Ch.69Rub-a-Dub Paradise

The average daily travel distance for adventurers on foot is known to be about 20 kilometers.

Those with a modern person’s sensibility from Earth might think, “Is that all?”

But an adventurer’s journey isn’t like backpacking where you walk along roads, sleep at suitable inns, and buy meals at restaurants.

You carry a heavy backpack filled with tents, clothing, and food supplies,

Walk through unexplored territories without roads or even trails,

And must maintain energy for sudden combat situations while constantly remaining vigilant.

Considering the pressure to complete camp preparations before sunset, the time that can be purely devoted to travel is at most 6-7 hours.

“Phew~ Walking continuously for three hours is no small feat.”

“By simple calculation, we’re moving at 1.5 times the normal pace. If Ancestor wasn’t carrying all our luggage, this would have been impossible.”

Jessica sits on a suitable rock, takes off her boots, and pats her legs.

Seti and Phyllis are doing light leg stretches, while Mina is lying flat on a wide rock, resting comfortably.

The current time is 3 PM. Since departing from Cotton Tail Trading Post at 8 AM, we’ve been walking for a total of 6 hours, so it’s understandable that everyone is complaining of fatigue.

“The distance to Evernight Mountain was about 30 kilometers, right? Isn’t it somewhat unreasonable to try to cover that in a single day?”

“I wouldn’t have proposed such a demanding plan if we didn’t have Ancestor. But if we can arrive in a single day even with some extra effort, the benefits are enormous.”

The reason we’re heading to Evernight Mountain is to investigate an unexplored ancient ruin discovered there.

Moving through Evernight Mountain, where night persists all day long, would be incomparably more difficult and slower than marching during daylight, and the route to our destination, the ancient ruins, remains unknown.

If we can save a day of travel time by pushing ourselves a bit harder and invest that time in climbing and investigating the ruins, our chances of success will increase significantly.

“Besides, strictly speaking, we’re saving more than just one day. If we reach the foot of the mountain by evening, we can rest well for 3-4 hours and then start climbing Evernight Mountain in the middle of the night.”

“Ah~ I guess if it’s night all day long, it doesn’t matter when we climb.”

“All that’s left is to hope it doesn’t rain.”

“If it rains, we must retreat without exception. There’s no way around that.”

“Really? Don’t we have more than enough countermeasures for bad weather?”

I thought the combination of the Airy Curtain that blocks rain and the drying magic Dehydration would be sufficient.

Jessica firmly denied my thoughts with a resolute expression.

“Getting wet isn’t the only problem. On treacherous terrain, you could slip and fall, water currents could block our path, or landslides could occur.”

“Jessica’s right. And when it rains, it’s hard to detect smells or sounds, so we might not notice approaching dangers.”

If both Jessica, our party leader, and Seti, our tracker, say so, we can’t risk night climbing in bad weather.

If it rains during this investigation, we’ll have to accept it’s not the right time and quietly return to Cotton Tail Trading Post.

After discussing this and resting for about 30 minutes, we managed to reach the foot of Evernight Mountain following a forced march of about 2 hours and 30 minutes.

We encountered a few wild animals on the way, but they didn’t seem aggressive, so no significant battles occurred.

“So this is Evernight Mountain…”

“It looked dark even from a distance, but seeing it up close is incredibly unsettling.”

“Yeah, it makes me wonder if there’s something wrong with my eyes.”

The boundary between day and night, clearly divided at a certain point at the foot of the mountain, displayed an intense presence and sense of dissonance.

Gathering courage to step into the night realm beyond the boundary line, the setting sun that had been descending over the western ridge suddenly disappeared, and darkness enveloped everything around us.

The abrupt change, like all the lights in a house being turned off at once, left me momentarily blind, but after waiting a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, I began to see surrounding objects, my companions, and stars twinkling across the night sky.

“There are stars out, but climbing without lanterns would be difficult.”

“How about you, Phyllis?”

“My night vision ability is functioning perfectly. Though it’s difficult to explain what I see to other races.”

“Good, then let’s set up tents outside the night realm and rest a bit. It would be good to get 2-3 hours of sleep after dinner.”

My legs felt like they were about to break after the long 8.5-hour march, but having reached Evernight Mountain in just one day, we couldn’t waste time, so I mustered every last bit of strength to prepare the campsite.

While Phyllis, Jessica, and I set up the tents, Seti and Mina gathered firewood. We all sat around the protective campfire and filled our stomachs with bread, jerky, and corn soup.

Perhaps due to the fatigue from the long march, I desperately wished we could catch and roast a wild boar.

“Now that we’ve eaten, let’s rest and digest… Jessica, how long will the Repulsion Field you just used last?”

“About 4.5 hours, so it will end a little after 11 PM.”

“Perfect. Then let’s get some sleep until 11 and start climbing after that.”

“I’m worried we might sleep until morning after walking so much~”

Watching Mina massage her thighs as she said this, an idea flashed through my mind.

“Everyone’s legs must be quite fatigued today. How about relieving that fatigue before we sleep?”

“How?”

“Foot massage. The soles of your feet support your body weight all day, so they accumulate a lot of fatigue. Massaging or patting your legs is good, but pressing various points on the soles of your feet is also excellent for recovery.”

“F-feet!?”

“That might be… a little embarrassing.”

“Um… we’ve been walking all day and must have sweated a lot, so having someone touch our feet is…”

“Jessica can cast Clean Up on them. Of course, I won’t force anyone who doesn’t want to, so just speak up if you’re interested.”

I made the suggestion with pure good intentions, but Jessica and the other three said nothing and started looking at each other awkwardly.

I could understand Phyllis and Mina being shy, but Jessica and Seti? Do they really need to be embarrassed about having their feet touched at this point?

As the awkward silence continued briefly, Seti was the first to gather courage.

“I’ll try it.”

“Great, then take off your shoes and lie face down inside this large tent.”

“Okay. Jessica, please.”

“…Alright. Clean Up.”

Jessica used her cleansing magic on Seti after she removed her shoes, and as I took my position at Seti’s feet in the middle of the large tent, I could feel the gazes of the other three.

“There’s no need to be so tense about this… Seti, just relax.”

“Okay… Hiyat!?”

As I took Seti’s soft right foot and started pressing her sole with both thumbs, she immediately reacted.

“Oww, Will, it hurts! It hurts a little! Ugh…”

“How about this?”

“Ah… that’s good. That spot is good. Hnnng…”

As I used my thumbs to press the arch of her foot and gently squeezed each toe while massaging, Seti’s expression quickly softened, and she began to emit sweet moans.

Without massage oil or lotion, it was difficult to perform movements that would cause skin friction, but after massaging both soles of her feet and pressing up her calves to her thighs, Seti became completely relaxed in just 10 minutes.

“Mnyaaa… that was sooo good…”

“If you sleep like this, your leg fatigue will be completely gone. Who wants to go next?”

“I, I’d like to try too.”

“Alright. Since we’re doing this, would you mind removing your stockings? Keeping your legs constricted would reduce the effectiveness of the massage.”

“Okay…”

Jessica’s movements as she turned away and removed her stockings one by one, her face flushed, somehow seemed sensual.

I maintained my composure while waiting for Jessica to finish removing her stockings and use Clean Up, then began massaging her soles and extended legs using the same technique I used with Seti.

“Haaugh!?”

Less than 5 minutes after starting the massage, Jessica was lying face down next to Seti, completely relaxed.

“Owowowow! It hurts! Ah, that level is okay… Ugh, haaa…”

Mina, who had to be satisfied with just a foot massage because her long overalls prevented leg massaging, complained of pain at first, but in less than 10 minutes, she fell asleep making soft purring sounds.

“Well, it’s Phyllis’s turn now… what would you like to do?”

“W-well… I am interested, but… um… could I receive it in this state?”

“With your tights on?”

“E-elven women must not show bare legs to men who are not their marriage partners. That would be extremely… i-indecent.”

“Ah… but that time—”

“A-ahem!”

I see, so she wants me to keep quiet about what happened at Phyllis’s house the other day.

I had wondered why she never showed her legs without tights while traveling with us and even bought long pants as indoor clothes, but now I understand the reason.

Personally, I think massaging a woman’s legs while she’s wearing black tights feels more erotic… but I should respect elven culture.

“OK, understood. Then lie down next to Mina.”

“J-Jessica. Could you use that on my clothes as well as my body…”

“Got it. Clean Up.”

Perhaps concerned about wearing tights all day, Phyllis requested the cleansing magic for both her body and clothes.

Jessica quietly complied with her request, and the moment my hands touched Phyllis’s slightly tense calves—

“Ahaaahn…”

The most erotic moan of the day echoed through the tent.

“……”

“S-sorry. A strange voice just… Nngh!? W-wait, Will. That seems a bit strong… Hnnk! Urk!? That hurts! That spot really hurts!”

“It seems like Phyllis has accumulated a lot of fatigue from having her lower body constricted by tights. Bear with it even if it hurts a little. I’ll press firmly to properly relieve the tension.”

“Hyeuk! I-I appreciate it buuut! That spot, that hollow spot! Ow ow ow ow!!”

Ignoring Phyllis’s pleading protests, I thoroughly massaged her soles and calves until she was completely knocked out. It took only about 30 minutes to reduce all four women to limp heaps.

I used ‘Foot Massage’ on Jessica, Seti, Mina, and Phyllis.

The effect was tremendous!!