Tender Times (3)
"Princess...?"
Rian, having just woken, looked around and pushed himself upright.
"Prin— ngh!"
The instant he tried to stand, a savage pain tore through his entire lower body. Still sitting, he stretched his legs out and stared down at them.
They were a ruin of blood. It had dried and no longer ran, but every twitch of his legs sent a throbbing ache through him.
"Where did she go...?"
Still seated, Rian called out toward the mouth of the cave.
"Princess! Princess! Priiiinceeess!"
He listened after shouting.
"..."
A rustling reached him a moment later. Someone was coming this way — those familiar footsteps he had heard so many times. Rian smiled in relief.
Then Audria appeared, naked as always.
"You're awake?"
"I thought you'd left me behind."
"As if I would ever do such a thing."
"Are you feeling better?"
"Moving my arm is a bit uncomfortable, but it will pass with time. Don't concern yourself with me."
She smiled as she walked into the cave, a handful of unfamiliar herbs clutched in her right hand.
"What's that?"
He pointed as he asked, but instead of answering she popped one of the herbs into her mouth and chewed it thoroughly as she spoke.
"It's a medicinal herb that keeps wounds from festering and helps them heal quickly without scarring. I was fortunate enough to find some growing nearby."
"You picked those for my legs?"
She nodded, spat the mashed herb from her mouth, and pressed it to Rian's wounds.
"Aaagh!"
"Don't be such a baby. Endure it."
"It stings like crazy!"
"It hurts because it's healing you."
And with that, Audria started chewing another handful. Each time another wad of saliva-crushed herb was added to his legs, Rian jerked and yelped along in a rhythm all his own. By the time she had covered both legs entirely, he was flat on his back, sniffling.
"It burns... it hurts..."
"Don't move. Stay like that for about an hour."
Audria sat down beside his head, stretched one leg out, and rested Rian's head upon her thigh. Then she stroked his hair.
"Just a little longer. You'll be better soon."
"Yes, Prin— hup!"
Rian had glanced up at her face without thinking, only to find himself staring straight at the underswell of her full, rounded breasts. He snapped his gaze away at once.
Audria tilted her head at the sight.
"What's the matter?"
"N-nothing. I just... I'm really grateful. Thank you, Princess."
Rian blinked rapidly and swallowed.
"Look at my eyes. When you speak to someone, you look them in the eye. Where are you looking?"
"Th-this is more comfortable."
"Your neck looks strained. Lie down properly."
Audria reached out with both hands and tried to turn his head back. Rian tensed his neck in a token show of resistance, but in the end he had no choice but to look up at her.
Nngh, this isn't my fault. But... hehe, this is nice...
Her face was barely even visible, hidden behind that ample bosom.
They passed the time waiting for the herbs to take effect with conversation of all kinds. At first Rian was so lost in her chest he scarcely registered a word she said, but lying there with his head pillowed on Audria's cloud-soft, comfortable thighs, chatting pleasantly about this and that, his heart gradually settled — and before long, he had fully regained his composure.
Above all, Rian had never regarded Audria as a woman, only as a mentor he deeply respected, and the conviction that he must never dishonor her — even in his own thoughts — ran strong within him.
"Princess. I really want to know now. That injury you've had since the day we first met half a year ago — who hurt you? Why hasn't it healed yet?"
Ordinarily she would have scowled and refused to answer. But just as Rian had found comfort on her thigh, Audria too seemed to have opened her heart through their pleasant conversation, and she merely smiled.
"A month before I met you, a Blue Dragon came to our King and Queen's Sanctuary Farm."
She gazed toward the cave wall, lost in recollection.
"He introduced himself as Raquios — an old friend of my mother's. He told me the world was on the verge of being overrun by the demon race. That we dragons could no longer turn a blind eye, that it was time we took a stand. I was far too naive then. Hearing that the world was in such dire straits pained me, so I followed him, thinking I might be of some help."
"So he was conning you, then?"
Rian had been so absorbed in her story he'd forgotten to breathe, and the blunt question made Audria burst out laughing.
"No. Every word he spoke was true. The world had united every race against a Demon King of unprecedented power. Raquios and I made for a place called Brodino, where a crucial battle was about to begin. The Demon King Vanderzhaar himself was stationed with the enemy forces there."
"If even the Demon King showed up, it must have been a battle of enormous importance."
Audria nodded and continued.
"Once the fighting began, we battled for seven days and seven nights. Vanderzhaar had already slain a god called Nadre and absorbed that power, and he was every bit as formidable as the rumors claimed. Even with Raquios and myself and everyone else combining our strength, bringing him down was simply impossible."
She let out a small sigh.
"Toward the end of the battle, Raquios was gravely wounded, and I too suffered a deep internal injury. That is not to say our efforts were in vain. Vanderzhaar took no small amount of damage himself. But Brodino ultimately fell to the Demon King's army, and Raquios and I had no choice but to retreat with the others. And then I met you."
"Ah, so that's why."
Rian clapped his hands.
"That's why you mistook me for a demon the day we first met?"
"Yes. That was the reason."
"That Demon King is something else. Holding his own against dragons..."
"He was originally a worthless elf. An elf who fell to corruption and became the Demon King."
"An elf? Whoa, I want to see an elf."
Audria glared at his grinning face.
"We're in the middle of a serious conversation. Why are you changing the subject? Sometimes you seem so reliable, and then other times you're like a child who hasn't grown up."
"In front of a princess who's lived three hundred and seven years, I'll be a newborn for the rest of my life. I'll probably look like a child to you until the day I die."
Rian joked, steering the conversation elsewhere.
"Princess. What if the Demon King's army invades this far? Shouldn't we have some kind of plan?"
"Worry not. My parents laid a barrier here three hundred years ago. From the outside, the path cannot be found — and even should someone know it, none could ever enter."
Before long, the wounds on both of Rian's legs had closed right up. Some scars from the Man-eating Fish remained, but there was no pain, and walking posed no difficulty at all.
Rian bounced in place, grinning from ear to ear.
"What kind of magic was that? I'm already healed!"
"You're all right now?"
"Yes! I could go farm right this minute!"
"Let's not overdo it today."
Audria smiled brightly.
The herbs had played their part, but a dragon's saliva had clearly done wonders for the regeneration of his skin.
At any rate, Rian later soared into the sky astride Audria in her dragon form. He whooped as the fierce wind battered him from head to toe.
"We should go on picnics now and then and do this all the time!"
At that, Audria smiled brightly.
"No."
That evening, Rian sat lost in thought for some time. The sight of Audria's chest from earlier that day refused to leave his mind.
Let there be no misunderstanding. He was not entertaining any lewd fantasies. Rian was simply feeling that something was wrong.
I can't let the Princess keep going around naked.
Until now, Audria's naked form had been so beautiful that he had faced her body each day with a fluttering heart, as though admiring a work of art. But this was different.
She's been living all alone, shut away in these remote mountains. I should be the one taking care of her.
After everything that had happened, his feelings for Audria had grown larger than ever — and with them, his respect had swelled beyond measure. He wanted to protect her noble dignity. He wanted her to see, with her own eyes, how much he respected and appreciated her.
If this were a city, I'd go to a clothing shop and buy her a gift... well, so much for throwing her a surprise.
Still pondering, he dumped the entire treasure sack from the room onto the floor.
"Not this. This one's no good. This is junk."
Sitting amid the pile of treasure, he rummaged for a long while until at last he found something buried among the gold coins, and let out a cry of triumph.
"This is it!"
In Rian's beaming hands was a flowing sky-blue one-piece dress.
At that same moment, the White Dragon's lair lay within a great iceberg at the heart of a frozen lakeshore. It had been her mother's lair since millennia ago, when she had reigned as the Queen of Snow, and the interior exuded a resplendent elegance, overflowing with treasures of every kind.
Within, Audria stood gazing at a "rope" displayed upon the ice wall. Even at a glance, it was no ordinary rope — a special brown cord, clearly crafted from precious materials.
"Father. I've found someone I wish to give your farming tool — Lagreanir — to."
The memory of Rian's ruined, bloodied legs made her chest ache once more. Then the image of him carrying her in his arms like a princess, striding so gallantly toward the water, rose in her mind — and her heart suddenly fluttered, a smile forming on her lips of its own accord.
She took Lagreanir down from the wall.