Love Rivals

Early in the morning, Kelly woke from a dream. When she opened her eyes, she saw a pointed roof. It took her a moment to remember that it was the peak of her tent. She was in the Whispering Forest, and a month had passed since the trial. Ever since Donald had lured the bandits away, she had been sleeping poorly, often waking from nightmares. Though countless traps of all sizes had been laid around the camp since then, no more bandits had appeared.

Back on Lant Island, Kelly had known Donald was different. There was something unusual in those clear eyes of his. Since summer, those differences had slowly become more apparent, and now they had far surpassed anything Kelly could have imagined. She had no idea what the Natural History Association was, but it was hard to fathom that a seventeen-year-old boy from Lant Island had become an Honorary Director of some association on the mainland.

Even more unexpected was his bravery. To risk his life for his companions' safety, with death hanging in the balance—that was the very spirit of a Knight, wasn't it? A girl of her age, receiving Knightly education, could hardly resist such a quality.

Kelly had noticed that the girl named Lucia had been drawing closer to Donald lately, intentionally or otherwise. Knowing he was interested in magic, Lucia deliberately brought up magical topics. At times like that, Kelly couldn't get a word in. She felt it was about more than just gratitude for what he had done that day.

Yesterday, the three girls had finally been unable to stand the smell of sweat on their bodies, so they bathed in a stream near the woods. The four boys kept watch and protected them. Halfway through the bath, Wesley deliberately shouted, "Donald, don't stop me! I'm only taking a peek. Don't worry, I'll only look at Lucia, not Kelly!"

Even though they knew he was joking, the girls couldn't help retreating into the cold water, leaving only three wet heads above the surface, until Roger called out with a laugh, "Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on him."

As she bathed, Kelly had secretly compared the three girls' breasts and reached a conclusion that left her dejected. Fiona and Lucia were both bigger than her. But she quickly attributed it to being the youngest.

"I'll be bigger than both of them soon... But will Donald be able to wait? This is so frustrating... I'll have to eat more from now on. What should I eat to make my breasts grow?" The girl's expression shifted back and forth.

Hunting each afternoon was everyone's favorite activity. Joey was an experienced hunter, and no matter how well a rabbit burrow was hidden, it couldn't escape his eye. He had more tricks up his sleeve than the Knight School instructor who taught tracking in the wilderness. Kelly thought they really ought to invite him to teach at the academy.

Ever since Kelly had seen Lucia freeze a rabbit solid with Ice Spear, she had also begun gathering the courage to ask questions when Richard sought Roger's advice each night.

"Donald always stares at Nina when he's daydreaming. He must really like little kids!"

It wasn't fully light yet when Lucia heard some movement in Kelly's tent.

"She's having another nightmare."

Ever since that day, Lucia had often heard Kelly wake with a start while she was on watch. Fiona had told her that on the night they searched for Donald, she had been at the back of the group and seen Kelly crying all night.

"She must really like him."

Then Lucia remembered what had happened when they found Donald—or, no, when Donald found them.

"Asking if there was breakfast at a time like that... Anyone could tell he was trying to lighten the mood. It was so obvious."

Donald said that night he had hidden from the bandits in a hollow tree, and had even slept in it until morning before coming back to find them.

Lucia had been furious about it. Everyone had worked so hard looking for him and spent the whole night worrying, while he had been fast asleep in a hollow tree all by himself.

Donald had only been able to laugh and say that it hadn't been comfortable sleeping in the tree.

After that day, Donald had treated Lucia just as before, keeping a proper distance. It made her very uncomfortable, but she couldn't exactly complain. She couldn't say, "I cried that day because I was worried about you," could she?

So Lucia found herself constantly picking fights with Donald. When he wanted to read quietly, she insisted on talking to him. When he wanted to sleep, she insisted on dragging him up to take watch. When he joked, she refused to laugh; when he was serious, she insisted on laughing.

At last, one day, Lucia realized something was wrong. She had fallen for the guy! Everything she was doing was an attempt to make Donald pay more attention to her.

She couldn't stand Donald keeping his distance, but she couldn't bring herself to confess her feelings the way Kelly did. She had long been used to boys approaching her first. Now that she wanted to get closer to Donald, she was at a loss. Each little effort she made was effortlessly brushed aside, but she couldn't shamelessly pursue him the way Wesley did. So there was only one thing left to do—the very thing she was already doing: deliberately pick fights with Donald.

Once the clever girl realized what was wrong, she immediately changed her approach. She knew Donald was interested in magic, so she would casually bring up magical topics with him, from Meditation Methods to Magic Models, from mental control to elemental perception. As their conversations grew more in-depth, Lucia discovered that Donald's knowledge of magic went beyond anything she had imagined. She had to think carefully before answering his questions. Eventually, she even gained quite a few insights from him on mental control and elemental perception. Considering that Donald had only been exposed to magic for less than four months, Lucia was amazed by his comprehension. But when she remembered that he had only learned the theory and hadn't actually started studying magic, she felt a little reassured. Of course, if she had known Donald had advanced to Magic Apprentice three months earlier, she would have been embarrassed by her reputation as a magical prodigy.

Her efforts had paid off. Lucia and Donald now greeted each other warmly and even shared harmless jokes.

"First step: become friends. Done!"

Lucia noticed Kelly paying attention to her lately, one way or another. Was she afraid Donald would be stolen away? But Donald didn't belong to her.

"Who told you to take so long and still not succeed?" Lucia quickly found a reason to feel perfectly justified.

"Donald's been staring at Nina a lot lately. Could he really like someone so young? Hmph!"

No one noticed the little thoughts of the two love rivals. After Donald returned to camp, he found Nina had been completely unharmed. She was still happily following at her grandfather's heels, and he realized that his earlier experience had only been a dream. Perhaps, as Dwarf Aidaruy had said, there really was something strange in the forest, but it was beyond what he could deal with right now. Donald could only suppress his curiosity.

After the unexpected incident, the seven-person team's trial had returned to a vacation-like state. The bandits never appeared again, though that had nothing to do with the traps they had carefully laid. Before leaving, Adarua had cleared out every bandit in the vicinity.

By the end of February, the weather had warmed slightly, and the month-and-a-half-long trial had finally come to an end.