Chapter 11. Summer and the Sea (4)
......It existed. A magic potion that made embarrassment disappear.
Well, it wasn't actually "magic." Strictly speaking, it was a phenomenon closer to biochemistry, or human physiology.
That's right. It was alcohol.
Still, I had a conscience, so I at least gave Ria a warning.
"Ria, don't drink too much."
"Mm."
Ria had once made a spectacular mistake with alcohol before, so even looking at the cans in front of us, she stared at them like they were incredibly troublesome.
The cans didn't look that dangerous. If anything, judging by the colors alone, they seemed fine to drink. Pink, and light green. One had a peach drawn on it, the other had grapes.
In reality, the alcohol content wasn't that strong either—a fruit-flavored, carbonated soju. It was a drink called chuhai.
A dangerous drink where the alcohol content was low and the sweet taste masked the smell of alcohol, so you kept drinking and then suddenly went down.
"Ah, you really don't have to drink any."
I said to Ria.
"Since you're weak to alcohol, Ria......."
I said it with a somewhat worried expression, but Ria actually narrowed her eyes as she looked at me.
And seeing that expression, I smirked inwardly.
Ria had strong pride. I'd read about it in the novel too, but after spending quite a long time together and observing her, I'd figured out that Ria didn't particularly like being called weak.
"......."
Ria picked up one of the cans, opened it, and gulped down several mouthfuls.
"Are you okay?"
"Hey, I can at least drink beer, you know?"
When I asked with a deliberately exaggerated worried expression, Ria said that with an offended look.
"Ah, really? That's a relief."
I said with a bright smile.
Ria seemed to have noticed I was teasing her, but she didn't seem inclined to back down easily.
Did she think "this much is fine"?
Lee Si-yoon, Han Yu-ri, and Glaria looked a bit dumbfounded watching the two of us, but well, that kind of thing didn't matter between us anymore.
*
We'd come to the sea to have fun, so we drank and ate meat.
The facility Ria had rented was originally a space used by the Hunter Association. Maybe because it was a place where employees came for training, it honestly looked far too spacious for just us to use.
But we felt a bit guilty about roaming through all that space and messing it up, so we'd just decided to use two rooms on the first floor.
It was a decent room with a balcony that had a clear view of the sea.
As for why there were two rooms for this many people, it was obviously because of Lee Si-yoon. He was the only guy.
Well, even so, Lee Si-yoon probably wouldn't end up sleeping alone in one room. This was a rom-com novel, after all.
Considering the personalities of the three, they wouldn't cross the line, but the two who had just become "adults" were obviously going to find their way into Lee Si-yoon's room somehow.
"Si-yoon?"
"Uh, yeah?"
And it wasn't just picking rooms. We'd come all the way here to have fun, so wouldn't it feel unfair to just stay in our rooms and leave?
At Ria's request, we'd secured a space where we could grill meat. This place was also quite large, but again, we felt too guilty to use all of it, so we decided to just take one corner spot for ourselves.
I'd gone over because I felt bad seeing Lee Si-yoon grilling meat all by himself, and Lee Si-yoon was a bit flustered.
Actually, from the moment he'd come along until now, Lee Si-yoon had been flustered the whole time. The most flustering thing was probably the fact that all the girls his age were wearing swimsuits while he was the only guy.
Thinking back to how Lee Si-yoon's thoughts were described in the novel, he'd actually liked it inwardly. His personality was just too gentlemanly to act on it.
Originally, the Saint would have fallen for Lee Si-yoon around this point too.
Because he'd awakened his power, fought at the very front, and worked hard by her side every time the Saint performed a ritual.
But now, if you had to pick the people most awkward with Lee Si-yoon, it was me and Ria. The two heroines who'd been the most aggressive in the original had pulled away.
Just a little, I did feel sorry. In a sense, the two of us had stolen two fateful encounters from the protagonist.
"Want me to help a bit?"
Feeling that guilt, I asked.
"I know how to grill meat, at least."
I'd grilled quite a bit in my past life. When you go to company dinners, you end up grilling one way or another. Even if everyone around me was lower-ranked than me, it felt awkward to just sit there with chopsticks and pick at the meat.
"Oh, really?"
Lee Si-yoon's eyes widened a bit in surprise.
"Well, I had the opportunity."
I decided to just brush it off vaguely like that. Strictly speaking, it wasn't that I'd had no opportunity at all. The nuns had their own little outings too. Even if they were outings enjoyed inside the Church.
"Here, here, so hand me the tongs and go over there with Miss Yu-ri—"
"Hey!"
Just as I was trying to set things up for him, I heard someone shouting from far away.
Both Lee Si-yoon and I flinched, startled.
When I turned my head, a beautiful woman with red hair and a red face was striding toward us.
The beauty in a nun's habit came straight at me—
"Ria, what's going on!?"
She grabbed both my cheeks.
"What are you doing right now?"
What am I doing?
Lee Si-yoon had been grilling meat alone, so I was just trying to help out a bit.
Ah, of course, Glaria and her maid couldn't eat meat. Last time they'd eaten french fries fried in chicken oil, so I'd thought maybe they could eat at least a little, but apparently they'd only eaten those because they were truly starving and couldn't smell it.
Right now they were sitting a bit away from the meat, dipping lettuce in ssamjang and crunching away.
Han Yu-ri had briefly gone to the fridge to get drinks.
"What do you mean, what am I doing?"
I asked back, flustered.
"He seemed to be working alone too much, so I was trying to help—"
"You—if the Saint does that, it's a big problem."
Huh?
What? Why?
Ria, her face flushed bright red and her eyes narrowed, seemed to take her hands off my face—
"Ri, Ria!?"
She pulled me in and wrapped her arm around my shoulders.
It was too forceful to just be a friendly arm around the shoulder. In an awkward position somewhere between a headlock and a side hug, I stood with my back bent deeply.
"Ria, wait a second—"
"Hey."
"Uh, yeah?"
When Ria called, Lee Si-yoon answered, blinking.
"You—you can't get too close to her."
"Uh, yeah."
As if he'd become incapable of any other answer, Lee Si-yoon nodded.
"She's—a nun, a nun. Someone who's going to become a Saint. Got it?"
"Um, Ria, you've been repeating the same thing for a while now!?"
Feeling my back bending further and further forward, I shouted.
At this rate I'm really going to get headlocked!
Ria was strong. If she really squeezed, it would definitely hurt a lot.
Even when I tried to push her away with my arms, the drunk Ria's body didn't budge at all.
"Hey, Anna seems to be in pain."
"In pain? Hmph."
At Lee Si-yoon's words, the strength drained from Ria's arm.
But before I could escape, Ria's hand simply moved from my shoulder to above my waist.
Pulling my waist tight against her, Ria dragged me along and walked toward a spot away from Lee Si-yoon.
"Hey, Ria, okay. I was wrong. I won't say you can't drink anymore."
"You—you can't do that."
But as if she couldn't hear me, Ria looked at me with a serious expression and spoke. It was the same words, but the atmosphere was a little different.
For a moment, I forgot what I was going to say.
Even drunk, Ria was Ria. The person I personally trusted immensely—at least, the person I trusted most in this world. Someone I could stake my life on if necessary.
Pretty, capable, and deep-hearted.
At first she'd seemed so utterly perfect that I'd felt a strange jealousy, but the more time I spent with her, the more I realized she wasn't just some flawless superhuman.
Just as the novel had often described, Ria was a girl with wounds and worries too.
And those "worries" included me.
How many times had I told Ria to trust me, only to walk straight into danger myself?
There had been times I'd been badly hurt in her place. Last time in the Dwarf Kingdom, if Ria hadn't pulled me out of there, the wound on my hand would have been much worse.
It was a wound that Holy Power couldn't easily heal, so it really could have been dangerous.
"Didn't you ask me to protect you?"
Hic.
Ria said with a small hiccup.
"......."
"Didn't you ask me to trust you?"
"......Yes, I did. I trust you, Ria."
"Good."
At my words, Ria nodded in reply.
Then, still holding me, she plopped down onto a chair.
The position was embarrassing in many ways. She set me on her lap and pulled me tight into her embrace.
It was a little hot. From Ria's mouth, along with the smell of alcohol, a sweet fruity scent also wafted out faintly.
I'd had a little to drink earlier too. Strictly speaking, I'd probably drunk more than Ria.
With the weak buzz, the smell of alcohol, and of all things Ria's body heat feeling a bit warmer than usual.
Somehow, I felt like I was getting a little drunk too.
"Okay, Ria. I'll trust you."
"Good."
Ria nodded and put more strength into her arms. Then she made me curl up a little deeper into her embrace.
"Okay."
Even as she said that, her voice somehow sounded like Ria was the one who felt more relieved.
Smiling softly, I stayed held tight in her arms for a while.