“Oof… I’m so full,” Nicky exclaimed as soon as the group stepped out of the restaurant.
“It’s your own fault. You shouldn’t have ordered a dessert,” Ileena scolded her friend.
“But I had to try it. I couldn’t just watch Growly eat his own. Besides, it looked so delicious,” the tiny girl argued it was worth having it. “As a matter of the fact, it was delicious.”
“If you say so,” Ileena threw her hand to the side with an added sigh.
“Oh dang it!” Flavia exclaimed out loud suddenly.
“What’s wrong, Flavia?” Narias asked, seeing a worried look on her face.
“I completely forgot I still have the Two-Sided Bone Needle with me. I could’ve shown it to Norella Froxen. She might’ve wanted to buy it of off me,” Flavia explained, slumping down.
“Flavia…” Ileena shook her head.
“We could go back to the shop again and ask her,” Emilia suggested.
“Did you forget, Emilia? Madam Froxen said she’ll be leaving for her other shop in the town center. She’ll be definitely gone by now,” Ileena reminded everyone.
“Oh, I forgot about that one myself,” Flavia grinned wide, not feeling upset about it, though.
“What do we do then? Should we go to the town center? Madam Froxen said she has another shop at the Mazaar Shopping District,” Emilia suggested again.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. Mazaar Shopping District is quite a distance away and we still need to buy all the Thank You gifts for Miss Salroze,” Ileena objected to the idea.
“So, what now?” The bunny girl frowned.
“Excuse me, how about I take it to her? Narias offered.
“You mean you’d go to Norella’s Froxen shop in the town center now, partner?” Flavia wanted to confirm.
“No, no. Not now. I was thinking of buying something for my mom to take home with me when I’ll go visit my parents during the upcoming off school season. Madam Froxen suggested me come see her next week about it,” Narias explained his intentions, which also made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
“Ah, that. Yeah, Madam Froxen said she’ll need to…” Flavia was about to blurt out something she shouldn’t.
“Flavia!” Both Ileena and Emilia raised their voices to stop her.
“Eek! Sorry…” the bunny girl shut her mouth instantly.
“Huh? What’s going on?” Narias was confused about how the girls behaved.
“Aah… it’s nothing. I mean, that’s a great idea, partner. Here, I’ll give the Two-Sided Bone Needle to you,” Flavia quickly scrambled to take out the magic item from her backpack and almost forcefully squeezed it into Narias’s hands. Then grinned wide.
“O… ok,” he took it, still perplexed at what happened.
“Shall we go then? We still need to buy all those gifts,” Ileena tried to rush everyone, which sounded unusual, considering it was coming from her.
“Yes, yes. Let’s go,” Flavia was all for getting on with it.
Huh? What’s going on? They are acting strange for some reason. Narias couldn’t put a finger on it.
“Right, where do we go first?” Flavia asked everyone.
“Let’s think about it. We need to get the flowers, a Thank You card, a book and something sweet,” Ileena listed all the things they were supposed to buy.
“Great. As I said, I know where to buy a nice Thank You card. It’s this way,” Flavia pointed with her finger.
“The flower shop that I know of is that way,” Emilia pointed in a different direction.
“I know the way to the bakery,” Growly didn’t point anywhere, but it was evident it wasn’t on the way to where Flavia or Emilia were pointing.
“The best place to buy the book… W… wait. All the shops that we need are in different places, so then…” Ileena realized that with the time they had left the students wouldn’t be able to buy all the items they wanted if they were to visit each place one by one.
“I have a suggestion,” Nicky intervened to save the day. “How about instead of visiting each shop as a group, we decide who buys what and then meet up near where the transport to take us back to the academy is? There’s a very nice cafeteria on the corner in front of the stop.”
“I thought you said you were too full to eat anything else already?” Ileena commented, throwing a mild stare at the tiny girl who was complaining about eating too much just a moment ago.
“I didn’t say to eat there. I said to meet there,” Nicky giggled, covering her mouth with one hand.
“I can buy the cake,” Growly offered, agreeing with Nicky’s suggestion.
“Good idea, I’ll go buy the card,” Flavia agreed as well.
“In that case, I can go buy the book too,” Ileena added, seeing the merit of doing it this way.
“I can go buy the flowers then,” said Emilia, then turned to Ileena. “But since you said Miss Salroze likes to grow flowers, I think it’s better to buy the ones grown in the flower pot. It shouldn’t be too heavy to carry… I hope.”
“Yes, I think buying Orchivids in a flower pot would be better. But are you sure you will be able to carry it all the way back?” Ileena wanted to make sure.
“I should,” Emilia smiled, knowing she’ll have to carry it one way or another.
“How about I help you with it?” Narias stepped in. “I can go with you and help you carry it back.”
“Oh, thank you so much, Narias,” Emilia was happy to be offered some help.
“Ah, well… Yes, Narias… could help you,” Ileena, who probably wanted to say something else, agreed it was a good idea.
“Say, Growly, how about I go with you then? I can help you choose the best cake for Miss Salroze,” Nicky asked with a suggestion of her own.
“Sure,” Growly didn’t mind her tagging along.
“Great,” the tiny girl clapped her hands in excitement.
“Alright then. Let’s see who manages to buy the gift and arrive at the agreed meeting spot first,” as usual, Flavia made it into a challenge.
“Hey, Flavia, it is… not a race…” Narias wanted to tell her that, but his bunny girlfriend was already gone. “Sigh…”
“That’s Flavia for you,” Nicky laughed. “Well, we’ll be going too. See you later.”
“See ya,” added Growly.
“I should go too,” Ileena was about to go too, but then suddenly turned around and gave Narias a kiss on a cheek. She glanced at Emilia with a slight envy in her eyes before leaving. The two of them were going to a flower shop, after all. “I’ll… see you later.”
“Oh, see you later, Ileena,” Narias had to snap out of a sudden surprise after being kissed.
“Well… shall we go too?” Emilia finally asked, letting Narias enjoy the view of Ileena walking away for a brief moment.
“Huh? Aah… sorry, I was just…” that certainly made Narias feel embarrassed again.
“That’s ok… I know you like her,” the Ice Princess said, playing with her hair at the same time.
Oh man. I acted like a total dork staring at Ileena walking away like that. Narias was burning from embarrassment inside. Little did he know, Ileena walked in a certain way on purpose, just so Narias would look at her longer.
“So then… which way is the flower shop that you’ve mentioned?” Narias asked.
“It is this way,” Emilia motioned with her hand, also turning towards to where they would need to go.
“Right. Lead the way, please,” Narias smiled at her.
They walked down the street to leave the Crafters District quietly. For some reason, neither of them had anything to say to each other. Or probably because of that awkward moment with Ileena acting the way she did, and Narias staring at her walking away the way he did.
“It’s quite a nice weather today, isn’t it?” Emilia broke the silence, brushing her snow-white hair to the side with one hand.
“Yes, it certainly is,” Narias agreed, after which an awkward silence settled again.
Huh? Wait, the weather? That’s the most cliché conversation starter to break the silence ever. And why do I feel so awkward? It’s not like Emilia is some stranger to me. Oh, come on, pull yourself together. Narias was scolding himself quietly.
“By the way, did you three agree on what you want to be made out of the Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s Fur?” He asked after gathering his thoughts.
“Huh? Oh, yes. We’ve all come to an agreement regarding the matter,” Emilia answered, but didn’t say what they agreed upon.
“That’s great then. You took some time talking to Madam Froxen back there, so I thought you had a disagreement about it,” Narias admitted.
“Well… Madam Froxen made a suggestion and… we had a discussion about it. In the end, all of us agreed with what she has offered,” the Ice Princess explained, again not going into details about what it was.
“Right, ok,” Narias, seeing that Emilia wouldn’t disclose any details, decided not to probe about it anymore. Instead, he went to ask something else. “Say, Emilia, I wanted to ask you something.”
“What is it, Narias?” The girl smiled at him.
“Miss Salroze said we have all passed the Magic Dungeon exploration test, even though it’s not official yet. So, I was just wondering, what will you do now?” He was curious to know what her plans were going forward.
“Oh, that…” Emilia didn’t expect to hear such a question. Her cheeks blushed all of a sudden. “I… I don’t know yet. What… what would you like me to do?”
“Me?” Narias didn’t expect to hear her ask him question in return. “I think… I think it would be great if we could go to the Magic Dungeon together again. We’ve made a great team back there.”
“I see… Yes, I guess we did,” the girl smiled, yet somehow she also looked sad for some reason.
Did I… say something wrong? Narias noticed how she reacted to his answer. Wait… maybe she wasn’t asking about the Magic Dungeon? What was she asking then? If it wasn’t about the Magic Dungeon then… Huh?
Narias turned to look at Emilia and was instantly awestruck by how pretty she looked. But this time, it was somehow more than that. He knew Emilia was pretty. She was one of the prettiest girls in the whole of the academy after all. But that wasn’t the point. It was almost like Narias saw Emilia in a new light all of a sudden. In addition, it was as if only now he has realized they were left just the two of them. From the outside, they looked like just another couple on a date.
Heeey… Narias suddenly felt pleasantly uncomfortable. He turned to Emilia again. Emilia…
The girl had her hands rested below in front of her as she walked while gently pressing them against her dress. Emilia’s snow-white hair seemed to have an additional sparkle around it, compared to how it was before. She lifted one of her arms to brush her hair away, to show more of her face, also giving Narias her most charming smile as she glanced at him. The frost glimmer on her lips had Narias’s heart skip a beat when his eyes caught her smile. And it wasn’t only her lips that made the butterflies flap their wings inside Narias’s stomach all of a sudden. Emilia’s blue eyes were shining like the brightest gems, with her dazzling, snowy eyebrows adding that extra glow. Noticing Narias staring at her so intently, Emilia’s cheeks caught a delightful flush, after which she quickly averted her eyes away.
“Ah… sorry… about that,” Narias turned his face away, feeling awkward about it too.
“That’s… ok,” Emilia procured a mild, satisfied smile. She brushed her hair again, more so to hide her flushed face this time.
I guess… she was asking me something else… entirely. Narias was slowly getting the picture. Maybe… I should man up and be upfront with her? I mean… I still can’t get used to the thought of having Ileena and Flavia as my girlfriends, but… maybe Emilia likes me too? Well, we’ve known each other for a while now and… we had spent some time together too…
One by one, Narias started to remember all the times when he and Emilia were together in the past. The first time they had met was when they trained just the two of them at his student club’s place. It was definitely fun for the both of them back then. The target practice, with Emilia creating ice crystals and Narias shooting them down with his Wind Bullet spell was definitely beneficial to both of them.
He had his cold lunch at the cafeteria with her too. The small, unpleasant incident at the time didn’t ruin their mood and they had surely enjoyed the rest of the lunch break together. The surprise triple date with Ileena, Flavia and Emilia got Narias more than he had ever bargained for. Not only he was able to enjoy seeing the girls trying out new dresses, but he had also received a goodbye kiss not only from Ileena and Flavia, but from Emilia as well.
The time spent inside the Magic Dungeon brought them closer as well. He remembered how close Emilia pressed herself to him, not wanting to let go of his arm for the entire time they were resting at the Supply Point room. And it happened twice too.
As time went by, Narias somehow started treating Emilia as more than just someone he knew. He started to realize he had some feelings for her, but in all fairness, they weren’t actually a couple officially. Narias had never asked her directly how she felt about him, or about their relationships going forward for that matter.
Sigh… not again… As harsh as the truth was, Narias realized he was taking his friendship with Emilia for granted. He certainly knew he shouldn’t leave anything to chance by now.
“I’m sorry Emilia,” Narias stopped walking suddenly.
“Huh? Why? Is something the matter, Narias?” She was surprised to hear him say that.
“I apologize, please forgive me,” Narias not only apologized again, but also bowed down in front of her respectfully.
“Wha… Why… why would you do that? There is nothing you need to apologize for, Narias,” the girl was perplexed by Narias’s unexpected act.
“I’m sorry, Emilia. I was treating you unfairly all this time. We’ve been together for a while, but I had never asked how you feel,” Narias made a pause, mustering all the manly courage he could gather from within. “The truth is, I like you… I like you more than a friend and… I wanted to ask if you’d like to go out with me?”
Emilia was speechless. She was more taken aback by Narias’s boldness to ask her that question right there, in the middle of the street, with many other people passing by than him asking the question. They hadn’t even left the Crafting District yet, so the street they were in was as busy as it could get. However, Narias managed to totally forget where he was at that exact moment.
“Oh my, you won’t see that here very often,” a woman giggled to herself nearby.
“Humph, youngsters these days. They say anything they want,” an older man mumbled to himself, but he was loud enough for others to hear it.
“How adorable,” a woman in her mid-forties touched her cheek with one hand.
Huh? Wait, I just… Craaap! Everyone is staring at us now. I just jumped in to ask Emilia to go out with me here and now without thinking where we were. Emilia must be feeling so uncomfortable right now. Narias was burning from embarrassment. The stares and the whispers from the people around him started to sink in.
Narias looked at Emilia, expecting her to be, if not upset, then at least feeling totally embarrassed about it. But instead, he saw Emilia’s happiest smile he had ever seen. Her eyes were sparkling from joy too.
“Yes,” Emilia said, with the audible Aaah’s and Heh’s from women and men who had witnessed the whole deal.
━━━━━━━━━
Thank you for reading. Leave a comment and favorite the chapter if you enjoyed it.
Read 10+ extra chapters on my Patreon – Extra Chapters on Patreon
━━━━━━━━━
Extra thanks to nonomo4 and Lynderyn for extra support and help.
“Oof… I’m so full,” Nicky exclaimed as soon as the group stepped out of the restaurant.
“It’s your own fault. You shouldn’t have ordered a dessert,” Ileena scolded her friend.
“But I had to try it. I couldn’t just watch Growly eat his own. Besides, it looked so delicious,” the tiny girl argued it was worth having it. “As a matter of the fact, it was delicious.”
“If you say so,” Ileena threw her hand to the side with an added sigh.
“Oh dang it!” Flavia exclaimed out loud suddenly.
“What’s wrong, Flavia?” Narias asked, seeing a worried look on her face.
“I completely forgot I still have the Two-Sided Bone Needle with me. I could’ve shown it to Norella Froxen. She might’ve wanted to buy it of off me,” Flavia explained, slumping down.
“Flavia…” Ileena shook her head.
“We could go back to the shop again and ask her,” Emilia suggested.
“Did you forget, Emilia? Madam Froxen said she’ll be leaving for her other shop in the town center. She’ll be definitely gone by now,” Ileena reminded everyone.
“Oh, I forgot about that one myself,” Flavia grinned wide, not feeling upset about it, though.
“What do we do then? Should we go to the town center? Madam Froxen said she has another shop at the Mazaar Shopping District,” Emilia suggested again.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. Mazaar Shopping District is quite a distance away and we still need to buy all the Thank You gifts for Miss Salroze,” Ileena objected to the idea.
“So, what now?” The bunny girl frowned.
“Excuse me, how about I take it to her? Narias offered.
“You mean you’d go to Norella’s Froxen shop in the town center now, partner?” Flavia wanted to confirm.
“No, no. Not now. I was thinking of buying something for my mom to take home with me when I’ll go visit my parents during the upcoming off school season. Madam Froxen suggested me come see her next week about it,” Narias explained his intentions, which also made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
“Ah, that. Yeah, Madam Froxen said she’ll need to…” Flavia was about to blurt out something she shouldn’t.
“Flavia!” Both Ileena and Emilia raised their voices to stop her.
“Eek! Sorry…” the bunny girl shut her mouth instantly.
“Huh? What’s going on?” Narias was confused about how the girls behaved.
“Aah… it’s nothing. I mean, that’s a great idea, partner. Here, I’ll give the Two-Sided Bone Needle to you,” Flavia quickly scrambled to take out the magic item from her backpack and almost forcefully squeezed it into Narias’s hands. Then grinned wide.
“O… ok,” he took it, still perplexed at what happened.
“Shall we go then? We still need to buy all those gifts,” Ileena tried to rush everyone, which sounded unusual, considering it was coming from her.
“Yes, yes. Let’s go,” Flavia was all for getting on with it.
Huh? What’s going on? They are acting strange for some reason. Narias couldn’t put a finger on it.
“Right, where do we go first?” Flavia asked everyone.
“Let’s think about it. We need to get the flowers, a Thank You card, a book and something sweet,” Ileena listed all the things they were supposed to buy.
“Great. As I said, I know where to buy a nice Thank You card. It’s this way,” Flavia pointed with her finger.
“The flower shop that I know of is that way,” Emilia pointed in a different direction.
“I know the way to the bakery,” Growly didn’t point anywhere, but it was evident it wasn’t on the way to where Flavia or Emilia were pointing.
“The best place to buy the book… W… wait. All the shops that we need are in different places, so then…” Ileena realized that with the time they had left the students wouldn’t be able to buy all the items they wanted if they were to visit each place one by one.
“I have a suggestion,” Nicky intervened to save the day. “How about instead of visiting each shop as a group, we decide who buys what and then meet up near where the transport to take us back to the academy is? There’s a very nice cafeteria on the corner in front of the stop.”
“I thought you said you were too full to eat anything else already?” Ileena commented, throwing a mild stare at the tiny girl who was complaining about eating too much just a moment ago.
“I didn’t say to eat there. I said to meet there,” Nicky giggled, covering her mouth with one hand.
“I can buy the cake,” Growly offered, agreeing with Nicky’s suggestion.
“Good idea, I’ll go buy the card,” Flavia agreed as well.
“In that case, I can go buy the book too,” Ileena added, seeing the merit of doing it this way.
“I can go buy the flowers then,” said Emilia, then turned to Ileena. “But since you said Miss Salroze likes to grow flowers, I think it’s better to buy the ones grown in the flower pot. It shouldn’t be too heavy to carry… I hope.”
“Yes, I think buying Orchivids in a flower pot would be better. But are you sure you will be able to carry it all the way back?” Ileena wanted to make sure.
“I should,” Emilia smiled, knowing she’ll have to carry it one way or another.
“How about I help you with it?” Narias stepped in. “I can go with you and help you carry it back.”
“Oh, thank you so much, Narias,” Emilia was happy to be offered some help.
“Ah, well… Yes, Narias… could help you,” Ileena, who probably wanted to say something else, agreed it was a good idea.
“Say, Growly, how about I go with you then? I can help you choose the best cake for Miss Salroze,” Nicky asked with a suggestion of her own.
“Sure,” Growly didn’t mind her tagging along.
“Great,” the tiny girl clapped her hands in excitement.
“Alright then. Let’s see who manages to buy the gift and arrive at the agreed meeting spot first,” as usual, Flavia made it into a challenge.
“Hey, Flavia, it is… not a race…” Narias wanted to tell her that, but his bunny girlfriend was already gone. “Sigh…”
“That’s Flavia for you,” Nicky laughed. “Well, we’ll be going too. See you later.”
“See ya,” added Growly.
“I should go too,” Ileena was about to go too, but then suddenly turned around and gave Narias a kiss on a cheek. She glanced at Emilia with a slight envy in her eyes before leaving. The two of them were going to a flower shop, after all. “I’ll… see you later.”
“Oh, see you later, Ileena,” Narias had to snap out of a sudden surprise after being kissed.
“Well… shall we go too?” Emilia finally asked, letting Narias enjoy the view of Ileena walking away for a brief moment.
“Huh? Aah… sorry, I was just…” that certainly made Narias feel embarrassed again.
“That’s ok… I know you like her,” the Ice Princess said, playing with her hair at the same time.
Oh man. I acted like a total dork staring at Ileena walking away like that. Narias was burning from embarrassment inside. Little did he know, Ileena walked in a certain way on purpose, just so Narias would look at her longer.
“So then… which way is the flower shop that you’ve mentioned?” Narias asked.
“It is this way,” Emilia motioned with her hand, also turning towards to where they would need to go.
“Right. Lead the way, please,” Narias smiled at her.
They walked down the street to leave the Crafters District quietly. For some reason, neither of them had anything to say to each other. Or probably because of that awkward moment with Ileena acting the way she did, and Narias staring at her walking away the way he did.
“It’s quite a nice weather today, isn’t it?” Emilia broke the silence, brushing her snow-white hair to the side with one hand.
“Yes, it certainly is,” Narias agreed, after which an awkward silence settled again.
Huh? Wait, the weather? That’s the most cliché conversation starter to break the silence ever. And why do I feel so awkward? It’s not like Emilia is some stranger to me. Oh, come on, pull yourself together. Narias was scolding himself quietly.
“By the way, did you three agree on what you want to be made out of the Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s Fur?” He asked after gathering his thoughts.
“Huh? Oh, yes. We’ve all come to an agreement regarding the matter,” Emilia answered, but didn’t say what they agreed upon.
“That’s great then. You took some time talking to Madam Froxen back there, so I thought you had a disagreement about it,” Narias admitted.
“Well… Madam Froxen made a suggestion and… we had a discussion about it. In the end, all of us agreed with what she has offered,” the Ice Princess explained, again not going into details about what it was.
“Right, ok,” Narias, seeing that Emilia wouldn’t disclose any details, decided not to probe about it anymore. Instead, he went to ask something else. “Say, Emilia, I wanted to ask you something.”
“What is it, Narias?” The girl smiled at him.
“Miss Salroze said we have all passed the Magic Dungeon exploration test, even though it’s not official yet. So, I was just wondering, what will you do now?” He was curious to know what her plans were going forward.
“Oh, that…” Emilia didn’t expect to hear such a question. Her cheeks blushed all of a sudden. “I… I don’t know yet. What… what would you like me to do?”
“Me?” Narias didn’t expect to hear her ask him question in return. “I think… I think it would be great if we could go to the Magic Dungeon together again. We’ve made a great team back there.”
“I see… Yes, I guess we did,” the girl smiled, yet somehow she also looked sad for some reason.
Did I… say something wrong? Narias noticed how she reacted to his answer. Wait… maybe she wasn’t asking about the Magic Dungeon? What was she asking then? If it wasn’t about the Magic Dungeon then… Huh?
Narias turned to look at Emilia and was instantly awestruck by how pretty she looked. But this time, it was somehow more than that. He knew Emilia was pretty. She was one of the prettiest girls in the whole of the academy after all. But that wasn’t the point. It was almost like Narias saw Emilia in a new light all of a sudden. In addition, it was as if only now he has realized they were left just the two of them. From the outside, they looked like just another couple on a date.
Heeey… Narias suddenly felt pleasantly uncomfortable. He turned to Emilia again. Emilia…
The girl had her hands rested below in front of her as she walked while gently pressing them against her dress. Emilia’s snow-white hair seemed to have an additional sparkle around it, compared to how it was before. She lifted one of her arms to brush her hair away, to show more of her face, also giving Narias her most charming smile as she glanced at him. The frost glimmer on her lips had Narias’s heart skip a beat when his eyes caught her smile. And it wasn’t only her lips that made the butterflies flap their wings inside Narias’s stomach all of a sudden. Emilia’s blue eyes were shining like the brightest gems, with her dazzling, snowy eyebrows adding that extra glow. Noticing Narias staring at her so intently, Emilia’s cheeks caught a delightful flush, after which she quickly averted her eyes away.
“Ah… sorry… about that,” Narias turned his face away, feeling awkward about it too.
“That’s… ok,” Emilia procured a mild, satisfied smile. She brushed her hair again, more so to hide her flushed face this time.
I guess… she was asking me something else… entirely. Narias was slowly getting the picture. Maybe… I should man up and be upfront with her? I mean… I still can’t get used to the thought of having Ileena and Flavia as my girlfriends, but… maybe Emilia likes me too? Well, we’ve known each other for a while now and… we had spent some time together too…
One by one, Narias started to remember all the times when he and Emilia were together in the past. The first time they had met was when they trained just the two of them at his student club’s place. It was definitely fun for the both of them back then. The target practice, with Emilia creating ice crystals and Narias shooting them down with his Wind Bullet spell was definitely beneficial to both of them.
He had his cold lunch at the cafeteria with her too. The small, unpleasant incident at the time didn’t ruin their mood and they had surely enjoyed the rest of the lunch break together. The surprise triple date with Ileena, Flavia and Emilia got Narias more than he had ever bargained for. Not only he was able to enjoy seeing the girls trying out new dresses, but he had also received a goodbye kiss not only from Ileena and Flavia, but from Emilia as well.
The time spent inside the Magic Dungeon brought them closer as well. He remembered how close Emilia pressed herself to him, not wanting to let go of his arm for the entire time they were resting at the Supply Point room. And it happened twice too.
As time went by, Narias somehow started treating Emilia as more than just someone he knew. He started to realize he had some feelings for her, but in all fairness, they weren’t actually a couple officially. Narias had never asked her directly how she felt about him, or about their relationships going forward for that matter.
Sigh… not again… As harsh as the truth was, Narias realized he was taking his friendship with Emilia for granted. He certainly knew he shouldn’t leave anything to chance by now.
“I’m sorry Emilia,” Narias stopped walking suddenly.
“Huh? Why? Is something the matter, Narias?” She was surprised to hear him say that.
“I apologize, please forgive me,” Narias not only apologized again, but also bowed down in front of her respectfully.
“Wha… Why… why would you do that? There is nothing you need to apologize for, Narias,” the girl was perplexed by Narias’s unexpected act.
“I’m sorry, Emilia. I was treating you unfairly all this time. We’ve been together for a while, but I had never asked how you feel,” Narias made a pause, mustering all the manly courage he could gather from within. “The truth is, I like you… I like you more than a friend and… I wanted to ask if you’d like to go out with me?”
Emilia was speechless. She was more taken aback by Narias’s boldness to ask her that question right there, in the middle of the street, with many other people passing by than him asking the question. They hadn’t even left the Crafting District yet, so the street they were in was as busy as it could get. However, Narias managed to totally forget where he was at that exact moment.
“Oh my, you won’t see that here very often,” a woman giggled to herself nearby.
“Humph, youngsters these days. They say anything they want,” an older man mumbled to himself, but he was loud enough for others to hear it.
“How adorable,” a woman in her mid-forties touched her cheek with one hand.
Huh? Wait, I just… Craaap! Everyone is staring at us now. I just jumped in to ask Emilia to go out with me here and now without thinking where we were. Emilia must be feeling so uncomfortable right now. Narias was burning from embarrassment. The stares and the whispers from the people around him started to sink in.
Narias looked at Emilia, expecting her to be, if not upset, then at least feeling totally embarrassed about it. But instead, he saw Emilia’s happiest smile he had ever seen. Her eyes were sparkling from joy too.
“Yes,” Emilia said, with the audible Aaah’s and Heh’s from women and men who had witnessed the whole deal.
━━━━━━━━━
Thank you for reading. Leave a comment and favorite the chapter if you enjoyed it.
Read 10+ extra chapters on my Patreon – Extra Chapters on Patreon
━━━━━━━━━
Extra thanks to nonomo4 and Lynderyn for extra support and help.
