Chapter 244


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Whenever she finds a moment between her duties, Puffy sneaks off to watch the young Holy Knight’s training.
Each time she sees him, she finds herself repeatedly confirming what the maids had said was true. Confirming…? Even so, she still cannot accurately grasp the nature of her own racing feelings.


She spends about two hours with him daily in the library. Even when she has no research to do, she makes excuses about having errands and frequently visits the library at calculated times.
This is the same Puffy who, until now, had only ever used her private time for magical research.
It doesn’t take long for the time spent with him to become irreplaceable to her.


Initially, most of Puffy’s questions are about general topics like objects, culture, and customs from his world, but after a week passes, her questions gradually shift toward the young Holy Knight himself.

What kind of life did he lead? What foods does he like? Conversely, what foods does he dislike?
Though these are trivial topics, Puffy cannot help but enjoy them.

Day by day, Puffy learns more about him.
That he has a sister. That he has overprotective parents.
That he respects his grandparents.
That he always tries to live in a way he can face the sun proudly.
That this young man is endlessly kind-hearted.
The more she learns about him, the more curious she becomes.



That day, watching him desperately hunched over his desk while rubbing his sleepy eyes, she feels concerned.

Even in situations where he could slack off a bit, he never does.
Despite receiving healing magic multiple times, he must be accumulating fatigue from training, yet he never voices any complaints.

Puffy is beginning to understand him.
She clearly understands his motivation for working so hard.

There’s no doubt that he puts his all into training and studying for his family’s sake, just as he always says.
However, she knows that isn’t the only reason.

In his heart, there is a strong determination to return to his original world together with the other summoned Hero.

She thinks he’s strong.
And she wishes─── to grow closer to him.



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Her magical research is well-respected even among experts.
There are currently two particularly eye-catching studies in progress.
One is research to uncover why magical development has been unnaturally delayed, and the other is the development of a teleportation device.


Puffy often begs the young man to tell her stories from his world.
Each time, after thinking for a moment, he proudly tells her various tales. Fables, adventure stories, romance stories, mysteries. All are stories Puffy loves, and all are ones she’s never heard before.

While every story is a treasure to Puffy, still, still, in her heart, quietly but most brilliantly, the story that continues to shine is the tale of a crane repaying its debt to the young man who saved it.

Puffy, who became so emotionally invested that she cried, decided that day that they would call each other 「Puffy」 and 「Ichiro.」
Also on that day, she made a certain resolution.




From that day forward, Puffy shows even more determination to develop the teleportation magical device, or rather magical apparatus, with her own hands.

And with her resolution and a certain wish in her heart, she names this magical apparatus 「Crane’s Guidance.」



If the 「Crane’s Guidance」 that can instantly jump to distant places is completed and improved───


「Someday, Ichiro, we might be able to travel to and from your world too.」


For now, it’s still just a wild fantasy that people might laugh at, but her determination is as hard as diamond.


「Even if you return to your world, I will───」


From that day on, every night as Puffy lies in bed, she falls asleep imagining herself and Ichiro going to his world together and spending enjoyable times there.




Time has passed since then, and all of her brilliant wishes and feelings have become a distant, distant past. And the dream she envisioned that day has now become ephemeral, floating faintly before bursting and disappearing.



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