***

(Casimir Kismet.)

I narrowed my eyes as I leaned my back against the backrest of one of the sofas inside the living room and veered my eyes outside through the window. It was already night time and from the window, I could see the lights inside the town.

"Hmm? What should I bring, I can't decide."

I veered my eyes back to the person standing in front of me. She pointed her narrowing eyes at me while pouting her lips.

I shrugged. "Karoon, you don't need to bring anything unnecessary, we're going to aid in a war, not an army scale picnic."

"Big sis Karoon, tell me about how beautiful that place is once you get home," Misha said while standing next to her, she's smiling at Karoon while staring up at her face.

Yep, she's adorably small, I know.

"Of course, Big sis Karoon will tell you a lot of stories once I get back."

I exhaled and put my face over my hand currently leaning on the backrest of the sofa. "I still can't believe that you decided to go with us, Karoon." I shifted my gaze at Tanya currently sitting on one of the sofas while just silently listening to us.

Karoon raised her thumbs up. "I heard a lot of stories about how beautiful that place is from Kuro and it would be great if I could see it too. Since Tan-tan can't go with you, I just thought... I could come instead." She ran towards Tanya and hugged her. "Luckily, Tan-tan consented."

Tanya closed her eyes and crossed her arms. "I did not."

Karoon smiled at me. "See?"

What do you mean by 'See'? It's pretty obvious that Tanya didn't agree with it!

"I will miss you, Big sis Karoon."

"Ohhh... So do I, Misha."

"Just don't be a burden to anyone... and don't ever put yourself in great danger."

"Don't worry, Tan-tan. I, Karoon, will protect myself and will never be a burden to anyone. I will be a reliable ally while we're in that place."

"Not convincing enough."

"Ehh! Don't say that!"

I scratched the back of my head as I watched them. "We will be leaving tomorrow morning, so you should take your rest now. I heard that it will still take a long journey before we reach the kingdom of Erela, even though that massive tree is completely visible from here."

"I will! So should you too, Mister Casimir! Don't worry, on our journey, I will be the one cooking your food. You will never run out of delicious foods!"

Ahhh! Music to my ears!

I connected my hands and bowed at her. "Thank you very much, you really are a blessing gifted by heaven to me."

Karoon and Misha just laughed at me.

After having our dinner, Karoon went to her room to sleep, she even invited Misha to sleep with her and Misha happily accepted her offer.

I, on the other hand, went to the third floor of the mansion and stared at the starry sky on the terrace. I smiled as I gazed upon the wide atmosphere and the full-of-life town beneath.

Now that I think about it, this will be the very first time I'll go out of the town since I arrived here. Due to this journey, I'm going to see a new place different from what I've been usually seeing. With the massive world outside, I can finally see what kind of place the world of Ulterra is.

"Aren't you supposed to be already resting now? You have a long journey and a fight about to participate starting tomorrow." Tanya stood beside me on the terrace, her eyes were directed to the town.

"Wow, at last, you have finally decided to talk to me. You're no longer mad at me?"

Her face veered at me, her eyebrows furrowed and so her eyes narrowed. "I am never mad at you. Why would I?"

Then what were those facial expressions she has been doing every time I tried to talk to her? Face exercise?

I cleared my throat. "I'm surprised that you didn't stop her."

She remained silent for a few seconds while staring at the town in front of us. She put her hands at the barricade. "I don't agree with it and if I had to, I would do everything to stop her. That place is dangerous and so is the situation that you're about to face. However... I couldn't say no to her after seeing how much she's enthusiastic to go with you. This has been the very first time I've seen her with such a great amount of confidence in herself and ruining that confidence slowly building up in her is the last thing I want to do." She veered her eyes toward me and smiled. "Take care of her for me."

"You don't need to tell me. I will. Even so, I'm pretty sure that she will do fine on her own."

She slowly nodded. "Thanks."

I looked up to the sky and felt the cold wind passing through us and hugged myself. "The coldness is different tonight, isn't it?"

"Casimir."

"Yes?" I stared at her and found her staring directly into my eyes.

"The things that you said to Leal back at the meeting. I know that at least a lot of them were lies."

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Meruems only lack sympathy and compassion towards the ones they believe who don't deserve them... but they are capable of sentiment... and love." She walked one step closer to me and looked up while expressing no emotion on her face. "Leal was right, you have been driven by your own emotion, to the extent that you would not even hesitate to destroy yourself just to save the person you perceived as your friend. Even if it will cost everything."

"How can you tell?"

She smiled at me. "You tend to lie a lot. And because of it, even though I don't want to, I cannot help but see the pattern every time you're lying."

Am I that easy to read?

"If you knew, why didn't you say anything?"

She veered her face in front of us and stood up next to me. "I have no plan to oppose your intention... and I am already used to your lies." The next thing I felt was her head on my arm as she leaned against me. "You are right... The coldness tonight really is different. It's so cold."

I instantly felt the rumbling inside my chest as I stared at her face. Her eyes were closed while her bangs were being swayed by the gentle wind.

I have a freaking beautiful, gothic, silver-haired, Fairy leaning on my arm! But this time she's sober! She's freaking sober! Sober! S!O!B!E!R!

Man, this must be my death flag! One can't be this lucky and would never face suffering after!

Fuck! Am I going to die in this upcoming battle?

Maybe she felt how I was shivering really hard, she raised her head and smiled at me. Her gray eyes were filled with tenderness in them... and fuck me, fairies have been widely fantasized for a very good fucking reason!

All of them are fucking beautiful!

And at this very moment, one of them is looking at me with such fondness in her eyes while leaning against me! I can feel my lowly soul slowly ascending towards the heavens!

"Yeah, I must have been a bad liar."

"Don't worry, you look so valiant when lying and I won't get tired of seeing the expressions you're making every time you lie. After all, you are my most favored liar, Casimir."

"Uh... I'm glad to hear that."

Yup... I'm going to die in a very brutal way in this upcoming battle!