Chapter 672: Lake
After hunting Savage for an entire day, they decided to rest in the evening since it would be dangerous to walk around when the sun had rested.
"Is it alright to eat at this time?" Hayato asked.
"Hayato, have you heard this proverb? "A man"s worst enemy is his own empty stomach"," Haru said while cooking a curry for everyone.
"..."
"Where did you hear such a proverb?" Hayato asked.
Haru was surprised that there wasn"t this proverb in this world. He confidently said, "It"s mine."
"........."
Hayato was speechless.
Claire nodded and said, "I agree with that." She looked at Haru and asked, "We have hunted 5 Savages before, what about you?"
"About 20," Haru said. He hunted more than that, but he didn"t want to tell them.
"...."
That answer startled them, especially Claudia, who only knew him earlier.
"You really hunt a lot, what about your energy?" Claire asked.
"It"s alright. I can patrol later at night," Haru said.
"That"s good." Claire nodded.
Claude looked at Haru and whispered to Emile. "Emil-sama, is what he has said true?"
"Yes, it"s true," Emile said. She was also shocked, but when she thought about his fight on the video then she felt that it was possible.
"....."
Claudia really thought that Haru might be the strongest Slayer in Little Garden and Warslan.
Then the dinner was ready and they were eating with gusto.
Claudia, who ate his food couldn"t help but marvel.
"He"s good at cooking, he"s strong, he"s handsome." Claudia sighed and really wanted to bring him back to the kingdom to marry him.
In the middle of eating, they talked about their strategy again along with news that there would be a shower (rain) at night.
"I see..." Claire looked at the sky and said, "I doubt that light rain will pose much of a problem, but we"ll have to be careful with beam weapons."
"We"re going to split into two groups and take turns getting four hours of sleep. The group that"s awake will secure the perimeter and keep watch," Claire said.
"Understood?"
"Then, I"ll be together with Hayato!" Emile said and hugged Hayato"s arm.
Claire nodded and said, "There are three guys in the group. Hayato and Emile should stay together."
"Eh! I object!" Claudia said.
"Then, how about a lottery?" Haru asked since the faster they decided the faster he would sleep.
They nodded and started with a lottery.
After the lottery was over, the two groups had been separated with three people in each team.
The first team consisted of Emile, Hayato, and Erica while the second team consisted of Haru, Claire, and Claudia.
Claudia cried when Emile would stay with Hayato.
"We"ll go sleep first," Haru said.
"Erica, please stay careful," Claire said.
"Yes, Claire-sama." Erica nodded.
Claudia wanted to complain but could do nothing. She followed inside then suddenly felt awkward when she saw both Haru and Claire were very close to each other. She felt that she had become the third wheel. "Umm... I"m not bothering either of you, right?"
"N - No, it"s alright...." Claire answered with a blush.
Haru didn"t answer since he had closed his eyes.
Claire looked at Haru annoyedly when she saw him sleeping. "At least show some reaction to me...." She sighed and moved her sleeping bag closer to Haru since she saw him sleeping.
Claudia became more uncomfortable by this, but also jealous for some reason.
It was their time to patrol, Haru and Claire stayed a few meters away from the camp, and Claudia decided to stay right on the camp since she was afraid for Hayato and Emile to do something.
"It"s a beautiful star," Claire said while looking at the sky.
"You"re a more beautiful thought," Haru said.
Claire blushed and said, "D - Don"t tease me!"
Haru looked at the star and thought about Megumi somehow since they often watched a star together. "How is your sister?"
Claire smiled and said, "She has woken up, but she can"t stay outside of the capsule."
"Why?" Haru asked.
"She can"t control her own power," Claire answered with a sigh.
Haru caressed Claire"s hair and said, "At least, she has woken up now."
"....."
Claire blushed when he felt his caressing.
Haru realized what he had done and stopped. "Sorry, it is a habit and very hard to change."
"Habit?"
Haru shook his head and suddenly noticed something. "Savage is there."
Claire"s expression turned serious and didn"t doubt his words. She took her communication device and said, "Claudia, both of us will go to see Savage. You"re going to guard the camp."
*Bzzt!* *Bzzt!*
"Transmission error?"
"Do you want to go to the camp first?" Haru asked.
Claire shook her head and said, "We can handle this ourselves, let"s go."
Haru nodded.
Running together, they arrived at Savage"s location and saw a normal Savage walking toward the forest.
"I"ll handle this," Claire said.
"Hundred On!"
Six floating cannons appeared on her side and shot out a beam at the same time.
*BOOOOM!!!*
"OOOOOOOOOO."
Savage was angry.
Claire summoned her rifle canon and closed the distance between her and Savage, but suddenly she slipped because of the wet ground.
"Eh?"
"OOOOOOO!"
Savage was right in front of her and raised its pincher ready to slam it down at Claire.
Claire was in a hopeless situation, then she heard a voice.
"Prez, you"re clumsy, aren"t you?"
Haru swung his dagger and cut down Savage"s pincer, then struck down Savage"s core, killing it. He evaded the juice that came out from Savage and gave his hand to Claire. "Let"s go."
Claire took his hand and felt very embarra.s.sed.
Walking toward the lake, Claire"s suit was full of dirt and mud.
"I - I could handle that situation alone!" Claire blushed and said, "But thank you for what you have done."
"No problem." Haru looked at Claire"s suit and said, "Your suit is all dirty."
"Yeah, I can"t go back like this. I"d like to wash it off first," Claire said.
It didn"t take them a long time before they had arrived in the lake.
Haru could feel the warm temperature from the lake and felt a bit surprised since he didn"t expect to meet a hot spring. He looked at Claire and asked, "Do you want to enter it together?"
Claire blushed but nodded.
"Fuuh....." Haru sighed in relief when he entered the lake since he felt very relaxed.
Claire felt very hot at this moment, but she was also happy.
They didn"t face each other but went back to back enjoying this hot spring.
"It feels good," Haru said.
"Yeah...." Claire sighed then rested her back at Haru"s back. She felt that his back was very wide and very comfortable. She thought for a while and asked, "Kasugano Haruka, can I ask you a question?"
"Haru."
"Hmm?"
"Just call me Haru," Haru said.
Claire blushed and said, "T - Then you also need to call me, Claire!"
"Well, Claire, what"s wrong?" Haru asked.
Claire was happy and said, "Haru, how can you be so strong?"
"Strong, huh?" Haru wasn"t sure what to say and said, "I"m not sure."
"Not sure?"
"I heard from Charlotte that most of the strongest Slayers should be Variants, but I"m not Variants," Haru said.
"Somehow, I"m a bit jealous of you," Claire said with a sigh.
"You shouldn"t be since you"re the leader of the Little Garden," Haru said.
Claire looked at the sky and said, "Haru, do you know why I became a leader of the Little Garden?"
"It should be LiZA, right?" Haru said.
Claire was a bit surprised and asked, "How did you know?"
"I can see that Judar doesn"t treat LiZA like his own little sister, but rather something different." Haru was very relaxed and said, "If LiZA is my younger sister then I"ll do the same as you."
"Don"t you think that I"m quite selfish?" Claire asked.
"Protect what you care about, what"s so selfish about that? I feel that is a pretty normal thing and that shows that you really love your younger sister," Haru said.
Claire somehow felt the knot in her heart had been released. "I"m not sure, but talking with you makes me very happy for some reason."
"I"m glad that you feel that way," Haru said.
"Do you know how LiZA became that way?" Claire asked.
"I"m not sure," Haru said.
"LiZA is a Variant and she is a Variant from birth..." Claire started with her storytelling him about LiZA who was a Variant from birth and it was all because of her mother who put a virus into her w.o.m.b creating a LiZA into the first Variant in this world. She also told him that the reason she had slept was that LiZA had used a forbidden power to save her in the past. That was why LiZA could only sleep in the capsule, but she still released a large amount of energy.
The last thing Claire said her mother did was to LiZA to defeat G.o.d.
"G.o.d, huh?"
Haru felt that G.o.d from Claire"s mouth was something that created Savage or this virus.
"Haru, what about you?"
"What about me?"
"Why did you become a Slayer?"
Haru raised his eyebrow and said, "There"s no special reason. It"s just my family is gone and it"s hard to continue to chase my dream with a lot of Savage bothering the world."
Claire who heard Haru"s reason felt that even though his voice was quite plain, there must be a lot of things that had happened to him. She couldn"t help but turn and hug him. "Please tell me if you feel sad....."
Haru didn"t feel sad but felt pretty excited since Claire"s b.o.o.b.s pressed into his back. He had gone for a few days and missed Sakura somehow, but Claire"s b.o.o.b.s really calmed him down or rather excited him?
Claire who hugged Haru noticed the standing anaconda that came out from the surface of the lake eyeing its prey.
*Gulp!*
"Do you nee---"
*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*
"Emergency call?"
Claire was surprised and hurriedly stood up, but she slipped again.
Haru also stood up and caught her, but maybe it was because of G.o.d"s will that they fell down at the same time. He didn"t know how they could fall into this situation.
Claire and Haru had kissed each other and his hand kneaded on her large b.o.o.b.s.
Claire also noticed something hot and hard on her stomach and knew what it was.
"....."
Haru wanted to insert his tongue, but he stopped. Parting their lips, he said, "I"m sorry."
Claire was shocked, then fl.u.s.tered and blushed. "I - I"ll ask you to be responsible for this!"
Haru decided to change the topic of conversation. "We need to go."
Claire also nodded, but she wouldn"t let him go after he had taken a lot of her first time.
"Idol? I"ll defeat her!"