Chapter 998: Side Story – Vacation Time (2)

I briefly recalled a plan to give ‘vacation’ to Cheon Jihee, whose condition had worsened due to Hye-eun’s leave of absence, and although Han Min-ah and I also talked about whether or not to give her a ‘vacation’ in the process.

In fact, there was someone else scheduled to receive pregnancy leave before those two people.

Knock, knock.

“Cha Yuri-ssi, I’m coming in.”

“…Come in.”

As soon as she heard the news that Hye-eun was pregnant, she had expressed her desire to me starting a week ago, wanting to have a child with me, and calculated her fertile period to set today’s date.

Upon entering Cha Yuri’s private waiting room, I encountered the red-haired mage sitting on a chair with a slightly stiff expression.

“…Ahem.”

“Are you nervous?”

“…What nonsense are you talking about?”

Although she tried to pretend otherwise, I could tell enough that she was reacting differently than during our usual dates.

Even in this world, pregnancy was something that required a woman to make quite a big decision.

“Just think of it normally. Like how you and I, Cha Yuri-ssi, have been doing things up until now.”

“…I said I wasn’t nervous.”

“Yes, yes.”

“…Ugh.”

Cha Yuri, sensing that I didn’t believe her words at all, bit her lower lip with a stiff face.

Finding that sulky expression strangely cute, she and I entered the elevator towards the 6th floor.

Originally, I had considered creating a suitable dungeon environment within Belle’s dungeon to match Cha Yuri’s preferences, but if it were her, being subtly perceptive, there was a possibility she might notice that the dungeon we entered together wasn’t a real dungeon but one made to her own taste.

Since our first sex was an impromptu one inside a dungeon, I wanted to create the most similar environment possible for a day like today.

‘Anyway, I recently acquired a dungeon suitable for entering with Cha Yuri.’

It was fortunate that I obtained a dungeon used by the high-ranking hunters of the Geumhyang Group for vacation use from No. 2.

It wasn’t that monsters didn’t appear at all, but with the level of Cha Yuri and myself, they could be defeated without difficulty, and after defeating them all, it was a dungeon where we could even obtain small rewards suitable for a couple spending time alone together.

Since it was a place with truly optimal conditions for us in our current state, there was no reason not to use it.

Perhaps it wouldn’t just be this one time, and we might end up using it often in the future too.

“So, where are we going for the dungeon?”

“We’re going to the Forest of the Veil.”

“…I’ve never heard of it.”

“Well, it’s a dungeon I acquired not too long ago. I went in once to test it out, and thought it had good conditions for spending enjoyable time with you, Cha Yuri-ssi, so I acquired it.”

“…You didn’t have to go that far. It would have been fine if we just went into any of the existing dungeons.”

Yet, seeing the subtle smile playing on her lips, it seemed she wasn’t displeased.

In a sense, it was like a gift for Cha Yuri. Whether a man or a woman, when one receives a gift with feelings put into it from someone of the opposite sex, they naturally become happy.

“It’s not like we’ll only use it this one time. If we’re going to keep spending all sorts of time together with you, Cha Yuri-ssi, in the future, it’s better to have acquired it.”

“…That’s right.”

“For reference, most of the monsters that appear in the dungeon are ghost-type monsters, B-rank. Other than that, there are about A-rank monsters called Moss Golems. At that level, you can easily defeat them with your area-of-effect magic, right, Cha Yuri-ssi?”

“……Yeah.”

Just by mentioning it, I saw the expected acquisition points slightly increase.

As she seemed already excited at the thought of having sex that would make them feel both climax and magical peak simultaneously, I embraced Cha Yuri’s body and entrusted ourselves to the white warp gate.

「A-rank Dungeon. Forest of the Veil.」

Immediately after passing through the warp gate, what entered the eyes of Cha Yuri and me was a forest filled with thick fog, giving off a musty, damp feeling.

I had visited once for preliminary exploration, but it still wasn’t a forest that gave off a particularly good feeling.

It felt as if the Grave of the Ancient Trees, the first dungeon Cha Yuri and I met in, had thick fog added to it, making visibility dim.

Of course, for me now, knowing the cause of this thick fog, even this was an enjoyable element, but for Cha Yuri, who was visiting for the first time, it probably wouldn’t be familiar.

“How is it, Cha Yuri-ssi?”

“…It’s gloomy and damp.”

“Isn’t that good? Just looking at the atmosphere, it somehow gives off a feeling similar to the Grave of the Ancient Trees.”

“…I didn’t say I disliked it. You have passable taste.”

Along with those words, Cha Yuri struck the staff she held against the ground, creating a gust of wind around them.

The curtain of wind created by magic cleanly blew away only the fog surrounding her and me, and thanks to that, the blurry visibility instantly cleared up enough to distinguish things to some extent.

“So what are you going to do? Are we doing it here?”

“Well, there’s no need to rush things too much. There’s a good spot further inside, so let’s go there preferably. If we do it here, it’s difficult to use large-scale magic, isn’t it?”

“…Yeah.”

At the words promising she could use ‘large-scale magic’ in a ‘good place’, Cha Yuri nodded with a faint smile.

As soon as we took a few steps further into the forest together with her, three Fog Ghosts charged towards Cha Yuri and me.

‘Swoosh!’

“…Wind Kite.”

-Whoosh!

The forms of the Fog Ghosts scattered in an instant, leaving only their cores, solely with Cha Yuri’s casually uttered wind magic.

While wind magic normally has an advantage against ghost-type monsters, being able to defeat them this easily was indeed thanks to Cha Yuri’s skill.

Not only had her skill been recognized to the extent that she became an A+-rank hunter just with wind magic, but she had also been consistently maintaining a good condition through physical interactions with me recently.

While picking up the three cores that fell on the ground, I calmly offered a compliment.

“You’re fast. As expected, I knew someone like you, Cha Yuri-ssi, could handle this much with ease.”

“…Well, obviously.”

“Let’s head further inside like this. I’ll take care of the monsters coming from the right, so please focus mainly on the monsters coming from the left, Cha Yuri-ssi.”

“Yeah.”

Starting with the initial Fog Ghosts, the monsters of the Forest of the Veil began to emerge one by one.

Since one side was an A+-rank hunter and the other was an S-rank hunter, we could comfortably handle a few B-rank monsters like these.

In the first place, this dungeon primarily served the role of a ‘vacation spot’ rather than a ‘dungeon’, so it would be a problem if the monsters were too strong.

The issue wasn’t the monster level, but another aspect. The lukewarm fog filling the forest clung to our whole bodies, giving off a sticky feeling.

The sensation of my wet shirt sticking to my body due to the moisture had been causing slight discomfort since a while ago.

“…Hoo.”

“Are you having a hard time, Cha Yuri-ssi?”

“…It’s not that. It’s just hot.”

Although she didn’t appear to be struggling while facing the monsters, like me, her clothes were stuck to her body due to the moisture.

The sight of her thin mage dress clinging snugly to her body, showing through slightly, had a subtly sexy vibe.

‘With this level of humidity, even if I used a purification spell, it would probably just get damp again soon.’

Inside a dense forest like this, blowing away the fog with wind magic like before would also be a bit difficult.

While pondering if there might be a good method, the thought that perhaps I could even use this situation naturally crossed my mind.

“It is quite hot indeed, Cha Yuri-ssi. The fog is lukewarm, and it keeps seeping into our clothes.”

“Yeah.”

“Ever since a while ago, my shirt has been sticking to my body every time I move, so I’m going to take it off.”

“Yeah. …Huh?”

Cha Yuri, giving a reflexive answer with an expressionless face, belatedly chewed over my words and expressed doubt.

Right in front of her, I openly took off the shirt I was wearing and stored it in my subspace pocket.

-Whoosh!

“……!”

“Hoo, that’s better. Let’s move again.”

“…Okay.”

Cha Yuri, while slightly surprised by my sudden act of taking off my shirt, moved forward pretending to be unfazed.

Although one might feel it’s strange for her to react this way when we’ve already seen everything there is to see with each other, there was a slight difference between taking off clothes for sex and taking them off in other situations.

Just as I was taken aback seeing her suddenly take off her clothes in front of me the day I first met Cha Yuri, Cha Yuri now was flustered seeing me unexpectedly take off my clothes and store them in my subspace pocket.

“……”

-Glance.

“……”

-Glance, glance.

Since I took off my clothes, Cha Yuri now sent subtle glances my way, completely putting monster hunting aside.

It was a moment when her attention, which should have been directed outward, was dispersed, so her vigilance towards the monsters naturally decreased, and accordingly, a swarm of Fog Ghosts charged towards Cha Yuri and me.

“Ah, Cha Yuri-ssi! They’re coming from over there!”

“…Huh? Ah! Uh, Wind Kite!”

‘Swoosh…!’

Cha Yuri, reacting slightly later than usual because she had been sending glances my way since a while ago, defeated the monsters.

Fortunately, since they were only B-rank monsters, nothing particularly dangerous happened, but it couldn’t be denied that her concentration was slightly scattered.

…Since Cha Yuri was openly spacing out and showing carelessness, I could probably use this to lead things into another interesting situation.

“Your concentration has scattered, Cha Yuri-ssi.”

“…Sorry. I’ll be careful from now on.”

“Perhaps, is it because you’re hot too?”

“…Ah, yeah. That’s right. It’s because of the heat.”

Since she probably couldn’t say she couldn’t concentrate after openly glancing at my body repeatedly, she readily took the bait I offered, biting it immediately.

“Indeed, this place is a bit hot. It can’t be helped that your concentration is scattering, Cha Yuri-ssi.”

“…Yeah. That’s right.”

“It’s also sticky and unpleasant because of the moisture, and since it’s already like this, do you want to take it off too, Cha Yuri-ssi?”

“……Huh?”

Cha Yuri, not yet realizing she was caught on the hook, was being reeled in by me today, as always, to tease her.