The Incubus Who Visited the Church #5
The Incubus Who Visited the Church #5
It was sometime in the afternoon when I finally made it back to Rebecca's room.
I unlocked the door with the key I'd kept, stepped inside, and found Rebecca still lying in bed exactly where I'd left her. The moment she saw me, her face registered surprise.
"You're back already? I figured you'd take your time, maybe not get back until evening. I thought you'd be taking it easy on the way back from getting the Holy Water...."
"I've got a strong sense of loyalty. How could I just kick back by myself? Here, I brought the Holy Water. Drink up."
I pulled five bottles of Holy Water from my pouch and handed them over. Rebecca propped herself up against the bed, stared at the bottles for a moment as if they were some kind of strange artifacts, then popped the stopper and started drinking. Curious about the taste, I tried one myself from the side. Contrary to my expectations, it just tasted like ordinary water, though I could definitely feel a surge of vitality coursing through my body.
"So this is Holy Water, huh? The way it makes energy well up inside you is seriously fascinating."
"Chug it all down. There's plenty more where that came from."
"Okay-!"
Rebecca drained every last one of the five bottles without leaving a single drop behind. Even after she'd finished them all, her expression still held nothing more than mild curiosity.
Then, completely out of the blue, Rebecca asked me how much the Holy Water had cost.
"You said you got it from that blonde nun at the church, right? So how much does one of these bottles go for? I figure it'd be good to bring a few along whenever we go on quests. Something like two copper a bottle?"
"Ten copper each."
"Guhk."
Rebecca's face went pale the instant she heard that.
Had the price of ten copper really startled her that badly?
As if she'd just choked on plain water, she clutched at her throat and started coughing. But no matter how hard she coughed, not a single drop of Holy Water came back up.
Rebecca stared at the empty Holy Water bottles, her eyes wavering.
"A tiny little bottle like this costs ten copper each? Does that make any sense at all?"
"It's Holy Water. Water that's good for your health. That means there are people with deep pockets willing to pay that much for it. Nobles, that sort."
"That's not what matters right now.... There were five bottles total! Are you telling me fifty copper just slid down my throat?"
"Well, yeah. But you downed some expensive medicine, so you'll get better fast. That's enough."
"Really...? Is it really enough as long as I get better?"
Rebecca looked at me with a genuinely moved expression.
Obviously, it was not enough. Not even close.
I could tell that if I let things sit as they were, my five bottles of Holy Water really would end up being a free gift, so I hastily tacked on the rest.
Nothing in this world is ever free.
"Obviously... it isn't. Did you forget what we promised this morning? In exchange for the Holy Water, you agreed to show me your belly dance. I'm looking forward to it like crazy, so please, do your best."
"Huk."
At my surprise ambush with the belly dance topic, cold sweat beaded on Rebecca's skin. Maybe she'd had a slight change of heart since that morning, because she couldn't meet my eyes.
Could she have been planning to just gulp down the Holy Water and weasel out of the dance entirely?
I absolutely could not tolerate her slipping away like that.
But I didn't make the mistake of rushing Rebecca.
If I pressured her about the dance, her pride alone might sink the whole agreement. What I chose to do instead was crank up Rebecca's sense of debt.
"......Luke, you."
I took matters into my own hands and pushed Rebecca back down onto the bed.
"First, get plenty of rest. You've gotta recover fast."
"Huh? R-right...."
"Don't move a single muscle in this bed for two days. If anything needs doing, I'll take care of it all. Sweet of me, right?"
"Sweet my ass. Aren't you going home?"
"Nope. I'm staying right here."
"You're insane-."
Rebecca stared at me with a dumbfounded look.
Her eyes held disbelief, as though she couldn't imagine I would actually stay here for two entire days.
But I meant every word I said.
Because if it meant extracting repayment for those five bottles of Holy Water, I had the confidence to do whatever it took. I had the confidence to prove it through action, not just words.
From that moment on, I remained at Rebecca's side and nursed her.
Fetching meals from the innkeeper and bringing them to her.
Whenever the time was right, placing a cloth soaked in cold water on her forehead.
It was tedious work, but I had a secret weapon for killing the boredom.
Magic practice.
Whenever I got a spare moment, I fetched the basin from my own inn room, formed hand seals, and trained in manipulating water.
It was training modeled after the various water forms the practitioner in the book's illustrations had created.
Things like a sharp sword, or a thick hammer.
I molded those shapes out of water.
'Have I improved a little?'
When I'd first tried this before, everything I made was nothing more than a sagging blob of dough. But maybe my skills had grown through dogged practice, because before I knew it, I'd reached the point where I could shape all sorts of miscellaneous forms from water, at least their broad outlines. Enough that you could actually tell what I was trying to make.
"Urgh-."
In contrast to me having a swell time, Rebecca's expression grew more and more anxious as the hours passed. Her mounting burden was a good thing for me. At the very least, there was no way she'd conveniently forget the promise now.
Two days later-.
I proved that my claim of staying in the room was no lie.
Aside from fetching the basin, I successfully remained on standby in the room without a single break. By the morning of the second day, Rebecca was staring at me like I was some kind of unbelievable creature.
"I seriously didn't think you'd last. What the hell is wrong with you, you lunatic? Hunkering down and doing magic training on top of it all?"
Rebecca shook herself loose and got up from the bed.
I couldn't find a trace of pain on her face as she rotated her limbs, stretching them out.
Probably thanks to downing five bottles of Holy Water, plus the fact that I'd fussed over her right by her side.
I'd faithfully delivered three meals a day without fail, too.
At this level, I was practically a loyal manservant attending his lady.
"Are you all better?"
"Obviously. Truth is, the muscle aches were already gone as of yesterday. Though I did stay still since you told me not to move...."
Rebecca looked straight at me and spoke.
"I'm telling you this now because I was worried you might've misunderstood something."
"Misunderstood what?"
"My bad complexion over the past two days — that wasn't because I didn't want to show you the dance. It was just nerves, because you kept hovering and hovering right next to me. I was worried you'd be disappointed if I showed you the dance for no good reason. I never once intended to break the promise."
Hearing that, I realized I had indeed been a little mistaken.
Rebecca's anxiety over the past two days was apparently just because I'd been applying pressure from up close.
To be fair, every single time I brought her a meal, I did make a point of enunciating the words "belly dance" broken into syllables.
'Brought your meal, bel.'
'Uh, y-yeah, thanks.'
'Eat up fast, ly.'
'I'll eat well.'
'The inn food's probably not that tasty, dance.'
From the receiving end, that was bound to make anyone tense.
"My bad about that."
"No need to apologize. I've gotta repay what I received. It's a dance I learned for eight years, after all. I can show you right now if you want."
"Perfect. Then show me now."
"Huh?"
I said that to a flustered-looking Rebecca.
It seemed she truly hadn't expected me to ask for it right this moment.
"You said you practiced for eight years, right? Plus, it's not like you're dancing on stage. It's a dance you show when it's just the two of us. What's wrong with showing me comfortably right now?"
"Uh, I guess so...."
Rebecca had no rebuttal for my words.
I thought she'd drag it out a bit longer after that, but surprisingly, Rebecca readily accepted my request.
It was the moment my efforts finally bore fruit.
"Wait outside for a moment. Let me change."
Rebecca pointed a finger at the dress hanging on the wall as she spoke.
I opened the door and stepped out.
The moment I shut the door and pressed my ear to the wood, I heard the sound of rustling cloth from inside, as if she were changing.
Swish, swish-.
Even just listening to the sound got me turned on.
*
"You can come in now."
Ten minutes later.
Rebecca's voice came from inside the door.
The moment I opened the door and stepped in, there stood Rebecca inside the room, clad in an Arabian-style dress.
'Oh, shit-.'
The second I saw Rebecca, I had no choice but to swallow a groan internally.
The dress hanging on the wall had way more exposure than I'd expected.
The outfit was practically in the form of a summer bikini, with the cloth covering her chest and mound connected by thin strings.
As befitting an Arabian-style dress, Rebecca's arms and legs were veiled under a fluttering, transparent fabric.
Conversely, the fact that the bare skin around her navel was clearly exposed was truly commendable.
"How is it? Pretty-?"
Rebecca smiled broadly as she waved her arms. The moment she moved, the transparent cloth attached to her limbs fluttered.
I couldn't tear my eyes away from Rebecca as she flaunted her sex appeal with her entire body.
"Yeah."
"What's with that reaction? Not that pretty?"
"No, it's that you're so damn pretty I lost my words."
"Hehe.... Then I'll dance."
Rebecca let out an embarrassed laugh, then soon struck the preparatory pose for the belly dance.
"Yap."
A pose where she crossed her legs and raised her hands above her head, forming a rabbit-ear shape with her fingers.
I guess the Zakarta Kingdom's belly dance starts off by taking a pose like that.
Cute and arousing. Commendable indeed.
Whoosh!
Rebecca spun her body around once.
At the same time, the full-fledged otherworldly belly dance began.
The dance looked even more spectacular because of the fluttering transparent cloth.
I watched Rebecca dance with an expression of pure admiration.
Her claim of having learned for eight years didn't seem like a lie—her movements were exquisite. She swept her arms upward like serpents, then shook her pelvis seductively while keeping her upper body still.
The metal ornaments on her dress clattered noisily, producing a clear ringing sound.
"......Wow."
I couldn't stop the exclamations flowing out the whole time I watched.
With dance skills like these, she could probably rake in a fortune working as a theater dancer.
Her dance lines were practically art, but that alone wasn't the end of it.
Rebecca's figure, hardened by sports, was outstanding, so it endlessly stoked my lust as I watched.
Like her voluptuous chest swaying along with the dance.
Especially the sight of Rebecca shaking her waist vigorously while showing off her backside—I had no choice but to call it the absolute peak.
The moment I saw her peach-like ass swaying, my mind went into ecstasy.
In that moment, I felt completely compensated for all two days of suffering.
Riiip! My underwear tore inside my pants.
My thoroughly aroused giant cock had surged up and ripped the fabric.
'I've seen what I wanted to see, so now I can happily pass on to the next life.'
I thought that to myself.
Roughly twenty minutes had passed since the dance started.
Because I was so focused, Rebecca's dance came to an end in a flash.
It was such an incredible dance that twenty minutes felt short.
Rebecca perched on the bed to cool down her sweat, and I knelt on the floor, forcing my excitement down.
We were both panting heavily in silence when suddenly I felt like something was off.
"Rebecca, you.... Weren't you definitely only going to show me the front part of the belly dance? You said you'd only dance a little."
"Hm? Yeah, I did."
I grew suspicious at Rebecca's words.
Because the dance she'd just shown me was absolutely not just "a little."
To me it had felt short, but Rebecca had danced the belly dance for a full twenty minutes.
That wasn't a quick taste to get things over with early.
Following a hunch, I opened my mouth.
"You, don't tell me you showed me the whole dance you learned? I thought this was a dance you're only supposed to show your husband."
"Of course this was all of it-. Huk."
Gasp—!
Soon Rebecca stopped breathing and made a shocked face.
It was the kind of shocked face that appears when something has gone terribly wrong.
After sinking into silence for a moment, Rebecca broke into a cold sweat and spoke.
"...There's no way it was all of it, you idiot. Obviously there are moves left. Like I'd ever have shown you my whole hand. We're not even in a promised relationship. We're just party members who are nothing to each other."
"A dance meant to set the mood on your first wedding night, and it only ends if you dance longer? Does the sun come up while you're still dancing or something?"
"Shut up-."
Rebecca's face went red as she shouted at me.
No matter how I looked at it, she was hastily piling on excuses.
Maybe she got carried away by the dance and let it all spill out.
Maybe she got drunk on the atmosphere and went all the way.
It didn't seem like she'd give me an honest answer even if she died.
"Auuugh, what am I gonna do? I can't get married now."
I approached Rebecca as she clutched her head and fell into a panic.
I figured that in times like these, she needed praise more than anything.
To bury the despair of having made a colossal mistake under honeyed words.
"Still, it was amazing. For real. I was oozing admiration the entire time I watched. Your belly dance was insane. I felt like I was ascending to heaven."
"R-really...?"
"Really. While I was watching, the thought I had was that a fairy was dancing right in front of me..."
I mobilized every flowery phrase I could muster to compliment Rebecca.
Every time she heard my words, Rebecca's expression gradually loosened, and soon she let out an embarrassed smile.
Naturally, she'd feel ecstatic that the dance she'd honed for eight years had received such high praise.
Rebecca listened to me with a smile.
"Hehe.... So you're saying my dance was that good? What a relief."
"Yeah, you can be confident about it."
After soothing Rebecca, I rose from my spot.
Now that I'd seen the belly dance, I had no further reason to stay in the room.
I wanted to go home quickly and sprawl out for a nap.
Because I hadn't been able to sleep deeply while nursing Rebecca over the past several days.
It was when I picked up the basin and was about to leave the room.
The moment I grabbed the doorknob, Rebecca's urgent voice came from behind me.
"Luke!"
"Hm?"
"L-later on, when you and I get a lot closer, you know. I'll show you then."
"Show me what?"
"What comes after the rest of it!"
I couldn't comprehend her words for a moment.
She'll show me?
What comes after the rest of it?
The belly dance she'd just shown me was the end of it.
What the hell else could be left after that?
After stepping into the hallway through the open door, I chewed it over for a long time before I finally understood what Rebecca meant.
"Ah!"
The things that come after the belly dance ends.
According to the customs of the Zakarta Kingdom, there was only one thing.
A scorching-hot wedding night.