You're Completely Soaked
“…Saint?”
“Yes?”
I was feeling a serious sense of wrongness. The Saint was acting nothing like her usual self.
Today, of all days, she hadn’t said the word scrub even once.
…What’s going on? Why the sudden change?
She was still teasing me, sure—but none of her usual vocabulary was making an appearance. Maybe that was why it felt so off, so awkwardly out of character.
Thanks to some alone time last night, I’d been fully prepared to endure whatever garbage came out of her mouth today. Instead, the garbage had dried up, and somehow that was even weirder.
Was she sick or something?
“You’re not feeling unwell, are you?”
“…Me? Do I look unwell?”
“Ah—no, not exactly….”
…It’s just that whatever you’re doing is weird. Why are you acting like this? It doesn’t suit you.
“Jumping to strange conclusions as always, I see, Hero♡”
See? Normally a far sharper set of words would have come flying out right about now. And she just… stopped there?
“…This is weird.”
There was no way her speech habits had magically fixed themselves overnight.
I glanced at Celine walking beside us.
Was she the cause? She was the only recent change I could think of.
“Saint Celine.”
“Yes, Hero?”
“Did you happen to say something to Saint Estelle?”
“…Hero, I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at.”
“…Uh.”
…Maybe not?
Not hearing her usual garbage was nice, sure, but without that familiar edge she just felt wrong. Like she wasn’t the Saint I knew at all.
…Maybe I’m the one losing it.
“…Saint.”
“Yes~♡”
“You’re holding back today.”
I decided to probe a little. I needed to know why she was suddenly like this. Had something shifted in her heart enough to change her whole attitude?
“…I’m not sure I follow your meaning, Hero.”
“Your way of talking today is really different from usual.”
“Can’t that just happen sometimes?”
It can, sure—but you’re not the kind of girl who does ‘sometimes,’ and that’s why I’m asking. If you slipped into this mode every now and then, I wouldn’t have said a word.
Estelle pressed a finger to her lips, looking like she was turning something over carefully. Then her eyes lit up as if she’d hit on the answer.
“Ah—don’t tell me you actually liked the way I usually talk~?”
“…What?”
Would you like that, if you were me?
“That’s not—”
“What~♡ If that was it, you should’ve just said so♡ Ah~♡ I’ve been holding back too, so this works out perfectly.”
What the hell are you talking about, you lunatic. I only asked because I was curious—who said I liked it!?
Her shift was instantaneous. That signature smiling squint and cocky little grin snapped into place, and just like that she was the old Saint again.
“To think you enjoy getting torn apart by a beauty like me… our Hero really is a pervert~♡”
“I am not!?”
Listen to people when they talk, you maniac. And who just casually calls herself a beauty? Not that she’s wrong, but still….
“I only asked because you seemed different from usual. I thought maybe you’d eaten something weird.”
“Ehh~♡ So you were worried about me~? Coming from a scrub of a Hero♡”
“…Ha ha.”
I’d dug my own grave by asking. Haa… I’m an idiot.
“…You’re digging your own grave.”
That was Celine, from beside me.
I know, damn it….
Still, in a way, maybe it wasn’t all bad.
…The unusually well-behaved Saint today hadn’t been her usual pain in the ass, so I’d ended up seeing her in a different light in more ways than one.
That season was creeping up on this world as well.
“…It’s hot.”
“…It is.”
“Agreed.”
Summer. The season when the heat rolled in. On the road to Poculum, the three of us were locked in a losing battle with the weather.
I had it worst—armor and all. No matter how many times I wiped the sweat away, more kept coming.
“This sudden heat is a real problem.”
…A real problem is right.
Yesterday the weather had still been closer to spring. Today it had slammed into full summer without warning. The kind of mood-swing climate you’d expect from twenty-first-century Korea.
I was trudging along, sweating buckets, when I spotted a massive tree a little ways off the road. The shade beneath it looked blissfully cool.
“Saint, how about we rest for a bit?”
“We don’t have much time, Hero….”
Even she looked too drained to spit her usual venom. I pointed at the tree.
“That shade looks incredibly cool.”
“…Y-yeah, it does.”
Estelle’s reaction said the shade had already got its hooks in her. In weather like this, you couldn’t look at a tree like that and just walk past.
Celine hadn’t complained, but the moment she followed my pointing finger, her whole face brightened.
“…Rest is important.”
“Well said, Saint Celine.”
With even Celine weighing in for a break, Estelle finally seemed to lose the fight against temptation. What slipped out of her mouth was pure honesty.
“…Hmph. Fine. Shall we rest just a little, then?”
“Yes!”
“Yes—please.”
By unanimous agreement, we headed for the shade. The tree had looked big from a distance; up close it was enormous. Easily a few hundred years old.
The shade was even cooler than expected. A small stream ran near the roots, and the breeze coming off the water was pure heaven.
“I’m alive….”
“Haaaah….”
All three of us collapsed flat under the tree. Caring what anyone might think never even crossed our minds. Savoring this moment came first.
“Saint.”
“…Yeees?”
“Can’t you ask the Goddess Solaria to tone down the sunlight a little?”
“…Please don’t say blasphemous things, Hero.”
…Guess not.
Estelle must have been hotter than I’d realized. She fanned herself with one hand and let out a long sigh.
“You really feel the heat, don’t you, Saint?”
“…I’ve always been sensitive to both heat and cold.”
…That sounds miserable.
“Still, cold is the lesser evil. Heat I honestly can’t stand….”
“Same here.”
I preferred winter to summer too.
“…Sharing a preference with a scrub Hero… suddenly I want to die♡”
…So the shade revived her enough to start talking trash again. Figures.
Hand-fanning wasn’t enough—Estelle grabbed the front of her clerical robes and flapped them. She really was burning up.
I was watching her, half-worried about heatstroke, when she felt my gaze and turned. Then she smiled with her eyes and said,
“…Hero♡ Where exactly are you staring~♡”
“…Huh?”
“You can stare all you want—you still won’t see my chest~♡”
“What are you even talking about all of a sudden!?”
Estelle giggled.
…If you’re going to tease me, at least show something! You know perfectly well nothing’s visible and you’re still doing this.
I turned my head and looked at Celine instead.
“You’re holding up better, Saint Celine?”
“I don’t feel the heat as badly as Saint Estelle. Even so, this weather is a little murderous.”
“Right?”
“Perhaps the Goddess Solaria is wrathful….”
…I have no idea what she’s angry about, but please, spare us. Just let us live.
Cooling off in the shade left my skin sticky with sweat. There was a stream right there… but it was far too open a spot to wash properly. Maybe just splash my face.
“I’m going to rinse off real quick.”
“…I’ll come too.”
“Me as well….”
…So we were all thinking the same thing. Together we moved down to the stream. The water looked clear and clean.
Part of me just wanted to dive straight in. Estelle and Celine crouched at the water’s edge.
“…I want to get in.”
“We can’t. There’s nowhere to change….”
They settled for scooping water in both hands and washing their faces. For a second I wondered if that would ruin their makeup—then I remembered both of them were bare-faced, and a chill ran down my spine.
…Two natural beauties, right here.
Water dripping from her face, Celine looked over at me.
“Hero, aren’t you going to wash?”
“Ah—right, I should.”
I knelt down, ready to rinse my face, when—
Splash!
Water hit me square in the face.
“…?”
It had come from the side. Celine, right next to me, was staring in surprise. So not her.
“…Pfft♡ You can’t even react to that, Hero~? And you expect to fight monsters~? So pathetic♡”
“…Ha ha.”
Of course it was her.
“Saint, it feels nice, but—”
Splash!
Let me finish a sentence, damn it.
“Missed again♡ Dummy♡”
“One more time and I swear I won’t—”
Splash!
“…Argh, that’s it!!!”
“Kyaa♡ The scrub Hero’s mad~!”
“Wait—don’t splash me too!!”
I scooped water with both hands and flung it at Estelle for all I was worth.
“Kyaaah~!”
“Hero, I’m getting soaked too! Ah, honestly!!”
Forgetting my own clothes were getting drenched, I soaked Estelle thoroughly on pure spite alone—and laughed out loud.
“Haha! That’s what you get for not knowing when to stop!”
“Really~♡ I’m completely soaked♡”
I win, you little menace!
I was looking at her in high spirits when something suddenly felt… off.
Hm…?
Estelle’s and Celine’s clothes were plastered to their bodies, soaked through. Which meant their figures were on full, unmistakable display.
“…Uh? …Uhhh!?”
“What’s wrong, Hero? You look like an idiot♡”
“…Saint, I think I know why the Hero is reacting like that.”
“Hm?”
Celine pointed at Estelle’s body. Estelle looked down at herself.
…I saw nothing. This has nothing to do with me.
Once she grasped the situation, Estelle’s face went scarlet and she threw both arms around herself. That hardly covered everything—the lines of her whole body, hips included, were still painfully clear.
Eyes faintly shining with tears, she shouted at me.
“Don’t look…!”
“…I didn’t.”
…Enjoyed the view, though. Thanks for that.
Poculum, capital of the Vesta Kingdom. Elfride was currently staying there.
Poculum was hosting this season’s regular report assembly, so after returning to her family estate for the crown prince’s banquet, she had simply remained.
The same was true of Revius. Elfride found herself at a loss over how she ought to treat him at the coming assembly.
I was angry, yes, but….
He was a fellow Hero all the same—something like a junior of hers. One mistake ought to be forgivable, shouldn’t it? That was what she had been thinking when another thought suddenly surfaced, and she murmured,
“…Since it’s the regular report assembly, Abel will be coming too, won’t he?”
Of course he would. Abel was a Hero like the rest of them; attendance was mandatory.
Elfride decided this was her chance. A real chance to grow properly close to Abel.
They had broken the ice somewhat when they met in Habsburg. Now she wanted to build an actual friendship.
Before she knew it, her worries about Revius had vanished from her mind, leaving only the thought that she needed to get closer to Abel.
“Mmm….”
The problem was she had no idea how. Among nobles, friendships usually began when mutual interests aligned.
Attitudes might change after the fact, but for people of her station, most bonds started from that kind of calculation.
Elfride didn’t want that with Abel. She wanted to become friends the way real friends did.
On top of that, Abel was common-born. Approach him with anything that smelled of calculation and he might only grow wary.
“…What should I do?”
Judging by the personality she’d seen so far, if she sincerely wanted to be friends, he would almost certainly meet her halfway. Abel was that kind of person.
The real obstacle was the Solaria Church’s Saint who hovered at his side—Estelle. With Estelle forever trying to interfere, getting close to Abel was never simple.
How to befriend him… the question followed Elfride even after she left her room. Watching her, Saint Cynthia asked,
“Elfride, is something troubling you?”
“…I was wondering how I might grow closer to Abel.”
“…Hero Abel?”
Cynthia looked at her with mild puzzlement. They were fellow Heroes who had already broken the ice; wasn’t that enough? Before their fight, Elfride’s relationship with Revius had been much the same.
But Elfride wasn’t satisfied with that. She wanted to be true friends with Abel—the real thing.
“I want a good relationship with him.”
At those words, Cynthia’s eyes went round with surprise. A good relationship. Elfride had meant friendship—but Cynthia took it another way.
Perhaps that was the more natural reaction. Between a man and a woman, “a good relationship” usually called romance to mind first.
Even though she wasn’t involved at all, Cynthia’s heart started fluttering. Feeling as if she’d stumbled into a romance novel, she offered advice.
“Then why not try giving him a gift?”
“A gift?”
“Yes. No one dislikes a present given out of goodwill, do they? And you’re his senior Hero, so you could frame it as encouragement for a junior.”
“Hmm. That makes sense.”
Elfride genuinely thought it was a fine idea. Glad she’d spoken to Cynthia, she thanked her.
“Thank you, Cynthia. I feel like I’ve found a way forward.”
“And I think time alone together would be important too!”
Cynthia offered the suggestion in a voice more animated than usual. Surprised by her enthusiasm but listening carefully, Elfride asked,
“Time alone? How so?”
“What about sharing a drink? As a senior Hero, treating a junior to a round wouldn’t be strange at all, would it? You did the same for Hero Revius.”
Elfride nodded. When she’d bought Revius drinks it had simply been looking after a junior—but it didn’t seem like a bad approach.
Still mulling over what gift to give Abel, Elfride waited for the day of the regular report assembly.