"Hey Percy, how old are you?" Rya asked as she looked at Percy with a curious gaze.
"Huh? I'm eighteen, why are you asking, my lady?" Percy answered while blushing at Rya's question.
"Listen, you have plenty of time to find your next someone. My advice is to be yourself and go out on a limb. It might take some time, but you'll run into your next Bell. As long as you try." Rya smiled.
"Really, but I don't think..." Percy was interrupted by Quinus before he could continue.
"You'll find another, Percy. Don't worry about it. But I'm not going to lie, it's going to be weird not seeing you try to pursue Bell's hand in marriage," Quinus smirked.
"Hey, Prince Quinus? May I ask how old you are?" Rya asked with a raised brow.
"Hahaha, you are a curious one. I'm twenty years old," Quinus chuckled.
"Twenty?! I thought you were older, with how mature and strong your appearance is," Rya smiled in surprise.
"Thanks. I guess... You look pretty young as well. So I'm guessing you're around forty years old?" Quinus said, making eye contact with Rya.
"I-I'm... Twenty-seven," Rya answered back. 'Do I look like an old hag? Forty!? Really!?' she thought to herself in a panic.
"T-T-Twenty Seven!? She's not a fully aged elven adult!" Sir George exclaimed
'They think I'm a child!?' The thought irritated her so much that she had to respond.
"I'm a full-grown woman! Now shut up," Rya responded.
"I'm sorry, Lady Rya... I didn't realize how young you were... I must say, I'm really bad at guessing elves' ages. You look like a 16-year-old human, so I thought you were around 40 to 70 years old... My apologies," Quinus said sincerely.
'Oh!..... Geez, come on, Ryan. I keep forgetting that I'm not human anymore... Of course, Quinus would think I'm older than I look. Dah!' Rya thought while she shook her head. She couldn't believe she jumped to a conclusion without any context.
'But he thinks I look like a teenager? Ha ha. That's cute,' Rya laughed to herself.
"Thank you, Prince Quinus... That means a lot coming from such a handsome man. It was an honest mistake, and I accept your apology." Rya said, smiling.
"Of course, my lady. I apologize again. I should have known better after all these years." Quinus said as he patted Rya's head.
'D-Did he just pat my head?... It is a little strange to get a man's attention. B-But I feel like I'm being treated like a kid... But... Oh my god, this feels so nice. It's just a simple head pat, and I'm feeling like this. I-It's not his fault. I'm in a woman's body, and it would be weird if I tried to correct him. M-Maybe it won't hurt if I let him keep apologizing to me like this.' Rya thought with a smirk as another shiver ran down her spine from Quinus's gentle touch.
She was enjoying her head pats when Quinus asked her. "May I ask how a brave young Dark Elf such as yourself came to be stuck on the 10th floor of the 'Tomb of the Horde' with nothing but the clothes on her back?"
"I-It's a long story," Rya answered while averting her gaze away from Quinus's eyes.
"I'd love to hear it," Quinus asked in a sweet voice.
Rya looked at Quinus, then sighed. "Well, I was attacked by the paladins of the Divine Three. My... friend sacrificed himself by teleporting us to a forest that I had no familiarity with. That led to me being chased by a horde of goblins. At some point, an old obelisk fell over from the goblins chasing me and opened up a hole in the ground, which I fell into.... I luckily landed in an underground lake. And that's pretty much it."
Quinus' eyes widened. "You've had that many near-death experiences?" He said it in disbelief.
"Yeah, I did," Rya replied, not really feeling the weight of the danger she had faced. Due to Quinus' hand still running through her hair, she couldn't really focus on the severity of her situation when she was feeling so safe and secure sitting next to him.
"I see. How lucky for you," Quinus remarked in a sarcastic tone as he noticed Rya leaning her head into his palm.
Rya realized what she was doing and quickly snapped out of her trance. She felt ashamed of letting her guard down when she should have been on high alert.
"By the Goddess... The Divine Three have started their purging again," Percy said with a grim look.
"Tsk! The Divine Three!... They would come after us once they wipe out all the other races on Tertius! And we're a human kingdom!" Sir George added with disgust in his voice.
"Well, Lady Rya. Whatever hardships you had to endure to escape those paladins and goblins to make it to this point. Might be worth it for us to cross paths," Quinus said, trying to lift Rya's spirits.
Rya felt her heart flutter for a moment as her face turned pink.
"Wait? Why didn't you use your Earth Magic on all of those goblins who were chasing you, like when you used those earth spikes to save us?" Sir George asked.
"That's another long story," Rya said with a sigh.
"Tell us, Lady Rya." Sir George insisted.
"Fine," Rya said. "The Goddess of the Dark Elves thought it was entertaining when I was almost killed and raped. She's kind of an ass like that. So after I survived and escaped from the goblins, she gave me my new Dark Earthly Magic as a reward? Anyway, the time you were referring to when I saved your lives was the first time using my earth magic. I'm glad it worked without a problem."
The three men had a stunned look on their faces as the blood drained from their skin.
'She tested her spell on us, and we were lucky that she didn't accidentally kill us!?' Sir George thought before regaining his composure.
"Haah. Yeah, the Gods and Goddesses can be cruel to us mortals. I'm sorry to hear that, my lady." Sir George said.
Percy still had a look of shock on his face. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I am. So I was hoping to get out of here, but I don't know where I'm going," Rya said, looking at Percy.
"You've done well to survive, Lady Rya," Quinus said as he started patting Rya's head once more, sending shivers down her spine.
'H-He's touching me again,' Rya thought, feeling her face warm up again. 'W-Why do I feel so relaxed when he touches me? W-What's happening to me?'
"T-Thank you, Prince Quinus," Rya said with a smile as she snuggled against him. She could feel the warmth coming off his body as he continued his gentle pats. Rya couldn't help but think about how weird it was to be comforted by a man.