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Erevan then flexed his new muscles in front of Fule.

“How’s this!”

“Uh, it’s kind of gross. Your head’s too small.”

And so everyone started playing with the leftover Ryukin.

Haines was one of them. He made Ashton touch the Ryukin and was trying to make him do something.

“Bu-but, Haines…I can’t do that.”

“You should always challenge yourself, brother. Besides, I want the young princess to rediscover the beauty of Kobolds.”

“We could just leave it to nature… Oh, fine. I will test it…”

Ashton nodded somberly in front of Ril.

Then he covered himself in the Ryukin and changed shape.

“That’s…”

A Kobold woman stood there. It was Ashton, only as a woman.

While looking very embarrassed, Ashton said to Ril,

“Ri-ril. Come over here?”

Ril looked at him with a confused expression.

“Ruff…”

Ashton’s shoulders drooped, and Haines exploded into a fit of laughter.

Ril’s reaction to things were becoming very honest… Oh, now Rienna was curious.

Rienna was standing in front of a barrel, and so I called to her.

“Why don’t you transform into something too, Rienna?”

“Huh? Oh, I’ve already done that once. But…there is something I was wondering. Can I try using it?”

“What? Of course, you can.”

I nodded, and Rienna used the Ryukin to transform.

Apparently, she was going to shrink.

What I saw…

“Rienna.”

It was Rienna’s original form.

When she was a short goblin.

She looked up at me as if in realization.

“Yes…things really do look different from here! You seem very big, Lord Heal.”

“Huh? That’s what you were wondering?”

“Yes. I used to think that you…were very handsome. Oh, uh, not that you don’t look handsome right now!”

I laughed a little sadly as she tried to correct herself.

It was like she was saying that I was better looking before… Well, perhaps it was because she was starting to see how unreliable I truly was?

The only thing that had changed was her view.

So of course she would see me in a different light now.

When we had first met, Rienna was being tormented by a curse that shortened her lifespan. So much had happened since then.

Both to the island and me.

“Lord Heal… What did you think about me before the evolution?”

“Huh? Uh, indeed…”

I was very drawn to her.

Rienna was always cheerful no matter how dark the situation.

And that was something that hadn’t changed at all.

I remembered feeling quite awkward when Rienna had first changed into a human.

Perhaps it was just a primal instinct, but I was very moved at the sight of Rienna in her new form.

But now that I saw Rienna in her original form, what I knew now, was that what made Rienna special was not her appearance.

As I stumbled for words, Rienna chuckled and said, ‘You can be honest. I don’t mind.’

Perhaps she thought I was going to say that she looked childish.

However, her smile hadn’t changed at all.

Nor had the fact that I liked that smile.

I thought back on that time where the golden powder from the World Tree had messed with my head, causing me to say strange things.

Some of the things that I had wanted to say but couldn’t.

“…I like you. Both now and a long time ago. From the moment we met.”

I said it.

My head started to feel very hot.

On the other hand, realization came over her face, and she looked like she would cry.

However, she just laughed and said, ‘me too.’

Her face was so bright that a certain thought entered my heart.

We should get married…

Definitely. Who knows when it will be. But I will give her a ring one day and there will be a ceremony.

…Of course, I couldn’t be certain that she would really accept me.

After making this decision, Rienna stayed in her old form for a while, and we both watched as the others played with the Ryukin.

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