First Kiss (4)
Night Sky Spring Forest.
Tiny waterways spread through the entire forest like a spider’s web, and spring pools dotted the landscape here and there like ripe fruit. When night fell, the microorganisms living in those springs glowed a milky white; seen in the dark they looked so much like stars that the forest had earned the name Night Sky.
Another attraction lay at the forest’s heart: a small lake called the Giant’s Spring. No matter which waterway you followed, you eventually arrived there. Gravity crystals were embedded deep beneath the surface, so once you entered the lake, only magical power could free you. Even the most athletic swimmer would struggle against the crystals’ relentless pull.
Lowen and Ariel strolled along the forest path. The sound of flowing water reached their ears. The path was a deep, rich green overall—moss-covered stones lay everywhere, and moss clung to the trees as well.
“Did you know there’s a cute animal pajama shop in Windfield?”
“Animal pajamas?”
“Yes! Ones that look like chicks, puppies, cats, rabbits!”
Ariel made rabbit ears with her hands.
“Haha, that does sound adorable.”
“Right? I’m going to buy one this time. How about you get one too, Bishop Lowen?”
“I’ll pass.”
“Why? I think a black cat would suit you, Bishop Lowen.”
In all his life, Lowen had never heard anyone say a cat would suit him. People often called him beast-like, but never a cat. Well, in a way, cats were beasts too, weren’t they? They bit your hand when bored, hissed the moment their play soured, and if you tried to pet them while they slept because they looked so cute, they would scratch you with their claws.
“That sort of thing doesn’t suit me. By the way, what will you buy, Saintess?”
“Hmm… I’ll go with a chick! A bright yellow one!”
“Nice. A chick would suit you perfectly, Saintess.”
That was what he said, but the first thing that floated into Lowen’s mind was a dairy cow. After seeing her during the Absorbing Spirit Cat incident, a cat might suit her too. And the way she looked up and said “Just one, please” whenever she spotted something sweet made a puppy fit as well. But those full, swaying breasts overflowing with love? Definitely a dairy cow.
Nothing but a dairy cow!
“Really? Heh, hehe.”
At the compliment that a chick would suit her, Ariel grinned bashfully.
—Grrrowl
After walking the forest path for a while, Ariel’s stomach clock rang out loudly.
“Uuuugh… Th-that wasn’t my stomach.”
Ariel clutched her belly with both hands and curled up.
—Grrrrrowl
This time the stomach clock rang even louder than before.
“Kyuuu…”
Still holding her stomach, Ariel made a sound like a one-horned rabbit. There was nothing to be embarrassed about, yet she was embarrassed. At that endearing, clumsy display, Lowen burst out laughing.
“D-don’t laugh…!”
Ariel headbutted Lowen’s shoulder like a bean.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Because the Saintess who is so honest about her desires is blushing over a mere hungry stomach rumble. How could I not laugh?”
The headbutting Ariel began lightly thumping Lowen with her soft fists like cotton bats.
“Eugh! Ugh! Ugh!”
Lately, even things he could have overlooked, Lowen deliberately pointed out to tease Ariel. Her reactions were just too fun. The way she whined and swung those cotton-bat fists was so trivial that teasing her was irresistible. When they first met, embarrassment made her say gloomy things like “I want to die” or “It’s over for me,” but living together had made them close enough that now she threw little tantrums instead. She still got depressed sometimes, but only when she got caught masturbating in secret.
“I’m holding back, you know.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I’m trying super hard.”
Lowen narrowed his eyes and looked down at Ariel.
“Is a Saintess allowed to lie?”
With his sharp observational skills, Lowen could notice changes in furniture arrangement, moved objects, shifts in scent, even roughened skin or hair. Spotting lies was hard, but figuring out what someone had just been doing was easy. So even when Ariel thought she had hidden it well, every time she secretly rubbed her crotch, Lowen noticed.
“Just a little… sometimes I can’t hold back… very rarely… really rarely…”
She had far too many guilty secrets. Ever since she had masturbated while smelling Lowen’s underwear, whenever he went out she would sometimes pull his underwear from the laundry basket and use it as a “side dish.” Besides that, she had brought a cucumber meant for dinner into her room and played with it between her breasts, or recalled the spanking and slapped her own bottom, and many other lewd things—but if he dug into all of that, Ariel would die like a sunfish.
“Anyway, let’s have lunch.”
They found a sunny spot and took out the lunchboxes from the bag.
“When did you prepare the lunchboxes?”
“I woke up early and made them before waking you, Saintess.”
Ariel fidgeted with a guilty look.
“I’m always grateful.”
“I’m even more grateful that you always eat it so happily.”
“Eating isn’t hard work.”
“From the cook’s perspective, having someone eat it without pickiness and with relish is a wonderful thing.”
Cooking required care. If it was just for yourself it might not matter, but when someone else was eating it, you put in even more heart. Nothing made a cook prouder than seeing their carefully made food enjoyed.
“So please enjoy today’s meal too.”
“Yes! Leave it to me!”
Lowen and Ariel smiled at each other as they opened the lunchboxes.
“Wow!”
The lunch Lowen had prepared was baguette sandwiches. He had split baguettes in half, spread strawberry jam and butter on each cut surface, then layered fresh lettuce, scrambled eggs, tomato, and cured raw ham between them. The finished long sandwiches had been cut into eight pieces and wrapped four each in paper. Simple cooking, yet the quality was high enough to sell in a shop.
“Thanks for the food! Haum!”
Ariel grabbed one sandwich with both hands and took a big bite. The baguette’s firm crust crumbled with a crisp crackle, blending with the moist interior and the fillings.
“Mmph! Chew chew… mmph mmph!”
Like a squirrel with cheeks stuffed full of acorns, Ariel’s cheeks puffed out roundly on both sides. She swayed her body this way and that, smiling happily and nodding as if expressing the deliciousness with her whole being. It wasn’t food delicious enough to warrant that reaction, he thought, but it was a pleasant one. Yes, if she ate it looking that happy, he could make as much as she wanted.
After a pleasant meal and a bit of digestion time, Lowen and Ariel were resting near one of the spring pools.
“Saintess, let me show you something interesting.”
Lowen rolled up his sleeve and put his hand into the spring.
“Watch carefully.”
He gathered mana at his fingertips and released it into the water. Ripples spread through the once-clear water, and its color turned blue.
“Wow! How did you do that?”
Ariel marveled, eyes wide with wonder.
“The microorganisms living here are special creatures that glow by absorbing moonlight at night. But do you know what’s even more special? If you channel mana into them, they become mana water. If you channel divine power, they become holy water.”
No one had yet uncovered the principle behind it. These mysterious microorganisms were one of the unsolved problems alchemists were tackling.
“So with just this water, you can make as much holy water as you want?”
“That’s right.”
Lowen withdrew his hand from the water. The blue-glowing water returned to transparency.
“You can produce as much mana water or holy water as you like, but as you can see, once the supply of power stops, it reverts.”
If that problem were solved, one could make a fortune, build a swimming pool of money, and still have enough left to swim in.
“Would you like to try, Saintess?”
Ariel nodded and rolled up her sleeve. Then she slowly put her hand into the water.
“Just think of dripping a single drop of divine power.”
“Okay.”
It was nothing special, yet she felt nervous for no reason. Ariel held her breath, concentrated, and sent divine power into the water. And at that moment—
—Pwoosh!
The water exploded upward like a hot spring geyser.
“Hwaaaaah?!”
A liquid like molten gold sprayed through the air and fell like fine rain.
“D-did I mess up?”
Ariel creakily turned her head to look at Lowen. She had only released divine power with the feeling of dripping a single drop, just as Lowen had explained. She hadn’t used holy magic or any other ability.
“Perhaps you put in a bit too much divine power?”
“One drop, I really only put in one drop.”
From Ariel’s perspective it truly had been one drop, but objectively it was not. If an ordinary cleric’s divine power was a water tank, a Saintess’s was a dam. And among them, Ariel, with her vast divine power, was an especially enormous dam. Poking a tiny hole in a water tank to let out a trickle versus poking a hole in a giant dam to let out a “trickle”—the two trickles were clearly different, and the standard for “one drop” differed as well. What Lowen had asked for was a water droplet; what Ariel had thrown was a water bomb. The microorganisms couldn’t withstand the sudden influx of power and exploded, sending the water surging up as it had just now.
“Would you like to try once more?”
Water that had flowed from the Giant’s Spring had already refilled the pool.
“This time, concentrate even harder.”
“Yes!”
Ariel furrowed her brow and released the divine power at her index fingertip. And again…
—Pwoosh!
It exploded once more. Lowen and Ariel looked up at the golden rain falling from the sky. As it fell it shone brilliantly in the sunlight, but when it landed on their shoulders it turned transparent again.
“Hahaha.”
“Hehehe.”
Without either taking the lead, Lowen and Ariel began giggling. They had failed. It had exploded. But somehow it was fun. It was as absurd as a self-proclaimed master of skipping stones throwing a rock with great confidence only for it to plop straight down right in front of them without a single bounce—so absurd that all you could do was laugh. The watcher laughed, and the thrower laughed too.
“What on earth is this? Just explosions.”
“I know, right? What is this? Just explosions.”
They tried several more times after that, but the microorganisms simply couldn’t contain Ariel’s divine power, and the explosions continued.
“Haa… I’m completely soaked.”
After laughing hard and exploding the spring for a long while, Ariel looked up at Lowen.
“Indeed. Somehow we ended up playing in the water.”
Lowen took off his glasses and brushed his bangs back.
“Huh…?”
Seeing Lowen with his bangs brushed back, Ariel froze for a moment. Just removing the glasses brought out his masculine charm, and being wet made him all the more sexy. Her gaze followed the water droplets that fell from his jawline, and she gulped at the neckline and protruding Adam’s apple visible through his slightly loosened collar.
“What’s the matter?”
Lowen shook the water from his hair and met the eyes of the blankly blinking Ariel.
“Ah……”
Looking down at Ariel, Lowen also froze just as she had. Brushing her bangs and side hair behind her ears to bare her forehead made Ariel look more mature. But what made Lowen freeze was not her matured beauty—it was that her white nun’s habit, soaked with water, clung to her skin and suggestively revealed her body. Her breasts, the black bra cradling them, her smooth abdomen, the stigma on her lower belly, her thighs, her buttocks—all of it showed faintly beneath the semi-transparent fabric.
“Saintess, it would be best to cover yourself with this.”
Lowen took a small blanket from the bag and held it out to Ariel.
“Ah…”
Only then realizing that her soaked habit was revealing various things, Ariel blushed cherry-red and wrapped the blanket Lowen offered around herself.
“Th-thank you…”
Having completely forgotten they needed to reach the next village and happily played in the water, the two of them sat side by side on a small rock bathed in warm sunlight.
“If we’re not careful, we might have to camp out.”
“I’m fine with that.”
Ariel rocked her body back and forth.
“I’ve always wanted to sleep outside and look at the stars at least once.”
“Couldn’t you do that at the cathedral too?”
“Tsk tsk, Bishop Lowen has no sense of romance.”
“Romance, is it. Still, if possible I’d like to reach the village even if it’s late.”
Basking in the sunlight, Ariel yawned.
“Hwaaaam… Hmmnya…”
After playing in the water, a languid fatigue always followed. And a sound that woke them from that languid fatigue came from afar.
—Kuoohhhh!
An animal’s roar. No—it was closer to a monster’s cry.
“Bishop Lowen…”
“Shh…”
Lowen took Ariel and hid behind the rock.
—Clink… clink…
Along with heavy footsteps, the sound of something like iron chains striking stones and dragging across the ground drew nearer.
—Kuoohhhh! Grr… Sniff!
And a moment later, what appeared was a monster gripping a massive blunt weapon.