The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet

Chapter 379: On hold for now

(TL:By Rafael,valhallatls.blogspot.com)

With a light, brisk pace, the wolf walked ahead.

When it got a certain distance away, it stopped abruptly and looked back at us.

As we approached, it started moving again.

Before long, it stopped again, turning its gaze toward us.

"Woof!"

It let out a single bark, as if saying, "Hurry up!"

It didn’t speak words, but it seemed very intelligent.

It appeared to want to lead us somewhere, as it had been acting like this for a while now.

Although I couldn’t be certain of the destination, it was likely the northeastern plains, which was our original goal.

I could tell from the direction we were heading.

Our destination was the same. 

And since we had no other leads, we decided to follow the wolf.

If it was a trap, so be it.

No matter what difficulties came, we’d overcome them together.

But... I didn’t feel like it was a trap.

I wasn’t sure if this wolf was really one of the strongest of its kind, but I felt no malice from it, only kindness.

It should be fine.

Both my personal intuition and my instincts as a Beast Tamer were telling me so.

"...Hey, Rain."

"Hmm?"

While following the wolf, Kanade came running up beside me.

She glanced at me briefly, then quickly looked away.

She seemed fidgety and uneasy for some reason.

What’s wrong?

"Kanade, is something bothering you?"

"Well... um, I know it’s not the best time to bring this up with Iris going through such a hard time, but... still, I really want to check on something. I just can’t calm down unless I do..."

"Uh...?"

Kanade’s words were unclear.

It seemed like she had something incredibly hard to say...

"You want to talk about something, right?"

"...Yeah."

"Then go ahead, I’m listening."

"...Really?"

"Of course. You know, I’m not the best at picking up on things, so if there’s something, it helps if you just tell me straight. Even at a time like this... no, especially at a time like this, it’s better to talk about it so it doesn’t become an issue later."

"I see... okay, then I’ll say it."

Kanade looked nervous.

Her cheeks were flushed a soft pink.

Her eyes seemed to hold a faint warmth as well.

"Before we set off, you explained the situation to me, but... Rain, you know about the dream I had, right?"

"Ah, that... oh."

The dream Kanade and the others had was about marrying me.

In other words, that reflected their feelings...

I had only just realized it after Iris pointed it out to me.

I had been meaning to talk about it after everything was resolved.

But with what happened to Iris, it had completely slipped my mind.

"M-meow... from your reaction, you do know, huh?"

"Uh, well, yeah... I guess."

After some hesitation, I nodded.

There was no point in avoiding it, and I didn’t want to run away from this now.

Even at a time like this... no, especially at a time like this, I had to face her feelings.

Who knows when we’d get another chance to talk?

"U-um... you probably already know from my dream, but..."

Sorry.

I didn’t realize until Iris pointed it out.

"I... I... l-love you, Rain... I... I..."

Kanade’s face turned red, even up to her ears.

"...I love you."

In a voice so small it could vanish, she murmured the words.

It was so quiet I could have easily missed it, but this time, I knew I couldn’t let that happen.

I heard her clearly.

And I engraved Kanade’s words deeply into my heart.

"Ah..."

Kanade was clearly embarrassed, averting her eyes from me.

It seemed she couldn’t bring herself to look me in the eye right now.

She fidgeted, her cat ears twitching and her tail swaying restlessly.

"Um, as for me..."

Should I accept Kanade's feelings?

Or should I turn her down?

Either way, I have to put it into words. I need to say something.

But despite knowing that, I can’t seem to find the words. Pathetically, my mind has gone completely blank.

It’s an excuse, but I’ve only ever seen Kanade and the others as companions, not in that kind of way…  

So I can’t get my thoughts straight. I have no idea what kind of response I should give.

Kanade must have gathered a lot of courage to confess her feelings...  

And yet, here I am, completely at a loss. I can fully understand why Iris was so frustrated with me.

"Oh, it's okay!"

"Huh?"

"I don’t expect an answer from you right now. I’m not asking for that."

Kanade didn’t seem like she was forcing herself to say that.  

It didn’t feel like she was just trying to be considerate of me, either.  

It felt like it came from her heart.

"I mean, that was kind of an accidental confession... I hadn’t planned on confessing so suddenly. Since you’re so dense, Rain, I wanted to take my time, slowly, and eventually get to it."

"Um… sorry."

"Ah! I wasn’t blaming you! Really, don’t worry about it."

Kanade’s face flushed, but she looked me straight in the eyes. Then she smiled gently.

"Right now, given the situation, I’m not really expecting a reply. And it’s not just me. I think Tania, Sora, and Luna feel the same way. What we should be focused on right now is Iris. So, it’s okay."

"That’s..."

"Also, even after we save Iris, you don’t have to rush to give an answer. This is probably something you never saw coming, right? We’d rather have you take your time and really think about it, instead of giving us a rushed answer. We’d be happier with that."

"And... are you okay with that, Kanade?"

"Yeah."

Kanade answered without hesitation.

"For now, just knowing that you’re aware of my feelings is enough. I won’t ask for anything more."

Kanade softly kicked a small stone by the roadside. The stone rolled away, tumbling down the path.

"But… if you keep us waiting too long, we might start sulking, you know?"

"...Yeah, I get it."

Kanade, Tania, Sora, Luna… I need to seriously think about how I want our relationships to be going forward, and what I should do about it.

TL Note- I know it's fiction but girls like these can't exist..........

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