demon King Atofe would be a massive boost to their reputation. Whether Isolde was a knight or not wouldn't really matter at that point.
And yet, people always preached that to become the Water God, you had to abandon all status. Clearly, tradition was just a flimsy excuse to shape the reality they wanted.
In short, if Isolde still wanted to be the Water God, she couldn't afford to waste any more time; she needed to return to Asura and start her knight training. Because who knew how much longer Isolde's grandmother had left to live? The woman was well over sixty. The Water God wanted to ensure Isolde had the best chance of succeeding her title, making time the most critical factor right now.
Because if the next person to become the Water God happened to be some young Water Emperor in their early thirties, Isolde would probably die of old age before she ever got a shot at her coveted title.
"So, meaning I have a bigger advantage in becoming the Water God, huh?" Atur concluded.
"Obviously."
"Oh boy." He sighed.
"Hm?" Isolde tilted her head. "I thought you wanted to be the Water God too, did you not? When did you change your mind?"
"Well, yeah..."
The boy reached up to scratch his head, accidentally brushing his hand against Isolde's cheek in the process. He immediately corrected his course to actually scratch his head. Naturally, Isolde practically suffered a heart attack just from that fleeting contact. But Atur, oblivious as ever, just kept answering.
"I do, but aren't you the one who deserves it more?"
Isolde froze for a moment, then tilted her head a bit.
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, you have natural talent, you're responsible, and you understand what's best for the Water God Style. If you become a Water God, you will manage it with ease. While I've hit the age where I just want to live a peaceful, quiet life. And I don't know how to deal with something as big as a dojo, let alone a whole Water God Style."
Isolde subconsciously tightened her grip on him. Atur must have felt the pressure around his neck, because he quickly added to his statement.
"What are you implying?"
"Don't misunderstand, I have absolutely no intention of backing down from our rivalry. If I somehow bested you and become the next Water God, I will name you as my right hand and manage everything for me while I enjoy my life."
"You literally always talk out of both sides of your mouth," the girl grumbled. "Now I really don't want to lose that position to you even more."
"He he he." The boy offered a wry smile.
And just like that, the conversation ran dry. The boy kept walking, while Isolde went back to juggling dozens of different thoughts in her head.
Even though she didn't agree with him, she understood what Atur was trying to say. He was telling her that she needed to keep chasing her dream, as seriously as humanly possible.
Then she looked up at the sky, where the bright moon was shining brilliantly, and unconsciously blurted out the very first thing that popped into her head.
"The moon is really beautiful tonight, isn't it?"
"Wa- What!? Gah! Cough! Cough! Urgh!"
And for some inexplicable reason, Atur had an immediate, violent reaction. He acted like he'd just been shot, which naturally sent Isolde into an instant panic.
"H-Hey! Are you okay!?"
"No— Cough! I'm fine." The boy covered his mouth, still hacking away. "I just choked a bit."
Despite his reassurance, Isolde could easily see how bizarre his reaction was. So she leaned forward, trying to get a good look at his face.
"Then why were you just thinking 'that was a close one...'? A close one to what?"
"Could you please not pick this exact moment to read my mind?" The boy buried his face in his hand. For whatever reason, his cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment.
But what the hell was there to be embarrassed about?
"You were thinking about something perverted again, weren't you?" Isolde glared and poked a finger into the boy's cheek. "Imagining the moon as some girl's breasts, huh? Or her butts? Well?"
"No I wasn't, you weirdo, who would think of the moon like that?" Atur shot back instantly.
"Then why did you react like you were dying? There must be a reason."
"Because, um..." Atur shifted his gaze elsewhere, unfortunately glancing straight up at the moon and nearly choking again. "Where I'm from... I mean, in my hometown, people confess their love by complimenting how beautiful the moon is."
"Huh?" Isolde raised an eyebrow.
"So I freaked out because I thought you were confessing to me." The boy scratched his cheek, looking in the opposite direction from where Isolde's head was resting on his shoulder. "Thinking about it, it's just ridiculous, so... yeah, never mind."
Isolde had lost count of how many times she'd been emotionally overloaded by whatever this boy said or did tonight. What the actual hell? She had just confessed? Just like that? By complimenting the moon? Did the Milbots region seriously have such a bizarre, sappy culture? A barrage of questions fired through Isolde's brain, swiftly followed by a tsunami of embarrassment that drowned out everything else. Her heart pounded, and then her mind went completely blank. She let go with both arms to cover her face.
Perhaps it was so incredibly obvious by this point that even Atur sensed something was wrong. He turned his head, coming face to face with a fiercely blushing Isolde.
It was a sight he had never seen before.
"Wait a minute. What's with your face?"
And it took a full ten seconds for the brain of a North Saint to actually process the situation. The boy took a deep breath.
"Don't tell me..."
"Yeah." Isolde nodded immediately.
"Huh?" Atur bluescreened for the second time. "What... huh? No way. Wait, I mean… How? What!?"
Isolde kept her face covered. She breathed in, breathed out, and then dropped her hands to reveal an eerily calm, deeply serious expression. It looked absolutely nothing like the face of someone who had just accidentally confessed their love indirectly.
"It's true." The Water King immediately straightened up and hopped off the boy's back. Then she continued with a straight face. "I don't know when, but I love you, from the bottom of my heart."
"Wa…h?"
"But rest assured, I have no intention of making a move on you."
"Huh?"
"We are nothing more than friends. Or maybe after this day, we should become strangers instead."
"Wait, what? What the fuck?"
"We can just end things here." Isolde offered a solemn bow. "Thank you for the date today. Goodbye."
"Hey, wait, wait, wait! No no no no! Don't just run away like that!" Atur instinctively grabbed Isolde by the collar as she tried to run away. He only let go when she snapped her head back to glare at him. "Uh, sorry... But what the hell did you just say? You literally just confessed and then friendzoned me in the exact same breath!? Are you messing with me!?"
Isolde had absolutely no idea what a "friendzone" was, but she answered calmly anyway. "I am completely serious. It's not like you had any intention of reciprocating anyway, did you?"
"Uh... Well, about that..."
"Averting your eyes, I was right, then. Farewell. Let's never cross paths again."
"Hey, no!" Atur immediately chased after her. "I mean... everything is just so sudden, I haven't even processed it yet. Don't go jumping to conclusions!"
"You already have a fiancée. Don't tell me you're planning to two-time, you degenerate. Greedy. Pervert. Shameless!"
"How did I suddenly become the bad guy here!?"
"Because you are!"
Now the two of them were essentially racing each other, just like back at Necross Fortress. The Water King looked back over her shoulder, her face remaining as cold as ice. Except now, it carried a slightly awkward tinge of disdain.
But since they don't really know the city, just after a while, they ran into a dead end. Isolde skidded to a halt.
"Look like I'm trapped huh?" She sighed then she turned around. Her beautiful blue eyes shine under the moon as sharp as always. "Well? Are you going to take advantage of me while I still have a broken heart?"
"You know full well that I won't do that right?" The boy took a step back, to keep a safe distance between them. "I just worry about you."
She had been acting this whole time, and it seemed she couldn't keep the facade up any longer. She let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head.
"I really don't understand why I fell in love with someone like you."
"Rest assured, I'm asking myself the exact same thing."
And so, they both sighed and looked at each other.
Judging by his reaction and his brooding expression, Atur was clearly thinking very seriously about what was happening. At that moment, Isolde knew that on some level—perhaps just a tiny little corner of the boy's mind—she was genuinely important to him. He might even consider her someone he absolutely did not want to lose, no matter the reason.
But it was painfully obvious it wasn't love. The reason he was hesitating wasn't because he was harboring some unspoken love of his own; it was simply because he didn't want to lose their current dynamic. It was clear as day. So even if he had accepted her confession, the girl wouldn't have been happy about it anyway.
"Like I said, I just slipped up and said it by accident. I have no intention of taking things any further with you, so don't overthink it," the silky blue-haired girl said. "We're fine just the way we are. I really don't have a problem with it, so don't worry."
"You might be able to say that, but how am I supposed to just pretend nothing happened?" The boy clicked his tongue.
"Then you don't need to worry. Tomorrow, I'm heading to the Dragon King Kingdom and then back to Asura, while you're off to the Begaritt Continent. So there won't be any time to be awkward, right?"
"Uh..."
"Maybe we'll share the road for a day or two, but after that, you can comfortably focus on your rescue mission. Then you'll go back to your hometown, get married, and become the son-in-law of some powerful noble family. See? No need to stress over today at all."
"Isolde… listen."
Isolde stopped caring about his reactions, his words or Atur himself, and simply kept talking.
"And I'll focus on my training so I can be worthy of succeeding Master. It'll probably be decades before we see each other again. By then, it won't be an issue anymore, right? That's exactly why I decided to voice my feelings. We won't be seeing each other anyway, so there's zero reason to fret. And I am definitely not just trying to avoid you or anything, so please, don't feel awkward."
"I mean, true, but..." Atur was still hesitating, as if he was struggling with something incredibly awkward to say.
"What is it?" The Water King crossed her arms, leaning against the nearby wall in the dark alleyway. "Is something wrong? Am I wrong?"
"Well, most of what you said is right," Atur admitted. "However... you do realize that the route to Begaritt goes right through the Dragon King Kingdom, right?"
"Huh?" Isolde raised a single eyebrow. "What do you mean? Aren't they on another continent?"
"Yes, but there is no route to go directly from Millis to Begaritt." The boy said it again. "So we're going to be traveling together for a few more months."
The sound of unlubricated gears grinding heavily echoed in the void. It was only at this exact moment that Isolde's usually sharp brain decided to boot up again. An image of the world map finally materialized in the Cluel girl's mind, slowly zooming in on the intersection of the three continents.
"That's right! To get to Begaritt from the Millis Continent, you have to cross through the Dragon King Kingdom on the Central Continent!" the girl shrieked.
Meanwhile, the boy facepalmed and sighed. "You're seriously just realizing this now?"
So, all of Isolde's agonizing and inner torment over the past few days had been for absolutely nothing!? The whole thing could have been resolved immediately if she had just bothered to glance at a map from the start. Wait, no! Talhand and Roxy could have easily told her this. Those two definitely conspired to set this up. Definitely!
"But it's fine." Isolde desperately tried to salvage the situation. She pointed her finger at Atur. "I can totally just leave a day earlier. Even tonight works! If I do that, we won't ever have to see each other's faces again. Then there's really nothing to worry about! Right? Right?"
"And who was it that just claimed they definitely weren't trying to avoid me?"
"Tch..."
And just like that, Isolde lost a verbal sparring match to Atur for the very first time in her life—ironically, during the one time the boy wasn't even trying to win.
"Also... um..." Atur hesitated again. "Actually, there was one more thing I meant to tell you, but I don't know if this is the right time."
"Just spit it out." Isolde sighed. "Nothing can surprise me at this point anyway. I already look as stupid as humanly possible, so go ahead and trample me with your words like some sadistic pervert."
"Could you please not say things like that?"
The boy glanced around to make sure no one else was around to hear Isolde's bizarre dialogue before turning back. They were directly facing each other now, though neither of them bothered to make eye contact.
Isolde remained patient, even though her entire body was practically vibrating with humiliation. Yet, that was absolutely nothing compared to what she was about to hear.
"Well, actually, I'm not going to Begaritt. I'm heading back to Asura."
Isolde completely froze once again, her eyes blowing wide open.
"Huh? That means..."
"That means we'll probably be sharing the road for quite a while," Atur delivered the final blow.
Sweet Millis! So I've literally been acting like a total moron for nothing!
"No, no, you're not a moron. You're the smartest girl I know—"
"Don't read my mind at a time like this!" Isolde slapped both hands over her tomato-red face and shrieked. "Aaaaaaaaaa!!!"
Then she runs away again.