"You know, I can get the food on my own, it's not a problem." Leran declared with a hint of pride in his voice, making Sae roll her eyes. "Don't worry, I believe you. I can totally picture you hunting a squirrel as if it was the achievement of your life." She answered, to which it was the demon's king turn to roll his eyes. "Of course, I'd bet some money on the squirrel winning." She finished, then stretched her arms and legs. Leran took that opportunity to change topic to something he knew he'd have the upper hand in.

"You feel sore, don't you?" He asked, to which the Ice Mage didn't answer and smiled impishly, which basically counted as a yes in Leran's book. As such he said: "I told you it was going to hurt later if you slept on the floor, didn't I?" But the white-haired sorcerer didn't seem to care too much and shrugged it off, answering: "If I'm just this sore, I can definitely deal with it." Then she started walking to the entrance of the cave while the demon king led the way.

"Then, shall I see if I can get you even more sore?" He said, looking behind at her now red face and winking. The reaction of the white-haired girl behind him was a deep blush -- he already realized she was very weak to those sorts of comebacks, so he wanted to abuse that weakness as much as possible. "I'm fine, thanks." She just answered with a colder tone than before, then spoke again: "but I'm sure you wouldn't be able to." Immediately, Leran's pride forced him to answer to such a remark with a grin on his face.

"Do you want to check?" He just said, to which Sae answered: "I already said I was just fine. But you're a bit too horny." That answer made the demon laugh as they finally reached the entrance of the cave. The outside of it looked way less cold than it had been the day before when Zelta had arrived in the evening. That was mainly because the sun in summer helped melt a bit of the snow but the winter-like view was still very prominent, making the scenery look very beautiful with drops of water falling from the cave in front of the beauty of the rising sun.

The two stayed silent while watching that view, mostly because they had nothing to say and not because they were enchanted by the scenery. After all, they were used to such a view after having lived for so long. "Follow me." Said Sae, to which Leran nodded. Then, she started leading the way. "Where are we going?" He just asked as they started walking towards the ledge where she had come from a day before. But Sae didn't answer and just pointed to that ledge, then started climbing towards it. The demon decided to mimic her actions and did the same and, by following her, reached a part of the mountain he had never seen. 

It was nothing like the rocky part under them -- Leran himself felt dazed by how beautiful the side of the mountain they had reached was. There was a valley full of beautiful blue and white flowers, a small pond that wasn't frozen somehow, with water being brought by a small river behind it and some crops that were growing in one of the coldest zones of the entire world. There were even trees that usually grew in the plains. "Did you create this?" Leran just asked, knowing there was basically no way such a beautiful valley would be at the top of a mountain. 

"Of course. I also made it so that nobody can see it." She answered simply, then pointed at the beautiful, clean river that was in the middle of the valley. "This is where the water you drank came from. Yet, you couldn't see the water flowing down from above. That's because I'm a good magician." She flaunted, to which he smiled. "Tell me, you don't actually like mountains, do you?" That was Leran's question, that had come from observation.

After all, nobody would even dare think that this place was a mountain. With flowers that didn't usually grow at high altitudes and trees that didn't have their place in mountainous zones, it didn't feel wrong for him to ask such a question. The expression the Ice Mage had on her face looked troubled at such a question, but she shrugged it off soon enough and answered: "I just wanted a change of pace from the usual. It gets boring after you live in the same place for so long." She then continued walking, to which Leran followed her.

His next question would've been: "then, why don't you go to another place?" But he knew that such a question would not be answered by her honestly and so, remembering how she didn't ask about his nightmare, he let it slip and continued his sightseeing tour in that beautiful valley. Eventually, Sae made her way to a small cottage in the middle of the trees, made out of dark brown wood, which seemed like the perfect match to Leran's eyes.

It was the complete opposite of the spacious but ugly cave he had lived in; it was quite small but it was very well done, looked perfectly in synch with the nature surrounding it and in general felt idylliac. "This is where I live." Sae said. "I know it looks good, you don't have to say it. It took me a lot of mana to make this as perfect as possible a few hundred years ago." She pointed out, to which he nodded. It was clear magic had been used to make such a place, because there would be no other way to bring a completely different habitat at the top of a mountains and have it survive the constant snowfalls. But there wasn't an ounce of snow in this place, so Leran realized there must have been a barrier protecting it and changing its temperature.

"You're going to live here for now, by the way." She said, to which he raised an eyebrow. "And why would I do that?" He just asked, to which she answered in a cold tone: "because you're a hostage, you don't get to choose your prison." As she had said that, the demon king naturally had a reaction of anger; in a split second, his face became the one that Sae recalled from when he had smashed a part of the wall and scared her to death, so she immediately changed her answer to avoid receiving the same treatment the wall had received a day before: "just kidding. It's that I don't want to live in that cave, you kno--" She started to say, but stopped when she saw the laughing face of the demon king.

"Huh?" She just asked him, to which he replied, amused: "You told me to hunt for squirrels but I already have a cute, timid and scared one in front of me." Realizing she had been tricked, Sae's expression turned as cold as an iceberg as she just said: "I just want to avoid damage on a place I've created with effort." She knew those were excuses as she could heal any damage that was done to the valley with ease, while the main reason, which she wanted to hide, was that back then, when Leran had punched that wall, her heart suddenly started beating very fast, which hadn't happened in more than a hundred years -- she wasn't used to things she couldn't predict anymore and was sure she didn't like them.

"Cute." Leran just said one word to describe the Ice Mage's behaviour, then started walking towards the cottage with his back turned towards her. "That must be a critical hit." He laughed to himself, but Sae didn't even answer. Still, he was sure that if he had watched behind him, he'd see her blush. In just two days, he was getting used to the way her mind worked. Such a realization made him want to ask a more personal question to the Ice Mage behind him.

Still not looking towards her, he asked: "Sae, do you think of me as your friend?" Then, for a second, he felt her heartbeat suddenly increase as if such a question made her nervous. It was then that the demon king regretted the question. "I asked something I shouldn't have." That was Leran's immediate reaction in his mind, but he couldn't say that out loud. Yet he was sure he had overstepped boundaries by asking such a question, which she had trouble answering.

It took a few seconds for the solitary Sae to be able to convey what she was thinking in her words, because she was no longer used to such an action. Still, when it was possible for her she answered the question with honesty and a calm tone.

"Well, I'd prefer that you hated me." Those were the words she had said, which the demon king himself couldn't understand. Realizing he couldn't make any progress at all if he didn't pry, he asked another question, realizing she didn't hate that question so much.

"Why?" A simple word that Sae knew perfectly the answer to. It was one of the main reasons why she wanted to isolate herself from others, one of the reasons why she didn't bother with being a social person anymore. Why she felt nervous and distrustful towards others.

"If you were to, at least I'd know what to expect." Those were her words, said in a harsh tone. Then, silence. For the first time that day, the two looked one in the eyes of the other. Sae saw the blood-red eyes of a person that seemed both curious and compassionate towards her, two feelings she wished he didn't harbor at all. Meanwhile, the azure eyes of the Ice Mage felt pained to Leran's view. He wanted to help her because she reminded him of himself, but he couldn't do it if she didn't let him in and explain further. Meanwhile, Sae's expression basically screamed: "hate me!" in a subtle way.

But, while the two were intensely gazing at each other, a scream came from the entrance of the cave.

"Ice Mage, please! I need your help, come out if you're here!" 

Immediately, Leran growled in an animalistic and loud way. To that, Sae raised her eyebrows with a bewildered expression. The demon king thought he had made such a noise unconsciously because he didn't want to be interrupted in such an important private moment, but shrugged off such a feeling immediately. He knew demons were very possessive beings but he had no reason to be possessive over someone that wasn't his and that didn't even desire his friendship -- that was what his pride was telling him. "I just felt interrupted, that's all." That was his explanation as he smiled impishly.

"If I'm a squirrel, then you're a pet dog or something. Only makes sense that you'd bark to the person bringing the letters." She said, using a metaphor. Because the person waiting for them definitely wasn't coming to give them a letter.

It was much more important.

Light

it took a bit, but the story's now shaping to be the romance/kinda slice of life action i wanted it to be. hope you all are enjoying it! a comment would mean the world to me :)