First Kiss (3)
“Bishop Lowen, look over there! So many pretty flowers are blooming!”
Flowers danced at the tail end of spring. The clear sky was turning as blue as a summer sea. A green plain stretched out like an ocean all the way to the distant horizon. Ariel leaned out the window, watching the scenery rush past. Her exaggerated reactions to every little thing made her look like someone who had spent decades living underground.
“Saintess, it’s dangerous. Please come back inside.”
Even with Lowen’s warning, Ariel wriggled her hips and kept peering out the window.
“I said it’s dangerous.”
Lowen watched her. His gaze drifted naturally to those wriggling hips. The habit clung tightly, showing off the full round peach of her backside without a single crease left to the imagination. The black panties faintly visible through the white fabric were thoroughly sensual. So this was what people meant when they said something looked lewder when it was half-hidden.
Lowen thought back to the last time. The way he had stamped handprint after handprint across Ariel’s childbearing hips. He had spanked them until that springy firmness went soft and yielding under his palm. He wasn’t the type who took pleasure in hitting people, but if he was being honest about how he had felt then—it had felt good. Watching her hips flinch and tremble with every strike, seeing that pale skin flush red in the shape of his hand, hearing the heated little gasps she let out between hiccuping moans—all of it had stirred the conqueror buried inside him and left him riding a high of pure exhilaration.
“Bishop Lowen!”
Ariel’s voice pulled his eyes up. She had turned her head to look at him.
“Is there something you need from my butt?”
“Pardon?”
“I kept calling you and you never answered. You were just staring at my butt the whole time, weren’t you?”
He had been staring far too openly.
“Jiiiii—”
Ariel looked up at him as if she were interrogating him, waiting for an answer.
“Yes. I was staring.”
At Lowen’s blunt honesty, Ariel hiccuped and blinked her round eyes. Every blink planted a new seed of fantasy. Why had he been looking at her butt? That single question sent branches of possibility shooting out in every direction—most of them twisting into strange places and blooming into pink flowers.
“I was trying to look out the window, but the Saintess’s backside was blocking the entire view.”
“Ah…”
That was also strictly true. Ariel had been leaning out of the carriage’s single small window, so the whole opening had been filled by her hips.
“I’m sorry…”
Ariel covered her backside with both hands and sat down properly.
“It’s not even that big…”
She pouted and muttered under her breath. Looking at women as a whole, Ariel’s hips weren’t particularly large. They only looked full and meaty when set against her petite frame. And even though she claimed otherwise, the fact remained that she had completely blocked the window.
An awkward atmosphere filled the carriage. Ariel sat with her legs pressed tightly together, as if trying to make herself look smaller. Lowen didn’t think it was anything worth fretting over. Most men preferred a body with a healthy bit of flesh, some volume in the chest, and a plump backside over something too skinny—while women themselves tended to prefer the slender princess look of a narrow waist and thin thighs. To Lowen’s eye, Ariel’s figure was a pleasure to look at. Setting aside the chest that went past abundant and into the realm of excess, every proportion from head to shoulders to waist to hips to backside to legs formed a harmonious beauty. Add her pretty, cute face on top of that body, and the result was almost unfair.
In the middle of that awkward air, the carriage racing toward Windfield suddenly stopped. Lowen caught Ariel as her body pitched forward.
“What’s going on?”
He leaned out the window and called to the coachman.
“My apologies. The road ahead is blocked. The carriage won’t be able to get through.”
“Blocked, you say?”
Lowen stepped down from the carriage and looked ahead. At the entrance leading into the Night Sky Spring Forest, trees had toppled over and piled up like a wall.
“This is inconvenient.”
If they had a mage with them, they could simply burn the whole mess away. Unfortunately, the only people present were one priest, one priest (physical), and one coachman.
“How far is it to the next village?”
“Once we’re through that forest, it’s Skycloud Village.”
“How long would it take on foot?”
“If you walk, about a day and a half.”
Sitting here waiting would not make those trees stand back up and clear the road.
“Let’s walk.”
Ariel, who had been listening, stuck her head out the window.
“It’ll take half a day at least.”
“Then we walk.”
“I’m more worried about the Saintess’s stamina.”
Alone, Lowen could walk half a day or two days without issue. But for Ariel—who started huffing and puffing at the slightest bit of vigorous movement—he expected it would be rough.
“Even if it’s hard, I’ll push through.”
Ariel climbed down from the carriage.
“I can take care of my own body, so don’t worry.”
It was a responsible-sounding line, but it didn’t inspire much confidence. He had seen too much of her usual lazy, spoiled behavior for that.
There were two options. Go back to the previous village and ask someone to clear the trees, or walk half a day to the next village. Time-wise, the latter made more sense. Their travel permits still had some validity left, and even if they expired, having a Saintess with them would get them through the gates.
“Besides, I like taking walks with Bishop Lowen.”
Ariel looked up at him and smiled bashfully. It was the cute smile of a puppy that followed its master well.
“Then let’s walk.”
They weren’t in any particular hurry. If she got tired along the way, they could rest. Even if they didn’t make it to the village, camping for a night would be fine.
“Yes!”
Ariel answered with energy.
After sending the coachman back, Lowen and Ariel started walking into the Night Sky Spring Forest. Their only luggage was a travel bag made of birch wood.
“Why do you think the trees fell over?”
Trees that had been standing still suddenly lying toppled was genuinely strange. If lightning had struck them, the surroundings would have burned black. If a wind strong enough to fell trees had blown through, the damage wouldn’t have been limited to the entrance road. It could have been the work of monsters living in the forest, but Lowen had never heard of anything that vicious inhabiting the Night Sky Spring Forest.
Or someone else’s doing?
“Let me check for a moment.”
Lowen approached the fallen trees and examined the stumps. The cross-sections were jagged and rough, as if torn apart by tremendous external force. Shattered wood fragments were scattered across the ground, as though something had slammed into them hard. The first things that came to mind were magic, or a giant mace—or something similar.
“Hmm…”
On one side there were deep dents, as if the same spot had been struck repeatedly. The odds tilted further toward a mace. It was only a possibility, of course—the possibility that someone had done this deliberately. There was no harm in being suspicious. Suspicion often ruined plans, but it also kept a person tense and sharp, and that was useful. Especially in a forest like this, where anything could come leaping out at any moment.
“Well?”
At Ariel’s question, Lowen scratched the back of his neck.
“I’m not sure.”
He could have explained his various theories, but he didn’t want to worry her for no reason. And saying he didn’t know wasn’t a lie. He hadn’t actually figured out exactly why the trees had fallen.
“Maybe a giant boar rammed them.”
“A giant boar?! How big would it have to be to do this to trees?”
“A little bigger than the carriage we were just riding should do it.”
Ariel pictured a giant boar headbutting trees in her mind.
“Woooow… Maybe it’s like a forest guardian or something?”
“What kind of guardian turns the place it’s supposed to protect into a wasteland?”
“That’s true too.”
Ariel nodded along with little hums of agreement.
“Shall we go now?”
Even if the fallen trees were suspicious, their goal right now was simply to get through the forest.
“Just a moment.”
Ariel trotted over to the toppled trees, clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and murmured a quiet prayer for them. Lowen watched her profile in silence. Light falling from the sky lit her silver hair with a soft radiance. Standing there praying before the fallen trees, she looked like a quiet watercolor painting that held both tragedy and light.
A breeze blew. Ariel’s hair stirred lightly. The sound of leaves brushing against each other was cozy and, at the same time, eerie. He could clearly hear the wind—yet for some reason, Lowen felt as if the forest had gone completely still.
“Must be my imagination…”