Shield Hero x Some Random Dude

Some Explaining to Do

Now on her knees and looking defeated with her head still hanging low, she takes a deep breath in as if to prepare herself then tells him, "You need to understand something. I didn't know who you were when we first met and since I was stuck with you, you could have easily taken advantage of me if you knew my weapon couldn't harm you. So, I needed to keep up the act and keep you at an arms length at all times. When I learnt that this wasn't my world, I had to double down."

To be completely honest, he was surprised to hear this, but this reminds him of something which causes him to think, "come to think of it, when we first met, she looked like she was gonna tackle me with joy until she actually saw who I was.... And is that why she's been a bit of an ass to me since then?"

Deciding it was best to come back to that last thought later, he could only look at her with sympathy now, and while rubbing the back of his neck, he says, "to be completely honest, I can understand that, and if the roles were reversed, I'd probably do the same thing."

With that, they both fall silent since Burchard wasn't sure what else to say but before he could figure it out, she tells him, "But that's not the case anymore."

A bit caught off to hear this, all he could do was look at her with confusion while she slowly looks up at him and with a soft smile, she continues, "when we were about to be killed, you could have simply run away and left me to my fate, but instead, you didn't think twice about protecting me, and was even willing to sacrifice yourself to let me escape. You showed me the characteristics of someone I can trust."

Again, he was caught off guard by this, though this time it had more to do with the beautiful smile she was looking at him with. Becoming a bit red and wanting to hide his embarrassment, he looks away while responding, "oh.... Well I'm glad you trust me."

While still looking away, he couldn't see her expression, but he has a suspicion that she was smiling cheekily at him, especially when he hears her say, "hehe, I forgot that you couldn't handle me smiling at you."

Annoyed by her technically correct statement, he still didn't want to admit to it, so he looks back at her with annoyance while snapping, "well it's been a very emotional day so of course you smiling at me would make me feel embarrassed!"

Unconvinced by his excuse, she continues to smile at him mischievously while say, "sure, if that's what you wanna go with, that's fine by me."

She wanted to tease him some more, but a more pressing matter comes to mind with her looking around the mostly empty open fields around them while asking, "so what do we do now anyways?"

Thankful for the change in topic, Burchard quickly realizes that they can't just stand there all day, so he put a hand to his chin and thinks out loud, "well its safe to say that we can't go back to town, that high and mighty idiot will probably see to that."

After thinking some more, he pulls up his menu and after studying his on-screen map for a moment, he looks up and points down the road there on while saying, "if we follow this road, then we should reach a town, but it'll probably take a few days."

Hearing this causes Kizuna to sigh in disappointment while muttering, "really? That much walking?"

He could understand her dismay, but he could only respond, "that's the closest and most direct town. All the others would require massive detours since we can't go through castle town."

Though this made sense, it didn't do anything to help with the sorrow she felt but with a thought coming to mind, Burchard looks over at the blue filolial and starts to pet its head while saying, "if we take this filolial with us. We'd have to take turns riding her, but the trip should be easier."