Chapter 41 : Pretend you didn’t see

‘What is it? It’s not particularly hot, is it?’

Waking up felt unusually refreshing.

Normally, sleeping next to Teperi always left me feeling incredibly hot, but today, I hadn’t sweat as much and felt quite comfortable.

Is it just my mood?

My body also seems shinier and cleaner than usual.

Is it because I slept after being exhausted to the point of collapse?

Anyway, my condition was very good.

‘But did something get in my ear? It tickles.’

However, perhaps because dew fell briefly at dawn, the area around my ear felt slightly damp.

Sleeping without a ceiling, I guess I have to put up with this much.

As I touched around my earlobe with my hand, it felt strangely ticklish and sent a shiver down my spine.

It was a peculiar sensation, sensual yet making my legs feel weak.

It felt like all the strength was draining from my body, so I decided to stop.

Teperi was sleeping soundly right beside me, purring softly.

I shook her gently and said.

“Teperi, morning… no, it’s daytime. Wake up.”

Perhaps due to exhaustion, I had overslept.

The sun was already high in the sky, observing us from its prime spot.

Teperi tossed and turned, letting out a whimper more suited to Amiter.

Considering she was the least injured among us, why was she acting so tired?

Thinking about it made me feel slightly resentful.

I poked her cheek, but she didn’t wake up.

Her cheek smelled faintly of milk, like a baby’s skin.

After poking her several more times with no reaction, I left her be and went to check on Amiter.

Amiter, who usually woke up earlier than anyone, couldn’t seem to come to her senses today.

Right, the patient needs rest.

Perhaps the potion I practically poured down her throat had worked, as her condition seemed better than yesterday, but her body was soaked

in sweat.

These darn troublemakers.

I considered kicking them awake but decided to take care of my own business first.

My clothes were in tatters.

I couldn’t keep walking around in such an indecent state.

If I left the Black Forest looking like this, I wouldn’t be able to bear it with a clear mind.

I looked around and walked towards a small lake near the campsite.

It was small enough to be called a pond.

If I had my way, I’d jump straight into that clear water without a second thought, but what little remained of my rationality barely stopped

me.

I should have packed more clothes…!

I wanted to slap my past, complacent self.

I took out the least damaged piece of clothing, put it in the water, and rinsed it.

After rubbing it a few times like doing laundry and taking it out, the dirt was gone, but the clothes were completely soaked.

Come to think of it, I don’t have any proper means to dry it.

Suddenly, I remembered the raccoon washing cotton candy.

I feel just as foolish.

No matter how hard I wrung it out, the moisture wouldn’t all come out.

I hate myself for not being able to use even a simple Ignite spell.

Discarding the worn-out clothes and changing, a damp, cool sensation enveloped me.

This unpleasant feeling.

It’s like wearing socks into the bathroom and accidentally getting them wet.

To make matters worse, the water-soaked shirt clung tightly to my body, emphasizing my figure.

Wait, I’m not wearing anything underneath?

I don’t have things like bras.

Looking at my state, even though I was clothed, I somehow felt more embarrassed than if I were completely naked.

Of all things, it had to be a white shirt, so it was slightly see-through too.

It’ll… dry quickly, right?

It probably will.

No, it had to.

With gloomy steps, I trudged back to where the others were.

While I was briefly out, everyone else had woken up.

Teperi spotted me and waved.

[Trea, where did you go…]

Teperi’s mouth dropped open mid-sentence.

Amiter also blushed upon seeing me and averted her gaze.

As I approached, Amiter commented.

“Your appearance is quite…”

“I don’t know. It’ll dry soon, probably.”

Feeling somewhat awkward, I pointlessly brushed down my clothes.

Hey, it’s just us girls here, so what’s the big deal!

Though my figure is showing quite a bit.

Teperi stood up, her face pale.

[Ah, come to think of it, I haven’t gone to the restroom since waking up. Just a moment…]

She didn’t finish her sentence and darted into the forest like an arrow.

Is she really in that much of a hurry?

“Guess I should pretend not to notice.”

As I muttered while warming myself by the fire, Amiter looked at me with weary eyes.

“Yeah… best to pretend not to notice.”

Thankfully, the clothes dried quickly by the campfire.

“I want to wash up.”

Amiter muttered quietly, flapping her shirt.

Truthfully, all three of us felt the same way.

We hadn’t properly washed since entering the Black Forest.

To guard against potential toxins or poisonous insects, bathing was forbidden, and we had only wiped ourselves down roughly with towels.

Especially since she had sweat so much last night, her desire must be even stronger.

Fortunately, none of us smelled bad or anything.

“Let’s take care of business first.”

Once Teperi returned, we re-entered the barrier.

Perhaps because it had been broken once, entry was easier than before.

“It’s in better shape than I thought?”

Although the swamp area inside the barrier was, literally, completely wrecked, the inner barrier, the lair we barely managed to find, was

relatively intact.

True, destroying the outer protective fence might be possible, but shattering Aram’s lair itself would likely have been difficult even for an

adult dragon.

Passing through the same slick passage as before, the lair came into view once again.

[Look, the bones are still there!]

At the center of the lair lay the massive bones of a dragon, like a fossil.

It felt like looking at a displayed dinosaur skeleton model.

Though covered in old dust and rubble, the dragon bones hadn’t lost their majesty and stubbornly remained in place.

“It’s huge.”

Amiter briefly expressed her opinion.

As she said, the size of the dragon skeleton seemed easily twice that of Orquiel.

It was at least an Ancient-class dragon.

Since Orquiel called it ‘father,’ it was probably the Lord.

The Lord of the Gold Dragons.

‘You’re telling me she captured such a being and mounted it?’

To think of displaying a Dragon Lord’s bones in her own chamber like a lion’s hide.

I felt a renewed sense of awe towards Aramade.

Usually, she just seemed like a large, slithering snake.

‘What if it were me?’

Even if I wore that necklace and ring in peak condition, I likely wouldn’t have been able to defeat a Lord-class dragon.

Thinking that this was the level I needed to reach filled me with a vague sense of fear, mingled with a competitive spirit.

[You can go inside too.]

While I was lost in thought looking at the dragon’s jaws, the other two were disrespectfully tapping the ribs of the Dragon Lord who deserved

reverence.

Looking again, it truly was enormous.

Imagine if something like this got out…

‘Out?’

Come to think of it, our coming to the Black Forest was an event not planned in the original story.

If I hadn’t stopped Orquiel, would the resurrection ritual have truly failed?

Technically, this was an act that changed the original plot.

My memory of the original story is hazy.

Was there really a scene where a Lord-class dragon appeared and caused chaos?

The closest similar event was the ‘Catastrophe’ episode, but even there, there was no mention of a Gold Dragon.

‘If only father awakens, the Black Forest will belong to the Gold clan.’

Orquiel’s words before the fight came back to me.

Could it be that they really just planned to take over the Black Forest and nothing more?

Their ambition seemed rather modest for their kind.

I don’t know.

I had simply dismissed it as not remembering, but thinking about it again, my memories had crucial gaps here and there, as if someone had

deliberately cut them out.

The biggest memory contradiction was how I came to this world.

I couldn’t even recall my last memory from my previous world before possessing this body.

Well, it’s not like I’ll remember right away, so let’s think about it slowly.

[Besides the bones, there’s nothing really special here.]

Teperi was right.

The lair, which had managed to function somewhat for over 100 years without its master’s care, had been mostly destroyed in the fierce

battle.

From what I briefly saw before the fight, it seemed like there were quite a few interesting things.

The Dragon Lord’s bones were fascinating, but I couldn’t take them all.

The subspace I possessed was, at best, only slightly larger than a wardrobe.

Considering the teeth were as big as my body, the most I could take would be the two horns.

‘Looks like I’m not getting much out of this again.’

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t disappointed.

If the place I possessed was a regression story, how many fortunate encounters would I have swept up by now?

Looking at my current state, I’d believe it if someone told me the place I possessed wasn’t an academy setting but a dark fantasy Soulslike

game.

“Sigh.”

This won’t even cover the labor costs.

Sighing, I began to rudely cut off the Dragon Lord’s horns.

They were hard, but they could be cut.

They say the essential material for resurrection isn’t the Dragon Heart, but the horns that govern life, right?

With the horns cut off, resurrection is supposedly impossible forever.

-Scrape.

It was the moment I cut off both horns.

The two horns suddenly hummed and vibrated, then lost their physical form and became masses of mana.

Is this what the source of life force is like?

What was even more baffling was that those energy masses entered my body.

This feels like spilling the ashes at a funeral.