Summer Break

Chapter 20

The eleven young adventurers were sitting around the fire warming themselves up again after completing another level of the dungeon, leaving them on the fifth level. Many of them were holding their hands closer to the fire to thaw them out and regain normal movement in their fingers. Due to the extreme cold and needing to keep their weapons at the ready, the muscles in their fingers became tighter and wouldn't move as easily as normal. Lilia and Karen were experiencing this at its worst, as Lilia was still holding her staff, unable to release it. Karen on the other hand, with the help of Orson, was able to separate her bladed staff and slide it out of her hands. Kathyln and Arthur were the only ones not noticeably affected by the cold, due to both being able to use ice magic, and casting a small spell to reinforce their bodies to the cold. Those who could use fire magic were handling the cold fairly well, and were able to endure the cold well enough. The same could also be said for Feyrith, who purchased an amulet that when supplied with a small amount of pure mana, it creates a warm barrier all over the user's body. It was intended to give the user resistance to fire magic, but Feyrith was able to find another effective use for it. Orson sat with a stoic expression, as he sat like a statue unmoving while refining his mana core while watching Curtis, as Lunaris and Kathyln chatted beside him.

Lilia's teeth chattered as she was finally able to release her staff, and placed it beside her. She looked across the fire to see Tess sitting right up against Arthur with one of his arms wrapped around her, and a very warm looking blanket over both of their shoulders. Tess didn't look like she was cold at all, which meant she probably had Arthur warming her with some fire mana. Lilia slowly moved her head to the left, her whole body shivering as she moved, and saw Curtis sitting beside her glaring over at Lunaris and Kathyln, who were talking to a point that Kathyln appeared to be smiling as Ailuros purred in her lap while she pet him.

Ever since Lunaris and his friends arrived, Curtis had hardly paid Lilia any attention, as he was trying to keep Lunaris away from Kathyln. This however has been an act of futility, as they made sure to keep formation while moving, so he was forced to keep back.

Lilia was now finding herself missing the attention Curtis was giving her before. In the beginning it made her feel nervous and a little embarrassed as she still saw him as a prince, but now she missed the feelings of butterflies in her stomach, and especially the warmth for being embarrassed. Her biggest concern now with her feelings was if she should accept them or not. Curtis was very handsome, and sought after by many of the girls at Xyrus academy, so he almost always had a girlfriend, usually from one of the noble families. Lilia knew that status wise she couldn't compete with those girls, since the Helstea house were not nobles. There were other bigger issues to her that made her nervous, the biggest being that she wasn't sure if Curtis actually cared for her, or if she was just misunderstanding his actions. The other was dealing with the retribution from the other girls back at school who would see her as unworthy and would be jealous.

As Lilia shivered while internally going over her dilemma, she felt something big move and press up behind her. Lilia was surprised and jumped a little as she looked behind her to see Grawder laying as close as he could behind her. Grawder and Lilia's eyes locked for a moment, almost as if they were communicating through their eyes. Thinking she knew what Grawder was trying to tell her, Lilia slowly leaned back against Grawders side, which was warm from laying by the fire.

"T-t-thank yooou," Lilia said to the large world lion as she felt her back warming up.

Even now Curtis was blind to the fact that his bond was showing more concern for his crush than he was. Noticing, and being a little annoyed by it, Grawder hit Curtis with one of his tails. The tail hit Curtis's face, and he swatted it away as he told Grawder to stop without looking. Not willing to accept Curtis just brushing him off like that, and wanting to take another, what will be a free shot, Grawder hits Curtis again, this time with both tails.