CHAPTER 26

A soft sensation was felt by my lips.

But it was not what I was expecting.

When I opened my eyes, I realized that the ones touching my lips are her fingers. Her face is still up close, but her crimson eyes seem to be scanning everywhere around us.

“Hmmm?” Yehanna released my lips and raised her index finger. “Shush. I think we’re being watched.”

“Watched? Who?” I asked as I looked around. There’s nothing but the beach, the coconut trees, and the empty umbrellas on the white sand. The nearest person to us is a kid who’s making sandcastles, and he’s about a hundred meters away!

“Wait right here,” Yehanna said. And then she immediately disappeared like a ninja. She was so fast that I thought she used a teleport spell.

I looked around to find traces of where she could have gone. After two seconds, I heard a familiar feminine cry.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

All of a sudden, a pink-haired teenage girl jumped out from the fifth coconut behind me. She even had her pirate telescope fly the moment she screamed like a scaredy-cat.

“O-Odette!?” I muttered. “What are you doing here?”

“A-Ah! H-Hello, Lord Corasell! I didn’t see you there! Ahahaha!” Odette’s cute face is covered with her disgusting fake laugh.

Yehanna immediately walked from behind the coconut tree where Odette was initially hiding. She crossed her arms and glared at Odette with contempt.

“So, you’re the one who’s been stalking on us ever since we went to the arcade.” Yehanna coldly said. “I knew somebody was staring at us from the distance.”

“Wait, you’ve been looking at us since lunchtime?” I sighed. “Don’t you have any better things to do?”

“Ah! It’s not what you think! I’m not stalking you two!” Odette vigorously waved her hands. “I just saw you two together back in the arcade! I was just curious, so I followed you two until we got here! I was just planning to leave just now!”

“Oh yeah? What’s with that telescope then?” Yehanna asked.

Odette immediately crawled and hid the telescope behind her back. “I-I won it in the arcade, so I decided to try it if I can see you from a distance! Ahaha!”

I was just dumbstruck. How many shallow laughs and obvious lies should she make? I may be an idiot, but I’m not that stupid to know who sees who’s just making up excuses or not.

Yehanna held her hips and sighed. After a few moments, she helped the pink-haired priestess stand up. Then she held hands with her and then looked at me with a wink and a smile on her face.

“You know what, let’s just have a three-way date!” Yehanna said. “Come on, I know a grill restaurant that serves awesome dishes at night!”

“Eh?” Odette tilted her clueless head.

“Let’s go!” Yehanna cheered as she gently pulled Odette’s wrist.

They started to talk to each other, but I couldn’t hear what they were talking about because of the distance. I looked at the horizon and saw the orange sun diving into the ocean. The night is about to come, and we already digested those snacks we ate a few hours earlier. Maybe it’s time for dinner.

I raised the plushie fox and looked at its adorable eyes.

“Welp, it’s now you and me, pal. Don’t ever disturb a girl’s moment.” I voiced the stuffed toy Gaeun by nodding her head and moving her hands.

“Yeah. Let them be.” I answered.

“It’s quite frustrating that you didn’t get that kiss though.” I voiced Gaeun.

“Shut up,” I answered.

I lowered the fox plushie toy and sighed. I wondered what I am doing with my life, talking to a stuffed toy that I voice. Maybe I’m just blue-balled so I decided to become a puppeteer talking to a toy for a moment.

I followed the two girls’ footsteps in the sand until darkness engulfed the skies. I finally caught up with them when I saw both staring at the seaside restaurant. It’s lighted by traditional lanterns and fires from their long grill.

It’s a little bit early for dinner, so there are still few people in the seaside restaurant. We chose a table for four nearest to the sea, and I had the plushie toy sit on the extra seat.

This self-serve restaurant is an eat-all-you-can buffet where you choose the raw ingredients and you have to grill it on the table provided. We ordered squid, tuna, pork slices, and veggies. While we wait for the food to cook, Yehanna started the conversation with a smirk on her face.

“Hey, Uly. Did you know? Odette is stalking us because she’s worried about you~”

“W-Waaah!” Odette panicked with the reddish face. “Miss Yehanna, you said you wouldn’t tell him!”

“I lied! Teehee~” Yehanna stuck out her tongue.

While my partners do tantrums and tease, I was stunned for a second. I never thought that I worried them ever since I used Timeline Prediction. Odette applied to be my Dragonoid Contractor to keep me safe, so it should be fair for her to disclose my problem.

“And oh, Uly said that he won’t last six months.” Yehanna spilled the beans.

“Hey, !” I cried.

“W-What!? Really?” Odette gasped. “That’s horrible!”

“Now that all the secrets have been laid out in the table, there will be no more misunderstandings,” Yehanna said in a carefree tone. Then she started to get the cooked pork meat and vegetables and started to eat.

There was a bit of awkward silence until Odette continued the conversation.

“Lord Corasell, is it true? Did your Timeline Prediction give that conclusion?” Odette asked.

“Yeah. I’m sorry if I worried you two with my actions within the past few days.” I said.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll be freaked out if I realized that I have six months to live too.” Odette said as she put grilled tuna meat and mussels on her dish. “But don’t fret, Lord Corasell. My job is to keep you alive. I am your healer after all! I will do what I must, even if I take all the harm in your stead!”

“Right?” Yehanna said while pointing her fork at me. “We will keep you alive, no matter what it takes. We’ll be a failure as Dragonoid Contractors if we get our Dragon Sage killed. Besides, you said that you only saw 118 possible futures, out of all the infinite timelines. Who knows if you discover a new timeline that will make you evade death?”

“Seconded!” Odette raised her fork at me. “Miracles do happen! As a Divine Priestess of the Southern Shrine, I’ve seen more miracles than you can imagine!”

I know that my partners are blabbing nonsense just to raise my spirit. Yehanna’s wrong about the timelines because those 118 possible futures I saw have the highest possibility of happening. And don’t get me started about Odette’s miracles. I’m not a religious man.

However, I know their intentions. They want me not to lose hope. They want me to rely on them in times of crisis. I don’t want to drag them when I’m in the grave, so I should at least be hopeful as them.

“So, let’s work together and save Uly!” Yehanna pointed her fork at me once again, but now there’s a piece of barbecue meat in it.

“We will do our best!” Odette also presented her fork with a bite-sized cooked tuna.

“I’ll be counting on you to save me then!” I smiled then chomped the cooked fish and meat out of their forks.

“You got it!” Yehanna and Odette cheered. When they realized that they said the very same word at the very same time, they both giggled.

I just realized…

With these girls to cheer me up, maybe I could die with a smile on my face.

Suddenly, dying is not so scary at all.

…

[Timeline Prediction Updated]

[312 Future Timelines Found]

[Chances of survival: 0%]

[Ulysses Corasell has no future]

[The future remains to be intact]