I hate being wed in a fantasy world!

You gain 2 WP.

Your husband and your sister-wife have connected to each other. Make sure to do the same.

I look at the screen, yet I don't really see it. This keeps up for ten or so minutes. My thoughts return to Masahiko-kun, Correo-san, Yoshimura-kun... I feel lost.

Something comes closer. There is that extra care of being a bit louder than usual. I push the notification away and look to the source which has just returned to camp. It's Ken who scratches his head. His face is vulnerable again... just like when he was influenced by Lvo'tjos back then. “Hey...” he starts lifelessly: “Mind to take a walk?” He points at Arako who has started writing her notes. I guess he doesn't want her to overhear us.

“Sure.” I want to avoid this conversation, yet I know that running away won't help.

We walk into the almost-darkness, the moment when dusk seems darker than night. What exactly does he want to talk about? Arako already explained the disaster we had with Eri-chan and Daichi-kun. He knows everything about Yoshimura-kun. So it can only be about our fight or... will he try to convince me that all of my friends are jerks and deserved what came to them!?

“Phew...” I'm so used to this sigh that it somehow calms me down a bit. “Erm... Does it hurt?” He points at my face.

I already healed it, so the bruises and scratches are gone. “No.” This is the worst ice-breaker ever.

“I see... thank you.”

I need to blink several times. Did I hear right!? I mean: “Did you just say 'Thank you'!?”

“...I can take it back, you know?”

“Just tell me for what.”

“Argh. You know... the whole fighting your friends and such.”

“...I didn't do it for you, but because of you.”

“I know.”

“It was the worst.”

“I know.”

“I'm about to cry.”

“I know. Also... I'm sorry.”

“That's unfair.” Why can he just say everything I wanted him to say with this meek, but honest voice? “Why are you this way?”

“...because of what is right and what I want to be right.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don't know. Yet I can't get this out of my head.”

“So what do you want to be right?”

“That you hate me, that you're the second-worst person I know. That everything you do and believe is wrong, and that you can be glad to have me.”

“...asshole. ...and what is right?”

“...I want you to be with me.”

Oh god, Ken! Bad choice of words! This sounds like a confession! My heart beats loudly, and I feel strange, enamored by the cursed ring I'm wearing. It's like a hot chill that starts from my toes and works its way up to the top of my head. “Wha- what do you mean?”

“Phew...” Scratching his head, he tries to find the right words. “Remember, when we came back from Heißquellen?” How could I forget? That was the shrine we needed to visit to break the curse. “Back then, I thought: Hey, partying with her wasn't that bad. I mean, I was kinda impressed when you saved me from the Voice. Also, you were surprisingly tough.”

“...I also thought that we could work it out after breaking the curse. Yet we couldn't break it. And you attacked that priest.”

“...I'm sorry. I was blind with rage. I mean, we'd almost died because of that shitty pilgrimage.”

“...to be honest, if you hadn't done it, I might.” I still remember vividly how all of the color drained from my face. My first reaction was pure shock, unable to even think. Who knows what I would have done afterward? “I was really pissed at you though. I... kinda... well... depended on you.” Without him, I may have given up in the chasm. I hate myself for that.

“You were the one who kept me alive. I mean, I would have died without you casting [Stamina].”

“The monsters would have killed me.”

“Without you, I would have been killed by the red bear.”

“Hey, you only attacked it, because it was about to attack me. You could have avoided that.”

“What about the ss'rak? You killed the one I couldn't.”

“OK, now things are getting strange. I mean, both of us trying to give the other credit!? Let us just agree that we needed each other back then, and since the episode in the temple, I was disappointed in you. Unjustifiably.”

“...had you any expectations towards me?”

“I don't know why, but yes.”

“I see... Sorry, I had no expectations. I told myself that without you, everything would be better.”

“I know.”

“Well, you see... when we recently talked about what to do after we break the curse... I somewhat snapped. I... didn't want you to go. That's it, OK!? So Kyou-san, I'll tell you just once! Phew... Kyou-san: I'll trust you from now on. Don't waste that!”

In a sense, it's much more intimate than a confession. For Ken to say this... I feel like tearing up. When he said that he trusts Arako, I was jealous. Because I’ve known him for much longer... because we’ve worked together longer... Now he extends that trust towards me as well. Stupid curse that makes me feel that way!

“Ken,” so I use that trust right away. “Please don't say anything for a moment. I want to know what you saw with Lvo'tjos, but this isn't about it... what I wanted to tell you the whole time is something else...”

“...say it.”

“I... I haven't told you everything about my encounter with Mama Orana.”

“The witch?”

“Yes... she... she has told me that these,” I show him the ring on my hand, “make me desire you... make everyone want you.”

“...that's all?”

“... … … What?”

“I mean, I didn't exactly know it, so it's still news, but I suspected something like that.”

“You WHAT!?”

“I mean, look at Ara-san? I mean, changing her biology is one thing, but her physical cravings for me is something that would be easy to implement in others, right? I mean, I suspected as much since Rine was so much into me the moment she was cursed as well. I mean, why would she otherwise?”

“I want to hit you,” I blurt out my thoughts. “I worry for weeks about it and you dismiss it as something you already suspected!?”

“Kyou-san, at this point you should know that I suspect everything and don't take anything as a given.”

“Oh yes, I forgot. You're the person who thinks it's plausible that an army of fire-spitting demons is after us!”

“That was the worst possible case I could immediately think of at that moment.”

“Sometimes you're crazy.” He just shrugs his shoulders as an answer, accepting my words as true. I smile a bit and start laughing. “Hahaha. We're both hopeless.”

He also gives a small smile. “I don't know whether it's the ring or not, but it's as I said: Kyou-san, while I feel bad about your friends, I'm glad that you're still here.”

“...what do we do about them?”

“Nothing we can do there. Also, I still hate them.”

Oh, here we go again. “Why?”

“I mean, I'm the last person who will say something about Inoue getting beat up. I hate that guy. Yet you were the only one who told him to give up, while they cheered him, told him to get up. I mean, I didn't expect anything else from his goons, but didn't they care at all about his life?”

“...while I disagree with you about my friends, I will overlook it this time.” I mean, somehow it's flattering me. “You and them have a bunch of misunderstandings about each other.” I'm also at fault for the nastiest ones. “But what about Correo?”

“Like I said, nothing we can do. We will just make sure to be prepared. They were too good, we need to up our game. Even if Correo was truthful and he will first ask Ori-boss before chasing us any more, he can easily get us with his Seven League Boots at any time. I hope he hasn't any other relics to find us, but to be honest... he has.”

“I know... he's too shrewd to not have plenty of back-ups.”

“Well, he's ahead in mobility. At least we know that. We can't find him either, so he will choose how to face us... what a pain.”

“What has it to do with my friends?”

“They will find us as well... so like I said: We'll prepare ourselves.” Ken starts stretching his arms. “I hate this, but at least it makes it simpler.”

“In what regard?”

“We just need to keep pressing forward. We do we, and when he comes for us, we'll make sure to kick his ass. For this, we have plenty of things to work on.” This is Ken how I know him.... I poke him into the side: “Hey! What's that for!?”

I smile cheekily at him: “I still don't feel any better about my friends, you know?”

“Don't ask me to cheer you up.”

“You're sure? I basically just said that I have the hots for you. Not trying to exploit it?”

“...” He looks at me with an expression of disbelief. “Are you mocking me?”

“Yes.” I'm not looking for that kind of relationship right now. “Yet we need to re-establish our relationship. We aren't friends, right?”

“Heck no.”

“Back to partners? Or do you prefer enemies?”

“Aren't we already husband and wife?” He sneers at his own little joke. I also laugh a bit. He used this once before, right the moment we were married by this curse. It's not even funny, yet I remember how I fumed at that time and that's amusing. I think we have turned back time a bit.

“Ken,” I take his hands in mine. “Please don't think that you have a chance with me yet.”

“Yet?” I let go of his hands and start walking back. “What do you mean?” This will make him think for a while.

You gain 2 WP.

You have reconciled with your husband. Love can grow with every fight and this is a prime-example of it.

Don't ruin that moment for me! “Geez!” Here I thought I can merrily mess with Ken a bit, and then this message pops up.

To be honest, I still don't know how I feel. However, it's not important right now. Ken knows about that side-effect and he doesn't care about it. We talked about some of our shortcomings, and while it was just the tip of the iceberg, it feels like we're finally able to talk about the moments we were mad at each other.

Ken is willing to open up. I'm willing to be more honest. I have plenty of reasons to hate this day, and I'm sure that this will be one of the worst days of my whole life, yet something good came out of it as well.

Now I need to vent my spleen as well. I hope Rine-chan isn't too busy with herself. I find her at the lake, but she isn't alone there. Something inside me tells me to draw my knife and attack, but the way she speaks to them makes me hesitate and ask myself, if what I see is for real.

―○●○―

This dinner is different. Katarine-san merrily takes seconds, while telling us a story from her childhood: “Then I mounted the fryon and tried to ride it.” A fryon is a monster with a mane that it can set on fire. Some of them are tamed in Feuerberg.

“Why?” Kenta-kun can't understand how someone can have the urge to ride something that can burn you.

“Because I thought it would be fun,” Katarine-san says while rubbing her behind.

“Seems like it was a bumpy ride.” Momo adds unnecessarily.

I feel a furried head on my lap. It's a green cougar. These are our special guests here. It seems that Katarine-san befriended them before and they looked for us and came to her when she was with Momo at the lake. It seems like Katarine-san offered them a feast for their help or something like that.

Now we have something like a party. To be honest, I can go without the animals, yet it's a nice change of pace. Usually, whenever we get somewhere, we make enemies. This time, I got to know some of the enemies we had before without increasing their numbers, in addition to meeting some new friends.

Like Katarine-san, I have the [Whisperer]-skill and can exchange simple ideas with them. “You want more?” The cougar nods and I look at Momo, who has butchered some of the meat they brought. It seems that they don't dislike to eschew the innards and bones in favor of the meat.

“Phew...” Kenta-kun grabs a bit and feeds the animal. “Seriously.”

“This is the best opportunity for you to increase your rank in [Animal Ken], Kenta-kun.”

“I know, but...”

“Ah, Kenta! Do you dislike animals?”

“No comment.”

“Well, I'm happy that you take care of them as an apology.”

“Apology?” Momo asks. “Is this why you act so strange? What did you do to them?”

“Let's say that I didn’t ask them for their help...” Kenta-kun's face is distorted. I believe that he really dislikes what he does, yet he sticks to it nonetheless.

All things considered, this is much better than what we had before. My human friends seem all more... whatever it is. I think they would call it 'adult', yet I'm positive that their and my definition of adulthood vastly differs. Especially, since I'm technically the only adult here... poor me.

At least they stopped moping and being overly emotional. Humans overcoming human problems. “I'm glad that this is over.”

“What?” Momo asks.

“You being so human.”

“Excuse me, that's what we are?”

“I forgive you.”

Momo throws another chunk of meat at me, yet I catch it effortlessly. Humans are bad at eye-hand coordination. Or following movements in general.

“Ara, you had your own share of trouble, right?” Katarine-san asks me with a voice full of concern.

“We met a lot of heroes and I learned almost nothing about them. This is frustrating. Why couldn't you catch one or two?”

Katarine-san puts her hands together: “Sorry, Ara. I had more important things to do.”

Momo cocks her head, this somehow feels entirely different from when Katarine-san does it: “Are you serious?”

“Yes. I worked myself to death, let myself be captured to gather intelligence and none of you even tried to give me a hero as a present. I'm about to cry about how little you care about me.”

“Are you friggin serious?” Kenta-kun asks me with a straight face.

“I feel left out. All of you got something out of this and I got nothing. Kenta-kun also had a heartfelt talk with both of you. In the end, I'm not a wife but a meat-doll...”

“What about the relic?”

“It's mine and I won't give it to any of you. I earned it by besting Correo-kun.” When I was examining the hero-barrier, I noticed that the staff was stronger repelled when I was in my [Acrobat]-class. This made me think of the difference between [Druid] and [Acrobat] and I came to the conclusion that the big difference was that [Acrobat] has the [Quarterstaff]-ability. So I assumed that this played a part into the repelling effect and concluded that it would be the weakest with the class that has the least to do with being a hero.

It's not like there was no resistance, yet for a moment, I could force my arm through it. It felt like moving underwater with a strong current I could only resist temporarily, yet Correo-kun doesn't know that.

“Guys?” Katarine-san speaks to the cougars. “Ara feels left out. I think she needs some smooching.”

“No, I don't need that.” I explain them with my own [Whisperer]. I have a higher rank in the [Animal Ken]-ability, so I should be better.

The cougars look at the both of us alternating. Katarine-san then stands up. “Then I'll smooch you.”

...well played, Katarine-san.

In the end, it seems that everyone has pulled themselves together. I feel happy, as the friendship I have to these humans feels more genuine than ever.

Later that evening, I continue with my magic lesson. Momo has given up learning [Detect Mana] as this spell might not suit her. She tries to learn [Empower] instead by using different [Divine Magic]-spells on Kenta-kun while pushing more magic into it.

Katarine-san asked me to teach her again from the basics and even notes down what I say. “I want to be a [Wizard], so I need to do it like one, right?” It's not like she didn't genuinely attempt to learn the class, but this time she's doing it less like her... maybe it will work?

After that, Momo practices [Empathy] with Katarine-san. She activates the spell and then she begins to smile at the other girl. “Rine-chan... you're happy. Ah, too much, too much!” It feels like a fresh breeze has gone through the party that truly has blown away the stale feelings of the Spirit Swamps.

During that time, I sit next to Kenta-kun, who tends the fire. His spirit is currently pa'ar with a hint of anth. It doesn't make sense compared to an alfr-spirit, yet I think it shows his relief. I write some more notes, trying to capture perfectly how the hero-barrier worked. “Would you mind looking at this paragraph and explain if you felt the same?”

Kenta-kun looks at me: “You know I can barely read this script?”

“Practice, practice, practice?”

“That's rich, coming from you, Queen of Laziness.”

“Heed your queen.”

“Yes, yes... Ewe” He begins to read every letter in a soft voice, forming words that suddenly sound completely different the moment he puts the letters together: “Like... aze... being...” He continues until he's at the end. “Rather than being pushed away, it's like when you put your thumb on a tire pump. Something like hard air that presses against you.”

“I don't know what a tire pump is, but I will add this impression.”

“Phew... Ara-san, we need to talk.”

“Have you finally given up and decided to ravage me tonight?”

“You know what? Yes. That's obviously exactly what I want. The only way to avoid it is to answer a question of mine.” Ah, Kenta-kun. You're finally playing along. This day, you have grown a bit more alfr.

“Then ask your question.”

Kenta-kun lowers his voice so that the other two can't overhear us. “Do you really feel left out?”

I think he speaks of what I said during dinner. “Yes and no. Yes, because something inside me wants to be with all of you. No, because I actually don't care how we interact. I like how things are between us for the moment.”

“Good. I was worried about a second.”

“Why is that?”

“I learned from Kyou-san that the witch told her that the rings are changing our feelings. So everything you may feel for me and the others since being cursed may be a lie.”

“Then it's good that we were friends before being spouses. Yet you think that my feelings of friendship towards the others, which surely started after the ring, may be the result of the curse changing my feelings to feel more favorable to my so-called sister-wives?”

“Possibly.”

“Then we will find out when we break the curse.”

“Yes.” Kenta-kun nods and his spirit becomes a bit beik, which also makes no sense to me. “We need to prepare for the worst case scenario.”

“The case when Katarine-san may come to the conclusion that we made her our slave the whole time, exploiting her changed feelings, and starts attacking us with fire?”

“I'd take her fire over her sword.”

“I have to agree.”

“Yet we also need to think how Kyou-san may feel.”

“You think she will influence the outcome?”

“Possibly. She always gets useful skills when she needs them. We also don't know how breaking the curse will affect our [Inventories] or other stuff we bought from the WP-store.”

This is Kenta-kun. He learns information and thinks about how to interact with it. I feel honored that he occasionally crafts some worst-case scenarios with me and how to counter it. Thinking about it is fun in its own right and will prepare us for when it actually happens.

From that, our conversation runs to what skills the other heroes had, what kind of features Inoue-dono's sword had, and whether Kenta-kun should put the effort to increase his rank in [Animal Ken] or not.

I really don't need a heartfelt talk with Kenta-kun, as we are connected on an entirely other level. A level much better than an emotional level: Intellect.

He just needs to hone his joking and pranking skills, yet this is still a work in progress.