# 018 Unwavering Comfort
# 018 Unwavering Comfort
"What's wrong? You look like you didn't sleep well last night."
"......."
Sharia came out to the training grounds with a haggard face.
She had changed into light clothing and held a wooden training sword, but her condition didn't look good at all.
"Pick up your sword. Starting this morning, you will spar with me."
"...Is there, by any chance, a ghost here?"
"A ghost?"
"Yes. I kept hearing a ghost moaning."
"Moaning?"
"Yes, like, uh, um...."
Sharia's face reddened as she gauged my reaction.
She clearly wanted to say something but couldn't put it into words, and I feigned ignorance, raising my wooden sword and taking a stance.
"Enough with trivial talk, pick up your sword. And attack me."
"Pardon?"
"Hurry. Didn't you say I would teach you swordsmanship? The best way is sparring, after all."
Real combat was good too, but Sharia's skills were not yet sufficient for me to throw her into it.
"Come. Focus on me without thinking about your chest as much as possible. Understood?"
"Even if you tell me not to think about my chest...."
Sharia stretched her arms forward.
Naturally, even lifting the sword high looked awkward because of her chest.
Her forearms rested on top of her chest, or were pressed against the sides.
There was no middle ground, and Sharia bit her lower lip as she forced herself into a stance.
An awkward posture, lowering her arms as much as possible and pointing the sword forward.
Her stance and breathing were clearly different from when I held her chest.
"Haap!"
Sharia charged at me with a battle cry.
She raised her sword high and tried to strike vertically, and I dodged Sharia's sword to the side.
"An opening."
"Kyaa?!"
Then I thrust my wooden sword between the underside of Sharia's breasts.
Making her chest bounce upward, I pressed my hand against her neck to stop her from moving.
"Right now, you've died once."
"W-wouldn't something like this usually be aimed at the neck!"
"Wherever you're stabbed, a person dies if they're skewered by a blade. The underside of the chest is no exception."
"Ugh...."
"For now, keep moving."
I stepped back from Sharia, then made her continue challenging me.
She swung her sword, thrust it, and deliberately swung wide to make me lean my torso back.
This was a real spar.
A formal sparring session without a hint of laughter, where Sharia poured out all her swordsmanship against me.
"Hah, hah, hah."
Sharia bent over, exhausted.
Already soaked in sweat, heat was beginning to radiate from her entire body, and her hands kept moving to her chest area as if it felt suffocating.
"Don't open it."
"But...."
"If you open it now, all the training so far will be for nothing."
I pointed at the buttons on Sharia's neck.
Naturally, Sharia's gaze also dropped to the golden buttons running from her neck to her navel, and she bit her lip as she straightened up.
"Uugh...."
"If you unfasten the corset, you will lose your sword path once again, just as before. Look. The way you're swinging your sword right now, you're accurately targeting me as you wish, aren't you?"
"Can we rest, just a little...."
"Not yet. If you really want to rest, land a hit on me."
"Eeek...!!"
Sharia clenched her teeth and raised her sword high again.
"Haaat—!"
Whether she liked downward strikes from above, or whether that was the posture that put the least strain on her chest.
Either way, Sharia's sword wouldn't reach me—
Pah—ang!
"!!"
Something flew at me and obstructed my vision.
I quickly turned my head and immediately recognized what had flown toward me.
'A button!'
I turned my head to Sharia.
"Uh, uugh...."
Sharia was frozen in place.
The corset that had been tightly binding her chest had its button explode and fly at me, and starting with the escape of the button that had barely been restraining her chest at the very top, buttons began exploding one after another.
Pop, plop.
"......."
"I deliberately cut the front part and attached buttons to try to fit your chest... and even this isn't enough, huh."
Sharia was frozen, unable to even think about fixing her clothes.
I silently set my sword down on the ground, approached her, and lightly tugged the corset.
"At this point, it's more of a nipple cover than a corset."
"......What did you say?"
"It's not wrong, is it? Right now, it's covering exactly that."
I pointed at the position of the corset I had modified for her.
The end of the corset was caught precisely at the edge of Sharia's pink areolae.
"How about lacing up this front part with string?"
"Wouldn't it still gape open?"
"If it still gapes open, then there's truly no helping it. Whenever you fight, I'll just have to carry this around behind you."
"......."
After entering the old castle,
I had, as I'd told Sharia beforehand, suggested various ways to secure her chest and had her try them on directly.
But all of them failed.
The modified corset, which I had considered the last resort—a corset made by cutting the front like a vest and attaching buttons—met its fate as the buttons ultimately exploded.
"Since it's come to this, there's no choice but to use the final measures."
"What are they?"
"There are about three."
"...Why are there three final measures?"
"Because each one has a different approach. First, the first one."
I moved behind Sharia and removed the corset.
Her bare white skin, without a single scar or blemish, was exposed, and Sharia shrank back as if embarrassed, but....
Squish.
I mercilessly grabbed her bare chest.
From behind, I reached around and supported the underside of her breasts with my palms, my middle fingers precisely covering her nipples as I pressed her chest.
"Uht...!"
"Pressing like this, is it alright?"
"...You're not going to hold them like this forever, are you?"
"We could just make armor that holds them like this."
"Ah."
Sharia immediately understood what I was trying to say.
"Custom-made...?"
"The design will look something like the skeletons dark mages command, but it'll be a perfect form for securing the chest."
Armor just like a brassiere.
The design would take the obscene form of five fingers gripping the breasts, but there was no other shape that could reliably press Sharia's chest.
Press from above and they bounce downward, press from above and below and they bounce sideways.
It needed to be a structure that could hold them properly from all directions—up, down, left, right—so they wouldn't bounce out no matter how they shook.
"It's to create upper-body armor shaped like my hands, gripping your chest tightly. That's the first method."
"...Will you make it for me?"
"Of course. Though it will take a long time. This sort of thing must be entrusted to dwarves, and procuring good materials will also take considerable time."
"...Thank you, Master."
"No need."
I'm the more thankful one, touching bare breasts.
I whispered from behind, rolling Sharia's slightly erect nipples with my middle fingers.
"Don't get excited. I'm not even erect right now, so if you get this excited, won't I misunderstand?"
"Th-they're standing because you're pressing down on that spot...."
"Hmm, is that so? Come to think of it, I'll have to factor this in when designing it later. To ask them to make an empty space where the nipples will go. Heh heh."
"......."
Oops. Was that too perverted?
But I was better off than Sharia, who was exposing her upper body while wearing only her bottoms.
Even if it's just the two of us here, being nude in broad daylight.
Well, it's far better than the vampire who had outdoor sex in broad daylight while staring at the sun.
That one managed to overcome sunlight through the ecstasy of sex, after all.
"Um, how long are you going to hold them?"
"Until your nipples calm down?"
"......."
"Heh heh, it's a joke. I was just about to tell you the next method."
I removed my hands from Sharia's chest, then personally put a fairly large shirt on her.
"Wow...."
The shirt got caught on her chest, revealing her navel.
A shadow even formed beneath the underside of her breasts, drawing an exclamation from me involuntarily.
"......."
Sharia looked a little uncomfortable.
So that she wouldn't be uncomfortable, I slipped my hand inside her shirt.
"Ky, kyaak?! What are you doing?! Training is over, hmm—...!"
"Stay still for a moment."
I pressed the erect nipple with my middle finger while gently circling it.
"Done."
"...What did you do?"
"I covered your nipples with mana. Now they won't chafe, right?"
"......Where on earth did he learn this stuff. Honestly."
"There's a method to knowing everything."
It was a technique I came up with when my wife wore a pure white dress and complained about the discomfort of her nipples standing up.
The so-called Nipple Patch.
"How is it?"
"A, as expected, a pervert...."
"I won't deny it. However."
I placed my hands on Sharia's shoulders and met her eyes.
"You know your nipples were standing up before I even touched them, right?"
Sharia couldn't say anything.
* * *
Scrape, scrape.
Fork and knife dance, bread soaks in soup.
I cleansed my palate with a light appetizer and began eating, sitting across from Sharia.
"Th-this is a full noble's meal...?"
"I prepared it the way I'm accustomed to; is it inconvenient?"
"No, no. I'm grateful. What I'm curious about is...."
Sharia pointed at the soup and bread in front of her.
"Who on earth prepares this?"
"Ghosts."
I didn't say anything untrue.
Sharia froze just as she was about to grab the bread.
"Pl-please don't joke."
"Why? Are ghosts scary?"
"It's not that they're scary, no, maybe a little scary...."
"Why?"
"Last night, even if I slept just a little, the bed would shake, or... uugh...."
"......."
It seemed the maids had played a few too many pranks at night.
I shot a look at Jin, who was standing behind Sharia, then focused on the meal again.
"I'll make sure nothing like that happens starting today."
"D-do ghosts really prepare the food?"
"They are those who work in the shadows. Ones who do not disturb their master's life."
"Just what kind of person is Master...."
"Me? A truly great and magnificent master."
I tore the bread into four pieces.
"I'm not only a master of the sword. I'm a man who goes by the title of master in other fields as well."
"In what fields?"
"In all fields. There's almost nothing I can't do."
"Master, by any chance, could your true identity be...."
Silence.
Had she realized I was a dragon?
"...a hero who has obtained the power of immortality?"
"......."
It isn't immortality.
It's simply that there's no one filthy enough to kill me; I too can be murdered at any time.
In fact, in my younger days, I nearly died several times.
"Sharia. Do you consider species to be important?"
"Species?"
"Yes."
"Do you mean beings like elves, orcs, and demi-humans?"
"All of them."
"...I don't know. I haven't really met any."
Sharia placed the bread she was holding in the middle of her plate and cut it with a knife.
"But if there are ghostly beings here, I'd really like to make a request. Phenomena like poltergeists... please ask them to refrain."
"Hmm...."
Poltergeist.
"Ah."
Now that I thought about it, that method existed too.
'It's different from what I originally intended to suggest, but shall I probe?'
It's something men like, so I'm not sure if it'll pique Sharia's interest.
"Sharia. As the opportunity has presented itself, I'll tell you the second method right here."
Clink, clink.
The banshees brought the main course.
Inside the dish was a well-grilled, generously sized steak.
"It's this."
"This is... hieek?!"
Swish, swish.
"They say one can do this upon reaching the realm of a grand master, but it's also possible through techniques like shortcuts."
"Th-the knife is...!"
"Yes. It's similar to a poltergeist."
I pointed at the knife and fork dancing without me even touching them.
"With this, you'll be able to swing a sword without your chest shaking."
If your chest shakes every time you grip and swing a sword, then you can simply control and swing the sword remotely.
"How about it? Quite easy, isn't it?"
"........"
Sharia couldn't say anything.