Chapter 21: A Friend

Chapter 21: A Friend

Raisa looked rather lost and slowly lowered her hand after I left her hanging.

"What do you mean? Why are you second-guessing your desire for power? How could having it even be a bad thing?"

I didn't really want to make a speech about how too much power was bad.

There was a saying that power corrupts people or something along those lines, but I thought it was a bunch of bullcrap. Maybe I was completely wrong in thinking that, but that was my opinion.

I didn't believe that power could just change a person's character. At most, maybe it could reveal a bad part of it. For example, some see nobles as evil and privileged, while commoners are innocent and mistreated.

While I can't disagree with the privileged and mistreated part, I didn't believe that just being a commoner would make someone a good person. The Peasant Rebellion was one such example, where many people willingly continued to rebel despite killing their own in the process.

And none of that really matters because I'm not sure if Raisa would even be able to understand what I meant if I tried to explain.

As such, I had to do the art of bullshitting my way out once more. Raising a finger, I made it clear that I had something to say, even though my head was more or less empty.

"I gave up on chasing power because I realized my methods to do so were unhealthy. Of course, I want power, but at the same time, I'm not willing to give up everything around me for the sake of it. There are some things I care more about than power."

That was not true in the slightest. Well, I guess it was technically true because Bryson was a power-hungry maniac in the game's story, but still.

Raisa's eyes filled with curiosity.

"What are the things that you care more about than power?"

...Well, there were a lot of things because I didn't have any obsession with power. But that didn't mean I was going to neglect my strength since it was going to be very important going forth for self-explanatory reasons.

I tilted my head to the side.

"I'd say the relationship with my friends. Though, I guess the better way to put it, is that the reason I wish to gain power is in order to protect my friends."

Raisa let out a gasp and clapped softly.

"That is such a unique and noble reason!"

Really? Because like, it's the most generic reason ever. If you've read like, more than two story books then you've seen that same trope.

Hm. Is this how scam artists feel?

Raisa went back to leaning against the wall and looked up into the sky.

"The reason I wanted power was to regain honor for my family. But now that you've said that, I realized the whole reason I wished to have power in the first place was because of my family."

She chuckled as a bitter smile formed on her face.

"If it wasn't for you telling me that, then I probably would've neglected the relationship with my family and forget why I was even chasing power in the first place."

While lingering in melancholy for a few moments, she suddenly jumped up.

"Ah, right! We have to go back inside the manor!"

Without another word, she grabbed me by the wrist before dragging me along back to the entrance of her manor. Very quickly leading me over to a large room with what looked like a fifty-meter-long table. And on top of the said table were countless different dishes, filling it up to the brim.

I found myself unable to recognize what food was even on most of the dishes, but whatever it was, it was expensive.

I looked over at Raisa.

"Wow, how many people did you invite?"

This, in turn, made her flinch.

"E-Eh? What do you mean, I only invited you."

I looked at her, then looked back at the food on the table.

"...So are you having a party with everyone inside the manor?"

Raisa looked at me strangely.

"Eh? N-No, I wanted it to only be the two of us."

I blinked a few times.

"Hey, I don't think I can finish all that. Does that mean you'll be eating that much?"

Raisa doubled over with a tense expression.

"No! No! I'm not that much of a pig!"

I scratched the side of my head.

"Then why is there so much here?"

Raisa clasped her hands together and averted her gaze slightly. She spoke sheepishly, almost like she was afraid of being heard by me.

"S-So you could get whatever you want."

Ah. I guess now that I think about it, that much was obvious.

"What will happen to the stuff I don't eat?"

Raisa tilted her head to the side.

"It will be distributed to the servants, and if there is still more than that we will hand it to the serfs of our land."

I felt a fairly large burden leave me.

"Oh, that's good then."

Frankly, I was probably too used to not having enough food that having too much was like a foreign concept. Raisa hurriedly got a plate and a fork for me then proceeded to just creepily watch me. n-(o/)V()e.-l.-B).I-.n

Now I was in a situation where not only was I not used to picking and choosing my food, but someone was also constantly watching me like some monster in a horror movie.

In the end, I couldn't take the stiffening atmosphere and coughed.

"Um, are you going to get anything?"

Raisa had a wide smile on her face.

"Oh, I'll just get it after you!"

...I know she was trying to be polite or hospitable, but it was really difficult to feel comfortable with how she was staring at me. I might've just bolted out of the damn place if it wasn't for the fact she blinked every now and then.

Although this game wasn't a horror, I wasn't taking any chances!

After steeling my resolve, I decided to just take random things here and there from the table and then began to try them. Raisa's stare only became more oppressive afterward, which made it really hard for me to focus on the food.

By the way, it was actually really good. It seemed like each of them had some sort of special recipe behind them, whether it was the meats or the sweets provided.

She seemed a little panicked though.

"Ah, is the food not to your liking?"

I smiled bitterly.

"It's fine. No, in reality, it's actually really good. Aren't you going to get some now?"

Raisa let out a sigh of relief and tilted her head to the side.

"Ahaha, that's great! I was going to eat, but for some reason, I don't feel all that hungry anymore."

The side of my face twitched. It was then I was forced to eat the rest of the food on my plate in awkward silence while Raisa was looking at me almost like I had killed her dog or something.

Once I set down the plate and fork, Raisa smiled happily.

"Are you full now?"

I gave a nod. In response to that, she immediately dragged me outside once more, but this time it was apparently a personal hunting ground that they owned. Several guards came along for our safety, but they kept a moderate amount of distance at Raisa's request.

From there, Raisa began leading me around the hunting grounds, going past trees and other such things. She had given me a rather large metal sword, which made me a little worried that I would cut things I wasn't supposed to, such as myself.

Eventually, we went off and chased a deer, which I was able to kill with a bit of effort. When I asked if she wanted to also try and kill something, she dismissed it entirely and then brought me over to a different part of the manor and had us listen to a band of musicians play their music.

You might've expected it, but Raisa spent the entire time staring at me instead of listening to the music.

I guess the song wasn't even that good anyway, as it was extremely outdated and had no bass since... there was no instrument that could do that.

By the end of the song, she grabbed onto my arm and began pulling me over to another place. Honestly, I was beginning to feel like I was her toy or something.

This was really going way too far, and I was honestly getting way too tired for this.

I stood my ground, not letting her drag me around anymore, she stumbled but was able to keep herself up since she was holding onto me. Raisa spun around to look at me with concern.

"Ah, do you need to use the washroom?"

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"No, that's not it."

Raisa looked on for a few moments before coughing awkwardly.

"T-Then what is it?"

I gently plucked her hand off of mine, letting my arm finally rest by my side.

"Is this your first time having a friend over?"

Raisa blinked a few times.

"...Friend? Well, I've hosted many guests before, so I would say yes."

I stared back at her directly.

"Does that mean you don't consider me as a friend?"

Raisa flinched.

"Ah, i-if you're ok with that then of course I do!"

I took a deep breath and nodded a few times.

"Ah, in that case, you've been going about this the wrong way."

Panic spread across her face rather quickly.

"I-It is? But I've done this so many times before! This is what people do for fun!"

I raised my hand to tell her to stop through a gesture.

"I'm not entirely sure what other people do and what they consider fun, but what you have been doing is entertaining a guest."

Raisa slowly nodded.

"Yes, d-did I do it too sloppily?"

I really wanted to say more than sloppily, you completely screwed it up. However, that would probably make her faint with shock with how hyper-emotional she was right now.

"You... took the wrong approach. Think about how you treated me all of this time. You were so focused on me, whether or not I was having a good time or not."

Raisa didn't seem to notice what was wrong with that before I pointed at her accusingly.

"That's wrong!"

Raisa exclaimed.

"Ah! It is?!"

I massaged my temple while lecturing her.

"When friends get together, they are supposed to have fun together. You aren't trying to please some sort of higher-up or boss of some kind! This entire time, you were always so concerned about my well-being and whether or not I was having fun while you sat at the sidelines the entire time."

A bitter smile formed on my face.

"If I just wanted to eat good food, go hunting, or listen to some musical performance by myself I could do it. The main purpose of getting together is to actually enjoy the things we do together."

Raisa looked astounded.

"E-Eh? But I was having fun! I-I swear!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Do you know what I liked best about my visit?"

Raisa clasped her hands together and looked nervous.

"W-What?"

I sighed.

"It was my time in the garden."

Raisa immediately gasped.

"Ah! T-Then I will get more flowers and-"

I raised my hand once more, cutting her off.

"I didn't care all that much about the flowers. What I cared about was when we began to talk to each other, like actual friends. Talking about the things that we are nervous about, our questions, or just what we just so happen to be thinking about."

Raisa froze up, her mental state looked like it was in a frenzy right now.

I put a hand on her shoulder, hoping that would keep her together.

"Hey, when you invite a friend over, then it should be something you should be excited about because you know you're also going to have a good time. Does that make sense?"

Raisa blushed harder than ever and slowly nodded.

"Y-Yeah."