Volume 1 - CH ss - 2

Dribble—the sound of the river flowing reached the ears. I could see the sunlight when I looked up, but we ended up coming to the part of the forest where it’s very thick; or so Aine felt.

Just how long we’ve been walking from where the bridge was, I wonder; it might have not been that long, but the bridge already couldn’t be seen when I looked back.

“Hey, how far are we gonna go?”

“Nn, let’s see. Until the river flow is a little more calm, I guess.” When she was asking Lunois walking next to her, that was his answer.

We’ve talked about going nearby, but how far Lunois is planning to go, I wonder—such a question arose within Aine.

From time to time, Lunois would stop to touch the ground, examine the nearby vegetation to investigate what path the monster had traveled through.

A large monster would often leave particularly conspicuous traces.

However, as far as Aine could confirm, she could confirm not that many traces that the monster had already traveled through here.

“Isn’t it about enough already? I feel like we’re pretty far in, too.”

“No, let’s check just a little deeper to make sure.” Lunois kept on walking forward, not accepting Aine’s suggestion.

She kind of had the feeling but, when Lunois started working, he wouldn’t leave it half-way.

His intention of going to take down the monster if it showed up was clear to see. Lunois had originally planned to take down the monster, so there was no helping it, though.

But if it keeps like this, it really doesn’t look like we’re gonna stop, huh…

It would have been great if he would hear Aine’s words and stop, but there was no sign of that right now.

Having entered the forest, the signs of monsters other than the target one were, of course, could be felt from the surroundings. Those, too, seemed to be making Lunois’ wariness stronger.

In that case…

With a determined expression, “the river flow around here is also calm, isn’t it?” Aine once again spoke to Lunois.

“There was a big rock a while ago after all. Maybe that’s why the flow is calmer.”

“Then let’s take the chance to rest here.”

“Here? It’s certainly not a bad place, but I do want to see things a little further ahead.”

“I’ve also checked for traces, but aren’t there hardly any left behind? I suppose it’s not around here”

“That possibility might be high. The attack on the bright was probably also like a passing whim, so it might not be making this place as its territory. However…”

Lunois looked as if he wanted to say something.

Sure enough, Lunois didn’t seem to be feeling like taking a rest yet.

However, Aine had no plan to back down here either.

She cast a glance towards the river, “we’ve been riding in a carriage for half a day,” and spoke up. “So I kinda feel like getting a quick bath.”

“Bath, huh. If you want to, then sure. Let’s take a rest around here.”

Where could the odd stubbornness from earlier go; just by Aine mentioning her wish to take a bath, he easily accepted it.

Lunois would always put Aine as the priority—and so, it ended up making Aine feel a little guilty, but right now she was more concerned about Lunois’ body.

Therefore, Aine told a lie in order to make Lunois rest.

If it’s just this much, it’s okay, right…? Telling herself so, Aine and Lunois made their way to the riverside area where the flow was calm. The sound of the calm river flowing and the cries of small animals could be heard—it was a more relaxing place than expected.

If it’s here, even Lunois will—

“Alright, I’ll set up the tent, so you can go take a bath.”

“Eh?”

“Don’t say ‘Eh?’ Didn’t you say you wanted to take a bath? Setting up a base doesn’t take up that much time, and I’ll be done with it while you’re taking a bath,” Lunois said, and hurriedly turned his back to Aine and started the preparation—indeed, it was all brought up by Aine.

During her time as a knight in the Empire, camping out had been a natural thing to do; and she’d been taking a bath near the campsite as a matter of course.

And to be undressing at this stage, where there were no eyes around was undoubtedly, not something to be embarrassed about.

However, there was Lunois in front of her. Only he would probably not do something like peeking while Aine was changing. She believed so; though, at the distance where they were not too far apart, she felt a little reluctant to take off her clothes.

“…”

While still in silence, Aine sent a glance to Lunois. Without even appearing to notice her gaze, Lunois continued the preparations to set up the base, alone and silently.

Am I the only overly minding it, I wonder—with this in her mind, Aine put her hands on her own clothes.

While occasionally sending glances at Lunois, Aine took off one piece at a time—and finally, she became stark naked. While trying to cover her chest and secret part with her hands, Aine’s cheeks blushed.

At this point in time, it might be odd to be embarrassed to be seen by Lunois.

After all, she had already crossed the line with Lunois—however, this and that were different.

Aine’s feeling of embarrassment wasn’t going away… though, however, there was no sign of Lunois going to look at Aine who was now naked.

H-he could at least look over here for a bit… He’s really so serious on weird points.

Lunois was by no means in the wrong. If anything, Aine should have been grateful as it was him being considerate to her, but for the current Aine, that consideration gave a little dissatisfaction.

What does this mean, not showing any interest at all in my naked body? She thought.

Aine showed an expression like she had just come up with something and then went to approach Lunois quietly, trying not to make any footsteps.

Even if Aine was erasing her presence, Lunois might still be aware of her approaching him—however, without minding such a thing, Aine went to hug Lunois, who was sitting down and working.

“Wah!”

She tried to do it with such an exact force that her chest would hit Lunois’ head, but sadly, Aine didn’t have the chest size which would allow her to do that.1

Poing—the feeling of something hitting him was perhaps about as much like it was touching his head.

Lunois stopped his working hands immediately and slowly turned his gaze towards Aine.

And then, with a puzzled face, “what are you doing?” Indeed, he just asked a brief question.

Being told so, Aine, for the first time, began to feel embarrassed about what she had done.

She moved away from Lunois without a moment’s delay. And then, “I-it’s nothing at all! Dummy!” uttering such a sharp remark, Aine hurriedly fled the scene.

Aine also knew that it was completely nothing more than venting her anger, but she unintentionally got angry at Lunois’s attitude.

“Aine, don’t wander too far.”

“I-I know! I’m not a kid anymore!”

Towards Aine, Lunois threw words a parent would say, and she raised her voice once again.

Geez… You don’t understand my feelings…!

However, it didn’t mean it was Lunois’ fault.

Aine let out a short breath, and went to enter the river to cool down her head.

“Cold…!” Aine reflexively yelped as it was colder than expected.

However, she quickly became used to the water temperature. Furthermore, she went deeper in.

She couldn’t tell earlier as she had been looking from a distance, but the river water was surprisingly clear.

“Pretty…” Aine muttered a brief admiration. It was to the point that she could easily forget the anger from a moment ago.

And then, Aine felt somewhat nostalgic.

Her hometown’s river as well—she felt it was this pretty. Thinking about it, after becoming a knight, she’d never done anything like calmly admiring nature.

Had she never reunited with Lunois, this much freedom probably wouldn’t have been possible in the first place.

…If I invite Lunois, I wonder if he will come. It’ll be a bit of relaxation, too. But…

Aine confirmed her current situation. Speaking of what she got on her now, it was just the ‘Sexualification Collar,’ and right now she was stark naked.

With nothing but a collar, how would it look from someone else’s point of view?

B-but… I’ve already taken a bath with Lunois. Besides, we’re also doing lots of l-lewd things. Nothing to mind about at this point, right…?

Aine moved her gaze around to check the surroundings. Although it was obvious, there was no one but Aine and Lunois here—if that was the case, then there would be no problem since it’d only be with Lunois; it being embarrassing was unmistakable, though.

Aine made her decision. As she looked back, she called out to Lunois. 

“Lunois—”

However, Aine instantly stopped her voice.

After all, immediately after looking back, the one that came into Aine’s view was the sight of Lunois sitting down with his head down. She could tell even from a little distance; that Lunois had fallen asleep.

The base was already set, and even a campfire was skillfully created.

In front of it, he was sleeping, using the sword in its scabbard as a support.

“Come on, I’ve wasted my time thinking so much about it…”

Aine let out a small sigh. And at the same time, she felt relieved.

Lunois must have been tired—he never would want to show such a sight around Aine, but the fact that he could at least fall asleep at a distance where they could see each other meant that it was a relaxing situation for him as well. It ended up with nothing result wise, but it turned out the way Aine wanted it to.

While at it, I guess I should also take my time and then retur—nn?

Noticing something soft suddenly touching her foot, Aine looked down.

Then there was a semi-transparent Slime moving there, slightly different from the color of the water.

“This is Aqua Slime… right?”

As the name implied, it was a slime species inhabiting the waterside. It was said that among the slime monsters where their body was in liquid form, it required even more water content. Although a monster, it was known to be harmless to humans and animals.

Rather, it seemed that they would even eat dirt stuck on people’s bodies, and she had also heard that some people were using it to make a business. Maybe it was moving along wth the river flow.

The Aqua Slime showed a gesture like it was trying to stick on Aine’s body.

“What? You’re gonna wash me?” Aine said, making a confirmation; though, it wasn’t like it was possible for them to communicate with each other.

I don’t know how it’ll feel, but since it’s a perfect opportunity, it might not be so bad to have it wash me—Aine thought, and bent down on the spot.

“How’s this?”

And then the Aqua Slime began to stick to Aine’s body in slow movements.

“Nnh, fuuh.”

The moment it touched around her belly and arm, she felt a stroking sensation up her skin, making her reflexively leak out her voice.

Aine was bewildered by the ticklish feeling which was more than she had expected.

It might be that Aine was just too weak, but without trying to shake off the Aqua Slime, she bit her lips and held still to endure it.

If I were to carelessly raise my voice here, it might end up waking Lunois up. With this in mind, Aine suppressed her voice.

The Aqua Slime began to gradually expand the extent of its clinging to Aine’s body, perhaps seeing that she was not resisting.

“…uw, fuuh, uwh…!”

This is, tougher than I thought…!!

Aine couldn’t hide her surprise at this, something she only had heard about from stories.

They said the sensation of being massaged by a slime would feel good, but in reality, rather than it feeling good, it felt like it was making her want to squirm.

Although it did not try to come up above the neck, the slime slowly and surely, went to crawl up her body, which was making Aine shudder.

This might be, bad…!

By the time Aine realized this fact, it was too late.