Chapter 52: Mark.
We’re in the hospital’s exam room. Sitting on a chair, facing Ruruka. Obviously sowhat nervous, Ruruka keeps adjusting her posture on her chair as she observes . Even though this is a scene I’ve experienced plenty of tis before, just having her tell she loves sohow makes it look extrely different.
「Ahaha… Long ti no see!」
Ruruka shyly wraps her hand around the back of her neck and averts her gaze as she speaks. It’s not like it’s been that long since we talked. Just a few days.
「Sure. What’s the matter, this late at night? Need treatnt?」
Perhaps she’s becoming conscious of it. When she misunderstood that she was dying after the beauty contest, she confessed, and on top of that she even kissed . At the ti, there was the tension that she might die from petrification, and a sense of liberation when that went away. It was an extraordinary situation. Precisely because of that, she likely got caught up in the montum and went so far as to kiss .
But now it’s different. We’ve had so ti, and both of us have cald down. Facing each other in such a manner, she must be thinking about that ti.
It’s kinda awkward… besides, I’m becoming a little conscious of it too.
About how she had rub her breasts using the treatnt fee discount as an excuse. About how she was eager to enter the labyrinth together as adventurers. Moreover, about those magic tool earrings and how she ca running right for when I got lost in the forest.
After being told she loves , I ended up thinking about it in relation to this and that.
Ruruka is cute. Her features are well-ordered, and I think her red hair is pretty. Her tits are big, too. I saw her in a swimsuit at the beauty contest, and even though she’s big-breasted, the places you’d expect to be firm on an adventurer are tightened up, and have a healthy eroticism to them. Plus her personality is light-hearted and she’s easy to talk to.
And unlike Yuel, she’s at an age where I can put my hands on her. If I tell her that I love her too right here, I wonder what will happen? Just thinking about it is making restless.
-But, I can’t do that.
Putting aside how I feel about Ruruka, at the very least, I can’t do it now.
「…」
Yuel is sitting on my lap.
I don’t an she’s just sitting on my lap. I’m sitting in the chair, and Yuel is sitting facing so she can cling to . I can see Ruruka over Yuel’s head, but it’s covering the lower half of my field of view.
At that point-blank range, Yuel is staring right into my eyes. I don’t have the courage to say sothing like that to Ruruka in this situation.
「I-It’s not like I’m particularly hurt or anything… I don’t need treatnt… Does that an that unless it’s for treatnt, I… can’t co here?」
At the sa ti that Ruruka blushes shyly and asks that, I feel Yuel’s hands clutch my clothes. It’s no good. I don’t an that it’s no good for her to co to the hospital if it’s not for treatnt, but that I can’t speak with Ruruka honestly when Yuel is this close.
I thought about having Yuel go brew so tea for or sothing, but from the look on her face, that seems impossible as well. The dams of Yuel’s eyes are about to burst from just that single bashful line from Ruruka. Trembling as if to implore , those blue eyes are earnestly fixed on alone.
…I can’t burden Yuel’s ntal state any further.
With Yuel being so obedient, if I told her to go brew so tea she would leave, but if I do that then without a doubt Yuel will cry. I don’t want to drink tea that Yuel brewed while crying; sorrowful tea with a hint of salt.
For the ti being, I’ll handle it by tenderly petting Yuel’s head.
「Nh…」
When I do, Yuel nuzzles her head against my neck. At the sa ti, at a volu that I almost don’t hear it, she unintentionally chokes out a tiny sob.
…Hopefully petting her head makes her feel a little relieved. As if reassuring herself of my warmth, she wraps her hands around my neck and rubs her head into it.
「Ahhhh!? Wait, Shiki!?」
When Ruruka sees that she cries out, but I can’t stop Yuel at this point. If she were only trying to provoke Ruruka as a woman then I would put a stop to this kind of behavior, but for Yuel that’s most likely not the case.
…Yuel is just plain insecure.
Yuel isn’t paying attention to Ruruka, but simply gazing into my eyes. So as to avoid missing the slightest change, simply continuing to peer earnestly into my eyes alone. In other words, what Yuel is worried about isn’t Ruruka getting closer in and of itself, but a change in my heart because of that.
Like if I ended up thinking “I want to be alone with Ruruka”.
Would Yuel, a slave, still have a place at my side?
Slaves are beings bought and sold with money. The mont I saw her as a hindrance, Yuel would be put up for sale in the slave market once again. Well, I would never do such a thing to Yuel, but in this world the common sense is unquestionably that slaves are that kind of existence.
Right now, the existence that Yuel depends on the most is without a doubt . Perhaps it’s natural for her to think that if I get close to Ruruka, I’ll see the slave at my side as a hindrance. That she won’t be able to stay by the side of the only person she can depend on.
Just how deeply disheartening would that be?
Yuel is still young. Besides, as soone with no relatives, the bond between Yuel and is just a one-sided master and slave relationship. Considering Yuel’s circumstances as well as her present ntal state, it feels rather pitiful. We’re in front of Ruruka, but I’ll try petting Yuel’s head one more ti.
「You’re petting her again!?」
-The very instant that Ruruka protests.
At the nape of my neck, there’s a lukewarm sensation. The location of that sensation was about where Yuel’s mouth is.
She licked . No mistaking it, Yuel just licked the base of my neck.
…No, perhaps Yuel’s tears ended up hitting the base of my neck, and she was just licking those off. There shouldn’t be any deeper aning behind it.
And it doesn’t seem like Ruruka has noticed, so I’ll ignore it for the ti being.
…Well, let’s leave the matter of Yuel aside.
The fact that Ruruka didn’t co here for treatnt ans that she ca to see . And furthermore, the fact that she specifically ca this late at night…
Now I get it.
「Ruruka, I get that you want to pick up where we left off at that inn, but you should really pick a more appropriate ti…」
In other words, a “night visit”. Ruruka ca for a night visit. Right now she must want to do what we couldn’t do that day due to the inn being full.
But of course, that’s impossible in this situation since Yuel is here now. She would cry, and even if she didn’t cry she would probably want to join in. As a slave, it’s extrely likely that she would assist . And for so reason she’s still continuing to lick around my neck.
「Inn? …Ah, That’s not it! I-I ca here this late ’cause I had to sneak out of Lord-sama’s place… Lord-sama was concerned because of the latest monster incident, so he said not to leave the mansion…! See, Fran invited as well so I’m staying with her right now! Just earlier, I finally slipped past the watch of the knights on guard duty!」
「…What, so that’s what it was?」
I see, so that’s why she ca here at such a ti? Sheesh, I wish she wouldn’t mislead so much. In this situation with Yuel riding on , letting my delusions grow out of control would be extrely awkward.
「Yeah! Especially Fran, Lord-sama ordered her not to go outside under any circumstances!」
Well, that middle-aged lord does seem excessively doting. I guess that’s how he’d be when monsters run riot within the city.
…Wait, Ruruka is currently living at the lord’s mansion? I was wondering where she was staying, but to think it was the lord’s mansion of all places. Nah, she did join Fran’s party, so I guess it’s not such an odd story.
And I feel like I heard that the lord prohibited Fran from entering the labyrinth recently, so as her party mber, Ruruka probably has no source of inco either. Perhaps that’s why they’re taking care of her in the anti.
「What’s Lord-sama so wary of, that there could still be monsters hidden in the city like the ones from the beauty contest? So fiendish ones like that dragon?」
「Mmmm, I don’t really know. But seems like the knights are investigating, and they’re giving Lord-sama a bunch of reports all the ti.
…Ah, now that you ntion it, that dragon, I’m keeping it in the garden at the lord’s mansion.」
Is it or did Ruruka just say sothing incredible?
「Just now, did you just say that you’re keeping that dragon?」
「Yeah, I’m taking care of it. I feed it every day, y’know?」
Apparently she’s raising it as a pet.
Can you keep a monster like that as a pet? It’s not just a large-scale carnivore, that dragon breathes petrifying breath. I don’t think that soone with normal nerves would want to get anywhere near it.
Wait a minute, didn’t Ruruka almost get petrified by it? Sothing like that should be enough to make her hate even the dragon that she claid to be fond of, though.
「I-It doesn’t act out? Besides, your legs were even petrified by that dragon… is it really okay?」
「It’s fiiine. Dragons are really smart, y’know? The fact that it attacked people was entirely that collar’s fault.
…Huh? But Shiki, do you an I was hit by that petrifying breath too after all?」
Whoops, I misspoke. I was hiding the fact that I can use EX Heal from Ruruka. Well, this girl does seem like she’d carelessly let it slip to soone like Fran and all. And I did end up telling Yuel that my healing magic was my secret with her.
「Ahhh… I-I wonder what happened.」
But Ruruka doesn’t seem to care that much either way about the petrification,
「…Besides, because that dragon was there, I was able to… Ehehe.」
and she starts fidgeting as she says that. Her words cut off, and she gives a look full of aning. When our eyes et, Ruruka lowers her face as it reddens slightly.
-My heart skips a beat.
Ruruka has shown gestures of goodwill before. Though until now, I thought she was just acting in order for the price reductions to go well.
But there was a good reason behind her goodwill. It wasn’t acting. It was rely a simple reaction. That in itself makes Ruruka look all the more cute.
-And yet, I mustn’t forget that Yuel is here too right now.
I wonder what expression Yuel is making now? Ruruka’s last line was dripping with aning. At the previous point she was already about to cry, so it wouldn’t be odd for Yuel to have broken down sobbing. I should check up on her.
However, I can’t see Yuel’s face very well.
But she’s probably not crying. Or rather, she’s most likely not listening to the conversation between and Ruruka anymore.
…She’s licking . For so reason, Yuel is licking around my collarbone.
Even when I stop the conversation to look at Yuel, she shows no signs of stopping her licking. I can’t see her face due to the angle, but the sensation of being licked itself is constantly coming across, no doubt about it. She’s licking with her undivided attention.
…Is it that? When children are anxious and they suck their thumb - has she developed that sort of ntality? That’s probably it. I’m sure that’s it.
「Well, if it’s fine then that’s all well and good, but…」
「Errr, besides, it’s gotten really attached to , y’know. Even though it never lets anyone else ride it, for so reason it lets sit on its back! It’s sooooo cute!」
Ruruka exclaims delightedly.
Oh yeah, I rember. During the raid, Ruruka tried to protect that dragon. She tried to convince the saint’s group to spare it sohow when they were going to shoot it down. The saint instantly rejected her, though.
And dragons can comprehend human speech. If it still retains its mory from when it was wearing that monster-manipulating collar, it’s only natural that the dragon would feel an attachnt towards the sole person who voluntarily tried to protect it. If Ruruka hadn’t remained in that spot to stick up for the dragon, I probably wouldn’t have told Yuel to destroy the collar, at least. I would’ve taken Ruruka and ran away from the targeted saint at full speed.
…The saint. That’s right. I rembered sothing else that’s really important.
「Well, that’s great. Oh right… that reminds , is the saint at the lord’s mansion right now?」
That saint should currently be staying at the sa mansion as Ruruka. I’m worried. The “found you” was my misunderstanding, that’s the conclusion that I’ve reached, but in the end sothing’s still bothering . I want to try investigating the saint indirectly through Ruruka.
「Saint-sama? Yeah. Seems like she’s talking with Lord-sama every day?」
「Huh, with that middle-aged lord… I feel like she was saying sothing or other about donations, but do you know what they talk about?」
「…Are you interested in Saint-sama, Shiki?」
Ruruka seems to have misunderstood sothing; she’s giving a disapproving look, but I don’t have that kind of interest in the saint at present. She’s flat and all.
「No, nothing like that. Look, this monster raid stuff isn’t sobody else’s problem. For the sake of our own safety, I want to have you find out what kind of things that saint and the lord are discussing.」
「…Hmmm, well, I guess I can. Fran and I heard a bit of their talk, so I know a little? Let’s see, apparently the Saint-sama shows her face at the festival every year, only this year she had a separate goal, and that’s why she was consulting with Lord-sama.」
When I give her an adequate excuse, Ruruka makes a reluctant face but explains anyway.
「And, that goal is?」
「She ca to search for sothing.」
-Searching for sothing. Ti to resurrect that “found you” lip movent theory.
Was my healing magic discovered after all? But wait, there hasn’t been any action towards from the saint’s side for a few days now…
No, I see.
I get it. The middle-aged lord sees quite favorably, since I saved Fran and all. If the saint was marking all the excellent healers in this city for the sake of the Krankheit Turtle incident investigation, it wouldn’t be weird if she asked around beforehand.
She’d want , who saved the citizens with my incredible ability, to accept a suitable position within the church. But since she knew of the connection between and the lord, she went to negotiate with him first.
However, the lord was trying to hook up with Fran. The lord couldn’t let the church take away his heir candidate, so the negotiations were going rough. And a few days ended up passing in that manner. It may be sothing like that.
…No, I give up.
I don’t want to stand out very much. But if the church does end up presenting with a suitable position, I’m sure I’d have a handful of young priestesses following around and fussing over all like “Kyaaa, you saved the city, my hero!”. I truly am reluctant, honest. But oh well, if I got discovered then there’s really nothing I can do about it. Developing connections with that middle-aged lord doesn’t seem too bad either; if I told him I absolutely needed an important office then, well, sothing tells he’d be willing to cough one up.
「Ohhh. So then, what was she looking for?」
「Hmmm, that’s the thing. Apparently it’s sothing she didn’t really want us to hear, so… well, Fran and I were only eavesdropping from across the wall so I couldn’t hear it very well.」
「…You heard what you heard, but you were eavesdropping?」
Ruruka aside, Fran does seem like the type to eavesdrop if she was excluded from such an important-sounding conversation. It’s likely that she made Ruruka help her.
…Well, if that lord is involved then I shouldn’t need to worry that much about it. That middle-aged lord would speak well about to the saint, and if sothing were to happen I get the feeling he would accomodate .
「…No, but.」
「What’s the matter, Shiki?」
…Between the lord of a regional city and the Saint-sama of the church, which one is more important?
Religions often have strong clout in politics. Furthermore, in this world the Church of dine is the headquarters that controls the genuine miracle that is healing magic. Thinking about it that way, the title of regional lord starts to look a little overshadowed. It starts to seem distinctly like a dead-end middle-managent position.
I get the feeling he told previously that I could rely on him if I had any issues, but I wonder if that guy is actually dependable.
「Ah, now that I think about it, I do rember!」
As I’m thinking about it, Ruruka suddenly cries out.
「Errr, to purge soone? Saint-sama said sothing about that too. Sounds dangerous, huh…」
「Purge!?」
I heard a term I shouldn’t be hearing.
Did she say purge just now? As in the aning of an organization erasing an inconvenient existence, that kind of purge?
No, it’s too early to freak out. Maybe I misheard, or maybe it wasn’t 粛清 (political purge) but so other ‘shukusei‘.
shukusei, shukusei, 宿星 (star of fate). That’s it, the star of fate. She’s sothing like my fated person, so she very much wants us to get along. Maybe that’s what it ans. And she did hit on , saying my black hair was beautiful.
「Yeah, sothing about making the person who brought about an unfavorable situation for the church atone for their sins. That’s what she was saying.」
Nope. It’s a purge. No doubt about it, a purge.
Wait, that shouldn’t be referring to . Sothing disadvantageous to the church, I’ve never done anythi…
I have, huh. Sothing huge.
That Krankheit Turtle incident. By enveloping the entire city with Area Heal, I treated every little wound and illness in the city. Although people get injured a lot since it’s a labyrinth city, for a few days the people who make their living through healing magic were no doubt out of work. And the biggest organization in this city that depends on healing magic for its inco is, you guessed it, the church.
…Now that I think about it, that female knight who invited to join the Krankheit Turtle subjugation unit. I forgot her na, but I get the feeling that she was complaining about how none of the eminent mbers of the church would co with the subjugation unit back then.
-Sothing tells there’s a connection there.
The spectacle I saw before crosses my mind. The image of the saint, using shills in order to improve her healing magic ability.
…Putting on a charade.
What if, by so chance, the people of the Church of dine brought that Krankheit Turtle to the city in order to reap the rewards from using their healing magic? What if the church orchestrated that entire incident to secure profits for themselves? If that’s the case, and they went out of their way to prepare that large-scale monster to take advantage of the huge business opportunity, didn’t I end up making it all go to waste?
I have a bad feeling about this. An unbelievably bad feeling.
If the church is already hostile towards , even if that middle-aged lord supports , the odds that the negotiation over my rights will go well are extrely low. If making an enemy of the church isn’t worth it in the first place, the lord may not support at all.
And there are things such as slave crests in this world. With enough authority, it’s a simple matter to make soone submit unconditionally. The second an authority on the scale of a nation declares you an enemy, there’s no way for you to oppose them as a private citizen.
…I should run. I should run away with all my strength, right now, to so country where the Church of dine has no influence.
She might not have discovered where I’m staying yet, but there aren’t exactly that many black-haired healers in this city. Make it a black-haired healer accompanied by a dark elf girl and you can pretty much narrow it down to one. With just a little questioning of the knights and adventurers I’ve interacted with, she’d quickly find out that I’m here.
…That’s it, I’ll do a night flight.
「What’s wrong, Shiki? You’re really sweating.」
「I-I’m fine. No problems.」
This is unrelated, but Yuel is still continuing to lick around my neck. I’m sure she’s wiping my sweat or sothing. I can’t pay attention to the fact that her ears are turning slightly red for so reason, or that she’s starting to breathe heavily. At the mont I have no leeway to consider any other problems.
「Err, and then, after we eavesdropped, Fran asked Lord-sama what kinds of things they were talking about, but in the end he wouldn’t tell her.」
…Talking with the lord. Ah, sothing major was escaping my mind. I may be jumping to conclusions a bit.
「Hey, just making sure, what you heard was a conversation between Saint-sama and that middle-aged lord, right? You’re completely sure about that?」
「Yeah. That’s right…? What’s the matter?」
That’s right. Stay calm. What Ruruka heard was a conversation between the lord and the saint.
There’s no way that the saint would be having a conversation like “when we were about to have the city be assaulted for financial gain, sobody interfered so we want to purge him” with the lord who’s charged with protecting the city. If the lord and the church have financial connections then I guess it’s possible, but at the very least the lord has been having everyone under his command in the knight brigade protect the city with all their power. I feel like that’s a very unlikely scenario.
This is getting kinda confusing. In the first place, Ruruka said that the saint’s goal was to search for sothing. If she was searching for a person, that “sothing” choice of expression doesn’t feel quite right.
…It’s good that I tried asking various things, but supposedly finding out the saint’s purpose just leaves with more questions. What I understand is that she’s searching for sothing, and she’s going to purge soone. I also get the feeling that it’s not related to .
Or rather, if she really was going to purge , it would’ve been appropriate for her to detain within these past few days. Leaving alone with no surveillance, even though there’s a chance that I could escape, is clearly strange.
「Ah… Shiki, Well, it’s getting late, so I should return soon. I-I’ll be back!」
As I’m thinking it over, Ruruka hurriedly stands. While looking behind , she exits the hospital as if she’s running away. I take a look behind to see what’s up… and Eris is standing in the hallway outside the room.
Her hair is wet. It gives off a feeling like she just climbed out of the bath.
I wonder if Ruruka ran because of her habit of negotiating treatnt cost discounts? By so chance, maybe she’s bad at dealing with Eris since she’s aware that Eris is angry over all the discount negotiations. Yuel as well, perhaps because Ruruka left, got off my lap before I noticed.
「Hey, you…」
And now Eris is looking at slack-jawed for so reason.
I wonder what’s wrong? Whether or not Eris feels any goodwill towards , I get the feeling that if she thought Ruruka just ca for treatnt she wouldn’t be that dumbfounded.
「That mark at the base of your neck, don’t tell … after all… you’ve gone that far with that girl…」
As she inspects my neck, Eris’ makes a shocked face and speaks. Her voice is trembling. It’s conveying a feeling like she doesn’t want to believe what she’s seeing.
「…The base of my neck?」
I try touching it, but there doesn’t especially seem to be anything there. No, there does seem to be sothing like saliva stuck to it, but there shouldn’t be anything in particular.
No, wait, Eris was saying sothing about a mark. Tentatively, I check the silver mirror decorating the room, and…
-one spot at the base of my neck has turned slightly red.
This is a mark from internal bleeding caused by sucking on the skin… the so-called ‘hickey’. And there’s a bit of saliva stuck there. I don’t even have to think whose it is.
「No! This isn’t from Ruruka! It’s from Yuel! I-It’s a misunderstanding!」
I was too focused on the saint’s objective, so I didn’t notice at all. I take a look at Yuel, and she’s hanging her head in sha. And, poking out from that silver hair, her long ears are tinged bright red.
I wasn’t able to discern the saint’s purpose in the end, but I did determine one thing. I thought that perhaps she wasn’t bothered that much about the matter of Ruruka kissing . It turns out Yuel-san is ridiculously worried about it.
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