A Desperate Serafina

"...Lieutenant Jäger, are you in there?"

A familiar voice, laced with hesitation. It was Serafina. I activated a skill immediately.

Status Analysis.

...So she couldn't hold out any longer after all.

I rose from my seat and made for the tent entrance. The moment I pulled aside the worn canvas, Serafina's figure emerged from the darkness, leaning faintly on the glow of a nearby lamp. She couldn't meet my eyes and kept her gaze pointedly fixed on the ground.

"What brings you here at this hour, Captain? ...Please, come in."

I spoke as though I knew nothing. At the sound of that calm voice, Serafina's shoulders flinched. After a brief hesitation, she stepped inside my tent with small, careful footsteps. Once I confirmed she was in, I fastened the entrance firmly shut.

"...I need your help for a moment."

Serafina forced the words out through gritted teeth. The way she trembled, hands quivering, was pitiable just to look at. The price of recklessly burning mana in today's battle had evidently come due with a vengeance.

I knew this was coming.

Using magic extracts its toll across the entire body. Yet the only area I had stabilized with Touch of Attunement earlier was her shoulder — in hindsight, this was practically a scripted inevitability.

"You overexerted yourself today. Your color's terrible — won't you sit down first?"

I offered her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the only chair in my small tent. Once she was seated, I knelt before her and spoke as though examining her condition.

"Where does it hurt worst?"

"...Everywhere. It feels like... thousands of needles are stabbing me all over."

I nodded and rested my hand on her shoulder.

Touch of Attunement.

The mana I could feel through my palm was nothing short of a blizzard. It was raging wildly, more violent and feral than anything I had felt from her before. I focused my concentration as hard as I could and sent a stream of warm energy flowing in.

"Hnngh...!"

Strength drained from her body at my touch. But while the pain in her shoulder may have eased, the mana was still rampaging deep within her. The flow I had stabilized was beginning to turn rough again.

Serafina's body stiffened once more. The convulsions she had suppressed were starting all over again.

"Ugh... agh...!"

The seizure wouldn't stop. Cold sweat ran down her pale face like rain, and her trembling lips had lost every last trace of color.

"...Lieutenant Jäger."

Serafina finally forced her mouth open.

"Didn't you say earlier... that direct skin contact makes it work better...?"

"That's correct."

"...Give me a moment. Turn around."

"Understood."

I turned without a word. In the cramped tent, my field of view held nothing but the worn canvas wall and my field gear. A brief silence settled behind me.

Rustle. Rustle.

Before long, the sound of fabric brushing filled the narrow space. The small noise of buttons coming undone, the metallic click of a belt unbuckling, and the whisper of clothing sliding down over skin.

"Mmnh..."

Faint moans of pain leaked out intermittently. Even the simple act of undressing seemed to be nothing short of torture for her in her current state.

"...Done."

Only after a long while did the subdued voice come.

"You can turn around now......"

I rotated slowly. And for a moment, my gaze locked on the scene that unfolded before my eyes.

Serafina sat in the chair, her upper body stripped to the waist, her uniform pushed down to her hips. The white sleeveless shirt and standard-issue bra she had shed she now clutched desperately against her chest in a futile attempt at modesty. Which left me facing the utterly defenseless expanse of her back.

......

It was a curve so flawless it drew an involuntary gasp. Skin so pale it was hard to believe it belonged to a soldier weathered by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the harsh roads of the battlefield. The line of her spine, descending from the nape of her neck to the hollow of her waist, stretched gracefully down like a deep valley.

Her shoulder blades jutted out like wings on either side, and her delicate shoulder line looked almost dangerously frail. But before any of that beauty, what struck my eyes first was her condition.

Cold sweat poured down her white back like a downpour. Her muscles were taut with spasms, and beneath her skin, bluish veins stood out abnormally, bristling.

I swallowed hard. The mere fact that Serafina was stripped to the waist, waiting for my hands, was enough to send blood rushing south — but now was not the time to be lecherous.

If the proud Serafina had swallowed her pride and come crawling here, her condition had to be that bad. Which meant I had to deliver genuinely effective results.

"...Hurry."

Serafina urged, her head buried low. Whether from shame or pain, her ears had flushed a deep red.

"...Pardon me, then."

I stepped in behind her. My shadow, dimmed by the faint lamplight, fell across her seated form. I feigned a moment of hesitation, then placed both hands near her shoulder blades.

Tap.

"Hah...!"

The instant my palms touched her bare skin, Serafina's whole body flinched hard. The skin under my hands was cold as a sheet of ice, yet at the same time a scorching heat burned from within — a bizarre, contradictory state.

Touch of Attunement.

I focused my awareness at once. What I sensed was frozen mana. Her entire back felt like a vast sheet of ice, shards of sharp frost scraping against her nerves. Pressing both palms flat against her back, I began sliding them slowly downward.

"Haahngh...!"

Serafina's head tipped back, an unrestrained moan bursting from between her lips.

As I poured in the warm energy, I worked my hands along the line of her spine — starting at the nape of her neck, passing between the shoulder blades, down to the small of her back. Everywhere my hands went, her rigid muscles loosened as though the ice were melting away.

"Ah... aahh..."

A sigh of relief spilled from Serafina's lips. She released the grip she'd had on the clothes pressed to her chest and leaned back into my hands, surrendering herself to my touch. My palms and her back pressed together without the slightest gap.

Slsh. Slsh.

I grew a little bolder with my movements. Using my thumbs, I pressed firmly into each vertebra one by one, working loose the knots of stagnant energy gathered around them.

"N-not there... ahhn...!"

The spine is both the conduit for mana and the crossroads of the nervous system. Even without actively coaxing pleasure through Touch of Attunement, Serafina was reacting with keen sensitivity.

Status Analysis.

Craving, is it.

A faint, crooked smile tugged at my lips. Then a curiosity crossed my mind — what would happen if I used the second function of Touch of Attunement right here? There was no particular reason to restrain myself. Into the now-stable flow of energy, I slipped in a stimulus that was exceedingly faint and delicate.

"...!"

Her body, which had been slackening comfortably, jolted with a sudden shiver. The muscles of her back quivered in fine tremors, and her breathing grew subtly ragged. Startled, she made as if to turn her head slightly — but the moment our ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eyes met, she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whipped her head back around as if fleeing from my gaze.

"Wh-what... what was that? Just now... it's different from... before."

Status Analysis.

I lied with a perfectly straight face.

Charming Speechcraft.

"As your mana flow stabilizes, the dormant sensory nerves are waking back up. It's a perfectly natural process — there's no need to worry."

Her wariness melted away. She relaxed her body once more and gave herself entirely over to my hands. Watching her do so, I raised the intensity of the stimulus a notch higher.

"Hahng...! Nnngh...!"

By now she was moaning shamelessly, unmistakably. At the electric sensation climbing along her spine, her waist arched ever so slightly without her meaning it to. Pearls of sweat beaded across that porcelain-white back.

Just a little lower, and...

I slid my hands down past the small of her back. The boundary between her uniform trousers and bare skin — the pinched curve of her waist, the smooth slope that began where it flowed into her hips — to the point just above her pelvis where her spine came to its end.

I could feel her breath growing ragged. Slowly but surely, I let my hands glide down, and pressed deep into that hidden place of hers.