“You’re staying here?” I asked him.

“I don’t know,” Ren said. “Eclair, what do you want me to do?”

“Me? I’m not sure why you’re asking for my opinion, but don’t you have somewhere to go back to?” she replied.

“Yes. The world I originally came from. I haven’t thought about it much since I came here, to what I thought was my ideal world,” he explained.

“The choice is for you to make, so I’m not going to comment on that,” I told him. “But if you have unfinished business, going back is definitely one choice. I can’t say whether saving the world will allow for your sins to be forgiven, but—”

“Acting for the sake of others is one form of atonement, right? I get it,” Ren interjected. The two of us had been through a lot together by now. We were comrades, even, with a solid understanding of one another.

From Eclair’s reaction, though, it also looked like Ren’s love life wasn’t going anywhere soon.

“Ren. Might be time to give it some thought,” I said.

“What?” he asked.

“Why don’t you just settle for Wyndia?” I suggested. At my words, Gaelion made a surprised noise and glared in my direction. Yeah, he didn’t like that. He wasn’t willing to give his daughter away to Ren.

“About Wyndia . . . I am planning to take responsibility for that,” he said. He wasn’t making much progress on either front, then. Ren clearly had his own troubles to deal with.

“Little Naofumi!” Sadeena, in the distance, was waving eagerly in my direction.

“This is the difference between Naofumi and I, then . . .” Ren commented despondently. Hold on. He was including her too? For my part, I considered it impossible to tell if Sadeena really liked me or not.

“Look, Ren. You might not all be on the same page with everyone, but you do have quite a few people who like you, right?” I told him. Eclair and Wyndia were just bad picks, neither one of them having much interest in romance. But Ren was close to Keel, the weapon shop old guy, and that crowd.

“You’re concerned with how people see you?” Eclair asked.

“No, that’s not it. I’m talking about having your priorities in order, if and when the time comes,” I replied.

“I see. The mental side of things is also important in battle. I’ve heard that fighting with someone you want to protect helps you bring out your full strength.” Even Eclair seemed to have cottoned on to what we were talking about. Perhaps it was my role to cast the first stone.

“Eclair, if someone said they cared for you, what would you do?” I asked.

“I would be happy to have anyone feel that way about me. But unfortunately, I also don’t have the time to think about love. I would politely turn them down,” she explained.

“Even if, just for argument’s sake, it was Ren who liked you?” I prodded.