A Mage's First Time (11)
A Mage's First Time (11)
#
After hearing Ariel's secret proposal, I was speechless.
"You really... how do you even come up with something like that? Isn't that a crime?"
"...I don't think you're in a position to say that."
Ariel gave me a sidelong glance as she said it. Her expression clearly accused me of brazen hypocrisy.
Umm... I had nothing to say to that.
Sure, I was the one who gave her the idea. But still, I never imagined she'd come right out and ask for something like that. No, it was definitely helping her out, but was it really okay for things to go this way?
Ariel asked cautiously.
"So... what will you do?"
"Well, I mean... I think it's doable. But it's a little..."
"I said it's only in case of emergency. I won't have cause to ask for it under normal circumstances, so don't worry."
"Tch... fine. Got it. Let's just give it a shot."
At my answer, Ariel let out a sigh of relief.
Hm. The furrow between her brows had eased considerably. It seemed like Ariel's expressions had grown a bit richer than before. Before, her face had shown nothing but a blank mask. Was it thanks to sex after all? It had to be thanks to sex, right?
Yeah. I felt like I'd heard a similar story somewhere. That kind of smutty plot where a stone-faced woman with no emotional expression at all slowly learned of pleasure and kept falling into depravity... well, not exactly. At any rate, I felt like I'd heard that when you kept overlapping your bodies, there were cases where a person became a little more honest with their emotional expression.
So if we kept having sex going forward, then someday even this poker-faced elf would have her body burning with lust...
Ariel flinched at the look in my eyes, then pulled the towel close and wrapped it around her body.
"W-Well, I must rest now, so would you call Rebecca for me? You did say you used a fatigue-recovery skill, but it seems mental fatigue is not so easily mended..."
"...Yeah. Got it."
Mm. She looked at me as if I were a sex fiend. Admittedly, I probably was one, but being stared at so openly as though I were a beast in heat still hurt.
Thinking that, I left the room.
#
The dilemma began the moment I stepped out the door.
Where was I supposed to find Rebecca? In a fancy mansion, there'd be some kind of bell to summon a servant, but this house had nothing like that. So what should I do?
"Rebecca. Rebecca!"
"..."
-Clap-clap!
"..."
I called into empty air and clapped my hands, but there was no reason she'd simply appear. She was so elusive that I had thought it worth trying, but of course it did not work.
An old variety show I'd once seen suddenly came to mind. When your pet dog is nowhere in sight, what's the one word you should say?
The answer was "No!" Because who knew what they were doing out of sight!
Of course, Rebecca wasn't a dog, but anyway, she was something kind of like a beast-person, so maybe it would work? Before I went around looking for her, I should give it a try. Just once. Just one time.
"No, no! Come—"
"What do you mean it can’t be done?"
"What the fuck?!"
Holy shit, she startled me!
I literally jumped into the air. Because Rebecca was suddenly standing right behind me! And she was close! Less than two steps away!
"Wh-wh-where on earth did you come from!"
"..."
D-Did I just see her give a little snort of a laugh?! Was my being scared shitless funny to her?!
"You...!"
"From the look of things, you seem to have finished your business. I believe I should now assist Lady Ariel with her recuperation, but did you have something to say to me separately?"
Rebecca got the first word in before I could even say anything. No, how did she know all that before I even spoke? Had this woman actually been listening somewhere?
"...You weren't watching, were you?"
"I have no idea what you mean."
"..."
"..."
I glared at Rebecca, but she met my gaze with complete composure. Her clear, unwavering eyes suggested that her conscience was perfectly clean.
"...Dammit. Never mind. Forget that. But where's the Holy Sword?"
Rebecca's eye twitched at the question about where the Holy Sword was.
"The Holy Sword was placed in the room next to Reni's. By now... I imagine it is simply lying there."
Next to Reni's room? I already knew where my girls' rooms were. But simply lying there? That was unusually quiet for her. Had she finally tired of watching ants?
"Right. Got it."
Just as I was about to turn away, Rebecca opened her mouth.
"The Holy Sword was..."
"Hm?"
For some reason, Rebecca was hesitating and fumbling. She wavered as if she couldn't decide whether to say this or not, then, slightly avoiding my eyes, she finished what she'd started to say.
"The Holy Sword was lying unconscious in the kitchen. With one hand still inside the honey jar."
"...Uh, y-yeah. Is, is that so."
I felt hot blood rush to my face.
Did that Holy Sword truly possess nothing but animal appetites?! I didn't even know what to call this. She wasn't a bear, so why was she stealing honey?
No, setting aside the fact that she stole it to eat, why did she pass out? Why?! She'd fainted every time she ate candy, yet still didn't understand what was dangerous?!
Avoiding Rebecca's eyes, I fanned myself with my hand.
"R-Right. Yeah. That's really. I'm so sorry about that. Um... a honey jar... was it expensive?"
Embarrassed and flustered, I ended up blurting out something incredibly stupid. But it was embarrassing. It was too embarrassing! I wasn't even the one who did it, so why was I the one stuck with all the embarrassment?!
"...I didn't bring it up hoping for that kind of compensation from you, Yoo-jin. It's just..."
Rebecca's voice trailed off with a faint sigh. Fatigue that even her expressionless face couldn't erase was evident on Rebecca's features. She'd hidden it with makeup, but it was still visible enough that the dark circles were showing.
Hm. She hadn't looked like this even at that pig's mansion. I had no idea what that Holy Sword was doing out of my sight. At any rate, it meant that it was too much for her to handle on her own and she wanted me to do something about it.
"Fine, I get it. I'll talk to her..."
Just as I was about to set off to find the Holy Sword, Rebecca called out to me again.
"Yoo-jin."
"What?"
"It will soon be time for the meal."
"Yeah. So it seems. But why?"
As if telling me to behave myself, Rebecca narrowed her eyes and looked at me.
"It is presumptuous of me to comment on your relationships with your companions, but I would still ask you to exercise some restraint. At the very least, it would be best to respect mealtimes..."
"I won't do it! I told you I won't! I'm just going to talk!"
"...Of course, I trust that you won't."
That damn woman! How could she say it in such an obnoxious way?! And she definitely paused for effect at the end on purpose, didn't she?!
I shot Rebecca a glare and then stomped off to find the Holy Sword in a snit. The last glimpse I caught of Rebecca's face felt like the corner of her mouth was very subtly turned up.
# # #
The Holy Sword lay sprawled carelessly across the bed, her limbs flung in every direction. The outdated word "tomboy" came to mind.
Despite that careless pose, the Holy Sword had been groomed rather neatly. She wore a soft, silky dress and was barefoot. She appeared not to be wearing underwear. Then again, she'd made a tremendous fuss about it itching when she first transformed, so that was understandable.
Not only that, but her hair was wet, and her skin was a little dewy...
...She'd been bathed. Rebecca had washed her. Well, she'd been playing around getting dirt on herself while watching ants and had even stuck her hand into a honey jar, so of course she'd needed washing.
I felt pretty sorry since this felt like I was dumping cleanup duty onto Rebecca. And the actual person who ought to be feeling sorry was lying around like this.
I shook the Holy Sword's shoulder.
"Hey, hey. Wake up. Wake up."
"..."
No matter how much I shook her, there was no answer. The Holy Sword was still totally out of it. There was a saying about striking while the iron's hot, but right when I was about to try something, this was the sight that greeted me. It really sapped my will.
I did need to give that Holy Sword a warning about her attitude, but I also had a lot of other things to talk about.
While talking with Ariel, I'd realized that I needed to communicate with the Goddess a little more precisely. And to do that, I needed to first get a handle on the Holy Sword's capabilities.
Even though this one's personality was hardly different from a child's, at this point the Holy Sword was the entity closest to the Goddess. Above all, the Holy Sword had a direct skill.
Avatar Descent.
Since the skill existed, there was no reason not to use it. The Holy Sword had been saying it wasn't possible right now or that it was inactive, but still, I needed to verify the exact details.
Because Ariel had said something quite significant about my abilities.
'So you use a power called Vital Essence?'
'Yeah. You could also call it Sexual Stamina.'
To Ariel's persistent questioning about what kind of power I used, I had no choice but to brace for mockery and tell her about the Vital Essence stat. But instead of mockery, Ariel's expression grew grave.
'...That's hard to understand.'
'What's hard to understand?'
At my question, Ariel kept her mouth shut for a while, then returned a question that seemed rather off-the-wall.
'...I am sorry to say this, but are you not merely one Awakened among many? Do you not think an excessive amount of effort was invested in you?'
'What do you mean?'
'Those enemies you described... whether madmen or otherwise, powers similar to those of other Awakened should be sufficient to confront them. Yet the Goddess bestowed an entirely new power upon you—one undetectable by either mana or Divine Power. Does that not seem excessively cautious for dealing with mere people? It looks as though She is trying to hide you from someone.'
'...Who knows? Perhaps it was simply to keep me from being dragged to the royal castle...'
'That cannot be.'
Ariel said it with certainty.
'There must be a valid reason that you possess such an undetectable power. But I cannot begin to guess what that reason might be.'
'...'
There was something chilling in what Ariel was hinting at.
Come to think of it, Reni had said something similar back when it was just the two of us traveling. That a corresponding fate was prepared for a special power.
So did that mean the things I had to face weren't just ordinary lunatics? Then what were they?
At any rate, to confirm that, I needed more direct communication with the Goddess. And to do that, this one needed to wake up, but she showed no sign of doing so.
"Huu... heh-heh..."
She was even talking in her sleep—what a mess.
Hmm. Communication. Come to think of it, the Goddess had interfered much more often in the past. If I swore, she struck me with lightning or shocked me with static. Perhaps I could try...
"Ghk! Hm, hm."
The static shock still worked. But it only ever felt like some macro filtering out certain words.
...Then how about a Skill Proposal for the first time in a while? Skill Proposals had been the best way to communicate with the Goddess, even if the method had limits.
[Skill Name: Get Slippery and Wet!]
[Skill Intent: A skill that increases lubrication. Dryness hurts, so this skill is absolutely necessary.]
Good. Submit! If it were approved, I might use Ariel to realize my dream of an Elf Water Purifier! I'd speak with the Goddess, obtain a skill, and gain an Elf Water Purifier. Three birds with one stone.
[Under Review...]
-Ding!
[The 「Get Slippery and Wet!」 skill has been rejected.]
[Rejection Reason: You fucking...]
...What did you say?!