Chapter 26
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Beach in the Basement
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"That doctor isn't that kind of doctor..."
"Camping."
Elma mumbled.
"Pardon?"
"Let's play camping."
Elma drew up her knees.
The oversized shirt draped over her body.
Only her head poked out.
Her torso was tucked inside the T-shirt.
It resembled a tent.
"Come on in."
She lifted the hem of the shirt.
"In here?"
"Yeah. This is our tent."
I chuckled and bent down.
'It's a bit small for a tent.'
I swallowed the words.
Instead, I slipped my hand under the raised hem.
Whoosh.
Scorching heat.
"......"
The feel of bare skin.
Elma flinched.
"Eek..."
My palm cupped her thigh.
A substantial weight filled my hand.
Petite height, but not scrawny.
Firm, dense flesh.
Exquisite.
"Haaah..."
Elma pressed her forehead against my chest and moaned.
"Husband's hand is so big..."
"You're just small, Elma."
"No. Yours is ridiculously big."
A cute, nasal whine of embarrassment.
Elma ducked her head.
Stroke. Stroke.
I ran my hand down her spine.
Her shoulders twitched up.
"Ticklish?"
"No... Feels good."
She rubbed her forehead against my shoulder.
Like a contented cat.
Her small body burrowed deeper into my arms.
"Hold me tighter."
Instead of answering, I slid my hand deeper inside.
I hugged her back firmly.
With just the T-shirt between us.
My stomach pressed against her chest.
Thump. Thump.
The heartbeat from beyond the point of contact.
"Elma, your heart's pounding like crazy right now, you know that?"
"......I'm just a little startled."
"Why?"
"Your hand's too hot..."
A lie.
Elma's body was far hotter.
She wriggled and wrapped around my neck.
Her upturned eyes were misty.
Eyes brimming with affection for me.
"Husband."
"Yes."
"Am I... pretty?"
A sudden question.
But I knew the anxiety beneath it.
Her small stature, her different appearance.
That heart craving daily reassurance of love.
Inside the tent, I patted her back.
I lightly kissed the top of her head.
Mwah.
"The prettiest in the world."
"......Tch."
Her lips twitched.
A tsundere expression, pleased yet playing coy.
"All talk."
"I mean it."
"Then prove it."
She closed her eyes gently and puckered her lips.
"With your lips."
No reason to refuse.
As I lowered my head, our breaths mingled.
Sweet skin scent.
Mwah.
I lightly pressed our lips together and pulled away.
Thud, thump. Thud-thud, thump-thump.
Our heartbeats began syncing up more and more.
"That enough?"
"No. Not enough."
She pulled my neck harder.
Clinging like a koala.
"Make it so intense I can't breathe."
She grabbed my chest again.
Pulled my head down.
This time, deeper.
Smack. Slurp.
Wet sounds.
Inside the T-shirt tent, I caressed her trembling back.
Entwining tongues, mixing saliva.
A long, long kiss.
"Haa... Haa..."
Our lips parted.
Her face flushed deep.
Eyes languidly unfocused.
She was so lovable I could hardly bear it.
"Husband."
"Yes."
"Let's stop."
"Already?"
Elma shook her head and whispered in my ear.
"Not camping."
"......"
"The kind real couples do."
She gripped my hand tightly inside the T-shirt.
Led it with her pounding chest.
"I want to feel you all the way, Husband."
A shy yet bold temptation.
I smiled and withdrew my hand from the T-shirt.
"Shall we go, Princess?"
I scooped her up in my arms.
Light, yet solid.
"Hold on tight."
"Yeah. I won't drop you."
Elma buried her face in my chest.
The T-shirt hem trailed long.
Like a bride's dress.
One morning.
The dining table.
Clink.
"Huh?"
I dropped my spoon.
"Husband?"
Elma's eyes went wide.
A milk mustache on her upper lip.
"What's wrong all of a sudden? You okay?"
"No... Just got dizzy out of nowhere."
I touched my forehead.
My vision spun.
The world blurred for a moment, then cleared.
Nausea roiled in my gut.
"Dizzy?"
Elma's face hardened.
Thud!
She leaped onto the table.
Kneeled and checked my complexion.
"Oh no, your face is so pale! Good lord, look at that cold sweat!"
"It's nothing. Just a bit anemic..."
"What do you mean nothing! My husband's on his deathbed!"
Elma screamed.
"Hey! Tin Can! Call 119! No, launch the chopper!"
"No, it's not that serious..."
"Quiet! Until the doctor says it's fine, it's not fine!"
"No need to go that far..."
"Tch! You got a PhD or what!? If the doctor says it's serious, it is!"
"That doctor isn't that kind of doctor..."
Even amid the panic, our deflated banter flew back and forth.
Elma placed her tiny finger on my wrist.
As if taking my pulse.
"You can't die... I don't wanna be a widow..."
Tears welled in her eyes.
With worry like that, I had no choice but to go to the hospital.
In the end, we took Elma's car to the hospital.
Honk honk!
"Hey, 7885! You damn punk, cutting in with a kei car! My husband's dying here!"
"Please... just... urgh..."
"Oh my god! Now he's gonna puke!"
"That's because you..."
Suffering through Elma's reckless driving.
I felt even worse.
"Vitamin D deficiency."
The diagnosis.
"Pardon?"
"You haven't seen enough sunlight. Common in young folks these days, but yours is pretty bad. What are you, a mole?"
The dryad doctor clicked her tongue.
Poking the keyboard with branches from her head, she scolded.
Mole... Fair enough.
"Your skin's ghostly pale. Even vampires from Arcadia aren't this bad."
"Ah..."
"Get outside and walk around. Photosynthesize a bit. I'll prescribe supplements and meds—take 'em religiously."
Coming from a dryad, it carried double the weight.
Elma, hearing the diagnosis, hung her head low.
Like a sinner.
"......"
"Elma?"
She sniffled.
"It's my fault."
"Pardon?"
"I kept you locked underground..."
Elma clutched my shirt hem tightly.
Her hands trembled.
"Stuck you in that sunless basement... Now you're wilting away..."
"No. It's just that I've been less active lately..."
"Don't lie! Humans need the sun to live! But because of my selfishness!"
Self-reproach.
Guilt.
Elma's eyes shook fiercely.
"Sorry. I didn't think... You're human..."
"Elma."
"Sob, I never even checked ahead... Even if you divorce a wretch like me, I wouldn't blame you..."
Tears plopped down.
Crying so pitifully.
"Just take the supplements and go for walks—it'll fix right up."
"Sob... Still..."
"I'm fine. Really."
I patted her back.
After a long bout of sniffles, Elma lifted her head.
Her eyes were red-rimmed.
"......Won't do."
She wiped her tears.
A stern expression.
Eyes set with resolve.
...This look spells trouble.
"We have to change it."
"Change what?"
"The environment."
Elma's eyes gleamed.
A scholar's determination.
And a dwarf's infamous stubbornness.
"If there's a problem, eliminate the cause."
"No, just going for walks is enough..."
"Walks are a band-aid! Not a real fix!"
Elma clenched her fist.
This is gonna be a disaster.
She'd already made up her mind.
To cause one.
"I'll make it so you don't have to go out."
"Pardon?"
"I'll bring the sun to you."
......The phrasing was ominous.
A chill ran down my spine.
"Elma. Please don't do anything weird. Just... go out for walks."
"Hmph. Don't worry. Who am I? Great Magic Engineer Elma Bronzebeer. PhD in your face!"
She snorted.
A confident smile.
But her eyes glittered with madness.
'Please...'
I prayed inwardly.
Please, if you're gonna cause trouble,
keep it within fixable bounds under Republic of Korea-Eisenberg Federation civil and criminal law.
The Hague's off-limits.
Afternoon.
Lecture hall.
"......"
The seat beside me felt empty.
Normally, she'd follow invisible,
or hide in my bag at least.
Elma said she'd stay home.
'Got research to do.'
'This is making me so anxious.'
The lecture wasn't registering.
I kept glancing at my smartwatch.
Elma alone at home.
In a 'resolved' state.
A ticking time bomb already.
Then.
-Wrrrrrr!
Sudden noise.
The fluorescent lights flickered.
"Huh? What?"
Students murmured.
Crackle-
Pop.
Lights out.
Projector dead.
Power outage.
"What?"
"What's going on?"
Murmurs.
Not a blackout...
My annoyingly sharp mana sense.
Mana in the air was surging.
A massive amount of magic power sucked toward somewhere.
'No way.'
That's when.
Rumble...
The floor shook.
Pens rolled off desks.
"E-earthquake?"
"Under the desks!"
Chaos.
But I knew the truth.
Drilling.
'Elma...!'
Ominous hunches never miss.
I grabbed my bag.
Bolted from the lecture hall.
Running the corridor, the windows were abuzz.
"Look at that! The lake!"
"Where'd all the water go?"
Students crowded the windows.
I glanced too.
The campus's famous artificial lake.
Bottom exposed.
As if someone slurped up the water.
"This is insane."
Electricity.
Earth.
Water.
The culprit is probably...
I kicked into gear and ran.
Back home.
"I'm home! Elma!"
No reply.
Instead.
Boom!! Crash! Thud! Bang-!
Construction-site-level racket greeted me.
"Elma!"
I followed the noise.
The bathroom.
"No way..."
With trembling hands, I opened the door.
And beyond it.
"What in the world is..."
The bathroom was formerly a bathroom.
A vast cavern now.
The original dug-out cave expanded several times over.
Ceiling.
Blinding glare.
A house-sized mana stone chunk shone like the sun.
That must've sucked up all the electricity.
Floor.
Soft sandy beach.
White sand from who-knows-where.
And water.
Waves lapped.
Probably from the lake.
Walls and sky.
Sky-blue paint.
Clouds detailed to perfection.
A beach.
Underground-made.
"Hey! Dig more there! No angle!"
Familiar voice.
On the dune.
Elma was there.
"......"
Wearing a yellow hardhat.
Too big for her small head, slipping down.
Blueprint in one hand, megaphone in the other.
Commanding dozens of golems.
The picture of a site foreman.
"Hey! Too deep there! You'll make a whirlpool! You gonna take responsibility if Husband drowns? Smooth it out!"
Golems hurriedly dumped sand.
"Elma..."
I called in a quavering voice.
Elma turned.
"Husband!"
Her face lit up.
She slid down the dune.
Pat-pat-pat!
Hardhat rattling.
She stood before me.
Work vest, dirt-smeared face.
Yet her eyes sparkled innocently.
"Already back? Not done finishing up yet!"
"What is all this?"
"Can't you tell? It's the sea!"