After walking for a while longer, the party noticed a change in the steppes—not in the scenery, which had remained largely the same due to how flat the landscape was, but rather the very sensation of being there.
“It's quiet…” Gen murmured, breathing in the crisp air.
“We’d been fighting a lot of enemies along the way, but here it's so… peaceful.”
Always tense and hectic—the frequent fights had unexpectedly worn at their nerves, and it was only during this short respite that Lily suddenly realized how drained she felt.
“It might be a bit early to relax, you guys.” Louis warned the others as he checked his map. “Looks like we’re in the Goretusks’ habitat now… and if Flores wasn't exaggerating about how dangerous they are, that's probably why everything else is staying the heck away.”
Lily swallowed nervously, but Louis just chuckled.
“—Well, we should be able to see goretusks ahead of time; as long as we keep an eye out, we should be juuust fine.”
“... Please don't raise flags like that,” Gen sighed.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever— It's not like we’re the main characters of some cliché webnovel, y’know?”
“Argh, now something is definitely going to happen because you said that!” “Don't worry, being the protagonists means that we get plot armor!” —or so they joked.
“I don't wanna fight it, with or without plot armor!” Lily retorted, tearing up a bit. “Getting charged by something the size of a van sounds scary!”
“... That's true.”
Unsurprisingly, Gen and Louis agreed with Lily’s sentiment.
“Yo, Fen!” Louis called out to the battle-happy Fenris, who was walking in front of the others. “Don't run ahead if you see something—just tell us and stay put, alright?”
However, Fenris seemed distracted, absentmindedly replying,
“... Ah… Nn, got it…”
Louis raised an eyebrow.
“Something on your mind, buddy?”
“Mm… Not really…?”
“... Yeah, right! Only old people just stare into the distance like that! Seriously, whatcha thinkin’ about, man?”
“Hnn…” Fenris groaned. He didn't think that he was thinking about anything—but Louis's words were oddly similar to something that Amiya had said before, so he realized that there might actually be a reason why he was feeling ‘different’.
Thus, Fenris set his mind on figuring that reason out.
———
Ferris had lived in the city his entire life, but the area he grew up in was more like a concrete cage than the glamorous ideal of a ‘city’: a densely-packed neighborhood of concrete brick buildings, from corner-to-corner of every block, to every street—the exteriors uniform in every way except the grime staining them.
Everything about the area seemed intentionally hostile towards its inhabitants. The sidewalks were too narrow to accommodate any sort of plantings, and attempts to grow anything in window sills were thwarted by either the lack of sunlight or malicious vandalism. And so, for the first eighteen-or-so years of his life, Ferris had never actually seen grass in person.
The world before Fenris was equally beautiful and overwhelming. He would never be able to articulate the vastness of the steppes, nor the life that swelled in the grass as the land itself seemed to breathe, swaying with the whispers of the wind; the words to describe the vista were too unfamiliar for the life he’d known, and Fenris was never adept at finding them in the first place.
However, for the answer he settled on, the only words Fenris needed were for a simple promise to himself.
———
“... I want… to bring Amiya here, someday,” he finally replied.
“--Huh?”
“Ara, Wolfie’s back.”
“... Oh, smoke stopped coming out of his ears.”
Since it was taking a while for Fenris to formulate his answer, the other three had started talking about other stuff while they waited; Louis was caught off-guard once Fenris finally did answer—not only because of how long it had taken, but also because of the unfamiliar name he’d heard.
“Amiya… Is that your sister?” Louis asked.
“Nn.”
“... You really just want to bring her to look at the scenery?” He raised his brow again.
“Yeah.”
“... Well, whatever.” Louis had a feeling that Fenris had just stopped thinking immediately after reaching a conclusion that he was satisfied with, and that there was actually a deeper reason behind why Fenris was thinking for so long—but Louis shrugged that idea aside, figuring that digging deeper could start touching on some personal topics that Fenris wouldn't be comfortable talking about and that, hey, it probably wasn't important in the first place.
‘... Yep, that's definitely not a flag,’ Louis thought to himself, pushing that idea even further to the side.
After walking for a while longer, the party noticed a change in the steppes—not in the scenery, which had remained largely the same due to how flat the landscape was, but rather the very sensation of being there.
“It's quiet…” Gen murmured, breathing in the crisp air.
“We’d been fighting a lot of enemies along the way, but here it's so… peaceful.”
Always tense and hectic—the frequent fights had unexpectedly worn at their nerves, and it was only during this short respite that Lily suddenly realized how drained she felt.
“It might be a bit early to relax, you guys.” Louis warned the others as he checked his map. “Looks like we’re in the Goretusks’ habitat now… and if Flores wasn't exaggerating about how dangerous they are, that's probably why everything else is staying the heck away.”
Lily swallowed nervously, but Louis just chuckled.
“—Well, we should be able to see goretusks ahead of time; as long as we keep an eye out, we should be juuust fine.”
“... Please don't raise flags like that,” Gen sighed.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever— It's not like we’re the main characters of some cliché webnovel, y’know?”
“Argh, now something is definitely going to happen because you said that!” “Don't worry, being the protagonists means that we get plot armor!” —or so they joked.
“I don't wanna fight it, with or without plot armor!” Lily retorted, tearing up a bit. “Getting charged by something the size of a van sounds scary!”
“... That's true.”
Unsurprisingly, Gen and Louis agreed with Lily’s sentiment.
“Yo, Fen!” Louis called out to the battle-happy Fenris, who was walking in front of the others. “Don't run ahead if you see something—just tell us and stay put, alright?”
However, Fenris seemed distracted, absentmindedly replying,
“... Ah… Nn, got it…”
Louis raised an eyebrow.
“Something on your mind, buddy?”
“Mm… Not really…?”
“... Yeah, right! Only old people just stare into the distance like that! Seriously, whatcha thinkin’ about, man?”
“Hnn…” Fenris groaned. He didn't think that he was thinking about anything—but Louis's words were oddly similar to something that Amiya had said before, so he realized that there might actually be a reason why he was feeling ‘different’.
Thus, Fenris set his mind on figuring that reason out.
———
Ferris had lived in the city his entire life, but the area he grew up in was more like a concrete cage than the glamorous ideal of a ‘city’: a densely-packed neighborhood of concrete brick buildings, from corner-to-corner of every block, to every street—the exteriors uniform in every way except the grime staining them.
Everything about the area seemed intentionally hostile towards its inhabitants. The sidewalks were too narrow to accommodate any sort of plantings, and attempts to grow anything in window sills were thwarted by either the lack of sunlight or malicious vandalism. And so, for the first eighteen-or-so years of his life, Ferris had never actually seen grass in person.
The world before Fenris was equally beautiful and overwhelming. He would never be able to articulate the vastness of the steppes, nor the life that swelled in the grass as the land itself seemed to breathe, swaying with the whispers of the wind; the words to describe the vista were too unfamiliar for the life he’d known, and Fenris was never adept at finding them in the first place.
However, for the answer he settled on, the only words Fenris needed were for a simple promise to himself.
———
“... I want… to bring Amiya here, someday,” he finally replied.
“--Huh?”
“Ara, Wolfie’s back.”
“... Oh, smoke stopped coming out of his ears.”
Since it was taking a while for Fenris to formulate his answer, the other three had started talking about other stuff while they waited; Louis was caught off-guard once Fenris finally did answer—not only because of how long it had taken, but also because of the unfamiliar name he’d heard.
“Amiya… Is that your sister?” Louis asked.
“Nn.”
“... You really just want to bring her to look at the scenery?” He raised his brow again.
“Yeah.”
“... Well, whatever.” Louis had a feeling that Fenris had just stopped thinking immediately after reaching a conclusion that he was satisfied with, and that there was actually a deeper reason behind why Fenris was thinking for so long—but Louis shrugged that idea aside, figuring that digging deeper could start touching on some personal topics that Fenris wouldn't be comfortable talking about and that, hey, it probably wasn't important in the first place.
‘... Yep, that's definitely not a flag,’ Louis thought to himself, pushing that idea even further to the side.
