As I was quietly observing the situation, a long sigh escaped through the Captain’s lips.

“You’re careless enough to get hurt, yet your mouth is still as lively as ever. If you had the energy to joke around, couldn’t you have focused more on the monster?”

“If you’re talking about the injury… You mean the dagger wound on my palm? I stabbed it shallowly to wake myself from the hallucination, so it’s not a serious wound…”

“A wound is a wound, regardless. Even shallow wounds shouldn’t be taken lightly. If not treated properly, they can cause trouble.”

Saying this, the Captain took half a step closer to me.

As the tall man approached, his shadow fell over my head.

When I opened my mouth, a slightly nervous voice came out without me realizing it.

“…What are you going to do?”

“I’m thinking of pouring some potion on your wound. Do you have any objections?”

“Ah…”

“If you understand, hurry up and give me your hand.”

Although I felt a bit embarrassed, as if I were a puppy being trained to offer its paw, I held out my hand to show him.

The Captain frowned as he looked at the wound on my palm.

“You stabbed it quite deep.”

“Is it deep?”

“Yes. What were you thinking? This could cause discomfort when holding a sword. Tsk.”

Despite his cold tone, his movements were extremely careful as he took out the potion and poured it on the wound.

Soon, the cold potion seeped into the wound, and my palm started to itch.

The wound was healing.

As I twitched the tip of my hand due to the itching, a stern voice came from above my head.

“Don’t move.”

“But it’s itchy.”

“…You’re quite a handful of a subordinate.”

Saying this, the Captain gently spread out my curled fingers one by one.

Then he started to carefully wipe the blood off my hand using a handkerchief.

He rubbed between my fingers and each joint like that.

Somehow, I thought it was ticklish.

I wasn’t referring to the fingers that were forcibly held by him.

A corner of my heart, lodged in the left side of my chest, somehow felt pleasantly ticklish.

After pouring the potion and roughly finishing the wound treatment, we immediately went to look for the mana stone.

It wasn’t difficult to find.

The mana stone is always near the Queen, and I already knew where it was.

As expected, we were able to find the mana stone in the hidden space behind the wall on the top floor.

I blankly stared at the brightly glowing ore that was firmly fixed to a stone pillar rising from the ground.

Then, something suddenly occurred to me, and I opened my mouth.

“I always feel this way, but doesn’t this look like an egg? As if something is about to be born.”

Perhaps the Queen was wandering around the mana stone to protect something that would be born from it in the future?

Hearing my speculation, the Captain shuddered.

“Are you saying a monster might be born here? That’s terrifying.”

“Yes, come to think of it, it was indeed a terrifying thought. Let’s hurry and break it.”

Hearing my words, the Captain immediately raised his halberd.

Then he swung it towards the mana stone.

Crack―!

With the sound of hard glass breaking, the mana stone shattered.

As always, there was nothing inside the shattered mana stone.

Just like every time before.

After breaking the mana stone, the Captain strapped his halberd to his back again and said to me.

“We’ve done what we came to do. Let’s get out of here now.”

“Yes.”

Since destroying the mana stone would cause the rift to close and disappear, we had to escape back to our original world before that happened.

This might sound like an urgent matter, but usually, it takes about three days for the rift to close, so there was no need to hurry too much.

Slightly tired from dealing with the monster, we silently walked down the spiral staircase.

Thud. Thud.

The sound of footsteps echoing through the empty staircase continued for a while.

We moved our legs like that without exchanging any conversation.

As the slightly awkward silence continued, a topic for conversation finally arose.

“Ah, now that I look, my leg is slightly injured too.”

I thought I felt a faint pain, and upon closer inspection, there was a wound on my thigh as well.

It seemed to have been lightly scratched during the confrontation with the monster earlier.

The shallow wound must have opened up and started bleeding as we came down the stairs.

The Captain frowned as he saw my blood seeping through the fabric of my clothes.

“You should have been more careful. You really make me worry in many ways.”

“Do you have any potion left?”

“I’ll give you one bottle. Don’t be stingy, make sure to pour it properly on the wound.”

Listening to the Captain’s scolding, I treated the wound on my thigh.

Thanks to the potion, the wound healed quickly, and I prepared to walk again.

That’s when the Captain blocked my path.

“Are you going to walk again in that state?”

“…?”

How else were we supposed to leave the rift if not by walking?

While I was feeling puzzled, the Captain suddenly turned his halberd to the front of his body.

Then he lowered his body, presenting his back to me.

I stood there blankly for a while, not knowing what this action meant.

Finally, the Captain explained grumpily.

“Get on.”

“G-get on? On your back… me?”

“What else would you get on besides my back? Were you planning to catch a monster and ride it?”

I was left speechless at his rebuke.

Still, I hesitated because it was a bit embarrassing to be carried on someone else’s back, so the Captain added:

“I can’t let you keep walking when you’re injured. Even if it’s been treated with a potion, if you move too much, the wound might open up again.”

“But it’ll be hard for you. We have to walk a long way to get out of the rift. And I’m quite heavy, you know?”

“During training, I’ve circled the imperial training grounds a hundred times with something heavier than you on my back. Stop worrying unnecessarily and just get on. At this rate, it’ll take all day.”

It seemed a bit rude to keep refusing when he was offering his back, so after hesitating, I finally got on.

His broad and firm back pressed closely against my body.

I could clearly feel his thick back muscles through the thin fabric.

Trying not to focus on that, I wrapped my arms around his neck.

His shoulders were also wide, leaving plenty of space on both sides even with my arms around them.

I didn’t want to attach too much meaning to such simple contact, but… honestly, I couldn’t help but feel my heart race a little.

I had never been carried like this before, not even by my father, let alone any other man.

My father, the previous Marquis Schneestern, was a very scary and strict person.

From the moment he knew I was born with strong abilities, he had already decided to raise me as a knight and educated me accordingly.

For example, even if his daughter fell and scraped her knees while running, he wouldn’t offer a hand but would instead yell at me to get up quickly.

Recalling my childhood days of grueling training, I whispered near the Captain’s ear.

“You know what? When I first met you, Captain, I thought you’d be like my father.”

“You mean the previous Marquis Schneestern? What was he like?”

“He was a very strict and scary person.”

The Captain listened quietly as I continued.

“Your eyes looked somewhat similar to my father’s, so I thought you’d be a very strict and scary person like him. But you weren’t.”

The Captain might have seemed similar to my father at first glance, but when you delve deeper, he was a completely different type of person.

When I get hurt, my father would yell and wait for me to get up on my own, but the Captain, even while scolding, would still support me.

That was the crucial difference.

“You’re a kinder person, Captain. Although you might not be aware of it yourself.”

“Nonsense… Do you really think I’m a kind person? How much do you even know about me?”

“I know you much better than you think, Captain.”

At this point in time, the Captain and I have only known each other for a year.

However, before the regression, I had been with him for six years.

I knew him well.

“If you know me so well… then I’d like to know a bit more about you too.”

“About me?”

“Yes. You might not realize it yourself, but you’re a difficult person to understand.”

“…Which part? How can there be anyone as simple as me?”

To my bewildered response, the Captain answered without hesitation.

“You were growling at me until a week ago, and then suddenly your attitude changed… I can’t figure out what you’re thinking.”

“…”

“And I wish someone would tell me how much I can trust you.”

The sudden change in my attitude towards the Captain a few days ago was because I had regressed to that point in time.

I had already confirmed in the future that he was a good person, so I came back in time with that knowledge.

“You can trust me now. From now on, I’ll fight only for our empire, our members, and you, Captain.”

The empire, the members, and the Captain… I deliberately left Ernant’s name out of the list of things I cherish.

I didn’t want to utter even jokingly that I would fight for him.

I didn’t care if it made me seem petty.

I’d rather be petty than say I would fight for a man who plotted my death and laughed at the sight of it.

While I was thinking this, we had arrived at the entrance of the rift.

“We’re here.”

“Please let me down now. I don’t want to appear like a child being carried in front of the other members.”

“Worrying about unnecessary things when you’re injured…”

“If you don’t let me down here, I’m going to tickle your ear?”

After that, I playfully blew on the Captain’s ear, and he startled and let me down.

I didn’t mean anything significant by it.

But it seemed this action of mine slightly flustered the Captain.

He turned to look at me with a reddened face, covering his ears.

“W-what are you doing!”

“Ah, did I surprise you? It’s a prank I often play with the other guys, so I did it without thinking… I’m sorry. I was out of line.”

“You joke around like this with the other members?! Are you in your right mind?!”