༺ Hand ༻

The eastern region of Eltania County encompassed the stunning Allicar Coast, which was considered one of the most beautiful places in all of the Empire.

If one sat on the rooftop of the Eltania family mansion, one could take in the entire view of Allicar Coast, which sparkled like jewels in the sunlight.

At night, one could admire the coastal scenery that shimmered like auroras; this was all thanks to the influx of blue bioluminescent plankton.

However, when Luce was young, she didn’t favor the beauty of the day nor the allure of the night, but the twilight that dwelled in between.

When the edge of the setting sun gently kisses the horizon.

Even the sun, which illuminates the world equally, seems to fade away so futilely.

And moreover, what of my brother Hansel, or the Witch of the Candy House? Human life is truly fleeting.

Luce’s eyes were lifeless. The thought of whether she could truly open her heart to anyone ever again was too much for the young girl to bear.

But if there ever came a day when she opened her heart to someone again.

At that time,

Don’t regret being unable to cherish that precious person more.

Don’t regret being unable to protect them.

Luce used to mutter to herself as she gazed at the majestic light of the setting sun.

* * *

I regained my composure.

[Luce Eltania] Psychology: [She suspects that you are Greung.]

[Psychological Insight] reveals a person’s current mental state. The reason Luce asked to hold my hand was displayed in the status window.

Only then did I learn the reason Luce had come all this way.

When the Thunderbird Subjugation was over, I had caught Luce and held her in a princess carry. At that time, my hand had touched her arms and legs.

Luce was clearly intent on comparing Greung’s hand to mine.

‘Were you conscious then?’

At the time, I wasn’t fully conscious and my vision was blurry, so I failed to notice. Luce wasn’t unconscious… It was a moment when my seven years of experience playing ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱ was for naught.

The important thing was that I was still in the ‘suspicious’ phase. It was evident that Luce had regained consciousness but wasn’t able to clearly observe my appearance.

I could tell by the way she eagerly tried to hold my hand to discern whether I was Greung or not.

Moreover, it seemed that Galia was doing an excellent job at keeping my secret like he said he would in Midheaven Realm. It was a bit worrying, but luckily, that guy had some tact.

“Why do you want to hold my hand all of a sudden?”

“Just…”

“Luce, you should only hold hands with the person you like, not a friend of the opposite sex…”

I spoke in an old-fashioned tone to dissipate the subtle atmosphere that Luce had created.

Did you know about Socrates’ famous method of refutation1Socrates’ famous method of refutation (also referred to as Elenchus) was a method that Socrates himself developed to put someone’s social skills “to the test”. He would use this dialectal method to reveal someone’s social skills or lack thereof.? When I usually pointed out something like this, Luce would argue with me by asking ‘Why?’, ‘Why?’, ‘Why?’.

For this reason, I usually refrained from pointing things out, but this time it couldn’t be helped. I needed to adopt a conservative mindset to overcome this crisis.

“We’ve already held hands before…”

The moment I heard that line, I realized I didn’t need to explain to Luce why male and female friends shouldn’t hold hands.

She seemed to know what it meant for a man and a woman to hold hands.

“Don’t you have someone you like?”

I cut off Luce’s words.

“…I think I do.”

[Luce Eltania] Psychology: [She feels excited while thinking about Greung.]

It was over. Greung was confirmed to be on Luce’s lover’s route. Now, if it was revealed that I was Greung, I would be seriously screwed.

Moreover, Luce’s lover’s route was activated on the condition that the player saved her during the class placement evaluation.

I had perfectly nailed Luce’s lover route on myself by saving her during the Thunderbird subjugation.

Luce was the kind of character who would suffer a fatal blow to her heart if she was saved, even if it was just once. Since I had saved her twice now… once her crush’s identity was revealed, her heart would race like a runaway train.

But thanks to Luce sincerely revealing her true feelings, the situation was now in my favor.

“Is it me?”

“It’s not you… maybe…”

I deliberately continued talking as if I hadn’t heard Luce whisper ‘maybe’,

“If it’s not me, then… Well, anyways, it’s something to celebrate, but then why do you want to hold hands with me so badly? And what was that ‘just’ about?”

I calmly pressed Luce. It was an inevitable situation.

If the fact that I was Greung was revealed, Extra Bad Ending No.13 would suddenly come crashing down like the Grim Reaper.

I couldn’t just end my friendship with Luce either. It was already too late for that.

Let’s try and think about it. If I hastily deny or try to overturn the fact that I’m not Greung, it would only arouse Luce’s suspicion.

Luce had a brain that could remember everything. In other words, if she saw any inconsistencies in my behavior, she would undoubtedly investigate, and I would inevitably be caught as Greung.

So, what should I do? Avoidance would be best.

The key was to keep Luce in a state of ambiguous doubt, wondering whether Isaac and Greung were the same person or not.

As long as she didn’t gain complete certainty, I could just prevent Luce’s heart from firmly directing her feelings towards me.

Slowly, very slowly. Let’s gradually accumulate enough evidence through inductive reasoning to convince her that I wasn’t Greung.

At least until I defeated the Evil God Nephid.

In ❰Magic Knight of Märchen❱, if one followed Luce’s lover’s route and defeated the Evil God Nephid, there was an ending scene where Luce and the protagonist would have a happy family life.

Putting the happy family life with Luce aside. The important thing was that by the time one defeated the Evil God Nephid, the risk of facing Extra Bad Ending No. 13 would disappear.

“It isn’t okay to play with the feelings of others…”

As I rubbed the back of my neck and spoke in a disappointed tone, Luce raised her head and showed a troubled expression.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

There was a faint whimper in Luce’s voice.

[Luce Eltania] Psychology: [She is worried about being hated by you.]

I felt guilty.

I’m sorry for pushing you away, but my situation isn’t easy…

“No, I was too harsh. I’m sorry.”

“…”

“But since we’re already here, let’s stay a little longer and chat by the lake over there…”

I thought I had successfully changed the subject. I also quickly came up with a plan to distract Luce with various stories.

So, as I was about to move my feet and gradually execute that plan.

The moment I turned around and started to move my feet, I felt a weight in my right hand.

The smooth touch of her skin ran through my fingers.

Surprised, I stopped and looked back.

Luce was holding my hand.

“…I didn’t plan on asking for permission. I just thought that it would be better to hold your hand… even if it meant being hated a little.”

Luce said so in a lonely tone and dug her delicate and slender fingers into the spaces between my fingers.

“You have calluses2calluses-a rough, thickened area of skin that appears because of repeated irritation or pressure to an area of skin.”

The air grew heavy.

Luce raised her head.

Only the sound of insects was loud. The light from the street composed of glowing lamps engulfed the moonlight and brightly shined upon us.

Under that bright light, Luce looked at me, her eyes shadowed by her bangs, and asked.

“You… are Greung, right?”

Extra Bad Ending No.13 「Bird Cage」.

That ending occurred when Luce’s affection gauge for the protagonist broke a certain threshold.

Luce, unable to control her emotions, confined the protagonist after she kidnapped him and took care of him with utmost devotion.

She fed him every day, washed him, embraced him, and showered him with kisses.

She whispered her hidden feelings in a tender voice.

─’I love you, ■■■.’

─’I like you. I love you, I really love you…’

As time flowed relentlessly within Luce’s love, the Evil God Nephid was resurrected, bringing about the destruction of the world.

I was someone who had saved Luce twice despite knowing about her hidden and dark tendencies.

With that in mind, I had to do whatever it took to avoid being caught as the true identity of Greung.

My relationship with Luce was one of friendship.

Even if there were slightly strange vibes due to Luce’s unfamiliarity with boundaries, it was just right for us to be able to say with certainty, ‘We’re friends.’

“What’s that?”

“I asked, are you Greung…?”

“How do you do that?”

“…?”

I immediately went into acting mode and played dumb.

During my school days, I had aspired to be an actor and had tried a wide range of plays. I took pride in my acting skills and considered them to be top-notch.

Luce seemed puzzled by my expression, as if she didn’t understand why I didn’t know anything.

“The black monster. You already know what I’m talking about.”

“That…? Why do you call that ‘Greung’?”

“Because he told me so… Are you really not Greung?”

“Idiot.”

Luce was taken aback, and shook her head. It seemed that the expression ‘idiot’, which she had never heard before, had provoked her.

“How can I be that monster? Would I be struggling every day if I was?”

I was just Isaac, who trained hard every day. She wouldn’t be oblivious to this fact.

…Is it just my imagination that I feel a bit sad?

“…”

Luce stared at me with a meaningful gaze.

However, there was no way she could find even a trace of imperfection in my acting.

My facial expressions and gestures were all perfect.

“I see…”

“Sorry for the misunderstanding.”

Luce lowered her eyes. It seemed like she had conceded.

I wasn’t sure how accurately she had felt the touch of my hand during the Thunderbird Subjugation.

But judging from the fact that she couldn’t be sure I was Greung even after reacting to the calluses, it was safe to say that she didn’t feel a distinct touch.

Besides, there was no need to seriously convince her, I just needed to remind her of the difference in mana and skill between Greung and me.

Luce would also consider that judgment to be reasonable. She wasn’t an idiot who would jump to the conclusion that I had reached the realm of an Archwizard.

However, this alone wasn’t enough to completely dispel her suspicion. Luce had developed feelings for Greung, so doubts lingered like embers of a flame. At the slightest clue, her suspicion would flare up fiercely once again.

I could never let my guard down.

“But it’s quite novel to like such a monster. I wonder if I should say that’s just like you Luce… I’m curious about what happened. Why don’t you tell me about it from over there…”

“Isaac.” Luce said while suddenly interrupting me.

“Uh, yes?”

What now?

For some reason, Luce looked like a shy girl, blushing and hanging her head.

As I watched her fidget with her fingers, I had an ominous feeling.

‘Keep calm.’

There was no difference from before. No matter what challenges I had to face, I would calmly overcome them.

Soon, Luce’s oceanic eyes looked straight into mine.

“Could you, by any chance, teach me how to be in a relationship?”

This…

…seems like it will be quite a tough battle.

Footnotes:

1Socrates’ famous method of refutation (also referred to as Elenchus) was a method that Socrates himself developed to put someone’s social skills “to the test”. He would use this dialectal method to reveal someone’s social skills or lack thereof. 2calluses-a rough, thickened area of skin that appears because of repeated irritation or pressure to an area of skin