A Slightly Exhausted Alchemist-nim

Things I hadn’t felt before assailed my body all at once.

Literally unable to move, I gasped, unable to resist something thumping, thumping inside my body.

Only after smooth surfaces slapped together did I realize who was on top of me.

With a voice already hoarse, I struggled to call out that name.

“…C-Claire?”

“…Asha?”

Her blurry, lifeless chestnut eyes regained their vibrancy, becoming as clear as revitalized earth.

…Of course, my own vision was endlessly blurry as I watched her.

“You’ve come to your senses….”

“…Uh, ugh, h-huh!?”

“Ah, s-sorry, just a moment.”

Light flashed from Claire’s hand as she pulled her body away from me. The light, which I thought would seep into my body, lingered in the air for a moment… then scattered.

When the light disappeared, I saw Claire’s face. She looked troubled somehow.

“W-What’s wrong?”

“…I’m wondering if it’s okay to use Divine power on you right now.”

At her sudden words, I took a moment to catch my breath and assess the situation, but there wasn’t much information I could gather, other than the distinct smell of semen wafting around and an excessive number of towels spread everywhere.

The only thing was that the room looked somewhat familiar?

It seemed likely that it was Claire’s room, where I had stayed recently.

‘…It seems Her Highness Selina really did bring me to the Temple.’

Putting that aside.

…Why was Claire swaying her hips on top of me?

Couldn’t she just heal me with Divine power?

As I looked at the flustered Claire with those thoughts, her body flinched and trembled.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…It’s nothing. Anyway… why Divine power?”

At my question, Claire sighed and gripped a towel in her hand. Then she slowly began to wipe my thoroughly damp body.

As the surrounding situation suggested, my overly sensitive body made me feel… a little strange.

Claire, who had been examining me and caressing my body, suddenly spoke.

“…Did you take that growing potion?

“Hic!”

…I wonder if this body of mine is utterly useless at hiding anything.

Or… is it because the situation my body is in is too peculiar?

‘…Yes, that must be it.’

I felt terrible, like I had become, to put it vulgarly, a ‘loser’.

“I didn’t take it because I wanted to….”

Claire’s face after hearing my lukewarm reply was… well? I couldn’t quite tell what expression she was making, but it was clear she was feeling something complex and subtle.

“What on earth did you create….”

She mumbled something as if whispering, but my ears were ringing, so I couldn’t hear well.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“…No, anyway, when I tried using Divine power on you earlier, your condition just got worse. So, for now, it seems best to just let you recover naturally. Just in case… you know.”

Seeing Claire’s face flush slightly as she said that….

As I expected, it seemed she had calmed my body through *that* kind of activity.

At this point, I wasn’t even surprised.

‘…Probably.’

It seemed like it was the same situation as ‘that thing’ that had grown because of the potion.

But… why does she still have that? And what’s its connection to Divine power….

I don’t know.

My head was spinning too much to continue thinking.

After taking a deep breath and calming my heated body and head, it wasn’t just my waist or legs, but my entire body that ached.

When I let out a groan, Claire frantically massaged my body.

“…Ugh.”

“Even if it’s hard, just bear with it a little longer. Let’s wait until tomorrow.”

“You want me to sleep here?”

“Then what? Do you intend to move with a body like this?”

“…My companions will be worried.”

Claire told me not to worry, saying Her Highness the Princess had gone to deliver the news, but that only made me more anxious.

‘…It doesn’t seem like she intends to harm me.’

Still… the whims of royalty are unpredictable, aren’t they?

Her Highness Selina doesn’t seem to be of such a nature, but historically, there have been many kings who were fine one moment and then suddenly went mad, haven’t there?

‘…My body is tired, so I’m having all sorts of silly thoughts.’

Anyway, I’m uneasy.

“Couldn’t you just use Divine power?”

However, unlike before, Claire shook her head firmly.

“What if you go into heat again like before?”

“H-Heat cycle, you say….”

“If that’s not a heat cycle, then what is it?”

Seeing my face flush, it seems it’s really not okay. I also felt as if my body, which had calmed down, was heating up again.

It’s probably because a strange scent keeps wafting up whenever I inhale.

“Then at least I want to wash… and this place needs to be cleaned up too.”

“…That’s true.”

As I said that, Claire put her hands under my armpits and lifted me up with a flourish, as if proclaiming me a new successor.

…I thought this when I saw her wielding a weapon before, but Claire seems to have immense physical strength.

As I floated in the air, numerous liquids, affected by gravity, streamed stickily down my thighs.

‘…She really did a lot.’

I suppressed words I couldn’t utter aloud, pressing them down, and vividly felt that sensation.

Claire sat me down on a chair covered with a towel, then tidied up the room.

She put the towels into a large sack and thoroughly wiped away any remaining traces.

Finally, she opened the window slightly to ventilate the room.

Then she moved me to another room.

And then she put me into an empty bathtub. As the smooth, cold surface touched my body, I instinctively recoiled.

“Ugh….”

…My waist hurt.

“Just a moment.”

I saw Claire, looking at me with complicated eyes, rush out of the room.

Clutching the towel wrapped around my body, I shivered, feeling a little forlorn.

I wondered if I really had to endure this just for selling a popular potion-

‘…Wait a minute.’

I moved my trembling hand and rummaged through my pocket.

Pain surged, and I bit my lip, urgently.

Fortunately, the money from selling the potion was safe and sound.

“…Hehe.”

Feeling its texture, my gloomy mood improved, if only a little.

I thought, isn’t this too fickle… but what does it matter?

Wouldn’t it be better to be smiling than to be stuck in an empty bathtub with a gloomy face?

While I was squatting in the bathtub, fiddling with the money, I sensed a presence.

Cautiously raising my head, I saw Claire looking at me, holding a large tub.

“…Ahem.”

As I politely cleared my throat and put the money back into my pocket, Claire set down the tub and began to undress me.

“W-What, what are you doing?”

“…What do you mean, I’m going to wash you.”

“Ah….”

“What on earth were you thinking?”

“Well, nothing….”

I couldn’t very well say that a manga I’d seen in my previous life came to mind, so I just mumbled.

Claire, who had been twitching her eyebrow, silently lifted the large tub and tilted it towards me.

Steaming hot water gradually filled the bathtub.

“…It’s warm.”

“Even so, you can’t go to a public bathhouse in that state… so bear with this.”

“It’s enough.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

As the warm water filled up to my chest, this time a sigh of relief escaped me.

It felt as if my stiff body was slowly relaxing.

As I leaned back against the bathtub, sinking into the growing weariness, Claire’s hand began to touch my body.

“Eek!?”

“…Why are you so surprised?”

“B-Because you touched me suddenly….”

“Oh, really?”

Claire’s white hands meticulously cleaned every part of my body.

Her touch was skillful, as if she had done this many times.

Then, with a gurgling, gurgling sound, I saw something whitish and murky that had come from my body floating in the water.

Claire, with a somewhat irritated gesture, scooped it away.

‘…Even though it’s hers.’

By the time I felt my body was clean, Claire also took her hands off me.

I, too, had been submerged in the warm water for so long that I was able to move, so I grabbed the bathtub and stood up.

With a chaaaak sound, water poured down my body into the bathtub.

The feeling of my thoroughly wet hair clinging to my body… never felt particularly good, no matter when I experienced it.

I briefly gazed at my reflection in the calm water.

…Now, I think of this as my appearance, and I don’t even feel a sense of incongruity.

‘….’

As I stood blankly with my head bowed, I heard Claire’s voice, tinged with worry.

“Can you move? Are you okay?”

“A little.”

I shook my head to clear it and stepped out of the bathtub.

Then I dried my body with the towel Claire handed me.

While I dried myself, Claire dried my abundant hair.

Claire, who had been diligently drying my hair, suddenly spoke.

“…So, how about returning to your original body? Has there been any progress?”

“…Well, it’s about the same as when I got here.”

Thump-thump-thump.

The sound of my hair rubbing against the towel was loud.

“Um… Asha.”

“…Why?”

I still hadn’t found more than one way to return.

In fact, even that… isn’t a certain method.

When I replied in a voice that even I felt was gloomy,

Claire hugged me from behind and said softly.

“It’s okay to give up if it’s too hard.”

“….”

“I’ll help you.”

A sudden yet somehow sweet proposal, delivered along with her soft body.

…Spending the rest of my life with Saint Claire in her space, the Temple… well, it might not be so bad.

However.

That’s not the life I want.

And… I want to return to my original self.

Seeing that my heart was swayed for even a moment to do so… I must be a little exhausted.

“…I’m fine.”

“I thought you’d say that.”

“…Then why did you ask?”

When I turned around, Claire merely smiled strangely and didn’t answer.

Her face looked… somehow sinister.

‘…No way.’

I shook my head inwardly and finished drying my body.

Given that strange thoughts kept coming to mind, it seemed… I might need a short rest.