“Uuum… Ububu…”
As I turned my stuffy body this way and that, a soft, heavy mass gently pressed against my face.
“Right when you open your eyes, you want to do it again?”
“Bu…?”
“It may be a little difficult, but… I’m in favor.”
A kind voice chuckled as it gently lifted my chin.
“Good morning, Noah.”
“Ugh… Uh… Ru, cough, cough. Rubia…”
“Hehehe… How come your voice is so hoarse?”
“Heeek…”
Rubia poked me in the side and chuckled.
“Did… did Rubia sleep well?”
“Yes, I had an amazing, deep sleep for the first time in a while.”
“Uuum… That’s a relief…”
With a tender hand petting my head, I chuckled and hugged Rubia tightly.
It really smells nice…
But… why is it so smooth, soft, and fluffy?
“Uh, uh…? Wait, wait… You’re completely… undressed…?”
“Yes. You took it all off yesterday, remember?”
“Ah… hiccup-”
“Puha-ha! Why are you surprised all of a sudden?”
“Huh? Hiccup, ah, no… Th-, hiccup- hee…”
Every time I moved, my bottom throbbed, and that, uh, embarrassing part was… it stung and hurt.
My chest, thighs, belly, back, shoulders, neck.
Why… my armpits…?
“I’m also stinging here and there. Are you in pain too, Noah?”
“Y-yeah… it hurts… it stings…”
“Just hold on.”
“Ah, th-thank you… huh?”
“Just bear with it, and remember that feeling.”
Pshh-, Rubia’s lips brushed against my forehead.
“We created these wounds together.”
“A-ah, oh, wow… heeek…”
At those sweet words, my body became so, so hot.
It felt like steam was bursting out of my face…
In the end, unable to endure my embarrassment, I buried my face in Rubia’s body and hugged her.
Then, I distinctly felt the marks of her nails on her back.
“U-uh… Why didn’t you heal this…? Besides, isn’t Rubia’s body supposed to heal itself…?”
“I’m intentionally holding off. I want to remember too. It would be even better if it left a scar.”
“Y-yes…? What do you mean… No scars, please. Heal it quickly.”
I’m still embarrassed, but…
I wiggled up and pressed my forehead against Rubia’s.
“You don’t need to remember it that way… We can just do it again. Heal quickly. I don’t want Rubia to be in pain…”
And then, smooch—
I kissed Rubia’s slightly parted lips and gently stroked her back.
“…Huh.”
“Ah, does it hurt? S-sorry.”
“You’re trying to seduce me again.”
“…Huh?”
“Are you feeling better now?”
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Rubia rose up and sat on me.
Crackle-
“R-Rubia? W-wait, when will this happen again…?”
With handcuffs clinking, she let out hot breaths.
“Let’s do it again.”
“Y-yes…? No, I mean, yesterday wasn’t it… that, huh?”
“I don’t know. I forgot. So just shut up. No, I mean, open your mouth.”
“I-I’m still hurting… Ubu?!”
*
“Lady Rubia, what’s with the expression?”
“Huh?”
“I may be rude to say this, but your expression is quite unpleasant to look at.”
“Oh my, that’s a harsh thing to say. I’ve always looked like this, so what are you talking about? Hehe.”
“…It gives me the chills.”
[Am I the only one thinking this? Isn’t Rubia being too nice?]
“Do you think so too, Lady Cartia?”
“You’re trying to frame me… I’ve always been nice. People call me a benevolent shaman, so I can’t be bad, right? Right, Noah?”
“Uh, y-yeah. Rubia is nice.”
“Your testimony holds no persuasion at all.”
We were sitting around a round table discussing Sirin’s incident report.
Hmm… It’s not exactly an incident report, is it?
Anyway… we gathered to have such a meeting.
To the left of Sirin was Ser, and to the right was Rubia.
I was on Rubia’s lap.
“I don’t feel uncomfortable, but surely, Sol’s words are quite mellowed, huh.”
“Is that so? I think I’m exactly the same as usual. Right, Noah?”
“Uh, y-yeah… cough, hmm… yeah.”
My already hoarse voice began to crackle with beep-beep sounds.
So embarrassing…
“By the way, Noah, why are you so pale? Weren’t you supposed to be spending the same time together?”
“Yikes…”
I turned my back to Rubia, hiding my overheated face.
“Um, did you two do something?”
“Do something?”
“Sex.”
[Bang bang! Buns bang bang! Copulation!]
Bang- bang- The sound of Ser’s fist and palm hitting each other and Cartia’s outrageous statement yanked my memory from yesterday.
Flesh hitting flesh.
Water spilling and splashing everywhere.
My mind fading and feeling like I was going to die.
That, scene, everything.
“Heeek…”
Again, I felt a twinge in my lower belly, pulling Rubia tightly and shaking my head.
Don’t answer.
Don’t answer!!
Knowing my thoughts well, Rubia simply smiled at Ser’s question without answering.
Then, with her finger, she—
Slither-
“Huh?! Wh-what all of a sudden?!”
“Indeed. That was sufficient as an answer.”
[What? What? Huh? Really? Did you really do it? My goodness…]
What do Ser and Cartia understand to say such things?
I’m so embarrassed that I think I’m going to lose my mind…
“Well then, let’s end the chit-chat and move to the main topic.”
Sirin slammed a stack of papers onto the table and handed one set to Ser and one to Rubia.
“Rubia, you and Noah had an encounter with the crime organization known as the Red Scorpion not long ago, correct?”
“Red Scorpion… Yes. There were various incidents in Ursphere. Noah remembers, right? That time… that incident.”
“Uuum…?”
Red Scorpion?
Ursphere…?
What’s that?
“…Don’t you remember?”
“…No.”
“That’s understandable. Yes, the situation wasn’t good back then.”
With a small smile, Rubia patted my head and suddenly pivoted her body forwards.
“But why are you suddenly mentioning that organization? Everything was dealt with back then… not everything, but the organization should have been dismantled.”
Then, a small envelope plopped onto the table.
“What’s this…?”
Reaching out and crinkling it open, Rubia gasped in surprise.
“This drug… isn’t this what the organization members were taking?”
“How much do you know?”
“First, at the time of the interrogation… Ah.”
Rubia paused her words and briefly lowered her head, watching me.
“Why, why…?”
“Well… Noah should know some important things too.”
Patting my head lovingly, Rubia spoke with a determined expression.
“Back then, only one survivor from the organization remained, and we interrogated him a bit. As for the drug’s components and effects…”
“Can you explain a bit?”
“Yes… First, the ingredient is a human with magical power. The effect is a temporary surge in magical power. Even those who had no magic could use at least the magic of a proper knight after taking the drug… I’ve heard.”
[What the hell are these humans doing…?]
“Huh…”
They turned people into pills?
Wait… did they eat that…?!
“I see, then…”
Sirin sighed heavily and placed another envelope onto the table.
“This is the finished product of that drug. It’s the drug that produced those monster-like beings we encountered. Ser, can you identify the components?”
“As the genius I am, I know everything.”
Ser, who smiled playfully, bit his finger and started drawing a small magic circle on the table with his blood.
Swipe- swoosh-
Completing a blood magic circle the size of a human head, Ser pulled Sirin’s wrist and placed it on top.
“Could you lend me some magical power?”
“Sure.”
Seeing Sirin’s magical power flow right into the magic circle, Ser placed the pill onto it with a satisfied expression.
Immediately, the pill emanated a familiar aura.
“…Just as I thought.”
“That’s… could it be?”
“Yes, what you all are thinking is correct. Divine Power. It’s Rubia’s Divine Power. Although muddied with some magical power, the purity is quite high for that.”
“How…?”
Rubia, tightening her embrace around me, spoke in a trembling voice.
“This… is just a hypothesis, but… Rubia, there are towns you went to for missionary activities, right?”
“Yes, I’ve been to many places… Ah, could it be—”
“It’s not definite. But the likelihood is high. The reason I’ve been going out frequently is to investigate those places.”
Flick-
Sirin pulled out a map from thin air and spread it out on the table.
“Can you recognize them?”
“These places…”
“The towns where you went for missionary purposes.”
“Ah, no way…”
“You must have left faint traces of divine power in the bodies of the people you healed. Just in case of any possible disease recurrence, right?”
“…That’s right.”
“They must have taken that.”
Rubia’s body, hugging me, began to tremble violently.
Her hand, which had been stroking my thigh, grew cold, and her breath became erratic.
Seeing that made me feel bad, so I put down my great sword and turned to hug Rubia tightly.
Then, her trembling stopped, and her breathing calmed down.
“So, so… all the towns I went to for missionary work… have they all perished?”
“That’s right. Not a single person survived. Their magical energies and organs were completely empty.”
A clattering sound echoed as Ser set down his coffee cup.
I could hear Sirin’s heavy breathing and Rubia’s frantic heartbeat.
“So everything I did… my actions, intended to save people… were actions that led to their deaths…”
“Rubia, you haven’t done anything wrong. Without your Divine Power, those humans would have died long ago.”
“That’s true, but…”
“So you don’t need to feel guilty about it. Cartia is thriving as well.”
Rubia’s embrace tightened around me even more.
“Is there… is there still a place that hasn’t perished?”
“There are a few left. Cities too.”
“Hmm… then we might be able to filter out the next targets.”
“Given the movements of those guys so far, their next target wouldn’t be a small village, but a massive city. That place is probably…”
With a nod in response to Ser’s inquiry, Sirin’s finger traveled across the map and—
“Ursphere and Cartia.”
It stopped abruptly.
“I believe these two cities are their ultimate targets.”
