Ep.8 - Across the Border (1)
Ep.8 - Across the Border (1)
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Before the sun illuminated the entire world, Riko and Delin stayed together.
Seated beneath a tree, they looked out at the blue world slowly sharpening into clarity.
Riko sat leaning against the tree, and Delin nestled quietly in her arms, listening to the beat of her heart.
Into that prolonged quiet, Delin was the first to speak.
'We should go back inside before everyone wakes up.'
Riko, however, said nothing in particular. She simply drew her head forward a little, rested it on Delin's shoulder, and gazed silently at his profile.
She did not want to let go of this time with him.
Just sitting here beneath the shade of the tree,
just holding him quietly and feeling him was enough.
The fact that she had to take Delin's hand and return to the other women made Riko smile bitterly.
'It'll be a while before they wake up. Don't underestimate my poison. Even if they do wake, it probably won't be until the sun is high in the sky.'
So, seizing the fleeting moment, she drew a breath to savor Delin a little longer.
The scent of his skin rising from Delin's nape,
his small, delicately trembling hand,
savoring his soft yet firm young body.
'...You son of a bitch.'
She layered a curse onto herself, who had fallen utterly for him, and onto him, who had seduced her with that lecherous body of his.
'Hey. Do me one favor. I've conceded a lot, so you've got to grant me this favor.'
On top of that, she tacked on another demand.
Delin shifted slightly, adjusted his position, and answered her.
'...What is it? I'll do it.'
To him, granting a favor was a way of shedding the burden he carried.
For Riko, who could force him to stay and get what she wanted, to ask him for a favor...
it meant she had shown him that much consideration and had made that many concessions.
'Go on. Tell me.'
So Delin promised to grant her request.
However, Riko's [request] put him in a difficult spot.
'You should get a tattoo too.'
At first, he couldn't guess what she meant by a 'tattoo,' but as soon as he grasped the true meaning, Delin flinched in shock and shook his head vehemently.
'Y-you want me to get a tattoo?!'
Having lived a relatively model student life, he'd never touched dye or tattoos. He vehemently rejected the idea of committing an irreversible mistake on his precious body. But,
'What? You don't want to?'
He couldn't resist Riko, who was embracing him from behind and now gripping his wrist tightly.
He'd said he'd grant her request, so he couldn't exactly refuse,
and if he didn't soothe Riko's mood here, it would cause problems for them traveling together going forward...
'...What kind of tattoo is it? I'll hear you out first. I'm really just listening, that's all.'
Thus, he relented and yielded to Riko's demand.
'Here. See?'
Riko turned his head and made him look at the tattoos on her own thigh and forearm.
'This one's a rose. This one's my thieves' guild mark.'
Looking closely at the tattoos, which boasted considerable quality, Delin gulped.
Regardless of how pretty they were, getting a tattoo definitely meant all kinds of stares and social stigma in the future...
...No, wait. This is a fantasy world.
Did he really need to judge by the standards of his original world?
'S-so I just have to get the tattoo?'
'Yeah. Then I'll hold back too. I'll try to hold back at least a few more times going forward.'
If getting a tattoo meant she'd refrain from causing conflict in the future, it wasn't a bad deal.
'It's just a stupid tattoo...'
But there was one real problem.
If the other noonas found out about these tattoos, would they really let it slide so easily?
'If... if I get these on my body, the other noonas are going to kick up a fuss. This is just...'
Delin couldn't finish his sentence and swallowed for a moment.
'Isn't this just the same as getting a tattoo to show you're submitting to some thug boyfriend or black guys...?'
It was a little worrying, but.
Riko's stiffened face and voice eventually clawed through his heart and made him accept the request, and...
Still held in her arms, Delin received a tattoo that could never be erased, under Riko's devoted touch.
One on his wrist, one on his ankle.
On his wrist, a black rose signifying secrecy and eternal love.
On his ankle, a symbol expressing the pride of a thief.
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The secretly engraved tattoo fortunately blended well with Delin's skin and looked beautiful.
'I-it's too big! What do I do...'
Of course, once it was done, Delin fidgeted anxiously, as it was quite noticeable,
but Riko calmed him down as if it meant nothing.
'It's fine, don't make a fuss. It's pretty, I like it.'
'The pretty part isn't the problem! I didn't know you'd make it this big...'
Delin sighed deeply, staring back and forth between his wrist and ankle.
In contrast to the resolve he'd felt before getting it, once it was done, the future seemed dark.
'What do I do if the other noonas ask what this is? They're all definitely going to notice...'
'Well. Just say you got a tattoo. Tell them my tattoos looked cool, so you asked me to do it.'
'That'll make an even bigger commotion...!'
'I doubt it. If you say you did it because you wanted to, they won't be able to say much and will back off.'
Riko's tattoos, which she claimed couldn't be erased even if the skin were peeled off, were truly beautiful.
The recipient couldn't bring himself to appreciate its intricate beauty, but regardless, it was a tattoo that couldn't have been done without a master's skill.
'Now don't we look a bit more like a couple?'
Whether she knew Delin's concerns or not, Riko looked at the tattoo on his wrist with satisfaction, drew it close to her lips, and gave it a brief kiss.
The sensation of her soft lips touching the tattoo gave him an odd feeling of being utterly dominated.
'I don't know... Haah. Anyway, you're not going to fight with the other noonas going forward. You promised...!'
'Yeah. I promised.'
Holding his hand, Riko locked their pinkies and shook them up and down a few times to seal the promise, then once again brought his wrist to her lips.
The anxiety that had dominated Riko's complicated heart subsided thanks to the matching tattoos.
Beyond a sense of unity as if they had become one, she felt a profound sense of bonding, as if they had sworn an oath on his very soul.
Their tattoos were a single conduit.
It was an oath that their relationship would not end no matter how much he gave his body to other women,
and a pledge that he would always live thinking of her.
Unlike the foolish verbal promises that were just lip service, it was a contract deeply engraved onto each other's souls.
Of course,
the tattoo meant to soothe one woman caused just as much displeasure and a sense of betrayal in the other women.
'Erase it this instant! Right now!!'
From the innocent Kaede, to Chichi who wore mana tattoos, to Neva with her jade-white skin.
All of them stared in disbelief at the tattoo engraved on Delin's body, enraged as if on fire.
Waking up late in the morning, before even washing their faces, they immediately began a huge fight.
The lodging was noisy for a while, and grew so heated that even Chichi's soundproof magic couldn't contain the fervor,
but in the end, not a single woman could refute Delin's words.
'I-I'm the one who asked for it!'
At that magnificent defense, none of the women could raise a protest.
Of course, even the women who had threatened to lunge at Riko as if to fight all set down their weapons in dismay,
and the lodging instantly froze over with silence, stillness, and awkwardness.
'What is this! Then let this humble one engrave my teeth marks on you, too! Kraang!'
'Ow! It hurts! Owww!'
Fortunately, Kaede had only sulked a little, and Chichi soon cheered up after extracting a promise that she would later engrave her mana tattoo just below his navel. However,
'...'
Neva alone kept her eyes on the tattoo engraved on Delin's body.
Her face was hard.
Despite being a knight, her skin was as white as jade, flawless and beautiful. Grinding her teeth, she stared at the black tattoo on Delin's body.
Dark clouds settled over her face. She began to feel as if she had been left out of the party.
'...Eva, let's hurry and pack our things—'
'I told you not to talk to me!'
Her younger sister snapped back sharply and avoided her.
Among the party, who chatted while looking at the tattoo, paying her no particular mind,
Neva packed her things alone, donning the impossibly complex pieces of armor one by one.
No one looked at her.
Even Helen stood by the others who were still arguing over the tattoo,
and Delin had no room to look at her as he was busy soothing the other women's feelings...
No one paid her any mind.
'Everyone, I said pack your things first! We don't have time to fight like this—'
Even her voice,
was buried by Kaede's distracting tail wagging,
Chichi's chiding nagging,
and Riko's mocking snickers.
Neva was alone.
The man she loved,
her precious little sister—
neither gave her any attention,
and everyone existed outside of her.
Neva's pupils wavered for a moment.
But even that wavering,
no one saw.
'...'
They left the lodging carrying a single, small ember.
Their destination was,
the gateway to the dwarf kingdom,
L'Myune.