Ch.300300. Two Girls and Two Women

“Wow.”

Aria, looking outside while riding in the carriage, lets out a cheer.

Originally, only Elenoa and I were supposed to go to Greyford, but Aria ended up joining us.

“Tch.”

Normally, one would be happy to have a close friend come along, but the relationship between these two was somewhat ambiguous.

If constantly being together while bickering defines friendship, then I suppose they are friends?

‘I wouldn’t know since I’ve never had friends.’

Elenoa rests her chin by the window, crosses her legs, and naturally lays her head on my thigh.

As she lies down, her outstretched legs hit Aria’s side.

“Puhak!”

“Ugh, it’s cramped. It would’ve been perfect if someone wasn’t here.”

“Hey! Move your legs! They stink!”

“M-my feet don’t smell! Royalty doesn’t have foot odor, you know?!”

“Is there some kind of spice in your blood? Is that why your head is a flower garden? What do you mean they don’t smell!”

“D-Deus! Don’t misunderstand! Okay? She’s just talking nonsense like usual!”

Despite saying that, the princess doesn’t remove her head from my thigh. Looking up at me with a flushed face, she reminds me of a child.

“And using the professor’s lap as a pillow is crossing the line! Come here! If you’re sleepy, I’ll let you use mine!”

“What could you do with those pathetic thighs? How can a girl have absolutely no sexiness in her body? You could walk around naked and nobody would arrest you. Too wholesome!”

“Have you lost your mind in front of the professor? You’re dead. Come here.”

“Gak! Why are you so strong…!”

Elenoa gets dragged away by Aria. Being physically stronger, Aria immediately puts Elenoa in a chokehold and starts playing around.

“Eck! Eck! Assassination! Someone’s trying to assassinate the princess!”

“Ah! Don’t pull my hair! Fight fair!”

“…I wonder if there’s another carriage available.”

Now they’re fighting without even considering my presence. This must be what raising children feels like.

‘Is this how friends normally act?’

My earlier question persists.

From childhood through adulthood working at a company, I never built normal friendships because I was constantly tormented by souls.

There were times when ghosts pretended to be real people and tried to befriend me, which naturally made me avoid human contact.

I look at the two souls crouching in front of me.

They could have followed along outside the carriage, but they insisted on taking up space inside.

Of course, they weren’t actually occupying physical space, and the Dark Spiritmaster’s bottom was partially sticking out through the carriage.

Still, it was a somewhat stifling sight for me who could see them.

“Is this what friends are normally like?”

I ask, gesturing with my chin toward Aria and Elenoa who are pulling each other’s cheeks and biting each other.

The two souls stare blankly at the girls and remain silent.

“…Sorry, that was a mistake.”

Seeing their reaction, I realized my error. Come to think of it, this wasn’t a question I should have asked the Dark Spiritmaster and Stella.

They were as friendless as I was.

One had locked herself in a laboratory researching necromancy, talking to unresponsive souls when she felt lonely.

The other had spent her time contemplating divine messages and praying to gods who never answered.

I wondered if they had similar childhoods.

[What’s this? Why do I feel ignored?]

[…We are being ignored, senior.]

[Right? Hey! Deus doesn’t have friends either!]

“……”

I slowly turn my head back to rest my chin on my hand and look out the window. Normally I would read a book, but the carriage was too noisy to concentrate.

[It’s not like I wanted to be friendless. Tch, and after all my effort teaching him necromancy.]

The Dark Spiritmaster crouches at my feet, grumbling. Stella pats her shoulder comfortingly.

[It’s okay, senior. This person doesn’t know what words hurt because he never had friends either.]

“…Is Vellica out?”

[No, but it’s true, isn’t it?]

Why does it feel like she’s insulting me instead of comforting the Dark Spiritmaster?

“Aaah! Don’t grab my chest! It hurts! You wouldn’t understand how painful it is since you don’t have any!”

“You know what? They say if you have a lot of lewd thoughts, they grow bigger. How much self-comfort have you been—!”

“Aaaah! Hey! We’re in front of Deus!”

[Hmph, who does he think he is? He might know how to charm women, but he doesn’t have a single male friend.]

[It’s okay, it’s okay. Senior, you have me.]

With my ears about to burst from the noisy four, I finally couldn’t take it anymore.

“Driver.”

“Stop the carriage.”

* * *

I wanted to take a different carriage and travel separately, but unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.

However, Aria and Elenoa agreed to sit apart, and I banished the Dark Spiritmaster and Stella.

Getting Aria and Elenoa to sit separately wasn’t difficult. I just needed to sit in the middle instead of by the window.

Unable to fight with me between them, the two girls naturally fell asleep.

The bumpy carriage must have been uncomfortable, as they were both leaning on my shoulders, but I didn’t mind much.

*Rustle*

I was reading a book with my legs crossed. The recent incident with Ppoksil had sparked my interest in the continent’s classic fairy tales and folklore.

[Deus, I think we’re almost there.]

Stella, who had been riding on top of the carriage, quietly comes down.

We were still far from Greyford. But I had separately asked the driver to stop at a certain place before that.

Aria and Elenoa had agreed, saying they didn’t mind.

“Alright, I understand.”

[My, how cute the children look while sleeping.]

Stella covers her mouth and chuckles at the sleeping Aria and Elenoa. She added that as a Saintess, she wanted to pat their heads, but…

I turned a page and replied indifferently.

“They’re not sleeping.”

Flinch!

I felt simultaneous trembling from both sides. If they were going to pretend to sleep, they should have been more natural.

Still, perhaps out of stubbornness, both continued to keep their eyes closed and make breathing sounds.

“Kooooh.”

Aria even started to fake snoring.

“Be quiet.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Aria immediately shut her mouth.

[Ah, haha.]

As Stella awkwardly scratched her cheek and tried to climb back on top of the carriage, I looked up at the ceiling and made a request.

“Tell the Dark Spiritmaster to sit properly. Or she can fly alongside us.”

[Pardon?]

I pointed at the carriage ceiling with my finger, where a plump bottom was protruding.

If Elenoa had told Aria she lacked sex appeal, the woman above was the opposite—her entire body was a bundle of pheromones.

If she weren’t so clueless, she would have been commanding men instead of being a soul.

[Oh my… I’ll tell her.]

I understand that souls can pass through walls and ceilings, but shouldn’t she know how to control it properly?

Stella climbed up with a sigh, and shortly after…

The bottom disappeared with a whoosh, and I could hear shouting from above, but I ignored it.

“Both of you.”

*Rustle*

I warned the little ones as I turned another page.

“Keep your hands still.”

The hands that had been slowly creeping up my thighs froze and then retreated like cockroaches.

“Sigh.”

I know this is the age when sexual knowledge and interest in the opposite sex are at their peak, but…

Even so, behaving like this toward me is a bit much.

They might be special beings, but that doesn’t mean their sexual concepts need to be special too.

“Perhaps I should give them sex education.”

As I muttered with a furrowed brow, Elenoa perked up beside me and asked.

“Will there be practical exercises?”

“……”

As my head throbbed and I let out a sigh…

“Kooooh.”

Elenoa immediately pretended to be asleep again.

* * *

“By the way, Deus. I think you need to exercise. Your thighs are too thin. I don’t mind, but you should take care of your health.”

“That’s right, Professor. Would you like me to help? I know a hero training course.”

“……”

After arriving at our destination and getting out of the carriage, the two stretched and expressed concern for me.

“If you hadn’t discovered that by groping me, I would have thanked you for your concern.”

“…I-I wasn’t groping. As royalty, I was just checking on my subject’s physical condition.”

“P-Professor, think positively! Who would ever be molested by 18-year-old fresh female students!”

[These two will really go far.]

[They’re already significant people.]

The Dark Spiritmaster and Stella clicked their tongues at the two’s brazenness.

The princess of a nation and the hero who saved the continent might need such boldness, but…

I wished they wouldn’t use it on me.

“But where are we?”

Knowing that pursuing this topic would be disadvantageous, Elenoa quickly changed the subject.

Since I had decided on our destination, Elenoa and Aria looked around curiously.

“This is a small village called Posville.”

“Ah, I know it. It’s a village not far from Greyford, right? I believe it’s an agricultural village.”

“…I don’t know it.”

Elenoa, befitting her status as a princess, immediately recognized the place once I named it.

Aria, having never visited during her hero days, still looked unfamiliar with it.

“Princess Elenoa, would you please cover your face? And you must absolutely not reveal your identity. I will also speak less formally for a while.”

“Huh? I-I don’t mind.”

I take away her white beret and replace it with a wide-brimmed hat from the carriage that naturally shades her face.

“Is this a gift?”

Elenoa looks up at me with a touched expression, but…

“That’s mine though? I brought it because the professor asked.”

Aria immediately spoils the moment. I start walking as Aria stops Elenoa from crumpling the hat in frustration.

“Follow me slowly.”

Finally, I take a glass jar the size of my forearm from the carriage and enter the village.

The villagers were busy plowing their fields. The expansive area was impressively picturesque.

“Who are you?”

An elderly man with dirt on him approaches cautiously. He removes his hat and politely asks me.

“Who is the village head?”

“That would be me. I’m Jason, the village head. Is there a problem…?”

“I brought something.”

I hand him the glass jar I brought. It was packed full of countless seeds.

“This is…”

“Golden flower.”

The wide-open fields.

People working diligently on them.

In the empty fields, no one has planted seeds; they’re just preparing.

“These are the seeds that will become the raw material for the drug you’ve been waiting for.”

It’s not over yet.

Quietly, my anger begins to spread across this land once more.