I watched her shoulder-length wavy gray hair as it was swayed by the gentle breeze coming from the forest behind her. Subtle sadness expressed in her almond brown eyes as she put her hand under her jaw.
The face of Karoon that I couldn’t imagine that she’s capable of making. Her usual energetic smile was nowhere to be found.
“I did everything to be the best for her. The only thing I wanted was to at least get her appreciation while you were still away. But no matter what I did, you were the only one she has an interest in. I didn’t want to surpass you. Because I know I couldn’t. All I wanted was for her to see me too because I was the one who was on her side all those years.” Her voice was full of pain.
I can’t believe that all these years I was unintentionally hurting someone even though I wasn’t even around.
“I see now, that must be tough. I can understand if you end up disliking me because of it.”
She gently groaned while shaking her head. “But I won’t hate you for taking all of her attention that you rightfully deserve even though you were not even here. I never will.” She walked one step closer to me. “Tan-tan is the greatest thing that happened in my life and you are the only reason why I met her, I can’t thank you enough for it. It’s not your fault that I ended up like this, not at all. The blame is on me.”
She put both of her fists in her chest while looking down. “I was born without any skills to start on, I am from one of the tribes who don’t possess any enhanced physical capabilities that most of the beastkin tribes have. The only thing I have is our tribe’s natural talent to build things. I am not strong, I am not elegant or even smart. The only thing that I can do is the thing that I am doing right now. I found my place as her architect because this is the only thing I can do to help her. After all, the advanced class skill that I acquired is not even that great. I am nothing compared to anyone… just a nobody compares to you.”
I stood up and walked towards her.
Maybe she felt my approach and raised her head and stared directly into my eyes. “Now that you are finally here. If I don’t improve and become more and more unnecessary… I’m afraid there will be no place for me on her side- kunyaa!”
She immediately covered her forehead as she jumped away from me like a grasshopper after I flicked her forehead.
“You deserve it.”
“It hurts!” She stopped jumping and stared at me while pouting her lips and holding her forehead using both of her hands. “You’re gonna flick my forehead too?”
“I just had to knock some sense into that thick skull of yours.” I put my hands on my waists and exhaled. “What do you mean you are a nobody compared to me? Just hearing that stupid statement made my blood boil. I can’t believe it.”
“I just… I just.”
“You are just self-doubting and the fact that of all the people around here, it’s you who have that kind of insecurity infuriates me more. If a talented person like you is a nobody, then what am I who doesn’t have an identity of my own? I don’t have any skills that I acquired with my own hard work, I can’t even brag about them because they are not even mine in the first place. The only thing I am decent at is fighting, outside of it? B***** all! I can’t even properly cook my own freaking food!”
I walked towards her and she immediately covered her entire forehead.
“You have talents, a lot of them. I can’t do architect s**** and don’t get me started on how bad I am at cooking. I can’t even properly manage the town I shoved in my own face to lead on without others’ help. Can you imagine what kind of shitty disaster I’d be in if you weren’t here to save my helpless ass?” I raised my hand and gently patted her head. “What I meant is, don’t ever doubt yourself because you are one hell of a valuable friend to have. And I know, Tanya knows it really well.”
She raised her face at me. “Is she?”
I took back my hand on her head. “You know, let me tell you this. I can’t believe you haven’t noticed it yet because it’s pretty obvious, even a blind person can see it. Tanya is just a tsun-tsun.”
She slightly tilted her head. “Tsun-tsun?”
“Yep, a big tsun-tsun to be exact, It’s hard to explain, but, all I can say is, she can see your worth, and she’s really proud of you, to the point of literally bragging about your achievements at every opportunity she had. What do you think we’re talking about while we’re alone in my office while she’s helping me to my death sentence of a pile of paperwork? Love life? I can assure you it’s not. That woman doesn’t have even a single fiber of romance running in her veins.”
The next thing I heard was her chuckle.
“Chin up, you have more worth than you thought you are. If you want to impress that tsun-tsun gothic fairy, you should have more confidence in yourself, especially now that your competition is already here to battle you head-on. Unless you’re just gonna let me win without a fight, that would be a little bit of a drag, am I right?”
A determined smile emerged on her face. “I won’t, be prepared because you will see!”
I couldn’t help but smile seeing her usual smile again. “Good, good.”
“Thank you, Mister Casimir. Those words felt different especially when coming from you.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” I turned my gaze towards the forest in front of us. “By the way, now that you mention it. You said that you have an advanced class skill, right?”
“Hmm mm, what about it?”
I stared back at her. “Would you mind showing it to me so I can evaluate if it really is just like what you just said? You know, for research purposes.”
A smirk emerged on her face. “You just want to copy it, don’t you?”
“That’s one, but my main point is the one I said.”
She didn’t reply and just stared at me with her narrowed eyes.
“Okay, I do really want to copy it, I am interested in it and I want to analyze it.”
She exhaled and raised her hand. “Promise me you won’t make fun of it?”
“Why would I? Is the skill really that bad?”
“Ehh, I changed my mind.”
“Alright, I won’t make fun of it.”
She looked down with a smile on her face. “Hmph, I will show it to you, but only because you are kind… and I like you.”
“That’s sweet, thanks, I guess?”
Her face instantly turned red. “You are not supposed to reply to that and why are you laughing!” She gently tapped my arm.
“My bad, my bad. Now, go on.”
Karoon demonstrated her advanced class skill to me.
Upon seeing her skill, all I could do was nod due to amazement. “To be honest, it’s much better than I expected.”
“You mean it?”
“Yeah, I mean it. Believe me, I have seen enough anime to know what kind of s**** I can do with this kind of skill. This skill is much greater than you thought, all you need is a great idea of how to utilize it. This skill is real s*** OP.”
“Anime?”
“Yes. And don’t worry, I will teach you the way of anime.”
Karoon tilted her head with visible confusion in her eyes.
However, our conversation was interrupted when I sensed someone arrived at our location and approached us.
“Mister Casimir.” Kuro bowed her head to me.
“Kuro.” How come you can always find me, Kuro?
“Kuro!” Karoon rushed towards her and tried to hug her, but Kuro gently pushed her face away.
“I’m working, Karoon.”
“Nyaa!”
Kuro faced me. “The prince of the kingdom of Inizio is here.”
It’s time.
“I see.”
