After I revealed to Leiby that I was a man, she stood quietly looking at me for a few seconds before saying.
"You're lying!"
I didn't expect that response so I tried to reaffirm my statement.
"No, I'm not lying, I really am a boy."
"No! It's impossible for you to be a boy!"
"But I'm telling the truth-"
"Liar!"
"Sigh~ how do I get you to believe me?"
"Prove it!"
"That's not possible!"
"You see! You can't prove it, you're not a boy you liar!"
Leiby seemed to want to deny with all his might the fact that I am a boy, which makes sense because of his fear of them.
She's not really afraid of men because of some kind of trauma or some kind of phobia, it's just that in dryad territory they are all female, since they are like plants born from the earth and although they can get pregnant with other species it rarely happens, Leiby is someone who never left dryad territory and had almost no knowledge about the outside world, so when she encountered this new "being" she didn't know how to deal with them and it's more a fear of the unknown than anything else.
It's like if a human suddenly encountered an alien, even if the alien isn't evil, the human will naturally feel scared because they don't know how to deal with something unknown.
"Sigh~ it's okay, come with me."
I got up from the ground and took Leiby's hand to lead her to another place, she was surprised at first but followed me without saying anything, we left the dorm and walked to the academy gardens.
"Why are we here?"
Suddenly a wind spirit flew at high speed and hugged my face, followed by several spirits that did the same.
"Mugis?"
Leiby said this with surprise in her voice, since dryad territory is practically pure forest, Mugis are very numerous and Leiby has seen several, so she knew they were super skittish and wouldn't go near just anyone, that they suddenly flew to hug a person so enthusiastically was unexpected for her.
"Oh, Noah, what brings you here?"
A quiet, harmonious voice rang through the forest and a pretty elf appeared with many spirits around her.
"Hi, Silf, I'd like to ask you a favor."
"Sure, what do you need?"
"Well this girl here-"
When he looked to his side Leiby was gone, he looked around but didn't see her anywhere.
"Did she run away?"
"You mean that girl over there?"
Silfy pointed to a spot and when my gaze followed her hand I could see Leiby camouflaged behind a bush, I walked towards her and said.
"What are you doing?"
"Hiiiiii!!!"
When I spoke to her Leiby startled and let out a shriek, then turned and looked at me with teary eyes and trembling.
"W-who is she?"
"That's Silfy, one of my friends."
"Hi nice to meet you."
"Hiiiii!!!"
When Silfy came over to say hello Leiby let out another shriek and ran to hide behind a tree.
"What's wrong with you?"
"S-she's too cute! She scares me!"
That made no sense.
"Um... I'm sorry?"
Silfy apologized but Leiby anxiously waved her hands and replied.
"No, don't apologize, I'm the one who should be apologizing! Just-just give me some time to get used to it!"
After about 20 minutes, Leiby began to slowly approach and stood in front of us as her whole body trembled and her face was extremely red.
"I-I'm fine now."
No you're not.
"Well...Noah what did you want me to do for you?"
"Oh, right."
Because of this whole situation he had forgotten why he had come to Silfy for help.
"I told him I was a boy but he doesn't believe me, I want you to show him my vitality so he'll believe me."
"I'm fine with that but how do you know I can see people's vitality?"
"I studied about spirits and found out."
"Mmm...okay."
Though a little hesitant to answer Silfy agreed and didn't ask any more, she actually knew from what was told in the novel but obviously she couldn't tell him that.
"Miss, um."
"Leiby! My name is Leiby!"
"Miss Leiby, could I have your hand for a moment please?"
"Huh, why?"
"Just for a moment."
"...Okay."
After some thought Leiby extended her hand towards Silfy and Silfy grabbed it, when she took her hand Leiby's perspective changed completely.
"Wow..."
He could see a strange energy coming out of everything in the forest, the leaves, insects and Silfy too.
"What is this?"
"This is the vitality of things, everything in the world that is not an inanimate object has it to a greater or lesser extent, they are also different, look at Noah and then look at me."
Heeding she looked at Noah and then at her, she also looked at herself, and when she didn't know what it was Noah's vitality was different from the two of them.
"Maybe you noticed, Noah's vitality is different from the two of us, that's because he's a man."
After saying that, she let go of Leiby's hand and her perspective returned to normal.
"So if you're a man..."
"I told you."
"Don't worry, I was surprised too the first time I found out."
Leiby was silent for a while looking intently at Noah and after a while he spoke.
"It's weird...I don't feel much different even though I know, when I'm around a man my palms usually get sweaty and I get really nervous."
"Mmm, I'm sure it's because Noah's appearance is very feminine that you don't feel nervous even though you know he's a man."
When Silfy said this, Leiby was silent apparently thinking about something, then with a determined look she said.
"N-Noah, can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure, just ask."
"Ok then..."
Though hesitating a bit, he finally said what he wanted to say.
"Please help me to be able to talk to men!"
I said nothing and Leiby kept talking.
"I know I can't have this fear all my life, when I have to go on a mission or team up with other people in the future I won't be able to be nervous all the time, so please help me overcome my fear!"
"..."
This is complicated, in the novel Lucas rescued Leiby from a difficult situation and they started to get to know each other from there, although Leiby was afraid of talking to men little by little as she talked to Lucas her fear disappeared and she fell in love with him, so now I'm doing something that will directly affect the plot.
"What should I do?"
I can't just refuse, Leiby just asked me for help in the most sincere way possible, and knowing his personality it must have been very difficult.
"...Okay, I'll help you."
"Really!?"
"Yeah, we're friends aren't we?"
Hearing my words, Leiby almost started to cry but she put a big smile on her face and ran to hug me.
"Thank you so much!"
Pat, pat
"Ya, it's nothing."
Even if it helps her to overcome her fear of talking to men it won't change the plot that much, what's more, if she can talk to men normally when the main character saves her their relationship can develop faster.
"I'm just fast forwarding things a bit."