He walked and not long after that, he arrived in front of the biggest house in the village.

It is Laoch's house.

(As expected from the chief. This house is ridiculously big for four persons.)

Aonair pondered while he admired the big house. As he swam in his thought, Laoch came out from his house and called Aonair.

"Hey, waiting too long?"

"Nope, just in time."

They greeted each other casually. Laoch let out his smile as he stands in front Aonair.

"So, what do you want to talk about? Girls? Jobs?"

"... The former one."

"I see. You got girlfriend, huh?"

Aonair didn't waste time and asked Laoch the main point. But hearing the blunt answer from Laoch, he couldn't help but shocked.

"It's still not fixed yet. But I do want to be more than friend with her."

"... Well, mind telling me the lucky girl?"

Aonair looked at the nervous Laoch. He wore a tuxedo and black long pants. With his hair slicked to the back, Laoch looks more mature than before.

Looking at his attire, Aonair has a hunch about it, but he wants to know it from Laoch's own mouth.

"It is... Deas."

"..."

"..."

...

"W-why are you not talking at all?!"

"... No, just... I'm sorry."

"I don't get it, but please listen to me here. I'm doing my best to endure my shame here!!"

Laoch's face coloured bright red as he told Aonair. But Aonair couldn't help but felt troubled.

It was him who disrupt their love in the first place!

Now Aonair gets what Deas meant when she said they never talked alone before. Aonair was there beside them all a long!

Aonair tried to remember if there's a moment where Deas and Laoch were alone before... but he didn't remember any of it.

He was always there in most of the occasion. If he wasn't there, then everyone must be working at that time.

(Guh, I don't have any choice but to be with them since I don't have friends other than them...)

Aonair contemplated his thoughtless action that brought his friends love to wait this long.

"Don't tell me... you know it?"

"Can it not be more obvious?"

"So you did know it!"

Laoch held his head while mumbling 'Am I that obvious?'. Aonair could only sighed looking at his friend like that.

"Well, I know about it quite recently though, since I saw Deas with her dress that she would only use for special occasion."

"I see, then I don't have to be embarrassed about it."

Felt relieved, Laoch relaxed his body and put on his usual wry smile.

"To be honest, today, I will tell her my feeling."

"...oh?"

"Yeah. But I don't really know if she's going to accept me. You know, the so-called 'Cursed of Childhood Friend'?"

Ah, the Urban Legend that always plagued many young people. Aonair too had heard about it since he was a child.

It said that if you like your own childhood friend, it will almost guaranteed to be failed, for they only thought you as brothers or sisters.

Many had experienced it firsthand, making the curse seems more credible. And now, Laoch was concerned about it too.

"... It's my opinion, but I think you have nothing to worry about that."

"Why?"

"Would Deas wore her special dress only to meet 'Childhood Friend'?"

"Ah, I see now...!"

Aonair sighed once again. He already mentioned it before, but Laoch was too busy with his own mind.

He couldn't imagined Laoch, the most mature in the group, to be this flustered when it comes to romantic problems.

"You just badmouthed me, right?"

"N-no?! Um, a little, maybe."

"Y-you! I'm in distraught and you..! Come here and let me vent my feeling, with my fist!"

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"Hey! Don't use violence! I'm delicate!"

Laoch lunged to Aonair pushed him to the ground. Aonair kicked him and rolled around before standing up again.

After some grappling and fighting, they finally stopped after both lost their strength.

Their faces got bruises and the clothes were messed up. Gladly, no one saw them in that appearance, or else, someone will call guards to catch them. They looked like two hobos now.

"Haa... haa... finally, it's your lost now."

"Since when it's your win..? It's mine, of course."

"Just stick with the mining competition and let me win this time, you over-achiever!"

Aonair and Laoch were sitting side by side with their breath in tatter. But both of them were smiling.

The tension that built up before was gone. Laoch's nervousness couldn't be felt too.

You can say this is their way to express their affection toward each other.

After they rest, Aonair stood up and pull out his hand.

"Here."

"Thanks."

Laoch grabbed it and stood up too. He swiped the dirty parts of his clothes and scratch his head.

"I need to use more perfume to cover the smell..."

"What? Just let her smell your loser smell."

"Wanna go again, huh?!"

Laoch got pissed again, but Aonair didn't do anything. He just grinning while looking at Laoch.

"Not now, my friend. You have works to do after this."

Laoch understand and nodded.

"You are right. I need to prepare myself then."

"Sure, good luck with your date."

Aonair thought he has nothing to do anymore here, so he bid farewell to Laoch. But before he went too far, Laoch called him again.

"Hey, Aonair!"

"Hmm??"

"I'll tell you the result tomorrow! Make sure to comfort me if I don't get her!"

Laoch smiled when he said those words. In exchange, Aonair too smiled and shouted.

"Don't worry! I'll be waiting for the feast after you got accepted!"

"Ahahaha!!!"

"Ahahaha!!!"

They laughed and finally parted ways.

Aonair walked toward the main street, passed the guard post, and arrived at the outside of the village.

He kept walking until he got quite far from the gate. Under the shadow of trees and basked by the light of moon, he reminiscing about his life in the village for the past 17 years.

This village is his world. He never went anywhere beside the village surrounding. Aonair even never went the Capital of Humanity.

(But this is enough. I just want everything to be like this, forever.)

He silently thought as he watched the village. The lights were still up even though it's already night.

"... They must be enjoying their date now..."

Aonair mumbles while thinking about his two best friend. It was a surprise that Deas and Laoch loves each other, but Aonair welcome it.

It's a great thing they become closer than before.

It just...

(I'm not going to get forgotten, right?)

Aonair looked to the moon. It's almost full moon today. The light of the moon is the only one accompanying Aonair right now.

Lonely. Aonair doesn't want to feel it again. He was afraid of losing his best friends. That's why he made those colored bracelets in the first place.

He stroked the blue bracelet on his wrist and smiled.

"... Yeah, that's not going to be happened."

Our bond is strong after all, thought Aonair as he walked back to the village,

Until he stopped and looked back.

"What is this sound..? Horse?"

Aonair could hear sound of horse running to the village. He tried to look for the source and found a horse and a man riding it.

The man was wearing armors and a special sword with insignia engraved on it was hanging on his waist.

The man noticed Aonair was standing quite far from the village's gate and decided to came to Aonair first.

"Greetings, kid. Are you perhaps a civilian that lives in that village?"

"Yes, that's right. Are you part of the kingdom's soldier?"

"You are correct. I'm here to bring message from the king."

"The king himself?!"

Aonair was shocked while the man nodded at Aonair disbelief.

"Yes, that's why I need to informed everyone in that village... that we will wage war to Beastmen Kingdom tomorrow."

"What?!"

Aonair couldn't believes what the man just said. They will be entering war period in just a single day..?

"For that reason, I will command every single of young male to join our forces. You will come too, kid."

The man points his scabbard at him and then ran to the village. Aonair just stood frozen there. He doesn't know what to say.

The only thing he thought was,

(Laoch..!)

If Aonair was going to join the war, then Laoch will inevitably joined too. But what about Deas? She will be forced to wait until Laoch came back.

"No... no, no, no! This can't be happening! Not now, not ever!"

Aonair finally realized the graveness of the situation he's in. He rushed to the village in hope to get there first before the soldier.

He wants to inform Laoch and Deas about the war and told them to run away. That way, they can avoided being called for duty.

That way... they can live happily ever after.

But nevertheless, the soldier was riding horse, while he just running with his feet. It's a given that the soldier arrived first.

As Aonair arrived at the village's gate, everyone was already gathering in there. They were all looking at the soldier who was reading a paper to them.

With tattered breath, Aonair looked at the crowd. There, he found a boy wearing nice tuxedo and beside him is a girl wearing a beautiful dress.

Unfortunately, their nice looking clothes were simply not matching with their face right now.

Aonair focused his gaze to the soldier who was in the middle of reading a paper.

"We, Humanity, will begin our war with the Beastmen! We are not going to stand still watching our countrymen got killed one after another in the hands of beast like them!

For that reason, I, as the King of Humanity, will have an order. Those who are in the age of seventeen and more will follow our endeavor through the wars. The campaign started tomorrow, I believe the rest to your own village chief's discretion. That's all for the order, are we clear here?"

The soldier read the content of the paper loud and clear. He asked for confirmation, but everyone was too confused.

Aonair's face turned pale as he saw Laoch and Deas condition.

Deas was hugging Laoch's arm tightly, while Laoch's ace was as white as paper. It seems Laoch succeed, but this news is bad for them.

Aonair could only blame himself for not arriving faster.