Although Kaguya behavior was odd, he chose to ignore it. After dealing with more women in a few years than the rest of his life combined, he had realized one thing: you can never guess what a woman is thinking. It was better to just follow their lead and not guess.
Besides, he had something more important to do. In his eyes, the third step of the chain quest was a freebie!
"Back to the topic: is there anyone you need me to beat up?"
Seeing that Lancer hadn't noticed her abnormality, Kaguya deleted those "strange" images from her mind and tried to shift her focus. What was odd was Lancer attitude. She thought he was just joking or comforting her, but seeing his serious yet calm expression, she knew he wasn't kidding.
"Why would you think that?"
"Probably intuition? I felt you needed help, so I rushed back."
Lancer couldn't tell her he was back because of a quest notification; she'd think he was crazy. So he used "intuition" as a shield.
After he said it, he noticed Kaguya looking at him... strangely?
'Is his intuition that accurate? No, even if he trusts his intuition... why rush back?'
Kaguya felt she understood this man less and less.
"Why do you want to help me?"
The words slipped out of her mouth. The room fell silent. Lancer paused for a moment, then gave a brilliant smile.
"Probably because I want to."
It was true. Initially, Lancer goal was just the quest. But after spending time with her, he had a new perspective. Even if she was a "Celestial" and might be centuries older than him, in his eyes, the admired Kaguya-hime was just a lonely little girl. Even if he failed the quest, he wouldn't "abandon" her. To him, she was already a friend.
In Lancer view, meetings between people were often full of accidents.
The "Quest" was the beginning of their meeting, but it wasn't everything. Lancer chose to help her based on his own will; the quest had shifted from the main focus to something he was doing along the way.
Kaguya stared straight at Lancer, and Lancer stared back without any fear. They looked at each other for ten seconds before Kaguya used her sleeve to hide her face and turned slightly away.
Silence returned to the room, but Lancer didn't mind. He had just spoken his mind.
"Are you an idiot?"
Her voice sounded muffled because of her sleeve, as if it were a complaint or carried some other meaning, but Lancer couldn't help but laugh.
"I'm not an idiot; I just want to do this. Alright, you haven't said who you want me to beat up."
Lancer carefree smile made Kaguya sigh in relief, but it also left her with an indescribable feeling. She cared so much, yet this guy didn't seem to care at all... it was infuriating!
But the problem was that his words made it hard to stay angry. Her anger stemmed from his seemingly casual attitude.
'If I really get angry, will he think I'm unreasonable?'
Due to these complicated thoughts, she directed her anger toward the people who caused this situation in the first place.
"Hmph! It's Fujiwara no Fuhito and the others. They keep coming with proposals. I've refused them countless times; why won't they give up? Lancer, why don't you go beat them all up!"
Kaguya looked a bit excited by the end.
But Lancer expression turned subtle. Beat up Fujiwara no Fuhito and the others?
Wait, wasn't that a bit off? He remembered the "normal" move was to give them impossible tasks to solve. Why was it turning into a physical beatdown here?
But he quickly pushed the thought aside. Since he started traveling through worlds, "plots" were already messy. At least in his memory of the "Tale of Kaguya-hime," there were no youkai, Oni Kings, or Onmyoji.
Clearly, even now, Lancer thought he was in the world of the "Tale of Kaguya-hime."
"No problem. A lesson, right..."
Before Lancer could finish, Kaguya interrupted him again.
"Wait!"
"What?"
"That... just a lesson is fine. Don't hit them too hard..."
"Pfft~"
Lancer laughed. He knew Kaguya didn't say that because she liked those five men, but simply because she was kind. It seemed she really was just an innocent and kind young girl~
But Kaguya couldn't tell the difference between a "heartfelt smile at seeing childhood innocence" and "mockery." She puffed her cheeks again.
"You're laughing at me!"
"No~"
"You're definitely laughing at me!"
"I'm really not... haha~ sorry~"
"You're still laughing!!"
Hearing Kaguya exasperated voice, Lancer laughed even harder. This was probably what it felt like to tease a child.
Neither of them noticed that while they were "interacting," a pair of eyes was watching them from outside.
Yagokoro Eirin heart was currently extremely complex.
She had already noticed Kaguya playing games, but she didn't care much. To her, it was just because Kaguya was bored and needed to pass the time. Once she convinced Tsukuyomi to let her return to the Lunar Capital, she would become the "Kaguya Houraisan" she knew.
The reason her heart was complex now was that she realized her disciple's current expression of embarrassed rage was entirely foreign to her.
In her memory, her disciple was always so obedient and well-behaved. The rare smiles she showed always felt like they healed Eirin; they were more miraculous than any medicine she made.
What troubled her was why the person to bring out this "first time" in her disciple was that man...