-----
Veronica was stunned.
In her entire three lives, she had never had anyone confess their love to her.
What did Anna mean by this?
Veronica thought that it was impossible for people to even feel any attraction for her, she was an undead… so the love she felt, was most likely friendship, like a family or a sister…
Right?
Veronica pondered this for a lot using the countless minds in each clone she had.
It was a rather interesting spectacle, every clone she had in the entire devil forest had stopped in time, thinking for her.
Anna realized Veronica suddenly becoming a metallic statue, and realized what she just said, closing her mouth with her hands.
"Eh?! W-What do you mean you love Veronica?!" roared Shade. Of course, Anna could not see him, she was not a Spirit Mage neither had any talent with magic, so he was completely ignored.
"W-Wait a second… I mean… I love you like friends!" said Anna, desperately sweating heavily through her entire body. Trying to take back her words.
It was all too sudden, she was engulfed in many emotions at the same time… the feeling she just had, it was most likely just the excitement and emotion of the moment!
…Right?
Meanwhile, Veronica's whole body trembled…
'What do I do?! I am not good at this!'
'How can Ervas keep a cold head about having many future wives but not me?'
'No, I must accept her love. It is the right thing to do'
'You're… right!'
'But wouldn't it be awkward for a living armor and a squirrel woman to be together?'
'We won't be able to do much at night!'
'You pervert, why are you thinking about lewd stuff? You don't even have a fleshy body to feel any sexual attraction'
'Yeah, at most, it will be a romantic relationship…'
'We can also pleasure Anna if she wants, right?'
'We have a very flexible body… But it's cold and kind of hard'
'We have our Phantom Form for that'
'Right'
'Then let us accept her feelings'
'Yeah, I don't feel why not'
'Don't you think this is escalating too quickly?'
'Yeah, we just meet her two weeks ago, but we can't disappoint her!'
'That is true, she has been alone for too long, we have to comfort her and give her the love she needs'
'Anna is also a cute and beautiful woman. Although we do not have any sexual drive or can feel sexual attraction to her, we can clearly see that we like her appearance'
'Yeah, we like her already, so it is fine'
After acquiring the 'Legion' skill, Veronica became a legion of minds, which were all interconnected. Talking with herself was now even easier, she could even discuss with herself and ask for help herself.
"Veronica… are you… listening to me?" muttered Anna with a bitter smile.
Veronica suddenly exploded and became animate again.
"Okay, Anna! I accept your feelings! I love you too!"
Anna was now the one frozen.
"…Eh?"
'She actually accepted it?!' she thought.
'B-But wait a second, do I even feel that love to her, it wasn't just… the heat and excitement of the moment?' she wondered.
Anna calmed down and breathed deeply. She began to think about Veronica… of all her interactions, of all they did in these last two weeks… Of Veronica's soothing voice, of her bright personality, of her warm and embracing comfort, of her… beautiful and flawless phantasmal face…
She was cold as ice, but yet so warm.
Anna's heart began to race each time she thought about all they did together, her face became all red like a tomato again.
It seems that she really did had feelings for a living armor!
The two women stood there, as all the blacksmith girls glanced at the scene.
"Oh my… she finally confessed herself, didn't she?" said one.
"It was about time"
"In only two weeks, lady Veronica tamed such a woman like Anna, she is really admirable"
"But isn't it too soon?"
"Hmm… they're frozen like ice"
Then, Anna concluded something.
'Although it might be mutual… this is too soon; we should know each other better…!'
"Veronica… I-I… I think we should know each other better… although this had felt like… a long… time, it has only been two and a half weeks… s-so…"
"I agree! Let's deepen our bond as friends… let's get to know each other… much better!" said Veronica.
"Yes, that!" said Anna.
Both women sighed in relief… and Shade did as well.
"This was too sudden! I can't… lose to Anna… ugh" he thought.
There was a bit of awkwardness in the air… until Ervas entered the workshop while being carried by Nyarlathotep shapeshifted as Ismene.
"…What was all that commotion?" he asked, as he saw Anna standing up with her new prosthetic leg and Veronica sighing.
There was some weird air between the two.
"…Can someone explain to me what just happened?"
After a few minutes of explaining things to Ervas, he understood.
"I see, I see… That is quite the romantic story" he said.
"Bbbjbjbjbjbj" said Nyarlathotep, nodding.
"D-Don't make fun of me, Ervas!" roared Veronica, strangely flustered.
"I-It's fine… I guess… I am the one at fault for being too open" said Anna.
"No, it is fine… Anna, I think that you were very brave" said Veronica, patting Anna's wide shoulders.
"R-Really?" asked Anna.
"Yeah, women that are so open to their feelings are beautiful," said Veronica.
Anna once again became flustered as steam came out of her squirrel ears.
"Veronica, did you just flirted with her?" asked Ervas.
"…Eh? I was just praising her- Did it came out as a flirt?!" shouted Veronica.
"W-Well, yeah… But I am used to it…" said Anna.
"I see… all of this is a series of misunderstandings it seems. Veronica can't stop praising people, and Anna misunderstood her praise for flirting?" asked Ervas.
"Perhaps..." said Veronica.
"T-That must be it…" said Anna.
"Well, both of your feelings for each other still seem genuine. This means that through those misunderstandings, love still blossomed… how poetic, like a Japanese anime" said Ervas.
"Stop making fun of me!" said Veronica.
"Japa… nese ani… me?" asked Anna.
Ervas sighed.
"Most of the tribe already knew about Anna's feelings, so I was expecting this… but not so fast. It seems that the gift just triggered Anna's passion" said Ervas.
"They knew?" asked Veronica.
"They knew?!" shouted Anna.
Veronica was not clueless about Anna's feelings, but she always misunderstood them for friendship, which really was what it was at first, Anna's had been saving up her feelings for so long, that she ended up having an explosive confession.
"Anyways, I am not really a mediator in anything, but I feel like it is too soon as well, know each other a bit more… and let's go have dinner, I am starving," said Ervas.
"Bbbjbjbjbj" said Nyarlathotep.
Veronica and Anna sighed, as Anna suddenly grabbed Veronica's hand.
Veronica suddenly panicked! Handholding was something too advanced!
"A-Anna?!"
"Veronica, I am sorry for the misunderstanding… but I don't want this to destroy… our relationship… so, could you forgive me? I promise that I will be a good sister, and perhaps later on in life, something else… but for now…"
"Of course, there is no hurry, I am an undead, so I won't even die," said Veronica, nonchalantly.
Much like Ervas, she was willing to wait until things reached a certain point.
Anna, who had become incredibly expressive as a result of all of these misunderstandings, smiled.
"Thanks… And the gift is wonderful, I hope that tomorrow you can accompany me to hunt, I have become quite rusty…" she said.
"Sure thing, we can come with Aqua and the rest, you can see them in action as well!" said Veronica.
"Sure! Now I am starving… can I join you in dinner?" asked Anna, shily.
"You shouldn't even ask that, Anna, come with us!" said Veronica, grabbing Anna's hand and carrying her outside.
Ismene glanced at Anna's smile and how open she had become since Veronica appeared.
"She's finally opening up her heart… how interesting that a cold undead managed to do what we couldn't do as her sisters…" said Ismene.
"Mommy, is auntie Anna happy? She doesn't look gloomy anymore!" said Amelia at her mother's side.
"It seems so. Isn't she pretty when she smiles?" said Ismene, as she walked towards Ervas and Veronica's group with her daughter to have dinner with them.
"By the way, did you learn the Techniques yet?" asked Veronica to Ervas.
Ervas fell silent for a bit.
"Not yet… But I can feel it, maybe tomorrow" said Ervas, munching on a sandwich with grilled Demon Boar meat.
"Hmm… this meat is quite good… what is it?" asked Anna.
"Nyarlathotep," said Ervas, pointing at Nyarlathotep, who had shapeshifted back to its original fleshy form while eating a whole roasted boar.
"Obbjbjbjbjbjbj"
"Ugh…"
"W-Wait, Anna, don't puke in here!" shouted Veronica.
-----