Without any surprise, even though Sense herself had a very cold personality, the spacious room unexpectedly carried a strong girlish atmosphere.
On the wall hung woven fabrics paired with beautiful landscape paintings. On the other side stood a bookshelf piled high with books. Right in the center was a large carved bed covered in silk, and not far from the head of the bed there was also a dressing table.
Although it too was piled with books, there were surprisingly still some cosmetics placed there. However, they basically showed no signs of ever being used.
As for the desk, there were not only books on it, but also some strange-looking magic tools. In the air throughout the room, there also seemed to linger a faint fragrance.
This made Ash lean closer to smell carefully. Then he unconsciously lifted a lock of Sense's beautiful hair to confirm it, nodding to himself without thinking.
"So that's how it is. Your room uses some pretty nice incense, huh? Though it smells different from your hair. But in that case your body must definitely—"
"W-What… what are you trying to do?"
Sense was like a startled little animal. Although her expression was still lacking, she instinctively covered her chest with both hands, while her beautiful long hair moved like a living thing and blocked in front of her.
"What kind of person do you think I am? I'm just making a simple comment. It's not like I'm going to smell you."
"…"
Sense didn't say anything, because she simply felt that this man was capable of doing almost anything.
Ash also understood the judgment she had made about him, and it was hard to prove his innocence. He could only spread his hands and say, "Don't be so wary. Even I wouldn't just mess around. But…"
"But?"
"N-No, it's nothing."
Sense's guarded gaze made it impossible for him to say that he actually really wanted to… tease her a little more, and even felt like hugging her.
But when facing a girl who looked like a small animal, having thoughts like wanting to kiss her, hug her, or lift her up high was kind of unavoidable, right? As long as things were kept within a reasonable range... the occasion really was important.
So he obediently sat down on the carpet beside the bed and casually patted the space next to him. Sense hesitated for a moment but still followed and sat down beside him.
This immediately made him happy. Smiling, he reached out and touched that smooth long hair, quietly enjoying this peaceful and warm moment that felt somewhat different from the one at home.
Before long, Sense's mother brought over cookies and desserts, along with alcohol. Why there was alcohol included was something he didn't particularly want to complain about.
But he didn't resist much. He simply ate lunch there, and the entire afternoon passed while he and Sense discussed magic and casually chatted about some interesting things that had happened recently.
The weather in the northern lands was indeed quite cold, yet inside the room warm air filled the space, and the atmosphere between the two of them was relaxed and pleasant.
Whenever their eyes met, Ash would smile like an older brother. Staying beside him like this, Sense gradually relaxed as well. The tension she had at the beginning slowly faded away, and she even started feeling like taking a nap together or something.
In the evening after dinner, after spending the whole day in a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere, the two of them went up to the rooftop terrace together. They drank tea and read books at the small table, and from that terrace they could directly look out over the beautiful night scenery of the city.
———
Countless magic-stone lamps shone in various colors, illuminating the dim city below like a river of stars that made it impossible to look away.
Sense was already used to this scene, so she originally didn't feel much about it.
At that moment, however, Ash quietly shifted his position, successfully shortening the distance between them. He also casually started touching her hair again, which made her feel slightly troubled.
But as the afterglow of the setting sun dyed her cheeks red, the eyes that were usually somewhat lifeless appeared much gentler than usual at this moment.
Feeling the warmth on top of her head, with the smiling boy beside her, and the cool night breeze brushing past while her hair swayed slightly, she suddenly felt a mood that was somewhat different from usual.
It was hard for her to describe exactly what it was. It felt a little like being treated as a child, yet she didn't dislike it either. Or rather, that was how things had been from the moment they first met.
Feeling the ripples spreading across the calm lake inside her chest, Sense looked away from the night scenery and simply stared at him, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"Lord Ash, you really... haven't changed at all, from the beginning until now."
"Isn't Sense the same?"
"I'm not the same as you."
"There's a kind of scent about you that Lady Serie also has."
"An old person smell?"
"…"
Sense ignored his joke. After a moment of silence, as if she had made up her mind, she spoke.
"Even if I really grow old and die one day, you will probably continue living forever like Lady Serie, won't you?"
"Why do you think that?"
"Lady Serie's attitude… I can more or less tell. She has never been good at hiding things. She always says whatever comes to mind. She didn't say it clearly, but at first I was only suspicious. But you… you also don't seem to intend to hide it. So it really is like that, isn't it?"
"Serie really is a troublesome person."
Although he should have denied it at this moment, he instead showed a trace of helplessness and directly pushed the responsibility onto Serie.
Seeing his face and hearing that kind of answer, Sense widened her eyes slightly in surprise.
"You really aren't planning to deny it?"
"I don't think you'd casually go around telling other people," He answered calmly without hiding anything, his hand habitually resting on top of her head.
"Honestly, I'm surprised."
"It's not really something worth worrying that much about, right?"
"Maybe that's true. But…"
"Don't think about it in such a complicated way."
He smiled and shook his head. At the same time, he slipped both hands under her arms and lifted the small girl high into the air toward the night sky. Still smiling calmly, he looked at the slightly flustered girl in his hands.
"No matter how much time passes, during the limited time you have, I will definitely watch over you properly. Just because we can't live in the same span of time doesn't mean the time we experienced together is fake."
"But even if that's the case… one day, you'll definitely forget that I ever existed, won't you?"
The girl who had been struggling suddenly stopped without realizing it. She looked at him and spoke those words.
But she didn't receive the response she expected. The answer simply faded away into the air.
Although Ash felt that he should give a firm answer at a time like this, he couldn't help thinking of that dwarf who guarded the village.
Serie and Frieren might be different, possessing a sense of time completely unlike humans, letting hundreds of years pass by slowly without noticing.
He himself was just a human and didn't have that kind of special sense of time. Because of that, he couldn't be certain what he would be like after a thousand years.
Maybe after a thousand years, feelings and friends that now seemed so fleeting might disappear completely from memory if he wasn't careful.
Right now, he couldn't say for sure.
Ash's troubled expression was clearly seen by Sense. If she said she didn't feel even a little lonely, that would be a lie.
But Ash also saw the loneliness reflected in her eyes. Slowly, he lowered her back down and placed her beside him. He bent his knees slightly so their line of sight was level, showing a somewhat apologetic yet sincere smile.
"A thousand years is too long for me to promise. But at least while I'm still the person I am now, for the next hundred years I'll remember that you're an important junior and apprentice sister to me."
"I know that."
"Then that's enough, isn't it?"
He gently stroked the girl's hair, but Sense removed the hand resting on her head. She stared at him without blinking and softly asked back,
"You're clearly the same as Lady Serie, yet also different. Being someone so close to us, won't you feel lonely later?"
"Come to think of it, a long time ago someone said something similar to that."
He lowered his eyes in distress. After thinking about it for a long time, he finally came to a conclusion.
"I think it was Fern's ancestor."
"Is that so? But… looking at you like this, it seems you don't remember her very clearly anymore."
"I still remember some of it."
He muttered that answer, but then smiled as he cupped Sense's cheeks with both hands and said confidently, "But it's fine. Sense's story, from beginning to end, I'll remember it properly."
"What you're talking about is… just my end, right?"
Sense didn't know what to say. She simply lowered her eyes with a trace of loneliness.
The conversation suddenly fell into silence.
There was nothing to be done. Sense wasn't good at chatting, and even Ash wasn't good at dealing with a topic like this. He was so troubled that he even stopped the motion of reaching out to touch her hair.
After a long time, Sense, who was always used to avoiding problems with silence, was the one who broke the quiet.
"I'm sorry… You've always been very gentle with me at important moments. But… it seems like I became a bit too willful without noticing."
"How could that be. If anything, the fact that you broke the silence yourself is already a kind of growth."
While saying that, he smiled and squinted his eyes. He gestured above the girl's head as if measuring something and said thoughtfully,
"You really have grown a little taller compared to before, haven't you?"
"Maybe."
Sense nodded vaguely.
After that, the earlier conversation seemed to be forgotten by both of them, and they returned to the warm atmosphere they once had.
Small everyday matters wove themselves into relaxed conversation after tea.
Only when night fell completely and the stars filled the sky did Ash reluctantly say goodbye and leave.
After all, no matter what, he couldn't just casually stay overnight at a girl's house, especially when her parent was still there. Otherwise, he honestly would have liked to try it.
On the terrace, the girl watched his figure gradually move farther away, slowly merging into the endless night.
Sense's inner lake had already returned to calm, but when the surroundings once again became empty, the familiar feeling of loneliness was somehow quietly replaced by a different kind of solitude.
It was like a shooting star streaking across the sky, eventually disappearing into the vast night, yet leaving behind an indescribable sense of emptiness and reluctance.
Because of that, she found herself unconsciously paying attention to the traces Ash had left behind, as if that warmth still lingered in her hair.
Especially the gentle touch that had brushed over the top of her head. She couldn't help raising her hand to lightly touch the ends of her hair, as if confirming whether that warmth was still there.
———
Not far after leaving Sense's house, at a dark corner, Ash unexpectedly saw Ubel leaning forward slightly with both hands behind her back, smiling with narrowed eyes and a grin full of mischief at the corner of her lips.
A girl with a side ponytail suddenly appearing out of the darkness, although she was a beauty… that smile was honestly a little strange.
"I saw it. You weren't secretly discussing something with Sense, planning to cheat or something, were you?", Before he could speak, Ubel gave a strange guess with a mischievous grin.
"Do you think I need to do something like that?"
Without thinking, he slapped a hand onto her head and pressed her down slightly, then quickly walked ahead.
"I'm just joking. I was just curious what your relationship with Sense actually is."
"Sense is my junior."
"When you came earlier, you two looked very close~ Is she really just a junior?", Ubel asked curiously while quickly following behind him.
"I didn't say she's only a junior. After all, we've known each other for more than ten years."
"More than ten years? You probably know plenty of people for that long, right?"
"Well, through a bit of coincidence, our interactions deepened. So she's also the junior I'm closest to."
Ash didn't mind it. Under the girl's deliberately probing questions, he casually talked about how the two of them met. Like that, accompanied by this strange girl, he headed toward home.
Although he honestly wanted to complain about why this girl had been hanging around here all this time, 'Could it be that she has been squatting nearby the entire day? If it is Ubel we are talking about, that actually seems pretty possible.'
While chatting casually like that, it didn't take long before they returned home. But by then, Frieren and Fern had already gone to sleep.
Ubel clearly still wanted to enter his room and keep asking questions about his past, but he shut the door right in her face, leaving her standing outside with the door nearly hitting her nose.
However, Ash himself only lay on the bed staring at the ceiling, troubled by what Sense had said.
He couldn't fall asleep the entire night.
Fortunately, his stamina was already quite strong, so even staying awake all night didn't really affect him.
———
Before dawn even arrived, he quickly left the house, temporarily avoiding Fern and Frieren.
After wandering around the city for a while and spending some time playing with a lost child in the park to pass the time, he eventually sent the child back home.
After finishing all that, he finally headed toward the Magic Association.
But just as he stepped onto the stairs, he saw on the raised platform outside the main gate a lively girl with orange twin tails, Kanne, leaning over the railing like a little puppy.
When he subconsciously raised his head and their eyes met, although Kanne looked a bit embarrassed, she still lifted her hand and waved at him.
After walking up the steps, he leaned his back against the platform railing. He glanced at the girl beside him, who seemed a little uncomfortable because of his appearance, and spoke first.
"What are you doing here?"
"I-I'm actually waiting for Lawine... then later we're going to thank Frieren together, and then play with Fern… something like that."
"Is that so? Youth really is nice. You should get along well."
Hearing that, Ash chuckled lightly and casually reached out to pat her hair.
Kanne didn't resist, but she shrank slightly as if it tickled.
"It always feels like… mister really likes touching other people's hair…"
"Well, I can't exactly touch your stomach in public, right?"
"H-Huh? Th-That wouldn't be okay even if nobody was around!!"
That strangely regretful remark startled Kanne. She shrank away to the side, her cheeks turning red.
"I'm just saying it. It's not like I'd actually do it. Besides, the only thing you can really touch on a girl is her head. I think I said that before."
"Isn't there an option where you just don't touch anything?"
"The distance between people is the same as physical distance. So I only touch people I want to get closer to."
"That somehow sounds acceptable… and unacceptable at the same time…"
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