Alicia and Straf continue through the forest. After finding the sawgrass they need, they continue combing through the forest for a thorn vine. Alicia nervously looks over her shoulder every few steps.

「You know you can stop doing that if I'm here, right?」

Straf grins while watching her head swivel back and forth.

「But… But I have an immense bad feeling. Like-」

She says in a hushed tone, almost whispering as she speaks to Straf.

「Like you're being watched?」

Straf asks and chuckles.

「Yes! How did- Are you reading my mind?」

Alicia's eyes widen.

「Hmmmmmmm… Didn't know you have things like that on your mind.」

Straf leans in and looks into Alicia's greenish-brown eyes while he inquisitively rubs his chin. Color drains from her face as her jaw slowly drops.

「Nononononono it was just a passing thought! It was an if! I didn't mean anything by it!」

She swings her head left and right in a fervent denial with her eyes wide open. Color returns to her face, in form of a blush.

「Really? What were you thinking about? You know I was just joking right?」

Straf asks as he straightens out, placing his fists on his hips with a smirk. Alicia blinks, trying to process Straf's clarification. Her expression twists into mortified shock as she wordlessly gasps air in, dying inside. Her gaze drifts downwards, and her face becomes more and more red with each second. Suddenly, her eyes jump up and she leans to get a better look past Straf.

「Thorn vine! There!」

She points behind Straf, blinking out of surprise. He looks over his shoulder, and Alicia runs up to it.

「Huh. No shit, it's a vine with thorns. Clever naming conventions. I bet there's at least one phallic reference among your mushrooms.」

Straf scoffs as he walks up to Alicia, pulling cautiously on the vine, trying to not injure her hands.

「Huh?」

His comment makes her pause and look over her shoulder, she glances at Straf's face, and her gaze drifts lower. It reaches Straf's pants, and her head snaps back towards the vine with a tight-lipped grimace. Straf tilts his head and furrows his brow.

「Need help with that?」

Straf asks, walking up closer.

「N-no… Eep!?」

Alicia yelps at Straf ignores her, looking at him with shock on her face. He grabs onto the vine and her hand, then gives it a rough tug.

Snap!

A large chunk of the vine rips from underneath the tree's roots. Alicia abashedly looks away from Straf's face. He lets go of her hand, and her eyes snap to over her shoulder.

「Th- There-!」

She turns to face where she's looking, and points in panic deeper into the forest.

「Hm? I don't really see anything-」

Straf looks at the trees and bushes with raised brows, and Alicia breaks into a sprint in the opposite direction. She barely manages to take a few steps before her foot sinks into uneven terrain and snags on a tree root.

Thudcrack!

「Agh! Ow…」

Alicia fails to brace her fall in the slightest and plummets face-first onto the forest floor. Deadwood snaps beneath her, painfully softening her fall. She attempts to jump to her feet as quickly as possible, but winces heavily as she tries to stand from from kneeling, clutching at her ankle.

「Why'd you take off?」

Straf shrugs with his hands as he walks up.

「Gh- Ghost! There was someone! Right there!」

Alicia points again with panic in her eyes.

「Ghosts don't exist, the dead are cursed to be a background character in some schoolboy's power fantasy. Here's your vine thing.」

Straf says, and holds out the thorn vine in front of Alicia. She cautiously takes it with her shaky hands, folds it quickly, and places it in her bag.

「I swear, I saw something! A ghost of a girl! She had red eyes, and was glaring at me! I felt like something was going to kill me from behind me the whole time!」

Alicia points again and shouts with frightened eyes.

「Didn't I tell you that you're safe when I'm with you? Why are you still on the ground, anyway?」

「…I hurt my ankle running.」

Alicia says timidly, wincing a little as her hand hovers back to her ankle.

「And I'm sure you hurt the girl's feeling doing that, too. Up you go.」

「What are you- Wah!」

Alicia yelps again as Straf picks her up into a bridal carry. Panic sets in on her face again.

「I have to say, you act a lot like someone I know…」

Straf smirks as he walks with Alicia back in the direction the village.

「Mr. Vindict! Mr. Vindict, that feeling again!-」

Alicia shouts, pointing into the forest as one of her arms is wrapped around Straf's neck for support.

「What, like you're being watched? Relax. And just call me Straf.」

He looks down at Alicia with an amused grin, then scoffs.

「No! Worse! I feel like I'm in terrible danger! It got much worse!」

Alicia begins trembling in Straf's arms, hugging into his chest and making herself small. She yelps again.

「Ahh! It got even worse! We need to get out of here, there's something really bad here!」

「Don't worry, I will be very upset if something happens to you.」

Straf speaks in a loud voice, looking over his shoulder.

「That's not very reassuring!- Ah. It stopped. I think whatever it was left?」

Alicia's terror dissipates as she blinks in confusion, she looks up to Straf for answers as he carries her, but finds none on his stoic, handsome face.

「Hmmm… Well it better have stopped. And it better not do anything to you later, either.」

Straf speaks over his shoulder again with raised brows and a slanted mouth, as he carries Alicia towards the edge of the forest…

…

「Calm down. Calm down. Calm down… Grrrrrghhhh…」

Lily seethes through her clenched teeth, hugging a tree with her back. She takes one last peek at Straf and the human girl in his arms.

「Khhhhhkhhhrrrr! How does she dare just jump into his arms like that!? Calm yourself, Lilia…」

She breaks her line of sight behind the tree, and sighs through her teeth in frustration…

…

Not too long ago, back at the inn…

Cycelia finishes buttoning her shirt up, and pats the corset strapped to her narrow waist to ensure it's sitting well.

「Nnnh… It's still a little damp… But I've kept Straf waiting long enough…」

She mutters under her breath as she looks down on her body, or rather her chest obscuring it, then turns to the door. Cycelia leaves and locks her door, then heads downstairs to the innkeeper.

「Excuse me, have you seen the man I've arrived with somewhere?」

She asks as she turns the key in.

「Hm? That handsome hunk? My, you're really lucky…」

The innkeeper smiles, placing her hand on her face.

「Ah, it's not like that! We're just traveling!」

Cycelia gets flustered, and waves her hands in front of her while shaking her head.

「Yes, yes… Traveling. He left some time ago, an hour or two at most.」

「Ah… Thank you.」

Cycelia nods, then exits the inn. She looks around for Straf, but he's nowhere in sight. She aimlessly wanders through the village, searching the local market. After a few minutes, she furrows her brows with concern as she walks back in front of the inn.

《He wouldn't… He wouldn't just leave me, right?》

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Cycelia looks down, her brows furrow even harder as she thinks.

《...Right? But then, where is he?》

Cycelia looks around again with a worried expression on her face, as she fiddles with the medallion hanging off her neck. She notices a boy with massive orange hair swinging his sword up and down in what appears to be an old, disused animal pen. His hair heavily jiggles with each swing.

《Maybe that child has seen him somewhere?》

Cycelia thinks as she walks up to Greaves.

「Excuse me, have you seen a tall, handsome man with a really confident stride around here somewhere? He looks bored all the time-」

She asks, leaning onto the old fence.

「Heeeh? Oh. It's you.」

「Huh?」

Cycelia's head perks up, perplexed by the boy's reaction and his sour mood.

「Yeah… I've seen him. He said he's a super ass adventurer or something, and then went into the forest with my friend to collect some herbs for my other friend.」

「Ahhh… That's a relief.」

《He's just helping someone again. He's such a great guy.》

With her hand on her chest, Cycelia sighs with great relief.

「Huh!? How's that a relief!? They went alone! I don't care how big of an adventurer he is, you don't go anywhere wild without at least 3 pairs of eyes! That's the basics every adventurer knows! That forest is dangerous! And…」

Greaves shouts at Cycelia, venting Straf-induced frustration. He looks down and pouts, looking away as he abruptly cuts his shouting.

「Huh? It's dangerous!? But… It's Straf after all, they should be fine-」

Cycelia's eyes widen a little, but she immediately calms herself and sighs again as all of Straf's exploits push themselves to the forefront of her mind.

「…And what would a guy and a girl be doing in a forest, alone!? It's suspicious!」

Greaves finishes his sentence with an embarrassed frown.

「Huh!? A girl!?」

Cycelia's huge eyes snap towards the forest.

《Why is Straf alone with a girl in a forest!? He's just helping her- Them, right!?》

She blinks. Unwanted memories of Straf groping a beautiful woman on his bed return. Cycelia shakes her head.

《No no no no! I'm sure he's just helping her! They're just looking for herbs for their friend!》

Cycelia exhales with her hand on her chest again, though worry doesn't leave her eyes and her heart continues to beat faster than normal.

「What did Straf- Um, that man say before he left?」

Cycelia asks timidly, playing with her medallion nervously as she glances at the forest every now and then.

「Huh? He said if I see a pretty girl with green eyes I should tell you where he went.」

「I see… Was there anything else?」

Cycelia's eyes drift downward, and she smiles gently before returning her gaze to Greaves.

「Yeah, there was. He said he had the legendary hero's sword, and he threw it at a tree like it proved anything. It was a bit weird how it went straight back to his hand the second time, but…」

Greaves furrows his brows as he thinks, then resumes swinging his sword aimlessly.

「Ah, whatever! He was lying! I bet he didn't pull it out of any rock, he just bought it somewhere!」

The orange-haired boy swings his sword up and down with more and more force as he shouts.

「Ah, he's not lying… It really is the sword.」

Cycelia meekly backs Straf, lightly nodding.

「What? As if! Where'd he get it from then!?」

Greaves pauses his swings, turning his head to Cycelia as he scoffs.

「From a giant boulder near the lake, it was in a village not far from here-」

「What?- Pfft. Yeah, right. I got this from a rock too! And it was near a lake too! And it was near that village! It was right there, sticking out of the rocky ground! If you looked close enough, it even had a beam of light shining on it through the trees!」

Greaves's jaw drops momentarily in shock, but he immediately sneers in full disbelief. He holds his own sword up triumphantly, with his free hand on his hip.

「…Why does the hilt look like a carrot?」

Cycelia furrows her brows, tilting her head.

「B- Because it does! That's just how it looks like, okay!? Maybe there's two swords, and I got the secret super-powerful one! His sword will go back into his hand if he throws it up a tree, big deal!」

Greaves shrugs with his arms extended and scoffs.

「I… I see…」

Cycelia blinks at Greaves with a pitying smile.

「But that guy really pissed me off… He just got touchy with Alicia… And called her cute, and stuff… How does he dare to just-」

Greaves grumbles, frozen in his training pose as he grimaces in anger.

「He did what!?」

Thwack!

Cycelia closes in and slams her hands onto the fence with excess force. The whole segment creaks as she leans in towards Greaves, almost entirely over the fence.

「Huh?… He… He kind of grabbed her chin, like this…」

Greaves is a little surprised by Cycelia's calm demeanor inverting, and he demonstrates what Straf had done. Cycelia's eyes widen in horror.

「We need to find them! We need to go there, now!」

Cycelia shouts as her heart rate skyrockets to morbid fight-or-flight levels. She points towards the forest with a shaky hand.

「What? Why?」

「She-! He-! They're in danger! We have to find them before it's too late!」

Cycelia yells, leaning in even further with her feet off the ground. She stares into Greaves's soul with her gaze, locked into them with a narrow-lipped grimace on her face.

「Wha-? Okay! Let's go- Ah, they're already back… Wait! Why is he-!?」

Greaves energetically nods and clenches his fist in front of him. He turns his head towards the forest, and his arms slump limp. As soon as he looks closer, his eyes widen in indignant shock.

「What-? Ah! Ahhhh!」

Cycelia looks to the forest, and her reaction almost exactly mirrors Greaves. The only exception is that her hands fly to her face, as she gasps and yelps out in shock. Her appearance strongly resembles a famous painting from Straf's world.

「Ah, Lia. I managed to complete a side-quest and encounter an embodiment of a trope while passing time waiting for you.」

「Why is she-!?」「Why is this woman in your arms!?」

Greaves tries shouting an angry question, but Cycelia outscreams him.

「…I twisted my ankle…」

Alicia abashedly admits with a flushed face, looking down and away from both Greaves and Cycelia.

「Ahh… That explains it…」

Cycelia sighs once again with her hand on her chest, tilting her head out of fatigue.

《Ahhhh, what is wrong with me? He really was just helping more people again. I thought they were going to- No, nevermind that! It was a stupid thought to begin with! Unbelievable! Why do I keep doing this!?》

Cycelia thinks with closed eyes, a slight, tired but relieved smile appears on her face.

「Why didn't you just heal yourself, Alicia?」

Greaves asks, sheathing his sword and crossing his arms.

「Wait, you can do that? Is that allowed? You don't need another mage to heal you?」

Straf asks, looking at Alicia as he gently sets her down on her feet near the fence. She leans onto it with one arm, bracing herself on it.

「Huh? Uh… Um… I didn't think of it at the time…」

She glances at Straf, then Greaves, then Cycelia. She looks down at the ground to escape the eyes of everyone around her as she quietly mumbles the incantation, pointing the tip of her wand at her ankle. Green light and a soft chime emanates from her wand when she finishes casting, and she sighs with relief, standing up straight on her feet.

「Well? Did you find what you need?」

Greaves asks, glancing at both of them with a slanted mouth.

「Yeah, we found the sawgrass, and the vine root whatever thing.」

Straf shrugs, standing with his fists on his hips as he looks down on Greaves and his massive orange hair.

「Yes, I have them. I'll get the rest from Will and make him the potion.」

Alicia clutches onto her silver wand closely, and bows out of the group, then runs towards the inn. She bows at the tall spearwoman walking towards the fence.

「I'm really glad you're fine, Straf. I was expecting the worst- Eh?」

「Oh!」

Straf doesn't let Cycelia finish as the spearwoman in the blue bodysuit catches his attention. He walks up to her with a wide grin, intercepting her on the way…