Otherworld Adventure

During times of trouble the best thing to do was to keep the people's mood and morale high. Katya decided to hold a city-wide festival today to celebrate the new hope that was brought to them.

The citizens welcomed this eagerly. For the past few weeks, they had been pressured under a heavy and desolate atmosphere due to the fact that everyone knew that war was going to be coming to their lands and they had a minute chance of winning.

Now, though, hope was sprouting in the hearts of every citizen. They had been thrust into these savage and unsympathetic lands where lives were lost left and right during the early stages. Everything had just stabilized for these people but soon, a new problem cropped up due to some foreign power that was threatening to invade their lands and take it away from them.

The cause of the problem was already known to all and that was Katya's former boyfriend who had betrayed her and was covetously eyeing their lands. Due to that, Katya had lost her standing in the city and in her family, but after she made a comeback by securing Quinn's help and the Silvaria Kingdom's weapons, although the latter was because of her father, the city's inhabitants and her family's people began accepting her again.

Before, everyone in her family just viewed her as pawn to be sold over to the Silvaria family in exchange for their cooperation, but not anymore. After coming back, she was able to gather her forces and unite all of the important families, factions, and companies under her family's banner once again after they had lost faith in them due to her own blunder.

Katya was relaxing near the port and watching the people play at the beach nearby. Today, she let everyone take a breather from their duties just so they could relax and spend some time with their families.

All of her subordinates and people deserved it. Quinn had just finished looking at the defensive cannon formation around the bay area and saw Katya relaxing at a pier, all alone. He walked over to her and spoke up, "Why are you here alone?"

"Huh? Oh, Quinn... well, I just wanted to be alone, that's all."

Quinn nodded and turned around to walk away. Katya nearly flopped on her back when she saw him leave like that.

"H-hey! Can't you be a bit more tactful and ask if you'd like to keep me company?"

"...You said you wanted to be alone," Quinn curtly replied.

"Not anymore! P-Please keep me company! I-if you can that is..." Katya said while fidgeting with her fingers.

"Sorry, but I have to take another look at everything and patrol around the area. You sent everyone today on break so there still should be someone to keep a lookout."

"D-Don't bother with that! I already sent some others who had volunteered to go on patrol! You already made your round already, why can't you at least take a break?!"

"Is this an order?"

"Huh?"

"I'm here to help you. If you order me to do anything, I'll naturally comply, if I can," Quinn replied.

"Th-then this is an order! I want you to remain here and accompany me!" Katya boldly said.

"...Okay."

Quinn nodded and walked over. He leaned on a wooden pillar and shut his eyes.

"...Hey... I asked you to accompany me..."

"Aren't I doing that now?"

"You're just standing there silently like a statue!"

"...This still counts as a form of accompaniment. At least you're not alone anymore, right?"

"Tch... that's not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean?"

When Quinn asked her this, Katya was left speechless, trying to find the right words to say what she wanted.

"Uhh, I want you to talk to me!"

"Okay, then how are the preparations for tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, we already scheduled to—hey! This is not what I meant!"

"..."

Quinn frowned at her. She wanted him to talk to her and that's exactly what he was doing, but that didn't satisfy her. Honestly, he didn't have anything to talk with her other than business. He was only a helper after all and besides, small talk wasn't exactly Quinn's forte.

Seeing the little lady pouting, Quinn sighed and opened his mouth, "Why are you here by yourself and not enjoying the festival?"

"Hn?"

"You organized this so abruptly but instead of enjoying it and celebrating with the rest of your citizens, you instead isolate yourself here..."

"W-Well, I'm not sure if I should still go out in public yet..."

"Hm?"

"W-Well... since I was the cause of our state's problems... people began hating me and even my family members started isolating me... Well, you probably know that since you had to help me keep them under control when we first met up..."

"Yeah, it was a hassle," Quinn frankly said.

"Y-you really don't mix your words, do you?"

��?"

"Never mind," Katya replied after seeing his questioning look. "Anyway, I don't think everyone else has forgiven me just yet. I mean, sure, I did bring them some hope, but honestly, I'm just...cleaning up my own mess... just like Cecil said I should do..."

"...Things from the past can't be erased, all you can do is own up to it. It may have been your fault, but you should refrain from dwelling on it. The people can see that you're doing your best to make amends."

"Ehehe~ thanks, Quinn..."

Quinn only nodded in reply to her thanks and didn't say more.

Seeing his indifferent look, Katya began pouting. She could see that it was more like a chore for him to accompany her here. Even though Quinn had an unreadable expression on his face, Katya could somehow tell that his words from earlier were spoken only for the sake of saying it.

It was neither sincere nor insincere. She could tell that she only said it because he wanted to hurry up and get on with his work.

'Well since you wanna work, then why don't we put you to work then?' Katya inwardly thought.

"Thanks for accompanying me, Quinn!"

"Mhm... so, can I go now?"

"Sure! You have to go and inspect some things, right?"

"I'm glad you understand," Quinn curtly replied before walking away.

A few moments later, Quinn couldn't help but open his mouth.

"...What're you doing?"

"Hn? What's the matter?" Katya asked from beside Quinn.

"Aren't you on break, Miss Katya?"

"Ahaha~ don't worry about that! You accompanied me earlier so I thought I should repay that debt!"

"There's no need—"

"But I insist~"

"..."

Seeing as the girl wouldn't relent, Quinn decided to just let her be. It was obvious that she wouldn't stop following him even if he asked her too. He wanted to dash away in a hurry, but Katya seemed to have foreseen it and quickly clung onto his arm.

"H-hey!"

"Hmm?"

"..."

"Hmhmhm~" Katya's only response was to widely smile back at him.

Quinn let out a sigh and tried to pry her away from him but she only clung onto him even tighter.

"Let go..."

"No!"

"...Miss Katya, please act a bit more appropriately... weren't you supposed to be betrothed to my—"

"I wasn't betrothed to anyone, okay Quinn? Remember that the outcome of the duel only made Cecil interested in my abilities, not in me as a person."

"..."

"But I'm rather interested in you though~"

"Hm, you flatter me, but honestly, the two of us wouldn't work out," Quinn quickly said and shot her down.

Having been shot down even before she could properly ask him out, Katya immediately exclaimed in question, "H-Huh? W-why?!"

Right when she asked him that question in shock, Quinn was able to find a brief moment when she loosened her grip around him and quickly broke away from her.

"Q-Quinn?!"

He didn't dash away, but instead turned to face Katya. He looked back at her indifferently and said, "We may have spent some time together because of this cooperation, but please see this as nothing more than a business transaction. I helped you only because my Master told me too. Also, shouldn't you be pursuing my Master instead of me?"

"I've never had any feelings for Cecil!"

"Oh, I'm already assured of that. I'm pretty good at reading people after all."

"Th-then..."

"Do you even know me?"

"Huh?"

"You don't even know who I am and you say that you're interested in me. This may sound harsh, but all I've seen in you is but a little girl who was betrayed by her former lover and was shunned by everyone around. The next person who helps you...is someone I'm sure you'll grow reliant on. This time it was me but, it didn't have to be. It could have been anyone else."

"I-it's because it's you that—"

"Miss Katya, what you're searching for isn't love but recognition," Quinn quickly cut her off.

"..."

"Feelings such as that are sacred and you shouldn't just toss them out so wantonly. Isn't it precisely because of that kind of mindset that you got yourself into trouble?"

"But...y-you wouldn't do that to me...would you?"

Quinn let out tired sigh and said, "See, you don't even know who I am exactly and you're already assuming that... you should never assume to know what I'd do or won't do, alright? To be clear, if my Master gave me the order, I could easily betray you or anyone for that matter."

"!"

"There's also another thing that makes us incompatible. Do remember that I'm just a mere butler serving under my master. If you were to say, marry me, then you'd be starting a family with a person whose social status is much lower than yours. Also, do think about the future. My family would be serving under Master Cecil for generations to come. It's been ages since my family has ever found another Lord that we've deemed to be worthy of serving."

"W-wait! Wh-why would you want to serve under Cecil's family all your life?!"

Quinn shook his head and replied, "...See, you do not know me."

"Urk..."

"I know that you 'Earthlings' aren't from this world..."

"...W-wait, you didn't know that?" Katya asked in wonder. She thought Quinn already knew since he was always around Cecil. Cecil should have already told Quinn about it himself.

"My Master hasn't actually told me about it, but I've been able to infer it from my interactions with people in the city and in my Master's family. I'm sure that my Master has probably forgotten about telling me...it's just like him," Quinn replied with a light chuckle.

"O-oh..."

Quinn continued and said, "You're mindsets are naturally different than ours. My family, the Holstice family, is a family of murderers, or should I say, assassins."

"!"

Seeing the shock on her face, Quinn's eyes cooled a little. It was the same shock any normal person would have when they heard the fundamental background of his family.

"I told you before, you don't know me and that's why you're shocked. If my Master wanted me to eliminate your entire family, I wouldn't hesitate to do so."

"..."

"Feelings can't be cultivated only through this short period of time when we were together. After all of this, I'll be heading back and Master Cecil will undoubtedly be giving me more missions, and then, we won't see each other again. These feelings of 'affection' and reliance will fade away in time," Quinn left behind these words before he walked away.

Katya wanted to chase after him, but his words struck true in her heart. She started questioning whether she felt this way about Quinn due to her genuine feelings or only because of the situation she was in.

Quinn's logic was calculating and cold, but it did hold some merit. If she let her feelings get the better of her like before, then she might just throw her family into even bigger problems right after.

Katya soon became dejected. She was no longer in the mood to take a break and decided to continue working again.