Chapter 91: When I Admired A Slave’s Swimsuit, Someone Next To Me Was Listening
By the time we finished exploring the town and shopping, the sun was almost gone.
Maybe she was tired, but Aine’s face was a little red.
We dropped by the Adventurer’s Guild, shopped at the market, explored the market trends while we were there, and finally went shopping for a swimsuit. We didn’t have that many choices considering our budget, and Aine didn’t seem to be particular about it, so the swimsuit selection went smoothly.
“I wanted to see you in a swimsuit.”
“No. …That’s …yeah. Not now.”
Aine hugged her luggage as we walked side by side along the coastal path.
“I’m your big sister, so you see it later … after everyone else’s.”
Aine nodded in satisfaction, with her usual gentle smile.
And when we got back to the villa…
An altar for the Heavenly Dragon Egg was built in the attic.
“… is my hobby.”
“… is not a job.”
“It’s just a way to pass the time.”
“We were just playing.”
No, you don’t have to make excuses like that.
The altar was built by Cecile, Rita, Iris, and Rafilia.
The villa was a two-story stone structure with a ladder in the hallway that led up to the attic.
Originally, it was a place where the Lord hid documents that he couldn’t let out, but it was empty, probably because we were coming. The height of the room was barely high enough for a person to stand and walk. There was a small window on the wall.
Cecile and the others built an altar to place the Heavenly Dragon Egg there.
Of course, it wasn’t magnificent. They just put a soft cloth inside a small treasure chest that we retrieved from the Valley of Mist to keep the Egg from rolling around.
There were some flowers in a vase that we picked near the ocean, and in front of the treasure chest there was a board that said ‘You are welcome’.
Apparently, they were the first words said when a child was born in this world, but I wonder if it could be understood by the Heavenly Dragon as well?
“What do you think, Nagi?”
Cecile came up to the attic with me.
Rita and the others went back to their rooms. They were going to show each other their swimsuits. I wanted to be present for that discussion if possible, but… I had been asked by Raijika, the mummy Wyvern, to take care of the Heavenly Dragon Egg. So, I had to do what I could.
I checked around the altar.
The chest was solid. Its lid was light and could be opened from the inside.
The bundle of cloth was firmly in place to prevent the Heavenly Dragon Egg from rolling away.
“Come to think of it, I wonder how big a Heavenly Dragon child would be?”
“Rafilia said that it would be about the size of a human baby.”
Cecile told me as she adjusted the position of the cloth.
“Then, it will absorb more and more mana and grow bigger. So when they hatch, they can open the lid and fly out the window by themselves.”
“I see.”
With a puff, I put my hand on Cecile’s head.
“Very well. I think we’re good to go for now.”
“I’m glad you like it…”
I stroked her hair, and Cecile let out a relieved breath.
The mummy Wyvern had said that it could take about a year for the Heavenly Dragon Egg to hatch.
So, as a temporary place to put it, that place was fine.
‘I’ll put curtains on the windows later. Don’t let direct sunlight in.’
I asked a merchant in town to manage the villa. I had heard that he had a close relationship with Ilgafa Lord, so he wouldn’t pry too much into it. I could also make a Contract with him.
We were negotiating with the Lord to let us use the villa for a few years. Since Iris and I were the Shrine Maiden and Hero of the Sea Dragon, I didn’t think he would refuse though.
And no one knew that we were in charge of the Heavenly Dragon Egg.
If possible, I wanted to set up traps to avoid intruders, but that would only be possible only after selling the gems we received and creating a cheat skill.
‘We’ll be here for a week, so we’ll figure out what’s wrong and fix it. Debugging is very important.’
Eventually, I planned to create a space under the floor to hide the Egg. No one will notice, and the hatched Heavenly Dragon would be able to easily come out to the surface.
‘So,
“Stay here and be quiet until you hatch.”
I placed the Heavenly Dragon Egg on the cloth.
The pure white Egg was about as warm as human skin.
When I was in the Guild, it had a small heartbeat, but it was quiet at that moment.
I held it in my hands as an offering and placed it in the center of the altar that Cecile and the others had built.
“Then, Nagi, please go to the others.”
Cecile stretched out her thin fingers and checked the location of the Heavenly Dragon Egg. She checked if there was anything in the way between the altar and the attic window and the floor for sharp objects.
The Demon, Cecile seemed to be cautious, perhaps because of their close relationship with the Heavenly Dragon.
“I’m going to stay here for a while and watch the Heavenly Dragon Egg.”
“You can rest now, Cecile. I got this quest from Raijika.”
But Cecile was serious.
‘If I don’t force her to take a day off, she’ll try to find a small job and work. Even now, it looks like she’s been cleaning the attic for the whole day.’
“You want to try on swimsuits with everyone, don’t you?”
“… Oh, that’s okay. There’s no problem”.
Then Cecile clutched the hem of her slave uniform.
She looked up at me with her lips tightly pressed together.
Then she closed her eyes, lifted her clothes in one motion, and pulled them off over her head…
“I’ve already tried on a swimsuit, just in case something like this happens!”
Her brown skin and white fabric flashed into view.
Her silver hair spread out like wings and twisted around her thin body.
What Cecile was wearing was a white bikini.
To be precise, it was an otherworldly swimsuit in the style of a white bikini.
The top was cloth wrapped around her chest called a tube top. The bottom was a pair of shorts that were cut down to the very base of her legs. The fabric was similar to the “Choukou Kyu Na Yu Amigi” that Aine had bought before, but it seemed to be thicker than that. Or rather, it had to be thicker or it would be see-through since it was white.
You’ll be able to find a lot more information on this topic on the web.
“… Oh, um, … Nagi. What do you think, …?”
I was speechless.
It was good… very good in fact.
It looked really good on Cecile.
I had always thought that white went well with Cecile’s brown skin. The innocent color brought out Cecile’s cuteness. And with the silver hair entwined in it, the mysterious atmosphere she normally gave was increased by 50%. It was amazing.
“I’ve never worn a swimsuit before. …Doesn’t it… not… look good on me?”
Cecile was holding her face in embarrassment.
But I was also embarrassed.
I was crazy. I realized at that moment how unimaginative I was.
I had designed some cute game characters in my previous world, but I hadn’t been able to keep up with Cecile in front of me. I had to admit that my imagination was not as good as I claimed it to be.
More importantly, I wondered if it was okay to let Cecile out in… her swimsuit.
It was a good thing that a woman was present when Aine was trying on her swimsuits clothes, but if we went swimming, men would see them too. Wouldn’t that cause an uproar?
‘I should forbid them from going outside wearing their swimsuits. …No, that doesn’t make any sense.
We’ve decided that we’re all going to go swimming together on this trip.
If that’s the case, should we choose a time when … it’s not popular? I don’t want anyone to Cecile and others.’
“…Nagi, Nagi. Please say something. …”
“What do you want me to say other than ‘awesome’?”
“────? I’m sorry.”
“If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be ‘Fairy in pure white’. I see. … Now I understand the meaning of the name “Demon Race”. This is how Cecile’s clan has been attracting people. … So it’s a “Demon” clan because of their dangerous charm. I understand it very well. Is all their charm condensed in Cecil?”
“Nagi … Hey.”
“If I had to go back to my previous world, I would have taken Cecile with me, but I guess I’ll have to rethink that … Cecile in this form is too destructive. If she were to wear a swimsuit outside, it might cause a localized panic. But I can’t ban Cecile from swimming for the rest of her life. … It’s a difficult question. What should I do …?”
“Nagi … Oh no. No such … wait, wait, wait!”
“I don’t have my smartphone. AHH! Why couldn’t I bring my smartphone? What a waste. … What a waste. If I had a smartphone, I could have taken a picture of Cecile in this form and used it as wallpaper to carry around…”
Before I knew it, Cecile was cowering, holding her face.
Through the gap between her open fingers, she looks at me resentfully, her bright red eyes glazed over.
“…, Nagi, you’re a tease.”
Then Cecile hugged her newly undressed slave clothes tightly.
“You don’t have to hide it.”
“Nagi said something strange, and I felt embarrassed. …”
“I just said what was on my mind.”
“… too. I don’t know. Moooo!”
With a puff, Cecile turned her head to the side and puffed out her cheeks.
“Nagi, you’d better be prepared. If you think so about me, you won’t be able to handle others’ swimsuits.”
Cecile was bright red all the way to the tip of her pointed ears.
‘I guess I’ve been staring at her too long.
‘I don’t want to embarrass Cecile any more than she already is and make her hate her swimsuit. This vacation is for my slaves to enjoy swimming, but it’s meaningless if they can’t swim.
‘I’m not quite ready to be a Master yet.’
“…Nagi is … too …”
Cecile was holding her chest and face with the slave clothes she was hugging.
“If you keep saying things like that, I’ll give you a warning when you’re born, Heavenly Dragon.”
“Heavenly Dragon…?”
“No, because Nagi is always expanding my world. He gave me a home, brought me on a vacation, and so on. I want to share that happiness with you, Heavenly Dragon, and tell you that being connected to Nagi is truly a blessing.”
Cecile then stroked the collar that adorned her neck.
“It’s amazing how time seems to fly by when I am with Nagi. … It was only a short time ago that I was in the slave shop,…, but it feels like it was so long ago that I can’t remember.”
‘That’s what I think as well.
‘I feel like I’ve been traveling with you guys for a long time, but in reality, I’ve been here for less than two months.
‘When I ran away from Royal Capital, I couldn’t have imagined relaxing in a villa in such a Resort Town.’
The only people in the secret attic were me and Cecile.
The setting sun shone through the window, turning the room red.
Cecile, in her swimsuit, was rubbing her knees together in embarrassment. Then she put her clothes on the floor and looked at me as if she had made up her mind.
“I always thought the world was a scary place.”
Cecile said, with a little bit of a tear in her eye.
“Ever since I met Nagi, Rita and the others, living and traveling … With me, every day has been fun. I probably won’t regret it even if I die at this very moment.”
“If you die, I’ll regret it, so please don’t die.”
“Yes. So I’ll live to be near you.”
Then, Cecile laughed.
“I don’t care anymore that I’m one of the last Demons alive. I’m happy enough to be around you now. I even want to tell Heavenly Dragon about it. I’m not afraid of the world. Because of Nagi, no matter what happens, I’ll be fine…”
“… Really?”
“Yes. Thanks to him, I’m not afraid of the world anymore.”
“You are not afraid of the world?”
“Yes. The only thing I’m afraid of is being separated from Nagi.”
“Cecile!”
I pulled Cecile’s arm.
I hugged her thin body as if I were intervening between her and the Heavenly Dragon Egg.
‘What the hell is this?
‘It’s strange. The Heavenly Dragon Egg is starting to beat.
‘It’s thumping.’
The Heavenly Dragon Egg was shaking and overflowing with so much mana that even I could tell.
“Not scared?”
I heard a voice like a small child’s.
“Wouldn’t that be terrible?”
“Is it safe to be born…?”
Crack
The Egg cracked.
Light began to flood the room and my vision turned completely white.
I heard a sound as if something was coming out.
‘Too early.’
The Heavenly Dragon Egg was supposed to hatch by absorbing mana from the land where the previous Heavenly Dragon died.
That was confirmed by Raijika, the mummy Wyvern.
But we had only just put the Egg there.
‘I can’t believe it hatched so fast… if that happens.
‘…Huh? But this is not a problem right…?
‘It’s rather easy.
‘If the Heavenly Dragon gets born and flies away, our work is completely done, right?’
The light disappeared, and a creature appeared before our eyes.
It slowly got up, making a wet noise.
“…White”
That was my first impression.
Pure white.
Its face, neck, back, arms and legs, even the tiny tail.
The information that the hatched Heavenly Dragon was the size of a human child was correct.
It was amazing that a creature of that size could be born from such a tiny Egg. As expected of another world. It easily surpassed my imagination.
The newborn Heavenly Dragon looked at me with purple eyes…
“…? What name?”
The creature shook her platinum blonde hair and smiled, looking reassuring.
There were no scales wrapping around her, and she had no wings.
She only had a horn behind her ear, about the size of my index finger.
99% of her appearance was human.
It was as if the vision of the white person I saw in Sharka Town had been turned into a little girl.
“… Really. I don’t want to be … scary, okay?”
The tiny humanoid Heavenly Dragon extended her hand toward me and Cecile.
When I reflexively touched her, she jolted, pulled her hand back, breathed in, and grabbed my hand firmly the second time.
“Even if you touch it, it’s … a gentle feeling.”
Pure white hands.
Rounded, five fingers.
It was the palm of a person’s hand, a child’s hand.
“Wait a minute. Are you really … a Heavenly Dragon?”
“Shiro is Shiro, okay?”
The little girl then rubbed her cheek against my hand.
“Because you called me that.”
“… yes?”
“Everyone poured their heart out and said to me “I love Master Nagi.”. So, I thought people here weren’t scared and decided to be born here.”
‘Wait a minute, I can’t see what you’re talking about.
‘Who poured their heart out, who did?’
“… Tell me the world isn’t scary.”
The pure white girl who called herself Shiro, looked at me…
“Tell me I don’t have to work so hard. I don’t need the mana of my previous generation of Heavenly Dragons. …Please…”