TIRS 43

CHAPTER  43.

 The Rude Bird Complaining About Food.

“Ah, Anselot! Klaus is—!”

“He’s fine. He won’t die, he won’t die.”

“But still…”

There were at least twenty more teddy bears!

“Well, if he dies, even better.”

Anselot said with a wicked tone.

Bweeet! Bweee!

—There aren’t just twenty! There are 500! Monsters will keep respawning until the quest is complete!

Fia fluttered her wings energetically, explaining from the side.

[Quest in Progress] <Main Quest: Chapter 2 – Forest of Phantasm (1/3)> Eliminate monsters in the Forest of Phantasm (2/500)
[Quest in Progress] <Main Quest: Chapter 2 – Forest of Phantasm (1/3)> Eliminate monsters in the Forest of Phantasm (3/500)

Even at that moment, Klaus was fighting the teddy bear monsters alone.

Bweeer, bweeerrrr!

—But it’s not a particularly difficult quest, so don’t worry too much, Lady Lulu!

“No, that’s not what I’m worried about…”

Klaus was much higher level than the teddy bears, so he wasn’t in danger of being hurt or killed.

Still, running away while leaving him to fight that many alone felt incredibly cowardly.

“What’s the problem, Your Highness?”

Before I knew it, Anselot had stopped the horse in a quiet clearing.

“Let him handle the grinding. We need to rest. There’s a lot ahead—we need to conserve energy.”

Anselot smiled sweetly as he helped me off the horse.

“But how can you be so shameless…!”

“He volunteered to risk his life. What’s there to feel guilty about? Honestly, he’s probably thrilled right now—he gets to risk his life for the Princess.”

“No one would enjoy something like that!”

Just then, I noticed something strange on the system notification window.

“Huh?”

[SYSTEM] ‘s Affection increased by +10. (Affection: -140)
[SYSTEM] ‘s Affection increased by +10. (Affection: -130)

Klaus’s affection was going up.

“Fia! I thought you could only check the affection of people within visible range?”

—Because he’s registered as a Companion! A companion’s affection has a major impact on XP and bonus effects!

In other words, the higher Klaus’s affection, the more XP I would gain from him.

‘But why is it going up all of a sudden…?’

While I blinked at the rising affection, Anselot sat down beside me with a sly grin.

“See? I told you he’s enjoying this.”

Just as Anselot said, Klaus seemed genuinely happy to risk his life for his liege, and his affection was rising. I couldn’t understand it at all.

“…Fine, let’s just leave him be.”

Setting aside my guilt toward Klaus, I decided to rest with Anselot.

We sat together under the shade of a tree, watching the quest window chime with progress.

Klaus was diligently defeating monsters in the Forest of Phantasm.

“Isn’t it nice, just the two of us?”

Anselot smiled at me as I turned at his voice.

If it weren’t for everything he’d done, he’d look like a perfectly normal, harmless, and good-looking man.

I looked at his face quietly and then called his name.

“Anselot.”

“Why are you saying my name so meaningfully? You’re making me nervous.”

Anselot chuckled, squinting his eyes playfully.

I warned him in a serious tone.

“The real trial in this forest isn’t fighting monsters.”

“?”

“It’s the mist you have to watch out for.”

Soon, the mist of Eilay would descend upon us.

In the original story, Klaus managed to get through it just fine.

But Anselot wasn’t an original character. I couldn’t be sure what would happen.

“It’s a mist that plays on your inner weaknesses and tempts adventurers. If you get caught in its illusion, you’ll forget all your goals. So if there’s something that might tempt you… prepare yourself now.”

“…Wow.”

Anselot listened quietly, then widened his eyes in wonder.

“You’re worried about me, Your Highness?”

He purred happily.

I didn’t know why he always purred like a cat. Maybe it was those half-lidded, feline eyes.

“I’m being serious!”

“Mhm, I’m seriously happy.”

It didn’t feel like he was taking my warning seriously at all.

‘Well, he’ll probably handle it somehow.’

He seemed like the kind of man with no obvious weaknesses.

‘But characters like him always have the deepest, most painful vulnerabilities.’

I studied him quietly.

He caught my gaze again and gave a sweet smile.

That irritatingly pretty smile made my face heat up, and I quickly turned away.

Not long after—

[Main Quest: Forest of Phantasm (1/3)] Complete!
[SYSTEM] Quest Complete!
[SYSTEM] You gained 12,500 XP.
[SYSTEM] You leveled up! (Lv.34)
[SYSTEM] You gained 10 Skill Points.
[SYSTEM] Quest rewards have been delivered to your mailbox.

Klaus must’ve finally defeated all 500 teddy bears.

I had gained all that experience just by sitting around.

When I opened the minimap, I saw Klaus’s dot moving toward us, even though much of the map was still covered in grey.

When his dot neared ours—

Tap, tap, tap.

Klaus appeared, catching his breath and glaring fiercely at Anselot.

Having fought all the monsters alone, Klaus looked in rough shape.

“Are you insane?”

He growled at Anselot, gritting his teeth.

“Wow. So you can talk like that. Were you just pretending to be polite this whole time?”

“You had the nerve to kidnap the Princess right in front of me!”

“‘Kidnap’? Please. Call it a romantic escape.”

“Don’t drag Her Highness into your filthy love affairs.”

“Sounds like you’re the filthy one. Covered in monster blood like that.”

Klaus flinched, then finally looked down at his own state.

“Click. Honestly, I can’t even tell if you’re human or monster anymore. And you’re parading around in front of our beautiful princess like that.”

“Stop teasing him, Anselot. Sir Klaus worked hard for our sake.”

Klaus’s expression looked on the verge of tears, so I stepped in to mediate.

“We need to set up camp before sundown. Let’s get moving.”

Up until now, we had traveled comfortably, staying in inns. But tonight, we would have to camp in the forest.

“I’m sorry we have to subject Your Highness to a place like this.”

Klaus looked ashamed.

“It’s fine. I’m the one who insisted on going through the forest.”

Klaus had wanted to take the road, but I pushed for the shortcut through the woods.

All because of the quest.

‘Still…’

I glanced above Klaus’s head, and my heart swelled.

Shield of Light < Lv.37 Klaus Winster >
Affection: 999

My goodness.

Though the system notifications had already told me his affection maxed out, seeing it with my own eyes brought back memories of the long journey.

All the pain and effort I went through to raise Klaus’s affection…

Only for it to plummet into the negatives.

Maybe I should’ve just dumped him in the forest from the start.

“Your Highness…?”

Klaus blushed as he noticed me staring.

[SYSTEM] ‘s Affection decreased by -10. (Affection: 989)

‘Whatever. Losing 10 affection points doesn’t even faze me anymore!’

I grinned and praised him.

“You did well, Sir.”

Klaus hesitated for a moment before kneeling respectfully before me.

“I only did what any knight of Your Highness should.”

He said solemnly.

[SYSTEM] ‘s Affection increased by +10. (Affection: 999)

I smiled softly at the sight of his affection rising once more.

After retrieving the horses from the forest entrance, Klaus immediately began setting up camp.

Meanwhile, Anselot lit a fire, and Fia collected twigs and leaves to help him.

I prepared food over the campfire.

“This stew has… an interesting flavor.”

Anselot said after tasting a spoonful.

“Really? Is it that strange?”

I tilted my head and tried it too—but I didn’t notice anything unusual.

“Sir Klaus, what do you think?”

“…”

Klaus was holding the bowl, his hands trembling.

“Sir Klaus?”

“That I would be honored with food made by Your Highness’s own hand…”

[SYSTEM] is now in a Deeply Moved state.

“This is a glory that will go down in the history of House Winster.”

“Come on, that’s a bit much…”

“It’s delicious, Your Highness.”

“Oh, really?”

I lit up at his compliment.

Bweew?

Fia, perched on my shoulder, seemed curious. She flew over to the stew and pecked at it with her beak.

Then immediately spat it out and squawked in outrage.

BEEE! BEEEEEEE!

—What is this?! Who would eat something this disgusting?!

Fia stomped her left foot furiously, pointing at the spat-out stew with her wing.

“…”

“…”

“…”

A short silence passed between us.

“Maybe birds just have different tastes.”

I said awkwardly. But Fia squawked again, offended.

Bweee! Bweee! Bwee!

—This has nothing to do with species!

She was trembling in fury when—

“I’ll catch that disrespectful bird disturbing Her Highness’s peace and discipline it at once.”

Klaus, though he couldn’t understand Fia’s words, got the gist from her actions and declared solemnly.

“Just give the order. I’ll ensure it never dares spit out or kick away Your Highness’s food again.”

[SYSTEM] is now in an Angry state.

Klaus’s glare at Fia was intense.

His piercing eyes locked onto Fia’s left foot—the one she’d stomped with.

Wait, hold on! Why are you going full berserker?!

Bwe-bwee!?

—L-Lady Lulu, he’s scary…

Realizing her left leg was in danger, Fia fearfully flew back to my side.

‘Just now, Klaus… reminded me of Anselot.’

They were always bickering—but maybe they were starting to resemble each other.

If so, that could only mean disaster for Klaus.

Meanwhile, Anselot was deep in thought.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing, really.”

Anselot looked up from the stew pot and met my eyes.

“I was just wondering… maybe the stew really is strange, like the bird said.”

“What?”

Klaus bristled and reached for his sword.

But Anselot simply smirked and stared at Fia.

“Maybe it just needs more ingredients. Like… say, a rude little bird who complains about food.”

BWEEE!!

—Waaahhh! Save me, Lady Lulu!

In the end, Fia sniffled and quietly finished her stew without another word of complaint.