Aravel

Chapter 63

The group gathered after their 2 hours was up at the front where they first came from.

When Kaze showed up last with Lunaria and her friends, it was expected they would be the last. Shoko and Rena gave Kaze a hell of a teasing on their way back, which was worsened by the fact Lunaria didn't seem to mind it and stuck close to Kaze.

Thankfully, the rest didn't seem to mind the change in attitude as much as the trio did. They only smiled seeing Kaze walking close to Lunaria again, knowing they have made up from whatever argument they had before. It was comforting to see their friends without conflict again.

"Alright, everyone. Hope you had fun exploring the market street," Luniel called out to them. "Now, it's time for lunch!"

"We will be walking to the place itself, w-which is about half an hour away from here," Lunaea stated. "The reason is so e-everyone is able to experience what it's like walking around Aravel."

Walking together in a long string, Kaze and the rest took a different road to where they were headed right now. Just as Lunaea had said, the walk was what they needed to take in the overall feel of Aravel. Just exploring the market area wasn't enough to get a good feel of the culture that Aravel had since walking through the streets and pass houses gave a wider view of the personality the nation had.

More importantly, it had an orthodox feeling that made the group feel as if they were at a countryside rather than a populated town. This was due to how the houses were made. In Tristania, each were constructed next to each other in a terrace house feature to maximize the space used to construct houses for people as well as making the city management easier. It was neater that way too.

As for Aravel, it had already been known that there was no such displacement of houses. City planning wasn't its main concerns, seeing that there were areas where houses were concentrated next to each other while also having areas where houses were scattered differently. Space wasn't a problem for Aravel, which likely gave those who constructed the houses before their own discretion to make it as they see fit as long as it was approved by the Council. This went back to what the royal family were doing to govern the state of their nation, but Lunaea and Luniel did not dive too much into that topic when explaining to the group since it was something they weren't familiar with.

While the group walked together, Kaze and Lunaria chose to walk at the very end of the pack unintentionally. It made it look like they wanted to have their own private talk without being bothered when it was really just something they had in common. Kaze felt the need to walk beside Lunaria, with Lunaria intentionally following after him. This made them lag behind in pacing compared to the others, who were enthusiastically sight-seeing.

Kaze found himself constantly looking back at Lunaria, whose ears now wore the earrings he had gifted her. A constant smile appeared on her face, seeing that she was satisfied with the outcome of their previous interaction. Needless to say, Kaze was happy that she was happy. It was a very soothing feeling to get to be by her side, something Kaze never thought he would enjoy.

".... Oh?"

Lunaria widened her eyes and looked down, feeling her hand being taken by Kaze. Turning to look at his face, she blushed lightly when Kaze smiled back at her in response, causing her to squeeze his hand.

"Sorry, do you not want me to do this?"

"... No, keep holding onto me. As embarrassing as this feels, I don't want you to let go."

"Hehe... then my intuition was correct."

"What do you mean? Did you expect me to want to hold your hand?"