Ariane softly groaned while resting her head on her arms as she leaned slightly off the moving cart. Her face was a little pale and I could tell she didn't feel good.
"Bad hangover and cart-sick, huh? You can lean on me, y'know." I offered.
"Ugh…" Ariane lifted her head and adjusted her seating to lean her head on my shoulder, using my cape to cover her nose.
"It's not only that, but something in the other cart reeks. It's making me feel even worse."
It was a horrible smell, but thankfully it's somewhat masked by Ariane's scent. Even Inari hid under my cape to escape the smell.
"What's in that cart, Carcy?"
"Oh, that? It's just some goblin corpses. We're gonna use them as bait.
Ariane trembled in disgust and looked close to vomiting.
"Hey, Miss— I mean, Young Man!"
I turn my head and look at Carcy's assistant. He tossed me a capped bottle and I caught it. "What's this?"
"It's a tea that cures hangovers." He said with a smile.
"Oh! Thanks!" I uncap the bottle and turn to Ariane.
"Here, drink this. Ariane…"
Ariane took the bottle in her hands and looked at it, then at the human assistant with somewhat of a distrustful expression.
I rubbed Ariane's back, understanding that she was still just a bit untrusting of other humans. Though, it does make me happy that she trusts me so much…
Ariane looked at my gentle smile and a tinge of blush formed on her cheeks as she began to meekly drink the tea.
"Oh… this is pretty good…" Ariane mumbled as she looked at the liquid in her cup.
As I enjoy the plainness of the sandy dunes, I remembered that I hadn't asked Carcy what specific monster we were hunting.
"By the way, Carcy, what are we capturing?"
"Sand worms. They're nocturnal creatures, but also very opportunistic hunters, as well. They are very weak against fire, so be careful not to use fire-based attacks, otherwise, they'll likely die from those attacks!"
Carcy continued his detailed explanation, including its average length of 4 meters and the characteristics of their usual hunting grounds.
…Not that I would say Carcy's explanation was boring, but…
I'm just not as enthusiastic about the ecology of monsters as Carcy is.
"…?" Ariane, who was also paying somewhat attention to Carcy's explanation, suddenly shot up in shock.
"Carcy! The cart behind us is gone!"
Just as she had shouted, the sand behind us sank suddenly and a large shadow enveloped us.
A ginormous sand worm thrust out of the ground, sending Carcy's assistant flying, along with the cart filled with dead goblins.
"What happened to 'four or five' meters?!" Ariane exclaimed.
"Impossible! I've never seen one this big before! It's not natural!" Carcy shouted in disbelief.
The Assistant, who was launched around a hundred meters away, was still alive. Of course, the sand worm ignored us and went for the easy kill.
But it seemed Ariane was having none of that. She unsheathed her sword and chanted a spell that covered her blade in flames.
With an explosive thrust, her attack blew back the sand worm, but it still looked mostly unscathed. The monster quickly twisted its body and turned its attention to Ariane, quicker than she could react.
But not quick enough.
Just before it could sink its meat-grinder-like teeth into Ariane, I stopped the worm with my bare hands around the opening of its mouth.
My nose bled a bit as I activated Monsterous Strength, but Ariane didn't notice since she was behind me.
"Are you alright, Ariane?" I asked coolly.
"'Stolfo…!"
I gestured to the Assistant, "Get him outta here!"
"Right!"
Once everyone was out of the way, I gripped the worm harder and clenched my teeth. "Come on, you long ass noodle! Let's put you back into the sand!"
Ignoring my bloody nose, I lifted the worm and threw it against the sand as hard as I could. The worm slammed against the loose ground, stunning it to the point of unconsciousness.
Since Monsterous Strength only damages me when I attack, I only got a bloody nose from catching it, but that throw made me cough up some blood, too.
Not wanting Ariane to worry, I wipe the blood off my face as clean as I could with my cape and un-summon that piece of clothing, ridding the evidence.
I turned to the group and waved my hand with my usual smile. "Hey, Carcy! Will this guy work as a live sample for ya?"
"Ah- Y-yes! This is perfect! Thank you!"
••••••••••
Once back in town, Carcy happily handed us our Auest reward, the Momster Compendium, and a detailed map of the Empire.
After everything else was settled, we said our goodbyes to Carcy and the village. As we walked towards the border, the Whispering Fowl Ariane used to communicate appeared in the sky, landing in front of me.
"Ariane… Ariane…? Heeeeyyy!"
"Huh?? O-oh, what's up?" Ariane flinched as I called her multiple times before actually hearing me.
"Danka's Whispering Fowl has arrived." I pointed out.
The Fowl perched up and opened its beak.
"[Regarding the enslaved Elves in Lamburt… All of them were freed, save for one of them… That One has married the New Lord of Lamburt, Petros.]"
"What?!" Ariane grabbed the Fowl. "M-M-M-Married?! H-how?!"
For some reason, Ariane kept glancing at me with her cheeks flushed red. "Calm down, Ariane! It's just a prerecorded message! You're gonna hurt the bird!"
Once we calmed down, the bird continued its message. "[To put it simply, Petros had committed a Coup against his father, became the lord, and freed the slaves. They fell in love and ended up getting married. The hardest part to believe, though, was what they told me afterwards… They said that they'd try their best to improve the relations between Elves and Humans.]"
With that bombshell of news, the Fowl flew away and left Ariane in silence for a moment, clearly shocked by this revelation.
"…I wonder if that day will ever come." She muttered aloud.
I turn to look at her side profile. Her long white hair flowed with the wind. She's beautiful.
"I can't speak for all humans, but… I'd like to think most humans are good people. I think it isn't just some naive dream to think Elves and Humans could join hands someday…"
I take a step closer to Ariane and take her hand in mine, locking our fingers together and smiling at the beautiful woman in front of me.
"Just like we have."
Ariane's grip on my hand had tightened for a moment, her face suddenly flushing from my sudden romantic touch. "Y-you're different!"
She tried to run away like the tsundere she is, but I wouldn't let her. I pulled her closer and grabbed her other hand, a teasing grin on my face.
"Oh~? How am I different? In what way exactly? Hmm~?"
With no way to escape with my superior strength, Ariane just turned her red face away in embarrassment. "Y-you just are…!— Uwah!"
This time, I pulled her in close by the waist, causing her to fall a bit to my eye level, and hugged her tightly and gently.
"Y'know… you don't have to be embarrassed when it's just us two… You weren't very embarrassed yesterday morning, when you…—"
"I-I know…!" Ariane interrupted me, looking away from me again. "It was just on impulse, but… now that I think about it… It was super embarrassing…! I just—"
"Does it mean… that you like me? Like in that way? Because it really seems like that to me. Why would you do that, otherwise?" I cut her off.
Ariane just looked at me, tears in her eyes and her face even redder than before. "I… I don't know…" She muttered, nearly inaudible if I were any further away.
"I just… I think… maybe…?" Ariane didn't sound sure, but her arms moved from my shoulders to around my neck. Still, her gaze was anywhere but my eyes.
I placed my forehead against hers and grinned. "You hugging me so tightly definitely doesn't feel like a 'maybe'. It's okay to be honest when you're with me. Just like I'm honest with~ you~ now~!"
Before she could respond, I kissed her.
Ariane flinched at the sudden action, but her arms wrapped around my neck tighter than before and she allowed my tongue into her mouth.
"Mmhm…" Ariane moaned softly.
I bring my head back and stop our kiss, a thin strand of mixed saliva connecting our lips.
"Once we're done with this mission, we have to go on a date in the Elven capital." I grinned.
"R-right…"