Living as a Recluse Deep in the Forest - Episode 4: Yuu’s Reminiscence
By the time the Mahjong table was cleared and the tiles were tucked back into their boxes, the night had grown deep.
In the final hanchan, Aurora had suffered a spectacular "Yakitori"—failing to win a single hand before finishing in a clean, decisive last place.
"I’ll let you off easy for today!"
Her parting words were so perfectly villainous and petty that they bordered on comical. Remembering her retreating figure—stomping off in a huff while being led by the arm by her maids—Yuu found himself letting out a sudden, solitary laugh.
"...What was with that reaction?"
He murmured, sinking his weight into the sofa and staring up at the ceiling.
"She’s like a child throwing a tantrum."
When they first met, she wasn't like that.
She was sharper. More desperate. Her eyes looked as if they were on the verge of shattering.
Suddenly, his consciousness was pulled back into the past.
Two years ago, that day. The worst possible first meeting where he encountered Aurora and her group.
...No, even before that.
From the day he arrived in this world—.
When I realized where I was, I was in a forest. That was my first memory.
The smell of damp earth. Looking up, the branches of unfamiliar trees covered the sky.
Fourteen years old. A body that should have been a middle school student had, at some point, been thrown into an unknown world.
"...Huh?"
That was all that escaped my lips. Everything before and after that moment was completely gone. How did I get here? What was I doing right before? Had I eaten breakfast? Was I on my way to school? Even that was blurry. Instead, there was only a strange "sensation" inside my head.
Magic.
It was as if I had been handed a puzzle I’d never seen before, yet somehow already knew what the finished picture looked like. A bizarre certainty that as I touched the scattered pieces, they would naturally assemble themselves. I reached out and drew a line in the air with my finger—and there, unknown symbols and structures flickered into existence in a way I could "understand."
(...Wait, what is this?)
I could "create" exactly what I imagined.
Fire. Wind. Light. By simply combining patterns and formulas I’d never seen and etching them into space, reality obeyed. From the very moment I was transported to this world, I was already standing at a dimension no mage in this world could ever hope to reach.
I didn't know why. Initially, the middle schooler I was—I enjoyed it. I was thrilled. I truly felt as though I’d been dropped into a video game, my heart racing with excitement. Every time I fired a fireball: "Whoa, awesome!" Every time I whipped up leaves with the wind: "For real? This is a total cheat!" I was giddy, playing around all by myself.
The first day was fine. A few days in, I could still laugh. A week later, I stopped laughing. A month later, I cried alone at night. Half a year later—my emotions had worn away.
I simply moved to stay alive. Hunt monsters, butcher the meat, grill it with fire magic, and eat. Collect water, find a place to sleep, and conserve energy. Endure today so I could live tomorrow. That was my entire life.
About a year in. Driven by an impulse I didn't quite understand, I created a spell. A spell to resurrect memories.
Unable to forget my former life. Desperate to recreate that old existence. I constructed a spell to vividly recall my past.
The construction didn't take long. Before I knew it, it was finished. Activation was instant. The moment I closed my eyes and poured magic into it—.
The things I had forgotten came rushing back like a deluge.
My family’s faces. The warmth of my mother’s hand. The slightly awkward way my father laughed.
Conversations with friends. Lunch breaks spent laughing over stupid things. The walk home spent getting hyped over games.
The scenery of Japan. The lights of a convenience store. Cars driving on the road at night. The lights glowing in the windows of skyscrapers.
Everything. All of it.
Things I had tried to forget, pushed away, and pretended not to see became vivid, spreading out before my eyes. And—I regretted it so much I wanted to die.
(Why... why couldn't I have just stayed forgetting?)
It’s not like I could go back. I should have known that. But now that I had remembered, there was no going back to the way I was.
They weren't anywhere anymore.
The family I had forgotten wasn't here. My friends. My school. The country called Japan. There was no road leading back.
"...I want to go home."
My whispered voice reached no one in the forest.
"I want to go back to Japan."
No matter how much I wished, no matter how much I prayed. No matter how much I tried to rearrange magic formulas or analyze the structure of the world. The one thing I could never find was a way back.
By the time I realized that, I’d stopped caring about anything.
From that point on, half of it was just inertia. Day after day, I simply refined my environment to make it easier to live.
I cut down trees in the forest and built a log house. I manipulated cold and wind to create magic tools for temperature control—what my old world would call an "air conditioner." A refrigerator. A kotatsu. A stove. Using monster materials, I made clothes and futons.
For the down comforter, I used the feathers of the "Hell Raven," a vicious bird in the forest. I shot down the pitch-black birds as they dove at me, plucked them bare, diligently washed and dried the feathers, and stuffed them. Tucking myself into the fluffy futon, I couldn't help but laugh.
"Isn't this better than what you'd find at a high-end furniture store in Japan?"
I laughed loudly, all alone in the empty forest.
As I laughed, a few tears blurred my vision.
How much time had passed since I got used to this life? I was counting the days with notches carved into the wall. That day—I think I had just turned twenty.
"In my old world, I'd be at the age where I could drink..."
I muttered to myself, sipping on a fruit wine I’d made. I had no intention of leaving the forest. I couldn't bring myself to want to interact with anyone outside.
I had used magic to peek at the world outside the forest a few times. With a sensation like floating an eye in the sky, I watched the towns and people's lives from afar. It was a scene that perfectly fit the words "fantasy world."
Swords and magic. Carriages. Castles.
But "Japan" wasn't there. No convenience stores, no vending machines, no smartphones—not a single thing. I was forced to realize that my home didn't exist anywhere in this world.
That’s why—I didn't want to go outside. I didn't want to live outside the forest.
I couldn't handle any more despair. I knew that if I did, I would truly break.
Occasionally, there were foolish monsters that attacked the barrier around the house. Monsters that were halfway strong would hit their heads against the barrier, perhaps sensing instinctively that "something was there."
The truly powerful ones—the ones even I categorized as "formidable"—didn't come near. Likewise, I didn't approach "their" territories. It was as if we were following a silent non-aggression pact within the forest.
However, on that day, the one shaking the barrier was a young dragon. Over and over, it spat breath at the barrier. There was no worry that the barrier itself would be broken, but—.
"...So noisy."
Simply put, it was loud. Obnoxious. A nuisance. For that reason alone, I left the house.
I stepped outside the barrier and headed toward the noise. Through the trees, I saw a massive shadow. Young as it was, a dragon is a dragon. It danced in the sky, its gaze wandering as if searching for something.
"Yeah, yeah, hello there."
Raising a hand lightly, I deployed a magic circle. I bundled fire and light, compressing them into a thin, sharp line. A heat ray. I fired it toward the chest of the dragon just as it was about to spit its breath. There was almost no sound. Only the air distorted for a single moment.
In the next instant, a gaping hole had opened in the dragon's torso.
Heat that seared through scales, bone, and meat all at once. Before it even had time to scream, the dragon lost the strength in its wings and plummeted into the depths of the forest.
"...Alright."
I let out a short breath.
(Looks like it’s dragon meat for a while.)
Dragon meat is delicious. Some parts are tough, but if processed correctly, it becomes quite a feast.
(Smoke it, dry it, make it into soup...)
As I was thinking that, suddenly—
"...Huh?"
A strange sensation pricked my skin. The flow of mana. The way the wind swayed. It was subtly different from the usual aftermath of a dragon hunt. "Something" was moving in the vicinity. I softly expanded a detection spell to probe the area.
What I found—was the presence of humans.
"Whoa?"
The word slipped out. It was the first time I’d ever sensed human presence this deep in the forest. Carefully, I killed my footsteps and drew closer. Peering down from atop a rocky outcrop, there—
Was a girl with blonde hair and beautiful features.
No, perhaps "girl" wasn't the right word for her age. But from my perspective, she was still far too young. Her beautiful face was plastered with exhaustion, wounds, and a faint tint of resignation. She held her sword ready, desperately glaring in this direction—toward where the dragon had been.
Around her were guards clad in armor. Though battered, they stood as if shielding their comrade. I immediately gathered that they had been fighting that dragon until just a moment ago.
My voice tumbled down from the top of the rocks. Almost as if reaching out for something.
"People?"
The girl—the Second Princess I would later know as Aurora—widened her eyes in shock.
"...What are you doing in a place like this?"
My voice was half-exasperated, half-genuinely puzzled. Even I thought I probably could have come up with a more clever first thing to say.
But that was all that came out.
I activated wind magic without an incantation and floated down lightly from the rocks. A landing that felt no impact at all. Once my feet hit the ground, I looked at them again. They were a mess. Scars ran across their armor, and their faces were streaked with mud and blood. Yet the hands gripping their swords weren't shaking.
The blonde girl stared at me as if glaring. I couldn't quite read what was in the depths of those eyes yet. But—she had a face that looked like I’d seen it somewhere before.
A face on the verge of breaking. Eyes that had lost their place and held bottled-up anger and sadness with nowhere to go.
Just a little bit. Just a little bit.
I felt like she looked like me from a little while ago.
"Um... are you lost, by any chance?"
I tilted my head and asked quite naturally. That was my first meeting with Aurora.
The dragon had fallen, and the rustle of the forest slowly returned to normal. In that stillness, only a strange silence remained.
The blonde woman—Aurora—and her guards. The maids huddling behind the rocks. And the black-haired youth who had suddenly appeared before them.
No one could find their words immediately.
Aurora kept her sword raised, watching the man before her with unconcealed caution. The guards, while picking up their wounded bodies, tried to inch half a step forward. The maids, with faces mixed with fear and confusion, looked back and forth between the man and Aurora. As for Yuu—.
(Uh, what am I supposed to say here?)
It had been a long time since he’d seen "people." To be honest, he was freaked out by the fact that humans were crawling all over the place the moment he spoke. He was more nervous than he was with the dragon.
(Um... in games, doesn't it usually go like 'Thank you for saving us!' or 'Who on earth are you...?' or something like that?)
That kind of meta-thought flickered in the corner of his mind, but he didn't say it. He didn't say it—but he truly didn't know what to say. Aurora, for her part, was frozen for similar reasons.
(...Who is this man?)
That heat ray just now. With almost no incantation or visible formula, it had pierced the dragon's torso in a single blow.
No magic like that belonged to any system in this world. She didn't think it could be replicated even if all the court mages were mobilized. And the man in front of her had fired it with the casualness of someone brushing away a nuisance.
(Dangerous. He is an infinitely dangerous existence.)
Her instincts as royalty told her so. The guards felt the same. While drawing their swords and lowering their stances to move at any moment—they were simultaneously holding back to avoid over-stimulating their opponent. Yuu remained silent for a while, bathed in those stares.
(...Man, this is awkward.)
Heavy. The gazes were heavy. The psychological pressure was heavier than when he faced the dragon. The silence slowly scorched the air. Finally, unable to stand the quiet, Yuu opened his mouth and muttered.
"Ah—"
From the start, it was a terribly unreliable voice.
"For now... I have a house over that way. You want to come? Looks like you've got some injured people too."
The guards glanced at each other for a brief second. Aurora tightened her grip on her sword.
(It might be a trap.)
She wasn't so naive as to not consider that. But her comrades' wounds were deep. She herself felt as though the rocks beneath her feet were swaying just by standing. Her mana and physical strength were drained. And besides—that blow just now. Having seen the magic that dropped a dragon in an instant, if this man truly intended them harm, refusing him here wouldn't change the outcome.
"...Lead the way."
Aurora stated shortly. Yuu shrugged.
"Then follow me."
Saying only that, he began to walk into the forest.
After walking for a while, the atmosphere of the forest changed. The dense trees suddenly thinned out at a certain point, and the view opened up.
"......!"
Aurora gasped. There, a "space" created by clearing the forest stretched out.
There was a field. The ridges were neatly arranged, and unfamiliar vegetables and grains were lined up in an orderly fashion. There was a well. Stones were piled up, and a bucket was hung. And beyond that—a log house built of timber. Wooden walls. A chimney. Windows. A door. Nearby, storage sheds and wooden benches were also visible.
In the middle of the forest, there was the smell of life.
The guards and the maids all stood with their mouths hanging open.
"..."
Aurora, too, was speechless. An unexplored demonic territory. A place of death whose rumors reached even the Royal Capital. Who could have imagined that a residential space, looking like a rural farmhouse, existed there?
"This is my house."
Yuu said it as if it were nothing. His profile showed neither special pride nor any guilt he wanted to hide.
(Ah—... I wonder if I can fix the wounds with recovery magic.)
In his head, he was already starting to organize the steps for the task.
(I have stocks of water and food... what should I do about a place for them to sleep? Maybe I'll just use magic to build a temporary hut for naps.)
While thinking of such things, just as he was about to turn around. Aurora’s mouth moved first.
If, at this time. If her words had been even slightly different—. There might have been a future where they bonded much sooner. But the past cannot be changed.
Aurora, who had just lost her husband. Who was worn down between the Kingdom and the Empire. Who had lived her life as royalty.
And Yuu, who had lived as a citizen of modern Japan and was suddenly thrown into a different world. Who was worn down in an environment where no one else existed. Who had lost his home.
There was no way their values could have aligned at this moment.
"You..."
Without realizing it, Aurora had dragged out her "Second Princess" face.
"What is this place!? What is the meaning of this!? Why is such a thing here...!"
The hand gripping her sword tightened. Her voice was mixed with anger, confusion, and a tiny sliver of fear.
"Who are you!? Answer me!!"
That shout was by no means wrong. Such a living space inside the Great Forest of the demonic realm. A single man living there. It would be stranger not to have questions. As royalty, it was natural to be wary and demand answers. The tone of commanding a commoner was also legitimate in this world. If anything, since she wasn't pointing a weapon and was only using words, it could even be called moderate.
But—.
The person in front of her was not a "commoner of this world." In a sense, he was an inhabitant of another world who was just as desperate and reckless as Aurora.
"...Huh?"
Yuu’s voice leaked out low. A vein popped on his forehead. It grated on him. It grated on him immensely.
(...Why am I the one being yelled at?)
Somewhere in his heart, a calm rebuttal flickered. But that voice was immediately swallowed up. The unutterable irritation that had been building up in the depths of his chest began to surface. He hadn't felt anything when he shot down the dragon. But the moment he was called "You" (Kisama), something snapped.
(Ah—...)
Yuu realized it quietly.
(No.)
At this moment, any feeling of wanting to "interact moderately" with Aurora and the others vanished completely. That said. In front of him were people who were bleeding. Their feet were unsteady, and their breathing was labored. Only in that regard, a "conscience" still remained.
"...Fine, whatever."
Yuu muttered softly and took a light breath.
"Shut up for a second."
With those words, the flow of air changed. He snapped his fingers.
Light flared out.
There was no complex incantation. Only a few short sounds woven together.
And yet, the effect was overwhelming.
Something warm welled up from the core of their bodies. The pain vanished instantly. Torn skin closed, and broken bones returned to their original positions. Limbs that had been heavy as lead from fatigue became incredibly light.
"......"
Aurora involuntarily widened her eyes.
"What...?"
The speed of activation. The area of effect. The speed of healing. Every single thing far exceeded the common sense of the "recovery magic" Aurora knew. The guards and maids stared at their own bodies in a daze.
"The wounds..." "The pain is gone..." "Even my mana depletion has significantly recovered...?"
Their caution almost wavered. It was at that moment.
"——!?"
Everyone’s bodies were suddenly blown backward. It wasn't that they were hit by something. The ground hadn't collapsed.
They were simply repelled by an invisible "something."
To the outside of the boundary of the barrier that had been stretched around the house.
"Whoa!" "Eek...!"
People fell on their butts and tumbled one after another. Faced with the unexpected turn of events, Aurora’s eyes darted around in confusion. There was no pain. It was purely being pushed "outside" in a safe manner. However, what reached her ears—was a single, cold voice.
"——Get out."
It came from beyond the door. There was no trace of the somewhat carefree tone from before. It was the sound of rejection, cold to the bone.
"Don't ever step into my sight again."
Before any more words could follow, the thud of the door closing echoed. The timber door ruthlessly blocked their view. The curtains on the windows were also tightly shut. Yuu disappeared inside just like that. Without responding to anyone’s voice. Without calling anyone’s name.
Leaving only "rejection" behind.
Aurora and her group were outside the house. Outside the barrier. Standing as if abandoned in the middle of the silent forest at night.
Several days had passed since he had repelled Aurora and the others to the outside of the barrier.
On that day—right after he kicked them out—there had been a lot of noise beyond the barrier for a while.
In particular, that pretty blonde, bossy girl seemed to have been shouting something with quite a bit of volume. The soundproofing of the barrier was so excellent that the content hadn't reached him at all, though.
(Probably something like 'How dare you!' or 'Come out here!' or something.)
Vaguely imagining that, he had flipped over on the sofa and continued to ignore the voices he couldn't hear. Eventually, as if being dragged away by the guards and maids, their presence vanished into the forest.
"...What was with those people?"
That night, as he lay on his bed, Yuu stared at the ceiling. An unidentifiable bitterness remained in the back of his throat. He was frustrated. He even felt like they were people he might regret helping.
He’d dropped the dragon, guided them to a safe house, and the result was that yelling. Just remembering it made him angry.
(Well, it's not like I'll ever see them again anyway.)
At the time, he truly believed that.
...Two weeks later. What he saw outside his window was that familiar blonde hair.
"...Why?"
He almost slammed his forehead into the window frame. Outside the barrier, a short distance away. The same faces as last time were all standing there.
Aurora. The guards. The maids.
Faces that looked a little more tired than last time. But no major wounds were visible. Aurora was facing the barrier, her mouth moving to say something. A serious expression. She wasn't angry. If anything, she looked like she was desperately trying to convey something. The soundproofing of the barrier was, as expected, perfect. Not a single word reached him. Yuu looked down at them from a crack in the window—and closed the curtain with a sigh.
(...Those annoying people came back.)
That was all he could think. A while later, when he peeked through the window again, Aurora was just disappearing into the forest with the guards, her shoulders slumped. Finally, they’re gone—just as he thought that.
Her profile as she left. Her lonely, somewhat resigned expression pricked his heart in a strange way.
"...Ah, whatever, I don't care."
Yuu messed up his hair and tried to shake off that feeling.
A week after that, Aurora and her group came again. And a week after that, and the week after that. As if it were a set ritual, they regularly made their way to the outside of the barrier.
Sometimes, they would sit just outside the barrier and keep talking. Sometimes, they would pitch a tent right on the edge of the barrier and spend the night. Halfway through, Yuu decided to commit to "pretending not to be there." There were plenty of spells to erase his presence. By thinning his presence and harmonizing his mana with the barrier, he could become almost "part of the forest."
There were times when he would sneak out of the house to procure monster meat without them seeing him. During those times, what caught his eye—was their simple meals.
Tough-looking dried meat. Crumbly black bread. Occasionally, there was something like vegetable soup, but it had few ingredients. The profiles of the maids illuminated by the fire. The guards chewing in silence.
(...Why am I the one feeling like I’m doing something wrong?)
A guilt he didn't understand remained stuck in the back of his throat. No one told them to come all the way here. They were coming on their own, camping on their own, and leaving on their own.
(It's not my fault... it shouldn't be.)
Even as he tried to think that, it stuck somewhere. While repeating those "visits" and "withdrawals," a month passed.
On that day, too, Aurora and her group were there. As usual, they had pitched a tent just outside the barrier, set a watch, and were having a simple dinner. After glancing at them from the window, Yuu synchronized his awareness with the sensation of the barrier. The "outline" of things touching the barrier is somewhat conveyed to the one who cast it. The way the wind hits it. The approach of monsters. The flickering of mana.
From those changes, Yuu sensed an "abnormality."
"...Huh?"
Multiple presences were approaching from the depths of the forest. Each one wasn't that strong. But they were in a pack. Low, beast-like growls. The sound of teeth gnashing.
(A pack, huh...)
Yuu clicked his tongue. Outside the barrier. They were heading straight for Aurora and the others, who were in a position just outside the protection.
"——Aaaah, seriously, what are those guys doing!?"
Yuu’s shout came even before the sound of the window opening. He kicked the front door open and leaped outside. He paused for a single moment at the boundary of the barrier. Beyond it, the guards had already drawn their swords and formed a circle.
In the darkness, multiple glowing eyes swayed.
Monsters that resembled wolves—though they didn't have the abnormality of a Relics Wolf. Even so, they were enough of a threat to ordinary soldiers. There were more than ten of them. Their fangs were bared, and just as they were about to pounce all at once.
"Hey, you lot."
Yuu stepped across the line of the barrier. He "imagined" a magic circle at his feet without even having to draw it. The atmosphere trembled.
"Sleep."
With that one word, an invisible shockwave swept through the forest. The wolf-like monsters collapsed on the spot. Without crushing their bones, it was as if only their consciousness had been reaped. Only for the few stubborn individuals trying to stand back up, small light bullets fired from his fingertips pierced their foreheads. Silence. Then, several seconds later, the sound of the guards gasping reached him.
"Wh..." "What was that just now...?"
Yuu glanced at them but didn't look further. Instead, he looked for those who were injured. A guard whose leg had been bitten. A maid whose arm had been torn. Aurora herself had a shallow wound on her cheek.
"...Good grief."
Clicking his tongue, he raised his hand.
"This is only once."
Saying so, he released recovery magic. A soft light reached the outer perimeter of the barrier. Just like before, wounds and fatigue vanished in an instant. Guards standing up. Maids blinking their eyes. But he didn't give them time to feel relieved.
"That's enough!"
Yuu’s shout echoed, striking the air of the place.
"Just go home already! Don't get involved with me! I told you to get out, didn't I!?"
The guards all flinched at once.
"...What is it you guys want!?"
Anger, confusion, and irritation. Uncontrollable emotions overflowed from his mouth all at once. Aurora and the others cowered in fear for a moment. Without suppressing his turbulent feelings, Yuu turned on his heel to return to the house. But then—the blonde woman looked straight at Yuu.
"Wait!"
She shouted with such force that her voice cracked.
"Let me... let me thank you!"
Yuu’s eyebrow twitched.
"Thanks to your magic, my subordinates were saved!"
Aurora was desperate.
"Thanks to your help, we didn't die! Please, come to the Royal Capital and let me thank you properly!"
Saying that, Aurora bowed her head. The guards and maids looked at her in shock. It was fundamentally impossible for a Princess to bow her head this far to a single man of unknown origin. But Aurora showed neither doubt nor hesitation. Even so—.
"I don't want it!"
Yuu snapped back immediately.
"If you really want to thank me, don't get involved with me!"
His eyes held a color that was closer to pain than anger.
"That is my thanks!"
Leaving only that, Yuu turned his back. He stepped inside the barrier and returned to his house just like that.
"Wait!"
Aurora’s voice flew at his back.
"Please, just let me talk—!"
An earnest voice. A desperation that seemed as if her throat would tear seeped through. That sound struck somewhere deep in Yuu’s chest. But his feet didn't stop. He closed the door. He blocked out the sound. Silence returned.
Only the beating of his heart echoed strangely loud.
After that, Aurora and the others came many more times.
Every time they came, the movements of the guards and maids became more refined. It became rare for them to appear with terrible wounds like they did in the beginning. They grew accustomed to fighting monsters and to the terrain of the forest. Before they knew it, they themselves had grown as "adventurers who frequented this forest."
On rainy days. On windy days.
Aurora would stand outside the barrier and shout with a laugh, "The Princess is here! Please listen to me today!" The unapproachable royal mask from the beginning was almost gone. If anything, she was like a persistent door-to-door salesperson or a local kid who just had a lot of grit.
...Before he knew it, Yuu had deactivated a portion of the magic circle that picked up the "sounds from outside the barrier."
It wasn't complete soundproofing; he had adjusted it so that "he could hear if he wanted to." Checking out the window to see if she had come today had completely become part of his daily routine.
(...So what the hell is wrong with me?)
He couldn't understand why he was doing such a thing. He couldn't understand, but he couldn't stop.
One day, it was snowing outside the window.
White grains were silently piling up. A thin layer of snow sat on the branches of the forest trees.
"Ah—... it's already winter."
Yuu muttered vaguely. He felt a slight relief at the flow of the seasons.
(Surely, they won't come in winter.)
A march through the snow in the Great Forest of the demonic realm was nothing short of a suicidal act. No matter what, they wouldn't be that reckless. Thinking that—he casually peeked out the window.
She was there.
In the middle of the snow.
Breathing white air, her shoulders trembling. Outside the barrier, covered in snow. Yet, the blonde Princess was looking toward the house, smiling.
"...Huh?"
For a moment, his mind went blank. Aurora was waving her hand as usual.
"Hey! The Princess is here!"
Her voice was bright enough to be understood even through the barrier. Even though her cheeks were red and her lips were numb from the cold. The guards and maids were also covered in snow in the same way. He could tell from here that they couldn't stop shivering just by standing.
Yet, no one complained. No one tried to turn back.
"...Don't mess with me."
His body moved before his thoughts. He kicked the door open and leaped into the snow.
"Don't mess with me!"
Standing at the edge of the barrier, he yelled. The snow swirled up.
"What are you thinking!? Do you want to die, you idiot!?"
Aurora’s eyes went round.
"...Eh, you came—" "Shut up!"
Yuu opened the barrier without further argument. He dragged Aurora and the others inside. He left the snow and the cold outside the barrier. The moment they stepped inside, the air regained its warmth.
"Everyone, don't move! Stay still!"
He shouted down a guard who was about to say something. Yuu placed both hands on the ground right then and there.
"——"
A magic circle expanded all at once. Rearranging the components in the soil, generating timber, and partitioning space.
In the blink of an eye, a small hut, like a simplified version of the log house, "grew" right there.
Walls. A roof. Windows. A fireplace. It was the bare minimum, but it was enough to stave off the blizzard and provide warmth.
"If you don't want to die, sleep in there!!"
He yelled at them. The guards and maids were all standing there with their mouths open. Faces that didn't understand what had happened. Only Aurora looked back and forth between the hut and Yuu in a daze—.
"...Haha."
She let out a small breath. Her face was incredibly defenseless. Happily. Like a child. She gave a silly, beaming smile.
"Okay!"
She nodded quite honestly. That smile was burned into Yuu’s mind.
"——"
Feeling like he shouldn't look at anything more, he turned on his heel.
"It’d leave a bad taste in my mouth if you just froze to death on your own..."
Grumbling in a voice no one could hear, he returned to his house. Before closing the door, in the corner of his eye as he started to turn—he caught that smile once more.
Beaming. Innocent. And far too direct.
That smile still flickered in the back of his mind. Even now, as he turned off the lights in the log house and rolled onto his bed.
"...Man, seriously."
Yuu pressed his face into his pillow and spoke as if groaning.
"Why’d she make a face like that... that’s playing dirty."
A feeling he couldn't identify as either irritation or embarrassment was swirling around in his chest.
And two years later. That blonde Princess has become a woman who, after finishing in last place with a Yakitori, says:
"I’ll let you off easy for today!"
And stomps off to the guest room like some low-level lackey. On the sofa, Yuu shook his shoulders and laughed to himself.
"...Well, it's not a bad change, I guess."
He muttered softly and stood up. He had to think about what to do for breakfast tomorrow. Looking at how she was, she would definitely say, with a face like nothing happened, "Yuu, I want to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast."
"Seriously, what a brazen Princess."
Even as he said that, his voice carried a somewhat joyful tone.
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