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The snow in Buena Village was thick.
Four figures—two tall and two short—were faintly visible in the snowstorm. The sound of crunching snow mixed with Rudeus's questions.
"Laws, what kinds of monsters are causing this uprising? I need to know so I can use the right magic."
Laws led the way, with Rudeus following closely behind him. Allen and Sylphie walked side by side, trailing the two.
Laws glanced back at the pair and replied, "Mostly D-rank monsters with high reproduction rates—forest snakes, giant gnawing rats, saw-toothed rabbits, frost tide frogs, wolverines, red-eyed demon monkeys, frost weasels..."
As Laws listed them off like a menu, Rudeus's face grew paler.
"That many?"
"It's like this every year, but this year is especially bad... We should've done a better job clearing them out last year... We asked for help from other villages, but they said they're dealing with monster tides too..."
Laws's voice carried a tone of regret, his words scattered by the wind and snow.
Unlike the chattering duo ahead, Allen and Sylphie were unusually quiet.
Allen's attention clearly wasn't on the conversation. He absentmindedly cleared the snow around Sylphie, his gaze drifting to the falling snow as if lost in thought.
Sylphie walked beside him, still small in stature, her head only reaching Allen's chest. She had grown quite a bit over the past year, but Allen had grown even faster, making her seem "shorter" by comparison.
But time had undoubtedly left its mark on her.
She had shed much of her childlike appearance. Though her clothes still hung loosely on her frame, her waist and legs now carried the hints of a young girl's figure. She walked with her hands behind her back, taking large, steady steps on the cleared path Allen had made...
Her green hair danced in the snowstorm, and through the gaps, her reddish-brown eyes glanced sideways at Allen, who was mechanically clearing the snow.
Crunch crunch.
"Would fire magic be better..."
Laws and Rudeus's conversation mixed with the sound of footsteps in the snow. Sylphie looked away from Allen's profile and suddenly took a large step forward, positioning herself slightly ahead of him. She turned to look directly into his eyes.
"Allen, have you been worried about something lately?"
Allen blinked, looking at Sylphie's red, frost-kissed cheeks.
"Huh? No? Why do you ask?"
In the next moment, Sylphie hopped slightly, her hair fluttering as she reached out and gently poked his forehead.
With a soft tap, her feet landed, and she continued walking backward, her hands still behind her back, her gaze fixed on Allen's face.
Her soft, unhurried voice drifted into Allen's ears.
"If you're not worried about anything, then why have you been frowning so much over the past six months? And you've been talking a lot less..."
"...Really?"
Sylphie tilted her head, her calm eyes watching as Allen deliberately relaxed his brow.
"It's not just that you're talking less. Your eyes have been strange too, like... there's something far away right in front of you, and you keep trying to reach for it, but you can't quite grasp it..."
Allen stared at Sylphie through the swirling snow.
Between their gazes, snow and dust intertwined.
[Current stage: Childhood. Cumulative participation score: 90 points.]
[You're so close to a perfect score, but the final step is often the hardest.]
Allen looked at the system panel that had appeared before him. Even though Sylphie's face was on the other side of the panel, he couldn't bring himself to smile.
It had been a year.
Ninety points was still ninety points.
No progress.
Over the past year, he had used his usual methods to continuously boost his favorability with the Greyrat family, but there had been no increase in his score.
He had even tried to boost his favorability with Mrs. Somaire.
Well... let's just say her enthusiasm was a bit too much for him, and leave it at that.
Now, with only half a year left in the childhood arc, he was feeling anxious.
The promise of a positioning system was nice and all, but the frustration of being so close yet unable to reach the goal was driving him crazy.
'Hey, system, you keep saying the final step is the hardest, but every time I ask for details, you disappear. Can't you give me a real hint?'
The panel froze for a long time before finally rearranging its text.
[To be honest, letting yourself get caught up in the chaos might actually help you make progress. But if I tell you exactly what to do, you might never earn those last ten points.]
'Stop speaking in riddles. Just tell me straight.'
[...Allen, you're too rational, too focused on efficiency. You love logic, you're good at finding patterns, and you always want to think everything through before making the most optimal choice based on your instincts.]
[I understand that this mindset comes from the environment you grew up in, and your experience of relying on scholarships to get through university as an orphan only reinforced it. This mindset has given you some 'abilities,' and you've used them to gain things like the healing magic tattoo, quickly resolve the infidelity incident, earn the favor of Lilia and Zenith, and accumulate a lot of points.]
[But that doesn't mean you're on the right path.]
[Do you understand what I'm saying?]
The image of the "memorandum" page filled with densely packed "Future Sight" flashed through Allen's mind. He was stunned, wanting to argue with the system, but the words caught in his throat.
Making rational choices, selecting the "optimal" solution for every situation, playing the role of the emotionally stable "adult"...
Isn't that what every corporate drone does?
What's wrong with seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages?
As Allen muttered these thoughts to himself, the panel seemed unwilling to engage further. A gust of wind blew, and it dissipated into the snowstorm.
Sylphie, who had been walking backward to get a better look at Allen's expression, noticed his prolonged silence. She shifted her gaze from his face to the snow at her feet and spoke softly.
"Allen... could it be..."
Her gentle voice snapped Allen out of his daze. He blinked, looking confused.
'...I was so caught up arguing with the system that I forgot I was talking to Sylphie... Did she really notice something was off with me? "Something far away that I can't grasp"... That's pretty accurate...'
'Wait, could the young version of the gentle, understanding "White Mama" have some constructive advice?'
With this thought, Allen shook off his confusion and looked down at Sylphie, waiting for her to finish her sentence.
Sylphie lowered her eyes, staring at the snow by her feet.
"Could it be..."
Allen nodded silently, repeating in his mind, 'Could it be...'
"...that you're missing Teacher Roxy?"
'I'm missing Roxy...'
'Huh?'
Allen froze mid-thought.
The snowstorm continued to rage around him.
But at this moment, the world felt eerily quiet.
Then it hit him—what Sylphie was actually saying.
'Wait, what?? How does "something I can't grasp" translate to me missing Roxy? What kind of logic is that??'
He opened his mouth to argue with Sylphie, but when he looked up, he was stunned.
Laws and Rudeus had stopped walking at some point and were now both staring at Allen.
One tall, one short, their expressions were strikingly similar.
They looked... very serious.
Note: So far this story is published up to chapter 115 on my patreon, go check it out and remember that if we reach the goal of 80 power stones I will publish the next chapter.