Ch.141Negotiation (4)

Throughout the peaceful, beautiful morning with the sun shining down, I spent my time stroking Pia, who was curled up tightly against me, her body folded into a small ball in my arms.

Of course, she no longer looked completely like a young child, so it was more like she had hunched her shoulders, pulled her knees up high, and nestled between my legs.

But watching her fluffy tail curled up and tucked between her legs, and her two ears slowly swaying with contentment, I could clearly see remnants of her former self when she was a fox, curling up snugly in my embrace.

Though I’ve never had children, I wondered if this was what every father dreams of—an affectionate daughter. Pia was just as cute and lovable as Laila.

Yet, even as I held this adorable Pia in my arms, I quietly let out a sigh.

“Hah…”

“Hmm? Ash, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

“If it’s nothing, why are you sighing?”

“…My legs hurt.”

“Hmm…”

“…”

Pia shook her head with a mischievous smile.

“I’m still not moving.”

“Yeah…”

Seeing Pia tightly closing her eyes and clutching my sleeve with her small hands, I could only quietly nod.

She was definitely cute.

Perhaps thanks to my experience taking care of Laila, dealing with a girl of this age wasn’t particularly difficult or uncomfortable.

But until yesterday, or even this morning, I could have simply found Pia’s behavior endearing. Now, however, it had become a significant concern.

“I wonder when Silvia will be back…”

“Talking about Silvia again?”

“…”

“You did enough of that yesterday. Pay attention to me.”

“That’s why I’m holding you, aren’t I? Don’t you like it?”

“No, I love it.”

Pia’s affection made me flinch whenever I noticed it.

Had I been oblivious all this time? Or had she been influenced by continuous exposure to the passionate scenes between Silvia and me?

Thanks to what the green lady told me, I knew that spirits loved me, but I never imagined it would be this kind of love. The situation felt somewhat awkward.

Pia’s white, smooth legs pulled up high, her knees pressing slightly against my chest. Her fluffy tail, which had slipped between her sleek legs, barely covered what was clearly nothing beneath her leather jacket, occasionally brushing against my cheek and chin as it swayed.

Is this what they call “fox behavior”?

It was incredibly troublesome.

Needless to say, I couldn’t see Pia as a woman.

I even questioned whether a relationship between a spirit and a human was possible, but the bigger issue was her appearance.

Pia looked like a girl of about ten years at most, and just a few days ago, she appeared half that age.

Though spirits age differently from humans, as someone with perfectly normal preferences for women, I couldn’t harbor lustful thoughts or romantic feelings toward such a pure and cute creature.

Of course, all these worries might be completely unnecessary.

Pia’s behavior might simply be influenced by the overly intimate scenes she’d witnessed between Silvia and me. Her affection might just be the cute jealousy of a daughter who feels her father has been stolen by her mother.

Yes, that had to be it.

“Pia.”

“Yes?”

“…”

I closed my mouth.

What was I about to ask her?

If she liked me?

She would obviously say yes.

If she wanted to sleep with me?

That was too terrible and vulgar a question to ask a girl who wasn’t even an adult, so I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

I suddenly realized how aggressive and crude the conversations Silvia and I had during our intimate moments were.

I slowly shook my head and changed the subject.

“Um, I was going to ask how I could improve my spirit magic.”

“Just be good to me. If Pia loves Ash very, very much, and Ash loves Pia very, very much, then I can do anything Ash asks me to.”

“…I see.”

Certainly, seeing how she had grown from receiving my personal items, it was clear that spirits’ growth was closely connected to me as a person.

But Pia’s explanation was too abstract for me to understand what I should do.

Surely she didn’t mean I should actually engage in romantic love with a spirit.

My case was somewhat unusual, with only Pia by my side, but there must be male spirits too. Surely there couldn’t be spirits that only grow through homosexual relationships.

If spirit growth truly depended on erotic love, then the previous spirit mage, Great Sage Mallis, must have been a libertine who had relationships regardless of gender.

Imagining such an unpleasant aspect of a historical figure, I bowed my head with an inexplicable sense of guilt.

“Right… I see.”

“Yes, so we need to have more time like this, with you holding me.”

“Understood.”

I made a firm resolution.

No matter how much Silvia wanted it, I shouldn’t continue matching our lower abdomens every night.

Regardless of Pia’s actual age, her attitude and mental age seemed to match her visible appearance, so it would be the right choice to refrain from actions that might negatively influence her.

As I organized my thoughts, another problem immediately arose.

“…Hah.”

How would I convince Silvia?

*

Though the sun was still far from setting, Silvia returned early.

I couldn’t have been happier to see her striding toward me with two dead rabbits slung over her shoulder.

I was already feeling anxious about needing to talk with Silvia as soon as possible, given the concerning signs I was seeing from Pia. The fact that she returned so early today—

This must be what they call telepathy, or that special connection between people in love.

I carefully raised my arm so as not to disturb Pia nestled in my embrace and waved at Silvia.

Seeing me from a distance, Silvia’s face bloomed like a flower in full bloom, and she quickened her pace.

“Ugh, are you that happy?”

Pia looked up at my face and grumbled with a slightly sulky voice.

The cute jealousy faintly embedded in her tone somehow felt extremely unsettling.

I silently stroked Pia’s head while contemplating how to broach the subject with Silvia.

As she drew closer, Silvia’s stride grew wider.

“Ash!”

Silvia called my name in a bright voice, not even trying to hide her apparent joy.

I slowly detached Pia from my embrace and stood up, taking the rabbits from Silvia as I spoke.

“You’re early.”

“What’s this? Why were you waiting outside in the cold?”

“Pia and I were sunbathing.”

“Hmm, not waiting for me?”

Silvia gave me a light hug.

Pia circled around us as we embraced, muttering.

“That’s not true.”

Of course, Silvia couldn’t hear her.

“You must be tired, and it’s cold. You should go inside. Your body is ice-cold.”

“I’m fine. I actually feel like I’m gaining strength these days.”

“So the training is paying off.”

“It seems so.”

“Still, let’s go inside. I caught rabbits. I thought we could have lunch for once, that’s why I came back early.”

Silvia firmly held my hand.

She said I was cold, but her hand was much colder than mine.

I tucked the rabbits she had caught under my arm and held her hands with both of mine, warming them with my breath.

Silvia looked at me lovingly, gently kissed my forehead, and then led me by the hand into the cabin.

“Are you able to move around better now?”

“Yes, and I’m recovering faster too. Like you said, the training is paying off.”

“Then after lunch, shall we try running a bit in the afternoon?”

“That sounds good, but before that…”

“Yes?”

By now, I had become quite accustomed to life in the forest and could easily prepare the rabbits.

I skillfully skinned the rabbits as I continued speaking.

“I have something to say. It’s going to be a serious conversation.”

“Ash, why so formal?”

“Well…”

I suddenly stopped speaking.

Now that I was about to say it, I found it incredibly difficult to get the words out.

It wasn’t that I had any lingering attachment to our intimate moments.

I just couldn’t figure out how to begin.

If I said I wanted to abstain from intimacy for a while, Silvia might get angry.

After all, Alice would probably return in a few days, and even Silvia wouldn’t try to make love with me while Alice was around.

So saying I didn’t want to be intimate now was essentially the same as saying I didn’t want to be intimate until after we killed the Demon King and everything was over.

Of course, I had valid and urgent reasons, but explaining them to Silvia would also be difficult.

I couldn’t exactly say, “Pia wants to have sex with me, so we can’t do it anymore,” while Pia was clearly watching us.

I decided to buy some time to think about how to broach the subject with her.

“It might be a bit of a long conversation to have over lunch, so I was thinking we could talk after eating.”

“I’ll think about it while we eat, so give me a rough idea first.”

“…Ah, no, let’s eat first. I’m hungry.”

“You ate venison yesterday and you’re still hungry?”

“After that…”

“Ah, right. Ash worked hard, didn’t you?”

Silvia nodded with a sly smile.

I forced an awkward smile and placed the prepared rabbits over the campfire.

Pia was watching us with a displeased expression.

This is driving me crazy, really.