A Highest Rank in Another World!

"Yes, I became a kind of teacher. But I'm not very good, so I didn't help that much." Ciaphia smiled a little awkwardly.

Noah looked at her for a few seconds and continued in silence. Ciaphia who noticed his look stopped smiling and put a serious expression on her face.

"You don't have to feel bad for me, all that is over now." She said as she looked at Noah a little dejectedly. 

Noah was a little distracted, so he was a little surprised.

"I can't help but feel bad. It's a bit of a complicated story..." He said in a sad voice. Ciaphia looked away and then took a deep breath as she thought about what to say.

But she didn't say anything, just continued in silence.

"And I'm amazed that you were able to endure all of this."

"Hm?"

"I've been through some problems before and didn't know how to handle them very well, so I'm amazed at how you've managed to handle it all."

"What kind of problems?"

"I think it's better not to talk about it, it's been a long time."

"Even though you're only 13?"

"You wouldn't understand..."

"..."

After this awkward exchange of dialogue, the two were silent for a few minutes. And after those few minutes that seemed like several hours, Ciaphia stood up and then looked at Noah again.

Noah was sitting on the floor, so he had to look up to look at Ciaphia's face.

"But I'm not over it all, you know. It's really hard to tell you all this like it's no big deal." Noah could tell that she was biting her lips and her hands were shaking.

"You haven't told this to anyone but me, have you?"

"No, you're the first person I've talked to about it. I even thought about talking to Lisandra, but I was afraid..."

"Afraid?"

"Yes, afraid that she would feel sorry for me and start treating me differently."

"Oh, don't worry, Lisandra wouldn't do that. At most, she would be sad for you and then try to support you as much as possible."

"Yes, I know... But in my head..."

"Don't worry about that, you'll still get a chance to tell her everything."

"Yes..."

"But I am glad that I am the first person you have trusted to tell everything that happened to you in the past. For some reason, I feel very happy..." Noah smiled as he stood up.

"Stop saying strange things..." Ciaphia had a sad but at the same time happy expression.

She seemed to be having a hard time holding that mixture of feelings in her heart.

But the happiness of hearing this from Noah outweighed the feeling of sadness, causing a smile to appear on her beautiful face that was also red with embarrassment.

"You get embarrassed easily, huh? How did you control yourself back then when I was around? You've liked me for a long time, haven't you?"

"Well, I didn't always control myself."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that you're so cute that sometimes I had some strange thoughts."

"What kind of thoughts?" Noah ignored the word "Cute" so as not to feel embarrassed and continued looking at Ciaphia.

"That I wanted to throw myself on top of you and squeeze you and kiss you and..." Ciaphia began to gasp as she started listing a bunch of things she wanted to do with Noah, causing him to get a little scared.

And besides being scared, he felt his face turn red and his heart race as he imagined all that she was saying.

When Ciaphia realized what she was doing, she almost had a fit and ran out of the training camp, but her hand was grabbed by Noah.

"You don't have to be so embarrassed, I'm embarrassed too, you know."

"I'm sorry for saying all these weird things...it's... I know, let's get back to my story, okay? Sit down on the floor."

"..."

"It's okay, you can sit down. I'll finish telling about the part where I arrived in the capital and then I'll talk a little more about when we were hanging out together at the inn and school."

"Okay, okay. But we can't take too long."

"It'll be quick. And make sure you forget everything I just said."

"I'll try to forget it... Or not since I want you to do all that with me someday. I will write it all down somewhere as a list of things we should do together."

"Waa?"

"I'm just kidding."

"Stop it, you idiot! You're going to make me have a heart attack."

"Okay, okay..."

Noah who noticed the sincere smile on Ciaphia's face felt fulfilled that he had made her smile. 

Unfortunately, the smile didn't last for long. The moment she went back to telling about her story, her sad expression had returned.

'I have to pay more attention to her way of acting, stand by her side more and support her. Now that I stop to analyze, whenever she is alone in silence her expression is a bit...'

Noah sighed and began to pay attention to Ciaphia's story.

'I will be sure to make her overcome all these problems from her past so that she can live happily by my side.'

####

Then two more months passed.

Ciaphia who had become a teacher in the village had also started training magic after discovering that she had affinity for fire magic. This was not surprising since her mother had.

But her mother had not developed her magic, so at most, she could create a small flame of fire.

But Ciaphia, who had started training her magic, in only a month had already managed to launch a few attacks, leaving everyone in the village in awe as it was rare for someone in the village to develop their magic to such an extent.

Because of this, one of the older people in the village and was a friend of Ciaphia's mother gave her an idea.

"Why don't you go to the capital and try to enroll in the magic school? As far as I remember commoners can join too."

"Are you crazy, Hela? I could never enter that school. I would need to have at least my fire magic at the level of an adventurer's magic."

"But I think you already have that level of magic. The adventurers I've met during my lifetime who could use fire magic cast magic with the same strength as yours."

"Really?"

"Yes. Only one girl was different. You were still quite young when she appeared here in the village, she could use fire magic like no one else. I remember her creating an explosion that could be seen from miles away."

"Aren't you exaggerating?"

"No, I remember it clearly. That woman was beautiful, strong, and helped us a lot."

"I see."

"Then I think you should try to apply to that school, you will surely be accepted."

"..."

"Go, don't be like that." Hela approached Ciaphia and placed her hand on Ciaphia's head. After stroking Ciaphia's head for a while longer, Hela again tried to convince her.

"You don't have to feel guilty about leaving us here. You have no reason to live here anyway, you need to leave and try to build your life. I regretted not making the same choice when I was younger."

"Did you wish you had joined magic school?"

"Of course not, I was never good with magic. What I wish was that I had moved to a big city, gotten a good job, and had built a life well away from here."

"You don't like living here?"

"It's not that I don't like it, but I certainly would have had a better life in a big city. So I think it's a good idea for you to move to the capital. You are still very young and will surely live a happy life if you do this."

"I don't know if I can live a happy life after my parents' death."

"Come on, don't say such a foolish thing, girl. You're strong, you're healthy, you're beautiful. I'm sure you'll get an amazing husband, an amazing job, and wonderful life." Hela smiled at Ciaphia as she continued to stroke her head.

"But it's just that I didn't want to leave you and my other friends here... You guys were so supportive after what happened."

"And we will continue to support you."

"..."

"If you decide to move to the capital, I'm sure everyone will support you, you can be sure of that." Hela gave Ciaphia a pleasant smile, making her heart warm.

She felt so loved at that moment, so she didn't hold back and gave Hela a strong hug. 

"Thank you, Hela. I just couldn't stand to stay here anymore and have the memories of my parents."

"I know. It's pretty hard, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's very hard..."

"But you've put up with it all very well."

"No, I'm not putting up with it very well. I've lost count of how many times I've cried alone because of those memories."

"..."

"But now is not the time to talk about it. I want to know if you will forgive me if I go away and leave you here."

"What kind of stupid question is that? Hahaha."