After that, Karen said we would leave the village when we turned twelve to become adventurer.
But being an adventurer sounded so dangerous. I couldn't understand why we needed to leave the village at all — we'd always lived self-sufficiently here. Even without anyone from outside, we could survive just fine.
Karen told me very seriously that it was impossible for the two of us to live here forever. We hadn't learned enough about the world, and adventurers didn't need much knowledge — only strength. But we only knew basic magic, and no one had ever taught us advanced magic.
Then Karen said there might be books about high-level magic in the study. That part made sense. Still, the idea of fighting terrifying monsters scared me.
Once, a monster appeared in the forest — a Sugrith Tiger. It was enormous, with front claws as long and sharp as needles — about a meter long. My father and Uncle Elvin joined the hunt to defeat it. Luckily, it wasn't too strong, and no one in the village was killed — only a few were injured. But its ferocious face haunted me that night; I couldn't fall asleep for hours.
Yet when Karen told me he would protect me, all my fear melted away. Warmth spread through my chest instead.
If Karen said we should become adventurers, he must have had his reasons. He was so smart — I decided to trust him.
But right after I agreed, a thought struck me — if Karen was the one protecting me, wouldn't that mean he would be in danger too? The worry came flooding back, and for a moment I wondered if agreeing was the right choice at all.
Later, I found some meat in the storage room and ran to ask Karen if I could cook it.
"Karen, let me cook the meat for lunch."
Karen looked genuinely surprised, as if thinking There's no way she won't mess this up.
What's with that look!? I'd learned so many recipes from my mother!
"No way, I'll do the cooking," he said firmly.
"No! Let me! I'll make it taste really good this time, I promise!"
I wasn't going to back down. I had to be the one to cook the meat. I wanted Karen to beg me afterward, saying, "I want more! Please, cook more for me!"
Karen sighed. "Fine. You can cook lunch by yourself, but don't touch the meat, okay?"
"Really!? Then we'll eat meat tonight!"
Cooking meat was tempting, but being in charge of lunch was even better. Without realizing it, I agreed to his condition. He said no meat for lunch, but I wanted it so badly that I declared we'd eat it at night. Karen nodded.
We went home to grab a basket and a pot. We filled the basket with a few slices of meat, some eggs, and poured white rice into the pot. When we left the storage room, I conjured a large ice block from the melting ice nearby. After that, we returned home — I poured the rice into the rice bin and set the basket with the meat and eggs on the table.
Then Karen said he had something to do and told me to go ahead and start cooking lunch.
I gave it everything I had. I made shredded potato and radish, fried eggs, stir-fried cabbage, and reheated the leftover rice from breakfast.
Thinking Karen might be hungry, I scooped him a bigger bowl of rice than mine and sat down to wait.
"He's so slow... Didn't he say he'd be back before I finished cooking?"
I waited and waited, but Karen still didn't return. Still, I didn't doubt him — I believed he'd come back.
Bored and impatient, my eyes drifted toward the dishes on the table.
"One bite won't hurt... it's just a taste test," I muttered.
I scooped up a spoonful of the shredded potatoes and radish, put it in my mouth, chewed, closed my eyes, and tried to savor it. Then I set the spoon down.
(Ugh... awful!)
It didn't taste like the dish I knew at all. Completely unacceptable. Karen's cooking yesterday wasn't great either, but at least it was edible — familiar, even comforting.
I stared at the door, frustrated, wondering what I'd done wrong. Why couldn't I make something tasty? The irritation bubbled up inside me.
Then Karen appeared in the doorway. The anger from waiting longer than expected quickly overshadowed my frustration about the food. Still, I didn't want to yell at him — I needed to stay calm.
"Karen, didn't you say you'd be back before lunch?"
Karen froze, realizing he was in trouble, and immediately apologized.
"I'm sorry! I didn't expect it to take that long."
"So, what exactly were you doing?"
Even though Karen apologized, I was still angry. What could he have been doing that took so much time? Karen didn't make any excuses—he told me honestly.
"I diverted the river water next to the farmland, so you won't have to go there to water it anymore."
"What!? I want to see it!"
Water by the farmland! And it's river water! How did he even move it here!? These thoughts instantly became the most important thing, and I jumped up, demanding that Karen show me, while he just stared blankly.
"..."
"Karen, hurry! Take me to see it!"
I didn't care about his stunned expression and urged him to take me to see the new state of the fields. Immediately, Karen returned to his usual calm self, trying to soothe my excitement.
"Let's eat first, or the food will get cold."
Hearing the word "eat" reminded me of my earlier frustration at his tardiness and my irritation over the bad-tasting food. I decided he deserved a little punishment and smiled at him.
"Fine. But you'd better finish every bite of the lunch I made with my strength. That's what you get for being late."
"I'll definitely finish it!"
Karen stood straight, obedient as ever, hands resting at his sides.
He endured and finished all the dishes I made, even saying that he would eat anything I cooked. My heart couldn't help but race.
Still, I felt discouraged. I had no idea which step I messed up to make the food taste this bad, and at one point, I even considered giving up.
Luckily, Karen encouraged me, telling me I would improve, which kept me going.
He also said I was cute. Aunties usually asked him if I was cute, and he always agreed, but he had never directly told me before. Hearing it suddenly made me so embarrassed that I ran to the toilet to hide.
After that, we went to check the fields and then fed the livestock before returning home to study.
I grabbed a book about water magic from the study while Karen was practicing the Melbuzoda script.
I looked at the water magic book. On the first page, it explained: basic magic could be cast without incantation, intermediate magic required two incantation phrases, and advanced magic required three. I started memorizing the chants carefully.
Then Karen seemed to have a stomachache and went to the toilet. But he stayed too long, and I started worrying, standing outside the door to check.
"Karen, you've been in the toilet for a long time. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. My body's immune system is just… fighting off some invaders."
"Immune system? Fighting? Who are the invaders!? Are you losing!?"
Karen mentioned something about an immune system. What is that? But I heard "invaders" and "battling," which meant someone—or something—was fighting him. Who could it be? They must be strong if Karen stayed in the toilet so long.
"I'm not telling you."
"Please tell me! I'm worried about you!"
Karen actually wouldn't tell me! I pounded on the door, demanding that he tell me, but he ignored me.
(Since you won't tell me, I'll just see for myself.)
I twisted the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge. Karen had locked the door, so I kept knocking.
"Stop knocking already! I'll tell you once I win the battle!"
Since I couldn't help Karen with the fight, I decided to cheer for him, even though he was the type who would never lose.
"Then I'll cheer for you! Karen! You can do it! Karen! You can do it…!"
"You don't need to cheer for me! It'll just turn into a long, drawn-out battle! Go back and read your book, don't worry about me."
"…Okay. But you have to win, alright?"
Even cheering made Karen stay in the toilet longer. What kind of enemy was he fighting? I couldn't stop worrying. I didn't go back to my studies like he said. Instead, I quietly waited outside the door for him to come out.
After a while, I noticed the doorknob move—Karen was coming out. I stood on the side of the door, and it slowly opened. Karen's face appeared right in front of me.
"Whoa!!!"
Karen suddenly shouted, stumbling backward against the wall. One hand went to his chest, his face full of panic, as he kept rubbing his chest like he'd been startled. Did the enemy come back!?
"Karen! What happened!? Are there more enemies!?"
I turned around to look for the enemy, but there was only Karen inside. I looked back at him. He seemed to have calmed down, returning to his usual self.
"Lina, why are you standing here? Don't you know scaring people like that could actually kill someone?"
"I just wanted to see what kind of enemy you were fighting."
"It's gross, you know."
"Then I won't look. But… why did you scream just now?"
I hated gross things, but since no new enemy appeared, what did he scream about?
"Because you scared me."
Me? I hadn't played any prank. How could I have scared Karen?
"I didn't scare you, did I?"
"When I opened the door, you were just standing there… right in front of me. It was so sudden that I got scared. Undarstand?"
"Got it! So… when you opened the door and saw me, you… got scared! And you even said I was…!"
I got angry halfway through repeating his words. So he got scared just from seeing my face? That made me furious! He just said I was cute a moment ago—how could he get scared? But when I said "was…", I suddenly felt shy and couldn't continue speaking.
"Was… what?"
"Nothing… nothing at all!"
Karen asked about the part I stopped saying, but it was too embarrassing to continue, so I ended the topic and quickly returned to my chair to continue studying magic. Karen also went back to his chair to study.
Later, I got a stomachache and locked myself in the toilet. After a long time, it still hurt. Could it be that Karen's "battle with the invaders" meant something like this? But why wouldn't he tell me?
(Could it be because of the food I cooked?)
I realized that Karen hadn't told me to keep me from feeling sad. That actually made me a little happy. But my stomach hurt for so long—would this happen every day until I could cook delicious food? My determination grew stronger.
After some time, the pain finally eased, and I could go out. I opened the door and noticed Karen wasn't at his chair studying. My heart started to race.
"Where's Karen? Where did he go?"
I opened every room's door, but Karen was nowhere to be found. Maybe he was outside. I stood at the doorway, scanning for him, but the sun was almost setting, making it hard to find him.
"Lina!"
Suddenly, a familiar voice called my name. I quickly looked over. A figure about my height was moving—it was Karen. He called for me, and I instinctively ran to him, hugging him tightly.
"Because I saw you were still in the bathroom, I came out to get some water. I won't leave you."
"I know… but I'm still scared."
Karen told me why he went out and reassured me that he wouldn't leave. I believed him, but still, disappearing from my sight without telling me had scared me.
"Don't be scared. Come on, let's go back and make dinner."
"Mm."
Karen's words made me feel safe. I understood the reason now, so I let go of him and saw he was carrying a bucket full of water. As he started walking toward the house, I hugged him from behind, resting my head on his shoulder.
Karen stopped and asked me to let go.
"Uh… Lina, it's hard for me to walk. Can you let go?"
"No. I'll let go when we're back inside."
Holding Karen made me feel calm and happy, warm inside, and I wanted to act spoiled toward him.
"Alright then."
Great! Karen agreed, and we walked home like that. As promised, once we got home, I let go. He poured the water from the bucket into the basin. I noticed he had already started the fire and prepared the ingredients before going out.
Since we had agreed to cook dinner together, we cleaned the ingredients. After chopping, Karen cooked while I handled the rice.
As Karen cooked, I watched how he did it. I couldn't say it was delicious, but I also couldn't say it was bad. That was my impression compared to the potato and radish dish he made yesterday… though even that was better than mine.
Once Karen finished cooking, he brought the dishes and soup to the table. Most importantly, there was meat. I immediately ate the meat first.
When it went into my mouth, I was surprised—Karen had cooked it even better than yesterday. I tried the other dishes and soup; everything was delicious. He had improved so much in just one day. I had to keep up with him.
Afterward, we took a bath, then read together until bedtime, lying down under the covers.
I reached out and grabbed Karen's clothes. He turned to look at me, and I pouted, acting spoiled.
"So that when I wake up, I can see you. I'm holding on so you won't leave me."
I said it with a smile, watching Karen, but he turned away from me. I felt a little disappointed, but suddenly he spoke.
"I'll wake you up tomorrow morning. Good night."
Hearing that filled me with joy. I started looking forward to tomorrow.
"Mm. Good night."
I thought back on today, seeing so many new expressions from Karen—surprised, startled, even shy. So cute.
But my favorite was the usual Karen, always calm and composed, looking mature.
I suddenly remembered what happened at lunch and wanted to tease Karen back. Maybe he was already asleep, and saying it aloud was embarrassing, so I could only say it now. I leaned close to his ear.
"Karen… you… you're… really handsome."
(I said it! But it sounded awful… I wish I could say it as coolly as Karen.)
I immediately pretended to sleep after saying it but felt Karen move under my hand.
(Huh!? Karen isn't asleep yet!? Did he hear what I said?)
Karen didn't say anything. Maybe he just turned over. My heart raced from the surprise, but then I heard him speak.
"Really? Thank you."
This time, it truly startled me—he had heard me. But hearing his reply made me happy. Sleepy, I drifted off, looking forward to tomorrow.