Almost a year had passed since Roxy came to the Greyrat family.
During this year, she taught Shirou and Rudeus magic diligently and patiently, successfully helping Rudeus master upper-level magic and bringing Shirou's earth magic to a mid-level.
As a tutor, she undoubtedly did her best and earned the Greyrat family's respect through her actions.
Paul, Zenith, Rudeus, and even Lilia all had a good relationship with Roxy, almost considering her a member of the family.
Only Shirou...
Since that embarrassing night, a barrier had always existed between him and Roxy.
Although they could talk naturally under normal circumstances, and communicate with each other freely during lessons, Shirou and Roxy kept a distance for most of the time.
Of course, it was mainly Roxy unilaterally keeping a distance from Shirou.
For a long time, Shirou had been trying to apologize, attempting to make up for his terrible actions and words that night.
However, Roxy seemed to be avoiding him, appearing to flee in a panic whenever she encountered him outside of lessons.
"Big brother Shirou, does teacher Roxy dislike you?"
Even Rudeus noticed the strange relationship between Shirou and Roxy.
He wasn't worried about it, but rather inexplicably happy, because it proved that Shirou wasn't all-powerful and also had things he couldn't handle.
Rudeus even thought that he might try to help fix Shirou and Roxy's relationship, in order to repay Shirou's kindness.
"Is that considered dislike..."
Shirou didn't quite understand why Roxy was avoiding him.
If she disliked him, shouldn't she just not meet him? But in fact, she not only didn't refuse to be with him, but was as gentle as usual, only showing some inexplicable avoidance or unwillingness to face him whenever she saw him.
Shirou wasn't the kind of person who would force others to do things, so since Roxy was avoiding him, he simply gave up on further contact with her.
This led to the two of them being in a state where their relationship seemed good on the surface, but in reality, they were developing a barrier and drifting further apart.
"Sigh..."
Shirou sighed. Compared to Roxy's matter, he was now more concerned about the monster hunt that Paul had mentioned before.
He already knew that there were monsters in the forest next to Buena Village, and the villagers had to periodically hunt and wipe them out in order to protect the village's safety.
Therefore, Shirou naturally paid great attention to this hunt, not only making several weapons with earth magic in advance, but also making a bow and arrow specifically to make use of his proud archery skills.
After preparing enough, Shirou went to Buena Village to meet up with Paul.
At this time, Paul had already organized the manpower in the village, including Sylphy's dad, Laws. Five or six villagers were fully armed, ready to go into the forest to sweep away the monsters.
Shirou calmly joined the crowd and planned to chat with the familiar villagers around him, but he unexpectedly found a familiar figure appear.
"Miss Roxy, you're here."
The villagers greeted Roxy enthusiastically when they saw her arrive.
Like Shirou, Roxy had been providing various help to the people in the village from time to time since she came to Buena Village, using magic to make village life more convenient and solving many problems that manpower could not solve.
This gradually gave Roxy great popularity in the village, but because Roxy was still an outsider after all, the villagers couldn't be too warm towards her like they were towards Shirou.
"Is Roxy also coming to the monster hunt?"
Shirou asked awkwardly.
Paul didn't know about his complicated relationship with Roxy, and said plainly, "Yes, after all, we've recently received a lot of bad information, suspecting that upper-level or higher monsters have invaded our Buena Village's forest."
"Upper-level or higher?"
"Yes, based on the adventurer guild's rankings, it's probably an A-rank. It would take at least a professional adventurer team to eliminate it." Paul said with a solemn expression, but soon his tone became lighter, "But don't worry, your old man here was once an S-rank adventurer, so my strength is beyond doubt. And for safety's sake, I also invited Miss Roxy, this water saint-level magician, so it will definitely be foolproof."
"I see."
Hearing Paul's words, Shirou finally understood the situation.
He then glanced at Roxy, and found that she was also looking at him.
As soon as their eyes met, they immediately separated.
"..."
After a brief silence, Roxy couldn't help but take the initiative to speak, "Why is Shirou here too?"
Regarding Roxy's question, Paul said with a smile: "This kid is a intermediate-level Sword God Style swordsman anyway, so his level won't hold us back. What's more, it's good to accumulate some practical experience in advance."
"I see..."
Roxy nodded silently, but still kept a certain distance from Shirou.
Shirou seemed a bit disappointed by Roxy's obvious rejection of him. He still had respect and gratitude for Roxy in his heart, and didn't want her to keep pushing him away.
After everyone gathered, they immediately walked into the forest.
"Yo, Shirou, long time no see." Laws came over to say hello on the road, "Recently, my Sylphy often mentions you, saying why doesn't big brother Shirou come to see her."
"Well...I really haven't had time lately."
Since Roxy's arrival, Shirou had spent half of his time learning magic, and didn't even have time to help patrol the village.
Laws wasn't complaining about this. He said with a smile, "I see, what a pity. I think my Sylphy and you are still a good match."
"Don't say that, okay."
Shirou looked at Laws speechlessly. Of course, he knew that the other person was joking, after all, Sylphy was only four years old, the same age as Rudeus.
However, at this moment, Roxy suddenly glanced at him from the side.
That bright gaze made Shirou inexplicably uneasy, and he quickly looked over, but found that Roxy had already looked away.
"This..."
Completely unable to figure out what Roxy meant, Shirou touched his head in a rather strange manner.
At the same time, everyone had already arrived at the edge of a lush forest along the village road. The dark forest was like a huge abyss, reflecting the arrival of everyone.
---
Read 30+ advanced chapters on patreon.com/yeyeqiu
Free member can read up to 4 advanced chapters