"What are you staring at?"

Ash made the system interface vanish from his vision and looked at her.

"Nothing," he answered. "Just thinking about something."

Lissa watched him.

It had been another thing he noticed about her - she never reacted instantly. Whenever he said something, she always considered it for a moment first, analyzing, reflecting, and judging according to some internal standard before giving any reaction at all.

This wasn’t a sign of slowness on her part; rather, it seemed to indicate that she never threw away her words in haste.

She took a moment and then spoke.

"I saw how you defeated those fang wolves," she said, with her usual flat tone of voice, lacking anything warm or soothing about it. "You’re quite skilled with a sword."

Ash blinked.

’A compliment? Am I getting a compliment from Lissa?’

He examined her face. Her gaze was narrowed and set upon him, with that same analytical nature about it. But this wasn’t the look a compliment usually brought. Rather, it seemed more like the gaze of someone who had found a detail inconsistent with the image being formed in their mind.

That is to say - it was more of a warning disguised as praise.

He decided to take the comment at face value and left it at that.

"Have you completed your quest?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh - yes." Rinna’s soft voice came from right beside Lissa, where she had apparently appeared without him noticing. "We successfully escorted Mister Bowen to safety, so yes, the quest is completed."

"What happens next?" Ash asked. "Where are you going?"

"Back to Vaeltris," Rinna replied, her gaze directed at the sky overhead, which had grown steadily darker, with the two suns having vanished completely, leaving only a faint trace of amber coloring the farthest horizon. "But it’s already too late to travel anymore today. We’ll spend the night here and then leave for the city tomorrow morning."

"I see," Ash said.

And indeed, the silence that settled between the three was now comfortable. Around them, Miren was busy recovering from the attack - villagers moving among each other, checking on their neighbors, the guardsmen walking among them with their weapons still ready. The smell of wood smoke in the air grew stronger, as hearths were lit.

Ash stood there and thought.

It had been less than a day since his arrival in this world and he knew hardly anything about it. The name of one village, of one city, the names of two sisters, and the old merchant.

No wars, no demon lords, no great disasters that required intervention - nothing of what he might expect in a world that required him to step in and save it. Everything Rinna told him before seemed to confirm her claim of relative peace.

And that meant that whatever had to be prevented had either not happened yet or hadn’t shown itself yet.

But it didn’t matter either way; the answer was the same. He needed more time, more knowledge and much greater power.

There was no better place to acquire all of that than in a city - and the only inhabitants of this world he knew at present were standing two feet away, heading straight for the aforementioned city tomorrow.

’Would it be too much to ask?’

He turned back to the two of them.

"May I go with you to Vaeltris?"

The reply from Rinna came fast, as well as unhesitatingly.

"Of cou - "

"No."

Before Rinna could finish her sentence, Lissa cut in, with a decisiveness that shut everyone up instantly.

"If you want to go to Vaeltris, that’s your business," she continued. "But you’re not going there with us. We let you travel with us today. That was enough."

A short pause followed.

"Fair enough," Ash agreed, smiling with sincerity. "I’m asking for too much from you guys. Thank you for letting me join you earlier."

Lissa said nothing. Not a word, nor even glanced at him.

"Lissa," Rinna tried to change her sister’s opinion. Her voice now sounded different, not carrying that softness usually characteristic for her but having some backbone behind it instead. "If we’re all heading in the same direction, why can’t he travel with us?"

"Why are you pushing this?" Lissa turned around to address her sister. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Rinna, then at Ash and back at her sister. "Do you like him or something?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The question hung in the air for a brief moment.

Ash went very still.

Rinna went red.

It happened fast - the flush rising from her neck and spreading across both cheeks with the immediacy of something that had been there waiting to be triggered, her crimson eyes going wide in a way that was entirely different from her usual calm.

She stared back at Ash, who was already looking back at her, and it felt like they both froze, unable to do anything with their eyes.

"What are you saying?" Rinna’s voice came out a little higher than its usual pitch. She turned and gave Lissa a push - not hard, the kind of push that was more expression than force, a punctuation mark rather than a shove. Lissa absorbed it without moving.

Rinna buried her face in her palms.

Lissa looked at her sister, then back at Ash, then back at her sister once again.

Then she sighed, long and drawn-out, the sound of someone finally conceding defeat.

"Fine," she said. "The memory-loss guy can come with us."

"Really?" Rinna’s hands came down from her face.

"Yeah." Another sigh, marginally larger than the first. "Don’t make me say it again."

"Thank you, Lissa," Ash said.

She didn’t reply. She didn’t even look at him.

Ash turned to Rinna.

"Thank you," he said.

Rinna said nothing in return. She just smiled, the same open and friendly smile she had been wearing all day long. He returned the smile, and felt that warmth that nearly reminded him of something.

"Lissa. Rinna. Ash."

They all turned.

Bowen was coming towards them from the nearest house, his weathered face carrying a grateful expression.

"Thank you," he said. "All of you. For protecting my village tonight."