The Traveling Hero Won’t Let the Innkeeper’s Son Escape

Ruth sighed as he looked up at Zaazaa and the dark sky where the rain continued to fall.

"It doesn't stop raining, does it?"

"Oh......"

I went out into the mountains in the hot sun for a few hours and when I noticed the sky was cloudy and suddenly it started raining. With Alec, who was out hunting, he hastily escaped into a large eye cavity at the root of a large tree for a while, but the sun was not yet likely to return to the sky.

"That's unexpected."

"Well, the Zenobian season is prone to change weather"

Prepare to set fire to Alec as he takes off his wet sleeveless jacket. When Ruth brought an unwet tree from nearby to place it in place, Alec crouched his hand over it and cast a small spell. The fire lights up with the sound of Bo, and the cavity is orange and bright.

I've been out hunting with Alec for two years now since I was fourteen, and since we know each other's next move will be in our hands, I can proceed handily because I won't bring it to this time.

"You don't know when it's gonna rain. Dry Ruth's jacket, too."

"Right."

Ruth also took off her jacket with her gear on, and when she got a thin shirt, she spread it so that the heat of the fire hit her. Alec stopped by Ruth when he felt a slight chill and rubbed his swollen arm, even though it was the season to scratch sweat during the day.

"Wipe it."

Thank you, Alec.

As I was wiping my hair and face with the cloth I was given, I noticed Alec's hair sitting right next to me was still wet. I feel awkward that I wiped it first and reach out with a cloth in Alec's hair to delude him. Alec looked surprised at first, but when Ruth moved the cloth to wipe his hair, he eventually lowered his head to let himself go.

Laughing at Alec's honest attitude, he lays a cloth on his blonde hair dyed in warmer colors than usual with orange light, slowly removing moisture.

"Ruth......"

"Hmm?"

"You, on your way out today, Rudolph's guy told you something weird."

Surprised by the sudden question, Ruth remembered the face of Rudolph, a man who lived the hunt as a business, who met him on his way to hunting with Alec. He currently has a pregnant wife, but he was a little frustrated that he wasn't hunting well.

(Alec, were you watching that...)

Ruth almost sighed, and when he managed to swallow it, he made a voice like it was nothing.

"Nothing. I just got some advice that I'm sure I won't be able to get good things for today's hunt."

"Don't lie to me. That son of a bitch."

"Alec, if you were listening, don't copy me telling you that."

"........................... sorry"

I understand what Ruth is trying to say. Alec has honestly apologized. I feel a little down on the head I'm wiping, so I think I'm dented.

I'm sure Alec has come up with this topic thinking of Ruth. When I thought so, I encouraged people to think I looked pathetic as it was.

"So, what was Alec trying to say?

"... why,... I'm doing it"

"Eh?"

The head that was lowering slowly rose and stared at Ruth as he lit a flame in his green eyes from the gap in the cloth he had.

"Why do you look so fine when you say that? Why don't you just punch him in the face?"

"It's not going to work out that I hit him. I can't help it because it doesn't suit Mr. Rudolph."

"I don't have a choice, you always are!

Alec, who had paid for the cloth on his head and grabbed Ruth's arm, looked abominably distorted.

"Whether Daniel's guys make fun of me, the women ignore me, or the adults make fun of me, I won't say anything. Why, you're not as poor or dumb as everyone says you are! Ruth is way above me to explore the signs of prey and capture the sense of distance! By and large, you can't imitate that I'm just going to have to cut my prey clean off, freeze it, and take it home. How come they don't know how many times I've told them!

"Alec......"

"Enough, if you can't tell me, I'll tell everyone! The one who makes fun of Ruth, I'll show him with my fist!

Alec looks remorseful as he exhales roughly.

Alec knew that he and Ruth had been compared by casual assumptions from time to time and had been told a lot. But Ruth himself shook his head and stopped Alec, who tried to argue every time. Alec and the village people never got into a fight because of it. But apparently, at last, he came to a point where he couldn't stand it.

(Alec is a really good guy)

If you've always felt angry, I think Alec, who has a low boiling point, rather endured this much. I'm sure Ruth shook her head so desperately she endured it.

"No violence, Alec. If you do, even adults will get hurt."

"Ruth............!

"But thanks. I'm good enough just to get Alec to think that. So don't do anything."

"I'm not good enough! I can't forgive you for not being understood by the villagers! You're even more powerful than it sounds to me that humans liked you all over the village, and you're a good guy!

Ruth couldn't watch Alec looking spicy, and stroking her hair still wet, she grabbed the back of her head gently and leaned over to herself. Look at Alec with a surprised face, put their foreheads on each other and smile slowly. Alec's spicy face became a little red and loose.

"You know, Alec. I don't want everyone in the village to like me. I don't think anyone who doesn't understand me would mind if I didn't."

"Why..."

"Because Alec will be here."

……

"If that's how Alec gets angry for me, I'm happy enough to think the villagers don't have to like me."

I wish only a few people liked me - you might wonder what a narrow world it is. But I don't think anyone needs to like me. And an incompatible human being wonders that no matter what he does, there will never be a crossroads.

"But..."

"Alec,... and if something happens to me, my father, my mother or my brother, you'll worry about me, won't you? And if you ask for help, you're gonna try to help me anyway, right?

"Of course you're so determined. If something happens to you, I will save you."

Alec looks serious and nods. And with the hand I was grabbing my shoulder, I held Ruth's hand.

Ruth naturally loosened her cheeks on her face, which cemented her determination too much. But it just stinks a little.

"Thank you Alec. I want to take care of Alec. So, that's pretty good about the others."

"?... I don't know what that means"

"I'd rather spend time like this with Alec than spend time being understood by others. It's a waste of time, I can't believe you took the time to understand it for someone who doesn't even love it. I want to spend more time with people I like than that."

The time given to a person is not infinite. In retrospect of my previous life, which ended in just thirty-one years, the importance of time flashed to me. And that past life experience taught me how important it was for someone on Ruth's side.

(I was in a worse situation in my last life)

Tough body, tough face with bad eyes. In his previous life, Ruth was wary or frightened without having to do anything to the first person he met. Sometimes he was threatened or slapped in the pussy even though he didn't remember, and sometimes he was weirdly viewed as a rival and turned hostile.

Not everyone has responded that way, of course. Some accepted it from the beginning, while others gradually showed understanding. But there were still many people who wasted no matter what they said. When I was younger, I tried to be liked by people like that, but as a result, this one just got tired and it didn't do anything.

And with each passing year, I could understand that they didn't have to be forced to like me. Since then, I feel more people have gradually understood me than when I was about to be liked weirdly. Because of that, I no longer feel sad or hard about not being liked.

I think I could forgive myself for not being easily liked.

"It's okay. Anyone who understands, one of these days, they'll understand. Because I don't think everyone needs to understand me. Don't worry about Alec either, enjoy being with me more than that."

That's what Ruth laughed at, and Alec's face, which was in the front, was regaining its normal serenity. I rather look a little overwhelmed.

"... sometimes you say things that don't seem the same age as me"

"Huh!? Uh, you see, there are a lot of people in the inn, so I hear a lot about that!

"Is that what this is all about?

I laughed bitterly at Alec with his neck hanging. It's a previous life experience. I don't know what it means to say, so I have to force myself to delude you.

"Well, I get it. For one thing, I hope Ruth isn't hard."

"Yeah."

"But if you can't stand it, you can definitely say it. Stop putting up with it."

"Alec has to tell me with his fist."

".................................... Shit, I get it. I don't use my powers."

I wondered if you could tell me this to Alec, sixteen, but he seems to be trying to show me an understanding of something a little dissatisfied. I can't wait to hear about it, and I get annoyed.

(You can get along with Alec now, and I'm a really happy guy)

Laughing at me like that, I noticed the face in front of me gradually dyed red. And finally, I lay my face down.

"............... hey, isn't it cold?

"Are you cold?

"…… well, sort of."

"A little more, make the fire stronger?

"No… that way"

That's how Alec let go of Ruth's hand and somehow came around to the back. And...

"Hey...... Alec!? Oh, hey, what? Why?"

"I'm telling you it's cold, I'm just keeping warm"

"So, but... isn't this weird?

"It's nothing weird. Or are you better off from before?

"No, I'm not..."

Alec replies calmly so that he doesn't care about Ruth's upset. But it was important to Ruth.

('Cause this... you know, the situation where Alec is holding me from my back... right?

Alec, sitting behind him, reaches into Ruth's belly sitting in front and leans his entire body against his back - honestly, I've only seen a couple like this in a snuggly position. Of course Ruth is the first experience where she gets upset without knowing what to do, with her hands wandering the universe. But Alec, the one who's doing it, is so calm that he reacts naturally to think that upsetting Ruth would be weirder on the contrary.

(Eh, this is crazy, right? You're not in a warm position with your friends, are you? I'm not wrong, am I?

Around Ruth, who is starting to scratch weird sweats that way, Alec has put his forehead on his neck so he doesn't feel anything. When Ruth shrugs herself slightly to the sensation that her hair touches, her arm becomes stronger when she says she can't escape. And...

"Me too... If Ruth is here, I don't care what they think of the village guys. So I don't think anymore."

Such a blurry grunt was heard in his ear and Ruth's chest tightened cuddly. It was a little unexpected.

Moreover, the voice seems to stink without tension for the usual Alec. It was something I could tell you would have worked hard to get it out of your mouth.

(... Could it have been embarrassing to show your face and say this line?

That made me feel strangely uplifted. At the same time as the cheeks became hot, the body that had been consolidated loosened up naturally, creating even strange leeway.

(If Alec did it lightly, I'm more of a mental age person, so I need to show some spare time attitude at times like this...... yeah. This posture is nothing, nothing, I don't care, I don't care, normal, normal...)

There was no reason for Ruth to know that Alec was laughing happily at the loss of resistance, and that he was enlightened by an incomprehensible understanding.

Until the whimsical sky cleared, they quietly heard the sound of rain as it was.