Ch.414Chapter 414 – Toward the Snowy Field (1)

At the same time Kay’s group was resting in the capital of the Bear tribe.

A report that couldn’t be ignored reached the dejected Lizanis’s ears.

“Say that again.”

Lizanis spoke in a frightening voice as she looked at the lizardman who had delivered the report.

“Where did you say the White Dragon went?”

“To the Bear tribe’s territory…”

“That’s absurd!”

Lizanis roared.

“You’re saying the White Dragon abandoned us and went to the Bear tribe’s territory?!”

“The shaman says it’s plausible.”

“She did say that the White Dragon might have lost interest in me…!”

Lizanis shouted at the lizardman.

“But still, to leave without any word…!”

Naturally, the lizardmen had not received any communication from Kay’s group.

Since Lizanis had initiated the attack, they couldn’t even pretend to have a good relationship.

Things were so bad that her younger sister, Shaman Lizinis, had forbidden them from making first contact to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.

First, they needed to find a way to calm the White Dragon’s anger, then seek an opportunity to make contact and ask for forgiveness.

That was the policy established by Lizinis, the new shaman of the lizardmen.

Since it was her own sister who had proposed this, Lizanis had been behaving relatively well lately, but…

“I’ve been preparing for days to apologize!”

Lizanis shouted, somehow feeling wronged.

“I’ve been learning to cook and taking bride lessons!”

“Can that be accomplished by cramming?”

The lizardman risked his life to make this jab.

Fortunately, Lizanis was too excited to hear it, or at least didn’t get angry.

“It might not be cramming, but effort should be recognized! Lizi said so while teaching me!”

“That’s not wrong, but I think Lizinis was just using that to keep you quiet while you were doing those things.”

Though Lizanis was the older sister, Lizinis was clearly very skilled at handling her—the picture was obvious to any lizardman watching.

Regardless, Lizanis shouted:

“I thought that seeing our sincerity would at least grant us one chance for a meeting…!”

“Without even contacting them? That easily?”

After all, we were the ones who attacked first.

And judging by the circumstances, Lizanis had clearly offended the White Dragon.

Of course, Lizanis had acted without knowing better, and she had a tendency to speak without thinking, but the other party couldn’t possibly know our circumstances, so there was no chance they would understand.

The bottom line was that Lizanis had indeed caused a major incident.

That’s why Shaman Lizinis had chosen to keep some distance for now, waiting for things to calm down rather than actively seeking contact, which might only worsen their impression.

Of course, for the impatient Lizanis, even that felt like an eternity.

‘…Still, going to the Bear tribe is quite critical.’

The lizardman in charge of intelligence was lost in thought.

According to the information, the White Dragon had headed toward the center of the Bear tribe’s territory, accompanied by three beastmen, including a bear beastman as a guide.

If that was just the route, it wouldn’t matter, but if the Bear tribe was preparing to draw him in…

‘Besides, I heard the Bear tribe’s princess is pretty even by human standards.’

She was so beautiful and intelligent that she was called the Bear tribe’s mutant, the Bear tribe’s future.

As a result, the tribal chief was said to cherish her greatly.

Her only drawback was that she was still young.

However, in this case, that could be an advantage—she didn’t have a clear marriage partner yet.

‘They say the chief really cherishes his daughter, but…’

If the future of the tribe was at stake, wouldn’t he readily offer his daughter?

Or might the daughter herself offer herself as a card to play?

Being young might be a flaw, but in other words, they just needed to wait a few years, right?

As he thought that far, a terrifying picture formed in the lizardman’s mind.

‘If that Bear chief really offered his princess to the White Dragon…!’

That would mean the one who defeated Lizanis would be joining the Bear tribe.

That alone was dangerous news.

Additionally, there was a high possibility that the lizardmen, who believed they should serve the White Dragon, would act on their own and speak with different voices.

The future of a tribe that couldn’t unite and was scattered would not be bright.

In short, the lizardman tribe could be torn apart and ruined.

As if sensing these thoughts, Lizanis spoke in a very sharp voice.

“Hey, you.”

“Yes.”

“What were you just thinking?”

“Well…”

Is it okay to say this?

The lizardman hesitated momentarily.

It didn’t seem unlikely, but there was no evidence whether it was true or not, so it wasn’t something to speak of carelessly.

He had been thinking of at least consulting the shaman for advice.

The problem was that Lizanis was staring at him intimidatingly.

The impulsive woman might hit him if she didn’t like what he said.

‘…It hurts when she hits.’

Recalling a time when he had been hit for joking around, the lizardman gulped.

And Lizanis, not missing this reaction, said:

“Tell me.”

“What?”

“If you’re going to tell my sister anyway, it’ll reach my ears too.”

Lizanis said with a smile.

“My sister doesn’t lie to me or hide things!”

‘Thank goodness Lizinis is so kind…’

Of course, if he told Lizinis what he was thinking now, she would never have carelessly relayed it to Lizanis.

After all, Lizinis had been filtering or rephrasing news that shouldn’t reach her older sister’s ears, not to deceive her, but to look after Lizanis, who was too impulsive.

If Lizinis had wanted to, Lizanis would have been a puppet long ago.

It was fortunate that the family cared for each other.

‘No, that’s not the important thing.’

The problem was Lizanis in front of him.

Lizanis raised her hand and said:

“Tell me. Even if it’s just your imagination. I’ll listen and judge for myself.”

‘Is it a choice between getting hit once or getting beaten to death?’

Looking at the fist in front of him, the lizardman steeled his resolve.

“Actually…”

He loaded the bomb that was about to explode into his mouth.

Emphasizing twice that it was just his own thought, so please let it slide.

And a moment later.

With a sound of a hard strike to the back of the lizardman’s head, Lizanis shouted:

“That bewitching Bear tribe princess is definitely trying to seduce the White Dragon with her body?!”

‘That’s not what I said.’

He definitely hadn’t said it was certain.

He had only mentioned the possibility that such an offer might have been made.

He had imagined that there might be talk of an alliance and such things could possibly happen, but even then…

But in Lizanis’s mind, it had already become an established fact.

“If that happens, we’ll lose him to the Bear tribe…!”

“Please, calm down…”

The lizardman wanted to somehow stop Lizanis.

However, due to the hard blow he had received to the back of his head earlier, his consciousness was gradually fading.

His eyes were slowly closing.

“No, we lizardmen are the ones who serve him!”

Lizanis shouted.

“Gather the warriors!! Prepare transportation immediately! We’ll rush to him at full speed, right now!!”

‘This is bad.’

But the lizardman no longer had the strength to speak.

Praying that the shaman would stop this unstoppable warrior, the lizardman closed his eyes and fainted.

+

How long had I been asleep?

Feeling the brightness, I unconsciously covered my eyes as I got up.

It was still close to dawn, but I realized that sunlight was reflecting from somewhere as I pressed my fingers against my eyes.

Yesterday, I had drawn the curtains and left the room early, so I hadn’t noticed this light. As I lightly massaged my eyes, I felt the warmth of a person on my stomach.

Looking down, I saw Beatrice sleeping naked, embracing me.

Still asleep, her shoulders moved slightly with each breath.

“…She is pretty.”

I knew she was beautiful, but today she seemed even prettier.

Probably because of what happened from last night until dawn, and unlike usual, she was sleeping peacefully.

Especially her face, which was hard to imagine on the usual Beatrice—a face without any worries or thoughts, just looking happy—seemed to enhance her charm.

‘But this makes it hard to get out.’

Whether she thought of me as a pillow to hug or something else, Beatrice in dreamland was holding me tightly, making it difficult to escape.

It was dawn, the time when most of our group would be waking up.

Soon, Chris might come to check on me under the pretext of checking my condition.

I needed to get out before that to hide the fact that Beatrice was in my room, which made this a troublesome situation.

‘Should I wake her up?’

As I seriously considered whether to forcibly wake her while looking at Beatrice’s peaceful sleeping face, her eyes opened slightly.

“…Hmm?”

Perhaps she hadn’t grasped the situation yet.

Beatrice looked at me with blank eyes, then at the bed she was lying on, and then down at her own body.

Her eyes, which had been blank, began to widen, and soon I could see Beatrice moving her hand under the blanket as if checking something.

And a moment later.

Beatrice opened her mouth with a serious face.

“I really did sleep with you.”

“…Did you think it was a dream?”

I asked incredulously, and Beatrice just laughed lightly.

Then, as she raised her body, the blanket slid down.

A scene that would be difficult to show others was revealed right before my eyes, and just as I was about to quickly find her clothes—

Beatrice was suddenly dressed.

“…Magic is really convenient.”

Dressing and undressing with just one spell seemed convenient.

I wondered if such magic was really necessary, but seeing it now, it did seem practical.

“Well, actually it’s not as convenient as it looks.”

Beatrice snapped her fingers and smiled bitterly.

As I was surprised to find my clothes suddenly on my body, Beatrice quietly said:

“This magic is convenient, but it can only be used in a space sealed with a barrier. Plus, it requires applying teleportation, so the calculations are annoyingly complex.”

“…So it’s easier to just dress and undress by hand.”

“Something like that. Well, the barrier is still up, so this one’s on the house.”

She added that the barrier part was something she had secretly set up when she entered this room yesterday.

Saying that it was no longer needed and she would remove it, Beatrice continued to use magic.

“Before removing the barrier, let me take care of everything… ventilation, cleanliness, cleaning…”

With each application of magic as Beatrice muttered something, changes occurred in the room.

The hot air that filled the room instantly changed to fresh air, and our bodies and clothes, which might have gotten a bit dirty, became clean in an instant.

“Removing the smell too… Helmet, why?”

“You seem surprisingly skilled at using magic for housework.”

Honestly, Beatrice seemed far removed from housework.

In response, Beatrice grinned and said:

“It’s a skill I acquired living with Asam.”

“…Didn’t you live rather carelessly, eating biscuits soaked in medicine?”

“About 80% of the time, yes… but for the other 20%, I did proper housework, Helmet.”

Beatrice replied that she did housework occasionally.

Of course, judging by “occasionally,” it wasn’t frequent.

In any case, Beatrice seemed surprisingly skilled at housework.

“What are you thinking?”

“I was thinking that living with you might be more comfortable than I expected.”

She could cook, though not as well as Sera, and she knew how to do housework.

Surprisingly, there might be good points to living together, so I spoke honestly.

And Beatrice, looking a bit embarrassed, turned her gaze away and said:

“…Well, if even this little bit helps.”

Though she answered like that, her body was fidgeting, suggesting she was secretly pleased.

Then, suddenly realizing the time, Beatrice looked at me and said:

“We should probably leave soon. The nun girl might come.”

Beatrice said she should go right away since it would get noisy if we were caught.

I nodded and said:

“Then, before you go, let me check if the coast is clear…”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll go out through the window.”

Beatrice said with a grin.

“If I show my face at this hour, we might actually get caught. I think it’s better for me to go outside right away.”

“You won’t be in danger, but are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.”

Beatrice grinned.

“Who do you think I am, Helmet?”

“A magician.”

“That’s right. I’m a magician, Helmet.”

Beatrice looked at me and said:

“A magician won’t get hurt falling from a place like this, so don’t worry. Got it?”

“…Alright.”

As she reassured my worries, Beatrice approached me.

Soon, her face came closer to mine.

After a brief kiss, Beatrice’s face turned slightly red.

“…Ah, as expected. I’m not getting used to this right away.”

“Really?”

I smiled at Beatrice.

Seeing my seemingly relaxed smile, Beatrice grinned.

“It’s a bit annoying how used to this you seem. I need to get used to it quickly.”

“Want me to help?”

I asked with a smile.

Beatrice said nothing, just smiled and approached me again.

After another brief kiss, Beatrice pulled away.

“Help me again next time.”

“Sure.”

I answered Beatrice with a smile.

She then approached the window.

And smiling at me, she said:

“See you later, darling.”

“Huh?”

I looked at Beatrice in slight surprise at the sudden term of endearment.

But by then, Beatrice had already opened the window and gone outside.

“…Well, well.”

I was a bit surprised by her suddenly calling me “darling.”

Still, grateful for her friendly address, I smiled at the window Beatrice had left through.

“See you later, Beatrice.”

It was about time to go out anyway.

Just as I thought that and turned around, I heard a knock on the door.

“Um, Sir Kay. It’s morning…”

“You’re here.”

As Beatrice had said, if she hadn’t left through the window, she would have been caught by Chris right away.

‘She has good instincts.’

I smiled at the window through which Beatrice had left.

+

‘Darling?! Am I crazy?!’

As she climbed down from the window, Beatrice wanted to scream at herself.

She had called Helmet that without thinking, caught up in the moment.

‘Well, I did want to call him that, but…’

Still, she worried that it might have been too sudden.

She was concerned that Kay might dislike it.

But what was done was done.

Words once spoken couldn’t be taken back.

‘…Calm down.’

She had spent the night with Kay.

Though Beatrice wanted to smile at that fact, there was another purpose to it.

With a slightly serious face, Beatrice looked down at her abdomen.

‘…It’s certain.’

A sensation gradually felt from her abdomen.

‘So that was true.’

Beatrice narrowed her eyes.

Apart from her happiness, there was something she needed to investigate now.

‘…The same power as Chris’s is gradually spreading through my body.’

After examining the direct effect on her body, it seemed there would be no side effects.

She would need to keep examining her body just in case.

‘…I’ll keep it secret for now.’

She couldn’t burden those around her unnecessarily.

‘Divinity is contagious.’

For the time being, she quietly resolved to hide that truth.