Chapter 172
Chapter 172
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Exposed in the Sunlight #1
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“Really, there’s blood.”
Red drops of blood were splattered on the blanket clutched in Narmi’s hand. I feigned ignorance as I looked at it and asked back.
“Really?”
“Of course it’s real…!”
Narmi spoke as if the bloodstains on the blanket were something she could be immensely proud of. And in this world, that was perfectly natural.
After all, in a world where a woman’s chastity was considered a great virtue, she had proof of it, so her confident attitude made sense.
However, I knew that blood wasn’t Narmi’s.
Because just moments ago, while Narmi was distracted, I had pricked my finger with the needle used for piercing ears and let the blood drip. I’d been a bit tense that she might notice, but it seemed she’d fallen for it completely.
Still, there was a risk of getting caught, so I decided to change the subject.
“I saw earlier that there’s a shower facility. Shall we go wash up now?”
“Uh, yeah!”
After that, Narmi and I simply rinsed off in the shower room provided by the inn.
The shower room wasn’t much—just lukewarm water and cheap scented oils—but it was enough to wash away the sweat and various bodily fluids.
After cleaning up thoroughly and lying down on fresh sheets, I felt utterly hazy. Late at night. Intense intercourse. The fatigue from not resting lately—it all came crashing over me like a tsunami.
“…Haaah.”
Narmi, lying beside me, seemed to feel the exhaustion too, yawning and nodding off. It would’ve been fine if she just slept, but her forcing herself to stay awake was a bit odd.
“Narmi?”
“I’m not sleepy…! So, where was I?”
“I’ll wake you early in the morning, so please sleep well.”
“…I don’t really want to sleep.”
Narmi refused to sleep. But her body had clearly reached its physical limit. The awkward experience and unfamiliar positions must have drained her stamina immensely.
Plus, over the past few days, she’d been handling her sister Mirna’s duties, barely eating or sleeping, so the aftermath was finally hitting her now.
With my hazy mind, I propped myself up on my elbows.
I wanted to rest, but falling asleep before Narmi would kill the mood and might lead to endless complaints later.
Since things had come to this, I decided to ramp up my spirit of service a notch.
“Narmi, how about I give you a back massage at least?”
“You don’t have to, but sure.”
I pulled back the thin blanket. Narmi, wearing a cheap inn robe, slowly turned over to show me her back. It was small and delicate.
Crack.
“Eek…!”
When I pressed hard on her back, the joints in her waist and spine cracked audibly. At the same time, Narmi let out a strange squeal that didn’t quite suit her.
Crack, crackle.
“Ow, haa…! It hurts…!”
“It might hurt at first. But it’ll feel good soon enough.”
Even as I said it, it sounded oddly like sexual harassment. I hadn’t meant it that way, but once the words were out, I became self-conscious.
Narmi, face buried in the pillow, then spoke up.
“Like what we did earlier…?”
She seemed to have taken my words a bit lewdly too. Suddenly, I wondered if the mood was right to slip into a third round by fondling her buttocks or breasts.
But Narmi was at her limit stamina-wise, and we’d just showered and changed the sheets—sweating in this cheap inn didn’t appeal, so I held back.
Stroke, stroke.
Instead, I massaged her shoulders, neck, thighs, and feet by hand. As a finishing touch, when I pressed firmly on the soles of her feet, Narmi’s body shivered.
“Huh, this is my first time getting something like this. Feels like my body’s being reassembled—nice.”
“Is that so? That’s unexpected.”
“Unexpected how?”
“I figured noble ladies would get therapy from hired masseuses.”
What came to mind was Elga, who had ruled the mansion back in my slave days.
Elga had employed a few tanned-skinned girls as personal maids to massage her shoulders, waist, and such. They took good care of her skin, combed her hair with fine-tooth combs, and overall put a lot of effort into relaxation.
Even Aira at the palace was similar. She’d have me massage her shoulders or legs. Thanks to that, my massage skills had improved daily, reaching a professional level.
Yet Narmi was a first-timer at massages.
She explained the reason.
“Our family is pretty ascetic overall. Abstinence is important for those who handle necromancy and exorcism.”
“I see.”
Narmi and Mirna seemed to have grown up in a rather strict environment. Come to think of it, she’d said even as a little girl, she couldn’t eat candy freely, so massages were probably out of the question.
The exact opposite of the pleasure-seeking Lioness clan. Their constant clashes probably stemmed from such diametrically opposed upbringings.
“Theo, your hands stopped.”
Pat pat.
Narmi patted the bed with her palms, snapping me out of my thoughts—I’d paused without realizing. So I resumed pressing firmly on her back.
But how long was I supposed to keep this up?
I’d only meant to do a little, but Narmi seemed to love it, so I was stuck continuing. Just as yawns started creeping up on me too, Narmi sat up.
“Now I’ll do you.”
“You’re going to give me a massage, Narmi?”
At my question, Narmi twirled the bedsheet around her finger, looking somewhat embarrassed.
“Yeah. Truth is…I mostly just lay there, but you moved a lot harder, Theo.”
True enough. Still, Narmi massaging my shoulders? Neither Elga nor Mirna had ever offered to do something like this directly—it felt novel.
I wondered if there was some ulterior motive, but she seemed sincere. So this time, I lay face-down on the bed.
Rustle.
Her slender fingers touched my shoulders, and for a moment, a cozy warmth made me close my eyes.
* * *
Narmi had a huge experience today.
It was all the secret things young men and women did together, the kind people whispered about. Proof of it still lingered as a tingling in her lower abdomen.
‘It didn’t really hurt.’
She’d heard the first time hurt a lot.
In the risqué novels Narmi had read, women on their wedding night usually screamed. Some even fainted. It felt like being stabbed with a knife, or so they said.
But because her partner was skilled, Narmi only felt a ticklish sensation somewhere. Not that it felt incredibly good either.
…I’m not sure.
Probably because it was her first time. Still, the time after it all ended—fighting off sleep together on the bed, talking—that had been really nice.
It felt like they were getting to know each other more deeply.
For Narmi, who had few people in her life, it was like gaining a true understanding soul, filling a corner of her heart with security.
“Snore, snore.”
Her partner was now face-down before her, already fast asleep. He must’ve been exhausted. Men needed more vigorous movement during sex, so she understood.
But being the only one awake felt weird, so she shook the soundly sleeping half-fairy’s body hard.
“Theo, asleep?”
“No, I’m not sleeping.”
The half-fairy lied calmly without even licking his lips. She’d just seen him snoring moments ago.
Of course, it didn’t matter.
“Theo, if you’re sleepy, go ahead and sleep first.”
“But you’ll wake me up like you just did.”
“True.”
“…….”
Theo Gospel, the half-fairy, chuckled with a pop. Suddenly, Narmi wondered if this was the first time she’d seen him smile like this.
He often wore a contrived smile, but she’d never seen him burst out laughing like it was genuinely hilarious or funny.
Thinking that made her feel immensely proud, like she’d accomplished something great. I made the half-fairy laugh. I can control the fairies’ emotions—!
“Alright.”
In high spirits, Narmi decided to generously return the favor since things had gone this far.
“Theo, I’ll give you a massage too.”
“Weren’t you just doing that?”
“No, this is a brain massage. It relaxes the mind and soul. It’s one of the dark priest techniques—and my specialty.”
“Like black magic?”
“Exactly! Similar!”
The half-fairy looked deeply wary, but Narmi grabbed his temples with both hands. Then she slowly chanted the incantation.
“━━─.”
The incantation had melody and rhythm like a song. Highs and lows. Murmurs of incomprehensible words.
The key point was that it gathered fragmented pieces of worn-out minds. It cured dementia, enhanced memory, and even treated insomnia.
Thus, Narmi slowly approached the man’s mind. Soon, she noticed something she could call his soul locked away in a massive padlock-like thing.
Zap.
As Narmi dove into the man’s deep subconscious, a spark repelled her.
“Ouch!”
“Why are you screaming? Are you okay?”
“Theo, you have mental shielding.”
“Mental shielding?”
“You don’t know about it? Hold on. This incantation…I’ve seen it somewhere….”
Narmi Draco of the Draco family was something of an expert on mental shielding.
To this expert, the incantation looked like a lock placed by someone with exceptional magical skill. She could unravel it, but it would take time and effort.
What Narmi could discern now was its purpose and scale.
“The mana is structured in parallel, the incantation has 45 lines, and the chant has over 30 verses. It’s an incredible incantation.”
“I don’t get what that means. Incantations are the strokes for drawing magic circles, and chants are the verses recited, so… um….”
“It means it’s an insanely powerful incantation. Protective chants for fortresses are about 30 lines and 20 verses—get the idea?”
“Hmm….”
The half-fairy let out a slight groan, as if he couldn’t comprehend.
Narmi couldn’t either. An incantation like this was a grand spell completed over months by several skilled magicians.
“Wait a minute.”
Now she saw it—the incantation, the arrays, the chants—they were familiar. They had to be.
It resembled the sealing ritual performed on the Draco family’s twin ladies.
Twins with two souls in one body.
Their talents were vast and immense, said to rival Dragon King Draco, who wielded dracolichs, when combined. But their flesh couldn’t handle it.
The girls’ bodies were too young to bear two mighty souls.
So the Draco family had engraved a sealing ritual deep in the twins’ minds to suppress their spirits and souls.
Thanks to that, they’d lived until now without their souls mingling, using the seal as a mental barrier between them.
“It’s similar.”
The structure of the barrier in Narmi’s mind closely resembled this incantation.
The only differences were its larger scale and additional arrays and chants.
Who on earth would place something like this inside a person’s head? Was such mental protection necessary?
No, that wasn’t it.
Narmi realized she’d misunderstood. As a level 9 dark priest with a rare class, she naturally picked up on the subtle nuance.
This wasn’t an incantation for protecting the mind. Its purpose wasn’t a shield—it was a prison.
A prison to confine this half-fairy’s mind and soul.
Something was sealed inside this half-fairy. More precisely, his very body was a massive prison in itself.
Why on earth?