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

Upon returning to the inn, Karen and Grace went to the village chief's house after noon in relation to the planned carriage arrival, which meant it would be a little late.

Apparently, the departure of the people of the village of Micana means that it will be early and after noon tomorrow. Grace isn't feeling all right, but it still means it's safer to go back with the villagers, and Karen seems to be planning to go home with her.

On the contrary, Alec's companions had already returned from the king's capital. At Alec's invitation to hear today's report, Ruth decided to dine with them.

"You've gone up three levels just today, wow. You don't rarely go up there, do you?

"Yeah, I've only seen one level go up in a few months, too."

"Indeed, I feel that the atmosphere of the Spirit admiring Alec is returning as before. At this rate, we may return to the original ten in a few days."

"But I'm a little concerned that you haven't remembered anything about Mr. Ruth"

"I thought Alec was a little different from us - we couldn't just go back to level."

"Master Alec is a brave man - maybe he can't help it if the way it works around him is different from ours"

Alec's people are still returning to their level, but they don't seem to recall Ruth at the heart. But he seemed relieved that the level was returning to normal, and he didn't seem to care that much because Alec was a brave man.

Only one Ruth left behind.

"Ruth found out that I was just a good friend and that I was the right guy to talk to. I'm used to being with you in the last few days, right? Ruth."

"Oh, oh, yeah. Right."

I nodded reflexively when Alec sat next to me.

Sure, I feel like I'm getting along with Alec at a different pace than normal others. This may also be due to the fact that Ruth has a basement, but above all, I thought it might also be due to the fact that he is the type that was originally easy to fit.

"I wanted to show you guys the combination of today's hunt. Unlike what this guy looks like, it works fine."

"You've got a lot more appreciation for you, Alec.... you were dismayed at first."

"Ugh, I was fooled by this look of Ruth"

"Yes, sir."

"But, you know, the level is going up normally, and when this happens, you don't know what it means to 'lose and remember the trials'..."

Alec's words made the dining room quiet for a moment.

"Alec, what are you talking about? So are the trials, but if I don't remind you in the first place, Ruth, you'll be rude."

"Well, I know it's bad that you forgot a lot... but you don't have any trouble without past memories, do you? My memories as a friend just have to be made again... right, Ruth?

"Ah… yes, yes."

Next to Garcia and Curtis giving a subtle look, Ruth even put the meal in her mouth feeling like she was chewing on the sand by herself while she managed to stay calm.

My memories as a friend just have to be made again.

(............... right. Because Alec forgot about me, it doesn't mean he can't go back to being a friend. It was subtle at first, but now this is how he sits next to me and normally talks to me... memories, because you just have to make it again... as a "friend”)

That way, I arranged the words in my head as I was convinced, but the swollen mood continued to swell all the time, the other way around. Alec's words circled around his head earlier, leaving him with an unexplained chest flaw all the time.

After such a meal, Ruth was cleaning the dining room as her parents responded to the voice of going back to her mother's house. Alec and the others have already returned to their rooms and are in the process of cleaning up the last of them.

Looking out the window, I could see if the moon was out today or if the light of the moon in the dark dining room, which almost dropped the light, was coming into the room.

As it was seen in the golden lights, Alec's words were repeated earlier.

"You don't have any trouble without your past memories, do you?

(… That's true)

Alec is probably right. I lost my memory, Alec, but even though I'm in a position of bravery, he normally accepted Ruth, who seems weak, and he talks to me properly. I have not acted in any way to discriminate, make distinctions, make fools of myself, etc. Instead, for Alec, who had a very strong power, he also found himself enjoying farming and hunting in the village, which had plenty of boring possibilities. He was really like a friend of the village.

Besides, “I can have a friendship with Alec" was what Ruth originally wanted.

(That's right... 'Cause I'm in trouble, right, to Alec's confession...)

Alec's confession should have been an unexpected event for Ruth.

I want to marry a girl, but I also want to be close to Alec. To achieve both, that Alec thought should have been a source of concern for Ruth as well.

(…… and yet, why………)

Alec and I are now having a new relationship as friends. Normally, you should be relieved or happy with that. "Being forgotten doesn't change my bond as a friend," I should have been able to see it positively that way.

- Yet Ruth felt a little irritated and slightly frightened that Alec was not feeling anything uncomfortable in the current situation.

"Ruth."

Alec narrows his eyes and rushes to Ruth at once.

When I think I can't have you calling me by my name with a happy face like that anymore, the feeling of a cavity opening up in my heart widens.

(……… no)

I naturally thought that was something a friend could give me. However, I am now clearly understanding that it was different.

Now Alec is usually trying to be friends with Ruth. I think we're actually getting along. But the expression is completely different from before. Ruth, who was on Alec's side from a young age, clearly knows the difference.

That was given because Ruth was more special than a friend to Alec. Only Ruth had taken it for granted.

This would mean that if Alec and I were to have a new relationship as friends of the village as we are, that smile would never be directed at Ruth again.

(…… Alec…………)

As Ruth tried to head to the kitchen to wash the cloth towel, feeling the cavity grow larger and larger, she heard just a footstep down the stairs.

"Ah...... Alec"

"What is it, you're still here"

It was Alec who entered the dining room. He came down to get a drink from having a cup in his hand.

(Ah………)

But I noticed Alec's expression that he wanted water was a little cloudy. A slight change, but that look is what Alec does when he's been worried about himself for a good time, and I naturally know Ruth for a long time. For that reason, it was decided to make another proposal.

".................. shall I make you some warm tea if you like?

"Uh, no, water is fine. …… and why tea?

"Oh, no... I think I'm worried, so I'd rather have some warm tea."

"Huh? I'm worried......?

When Ruth said so, Alec frowned a little.

"Talk to me if you like. Maybe you'll feel a little better if we talk, huh?

That was meant to be a natural suggestion for Ruth. Because Alec, who doesn't go too far from himself and talk about his troubles, always tells us how he feels if Ruth tries to listen. Instead, I would never talk about it unless I did. That's why Ruth always decided to listen.

- But Alec's reaction was not the usual thing.

"No, I'm sorry. You look weird, but you're not worried, are you?

"... but"

"You've eaten too much food, you've got a bad stomach. He said he just looked weird. Brave correction talent is back on track, and there's no way you're bothering me.... so I'll just get the feeling. Thanks, Ruth."

"Uh... Oh, hey, Alec. Water?"

Alec, who lightly turned down Ruth's suggestion, took the cup and turned it back. When Ruth hurried to his voice, he smiled like he had fixed it and turned around.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know, but now that I drink to the water, I think it's going to get tight, so stop, I'm going for a walk outside. Go back to sleep, too, bye."

That said, Alec just walked out the door leading into the courtyard.

"……… Huh?

Ruth, who remained in the dark room, stood up incredibly.

(……………)

There were times when I spoke out worried, but I didn't think Alec would turn down the proposal, because Alec's attitude when he left felt as if he had been cared for by the wrong distance.

I mean, I felt like I was told, 'You asked me that, and I can't possibly talk to you'.

(... well, you do. 'Cause for that Alec, I'm a friend there, right? You can't talk about troubles like before)

Such a whine of my own heart tormented my chest even more. But it's natural, so you have to understand it properly, not be depressed. Even Ruth can't tell a guest who came to the inn about her deep problems. Except maybe with as much talking skills as Karen, Alec is not the type to talk more troubles to people than he was in his position, so he couldn't have met (for Alec) and talked a lot to Ruth for a few days.

(Never mind... it's not Alec's fault)

After that, Ruth, who was relieved and finished washing all the cloth towels and drying indoors, walked down the hallway to the mother house when the lights dropped. There was a moonlight coming in through the window in the hallway, and it was bright enough even if you didn't have a lamp.

(... that... is over there)

Without any concern, I peered out the window into the courtyard outside and saw a person sitting on a stump to make firewood.

(Alec... it wasn't a walk)

It was Alec sitting with a worrying look on his face, just like when we met earlier. From that appearance, I thought that the 'walk' I was just saying might have been a pretext to escape the wrong sense of distance Ruth.

(……… then. You shouldn't call me...?

If Ruth had seen Alec like that before, he would have listened with a loud voice. And I devised a lot so that Alec's expression would cheer him up.

But after what happened earlier, my legs stopped completely now. That Alec, even if he is Alec, is Alec who doesn't have memories with Ruth. For Alec now, Ruth's worries must be all that extra help.

(…… but also to be left alone)

But Ruth's personality makes me hesitant to leave Alec like that.

Alec is a person who has always been forced to be a good child by birth and position. I know I look free and put up with a lot of things. That's why Ruth wants Alec to do whatever he can. For this reason, I didn't think deeply that Alec should be happy, even though I thought it was weird, the strange demands, the sweet attitude he sometimes showed, and just a little weird. Because when Alec seems happy, Ruth is happy too.

(.............................. eh. Good luck.)

Scattered Lost Ruth, but when he was ready, he slowly tried to open it so he wouldn't make a loud noise with his hands on the window.

- But I hear a clear tree clattering, and my heart is about to pop out, and I stop my hand.

"- Dear Alec, what are you doing there?

Ruth looked up when she heard a voice outside the window that was not her own. Looking out the window, Eliza was about to peek into her face outside with Alec through the upstairs window of the inn, visible to her left from Ruth. Looks like the sound of the twitch now came out when she opened the window.

"Eliza? … I'm just looking at the moon"

"Can I go over there, too?

"Nothing. Whatever you want."

To the two people who started the conversation with Nature, Ruth completely lost the time to speak up and couldn't deny the possibility of a sound, so she couldn't even close the open window and decided to just go away. The way you erase the signs you remember when hunting small animals is and always has been so impressive to Alec that it helps when these things happen.