Looking at her troubled face that was slowly turning into the color of a ripe tomato, I recalled the first time I met her. That's not the best first meeting but I guess it was somewhat memorable.
Before answering her questions thrown out because of her confusion, I reached for her head.
For a princess that was looking down at me before, she's a head shorter than me.
Patting her head and feeling the texture of her neatly-combed purple hair, Reinys' mouth opened and closed without any words escaping it. However, as I continued patting her head and slowly drawing her in towards me, the confused state she fell into gradually disappeared.
Upon seeing that, I removed my hand on her head and answered her. "You heard it right. In these few days, I noticed how you seem to want to talk to me alone. I'm here now. Perhaps my assumption was wrong. Nonetheless, can you let me hear about it?"
"… Your assumption… Going by the question you suddenly threw to me. Do you think I will confess to you?"
"Yes. I might be wrong though."
"No... It's correct. I like you, Daisuke. However, I'm not hoping for you to like me back, I just want this to get off my chest. This is all there is to it." Reinys shook her head and after finishing the sentence, she once again regained her previous calm. She stepped forward, bringing herself closer to me.
I've already decided and it's not like I'm making up an excuse… Now that I think of it, the way I phrased it didn't sound good. It's a question of 'yes or no' wherein it will only rest with her answer.
"I see. Hearing you confirming it… I guess it's somewhat surreal. We never had that much interaction and during the few days we did have one, I was an eyesore in your eyes."
"… Yes. That's how I was, when you're weak, I looked down on you and treated you like nothing. That's why… I think I will reject that. It's fine. I'll still catch up to you and Yuko. And if the gap truly widened and I failed to catch up with you, I won't insist on following you. Maybe, I'll go back to our world to take that throne."
Although the tone of her voice sounded normal, the way she turned around to not let me see her face was enough to deduce what kind of expression she's having right now.
I might have taken a liking to her but at the moment, it's not to the point of how I desired to make Fleur and Remilia my Companions. And like I said before, our interaction with each other was too few. When I went back from their World, she became someone who I could only hear from Yuko.
Passing those encouragements was not covered with an ulterior motive to make her like me. It's to keep Yuko's Party Members intact.
But I admit, hearing about the progress about her was something I had grown to anticipate from Yuko. Upon seeing her standing back up to her feet and rushing to that fortress to help Yuko during her Transcendence, my previous view of her being an extremely annoying Princess was already cast off.
Soon after that, whenever my Incarnation would be sent to Yuko and Zerina's side, there's that part of my Incarnation's memories that were interacting with her and the other two whenever I wasn't with either of my two Companions' side.
Sometimes I was spending time with them and sometimes I was training them.
"Do you think I will ask you that question just because you like me? Let me rephrase it, Reinys… I want you to become my Companion."
Changing my question to expressing my desire to take her in, Reinys once again fell into a stump.
For a few minutes like that, she just stared at me frozen.
After a while, I heard footsteps coming from their room and naturally, the owner of those footsteps were Caila and Noelle.
I already noticed them eavesdropping but... I didn't come here specifically for Reinys.
I can honestly say that I'm not romantically involved with any of the three but I like them as they are. Although Reinys had some valid grounds for liking me, the other two most likely only felt comradeship towards me as a fellow member of the Hero's Party. Nonetheless, now that I'm expanding… Ah. No, let's not use that word. More than saying I'm expanding my Transcendent Companions, this is my desire to not leave them behind. If being my Companion can let them keep up with us then… I will do it.
Liking each other can be built up through experiencing things together. The same with my current Companions, they will become part of my top-most priority and with the days to come, spending time with them to know them better will not be that hard.
"Caila, Noelle. Before we go to another world, I will also ask the same from the two of you. Also, Yuko and Zerina, you can come out now. Against me, unless you have the Orb of Concealment, you will not be able to hide, you know?"
Turning around to the Knight and the Priest, the former had a wry smile while the latter had a withdrawn smile, hiding her embarrassment.
Moreover, on the side of the stairs, Yuko and Zerina stepped out from the darkness. The former had a meaningful smile while the latter had an awkward smile as if she didn't know why she was dragged here.
Although all of them were smiling, each of those had a different meaning.
"…Yuko, Zerina, Caila, Noelle. You four. You heard all of that?"
And behind me, Reinys finally had a reaction.
"Sorry Dai-kun, I used my ability to see what will happen if I follow you tonight. I dragged Zerina with me. Furthermore, the three of them are with us in that vision. I had an inkling that they won't just be members of my Party but sisters that will follow the same path as us."
Like I thought, it's like that, huh? And as always, she's very welcome to the thought of getting Reinys, Caila and Noelle as my Companions.
"I don't mind it… As long as you don't forget your promise to me…"
My promise, huh? Well, I will definitely not forget it.
"Uhm… I… Is it fine for me to be your Companion?"
This Noelle. Is she doubting her worth? In any case, because of her shy nature, she's more like a little sister to me than anything else. She also often agreed to my ideas, supporting me silently.
"I think I get it but Daisuke… Will it be this easy to be your Companion? Will it not have a restriction? You know, personally, I like you as a comrade but not to the point of liking you as a man that I will spend the rest of my life with."
That's a valid question from Caila. Although I'm asking them to be my Companion, I still don't know if there will be a restriction. Ever since that line in the system changed to 'Companions', everything was somewhat reliant on the feeling of the convergence of our destinies.
With Nysia it was like seeing a soulmate. But I get that the Orb of Protection played a huge role in why it became easy for me to accept her and at that time, she already long accepted me even before I showed up there.
With Sofiel, before presenting the Orb of Improvement to me, the way she called me darling tickled my deepest memories of her which led me to truly believe what she's saying about our past. And she also accepted me long before I showed up in front of her.
With Fleur, it's the feeling of wanting to be with her. Seeing her for the first time back then already invoked some kind of desire for me to pursue her. And thanks to that stolen Artifact, I got the chance to be with her. However, only when she finally decided to accept my feelings for her did the convergence happen. In this case, I was the one who accepted her first.
With Irja, it also didn't start at us liking each other. It was coupled with her curiosity, my interest in why she's acting like that and the experience we shared together. But even if she already expressed her desire to follow me, the convergence only happened when I finally decided to accept her.
Looking at these four examples, it showed that before becoming my Companion, there should be a mutual understanding between the two of us. If one party is still against it then it may not happen.
However, is it really this simple? Being my Companion means they will be tied to me or my destiny.
Like Caila said, she's not thinking about me as a man she will spend the rest of her life with and I'm thinking the same. We're probably just a precious comrade to each other.
If we both accepted the idea of becoming my Companion, will it work or not? Will our feelings for each other be cultivated over time or will it stay the same?
I for one will surely not take it that lightly. And Caila will have her own answer.
With my eyes scanning the four who just talked, I made eye contact with Caila expressing that I don't have an answer to her question yet before switching my gaze to the girl beside her.
"Yes, Noelle, you can and I want you to be one. Since Reinys can't find an answer yet… Let me ask you first. Will you be my Companion?"
With my eyes focused on hers, Caila who was at her side took a step back when I started moving towards her, giving us the chance to be alone in the middle.
She surely understood that this is my way to answer her questions. If it works with Noelle, then it can also work with her.
Not knowing what to do or perhaps too embarrassed to say anything, Noelle lowered her head to hide her face which made it look like she shrank right there.
Since she's like that, I stretched out my arms and grasped onto her small shoulders. Feeling my hands on her, Noelle flinched before slowly looking up at me. "… If you're fine with me then yes, I will be your Companion.
As soon as she finished her sentence, Noelle's body trembled as she stepped forward before encircling her short arms to my back.
At almost the same time, the familiar system notification rang out in my mind followed by an enormous surge of energy that entered Noelle's priest's robe-covered petite body, lifting her current UPL to get past the threshold of Transcendence.
[Noelle Clarke has been removed from the 'Allies' list]
[Rank 5 Mortal Noelle Clarke has been added as your Companion.]
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