Pretending To Have A Girlfriend?

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The village that they had seen before was rather invisible now.

Starchis said just when he felt riding the horse had become uncomfortable.

“Hey. Let’s tie the horse here. We'll ride later. For now, everyone get off”

Starchis dismounted first.

It was impressive to see him leaping easily over one foot over the horse’s head.

“Hey.”

Starchis reached out to Lily.

Everyone else at the party flinched at the sight.

“Uh… Huh?”

“Lily ssi, You won’t be able to get off the horse.”

He was right. Because she wasn’t used to the horses, Lily actually didn't know how to get off. So she was just contemplating.

Starchis, who was accustomed to being considerate, did not easily forget this fact.

Lily stretched out a hand with her cheek blushing. But Starchis shook his head.

“You can’t come down like this. I come up with the idea of ​​putting both of your hands on my neck.”

-Neigh! neigh!! neigh!!!

Luss’s horse suddenly runs amok.

Starchis turned his head toward her and said.

“Luss…! Calm down! There’s nothing wrong with being careful here.”

“…”

Luss doesn’t answer.

“Why are you doing that again…”

Starchis murmured, then turned his head back to Lily, both of his hands were outstretched.

“Come on, hurry up. We don’t have much time, we have to finish it all today. The sun is still up, but if the surroundings are still dim, we won’t be able to see anything in the evening.”

“…Well, then. Excuse me…”

Lily turned around and stretched out her hands. Still, there was a distance.

Slowly and carefully, Lily laid her body against Starchis. Lily, who was leaning forward, lost her balance and fell towards Starchis.

Starchis put his arms under Lily’s armpits to support her, and Lily wrapped her arms around Starches' neck.

Feeling the urge again, Lily hugged Starchis with more force than necessary.

Starchis took one step backward and pulled Lily, and she dismounted from the horse.

“It’s okay.”

But even though Lily’s feet touched the ground, she didn’t let go of Starchis.

She was sniffing the nape of his neck before she knew it.

It was the moment when her smell fetish first blossomed. Very suddenly, purely because of Starchis.

“Um… Lily sii?”

Lily was on her tiptoe and didn’t fall off him.

When she wouldn’t let go of him, Stachis naturally said.

“That, Lily ssi? Please can you get off now...”

She patted him on the back.

“Hehe! Ah! Ah... I’m sorry.”

-Top

For a moment, it felt like a small pebble hit Lily’s head.

She turned to see Vienna mounted on her horse with her head turned.

Anyway, Lily untied her arm. She didn’t even understand her own actions.

She also realized that her face was closer than she thought.

Starchis said as she was about to get sick of shame again.

“Ah, you’re more timid than I thought. I guess you were scared of falling off your horse? But you weren’t scared when the monsters’ heads exploded, hahaha…”

He was the one who made a little joke and laughed coyly.

Lily felt more grateful than embarrassed or sorry, to see him like that.

She liked the way he tried to lighten her mood with idle words, fearing that she would make herself uncomfortable again.

“Chis. Didn’t you just tell us that there’s nothing wrong with being careful?”

Luss gets off her horse and comes over to talk to Starchis. She opened her mouth and her expression was stern. Unlike before, she did not hide her uncomfortable expression.

“Ah… What’s wrong with you... Lily ssi is uncomfortable.”

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“Me, I’m uncomfortable too.”

Starchis stood between Lily and Luss. Then, unknownst to Luss, he patted Lily on the arm feeling sorry.

“I’m sorry. I was too relaxed while giving you attention, right?”

“I don’t know. Do it yourself.”

Luss turns around. But she doesn’t move. He seemed to come quickly and soothe her.

Starchis flies away in an instant and stands next to her, patting her on the back and stroked her.

The soothing look seemed so familiar. Starchis’ apologetic expression was a bonus.

“Luss, let go of your anger. This is really my fault. I’ll do better myself, but will you just tell me something. I'm a leader you can’t trust, right?”

Starchis now patted Luss’s arm up and down with his arm behind her back.

Perhaps because of that effort, Luss’ tone had softened a little.

“I didn’t even say anything about you. Just be careful next time.”

“Okay.”

When Starchis laughed haha ​​at Luss’ anger, she playfully pushed Starchis with her elbow and smiled.

“Well then, shall we go again?”

“..Huh.”

But it wasn’t over.

Starchis immediately felt uneasy. He turned to see Vienna who was still on her horse, with her arms crossed.

“Can’t you help me?”

“Vienna, you get on and off well.”

“Help me.”

“Why?”

“Are you discriminating?”

Starchis stiffened with a bewildered expression, then changed his expression and smiled as he approached her.

“There’s no way to discriminate. Okay. Is it because it’s hard to get off? You say that.”

Starchis reached out his hands in front of Vienna's horse this time.

When he reached out his hand, her cheeks blushed and she hugged him without hesitation.

As if he had waited, Starchis received Vienna, who threw her body on him.

“Oh! Come on, take it easy.”

Vienna didn't answer and clung to him.

Her arms were wrapped around his neck and her legs were wrapped around his waist.

And with that, her eyes were fixed on Lily over her shoulder.

Noticing her gaze, Lily covered her eyes with uneasiness.

****

It’s been a while since they got off their horses and started looking around the forest for traces.

As the sun went down and the leaves covered even the remaining light, it soon became dark.

-Whoops!

As the whistling sound cut through the forest, the scattered party members headed for it.

Starchis was standing there.

“Huh. We can’t do it. Guys, let’s go to the village. It’s dangerous now.”

“But mission?”

“It’ll be fine. Looking around, I don’t think this is the scope for activity. And if you make a mistake while leading a horse in a dark place like this, the horse might fall badly. Let’s leave the horse behind .”

“Okay.”

Luss and Starchis were talking. Following the words of their leader, the party decided to stop searching and headed to the village.

It was a decision no one was willing to make. Depending on the species of wolf, it could be an urgent situation, but having to take a day off was just inconvenient. No one knows what the outcome of this choice will be.

But Starchis made a decision. Because he always puts safety first, it was not acceptable to be attacked by wolves when it got darker and they didn’t know the way.

There was no such thing as a 100% safe option.

Perhaps wolves with the characteristics of monsters may attack the village today.

Returning to the village might be a more risky choice.

However, Starchis decided to rule out that possibility while thinking about it.

“Vienna, which direction is the village?”

“There.”

Vienna pointed the direction. The moment she spoke, he could feel that everything was getting darker and darker.

“We have to hurry a little. It’s getting dark sooner than I thought.”

The sun was falling quickly. A day, as was often said, was a short day.

Starchis started walking in the direction Vienna pointed.

The road was rough. There were bumpy stones here and there, and going straight was not easy at all.

Trees were blocking all over the place, turning here, turning there, going up and down, it was such a difficult road to walk on.

“The distance… Ha…! Whoo..! Why is it like this..”

Vienna complained quietly.

The road was strange, so they didn’t go as fast as they thought.

Anxiety began to settle in Starchis’ mind.

Couldn’t his mistake in judgment put the whole party in danger?

Darkness did not wait for them and continued to roll in.

****

After a long walk. Starchis paused to unpack the bag.

“Guys, are you okay? It’s too dark. So watch your ankles. And Lily ssi?”

"Ah... Yes..."

Slightly gasping for breath, Lily answered Starchis’ words. Starchis took something out of his bag and said.

“Light a fire here.”

It was a torch. Lily, who had been following Starchis while looking at his back, finally felt that the surroundings were darker than she thought.

After a moment of being startled by the darkness, Lily snapped her finger – and the torch ignited.

When the surroundings became bright, they realized how dark it was before.

The torch lighted the way farther than they thought.

“Everyone, let’s go quickly.”

Starchis rewound his bag and held the torch high. Starchis’s impatience was also contagious to the party members.

Even though Starchis was speeding up, everyone followed without a word and paid more attention to their surroundings.

– Rustling

Breathing and the sound of them stepping on fallen leaves were the only sounds.

'How long is it gonna take?' Starchis thought.

It was at that point when he had the illusion that the sound of stepping on the leaves echoed.

“…?”

Starchis felt puzzled and stopped right where he was.

Other party members followed him and stopped.

“Chis, why?”

Maybe because of the tension that had built up so far, Luss whispered to him.

However, Starchis showed a different side than usual. He didn’t answer and was concentrating on his surroundings.

Starchis took a few more steps and then came to a stop.

- Rustling...

Even after the Starchis had stopped, the sound of stepping on the leaves was clearly audible.

The whole party heard it.

It was a moment when Starchis’ actions were understood without explanation.

Lily could feel goosebumps on her.

'No way.'

They didn’t know that something was following their steps.

It might be an illusion.

It might just be the wind.

But they couldn’t confirm.

The range of the torch was limited, and now it was pitch-black darkness outside the area of ​​the torch.

There was very little light in the forest.

“Lily ssi. Light it up just once.”

Starchis spoke to Lily quietly with a firm expression.

Although the volume of his voice was low, it was so clear to Lily that she couldn’t even think of making a sound.

“Right now?”

“Count to three in your mind and light it up. And everyone, get ready for the battle.”

Starchis said while holding one side of the tonfa in one hand. The opposite hand still held the torch high.

Luss also drew her sword and lifted her shield from her shoulder.

'... Three, Two, one.'

After counting all the numbers in her mind, Lily cast a spell. She hoped this situation that they were in danger, was an illusion.

[…Light.]

The light from her hand comes out like a firecracker and stretches all over her. Everyone lowered their stance a little and adjusted their postures.

-Pop!

The magic light that went up exploded and the surroundings brightened.

The darkness that was outside the range of the torch disappeared.

And at that movement, they saw: Dozens of wolves surrounding them and watching them in the dark, from among the trees.

Each one had a size different from that of normal wolves. If not, it looked three times bigger.

“Haha… This is crazy.”

This was the first time Lily saw Starchis swear.

“It’s a Tiger Wolf.”