Chapter 53. What Are You Two Doing Right Now!!!
Chapter 53. What Are You Two Doing Right Now!!!
About one month.
That was how long Serika had been away from the city where she'd originally planned to operate, fighting in the Great Forest Defense Battle.
Of course, despite the grandiose name, what she'd actually done was little more than mopping up small fry.
The roving orcs in the borderlands were often weak by nature, or lacked the intelligence to join a proper army. Dealing with them had been one of the easiest tasks in the entire defensive campaign.
'Still, orcs are way stronger than goblins, right? I've barely even started as an adventurer, and just hunting those things down is already amazing!'
And it was true. Before coming to this city, her only experience had been training alone, hadn't it?
In such a short time, even clearing an artificial dungeon solo was something worthy of praise.
If anything, taking that thin experience and still producing results in a defense battle filled with veteran adventurers... objectively, anyone would call that impressive.
'It's a shame I couldn't stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Berdia or the other warriors right away... but Berdia told me over and over that it's only a matter of time.'
For someone guaranteed the explosive growth and potential of a Hero, lacking strength and achievements was simply a matter of time. There was no reason to be disappointed that her immediate results fell short compared to the veterans.
"Hehe, I'll bet even Dave will be shocked when he sees how much stronger I've gotten."
Still, a little bit of bragging to her lover couldn't hurt, could it? Serika steadied her pounding heart at the thought.
Her steps through the city streets felt far lighter than they ever had during the defense battle.
That was how much she'd missed him over the past month, and how much she'd been looking forward to this reunion.
'What should we do first once we meet?'
As luck would have it, her path took her through the marketplace.
Weaving through the stalls, Serika began methodically reviewing plans for how to spend her time with the lover she was about to see.
'First we've got to go on a date, right? Stroll the streets, eat something good, go to the theater... Ah, maybe I should buy him a present?'
As it happened, she'd been paid a bounty based on the number of orcs she'd cut down in the defense battle.
They were just scattered stragglers, but as the saying goes, many a mickle makes a muckle. Even with wandering orcs, taking down over a hundred of them added up to a decent purse.
No exaggeration—it was a sum that the lowest-ranked adventurers, the sort who mostly took field-mouse extermination quests, could never dream of.
With this, even without the allowance Berdia had given her, she'd be able to spend the upcoming rest period quite comfortably.
'Ah, gear! I should buy him gear first, right? Come to think of it, that backpack Dave lugged through the dungeon didn't look like it was in great shape either... No, wait. Buying equipment as a present after all this time—is that a little weird?'
Serika found herself in a shop along the way, turning a bag over in her hands as she sank into thought.
But that hesitation lasted only a moment. Soon she set the bag back down and turned her steps once more toward her destination.
"Yeah, I'll just ask him what he wants to do when I see him."
After all, they'd have plenty of time together from now on.
***
How long had she walked, laughing softly to herself as she crossed the marketplace?
When she finally arrived at the address she'd been heading for, Serika lifted her gaze and quietly took in the building before her.
"This is the address from the letter, right?"
A grand mansion situated on the outskirts of the city.
To someone who'd been nothing but a country girl before becoming an adventurer, it was the kind of place that made her instinctively hesitate to step inside—and conversely, if Berdia had seen it, she'd have nagged that it was a place where "discipline goes slack."
Because, by tradition, adventurers were supposed to grow accustomed to harsh environments, and that principle applied just as much to a hero party destined to endure every trial imaginable.
But what bothered Serika was something else entirely.
'So, what this means is... Dave's been staying in this luxurious mansion, alone with Ymir?'
Her lover and her party member.
Staying alone together in a mansion with a woman who possessed an utterly outrageous figure that Serika couldn't even begin to compare herself to?
'...No way.'
A cold shiver ran through her, making her heart pound.
'Don't tell me those two... while I was gone, they got up to that kind of thing?'
If.
If even the slightest chance existed that the two of them had done something like that... or if one of them had forced themselves on the other...
If something like that had really happened, would she even be able to keep her composure when she faced them?
-Click.
A subtle force crept into the sword at her hip.
When the cold blue edge of her newly-acquired blade slid partway from its sheath, Serika caught sight of her own eyes reflected there.
Faded, constricted pupils.
An atmosphere that suggested it wouldn't be strange if she grabbed the nearest person and carved them up—and of course, the targets would be the people she was about to meet.
That was, if her anxious suspicions turned out to be right.
"......Hehe."
The dark atmosphere dissipated in an instant.
Realizing her eyes had returned to normal, Serika slid her sword back into place and let out a soft laugh.
"Come on, what are the odds of that? Dave told me not to worry before I left, and more than anything, Ymir has zero interest in that kind of stuff."
Her time with Dave might have been short, but she'd already learned firsthand that he wasn't the type to casually break a promise.
And above all, Ymir had spent her entire life focused solely on her research.
The letter updating her on recent events had mentioned that all the research was finished, but did a person's fundamental nature really change that easily?
"Yeah, I'm sure it's fine."
So surely, nothing had gone wrong while she was away.
Having steadied her heart, Serika reached for the cord at the mansion's entrance and rang the bell.
Ding, ding. The sound echoed through the mansion, announcing a visitor's arrival.
Yet for some reason, no matter how much time passed, the door showed no sign of opening.
"Excuse me~ Is anyone home?"
She called out, puzzled, but there was no answer.
Were they out?
No—if they were, the curtains wouldn't be open, and she wouldn't be seeing lamplight still glowing inside.
She could understand Ymir, but Dave would never make that kind of mistake. He was meticulous and thorough about things like that.
"Could it be...?"
The cold sensation she'd suppressed earlier prickled to life again.
Of course, what she felt now wasn't hostility toward the two of them. On the contrary, maybe the house was in this state because something bad had happened.
'The door's open.'
Just in case, she pulled the handle and found it unlocked. Serika swallowed dryly and cautiously laid her hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist.
"...Dave?"
She opened the door and stepped carefully inside.
The scene that met her eyes began right at the entrance hall—a space that had been left in severe disarray.
There was no dust, but books, papers, and the like were scattered everywhere in chaotic piles.
For Serika, who had once seen the inside of Ymir's room, the sight felt faintly familiar.
"Dave, are you in here?"
But Dave, who was so diligent about cleaning, would never leave things this messy even while assisting her.
"Day—!!"
What if Ymir had gotten annoyed and simply incinerated him? The moment she could no longer endure that anxiety and was about to scream, a loud THUD echoed from deep within the house.
What was that? An attack?
"Whoa, yeah, just like that. A little more, more, more."
No, the voice that reached her sounded far too relaxed for that.
And it was a very familiar voice.
Serika instinctively realized it belonged to Ymir.
"Hoooh...."
Then whose was the ragged breathing that followed?
Soon, the source rounded the corner of the hallway connected to the entrance and revealed itself before Serika.
"Hoooh, hoooh! Mmph! Mmmpf!!"
A man with bronze skin, crawling on all fours. A gag in his mouth, a blindfold over his eyes, and plugs in his ears.
He wore nothing but a single piece of underwear, and a leash was attached to the dog collar around his neck.
"......Huh?"
At the sight, Serika's expression went blank despite herself, and her gaze naturally drifted toward the woman following behind, leash in hand.
"Hey, hey, slow down a little. What if you put too much muscle into it and I go sprawling because I'm the one holding the leash?"
A woman in a white gown, glasses perched on her face and long, disheveled black hair falling around her.
Even in attire that concealed her figure, the prominent mass of her chest unmistakably flaunted its presence as she walked behind Dave.
"Mmph, mmmpf. Mmph!"
Yes, that was unmistakably Dave.
The man navigating the trashed house with his eyes and mouth covered, a leash around his neck—was none other than her lover.
"And so what if a guest shows up? In my house, I'm the king. Let 'em come find me."
"Hooomph, mmph, mmmpf!"
"Ugh, fine, fine. Got it. We've gotta move around a lot to train anyway, so we'll just receive guests along the way... Hm?"
Ymir had only been talking down to Dave as he struggled for breath with his restricted strength for a moment.
"Y-Ymir?"
"Ah, wondered who it was—just the brat."
Ymir, belatedly noticing the visitor standing dumbly in the entrance hall, widened her eyes in surprise and offered a greeting.
"Been well? That orc subjugation thing or whatever—did it go okay?"
"Uh, y-yes, but...."
Her attitude was so casual it contrasted starkly with the unease Serika had felt the last time they'd seen each other.
The shift in atmosphere was obvious, but Serika's gaze wasn't fixed on her—it was fixed on Dave, crawling on all fours below.
"Hooomph, mmmpf!"
Dave still struggled for breath, the leash taut. His head was turned in her direction, but the blindfold seemed to stop him from seeing her properly.
"What about that armored hulk you were traveling with?"
Ymir asked, utterly unbothered by the absurd scene before her.
Standing there with her arms crossed, she showed not a hint of finding the situation strange.
"B-Berdia has some business in the royal capital for the time being, so she's...."
"Ah, damn. So that means we've gotta wait around until that bitch gets back. What a waste of prep."
Tch. Clicking her tongue, Ymir withdrew her attention from Serika and gave the leash on Dave's neck a few firm tugs.
"Mmph?"
"Oh, it's nothing much. Just that the training time's been extended for now. Nothing for us to worry about, so let's just get back to what we were doing."
"...Mmph. Mmph."
"Yeah, yeah, we'd better treat our guest properly too. The rental period on the mansion isn't up yet anyway, so we can hang around here a little longer. So you, brat—go pick an empty room, drop your stuff, and relax."
Saying this as she lazily scratched the back of her head, Ymir turned on her heel and tugged the leash in her hand again.
"Anyway, I've still got training to do with this guy, so I'll be off. Come on, Dave, let's go."
"...Mmph. Mmmpf."
Following her lead, Dave began crawling through the mansion on all fours once more.
His movements were slow, but there was a practiced familiarity in the way he placed his hands.
Even with his eyes covered, his hands and feet moved only to empty spaces, as if he could see every obstacle scattered around him.
"Y-You two...."
But Serika had no presence of mind to notice such things.
When she finally opened her mouth, she screamed at the top of her lungs at the pair.
"What are you two doing right now?!!!!"
All the worry and anger she'd felt about what might have happened had been utterly drowned out by sheer, stupefied bewilderment.