"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" After my embarrassment and her laughter calmed down, I questioned her actions. I already could assume the answer, but it was good to ask nonetheless. It would be bad if, even if very unlikely, I misunderstood why she wanted to talk to me.
She was stunned after I asked this question, it must have been a hard question to answer by how she squirmed around a bit to try and find a suitable answer. After a little, she looked at me and then immediately turned to face the dirt below her before saying timidly, "I-I wanted to just, umm, you know. I just... I just wanted to talk about... I-I just wanted to talk!" She exclaimed the last part of her speech showing how hard those words were to say.
I felt something strange after seeing this. A feeling that I hadn't felt in a long time, thanks to my rustiness in dealing with this emotion, I couldn't rein it in like the rest. My stomach tightened up as I felt air trying to escape from my mouth and nose. I tried to resist, but it was too much, resulting in a small sound coming out of a small gap in my lips.
Pfft.
"Hey! You aren't allowed to laugh at me! That was really hard for me to say. Just what kind of man are you?! This on top of that incident earlier-"
"Oh, so I'm the villain? Then how come you completely surrendered and would have probably allowed me to do anything back then? You may act like a pure maiden now... but I can see through the real you. You scandalous woman."
"I-I, that was purely because of the situation, which you caused! How would I have known what you were planning to do?!"
"Oh let me think... I think it was, "That's great! Say something like, "If you all don't back off right now, you'll see something that you won't be able to forget.""" She got really quiet after I said this. It was obvious that I was the victor of this battle.
Seeing as she wasn't going to say something, as she was in the middle of some kind of awakening, I decided to start conversation again, "Well, now that we reached a definite conclusion on who was at fault during that... incident... Do you want to do something?"
Her dejected aura changed at the flip of a Dschungel, and she stared at me with questioning, yet excited eyes. I didn't want to disappoint her, so I continued, "Well... Ahem, would you like to walk around the jungle with me? I know a good spot we could go to." I said this with some embarrassment in my voice but tried to cover it up by finishing my sentence quickly and looking away.
Pfft.
"Hey! How dare you laugh at me after I worked up the courage to ask that! You truly are a scandalous woman!"
"I'm sorry I just... pfft. I can't stop myself. You were acting so tough a bit ago, but now you act like a shy lady who has never even heard of holding someone else's hand... pfft." This woman... she was quite the strange one. She got mad at me for laughing at her earlier, yet she does the same with no remorse? Ok then, I can play this game.
"So you think it's funny huh? Then I guess I'll be more assertive!" I went and grabbed her hand, to which she immediately stopped laughing. Her eyes dilated as she looked down to see our hands grasping. She seemed to be in a similar shock to when I held her hand last time, but this was different as we didn't have anyone chasing us down now. All she could focus on was our contact.
"Come on now. You were just comparing me to a lady who has never held someone's hand before, yet you can't even do it? You need to work on that hypocritical side-"
She tightened her grip as I said this and looked up at me, her eyes shining with a competitive spirit, "You think this is something to me? This is nothing! Th-this is n-nothing... nothing at all." Her words became more silent as she stared at our holding hands and she eventually turned silent once again. I was about to let go of her hand since she felt so uncomfortable about it, but just as I was about to let go, she tightened her grip even more intensely than before.
"Well, then we should get going right? I thought you said you wanted to show me something cool. I hope you weren't lying to me..."
"Hmph. I haven't forgotten, but just so you know, you'll have to hold my hand the entire way there~" I said this in an obviously joking manner, but then she did something that I didn't expect.
She looked at me with her face blushing, and her eyes docile while saying quietly, "That doesn't sound too bad to me..." She turned her head away to not look at me after saying those embarrassing, yet sweet, soothing words. But she didn't release her grip on my hand. She was acting... very strange. I could feel my heart beating faster with this interesting development. It was weird. I had only really met her maybe 30 minutes ago, yet... she was so assertive. I didn't dislike that-
'Hmm? Calm down, calm down. I almost fell victim to some unrealistic emotions. I'm not the type of person that falls in love, especially after just meeting someone. I am the Demon King. I am the one that should bring terror to a realm, not get a girlfriend in it. I need to calm down and look at this situation in a different way... calm down... calm down.'
After calming down my pounding heart, I said to the bashful girl, "Well, if you don't mind... then I don't mind either. Come on, we should get going, it is a bit far away from here after all."
She didn't turn to face me, probably because she was embarrassed by the entire situation, but still nodded to signify her agreement with my words. I wouldn't mince words at this point and began walking in the direction that I needed to go. She seemed a bit hesitant at first but soon determined herself to walk alongside me.
She was an interesting type, to act so unmercilessly, so assertive, only to act like a shy girl now that we were doing something. She really is just a wimp.
I smiled as I thought about this. I suppose I like wimps then. Ah, no, wimps are just easier to take advantage of, that's it, and that's all it'll ever be.
____________________________________________
"Woah."
"I know right? I was just like that when I first saw it."
Right now we stood in a clearing, something that was rare in the dense jungle, but that wasn't what I brought Pulchra here to see. In the middle of the clearing stood a beautiful oak tree. Its height seemed to pierce the heavens, making the average jungle tree look like a sapling in comparison. The bright green leaves shook as the wind blew through them, making sounds that one could sleep peacefully too. The oak tree had many thick, full branches extending from the body, each having branches of their own, and those branches extending into more branches, creating a spider web of sepia. From the extended branches stood the main body of the tree, the main body that held everything together with all its grandeur. It went from high in the clear blue sky, to deep within the enclosed earth. Its roots were slightly exposed to the bright sun's light, but with how deep and thick those roots actually were, what we saw was only the shallows. This in contrast with the slightly cloudy sky, the fantastical green field surrounding it, the jungle that kept its distance from the area, and the cool breeze that could be felt parting through your hair... It created a scenery that could only be described as magnificent.
"This... How did I not know something like this was on campus? I feel like I should have known." Along the way of walking here, we, in the contest of pride, didn't let go of each other's hands the entire time. This made for an awkward walk, one where not much conversation could be made. But in the face of the miracles of nature, all of that seemed so futile and unnecessary. Pulchra was engulfed in the fantasy-like sight and didn't seem to mind our holding hands any longer.
I discovered this place the first night I was here while searching for the inheritance. At first, I thought that I lucked out and had found it on the first night, only to find out that it was just a useless tree. But now, it seemed like I did get lucky. Being able to show this place off to someone, especially someone who holds a crush on me; our relationship would progress faster than a Northern and Southern Plainsman could get into a fight.
"Well, I was lucky to find this place the first night we were here. It was quite a surprise at the time, but looking at it again in the daylight... It makes me feel even better than before."
Pulchra took a good look at everything in one sweep of her head, before stopping on me. There was no embarrassment on her face, no devious look in her eyes, no passion either, just the pure look of a grateful girl. She stared at me for a moment, maybe observing the facial expression I was making, maybe trying to figure out what I was thinking, but I wouldn't know right now. Even my observational skills had a limit.
She studied my face for a couple of seconds longer, before opening her mouth in a big smile, "Thank you for showing me this Quis. It's beautiful."