As Arthur followed Scarlet into Gaia Forest. He realized this was the first time he had time to himself. Despite being sent into the world a few hours ago it felt like days. Maybe even weeks. He almost experienced death, he participated in a battle that could have possibly led to a national war, he saved the young miss of a Grand Duke, and now he was about to build a campsite all in a few hours… sigh.
Camping made him remember his younger years with his parents.
After the death of his parents he had become a shut in and camping was something he hadn't even thought of doing since then.
Don't get him wrong the first few years were hard, but after his grieving, he had come to terms with their death.
That might be another reason why he had so easily accepted his death and even his new life.
Death was normal… but if he had the means to save someone from their inevitable death or in Scarlet's case cure her sooner, he would.
It's just the methods that Yuki told him still weighed on his mind.
The first method was simple and the second method was even more so.
It's just…
"Arthur, are you okay? Are you still thinking about the corpses? If you want, we can take a break." Scarlet, who was previously picking up branches and twigs, noticed Arthur was lagging behind her, so she asked worriedly. Not knowing Arthur was thinking about something else.
"I'm okay, sorry for making you worried. I was thinking about all the new things I have seen and experienced so far." Arthur lied, he couldn't just tell her, could he? Maybe he should? Well, at least he wasn't completely lying.
"Hmm?"
Seeing Scarlet cutely tilting her head in confusion. Arthur decided to tell her a few things.
After making up his mind, Arthur asked Yuki if she could clean the floor so they could sit, and surprisingly she didn't argue as she muttered [Clean] and the once dirty jagged ground flattened.
But before he could ask Scarlet to sit, Yuki casted a spell called Snowfall, which initially he didn't understand the reason for. Only after seeing the snow falling into the shape of a white picnic blanket did he understand.
With a simple [Thank you] Arthur sat down after inviting Scarlet to do the same.
Realizing Arthur had something lengthy to say, she too sat down.
For a solid minute silence fell between the two as Arthur admired the beautiful forest and its different colored trees and bushes. With his Mana sense, he knew within his range at least it was safe. One of the trees which he had no knowledge of was purple with black spots, which wasn't so beautiful but rather eerie. Another tree was light blue with reddish leaves.
As for where they sat it was next to a pink stump, which was done by triplets as for eight corpses previously littered around this now destroyed area, well they were nowhere to be seen, thankfully.
Anyway, if he hadn't known this was home to the most powerful magical beasts on the continent, he would have thought it was like any other forest.
… Well any other fantasy forest in this world.
After admiring the scenery and deciding on what he should tell and shouldn't to Scarlet.
He started…
"Do you remember a few hours ago when I hitchhiked on your carriage?"
"Hehe, do you mean when you almost got run over because you were sleeping on the road." Scarlet replied with a giggle.
"W-well, I wasn't, I w-"
Before Arthur could reply, Yuki wiggled out of his arms and sat on Scarlet's thighs.
"Although, I admit Arthur is stu-"
"Uwahhh so cute!"
"Hey, stop! Stop! Arthur, help me!"
Hearing Yuki asking for help he chose to ignore her.
Why?
Arthur completely understood how Scarlet felt. He already knew she wanted to hug Yuki ever since they met. Who wouldn't want to? Yuki was so cute and fluffy.
So instead of helping, Arthur watched as Yuki, who was going to tell Scarlet a bit about themselves, found herself being squished in Scarlet's embrace as her cheeks got rubbed against Scarlet's.
It's not like Yuki was in any danger.
After a minute or two of cuddling it seemed like Scarlet had her fill of Yuki's cuteness.
Sort of…
She still refused to let her go, but at least she wasn't getting kisses rained down upon her.
With an adorable pout, Yuki restarted "Humph, like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted. Although, I admit Arthur is stupid enough to actually sleep on a road. It was me who had put him in such a situa-"
With that Yuki proceeded to tell Scarlet what they had decided on to be their backstory.
After all both Yuki and him weren't natives of this world so if he acted out of the ordinary someone might get suspicious. They wouldn't think he was from another world but at least they would think he was hiding something. Maybe something of value? Who knows? The brain works in fantastical ways even if he wasn't hiding something, someone might think he was.
Or worse, he might get arrested for suspicious behavior.
Wait… Do police even exist in this world?
Anyway, Yuki and him had basically decided that it would be in their best interests to create a foolproof backstory.
A backstory with no loopholes… he hoped.
To be honest, Arthur had doubted that this would work; it was just too basic…
This was real life, not like the novels he read in his previous life.
Then again, if it worked in those novels, it would work again, right?
Surely.
The backstory being that for as long as Arthur could remember, he lived on top of a mountain in Kokonoe Village with his mother Sui Pendragon, his father Blake Pendragon, and his grandfather Yamamoto Pendragon. At the age of ten, his parents died, leaving him and his grandfather all alone. After a few years of mourning, he had finally calmed down, despite that his life without his parents became boring and lonely with only his grandfather being there for him despite there being two hundred villagers in Kokonoe Village. It was a harmonious village with everyone caring for one another, but for the first time in his fourteen years of life he felt like going down the mountain and exploring the world.
Though he wanted to, he didn't want to leave his grandfather all alone, especially since he knew his grandfather had also suffered from the death of his parents.
To distract himself from such thoughts he went to Kokonoe Forest to hunt some regular animals.
It was a habit he had formed ever since his parents' death.
It was during his hunt of a wild deer he stumbled upon a white tiger who had become quite fond of him and had even followed him back home.
With the now named Yuki joining their family. Their house once again became quite lively and Arthur had even forgotten about exploring the world.
Arthur's grandfather; however, thought differently because on his fifteenth birthday he grabbed both Yuki and him and tossed them through a portal with only a "Don't worry about me, I'm leaving to visit my other grandchildren."
With that Yuki and him found themselves on a patch of grass next to the road. As for him "sleeping" on the road before Scarlet and them met was Yuki's way of "teaching" him how to use his spatial affinity.
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"No wonder now it makes complete sense." Scarlet said as if she had a revelation.
"Scarlet, what do you mean?"
"I had initially thought you liked sleeping on dirt roads." Scarlet replied cheekily. Initially, she wanted to ask more about his family, but she did not want to make him sad so she chose to make a joke. She could only imagine what it would feel like to be in an unknown place with no knowledge of how the world works and she did not like such a feeling. Also, since they will be traveling together, she can ask more about him, Yuki, and his family at a later time.
"..."
"Heehee, I was just kidding. What I meant is the facial expressions you have shown so far, they were as if everything is completely new to you. Even when you looked at the different species of trees around us you had a face of wonderment. If you were admiring just the locust trees then I would understand since they are native to only the outer layers of Gaia forest but the willow trees can be seen throughout our continent."
"... A-am I that obvious?" Arthur asked not knowing he had been seen through. He had thought he was doing a good job at keeping a calm facade.
"W-well, Its n-"
"Country bumpkin is what she means." Yuki said bluntly.
"N-n-no that's not what I mean. Arthur do not listen to what Yuki said. What I meant is that it is easy to read your facial expressions."
"Is that bad?"
"No."
"It is actually quite nice seeing your genuine facial expressions rather than seeing fake ones from some nobles I have seen in the past."
[I bet it is, to the point you even used Mana Sense to secretly spy on him.]
"I-I-I was not sp-" Realizing she was speaking out loud, she immediately closed her mouth in embarrassment while hugging the mischievous white tiger in her arms harder as a slight punishment. Luckily, after she saw Arthur's face showing confusion she loosened her hold on Yuki, but not before giving her a pout.
[Heehee]
As for why Arthur let Scarlet know about Yuki being able to speak. Arthur came to this decision mostly because he had come to trust Scarlet within this short period of time.
Secondly, he had come to realize how awkward and weird it might feel to an outsider watching him standing still and doing nothing. When in reality he was actually using voice transmission to converse with Yuki. Despite voice transmission being instant communication it takes time to think before responding.