I’m Not Lost in This Forest

Ren was taken aback by her question. "Why do you suddenly offer me to learn that magic?"

Actually, he wanted to accept it immediately because he only knew Ice Clone magic. He did not say it right away because he needed to maintain his image.

He was a man and also a candidate to be the Ruler, so he should not act embarrassingly.

"I've mastered this magic, and you are my protector now, so I would feel safer if you knew more magic. Or have you mastered this magic before?" she did not tell the truth.

"I haven't mastered this magic." He did not tell her that he only knew Ice Clone magic. "Are you sure you want me to learn it?"

"Yes." She nodded her head.

"Then I will learn it now." after saying that, he took the spell book from her hands.

Right after he touched the spell book, a notification popped up.

[Ding! Host has discovered Ice Needle magic. Do you want to learn it?]

'Yes.'

He said in his head.

Memories related to the Ice Needle magic suddenly appeared in his mind, and he felt as if he had mastered Ice Needle magic for a long time.

'Now I have attack magic.'

He did not use the Ice Needle magic immediately; instead, he kept turning the pages of the spell book, pretending to read it.

In order to convince Evelyn that he was reading the spell book, he stopped at a page that explained the formations used to perform the Ice Needle magic.

'The formation is quite complicated. Luckily, I have a cheat system, so I don't need to study it.'

As he was pretending to read the spell book, Evelyn kept looking at him.

Unlike before, she did not say a single word this time.

She did not want to disturb him, so she only stared at him.

'Can he understand it at that reading speed?'

The speed at which he read a page amazed her.

It was as if he did not read the book but skimmed it.

After thirty minutes, Ren returned the spell book to her.

"Thank you for letting me learn this magic," he said as he smiled.

"Have you mastered this magic?" she inquired.

"Yes." After saying that, he raised his right hand forward. "Ice Needle."

A white magic circle appeared in front of his right hand and shortly after that, a single needle of freezing particles shot out from the magic circle, creating a hole in the wall and shaking the cave for three seconds.

Evelyn covered her mouth in shock as she saw an ice needle stuck in the wall.

She knew he would master Ice Needle magic quickly, but this was much faster than she thought.

In the past, she mastered Ice Needle magic in three months and everyone in her organization praised her continuously.

They even said she was a genius among geniuses or she was destined to stand at the top of the hierarchy.

If they knew that Ren only needed thirty minutes to master it, what would they say to him?

A genius among geniuses too?

No!

That title did not fit for him because what took her three months to master, he only needed thirty minutes, so his title should be more amazing than that.

"Monster." an unexpected word came out of her mouth.

She said this because the difference between three months and thirty minutes was like heaven and earth.

The corners of Ren's mouth twitched.

'Monster?'

Even though she spoke in a low voice, he could still hear it because he was close to her.

'Evelyn, I had considered your feelings and pretended to master it in thirty minutes. If you knew the truth, you would have fainted by now.'

He believed she would not be able to handle the truth because it should be impossible to master Tier 5 magic in seconds.

[Host, you should pretend to have mastered it in five minutes and surprise her even more. The system believes it will be an interesting sight.]

Ren was at a loss for words.

He did not expect his system to enjoy it too.

"Ehm!" he pretended to clear his throat. "Let's have lunch now."

Evelyn came to her senses and nodded her head. "Alright."

Then, the duo grilled the rabbit she killed in the morning.

As they consumed their food, they chatted again.

Even though they had only known each other for a few hours, they could already speak comfortably because he was an easy-going person.

At night, Ren and Evelyn set up a tent together.

Her condition was much better after drinking the Health Potion, so she could walk normally now.

"If you want to sleep in a different tent, I will order my two clones to set it up." Ren spoke abruptly.

Ren and Evelyn were currently in a tent, or more precisely, they were lying on a fording bed next to each other.

He suggested they sleep in the same tent for two reasons.

First, it was for her safety.

Even though they were in a cave, there was still a high possibility of magical beasts entering the cave.

It would be dangerous if a magical beast entered the cave when they were sleeping because she could not use mana for now.

And lastly, Zara's tent was big.

It was even big enough for three people to sleep side by side, so he suggested they sleep in the same tent because he did not want something bad to happen to her.

"It's fine." Even though she looked fine, she was very nervous because it was her first time sleeping in the same tent as a man.

She suppressed her nervousness and acted normally because everything was for the sake of protecting her.

"Then, let's sleep now. My clones will wake us up if a magical beast or a human enters this cave." He made two clones and ordered them to guard their tent because they were in a dangerous place.

"Un." She nodded her head.

Shortly after that, the duo fell asleep.

----

The following morning, Ren hunted an edible magical beast for breakfast.

Unlike yesterday, they did not eat in the cave.

The atmosphere and scenery in the morning were amazing, so they decided to have breakfast by the lakeside.

"Ren, what is your plan after leaving this forest?" she asked curiously.

"I will go to a city and try my luck there." His predecessor's hometown had been destroyed by magical beasts, so he had to find a new place to live.

"The nearest city from here is Nightshire City, but it will take us a week to reach there." She knew Nightshire City because she visited that city before going to the forest.

"Do you know the direction to that city?" he inquired.

"I know." She responded, "Wait. Did you walk aimlessly all this time?"

"Well, I've never left Verneau Town before, so…" he did not finish his words on purpose because he felt embarrassed.

"Hehe." Even though he did not finish his words, she knew he was lost in the forest.

'No wonder he was in that area yesterday. It was because he did not know the direction to the closest city.'

She found it funny because it was the first time she had seen someone lost in the forest.

Ren felt even more embarrassed when she giggled. "Ehm! Just for information. I'm not lost in this forest. I just want to explore this forest before traveling to Nightshire City."

His excuse made her even more certain that he was lost in the forest.

"Hehe." She giggled again.

Ren screamed in his head.

'Oh, no! My image has been ruined.'

He wanted to cry but had no tears.