Skincare
"Mmm……."
As always, he opened his eyes at an hour that still felt like the depths of night.
In the forest, the morning hours mattered. He needed to meditate before it grew too late.
The moment his eyes opened, he greeted Pai, who was right there in front of him.
"Pai, you look especially full of energy today."
-……!
Today's cool, so I feel good!
……or so it seemed, and Luke unconsciously lifted his gaze to the sky beyond the window.
The weather was a little overcast, yet looking at the sky, it did not appear rain would fall. If anything, the clouds were blocking the sunlight and making for a pleasantly cool day.
That much was true. Cool enough to lift the spirits.
Well, if Pai was happy, that was fine.
Then I won't need to bring in the laundry.
While staying at the lodging he helped with the washing in his free time, and if rain came the person nearest the lodging had to take it in, so checking the weather was rather important. Usually Luke, being the one at the lodging, was that nearest person.
"Haaahm……."
He yawned, shaking himself more fully awake.
He sat for a moment and was about to close his eyes to begin meditating when a sudden foreign sensation prickled at the base of his neck.
Something oddly bothersome. Luke abandoned his concentration and approached the mirror.
"Hmm, this is……?"
He brushed aside the hair covering his neck, tilted it toward the glass, and realized what the sensation was.
"Looks like something's come up."
A pimple or a rash? He hadn't been particularly stressed or uncomfortable lately. And it wasn't as if those things usually appeared so starkly on the neck.
"A mosquito, maybe."
Luke sighed, realizing that season had already arrived. He had gone so long without being bitten by any insect that he had let his guard down. How long had it been since the last time something bit him, anyway?
In his days as an archmage he had constantly maintained a mana barrier around his body, so no mere bug could ever have touched his skin.
How is it that mosquitoes still exist even in this era?
The fact that this, of all things, had not changed left Luke with a faintly peculiar feeling.
Just then came a rustling sound of someone rising.
"Did you sleep well, Yerna?"
"Ah, you're up early."
Scratch, scratch.
Apparently bothered by the way Luke kept scratching at his neck, Yerna asked,
"Lu, did a mosquito bite you? Why are you scratching your neck like that?"
Luke gave a small nod.
"Seems that way."
Perhaps because his skin had grown younger and more sensitive, enduring the itch was harder than expected. Even knowing he shouldn't scratch, he did so reflexively.
Was this instinct as well?
Luke's expression tightened slightly. Having his body move of its own accord always brought a certain unpleasantness with it.
Yerna, worried that it must be that itchy, said,
"Come to think of it, you've been going into the forest a lot lately, haven't you? You probably got bitten then. It'd be better not to go deep into the woods so often from now on."
"Hmm."
If he had been bitten, it could only have been when he went farther in to play music. The lodging itself was enchanted with a special magic circle that repelled insects.
Luke briefly wondered whether he really ought to stop performing in the forest, just as Yerna suggested.
Yerna spoke again.
"Can you show me?"
"Very well."
Without hesitation Luke bared his neck.
On one side of that pretty ivory throat a red spot stood out in a little mound; from all the scratching he had done, the skin around it had flushed red as well.
Had it really itched that badly?
"Hmm……. This……."
It might not be a mosquito after all. It didn't look like an insect bite.
Hoping it wasn't a boil, Yerna said,
"Let's put some medicine on it for now. If it keeps itching, tell me, all right?"
"Understood. I will."
If Luke really says it's still itchy, I should take him to a dermatologist later.
Fortunately it seemed nothing serious. Once the medicine was applied and a bandage stuck over it, the itching subsided considerably. The medicine's performance appeared quite excellent as well.
A full five thousand years. That meant alchemy, too, had continued advancing for five thousand years. Thanks to that, the medicines of this era were generally highly effective. They might not match an elixir imbued with holy power, but within the category of potions they showed near top-tier quality.
Even so, it would be best to put off going into the forest for a while. He could always prepare countermeasures against insects and go in later without any real loss.
There was plenty to do even staying near the lodging—meditate, play music, read.
Thinking that, Luke turned his head for a moment.
And was mildly horrified.
"Ki—Kirke? What are you doing right now? Have you camouflaged your face or something?"
Kirke had pulled her hair up with a headband and was lying there with her face painted jet black. She looked exactly like a soldier who had blackened his face for a night infiltration.
"Hmm? Ah, Luke."
At his call she cracked open the eyes she had closed and looked toward the owner of the voice.
"This is a face pack. Just doing a bit of skincare in the spare moments."
Kirke explained it in a matter-of-fact tone.
Seeing that Yerna never did anything like this made phrases such as "the natural mana of the forest is good for elves" feel as if they had been magically verified in the modern age. Modern magic had concluded it was mere superstition, of course…… yet still.
Still, he had assumed Yerna must be taking care of her skin somewhere out of sight. This time Luke had shattered that notion head-on. The fact that Luke, who lived with her, was seeing a face pack for the first time meant Yerna had never once used one.
Kirke felt a little deflated.
She had heard that superior skin was an elven trait…… but this was just unfair. Even elves got pimples sometimes, so how did Yerna……
While she was thinking that, Luke lightly clenched a fist, pressed the side of his index finger to his lips, and made a soft "ahem, ahem" sound. Clearly trying to hold back a laugh in his own way.
"……."
Kirke, with a touch of jealousy toward the baby-soft skin of a ten-year-old girl, pinched and stretched one of Luke's cheeks.
"Uwa— wha' are you doin' all of a sudden?"
"Because it's unfair. You think your skin's always going to stay this good……?"
Kirke trailed off mid-sentence and stopped.
It was odd enough that Luke asked why she was suddenly doing that; Kirke simply lifted her other hand as well and began stretching and rubbing both of Luke's cheeks.
"Why—just why are you doing this? I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to tease you!"
Luke cried out in a flustered voice and pulled free of Kirke's hands. She hadn't used much force, so escaping her grip was not difficult.
Even after Luke had slipped free, Kirke seemed to ponder something carefully, then said,
"Something about the feel of your cheeks is different."
"What do you mean?"
"Doesn't the skin feel a bit dry and rough?"
Kirke recalled the times she had previously poked and prodded Luke's cheeks and summoned the sensation from memory. Still soft, yes, but it had felt a little coarser.
"Now that you mention it……."
Today, at least, he had felt something of the sort.
Luke was the sort who paid almost no attention to his skin unless it involved an actual disease. Even in the past he had never bothered creating recipes for beauty elixirs; he simply had no interest. Had he wanted to, he could probably have produced something useful. But back then, with more than enough money and renown already, he had no desire to waste time researching things he himself did not need.
Even so, the sensation that his skin had grown a little dry was real.
"Right?"
Kirke nodded as if that settled it.
There was no way Luke could maintain that soft cheek elasticity forever. That was only natural. But for it to start already felt like such a waste.
Kirke stepped closer.
"Wait, what are you—"
"It's good for the skin. Hold still. If it starts this early, it'll only get worse later."
"Mmph……."
Luke stared at his own pitch-black face in the hand mirror and gave a self-deprecating sigh.
"Why am I in this state……."
Kirke spoke with complete confidence.
"I told you it's not bad. Feels nice and cool, doesn't it?"
"It does, but……."
Still, looking like this—he might as well have been playing with mud. What grated more than anything was the reaction of the little blue spirit.
-Luke, you look stupid!
She burst into peals of laughter, chirping tting-dong, tting-dong without mercy and bouncing around in delight.
Of course Pai would. He already thought he looked ridiculous himself; how much more would a spirit as laughter-prone as Pai find it funny? In the most literal sense, Pai was a pure spirit who could rejoice even at a leaf rolling along the roadside.
There's no one else I can blame.
If anyone deserved blame, it was himself. The fault of dry skin.
Luke let out a resigned sigh.
"It really does have an effect, I trust."
"Of course. This stuff is actually pretty expensive. Six thousand gil a pack."
"Wh—what? Why is one of these so expensive?"
Six thousand gil was twelve bus rides, or three to four cans of food.
"It's because it has magic enchantments on it. That's why it's so pricey."
At Kirke's words Luke activated his Mana Sight. Sure enough, it held a faint trace of mana, and analyzing the array showed that it did possess a modest effect of skin improvement and recovery.
"……No helping it, then."
Wasting resources was never right. So for now, even if he looked a little ridiculous, he would endure it.
Thus Luke found himself lying side by side with Kirke out of nowhere, gazing up at the cloudy sky and feeling the breeze, when a sudden question rose and he asked her,
"But what benefit do you get from my skin improving that you'd use a six-thousand-gil cosmetic on me?"
"That's……."
Because then I get to knead even softer cheeks.
……If she said that, Luke would only grow wary, so Kirke simply did not answer.