Hearing this, Leona understood the words but didn't quite understand their meaning.
There seemed to be some sort of cryptic message behind them, and a hint of sadness that was surprising to see from Luca of all people.
He was always so full of optimism, cheerfulness, and mischief. Seeing him like this felt strange—almost wrong.
It made her chest ache in a way she didn't like.
So she shook her head and forced a smile.
"Okay, enough! Enough of this gloomy topic. Let's move on already—to the next task!"
Luca seemed to snap out of his daze. He smiled back, the usual spark returning to his eyes.
"Right! So what exactly is this next task? I might as well treat all these missions as a workout and strech my muscles."
Luca assumed the next task would take them deeper into the forest, maybe to some distant corner of the village where another impossible problem awaited.
Instead, Leona's finger jabbed the air directly in front of him.
"Right there, Luca. It's right in front of you."
