Chapter 9: 2.3

I returned back to the inn with Aine for the time being. Once again, we were faced with the problem of the room—having only one bed in the room would indeed be too small.

“Okay, I’m gonna go out again for a bit.”

“Eh, even though we just got back?”

“I just forgot to check if there are any free rooms in other inns. It’s still pretty early in the day anyway.” When I was about to leave the room, Aine grabbed me by the hem of my clothes. I reflexively stopped walking and looked back. “Aine?”

“I, don’t really mind it like this, though,” Aine spoke up.

Perhaps, she might be thinking that changing inn would be another burden on me.

Certainly, this inn’s rent was cheap. Though, it didn’t mean that I would be living a difficult life with that degree of burden on me.

“I can at least afford to rent two rooms, you know.”

“T-two…?”

“Nn, so don’t worry about it, okay…?”

“It-it’s fine with just one room. Umm, it’ll be troubling when it suddenly comes, so…”

“Ah, I guess you’re right…”

At night—it could possibly come when sleeping.

Having that in mind, perhaps it would indeed be better with only one room.

“Even the bed, it’s also not that cramped to sleep in. …If you think it’s hard for you, then I think we should just change the room, though.”

“I’ve said I can sleep even when sitting, haven’t I? I also don’t mind it if you’re all right with it, Aine.”

“…I’m, all right with it.”

We were confirming each other’s OK with it, and settling it there. It was indeed still hard for me to not be too considerate.

Now it’d come to this, then I would have to sleep closely with Aine again today, huh—I didn’t mind it, but I was worried whether it would be a burden on Aine.

She was a girl, and she also didn’t seem to like having me sleep sitting on a chair. I didn’t want her to be self-deprecating too much, but… it might be hard for her who had fallen into the position of a slave.

As I was in my thoughts, Aine suddenly grabbed the sword that just had been bought and unsheathed it from its scabbard. While looking at the sword blade, she was grasping at the hilt as if to ascertain it.

“Fufu… Like, it’s been so long since I’ve held a sword,” she said with a smile.

I was relieved seeing Aine like that—as expected, she was who she was because of the sword.

“I think it’d be nice to have some training with you after so long, you know?”

“…That’s nice to hear, but I wonder if I can be your match.”

“To think that you’re being modest with swordsmanship.”

The old Aine would have at least asserted: ‘I’m sure I’ll win even if we did it, though!’

With a slightly dissatisfied expression on her face, “wh-when I saw your swordsmanship, even I’m gonna be anxious. …After not meeting for so long, you’ve become too strong unlike someone like me. When you cut the arm of that guy named Dill or something, I could hardly follow it with my eyes after all,” Aine said.

She must be talking about the swordsmanship I’d shown earlier.

Kicking the floor from the inside of the store, and striking a blow with the momentum—at that distance, it wouldn’t even be that hard to kill most people.

Even monsters; if I were to target precisely at their weak points, I could slain them in less than several seconds. Certainly, you could even say that I was excelling in swordsmanship now. However, Aine was the reason I was who I was now.

“I might’ve told you this before, but you’re the reason I got this far. Well, it’s because you’re my goal.”

“Y-your goal… if you’re making someone like me a goal, you’ll become weak, you know?”

“Nope, I won’t; that’s how I got this strong. While at it, how about we go to the yard and have a bit of training?” following the flow, I suggested so to Aine. If it had been so long since she’d held a sword, then training would indeed be necessary.

We would be acting together from now, so a part of me also would want to see her current ability with the sword. And Aine nodded, showing no apparent disapproval.

“Right… I’m gonna be helping you from now on anyway. And I suppose I won’t have such luxury like an S-ranked adventurer watching over me.“

“It’s nothing that big of a deal, you know.”

“That modest part of you, it really hasn’t changed at all.”

Being told so, “is that so?” I replied like I was playing ignorant.

I didn’t mean to be modest. Just that there were many more people stronger than me.

When I had that in mind, I couldn’t even bring myself to make such a big deal out of it. …If it was to protect Aine, I could say and even do just about the right things, though—in that sense, I might always had been too considerate of her and unable to close the distance between us.

“…”

“Lunois?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. Well then, let’s do some light training today.”

I left the room with Aine—thus, for the first time in a long time, I would train together with her.

There was a slightly large yard behind the inn. Guests of the inn were free to use it, and there were times when people doing light exercise or families with children were hanging out here.

Now it was just me and Aine—while grasping the hilt of the sword as if to ascertain it, Aine put a light step forward.

“Fuuh—”

In one breath, a flash. A quick sword strike cutting through the empty space.

Next, two strikes. Aine had said she hadn’t held a sword in a long time, but her movement was pretty without showing any signs of weakening at all.

I ended up charmed by that sight—her movement had become much more refined than when we had trained before.

“How, is it?”

“Yeah, very pretty.”

“P-prett…?!”

“No wasted movement. It doesn’t look like ‘it’s been so long’ at all.”

“Ah… O-of course. It’s the swordsmanship, right,” Aine said with some kind of disappointment. I meant to honestly praise her, but perhaps she was unhappy with the movement just now.

And the sword I’d bought for her seemed to fit her well, as she herself had chosen it.

“And then next is your swordsmanship, c’mon show it.”

“Alright. I’ll also do three light swings.”

Urged by Aine, I drew my sword from its scabbard. The sword blade with a slightly black luster was made from an ore called ‘Chlorestia.’ It was extremely hard, requiring high heat and dedicated processing tools to process it.

It might be obvious, but for adventurers using a sword, the weapon itself was their life. For me, who seldom relied on using magic in the first place as my fighting method, a sword that could be used for a long time was precious as well as essential.

Although it was an expensive material, I had obtained it myself and requested a workshop to make it into a sword.

Lightly grasping the hilt, I took a stance. While feeling the wind blowing on my skin, I focused my mind.

I took a step with my right foot and slashed horizontally. Following the sound of the wind being cut, the second strike. I swung the sword downwards, and stopped just right before it touched the ground. Followed by the third strike—a strike like slashing up, returning the blade. Once the general flow was complete, I released my stance.

“Something like that, I guess.”

“…”

“Aine?”

“As expected, you’re growing so much. To the point it’s presumptuous saying it that way.”

“I mean, you’re also growing.”

“…Yeah. But, you really are special. I feel somewhat relieved.”

I thought Aine would be feeling down again, but what she showed was a smile.

As she stood next to me, she pointed at her feet, “when you took the step for the horizontal swing of the first strike, you still put in quite the strength, right? It’s slightly gouged into the ground. It’s always been like that, isn’t it?”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right. Even though I’ve taught you the first strike will be delayed then. …Well, the level of the swinging speed is different to begin with, so maybe it’s not worth worrying about, though.”

“Nuh-uh, I want you to teach me about things like that. This is training after all.”

“I-is that so…? Then, what about me? Is there anything…?”

“Your sword is… pretty and no hesitation I’d say.”

“…Not like that, I’m hoping for points of improvement.”

“Nothing comes up.”

“…Ahahah, that part of you hasn’t changed either. You suck at teaching!”

“…Sorry about that.”

“Well, that’s fine. Just feel free to tell me if there’s anything catching your attention; because today I want you to train me.”

“Yeah, got it.”

Without crossing swords, Aine and I did practice-swinging, examining one another.

Nevertheless, it turned out to be a worthwhile training and it even made me feel somewhat nostalgic. Sword—it was connecting me with Aine. Indeed, I could assure that.

Before I knew it, we were training together until nightfall.

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A while later after finishing training, I was alone in the bathroom adjacent to the room. Despite the bathroom being small, it even got a bathtub. Though, I thought of just going with shower today.

I was making Aine wait—I’d told her to go first, but she’d told me she would want to go in after resting for a bit.

I recalled the training earlier all the while showering with warm water.

Aine was saying that it’d been so long since she’d held a sword, but even judging from the practice swinging alone, she would be plenty capable as an adventurer.

There should be no particular problem for her and me to act together. If anything could be a problem, it would be the ‘heat’ that would come once a day—when that happened, Aine would weaken her so much she would be unable to move.

For example, if that were to happen while we were in the middle of our job… it’d be fine when resting time, but thinking that it could be happening when fighting monsters and such made me anxious. Even telling her to just stand back and watch because I was worried about that would surely end up hurting her. …In that case, I’d just have to do my best to protect her, though.

“…Guess I’ll go wash up.”

When I stopped the running water, I could hear the door suddenly opening with a creak.

I guess I didn’t close it properly. When I turned around trying to close the door—my gaze locked with hers as she stood there.

“Aine, sorry. I made you wai—!?”

I couldn’t help but open my eyes wide in surprise.

What came into my view was her, stark naked. She was standing there, with her right hand trying to hide her chest and her left hand her private part. She might be trying to cover them, but I could see the pink nipples through the gap between her fingers.

The sight of her, naked and wearing the iron collar, was somewhat immoral.

She was slender, but her body that had worked as a knight looked firm. While biting her lower lip and with her face bright red, “d-don’t look too hard,” she said in a small voice.

“S-sorry!”

I quickly averted my gaze. …No, something was weird.

It was Aine who walked into the bathroom naked. She knew I was inside and was coming in—the sound of the door closing reached my ears, and I could feel Aine was standing so close to me.

I did see her secret place yesterday and today, but… this was the first time I saw her stark naked like this.

“E-errm… I’m going out now, okay?”

“Then there’ll be no meaning in me coming in.”

“…Meaning?”

“You helped me with training… so at least, I’m gonna wash your back.”

Apparently, she entered the bathroom for that reason. This bathroom was quite small for two people, but… Aine grabbed me by the shoulder and had me sit on the small stool in the bathroom.

“I’ll always come with you if it’s just raining, so you really don’t have to do this…”

“I-I’m doing this because I want to. Or, is this just bothering you…?” Aine’s voice became small.

I turned my gaze slightly towards her—without any reason, I was a little hesitant about seeing her naked.

However, I would never feel unpleasant towards Aine’s goodwill. I looked back to the front, “then, I’m leaving it to you.”

“! S-sure thing!” I could hear Aine’s slightly cheerful voice at my words.

After a bit of silence, she started scrubbing my back with a cloth in her hands. I wonder how long it’s been since I’ve had someone wash my back—with just the right amount of force, it felt somewhat good.

“Thanks for today,” Aine said so while scrubbing my back.

“About the sword? Don’t worry about it.”

“About the sword, about the training… Somehow, it feels like it’s been so long since I spent a normal day. Because I really didn’t have anything like freedom.”

“In that case, I’m the one who should be saying thanks.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s been a while since I’ve had fun, I guess. It’s really been so long since I’ve swung a sword for fun.”

Swinging a sword for an adventurer’s job and swinging a sword with Aine were completely different—I really enjoyed the time we spent together.

“…It’s making me a bit embarrassed somehow, being told that.”

“More embarrassing than now?”

“D-don’t mention it. There’s no way, it’s not embarrassing.”

“S-sorry.”

I thought of cracking a joke a bit, but I immediately apologized after hearing Aine’s words. Thinking of our current situation, there would be no way she wouldn’t be embarrassed.

And after another bit of silence, Aine spoke up. “Then, time to switch.”

“Eh, switch…?”

“W-we’re already in together now, and I’ve also taught you about the sword, so this much is okay, right?”

“…If you’re all right with it, then I don’t mind, though.”

I stood up in the small bathroom and tried to switch places making sure to avoid seeing Aine’s naked body to the utmost. However, she just stood in front of me, this time without showing any gesture of covering herself.

“A-Aine…?”

“If you keep looking away like that, you can’t wash mine, right…?”

“…Aren’t you the one who said not to look.”

“Yep, but… as expected if it’s you, Lunois, I want you to look properly.”

Hearing Aine saying such a thing with upturned eyes, I could feel my heart pounding. From my perspective, Aine was a very cute girl. And such a girl was standing in front of me, exposing her naked body despite looking bashful—for some reason, I felt much more nervous than I would when doing the act with her due to the effect of ‘Sexualification Collar.’

When Aine’s gaze snatched a glance downwards, she quickly averted it.

“! F-for now… can you, wash my back?”

“Y-yeah.”

Prompted by Aine, her and I finally switched places. …It was somewhat embarrassing, having my penis, which had gotten big from seeing her figure, seen by her.

Aine didn’t expressly touch on this point and just sat down on the stool with her head down.

Gently, I touched her back.

“Nn.” Aine squirmed her body a little while letting out a moan.

Reflexively, I pulled away the towel in my hands from her body.

“Errr…?”

“It-it’s just ticklish. Umm, my back’s also, a bit sensitive…”

“I see… Can you, endure it?”

“Nn, I will.”

I felt conflicted with the words ‘my back’s also,’ but I’d just let it be.

Once more, I touched Aine’s back with a towel to wipe it—with a jolt, her body still shook a little.

Though, this time she didn’t leak a voice. She seemed to be trying to endure me finishing wiping her back quietly by holding her hands over her mouth.

“…!!”

Even though I was only supposed to be washing her back, the sight of Aine enduring it like that made her look somewhat sensual.

It was somehow unlike when she was in ‘heat’ because of the effect of the collar… She reacted so much it made me want to tease her somehow.

When I wiped the nape of her neck, she ducked her head while leaking out just a bit of voice.

“Nn.”

“…You’re weak here, too?”

“! N-not at all.”

She seemed to be honest when talking about it herself, but she seemed to be prone to act tough when I asked it.

From the back to the armpits—and when I wiped further down her sides, she made an obvious uncomfortable gesture and leaked a pant.

“Ah, kuh.”

“You can’t endure it? Just a bit more till done.”

“I-I’m fine. Fuh, it’s just, ticklish.”

Aine sent a glance towards me—the sight of Aine looking over here with tears in the corners of her eyes was terribly cute, also making me want to touch her a little more. …However, even continuing too much might become a real burden on her.

From there, I decided to wash her back in earnest. Still, it was enough to say that her reaction was sensitive, though.

By the time I finished washing her, I noticed that Aine was breathing raggedly as if she had just finished training.

“Hah, fuh, d-done…?”

“It’s done. You can wash the front yourself, right?”

“O-of course I can, you dummy!” Aine took the towel from me with an angry look on her face.

In the small bathroom, Aine and I were spending our bath time like this.

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