"Lana?"
Crown Prince Yuri murmured, noticing Lana trying to hide behind , his strides turning into our direction. The surrounding fell into a pin drop silence with his voice.
I had been aware of the situation, albeit slightly, from what Ester had inford . Lana's apparently in a quarrel with his big brother... or sothing.
She stuck out only her head from my shadow, her hands gripping on to my equipnt, and looked at Crown Prince Yuri. It was such a striking change from her usual bold attitude.
She reminded of those fragile animals, and the gap between these two personas was quite astonishing to . So much so that it evoked an urge to protect her. But, then again, that person was her big brother.
Oh well, it wouldn’t hurt to pull my weight soti. I slightly shifted, allowing Lana to better hide behind.
Anticipating the conversation between two sibling royalties, the entire place waited with a baited breath. But—
".............."
".............."
Only silence lingered between the two.
This was clearly a coincidence, so I guess neither were prepared for this. They both seed like they wanted to talk, but neither of them knew how to.
I glanced at Lamda, but like his party mbers, he was also perplexed by the current situation. Hmm, it appeared I would've to give them a push.
"Lamda, are they your party mbers?"
"! Ah, right. Let introduce today's party mbers. He's Prince Yuri, the guildmaster of «King Absolute», which I am part of."
I nudged Lamda to take a cue, and for him to introduce his team. Within a mont, he replied back, naturally perceiving my aning. He highlighted Prince Yuri, passing the baton of conversation to him.
Hearing him being ntioned, Prince Yuri displayed a faint smile and hoped for conversation.
"Nice to et you, I'm Yuri from «Combat Departnt Class 3-1», and the guildmaster of «King Absolute». I appreciate «Eden» for taking care of my little sister."
He seed to have picked the cue, too, that maybe it would be better to appear more amiable, and spoken in a soft tone, much like what he had used to converse with Lana.
Lamda's other party mbers were just behind him, but neither showed a flustered appearance at their guild master's soft approach. It was quite the right choice to lead the conversation.
Then, I exchanged a handshake with Crown Prince Yuri. For a brief second, I swear I saw the flash of «Mobius Strip» at the corner of my vision... or, was it just so illusion? Oh, and the crowd around seed to have stirred for so reason. Their whispers faintly reached my ear.
"W-wait a minute, are we perhaps... witnessing a historical mont?!"
"Brave and Crown Prince sharing a friendly handshake during their first chance encounter?! This is definitely a scoop!"
"Wow, I never expected the sight of two handso n exchanging handshake can be thisss pleasing! I think my eyes are clogging."
"Sa, I can't take a proper look due to tears."
"What the heck are you doing? You should be burning this scene in your mind to never forget this! My eyes can cry later!"
"Hey, can you pipe down for god sake? We can't hear their conversation due to your noise."
"W-would it be fine if we slightly close up to them?"
"Stop it, you idiot. Like, I get it that you are all excited at this fortunate encounter, but seriously, control yourself. It's a scene you shouldn't disturb!"
"No, don't stop !"
"As if! There's no way you're going ahead, so stop for !"
......
Hmm, maybe it wasn't the right mont to catch up.
"Err, so Crown Prince Yuri—"
"Ah, just Yuri is fine."
"Well, let's leave it at Yuri-senpai then. So, Yuri-senpai, which dungeon are you hitting today?"
The entrance to the Int-high dungeon was barely a suitable place to have any sort of conversation, so I was hoping to shift the place to a dungeon. Though, a troubled expression appeared on Yuri-senpai's face.
I shifted my gaze to Lamda, and he, too, was sharing a similar expression. Was it a secret or sothing? Hmm, I spinned that topic, so I guess I should break the ice by ntioning it first.
"Speaking of, our destination is «llow Apple Dungeon»."
"Huh?"
The na elicits a surprised gasp from Lamda. Wait, everyone of «King Absolute» had the sa surprised reaction. It was even more evident on Yuri-senpai's face. His gaze had been occasionally stealing glances at Lana.
"Is sothing wrong?"
"Well, as a matter of fact, it's also the dungeon we're heading for. Right, Your Highness?"
"Hmm, That's the plan..."
Yuri-senpai kind of slurred in his words, but that confird it. Heh, then I couldn't have asked for anything better.
"How about coming with us, then? We were about to take the 10th floor's teleportation circle."
"Ah, that's pretty much the sa as us."
Now, it was my turn to be surprised. Seriously? But why would they be targeting this dungeon, though?
The apple dungeon barely had any tasty drops, other than apples, and it definitely wasn't a substitute for advanced dungeon training... I could've understood if they'd said 40th floor, since they'd farming locations for MP potions ingredients.
Nevermind. If the destination was the sa, then no need to delve further.
"Then how about coming with us? Though I would have to apologise for the boss, we already defeated it in our earlier run."
"Together? Well, su—"
"Hmm, if you're visiting the sa dungeon, then I guess we will refrain here, Lamda."
"Huh?"
I extended my invitation, but before Lamda could confirm anything, Yuri-senpai tapped on his shoulder, shaking his head, his silver hair swaying in the wind. I think I just heard so shrill voices at that gesture.
Ah, so that's how it is, huh. «Apple Dungeon» often doesn't see many visitors, and if Yuri-senpai's objective was to improve their skills, then I could get around why they would want to avoid being in the company of other groups.
Lamda's expression faintly shared a confusion, his gaze locked on to Yuri-senpai. Then, maybe it clicked on him, so he stepped back. Now, this puts Yuri-senpai at the forefront.
"But thank you for the invite, Zephyr-kun. It's a bit unfortunate we can't be together this ti, though I would like to have a proper eting soti later, if you don't mind."
Well, yeah. The eting was quite unexpected, and so was the invitation. At that height, you would need so decorum, I guess? Either way, I rather liked the idea of a proper eting. I an, I had invited them to have a quiet place to chat, after all. I was pretty curious about the tales of the academy's strongest guild.
I gleefully accepted his words.
"Of course. Oh, here's my ID to contact . Feel free to send ssage anyti."
"I really appreciate it, since I think I will be having the chance to contact you soti soon. —Alright, everyone. Let's go."
"Understood!"
"See ya, Zephyr-kun. It's nice to talk with you. You, too, Lana."
"............Hmm."
"Haha..."
At the end, he addressed Lana once again, though she barely uttered any response
It didn't seem like she was trying to ignore him, and in fact, her eyes had also chased after his appearance. A disappointed chuckle left Yuri-senpai as he departed along with his team.
I saw them off with a wave of my hand, and re-entered the «Apple Dungeon», while pulling along a deflated Lana.
"Phew~."
A deep sigh exhaled from Lana. It was quite an unusual occurrence.
"Hey, you alright, Lana?"
"I think I will be if I drink apple juice from «Golden Applepull»."
Sure enough, she really lacked her usual cheery spirit. I wasn't sure if I should touch the situation with her big brother, so I turned to Ester, and quietly inquired about the situation from her.
"Have they still not reconciled?"
"No. It's been going on like this for two whole years."
"What the heck, that's so long!"
Wow, they're quite stubborn huh. Even the closest of the bond would end up feeling stale if the quarrel stretches this long. It’s no wonder the earlier scene felt so dry, and withery.
"However, as long as His Highness sincerely apologised, I believe Lana-sama wouldn't hold on to him either. It's just, their quarrel had stretched too long that neither knew how to interact with each other."
Sure enough, my guess was right. And if Ester was right, it didn't seem like Lana had so irrevocable hatred either. Alright, let's help Lana out if she ever cos for help.
Concluding the short discussion, we moved on to our task. Ultimately, we once again used «Ocarina» until it was almost used, more so to cheer up Lana, and hunted down two more »Golpul».
In the end, we walked out of the dungeon with a total of five «100% llow Apple Juice» in our stock.
"Five! We have five of the apple juice! I am definitely going to give it a taste test once we're back!"
Lana frolicked at the result, making her depressed mood an illusion. At this, I truly felt for her big brother. I had no doubt he would've cried if he saw the change in her personality.
But, I was also glad to see Lana back to her spirited self. It didn't an she's going to open all of them, however.
That day, we made our advancent till the 20th floor, and then called it a day. Incidentally, the field boss of 20th floor was «Twin Apple Woods». It was the sa as «Apple Wood», but this one had a twin. We took them down, and registered ourselves on the magic circle before returning back.
—But little did I know, the eting Yuri-senpai told about would be happening sooner than I would've expected.
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