The Craftsmen's Nation (4)
I booked a separate inn for our party, apart from Ursula’s group. ‘Ursula’s crew has too many people.’ Even if they only picked tight-lipped, skilled individuals, there were still over ten of them. Aside from the money issue, there were practical reasons for managing that many people. In contrast, we could simply pick a nice inn and call it good. What a ridiculous advantage. It was basically the difference between a soldier on leave and a civilian on vacation.
“Huuuugh……”
I had been wandering through the sea of thoughts in my neurons when Veronica’s strange noise dragged me back to reality. The reason Veronica looked like she was about to die was because we were currently crossing a street packed with people. There was no helping it. Taking the back alleys carried too high a risk of running into weird trouble.
While we had been traveling by ship, the Bijo-fest—which had been in its preparation phase—had reached full swing. It looked like the festival would continue for another one to two weeks. During times like these, the shady types operating in the shadows tended to become especially active. Four beautiful women plus one macho guy wandering around the back alleys of a big city with loosened security? Yeah, that was asking for trouble. Even in 21st-century Korea you’d get into an argument. Dealing with fantasy-world thugs was just annoying.
【Ah, sorry. We’re in a hurry.】
A dwarf approached Dana, trying to promote his wares. Our big sister flatly refused; she wasn’t enough of an alcoholic to drink on the street while walking. “Ugh.” Veronica, who was leaning on me, looked even worse. She must have sensed that the dwarf was still a virgin. The beer festival held in Nidavellir, a nation that valued chastity as highly as Germania, was essentially an ada festival. As a still-pure maiden, Veronica’s face turned an unhealthy shade of green from the overlapping curses pressing down on her.
‘We need to hurry.’
I quickened my steps for Veronica’s sake.
─Ting-a-ling.
We entered the inn to the sound of the bell hanging on the door. We headed straight to the room I had reserved earlier and began unpacking. Once we laid Veronica down, even Dana collapsed onto another bed as if all her energy had drained away.
“Haaaa…… This bed is insanely soft. A bed that doesn’t rock? How long has it been?”
“Noona, don’t melt on the bed. If your flab slides off I’m gonna want to scoop it up and stick it on your chest.”
“Fuck off and go drop off the laundry, you son of a bitch.”
“A macho man doesn’t do housework.”
But dropping off laundry for washing wasn’t exactly housework. I gathered the pile of dirty clothes into a basket and took it to the counter. Laundry was the most annoying thing during long trips. Since this was an expensive inn, I might as well milk them for free service. Sweet deal.
After handing over the laundry, I came back upstairs and placed my hand on Veronica’s cheek where she lay on the bed. There was no longer any need to hesitate about skinship. Veronica’s body temperature wasn’t hot. If anything, it was cold. Did the curse also cause hypothermia? She had mentioned tickling and chills, so it was probably similar.
“Veronica. What about dinner? They say this inn’s restaurant is famous. Want to eat in a bit?”
“……I shall go. I look forward to it……”
“You’re groaning like you’re dying, yet your appetite is still going strong.”
Even while sprawled out from exhaustion, our attendant’s ears perked up at the mention of good food. And so we went down to the first floor and took seats in the seaside restaurant. We mainly ordered dishes that were hard to make on a ship—anything that required fire—and the table was soon loaded until it looked ready to break. That was because we had ordered a five-person course plus separate main dishes.
I had realized while training on the ship that lately I had been lacking exercise. So I planned to eat plenty of meat to build muscle. “Mmm, meat dishes. What a delicacy.” After eating, Veronica seemed to recover a little. Thank goodness.
“How is it? Edible?”
“Yes, it is very good. The fact that it is neither seafood nor grass already earns it full marks.”
“Eat as much as you want. Once we return to Britannia, our gourmet journey is over. That place doesn’t have much worth eating besides home cooking.”
“……My dear. Would you not consider moving to Germania with me?”
“Nope. No can do.”
“Tsk.”
Oh ho. She’s even clicking her tongue now. After finishing our meal in satisfaction, we returned to the room and all flopped onto the beds together.
“Huaaaa……♡ Senior, we’re in big trouble. I already stuffed myself on the island, and if I keep doing it on land too, won’t I get fat?”
Larilura said while casually lying on top of Dana. It was a human sandwich. Dana didn’t seem to mind. If it had been a man, a punch would have flown immediately, but it seemed women could be physically affectionate with each other even in this world.
“Don’t worry. It’s not that easy for people who use their bodies to gain weight.”
A body reinforced with mana consumed far more calories than an ordinary person. From my own experience, it was at least double, sometimes three to four times. I didn’t know why and didn’t particularly care. Since it wasn’t harmful, I was simply grateful that it helped reduce body fat.
Larilura wiggled her legs in dissatisfaction at my answer.
“You have to use mana to move around so you don’t gain weight! I’ve gotten way too lazy lately. I’m Lazy Larilura. If I’m not wearing the baggy clown costume, I can’t hide my belly even a little, you know?”
“There’s a festival going on. Want to do a small performance?”
“Mmm…… Mmmmm…… Well, I’ll think about it for a few more days!”
“Is that really something to agonize over?”
She was like a former idol corrupted by the secular world. Maybe she’d have to stay away from the stage for a few years like those celebrities who retire to the countryside before she started missing it.
“Everyone, shall we go eat dessert?”
At that moment, Franc spoke while pulling out her wallet from her bag. “There’s an incredibly delicious cake shop nearby.”
“Cake?! I want to go, I want to go! Yahoo♡!”
“Hehe. Our youngest, who was just worrying about getting fat?”
Larilura jumped up energetically and raised her hand. Dana, who had been underneath her, also chuckled. She completely owned Prisilla, who had been fretting about flab. You damn Larilura! Get the hell out of Prisilla’s body!
“Cake is something I haven’t eaten in a while, so I won’t gain weight!”
“That’s the same level of baseless logic as ‘eating apples at night is bad for you.’”
Though it’s true this world doesn’t have the custom of eating cake on birthdays. Be grateful there’s no delivery food here, Larilura. It seemed that when you gave freedom to someone who had been strictly managing themselves, they became this lazy.
─Swoosh.
Anyway, all the women got up together. Only Veronica, who had been replenishing nutrients and recovering her condition, remained lying down. The same went for me, since unpacking after dropping off the laundry had taken longer.
“Senior? Aren’t you coming with us?”
“I’ll finish unpacking and rest. You girls take your time.”
“What a shame☆!”
She didn’t sound the least bit disappointed. Larilura bounced away with insane energy, grabbing her own wallet.
“Cake~♡! Cake~♡! Oh, should I bring some back for you too, Senior?”
“Sure. And watch out for idiots who look down on you just because you’re a group of women.”
“Yeees~! We’ll be back~♡!”
Larilura left first with a bright smile. I waited until she was gone before speaking.
“……I somehow feel like I’m already raising a daughter.”
“Isn’t Larilura’s pure side charming?”
“I guess.”
But the closer we got, the more she seemed like a child. Was she really going to be an adult next year? She fell for pork cutlet so easily it was like a middle schooler getting lured to the hospital. I actually felt sorry for her.
‘Well, twenty is still plenty young.’
There were plenty of people who ate thirty or forty years and still acted no better than when they were minors. As I had told Larilura before, simply aging didn’t make someone an adult.
‘Still, she used to act pretty arrogantly before.’
She was probably holding back now because she was afraid of being hated. I didn’t care about that sort of thing, but since Larilura was perceptive, she might be restraining herself. In a changed environment, crossing the line even a little could be dangerous. It was easy to become sensitive when your living situation changed. If you acted out when someone’s patience was already low, you’d get scolded easily.
‘It’s common for friends to fight while traveling and ruin their relationship.’
Since she had plenty of wandering experience, she might have seen similar things in the circus troupe. Maybe she got severely scolded by that low-pressure Alexandra after playing a prank.
Anyway, after confirming that Larilura had properly left, Dana spoke to us—meaning me and Veronica.
“We’ll be out for about two to three hours. Even including shower time, that should be enough.”
“If you say so, then it must be. Thank you.”
To Veronica, who was thanking her, Dana waved her hand.
“It’s nothing. It’s our first time, so of course I should show that much consideration. We’re all gathered under the same husband, after all.”
“Mmm. That is precisely why I wish to express my gratitude more clearly.”
“……Then next time, if you have any good stories for a thesis, share them with me. If I go on a business trip for over a month and come back with nothing, my evaluation will drop.”
“If my knowledge is sufficient, I shall gladly do so.”
“Thanks~.”
Dana smiled and held out her palm.
─Clap!
Veronica seemed unfamiliar with the gesture and hesitated for a moment before high-fiving her.
“See you later.”
─Swish, swish.
Franc waved as she locked the door behind her. Now only the two of us remained in the room. After I finished unpacking everything, I said,
“Veronica. I’m going to book another room in a bit.”
“W-were we not doing it here?”
Perhaps because she was conscious that we were alone, Veronica seemed slightly nervous. I gave a bitter smile.
“If I keep thinking they might come back at any moment, the mood will be ruined. Magic has its limits too, so I’ll get a room on a different floor in the same inn.”
“U-um. Understood. I shall prepare as well.”
A little later, once I was certain the rest of the party had gone far away, we went down to the counter.
When I said that, the receptionist with the all-back hair blinked for a moment. This is the fourth time I’ve seen you today. At this rate we’re going to get really close.
“Yes.”
You’re quick on the uptake. After receiving the key and returning, Veronica blushed shyly.
“……That receptionist doesn’t think we’re having an affair, does he?”
“Heh heh. Let him think whatever he wants.”
I wrapped an arm around Veronica’s shoulder and brought my face close.
“After all, I’m a lucky man with such a beautiful wife. Just being with you like this is enough to make other men jealous.”
“……Hmph? My lord is surprisingly materialistic. The moment your attendant becomes your woman, your compliments become so cheap.”
“So, do you dislike it? I can save the nice words just for you.”
I could also play the tsundere husband who only says “I love you” once or twice a year like the fathers of my era.
“It’s not…… that I dislike it.”
At my mischievous words, Veronica pouted. ‘It’s not that I dislike it,’ huh. I kissed Veronica’s cheek.
“If possible, say you like it. I like you, Veronica, yet you only say ‘it’s not bad’ or ‘it’s not unpleasant’? Your lord is very disappointed, you know?”
“……Fool. Do you think I would embrace someone I did not like?”
“Heh heh heh. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
With affection, I wrapped my arm around her waist and we headed to the new room. I wanted to kiss her lips, but I held back. Because of the festival, the inn was crowded with people.
─Click.
─Flinch.
Even at the sound of the door locking, Veronica’s shoulders trembled. I sat on the bed first. Veronica set down the bag she had brought. I opened a bottle of liquor in the room and poured it into glasses.
“Have a drink and relax.”
─Nod.
Without answering, Veronica took the glass and drank it, seemingly unaware whether it was going into her mouth or her nose. I also brought the glass to my lips. Perhaps because the receptionist was older and more experienced, the red wine had just the right alcohol content and sweetness to heighten the mood.
─Tap, tap.
I patted my leg while sitting on the bed. Veronica set down her glass and sat on my lap. Although Veronica was the tallest among our wives, her long legs meant that when she settled into my arms, she was at the perfect height for me to kiss her forehead.
“………………”
Veronica sat sideways on my leg, only fidgeting with her lips. I gently stroked her back.
‘She’s really nervous.’
It was almost pitiful how hard she was trying to pretend she wasn’t nervous.
─Thump, thump.
Regardless of the distance between us and her large breasts, I could feel her heartbeat. I deliberately avoided the area where Veronica was concentrating all her nerves, tensing up and wondering when it would come. Since all my wives had turned out to be virgins, I had unintentionally become an ada bomber. I knew very well that foreplay and tension relief before the act were truly important.
“……Veronica. Can you hear my heartbeat?”
While adjusting our positions, I let Veronica listen to my heartbeat as well. With her ear pressed to my chest, she murmured,
“I hear it. It is beating with a very pleasant sound. Are you nervous as well?”
“Of course I’m nervous. I’m trying to give my beloved wife good memories. But the difference between nervousness and anticipation is paper-thin.”
I interlaced my fingers with Veronica’s as I spoke. I had heard that hearing a lover’s heartbeat, feeling their body heat, and skinship on the back and head were good for relieving tension. The effects of my half-baked knowledge had already been demonstrated firsthand by Franc and Dana. I stroked Veronica, who was wearing a Romania-style dress, and placed my hand on her shoulder.
‘I’ll wait until the tension leaves her shoulders like this—’
─Poke.
Just as I was thinking that, Veronica’s horn stabbed my eye. It was because she had moved when she felt my hand on her shoulder.
“Gyaaak!”
“A-are you okay?!”
Veronica jumped in surprise as if she had been stabbed with a knife and cupped my face in her hands. It didn’t actually hurt that much, but since I had been concentrating, my heart pounded hard. Our eyes met and we both froze.
“……Pfft.”
“……Heh heh heh.”
As if the tension had been forgotten, we pressed our lips together and then pulled apart. The warmth of the hand touching my cheek calmed my mood. I, who had been trying to help her relax, had instead been relaxed by her. Veronica, who had been detecting my heartbeat like radar, noticed it too.
“My dear. I am ashamed to admit that I know almost nothing about human copulation.”
With a much more relaxed expression, Veronica said,
“Therefore, if you will permit it, I wish to use the Seidr ritual that I know through knowledge as my first experience.”
“Seidr?”
“Yes. What of it? It is not greatly different from ordinary intercourse. I simply wish to proceed according to the procedure I am familiar with. Just as you wish to give me good memories…… I do not wish for you to be unable to enjoy yourself because you are dealing with a green virgin.”
Since it was her precious first experience, she didn’t need to worry about such things, but Veronica’s eyes were serious. If I told her not to, she would probably obey. But finding fault with the conclusion she had reached after much thought was not something a wife-obsessed macho man should do.
“Alright. Let’s do that.”
I accepted Veronica’s suggestion. At first, following the Bicorn clan’s customs might have been basic courtesy for getting along smoothly with Veronica, who was of divine blood. Besides, I had no intention of ending things after just one first night. The effects of Seidr only appeared after falling asleep, didn’t they? Once she comfortably overcame the fear of losing her virginity, we could begin in earnest. It was bad to think of sex as a duty or something frightening.
“Thank you for accepting. I shall prepare immediately.”
So saying, Veronica took out a slate engraved with spatial magic from the bag she had brought. She carved dozens of runes on the floor, placed materials with the Burning Branch as the axis, and a plausible magic circle was completed. That seemed to be all the preparation, as Veronica approached me where I waited on the bed.
……Flash.
A cluster of light wrapped around Veronica’s dress and then vanished.
“……It is embarrassing, so please refrain from gazing at me as if appraising me.”
When the magically created clothes disappeared, Veronica’s naked body was revealed. I nodded and stood up to take off my own clothes, but Veronica stopped me with a gesture. Was it part of the ritual? When I lowered my awkwardly raised hands, Veronica personally began undressing me. She fumbled a little because she didn’t know the structure of the clothes, but she removed my top and then my lower garments.
─Rustle.
Veronica’s touch was careful and sincere. It was as if the master-servant relationship we had joked about had become reality. I breathed slowly so as not to look unsightly and held back my erection. There had been no Seidr in the Prophet’s knowledge. Perhaps the person herself had been an expert, but she hadn’t considered it knowledge to pass on to descendants. Still, no matter how lewd this ritual from the age of the gods was, getting an erection in front of Veronica as she took it seriously felt wrong.
─Squish.
But as I was thinking that inwardly, I quickly realized I had been mistaken. Although modern Germania had come to value chastity highly, there was no guarantee that the culture thousands or tens of thousands of years ago had been the same. Veronica politely cupped my testicles in her palms as if lifting a treasure offered to the gods. Phallic worship must have been common in this world too. I thought that as I watched Veronica lift my erection and balls with her other hand.
……Chu.
Holding my cock and balls as if lifting a snake limp from the heat, Veronica kissed the tip of the glans. It was a beautiful yet lewd sight, like a virgin offering her chastity to a divine statue.
……If I truly was a successor of the gods, was Veronica in the position of serving that god for one night?
“……Ugh.”
Once I thought that, I could no longer hold back. Feeling the ancient god’s mana and vigor boiling inside me, my cock rose proudly without regard for the heavens. The shamelessly erect member cast a long shadow across Veronica’s flushed face after her reverent kiss.
“……Come to think of it, I still had something to say from earlier.”
Veronica pressed her face against the underside of my shaft and exhaled like a sage whispering a deep secret.
“I also…… truly like my rude yet affectionate lord♡”