บท 16: Snow Queen

[Episode 16]

This girl...

Although she's smiling at me, I'm oddly getting a strange feeling from her.

Gulping nervously, I thank her for saving me from the goblins and apologise for not having anything to give her in return for helping me.

"Ah, there's no need to thank me." She walks around me with a slight grin, observing my little movements.

Maybe my weird feeling was wrong.

There's no way a nice person like her who doesn't even want anything in return for saving me would do something weird to me.

With a beaming face, she proceeds to ask, right after I think she's normal, "Well, since you insist on returning the favour... Why don't you let me touch your hair? Just for a bit!"

I think I know where this bad feeling is coming from now.

Is this another aspect of 'Coward Trotter' or do I just have great senses?

I don't remember insisting that I repay her since I don't have anything to repay her with, but she did just save my life so I should be nice for once and let her do what she wants.

Unwillingly, I nod and allow her to touch my afro. I owe her my life so it's the least that I can do.

"Sorry about this... I couldn't resist your fluffy hair!" She excitedly plays with my hair. "I'm Kaze Fuyu, even though I came from Korea, you can call me by my first name, Fuyu since most of the people who arrived here from Earth seem to go by first name basis."

I'm not too sure why she's suddenly telling me her name and where she came from but I hope she doesn't plan to keep talking to me.

She seems amicable enough to make friends with people so I wonder why she's decided to stay here to play with my hair.

Out of respect, I introduce myself as well, "It's nice to meet you Fuyu-San, I'm actually aware of you because of your skills."

"Ohh really? So I'm already famous?" She looks at me with a smug face, clearly fishing for compliments.

I look away feeling bashful and continue, "By the way, I was living in Japan before coming here, so you can either call me Ruvian, my first name, or Maiye, my surname."

For about ten minutes we talk about our lives on Earth while she ties my hair into a bun. I discover that Fuyu-San is half Japanese, half Korean and was a doctor in Korea.

Since she feels comfortable enough to talk about herself, maybe I should tell her about myself too.

"Hey, what if I told you that I'm a guy?"

She looks at me, evidently shocked, "Eh?! You're a guy? Could it be that you're-"

"No."

"But then how cou-"

"No."

She pauses out of confusion. You can clearly see her trying to figure me out like a hard puzzle before she briskly gives up, "Ahh alright then..."

I let out a frustrated sigh, scratching my head, "You know what? I'm just joking. I just wanted to see how people would react to me telling them I'm a dude."

I guess I'll stop trying to convince people that I'm really a guy now. Both Fuyu and Lynn's reactions tell me that people won't even believe me when I tell them I randomly turned into a girl.

After talking for a bit longer I discover that the person I thought was at least a few years my junior, is actually many years my senior. Makes sense considering she's a qualified doctor.

I better not make anymore jokes about how young she looks since she might kill me with that sabre she's holding. She already stared daggers at me when I told her that I thought she was only 15 max.

Due to her being extremely short with youthful looks, I just assumed that she was younger than me.

Like Lynn, Fuyu-San has been struggling to pronounce my unusual name properly and has also decided to call me 'Ruvie'.

Not only does she look like a child, but she also sounds like one too so when she pronounces my nickname, it sounds more like, 'Uvie'.

Despite the original calm, indifferent, and collected image I had of her, Fuyu-San is quite the conversationalist.

I barely have to speak to keep her entertained, but listening to her talk is oddly satisfying.

Though unfortunately, since she's similar to Lynn, It means that it's going to be hard to protest against anything, for example, my name.

Unlike Lynn who is easily excited, Fuyu-San has this elegant aura around her. She's extremely friendly despite the harsh looks she was giving me before and finds it quite difficult to make different expressions.

She has, however, managed to learn how to give cold looks towards people she meets for the first time to determine if they're weaker or stronger than her and therefore threat.

Since she's being kind to me, it is quite clear that she doesn't see me as a threat. It sort of hurts to know that I am nowhere near a threat to anyone right now but I'll forgive her since she's cute.

As we walk and continue talking to each other, we defeat goblins that attack us with our skills. Since we become closer from fighting together, Fuyu tells me to drop the 'San' and keep it causal between us.

Despite my little involvement, I still get points for being in her group apparently, so now I'm not too far off of buying myself the 'F-rank dagger'.