On the outskirts of the forest, where the ruins lay, Alum set up a tent. Looking around, he could see many more airships in the distance.

 They arrived a little earlier than expected, and the exploration would take place the following day.

 His party members had sobered up and were setting up their own tents.

 Jua and Jan shared one, and so did Nuli and Turen….

 The members of Phantom Dusk would do the same. Lyn and Sarah had finished long ago, or well… Lyn finished long ago, while Sarah was out in the forest to hunt.

 Lyn was now setting up a tent for Dalen and Keelen, who followed Sarah on her antics.

 Which led to Alum helping her out.

 “Thank you for helping me, Mr. Alum,” Lyn said warmly.

 Alum glanced at her and then at the forest.

 “No need to be so formal. We’re the same age, right?”

 Lyn was surprised and giggled.

 “I saw, Alum, it is then.”

 After saying that, she would stare at him. She thought he was more like Dalen and Keelen, who didn’t mind a lot of things, nor did they talk much.

 So, to her surprise, Alum was more expressive than she initially thought. He had a lot of nonverbal cues and seemed like a soft person.

 He spoke softly, and although he didn’t have much facial expression, it was easy to tell how he felt just by looking at his eyes.

 He also seemed mature, but… the things he sometimes did seemed a little childish.

 Lyn believed herself to be a good judge of character and became interested in him. Surely, they would get along well and hopefully work together more in the future.

 With that in the back of her mind, she turned her head and stared into the forest.

 “Are you interested in the forest?” Lyn asked.

 She thought he’d be since he was sneaking a glance here and there.

 “Yeah. Its mana density intrigued me.”

 “... Was that so? I guessed it made sense because there were a lot of strong monsters that resided in the forest. At least in the deeper parts of it.”

 Lyn looked at him. And she could tell he wanted to hear more.

 “Did you know? The forest was like a ruin, and there was still a lot we didn't know about it.”

 “Like a ruin…?”

 “Yes, the strange properties in the deeper parts resembled that of the mechanisms in ruins or dungeons.”

 Alum didn’t know much about dungeons or ruins, but the fact that the forest was similar made him more curious.

 “... How so?”

 “It was a little hard to pinpoint exactly, but it was like they were bending the space inside them.”

 “Like how a storage bag worked?”

 “In a sense,” Lyn replied with a bright smile.

 …

  …..

 …

 Now that they were finished, Lyn decided to cook while waiting for her party members to come back. Alum tried to help her out, but she refused since she had a bad feeling about it.

 Alum was a little disappointed but said nothing and read a book by the campfire.

 Turen looked at the two from a distance.

 “They seemed to get along well,” Jan said.

 Turen had a smile on his face.

 “I’ve never seen Lyn that friendly with any other guy before.”

 Nuli and Jua sighed.

 “Honey, please don’t say it like that….”

 “Yeah, I’d feel bad for Miss Lyn if that was the case.”

 To which Turen laughed.

 “Hahaha… he was young and capturing the hearts of young maidens.”

 Jan lightly chopped Turen on the back of the head.

 “You shouldn’t say stuff like that. He had Miss Amethely. Besides, Miss Lyn didn’t seem like the type to steal someone's boyfriend.”

 Nuli and Jua nodded to Jan’s words.

 “Did she even know that, though?” Turen asked.

 Jua, Nuli, and Jan looked at each other.

 “There was no way that she didn’t know,” Nuli said.

 Jua nodded in agreement.

 “That’s right, she was a mature girl and intuitive at that.”

 “..... If you guys say so.”

 — :::: —

 After Lyn finished cooking, she had Alum taste test the food.

 “Was it good?” Lyn asked.

 She was slightly nervous since the only ones who ate her cooking were Sarah, Dalen, and Keelen. And she didn’t know if they said it was good because they were friends or because they actually thought it was good.

 “.....”

 “... Yeah, it was good,” Alum replied.

 She felt relieved and called out to Turen and the rest to join them for dinner.

 After a while, Dalen, Sarah, and Keelen came back, and they all ate in peace.

 …

  …..

 …

 After finishing their meal, a group of 4 girls came, and a girl with blue hair and eyes spoke to them.

 “Night Ouen and Phantom Dusk, right?”

 The blue-haired girl had asked without any expression on her face.

 Lyn nodded her head and smiled.

 “Yes, and you must be Sarie from Crystal Drake.”

 “Yes, we’re here to introduce ourselves. It was a pleasure to work with you.”

 She and her party members introduced themselves, as did Night Ouen and Phantom Dusk.

 And when Alum introduced himself, things got quiet.

 Displeased looks were directed at him, and before they could say anything, Sarie glared at them as if to tell them to stay quiet.

 She then looked at Alum, and her eyes had somewhat turned soft.

 “Well then, we will be your care,” she said.

 ““Likewise,”” Turen and Sarah replied.

 “......”

 After a moment of silence, Sarie’s group left.

 “Jeez! They didn’t have to be that hostile….” Lyn said in a displeased tone.

 They all agreed, but the person himself didn’t seem to care.

 What he was more concerned about were the soft eyes that had been directed at him. He wasn’t sure what it meant. But he could say for sure that she wasn't hostile toward him.

 “What’s this, Lyn? Did he get angry at them on his behalf? How cute.” Sarah commented.

 Lyn blushed and retorted.

 “That’s not the case at all! Aren’t you a little mad as well?”

 “I certainly was a little, but considering they put their lives on the line, it wasn’t a strange reaction. I mean… we had our doubts as well, right?” Sarah said.

 “I know… I’m sorry.”

 She glanced at Alum apologetically and looked a little sad.

 Although he didn’t really care, he felt happy that someone did. But now was that someone a little down, and he wasn’t sure what to say to her.

 So…, he walked closer and placed his hand on her head. He wasn’t good with words, but when he was comforted by either Ame or Luna, they would hug him or pat him on the head. And, of course, he’d do the same.

 Jan was facepalming, and Turen just lightly chuckled. Jua and Nuli were staring into dead space. Sarah sighed as she looked at her friend's face, which was bright red as if it was about to melt.

 Dalen and Keelen tried to stay out of it and communicated via eye contact.

 (... I have never seen Lyn like this. Ever.)

 Dalen shrugged.

 (Well, she seemed happy, and they looked good together.)

 Alum was now patting her head and saying some comforting words, which only confused Lyn as she went into overheating mode.

 And Alum, not really seeing the obvious despite his attentiveness and intuition, had a soft smile on his face.

 “Thank you for being angry, for my sake.”

 Lyn took every word to heart and melted.

 “N-no… i-its n-nomal!”

 She was stuttering so much the words didn’t come out correctly.

 (Poor Lyn might actually have fallen for him.) Sarah thought.

 “*Sigh*, Lyn, come here for a second.”

 “H… huh? Um, okay?” Lyn replied.

 Alum stopped patting her and watched her go with a soft smile.

 (They’re nice friends… maybe I should bring Noel on an adventure someday?)

 Meanwhile….

 Sarah needed to know if her friend really wanted to walk this thorny path. So she asked her to come with her on a little stroll.

 “Tell me… have you fallen for him?” Sarah asked Lyn straight up.

 Hearing her friend ask her this made her face turn red, and she would also become restless.

 “H-huh!? What were you talking about!”

 “It was blatantly obvious.”

 “.....”

 Lyn was now quiet and had no words.

 Sarah thought that it’d be best for her friend to give up. He already had the Saint, and Lyn probably knew all this, which would only result in an uphill battle.

 “The competition was rough, you know?”

 Lyn knew that it would be rough. After all, Alum was nice and considerate; he was capable, and with all that combined, any girl would find him appealing.

 Not only that. Alum was good-looking. So, even if he weren’t talented in magic, many girls would still fall for him.

 “...That doesn’t mean I should give up, does it!?”

 Sarah was confused. Her friend wasn’t the kind of person to steal someone's lover. Maybe she was, and she never knew. But that didn’t sit well with her at all.

 “Lyn, I didn’t support that kind of behaviour!”

 Lyn was shocked by this. Her friend didn’t support her first love, and she doesn’t know why Sarah wouldn’t support her. As a result, Lyn was severely hurt by Sarah’s words.

 With tears flowing from her eyes, she lost strength in her legs and was down on her knees, hugging them.

 Sarah bent down to try and comfort the crying Lyn and patted her head.

 “I’m sorry… I just didn’t want you to get hurt.”

 “*Hic… I was badly so now! Why wouldn't you support your friend's first love?” Lyn yelled while sobbing.

 Sarah felt guilty about that fact, but she just couldn’t.

 “You knew fully well, didn’t you?”

 “No, I didn’t!” Lyn yelled.

 “Look at the truth, Lyn! Saint Amethely and Alum were so in love the whole capital praised them as the sweetest couple they’d seen! I didn’t want you to get hurt! That’s why!”

 “......”

 “Of course, if you really wanted to get between them, I wouldn’t stop you! But! But… I’m sorry. I just couldn’t support you.”

 “......”

 …

  …..

 …

 When Lyn and Sarah returned, the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

 Lyn’s eyes were a bit red as it looked like she’d been crying.

 “Are you okay?” Alum asked Lyn.

 But she pouted and turned her head away from him.

 “You shouldn’t be so nice to girls, Mr. Alum.”

 Lyn couldn’t hold it much longer, and tears started to form around her eyes.

 “Anyways… I was tired and would be resting. Good night.”

 All that she could think of was going back to her tent and crying over it until she felt refreshed.

 And by Alum’s reaction, Sarah knew he had absolutely no clue.

 “O… okay? Good night.”

 Dalen and Keelen were also confused, but they didn’t want to pry and stayed out of it.

 Meanwhile, Turen was chuckling and looked smugly at his party members. Jua, Jan, and Nuli had a face of disbelief.

 (((No way, she actually didn’t know!?)))