Chapter 23: 23: I’ll never lie my fluff ever again.

The night went uneventful... As uneventful as it could be for a place full of monsters and wild animals on a rampage festival. Maybe I should have been bothered by the fact that I was starting to get accustomed to such a thing?

At least, we stocked some wolf meat provisions thanks to it. I had read somewhere that seeing the positive part of the situation helped in difficult situations... I just had to focus on that.

Regarding the poor wolves, it was a waste but we couldn't take all of them unless I revealed my ring. We took the core and the rest of the materials and enough meat for a day or two because it would be meaningless if we could get fresh meat at the next red moon.

Having someone to watch your back at times like these was really something else. To sleep without the fear that some monster could come from nowhere and take a bite out of you... I couldn't go back to being alone anymore after I tasted this bliss. 

As the first rays of sunlight pierced through the forest foliage, Fiona started to pack our things and I took some dirt to cover what was left from the campfire. You never could be too sure about what might follow you in this place. 

Outside of the wild animal types of monsters, the forest housed relatively intelligent ones as well; like the goblins. I wouldn't be too surprised if they could follow these traces. And I was fairly sure that the goblin wasn't the top predator you might bump into in this world. There was no telling what kind of terrifying creatures lived out there, smart enough to get these clues and follow us. 

” Are you ready Fio? We need to move... ” I shook my head to disperse the bad thoughts and moved my attention back to Fiona but I stopped mid-sentence noticing something unbelievable.

’Oh My Godly Tree, she’s shaking her fluffy tail.’

I could see how she was slowly moving it from right to left and then again from left to right. The tail seemed like a fluffy little whip. I wasn't a fan of that kind of thing but I wouldn't mind being whipped with that fluffy one.

” Mm!? Is something wrong? ” she turned her head and asked with a curious look on her face.

Of course, there was. I wanted to... I wanted to touch that... that... fluffy tail soooo damn hard! 

” No, it's nothing. We should prepare for departure. ” But of course I couldn't say that... Not unless I wanted to look like a creep in her eyes or something. No matter what, I had a reputation to maintain. 

And so, with tears in my eyes, I moved my gaze from the still shaking tail and grabbed one of the rucksacks. My small heart wasn't designed for such torture. 

’Tail...’   *sniff* *sniff* ’Fluffy tail...’   

Oblivious of my internal suffering and with heart-wrenching swings of her tail, she took her rucksack as well and we resumed our trip north. 

.

.

.

As time went by, I could see her peeking at me from time to time. Mostly when she thought I wasn't paying attention. 

’Too bad, Fluff. I'm always paying attention. Always...’  There was no way I wouldn't pay attention to my wolfy companion... She had fluffy ears on top of her head and a freaking tail... Worse even, the tail was still swinging...

At that point, I was positively sure that there was definitely something wrong with it. 

I had to find out what the problem was before she would feel like twitching her ears as well. Together with her tail... No... I wouldn't be able to stand my ground against something of that magnitude. My heart wouldn't be able to take a blow like that.

” Say Fio, you seem to be in a good mood. Did something good happen? ” I couldn't resist any longer and asked her what was going on there. She definitely was hiding something from me.

” Huh, ah... No, I was just thinking about something. ” she answered in a hurry like a child that was desperately trying to hide something.

”...”

’Ooookay... That was definitely abnormal...’

And on top of that, her ears were slowly tilting down like pressed by guilt. I wanted to caress them so badly to the point that my mouth was almost drooling at the thought. 

’I... must... resist... Bad me, baaaad. Get a grip of yourself, me! Good... good... take in... push it out... again... and again. Calm yourself.’

” Lizza!? ”

” Hmmm!? Oh, sorry... I spaced up a bit... Anyway, if there is something you want to tell me, just say it. No need to be afraid. I will properly listen to everything you had to say. ” I said while corrected my expression from daydreaming to solemnity. 

I hoped that I hadn't messed my image too bad already. I was a serious elf... Yeah, a serious and dignified elf. Believe me, fluff!

On the other hand— and contrary to my earlier concern— she couldn't care less about my supposed image at the moment. Looking at how anxious she seemed to be, I barely recognized her as the fluff I was used to... Even though I knew her for just several days, such changes in behavior were impossible to miss. 

” I told you about my situation last night... ” In the end, she seemed like she made her resolve and spoke to me while watching me right in the eyes. 

” Yeah... You told me. ” I just nodded absentmindedly. That... was fast...

” I was thinking about your circumstances too. And... what you told me, but... ” she stopped and averaged her gaze from me again. 

At that moment I could have bet on my pee-pee that something was wrong there. That... If I still had one at least... Anyway, the important thing was to find out what was going on.

” Yes, but if you don't speak it out loud, I wouldn't be able to get it. ” I urged her to continue, softening my voice a little to give her some courage.

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” I thought from the moment we met that there must be something about you... ”

’Ooooooo shit...’ Panic started to envelop me like a tide and a metaphorical drop of sweat dripped from my forehead. 

” A young elf traveling alone so far from her home. Maybe this has something to do with your... er... with your parent's origins? ” she said the last part peeking at my face to see a reaction.

And I had a reaction. 

I was almost frozen like a statue. I was not expecting that. I wasn't even aware if I had parents in this world, let alone their origins. I was fairly sure that my kind wasn't born from thin air like I ironically was.

” What... What do you mean by that? ” I asked her with a much weaker voice than I originally intended.

She raised her head while biting her lower lip as if not sure how to word the next phrase. I wasn't any better either though... I could even see her cute canines. If we wouldn't have been in that situation, my soul would have been already melted from that image alone.

” I was just wondering if that was the cause of you not staying in the Zylfir forest. Maybe it... umm, had to do with that? ” she said after what must have been an eternity. But contrary to earlier, her eyes seemed to sparkle a little in anticipation.

She probably wasn't aware of how accurate she was... In a weird kind of twisted logic at least... You couldn't stay in the Zylfir forest if you hadn't been born there. She was very much right about that. 

On the other hand, that represented a good opportunity for me. In that way, I had no reason to pretend that I know things about that Zylfir place when I didn't even know where it was located.

” Yeah, to be honest, I wasn't born in that forest... But I don't like to speak too much about this subject. ”

Thinking about it, that was one of the rare moments I hadn't actually lied to her about me. I had nothing to do with that place and that was true. Though she may have misunderstood something along the lines so theoretically it was an indirect lie. But that was fine... probably... It gave me some room to breathe and less to worry about.

” Mm. I... I understand. ”  she said with an understanding expression on her face. She even messed her words a little bit there but I let that as it was... ” Exactly how I thought... ”

Her tail was swinging even wilder than before and her ears were lively again. I could see a rare and beautiful smile on her face as well. She seemed to be back in shape again... even more so than the usual...

I even thought that I heard her muttered something like ’maybe she's in that situation as well... ’ but I couldn't be sure. Despite my good hearing, she barely whispered that to herself. 

I had no idea what she had understood from our conversation— since I was still as confused as I was at the beginning, maybe even more— but taking into consideration how her mood switched after it... Yeah, if I were to be found with this particular lie, the situation would be very troublesome. Even though it wasn't technically a lie.

’Aaaahhh... My head hurts again... Good job, Fluff... Change of subject... Change of subject...’ 

” We shouldn't waste too much time in a place like this, we are not safe yet. ” I said starting to walk again to dodge other troublesome questions.

She nodded with an enthusiasm I never saw in her thus far and followed after me. She wasn't upset at all when I vaguely responded to her questions about me or when I completely dodged the next questions. 

She was simply nodding her head and waging her tail like she was understanding my reason for not talking about it more and more. I could feel cold sweat forming on my back every time I answered a particularly troublesome question. 

’I swear that I will not lie to her again... So, please help this small elf Holy Tree...’ Of course, there was no divine intervention for me...

The day passed so slowly I thought I was going to die from accelerated aging. Luckily, I was a long-living race... The only good thing was that Fiona was more cheerful than ever so it wasn't that bad.

I rushed through the meal and quickly skipped our campfire time with a pathetic excuse that we needed to properly rest or something on that line. She wasn't that happy about it but accepted with a disappointed face. I could see that she was eager to ask other troublesome questions so it was better like this.

I was also against the idea of speaking with her in her sleep-time. Her strange burst of enthusiasm was going way too far so I had to put an end to it. 

Not sleeping was bad. I had often done it in my past life so I was aware of what I was speaking about. You would be like a living zombie the next day so I personally forced her in that blanket to make her sleep.

After that, we made our way through the red moon without much trouble. I even gained another level in [Fire Manipulation] that night playing with the campfire to distract my thoughts.

In the morning, we quickly packed our stuff and I stealthy put some of the burning embers in my ring to have an easier time next time we needed a fire. The sun started to show itself so it was time to resume our trip.

” Let's go, Fio. ” 

” Mm. Let's go, Lizza. ”

The cold sweet instantly returned after I heard her cheerful response. She had gone so far as to even use the short version of my name... In a cheerful kind of way...

*sigh*

I let out a long sigh and we started to head north again. It seemed that there would be a long way before her enthusiasm would fade even a little bit.

FDSIO

Hehe... Hehehe...

I realized that I didn't make a single poll from the first chapter up until now. There was no way to let things like that, sooooo... I decided to make one for fun. 

Enjoy!

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