Chapter 71. The New Party Member Is a Suckling Elf
Chapter 71. The New Party Member Is a Suckling Elf
-Shhhh.
The bathhouse in the mansion's basement.
As the facilities hummed to life, water filled the central tub, and the rising heat from below began to warm it.
Steam slowly saturated the air, naturally slicking the skin of the two who had just entered.
Serika, clutching the towel wrapped around her body, let out a gasp of wonder as she took in the sight.
"Wow, this place is amazing~ I don't think I've ever seen a bathtub this big."
"Of course it's amazing. Whose mana do you think powers this place?"
Yumir had followed Serika into the bath.
Unlike Serika, who was completely absorbed in admiring her surroundings, she was already dipping her foot into the filled tub, taking a moment to gauge the temperature.
Was it suitable?
No. Deeming it a little too hot, she swirled her hand in the water, and the roiling bubbles began to subside in response.
It was a sight anyone without a deep mastery of mana would find miraculous. Serika, who had been quietly watching from the side, turned to Yumir with wide eyes.
"Is your magic heating it, Yumir?"
"It's less that I'm actively heating it with magic and more that when I enter this bath, my mana naturally seeps into the devices and activates them. Conversely, if I'm not here, everything has to be run manually, so it might be a good idea to come bathe at the same time as me while we're living together."
After all, to completely submerge, you had to fill the tub to the brim, and the mana needed to heat the water wouldn't change much with just one or two more people.
-Splaaash!
Yumir promptly sank into the tub the moment the temperature was just right.
The warmth crept up to her shoulders, and she could feel the stiffness in her muscles from the day's trek melting away.
"Ahhh~ I feel alive again~"
"You're right, the water's so perfect I could fall asleep."
Serika, too, completely submerged herself with a look of deep satisfaction. A mischievous glint surfaced in Yumir's eyes as she glanced back at her.
"Where do you get the time to fall asleep? Just in case, you should scrub every nook and cranny clean. During that demon beast extermination, you got completely drenched in that pile of entrails..."
"Uwaaa!! Don't make me remember what I was trying to forget!"
"Don't shout like that, you idiot. Your voice echoes."
-Splash!
Yumir used telekinesis to shove Serika's head straight underwater.
Serika, who had tried to resist, surfaced coughing up water, a sullen look on her face.
"...Be a little gentler. I understand words just fine."
"Sorry about that. I don't use magic in actual combat much, so my control slipped a bit."
Right, the accident during that quest had been Yumir's doing, too.
Having reached the pinnacle of humanity's magical achievements, she was certainly an expert in combat magic, but because she had only focused on research until now, she had no sense for how much magical power to use in real combat.
A sword unused will rust. It would likely take quite some time for her to regain her senses enough to fight properly.
"No, but still! No matter how difficult it is to control your power, you can't just use a spell so strong that it devastates the whole area just to catch one thing! Thanks to that we killed the demon beast, but we both got covered in dirt and entrails... Ugh, do you know how hard I worked to wash all of that off?"
"If you didn't like it, you should have caught it yourself. It happened because you were running around saying you'd handle it alone and then ended up begging me to deal with it."
"No, this is a matter of common sense! You could have at least toned down the force..."
"You only use mana to coat your aura, so you think magic is some kind of all-purpose tool, but do you know how hard it is to handle invisible mana based on pure sensation alone? If I asked you to make a work of art out of transparent clay right now, you'd immediately complain and ask how."
"...Ugh. You just never let anyone win an argument, do you?"
Grumbling, Serika let out a deep sigh and brushed back her wet hair.
How much time had passed after that?
Soon, Serika voiced a regret she felt from the day's quest.
"You're right, for targeting a single enemy, Melia would have been a better fit than you, Yumir."
Melia.
The elf originally scheduled to join them, but who had gone missing after being swept up in an unforeseen situation—the one chosen as the hero party's sniper.
Though they had met only two or three times at most, Yumir had a remarkably vivid memory of her.
"Exactly. If we had a sniper, I wouldn't have had to raise a ruckus just to catch that one thing..."
To think of the divine skill of pinning an arrow dead center on a distant target, then splitting that arrow with another arrow.
Yumir had encountered all sorts of prodigies on her path to becoming a Grand Archmage, but the archery that woman displayed was so outrageously peerless, it stood out even among them.
As if proving she hadn't been a member of the previous hero's party for nothing, nor been chosen as one of the Ten Strongest of the Continent for no reason.
'Well, as far as outright monsters go, that damned hulk in armor is even worse.'
Still, two of the Ten Strongest of the Continent in a single party.
Was a Hero really such an outstanding existence?
"Ugh, I still feel like the stench hasn't come off. Dave didn't notice it, right?"
The rookie hero, still worrying about the damage from the quest and completely wrapped up in thoughts of her lover.
Yumir, who had been watching her intently, rested her chin on her arms perched outside the bath and fell into thought.
'She's definitely got some foolish and lacking sides.'
A thought Serika would find incredibly rude if she knew.
'...But her growth alone was exceptional.'
And separately from that, she gave a positive assessment of the skill Serika had shown.
Yes, even if she would never say it out loud, Yumir was, in fact, somewhat impressed by the skills Serika had demonstrated today.
Her skill seemed to be at least lower A-rank, perhaps not S-rank adventurer level.
Considering that she was a complete rookie adventurer barely a month ago, it seemed unlikely it would take more than half a year to reach the realm of an S-rank adventurer—the kind considered a candidate for the next generation of the Ten Strongest of the Continent.
'The problem is that everyone around her has to keep up with that growth.'
Of course, fast growth was a good thing, but the issue was that no matter how strong the Hero became, 'it was too much for her to lead the masses alone.'
In the end, companions to grow together and coordinate with were inevitable. So, being in the thick of her growth spurt, the absence of a comrade to share that growth wasn't a very good situation for the future.
'I hope that kid Dave brought along has the skill to keep up with her growth rate at least somewhat...'
If not on the same level, I at least hope she has the skill to reach its heels, Yumir thought as she shifted her gaze.
There, quietly soaking in the bath alongside them, was the new companion.
Heira. An elf girl presumed to be hiding in human society under a false identity.
"Hie, uugh..."
...Just how was one supposed to interpret the sight of such a being, completely limp in the hot bath?
"Are you okay?"
Yumir approached, worried by the disheveled state, but Heira's dazed eyes didn't move toward her.
She just lifted her hazy head.
"...Water."
She murmured, and continued to groan as if describing what she felt.
"It's so hot that... my head is going blank..."
"...Now that I think about it, are elves generally weak to heat?"
Indeed, the Great Forest, the primary elf stronghold, was a relatively cool region.
Being acclimated to such a climate, someone like Heira would find a hot bath like this quite unfamiliar, and her body temperature had no choice but to rise beyond imagination.
'She could have at least adjusted it a bit if she wasn't used to it.'
Was she just a child who was poor at voicing her own opinion?
How annoying. Yumir clicked her tongue and started moving closer to Heira.
"I'll be right back. I'm going to cool this one's head down a little."
"Huh? Heira? If that's the case, I could..."
"Forget it. Who knows what you'd do if I left her to you?"
"What's that supposed to mean? You're making it sound like I'd do something horrible to Heira?"
"...Wipe the drool off your mouth before you talk."
"Th-this isn't drool, it's water from when I went under earlier... Glub!!"
Yumir used telekinesis to shove Serika's head back under the water.
When she resurfaced, Serika felt a surge of indignation, but she only wore a gloomy expression and turned her back.
'At least she gives up quickly.'
A single Dave had already turned this mansion upside down; if another target for her obsession appeared, Yumir herself wouldn't be able to handle it.
If such incidents kept happening without Berdia around, it would be troublesome, wouldn't it?
"Good grief, how did I end up playing the role of a caretaker?"
She grumbled discontentedly, but even so, Yumir didn't cast Heira aside.
They had just met today, but since Dave had brought her, she did feel a sort of duty to look after her while they were together.
"Are you coming back to your senses?"
"...Uu, ue."
By the time they reached a secluded corner of the large bath, Heira let out a faint moan.
Her upper body was upright for now, but she looked ready to tip over and collapse the moment she let her guard down.
No, maybe it was better to just let her fall.
"Lie back here for a bit."
The moment Heira's head drooped forward, Yumir cradled it against her own chest.
Into a bosom so bountiful her small head seemed to be buried in it.
"...Breast."
Was the sensation bothering her?
Heira, trying to assess the situation through her dazed mind, began to stare at what was before her with a hazy gaze.
"Bo, obs..."
"...Oh, my. Just look at what you're saying the moment you come to."
Of course, since the child was still so out of it, Yumir didn't take any real offense.
A chuckle escaped Yumir as she stroked the back of Heira's head, pressing it even deeper into her chest.
"Yes, yes. It's breasts that our little miss here likes so much. Warm and nice, aren't they?"
Normally they were just a nuisance weighing down her shoulders, but wasn't it good if they could at least be used for this?
"...Wa, rm."
As if finding the sensation not entirely unpleasant, Heira closed her eyes and began leaning her head even deeper into the softness.
Why was this? In the past, this would have been a situation vexing enough to be thrown aside instantly, and yet now, the girl nestled in her arms felt so terribly endearing.
Was it because she now had that much emotional leeway?
Just as Yumir mused this and stroked Heira's hair, Heira, in her stupor, began tracing back the sensation she felt against her face.
'This is somehow... familiar...'
Yes, she definitely felt like she had experienced this before.
Back when she roamed the mountains and couldn't easily return home, begging for milk from passing mother beasts.
'...Food.'
Moreover, it hadn't yet been mealtime.
The gradually creeping hunger stimulated Heira's instincts, now that her reason had been put to sleep, and as if obeying them, her mouth fell open unconsciously.
"Haaahp."
The moment her small mouth latched around the erect nipple at the tip of the bountiful breast.
"Hiaaaah~!"
A sharp, startled mating cry rang out from Yumir's lips at the pressure that followed.