Kousuke and Shurein, having finished their discussion with Ines and others, returned to the provided hermitage.
Upon entering, Kousuke turned to Shurein and said, “So, could I borrow your staff for a bit?”
“While I don’t know what ‘so’ refers to, I don’t mind lending you the staff. …However, shouldn’t we discuss a few things first?”
As Shurein stared at him with a blank expression, Kousuke inwardly shivered, thinking, “Scary,” and averted his gaze.
“Uhh… What are you talking about?”
Kousuke tried to brush it off with such words, but as expected, such tricks (?) wouldn’t work on Shurein.
“…Kousuke?”
Seeing Shurein look at him with just those words, Kousuke raised both hands in surrender.
“Okay, okay, I get it. Sorry, sorry. But I said it because I thought it was necessary, you know?”
“…What do you mean?”
Shurein tilted her head, not understanding Kousuke’s explanation.
The two were discussing the “Princess of the Beginning” that had come up during their earlier conversation.
According to what was said then, Shurein was treated as the “Princess of the Beginning” herself.
For Shurein, this was a bolt from the blue.
Moreover, Kousuke didn’t deny it; rather, his words and actions could be said to have supported it.
It was natural for Shurein to want to question his intentions, let alone having never heard of it before.
As Shurein hovered with question marks above her head, Kousuke replied with a serious face.
“When you were in the previous era, I think Ines at least had that kind of attitude, right? Especially after you started carrying the staff.”
“What did you say!?”
“Ah, so you really hadn’t noticed.”
Kousuke thought, “As expected,” but Shurein could only feel surprised.
Above all, the most significant point was that Kousuke had noticed something Shurein herself hadn’t.
Kousuke shrugged at Shurein’s reaction.
“Well, as arrogant as I may sound, it was Floria who noticed it first. She said it was strange how you, who should have a higher position, seemed to think it was natural to be under Shurein.”
The Prost Clan was the oldest among the Vampires, and among them, Ines was one of the oldest members.
Floria argued that it was strange for her to show such submission (?) just because Shurein had helped the entire clan.
However, since it was only Ines and those close to her who told Shurein, not Kousuke, it was more likely just a figment of their imagination.
It had come up more as a casual topic for drinks, so Kousuke hadn’t paid much attention to it.
But this incident made him recall that Floria’s intuition had been spot on.
When Kousuke explained these things, Shurein’s expression became unreadable.
“…I think Floria retired far too early, no matter how you look at it…”
“I agree.”
Shurein looked as if she tipped her hat to Floria, who had noticed an anomaly she herself hadn’t, and Kousuke nodded in agreement, continuing, “If anything, I feel like she’s become sharper and stronger in such matters after retiring than before.”
“…That’s not funny.”
When it came to coordinating people or reading their intentions and guiding them, neither Kousuke nor Shurein knew anyone superior to Floria.
If anything, Silvia, as a Shrine Maiden, could do something similar, but that was strictly from the position of a Shrine Maiden, a spokesperson for the gods, making it entirely different in nature. Shurein believed she was no match for Floria in such fields. Of course, the same could be said for Kousuke.
Nodding with a serious expression, Kousuke replied with a smile, “So, since Floria’s intuition seems to have been correct, I thought it would be a waste to deliberately change the subject.”
“I understand the situation, but I wish you had told me earlier.”
Shurein said with a sigh, and Kousuke shrugged again.
“There’s nothing I could do about that. I only became certain when we were discussing it earlier.”
In hindsight, Ines’s attitude had seemed somewhat stiff, but it was the kind of stiffness that could easily be attributed to nervousness on their first meeting.
Therefore, Kousuke hadn’t noticed it either. It was only after Shurein’s words, followed by Aneta’s and Rumiya’s, that Kousuke finally remembered Floria’s comment. Kousuke’s reason for not denying it at the time was due to these circumstances.
“For now, I understand about the Princess, but… I wish I could be pardoned from this.”
Kousuke couldn’t help but chuckle at Shurein’s lingering murmur. It was rare to see Shurein so flustered.
“It’s alright. You’ll get used to it eventually.”
“…Is that based on your own experience?”
“Well, you could say that.”
Kousuke, too, had become an unimaginable existence as an Avatar. Nevertheless, he was able to be as he was now because of the people around him. Considering that, Kousuke thought Shurein shouldn’t worry too much.
After a mischievous smile, Kousuke prefaced his next statement with “That’s beside the point,” and began to discuss another matter.
“Could you lend me the staff?”
“Of course. Did you notice something?”
Kousuke’s request to see the staff wasn’t particularly strange for Shurein. From their earlier discussion, they understood that the staff played a crucial role. It was natural for Kousuke to want to investigate it.
As expected, after receiving the staff from Shurein, Kousuke immediately took out a tool from his Item Box and began to examine it. The tools in his Item Box were rudimentary and couldn’t provide a complete analysis, but they were far better than investigating nothing at all.
After fiddling with the staff for a while, Kousuke stopped and wore a thoughtful expression.
“Did you find something?”
“Ah, yeah. Well, the result is as expected, I suppose.”
“What do you mean?”
“This staff is still connected to its original time.”
Kousuke said this so readily that Shurein’s face lit up.
“You mean…!?”
“Yeah. Well, I think we can return to the original era by following this… but I don’t know how to do it yet.”
Even Kousuke, who could freely move to and from the divine realm, still couldn’t time travel. It might be possible to create such a tool in the future, but not at present.
Although Shurein looked disappointed at Kousuke’s explanation, she quickly regained her composure.
“That’s a shame, but it can’t be helped. For now, let’s consider knowing about the staff a win in itself.”
“Indeed.”
Kousuke nodded slightly at Shurein’s comfort (?).
Unbeknownst to them, Kousuke and Shurein were astonished. When Floria was active, she was viewed as merely an accessory to Kousuke (except by those close to her), and her abilities were largely unknown. Of course, Floria herself had also guided people to see her that way.
