Volume 3 - CH 26

Time flew by after that and the winter holidays arrived. Our group consisted of all the Student Council members and the servants accompanying each of them. We boarded the magical airship and arrived at the Flamefield Empire.

If I were to briefly sum up the Flameflied Empire: it was hot; much hotter than I had imagined. 

No one would argue if I said that it was summer.

Considering the speed at which the magical airship had moved, I didn’t believe that we had  traveled such a long distance either but…there had to have been some kind of reason for this heat that went along the original game’s plot.

‘I’m not really interested in this sort of consistency to the story,’ I thought and looked around. 

We were at Imperial Princess Charlotte’s private beach. It was a shallow but wide sandy beach shaped like a crescent moon.  Moreover, it was also possible to walk quite far into the sea inside the bay. Even people unfamiliar with the sea shouldn’t particularly struggle in the water here.

Additionally, there was a small hill on the shore with trees planted on top of it, serving both as a shelterbelt, as well as hiding the beach from sight. Even if there were no hill or trees, it was highly unlikely that any scoundrel would dare set foot into a private beach owned by Royalty. It was the ideal beach; so quiet that the only thing one could hear were the sound of the waves.

As I enjoyed the view, a shadow fell beside me. It wasn’t Lady Sophia, but Teacher Tristan, who was accompanying us on this outing as well. 

“Hehe, you have bulked up quite a bit in the short time I haven’t seen you.”

“Please stop talking like that.”

I made sure that no one was in the vicinity before letting out a sigh. Teacher Tristan was one of the capture targets in the original story of ‘Espressivo of Light and Darkness’. He had also inherited the memories of my elder sister from our previous world. Therefore, when he spoke to me like my elder sister would, I unconsciously ended up answering him using the same manner I used with her in my previous world.

“…Also, don’t go around poking people’s stomachs.”

“But such toned abs isn’t something you see often, is it?”

“You say that, but don’t you also have a firm body, sister?”

Since my sister also had a splendid physique, she was generously showing off her upper body. How should I put it… It made me feel really weird, but in this world, her body was that of a handsome, slightly rugged, older man.

“Heh, alright, that’s enough joking around.”

He gave a fleeting look at the small path extending from the mansion atop the hill. The girls, led by Lady Sophia, were walking down that path towards us. When Lady Sophia noticed me, she flashed a lovely smile before jogging over to me.

“Lady Sophia, it’s dangerous to run on an unfamiliar sandy beach.”

“I have walked this path before so it’s fine—ah!”

Right after saying so, my Lady tripped. Since I had been training my physical abilities, I reached out for my Lady instantanly while kicking up sand into the air behind me. I then turned my Lady’s falling body around, catching her in a bridal hold.

“…I told you that it’s dangerous.”

“Hehe, Cyril catching me in a bridal carry is the side benefit of falling.”

“…It’s not a side benefit. Aren’t you forgetting that you’re wearing a swimsuit?”

From a distance, it did look like she was wearing some cute attire of a commoner young Lady. However, the embroidered parts of the outer layer and the tiered skirt were transparent, therefore, completely see-through. She was, of course, wearing a sleeveless bikini underneath, but her white arms, legs and parts of her abdomen were showing. Since I was holding her in a bridal carry, I could see the transparency of the fabric with extreme clarity.

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However—

“If it’s you, Cyril, I don’t mind.”

Even as Lady Sophia went a little red, she had an impish smile on her face. The destructive power this expression held was too great and despite myself, I took a heavy blow.

“You shouldn’t be saying that you don’t mind, my Lady. It’s improper to do this in front of everyone. I’ll put you down now.”

In order to punish as well, I casually tossed her into the air. If she were an ordinary young Lady, I’d expect that she would fall on her back and even hurt herself—however, Lady Sophia twisted her body mid-air and corrected her posture, landing perfectly with her swimsuit fluttering around her.

“Cyril, you’re so cruel! Tossing me like that!”

“I wonder why a young Lady with such athletic abilities like yourself, was about to fall like that earlier?”

Of course, no matter how athletic a person is, everyone stumbles sometimes. However, my Lady should have been able to easily correct her posture immediately after having tripped, recovering her balance. Was she about to fall earlier on purpose? Or—

“I just trusted you to save me, that’s all.”

So, she was relying on me.

“More importantly, Cyril—”

Lady Sophia did a little twirl  before looking up at me, leaning her upper body a bit forward. Before she could say anything, I placed a finger on those beautiful lips of hers.

“Of course, it suits you very well. Although we designed the swimsuit so it wouldn’t be too revealing, you look so lovely I feel like I don’t want anyone else to see you.”

“Thank you, Cyril. You look really good too.”

She smiled adorably and blushed faintly, as if embarrassed. Fol and Alicia, who had arrived after her, were looking at me like they really wanted to say something.         

I pretended I didn’t notice and turned around, bowing.

“Apologies for making you wait.”

“Oh my, your response is really quite different from when you were talking to Sophia, isn’t it?”

She also twirled, as if waiting for me to compliment her. Although she was a Royal with a higher social standing than Lady Sophia, she was also very free-spirited and unrestrained. Perhaps due to her having more influence that wouldn’t allow for others to raise objections easily, her swimsuit was much more revealing than Lady Sophia’s. 

To be specific, she was wearing a one piece bikini that clearly defined the lines of her body.

“It suits you well. However…please leave the compliments to him, not me.”   

‘Good luck.’ I muttered to no one in particular and handed this situation over to Teacher Tristan. When I saw Fol shift slightly from the corner of my eye, I grinned.

Alicia was the last one to urge me to compliment her with her gaze, glancing at me meaningfully. She was wearing a bikini swimsuit. The top was slightly frilly and her hips was covered by a pareo.The swimsuit made her look more mature and she gave off a radiance one would expect from the heroine.

“You look very good as well, Lady Alicia.”

I smiled at her too, but I kept my words of praise to a minimum. While it was necessary to not get her hopes up in a romantic sense, as her friend, I didn’t want to treat her coldly. My response was obviously taking our complicated relationship into consideration, but despite it, Alicia seemed happy. 

‘My goodness,’ I thought as I looked around the beach. 

A few maids were waiting for orders nearby, dressed in thin working clothes. However, Fol’s exclusive maid, Leah; Alicia’s exclusive maid, Melissa; and Lady Sophia’s exclusive maid, Rouché were wearing swimsuits. This wasn’t just so that they could enjoy themselves, but also because they had to be present by the young Ladies’ sides when they would go into the sea.

By the way, all three of them were in their early to mid-twenties. The swimsuits suited them really well. Of course, I couldn’t say that out loud, but I thought that they would gather more attention from the male population than the young Ladies who were just in their early teens or younger. Luckily, we were on a private beach so no one else was here to stare at them.

Actually, even the men who were supposed to be here weren’t looking at them. Neither Prince Alforth, who had come as a member of the Student Council, nor Raymond, who was accompanying Fol as her exclusive butler, were anywhere to be seen.

“Where is His Highness Prince Alforth? I can’t seem to find Raymond anywhere either.”

“It looks like His Highness Prince Alforth and Raymond will arrive a bit later. I really don’t know why, but they seemed a little strange to me.”

“…Hm?”

When Alicia informed me of this, I titled my head, puzzled, wondering if some trouble was brewing.

“You don’t have to worry. They are simply befuddled by the unfamiliar environment.” Fol informed us with a wry smile, apparently having overheard our conversation. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully though I was able to glean what she meant. There was a country where it was a rule that women mustn’t show their skin even in my previous world. I heard that if a man from that country saw even a hint of a woman’s arms or legs, he would get so flustered that he wouldn’t be able to sleep the whole night, and other such similar anecdotes.

Of course, the nobles of this world weren’t as strict. The skirt of the school uniform was knee-length, and the dresses had open necklines as well, but…despite that, the young Ladies dressed in swimsuits were probably too provocative.

But, wasn’t Raymond a commoner? Since that was the case, I would expect him to have built up some tolerance but…ah, it was probably due to his age. Was a line-up of beautiful girls his age wearing a swimsuit outside of his tolerance limit?

“At any rate, they should be arriving soon. They won’t mind if we go ahead and have some fun without them.”

From a noble’s perspective, the natural thing would be to wait for Prince Alforth’s arrival, but we got the go-ahead from Fol, who was a Royal just like him. 

At that moment, Lady Sophia ran over to me.

“Cyril, Cyril, I want to try and play this game called ‘Beach Volleyball’!” Lady Sophia pleaded, her face bright with excitement. 

Standing diagonally behind her was Rouché, holding a light-looking beach ball. Apparently, they were already perfectly prepared. 

“I have no objections, but who is going to play with whom?”

“Let’s see. If I played with you, Cyril…we’d definitely be too strong. How about I play with Fol and you team up with Alicia?” She pondered, placing a finger on her cheek. 

Lady Sophia was thinking about having a balanced game, and she didn’t seem to be contemplating keeping Alicia and I separated in the slightest.

“That’s true. If everyone agrees, shall we play a round with those teams?” After saying so, I drew my face closer to Lady Sophia’s ear before whispering:“I quite like this side of you, my Lady.”

I then pulled back and looked at my Lady, who had flushed bright red before flashing her a mischievous smile.