Chapter 77: Kurune

「Woww! So this is the field of flowers you talked about before!」

When we arrived at the field of flowers, Kurune yelled out in an excited voice.

She rushed into the field as the brown ponytail behind her head swayed.

Even though she had been calm the whole time on our way here, she turned into a kid as soon as the field of flowers came into our view. Well, considering how beautiful this field is, it’s not all that unreasonable.

With a faint, bitter smile on my face, I started walking into the multicolored scenery before my eyes while I enjoyed the view.

Right now, we’re in the middle of the ninth month of the year, which is a little past summer. In Nordende’s field of flowers, blue-colored flowers are appearing here and there while the red and orange warm-color flowers fade.

「It’s even bigger than what I imagined! And like you said, it’s truly beautiful!」

「I know, right?」

The scenery that I could not describe with words no matter how many times I tried before I left the royal capital was right before her eyes. I’m happy that Kurune feels the same way as I did when she sees this scene.

Maybe it’s because I’m living here now, when I saw the impressed expression on her face with her eyes opened wide as she gazed at the flowers, I felt proud for some reason.

As I noticed myself feeling that way, I realized how hopelessly in love I am with this village and how attached I am to it. Even though I spent an even longer time at the royal capital, I had never become so attached to it.

After Kurune took a good look at the huge field of flowers, she crouched down and checked out the flowers that were blooming by her feet.

「Amazing. These are Tulips, right? I’ve seen red or yellow ones before but I’ve never seen them in this color that’s like a mix of orange and light blue」

「The color of the flowers here changes depending on the season. The flowers’ colors change with each passing day as they shift colors」

「So that means the color of flowers here will be different every day?」

I nodded at Kurune who asked me that question as she looked up at me.

「Ohh, I thought you were lying when you first told me that but it looks like it’s true」

What? You didn’t believe me at all?

Well, I had doubts when I first heard about it too so it can’t be helped.

「Woahh, these are roses, right? They are green like tree leaves. How do I put it? The image of roses in my mind are red, so it kind of confuses me when they are in a completely different color」

「Ahh, I know what you mean. The colors of the common flowers here are completely different than what they normally are」

I’m sure that the scenery here would give people who know about common flowers a shock. They’ll definitely be confused when they see a scene like this if they’re used to seeing the flowers from the flower shops in the royal capital or something.

While I was thinking about that, Kurune was looking for flowers she knows about and diligently observing them. It seems that she couldn’t help it since it was so interesting that the color of the flowers here was different from their normal colors.

If I knew a bit more about flowers too, I’d probably be able to have fun like her. It makes me want to scold the old me for not studying about flowers more.

However, I have also learned a thing or two about them since I came to this village. I have grown as well, so let’s proudly show off that knowledge to her.

With such childish thoughts in my mind, I scanned the area around me and found a perfect flower near my feet and called out to her.

「Kurune. Do you know that this flower called Muninika is edible?」

「Ehh? You can eat that even though its a flower?」

Sure enough, Kurune didn’t know about it so she looked at it in wonder.

After I saw her expected reaction, I spoke proudly,

「That’s right. You can mix them in salads or eat them with meat just like you can with vegetables. The flower sweetens teas or soups and makes them look nice as well. On top of that, it’s great for your skin」

Yup, I shouldn’t have made any mistakes since that was pretty much what Flora taught me.

「Ehhh…You sound kinda amazing but it’s like you’re rehearsing some lines that someone else told you…Salads and vegetables aside, it’s not like you to talk about tea or skin」

I was hoping to be praised by her, but she stared at me while she returned cold words to me instead.

「Ugh, fine! Flora taught me those things! What’s so bad about that?!」

「No, there’s nothing bad about it, it just feels really weird to hear the hero called the dragon slayer talk so proudly about flowers」

When I quickly responded to her from the embarrassment I felt after I was easily seen through by her, Kurune laughed out strangely.

I know it doesn’t suit me too so just leave me alone.

When I made an unpleasant expression, Kurune pulled on my sleeve.

What? Is she going to laugh at me again?

「But…it’s interesting. Teach me about other things you know about the flowers. You studied them a lot since you like them, right?」

When Kurune said that, my anger inside immediately disappeared.

「Ohhh, leave it to me!」

◆

After that, I walked through the field of flowers together with Kurune while telling her about what I know about the flowers.

Well, I talked about them smoothly at first, but she started asking me about the meanings of all kinds of flowers during the middle of our walk.

I know the meanings of common flowers, but I don’t know much about flowers that are not used very often.

Almost all flowers can have multiple meanings in the language of flowers. Since I had just started to learn about flowers not that long ago, I could not put up much of a fight.

When Kurune noticed that, she said to me, “You haven’t studied enough, huh? and laughed in joy.

At that moment, I thought that if there’s a next time, I will make myself able to answer her smoothly no matter what she points at. At the same time, I was reminded of how vast Flora’s knowledge about flowers is.

After we had such a conversation, we ate the lunch boxes that Flora prepared for us under the tree in the field of flowers.

Kurune and I enjoyed the food, and now we are relaxing and taking a break.

When I looked up, I could see the blue sky between the tree’s branches.

The sky was clear no matter where I looked, and there were fluffy-looking white clouds floating in the distance far away.

Those clouds moved as if they were displaying the flow of our relaxing time.

The occasional breeze was comfortable, and it delivered the flowers’ scents to us as it blew past us.

Kurune’s ponytail gently swayed as she sat next to me.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

「…This really is a nice place. I can see why you fell in love with this place」

「Right?」

I replied to Kurune in satisfaction after she spoke to me quietly.

After she answered “Yeahh” with a smile on her face, I slowly opened my mouth.

「What do you think about this village, Kurune?」

「It’s a wonderful village. There’s an abundance of nature here, the scenery is beautiful, and the food is delicious. It’s the countryside but their clothes are stylish. The villagers here are very kind, and they are nice to me even though I don’t live here」

「I see」

「The children here too were all nice, energetic kids so it was fun just spending time with them. It’s been a while since I had fun with magic like that 」

The smile on her face was really bright as she spoke, so I could clearly tell that she likes Nordende. That makes me happy and a smile naturally formed on my face.

Then, Kurune slowly looked up at the sky and spoke quietly,

「…You know, I became a teacher at the academy of magic in the capital, but it was completely different from what I imagined. Even though I only wanted to teach children magic, the pride and customs of the nobles got in the way so I couldn’t even do that」

I had a feeling from the way she was speaking ill about nobles, but things did end up like that for her after all.

In the kingdom currently, Kurune is quite famous as a member of the dragon slayer’s party. To nobles with a high sense of pride, honoring commoners is something that’s not very amusing. I heard that the nobles’ power was weakening because of how much work we were putting in, so as the repercussion of that, they probably have been treating Kurune harshly.

As I thought about that, Kurune who was looking at the sky turned to look at me.

「My higher-up who wouldn’t shut up about etiquette was yelling at me every day, and the nobles kept on bugging me about where you went」

「…Ahaha. The last part sounds really bad」

I’m really sorry about that but I could only bitterly smile.

「You think? They were so persistent to the point that they asked me every day. Even my higher-up said infuriating stuff like “You know, don’t you?” to me. I was so close to beating everyone up」

While she said that, she poked at my cheek with her finger.

Ahh, she’s angry. The last thing she said sounded like a joke, but I could tell that she’s about 70% serious.

「Aldo, you disbanded the party and went to the countryside, Kiel also left the kingdom to travel around the world. Elliot married into a noble family. All of the guys in our party are heartless」

Kurune’s words pierced my chest and it hurt.

After being told that, I realize how selfish the men in our party are.

Well, but Kurune had also gone on her own path to the academy of magic, so didn’t everything work out? That thought surfaced in my mind, but I know if I said that to her, she’ll hate me for it.

I mean, my sudden action was what affected everyone the most.

After that thought, I simply apologized to her. Maybe she felt a bit better from that, so she stopped poking me.

「And then you know what? While I spent my days struggling like that, I wondered about what the culprit of my suffering was up to」

Gehh, the culprit she says. Well, she’s not wrong though.

「Is he spending his days in the countryside…? When I imagined all kinds of different scenarios, I thought about the times we went on adventures together」

「And so you thought about the villages we stopped by during our quests?」

Suddenly, some things popped up in my head. They were scenes of Kurune having fun teaching village children magic.

Every time she visited a countryside village, she showed the village kids magic and taught it to the kids who were well attuned in the elements. Since she always looked like she was having so much fun, I could still remember some of those scenes after so long.

「Yes, that’s right. I thought to myself, it would be nice if I could freely teach children magic and the way to study like when we were adventurers. What I want is to have fun teaching and using magic. That’s why it’d be fine even if it’s not in the capital. So I quit my job as the academy of magic’s teacher」

「…I see. That makes sense 」

When Kurune came here and said that she’s going to start a magic class here, I was wondering if she had thought about it thoroughly. However, now I can see that she has given it proper thought and she is doing something that she wants to do. I’m happy to hear that.

「You think you’ll have fun teaching magic here?」

「Yes! I’m sure of it! 」

Kurune answered my question cheerfully.