Translator: Kurehashi Aiko
Editor: [QueenieZhuz]
Volume 4 Chapter 7: Demon-sama and Dragon-san in the Steam
Ligurila glanced towards the changing room, noticing my arrival.
「…… Without any light, the moon sure is beautiful, right?」
When I look at the night sky, I could see countless stars shining brightly and the huge surface of the silver moon.
The moon"s light was almost as strong as the sun"s during the daytime.
But above all else, it was simply majestic.
「Yes, that"s right. What of it?」
I moved my hand to turn the lights off in the changing room, which was powered by magic, and then rinsed off the dirt from my body and sat right next to Ligurila.
"One should avoid polluting the water with dirt or waste at all cost." That was the golden rule followed even in the public baths back in my old world.
The water"s temperature was just right, not too hot and not too cold, just like a pleasant summer night.
The smell of sulfur, the pleasant warmth spreading throughout my body, and the extra effect of restoring my used magic was making the experience pure bliss.
「Ah~ I"m in heaven right now……」
「You"re over-exaggerating.」
「Nah, I just used too much of my magic and was really tired, that"s all.」
Not to mention that I was still far from being fully recovered from this whole artificial magic stone incident and the leyline restorations that followed suit.
Normally it would take a few days for me to be back to perfect shape, but this time there was so much work to be done that it was taking me longer than usual.
As a result, since Aru"s spring break was about to end, we decided to come here for a trip as a form of vacation, as well as recuperation for me.
「Ahh, even my bones feel warm. Doesn"t that make your whole body feel better?」
「It sure does, but then I think about how this was all possible thanks to the destruction made by that previous incident, and it makes me kind of sad. Still, I can"t help it but to want to relax my whole body in warm water!」
「Goodness gracious, even though you are so kind, you say the weirdest things sometimes.」
Ligurila said that with a bit of a melancholic expression on her face, and seeing that she was back to normal, I felt relieved.
I took a dip all the way to my shoulders, and looked at Ligurila sitting on one of the rocks.
Right now, she had her long, golden hair let down, and as the moisture got to it, it was sticking to her neck and shoulders.
Everything about her, from her chest downwards was perfect and beautiful, her curves could easily transcend the things we call the works of art.
She was s.e.xy. She was so awfully s.e.xy (saying that twice is important).
Her long legs were stretched out in a relaxed pose and her figure was truly sensational.
Then Ligurila"s eyes turn towards me, and she noticed that I was staring at her.
「What is it, Lava?」
「Nothing, really. I was just thinking that you look as beautiful as ever.」
For a moment there Ligurila looked surprised, but she quickly managed to regain her composure.
「It is nothing but natural, since this form is one of my own hand-made creations. I don"t get why are you always complementing it so much?」
「Heh, heh~.」
For some strange reason, while I was looking at her like that, I felt a sudden urge to look down upon my own body.
…… Yup.
I do think that my chest size is about average, but since there weren"t any female University students in this world, I had no way of comparing.
I could TECHNICALLY make myself bigger or slimmer if I wanted to, but Nectar always says that I am fine the way I am.
Also, Ligurila"s skin looks flushed, so she must have been sitting here for quite a while now.
It was probably because she didn"t want to intrude on our time together as a family, since she wasn"t much of a family person.
Furthermore, her expression seemed brighter than when she left the living room during the day and she seemed more upbeat at the moment.
「Did it go well with Senjiro?」
Hearing me say that, Ligurila"s eyes light up with surprise, but it quickly turns to determination.
Her golden hair were swaying gently.
「Well, somehow.」
Her cheeks turned more flushed than before.
「Well then, how was it? Did you manage to talk things out?」
Sensing that something was going on here, I pressed her for an answer, and Ligurila sunk deeper into the water in response.
And since she wasn"t good with hot temperatures, I adjusted the water"s temperature properly so that it would be easier for her.
「Senjiro, he…… He was talking about lots of things.」
「I see.」
「…… He told me that he wasn"t going to return home.」
On the other hand, I was fine with hot water.
Surely they must have talked about lots of different things, but seeing that look of relief on Ligurila"s face, it must have meant that Senjiro did a good job at explaining things to her.
「I was so desperately not wanting him to return home and leave me. If he tried to go back without my permission, I would probably do ANYTHING in my power to stop him from doing that.」
「But you didn"t want to resort to that, right?」
Ligurila was a bit fl.u.s.tered there for a moment.
「Even if I were to do that, it wouldn"t help me accomplish anything. Not to mention that the reaction of this girl was so disappointing in the first place……」
Ligurila then closed her mouth as if she realized that she said too much.
Mikoto was mad at Senjiro because he didn"t want to come home, even surprisingly so, but it was all only natural and expected in a situation like that.
So then, what was that about?
「No, it"s nothing. Please forget about that.」
Ligurila falls onto her knees, all red on her face.
For a while there was nothing but ambient sounds to be heard, but then Ligurila suddenly decided to speak up.
「Up until now, I have always thought that it was convenient for me to have Senjiro around. That I wouldn"t have to worry about anything for as long as he was there. But I didn"t even bother to learn about his past……」
「Was it frustrating? Or maybe sad?」
Ligurila was thinking about that for a moment, but soon enough she was ready to speak up again.
「That is why, for as long as he wanted to stay by my side, I would let him do as he pleases and forgive him for everything.」
This sounded more like an interrogation rather than the actual conversation, but maybe it was for the best.
I realized something during this exchange.
It seems that Senjiro didn"t manage to tell Ligurila anything up until now because Ligurila was simply too prideful to let him speak openly.
So maybe now, when she finally became interested in his circ.u.mstances, Senjiro was so overjoyed that his tail was wagging this whole time.
「As a result, I realized that I thought I knew Senjiro quite well, when in reality, I didn"t know a single thing about him. But then he said that he wanted to know more about me, and I guess it made me feel really happy.」
Well, they had some topics they could discuss for sure, like the clothes they were wearing in the East, and the atmosphere was becoming brighter and brighter with every pa.s.sing minute.
I, on the other hand, was relieved that all of my worries were actually baseless, and I reached out with my hands to the water and splashed some of it on my face.
It"s good to know that they finally managed to understand each other.
「For the time being, I"m glad that everything turned out to be okay. Has Sen-san already went back?」
「Why yes, although he was swaying just a little bit, but he should be back home by now.」
…… Swaying?
I gazed at Ligurila, wanting a proper explanation, but she just shrugged her shoulders at me.
「This time I came here for a short vacation, so we didn"t duel properly. It was just…… a slight wrestle, you could say.」
N, no, no, no, no, what the h.e.l.l happened here? That"s what I would like to know!
When she said that, this time it was Ligurila who kept on staring at me for quite a while.
To be more precise, the thing she was staring at was the dragon crystal that was buried deep in my chest.
While I was in my human form, all of the dragon magic I possess is stored inside of this red jewel on my chest, as to prevent any excess magic from leaking out.
「I was always wondering about that, but how does your Dragon Crystal feel?」
「And whatever do you mean by that?」
「For example, does it feel like your nail or hair? Or maybe it feels like skin, an inseparable part of your body?」
When I saw the intense curiosity with which Ligurila was staring at my Dragon Crystal, I involuntarily shivered with anxiety.
「I do believe I told you about that before. While I"m in my human form, there are a lot of things that I don"t need and I keep them restrained as concepts. I use it to store all the things that are not necessary for the human body, aside from the basic five senses.」
「N-no, such a thing is…」
Aha! There it is!
Ligurila"s eyes were lit with a mysterious light, unlike anything I have ever seen in her eyes before, as I felt a sudden sense of imminent danger creeping over me.
「Lava, can I touch you for a little bit? You don"t mind, do you? Hmm, but of course I don"t want to take your magic. I just want to see how it feels!」
「I get, I get it, Ligurila! So can you stop being so creepy!」
「What"s wrong? It"s not like it"s going to decrease, you know?」
「It is! It is going to decrease! My sanity meter, that is! Besides, it"s more than enough that Nectar was groping it!」
「……!? That spirit did something like that!?」
Despite my protests, Ligurila"s hands were creeping closer to me, and so I had to engage my evasive maneuvers.
What commenced next were loud splashing noises and lots of shrieking.
「I won"t let you get away!」
I was doing my best to flee, but since I wasn"t minding my surroundings, I ended up tripping on the wet floor and falling to the ground.
No, wait, I didn"t trip. I could clearly see Ligurila"s tentacles entangled around my ankles.
You would seriously go that far just to cop a feel!? Really!?
I knew that I couldn"t escape her grip now, and I fell right back into the bath.
While the splashes and shrieking intensified, I could see in Ligurila"s face that she was clearly enjoying herself.
At the same time, we could hear the door to the changing room being slammed open and the small figure jumped inside of the bath.
「Lavsama, what is…… happening……!?」
It was Mikoto, fully clothed and with her wand in her hands.
She looked cautious and her face was tightened, but when she saw Ligurila pinning me down in the bath using her tentacles, all of her hair immediately stood straight.
I quickly pushed Ligurila away and came out of the water, coming towards Mikoto whose face was completely red at this point. I knew that there was a grand misunderstanding here in the making, and I had to act now!
If I let her go like this without properly explaining anything, things would get really bad really fast!!
「Wait, Mikoto! Please wait! This is all a one huge misunderstanding! So please don"t get the wrong idea here! Please, you have to believe me!」
「I, don"t have, anything against, women partaking to other women. However, Lavsama already has Nectar-sama, so……」
「That"s an entirely different story! Say, you came for the hot spring, right? Why don"t we go in together? The moon is so beautiful today!」
I tried to lure Mikoto in so I could properly explain, but the face that she showed me was truly a cold one.
However, as soon as she saw Ligurila standing behind me, she got stiff in a second and shook her head.
「No, thank you, I take a dip some other time.」
「I have nothing against it. Do go in if you like.」
Mikoto listens to Ligurila"s words in astonishment.
Heck, even I was surprised by this sudden offer, but Ligurila only turned around in response and sat on one of the rocks surrounding the hot spring.
「I will cool myself off here. Meanwhile, little girl, if you have something you would like to say to me, out with it. I"m currently in the mood to listen. If not, you can just scram and go away…」
Mikoto looked at Ligurila, who crossed her arms on her chest with a stiff expression, which soon changed into a challenging look.
「Wait, a minute.」
After saying that, Mikoto retreated into the changing room, presumably to join us.
Sensing that round two of the morning"s conversation was approaching, I hid my face in my hands as I dove into the water, wanting to scream with all of my might.