Unexpected Encounter at the Moonlight Spring
Brilliant shards of light scattered across the clear surface of the lake, as if shattered stars were pouring down into water that held the full glow of the moon.
Around it, flowers steeped in that same radiance glittered like jewels—an unreal landscape straight out of a fairy tale.
“We finally… made it.”
And in that instant, the sight at the center of the spring froze me solid.
“…Huh?”
Right in the middle of the spring, someone was washing themselves—upper body completely bare.
Back muscles gleaming smoothly under the moonlight. Firm shoulders honed by training. Soft green hair with water droplets clinging and trailing down.
“…B-Basil?!”
Isn’t the usual rule for events like this a heroine service scene? Why the hell is that guy doing that here!
Before my shock could even fade, Basil sensed our presence, startled, and whipped around.
“Wha—?! S-Saya?! Why are you—hup!”
Abo covered her face with both hands, but the gaps between her fingers were wide open with curiosity she couldn’t suppress, while Kado scowled as if he’d just witnessed every unclean thing in the world.
Silence.
In the awkward, almost suffocating quiet, only the soft drip of spring water—plip—echoed.
“U-um… so… first, we should collect the spring water…”
Just as I was desperately trying to change the subject—
Basil’s gaze locked onto the bloodstained bandage tightly wrapped around my left shoulder.
In an instant, the fluster and shame vanished from his face as if they’d never been there. His pupils trembled with raw urgency.
“Saya! That wound of yours…!”
“Huh?”
“Are you okay?! Where did you get hurt? Hang on, I’ll come right—!”
Forgetting entirely that he was naked, Basil leapt out of the spring and started running toward me. Water sprayed in every direction, his frantic footsteps ringing through the quiet spring clearing.
That pure, innocent face.
That unchanging kindness.
But the problem was, he was completely naked right now.
“W-wait, hold on!!”
I shouted, stumbling backward, but it seemed the only thing in Basil’s eyes was the wound on my shoulder.
Just before he could reach me, a massive wall blocked his path.
“That’s far enough.”
Like an owner stopping a giant dog’s charge, Kado—who had been standing beside me—planted one hand squarely on Basil’s forehead and halted his approach.
“L-let go! Saya’s hurt—”
“Shut up, you pervert! Put some clothes on first!”
“I need to treat her—!”
“You charging in naked is worse for that wound than anything, you idiot!”
Blocked by Kado’s solid arm, Basil let out a strange groan and thrashed, the desperate struggle only making his body even more blatantly visible.
Even if we’re both guys, looking at that is a bit much.
“Basil.”
I spoke in the calmest voice I could manage. Right now, I was the only one who could clean up this chaos.
“Could you put some clothes on first? I… don’t know where to put my eyes.”
“H-huh? Uh… uhh…?”
At my words, Basil’s face flushed tomato-red, ready to burst.
He screamed, finally grasping his own state, and bolted. His silhouette flickered under the moonlight as he scrambled for clothes behind the bushes.
Kado clicked his tongue in pure disdain.
“Tch. Not a pervert—more like something’s wrong with his head.”
“He’s… a good person.”
A short while later, Basil reappeared, properly dressed, fidgeting awkwardly.
He couldn’t even look me in the face properly, muttering with his head hung low.
“S-sorry you had to see that.”
“Hey, are you even sane?”
Kado snapped at him, arms crossed.
“Even if you were sweaty and filthy, bathing right out in the open in the middle of a training ground where other teams might pass by?”
“Th-that’s…! There’s a reason…”
Basil cried out as if wronged, then shot me a pitiful glance.
Ah…
I had told him to, yes.
But this was beyond what I’d expected.
In the original game, soaking in the Moonlight Spring ten times granted the hidden trait Silky Skin.
The Silky Skin trait raised charm, helping raise affection with the more difficult heroines later on—so Basil absolutely needed it.
That’s why, before the practical started, along with the forest precautions, I’d told him he had to soak in the spring ten times…
But who said to use it like a public bathhouse, stark naked!
This pure, dense protagonist didn’t have a shred of flexibility.
I kept my expression carefully neutral and spoke.
“I suggested it.”
“What?”
Kado’s eyes went round.
“Moonlight Spring water is especially good for purifying mana. Basil’s been pushing himself lately, so his mana flow was a bit twisted. I told him to soak here. …Though even I didn’t expect him to strip completely and do it out in the open like that.”
At the quiet addition at the end, Basil’s shoulders flinched and he shrank even smaller.
In the game, entering here did restore mana too.
Kado snorted and narrowed his eyes. Suspicion still filled his gaze, but he didn’t press further.
Then Basil spotted my wound again and hurried over.
“Ah, right! Saya, the wound! Let’s treat it first—!”
“I’m fine. I already got first aid, and I drank a good potion, so I’ve done pretty much everything I can.”
“Still… if it hurts at all, tell me right away.”
“Got it. By the way, Basil—where’s the rest of your team?”
“Ah, when I said I had to go in exactly ten times, they said they’d look around the area for a bit. They’ll be back soon.”
“Hmm. So how many times have you gone in so far?”
“This was the ninth… so just one more and I’m done.”
Nine times.
Continuously.
Naked.
For a moment my head spun.
“Crazy bastard.”
As if voicing my inner thoughts, Kado’s sigh burst out.
“But Saya asked me to, so I have to…”
“Um… Basil, what about doing it with clothes on?”
“I didn’t bring any clothes except my training uniform…”
“…”
I thought for a moment, then turned to Kado with resolve.
“Kado, could you lend Basil a spare set of clothes?”
“Haaah? Are you serious? Why would I lend my clothes to that pervert?”
“Please.”
“No.”
“Could you grant me this one request?”
It was just an ordinary line.
Due to the influence of the special terrain Moonlight Spring, the effect of the hidden stat Charm is greatly amplified.
That ordinary line rode the surrounding mana and sank into Kado’s reason like an irresistible siren’s song.
“Why… would I do what you ask… damn it, what the hell…”
His face flushed red with confusion. His rational mind seemed to be refusing, but the desperate internal conflict was written plain across his features.
“…Fine. Fine! I’ll lend them, okay?!”
In the end, Kado shouted as if screaming, roughly opened his dimensional pouch, yanked out a spare set of clothes, and flung them at Basil.
Then, muttering curses I couldn’t make out, he retreated several steps as if fleeing from me, huffing and puffing.
…So this is what ‘Charm’ actually meant?
“Basil.”
“Y-yeah?”
Basil, who had been flusteredly catching the clothes Kado threw, looked at me.
“I’ll go in with you.”
Basil’s face turned into a perfectly ripe tomato again. But this time Kado exploded first.
“Hey! Why are you doing this too! What are you planning with that pervert!”
“I need a bit of mana purification myself. Kado, Abo—want to join?”
I fixed Kado with the same gaze as before, watching him steadily.
“I… I… shut up!!”
Kado groaned and finally whipped his head away.
His face was scarlet all the way to the tips of his ears, looking like a desperate struggle to never meet my eyes again.
Then Abo, who had been silent the entire time since we ran into Basil, carefully spoke up.
“I… I’ll… skip going in the water… I’ll just look around nearby…”
“Okay. Don’t follow anything weird, and be careful.”
I’d fully expected Abo to insist on entering the spring with me, but her expression was strangely complicated.
Trauma with water? Or a scar she doesn’t want seen?
I watched her retreating back and thought for a moment, but this wasn’t a situation where I could openly press her about it, so I decided to leave it alone for now.
“Then could you two turn around for a bit? I need to change.”
“Huh?”
In the outdoor practical section, there were two hidden pieces.
The item Beast’s Mask, and the trait Silky Skin.
I wasn’t about to miss something that could only be obtained in this forest.
“Haaah? What?”
Kado yelped in shock, but I paid him no mind.
“What do you mean, what? Are you going to watch me change?”
“Haaah? Wh-who said they were watching!!”
“If you’re going to look, at least do it carefully with a side glance so it’s not obvious.”
“I’m not looking!!!”
Seeing Kado’s face flush as if it might explode any second, I figured I’d teased him enough.
After that, Basil—who met my eyes—let out a strange noise and spun around to sit facing the bushes, covering his face with both hands.
In the quiet spring clearing, only the soft rustle of fabric sounded.
I stripped off my training uniform and took out what I’d prepared from my pack.
A practical navy swimsuit with the Solaris Academy crest embroidered small on the chest.
Never thought I’d end up wearing a swimsuit of this design… but it might suit this body?
Slender white arms and a narrow waist that my previous life’s self could never have imagined. Even days after the transmigration, this body still felt utterly alien.
If I’m going in the water… I should take the bandage off, right?
Thanks to Scone’s treatment and the expensive potion Kado had given me, the shoulder wound had healed quite a bit.
“I’m done. You can look now.”
The moment I finished speaking, Kado reacted first. He whipped his head around as if dying of curiosity, then made a sharp sound of swallowing his breath when he saw me.
But Basil was different.
He carefully turned his head, and the instant he saw me standing with my feet in the spring water, he froze solid like someone who had just had every sound in the world cut off.
Skin so dazzlingly white it was almost dizzying, catching both the moonlight and the spring’s radiance at once.
The swimsuit, focused purely on function, only emphasized the unreal curves of the body even more.
Silver hair fluttering in the night breeze, and beneath it, ruby-red eyes shining like jewels.
Basil’s soft green eyes trembled helplessly. His parted lips produced no sound at all, only quivering faintly.
What’s with him this time?
I didn’t have the leisure to enjoy his confusion.
It had been a long day of tension and chaos, so I just wanted to get the trait and rest.
“Basil.”
“…….”
“Basil?”
“Huh? Uh, u-uh?!”
At my call, he startled as if waking from a long dream.
“What are you doing just standing there? Let’s finish this quick and rest.”