episode_0064

Flustered by her sudden suggestion to swim, I was led by her pulling hand, stumbling along behind her.

“Ahahaha~ Don’t just follow! Let your body surrender to the water!”

“No… Even if you tell me to surrender my body to the water… I don’t know what that means…”

I had never even entered water that was waist-deep, let alone swam, so I couldn’t understand what it meant to surrender one’s body to the water.

As I followed her deeper into the lake, the water slowly deepened, and the lapping waves of the lake began to tickle my chin.

Never before having entered water deep enough to fully submerge my body, I gazed with pale eyes at the lapping waves beneath my chin.

“Calm down! I’ll be holding onto Jazel, so nothing will happen!”

Ariel’s firm voice roused me, my body stiffening with fear as it was submerged in the water.

Ariel, leading me deeper into the lake while holding my hand, was not submerged, despite being shorter than me.

“Just like I’m doing… Stand on your tiptoes and slowly swing your legs back and forth.”

Ariel’s legs, visible through the rippling lake water, swayed smoothly in the water, like a fish’s fins.

“I haven’t had proper training like you…”

Unlike Ariel, I was someone who had never even received formal education at an academy run by the Empire; I had simply acted as a merchant based on life experience and connections.

Just as I was about to say that I, who was uneducated and simple because I had never received proper formal education, could never learn to swim…

“Move!!”

Ariel abruptly pulled my hand hard.

At her unexpected, forceful, and resolute tug, my body tilted forward, and I was dragged into the center of the lake, where the water was deep enough to fully submerge me.

“G-Gah!?”

The lake water, which had been tickling my chin, instantly covered my mouth and rose to just below my nose.

Echoing in my bewildered mind was Ariel’s last cry.

To avoid the lake water choking me, I desperately began to swing my legs, mimicking her last advice, with my tiptoes firmly raised.

“O-Oh… oh?”

At that moment, the lake water, which felt as if it would drag me to the bottom, was pushed away by my kicking, slowly lifting my body to the surface.

“Ahahaha~ How is it? Not as hard as you thought, right?”

Ariel burst into amused laughter at my bewildered expression, looking back at my body floating in the lake, experiencing this unfamiliar situation for the first time.

“No… how can this be…”

I stared at Ariel with bewildered eyes, unable to believe that merely moving my legs repeatedly, without magic, could prevent my body from sinking.

“Actually, swimming isn’t difficult~ Anyone can learn it if they just have a little courage!”

Ariel, smiling broadly, held my hand and slowly kicked her legs, leading me towards the very center of the lake.

Realizing that simply moving my feet would prevent my body from sinking into the lake, I swallowed a nervous gulp, gently leaned my body as Ariel led, and kicked my legs to follow her.

“You don’t need to kick your legs so forcefully out of fear. Calmly feel the flow of the water~ and maintain a gentle rhythm with that flow.”

Trusting her guidance as she held my hand, I calmly adjusted my leg movements according to her advice, following the flow of the water.

The fear and terror had only lasted for that very brief moment when she pulled me into the lake.

Realizing that the lake water couldn’t swallow me as long as I kept moving my legs, and with Ariel’s calm advice accompanying her hand-holding, I could faintly sense what she meant by “the flow of the water.”

“Good~ Very good! You’re learning incredibly fast!”

Noticing that my body’s movements while following her had stabilized and that my frantic kicking was gradually becoming more relaxed, Ariel gently released my right hand from our clasped hands.

“Gasp!?”

When she let go of my right hand, my body, which had been relying on her hand to float on the water, lost its balance and tilted to the right.

Terrified, I frantically flailed my right hand in the water to grasp Ariel’s hand, which had let go of mine.

“Now, now… Follow me. Calmly!!”

At Ariel’s firm cry, which once again roused me, I held my breath, the lake water splashing against my mouth, and watched her.

With her left hand, which had been holding my right, she was gently stirring the water as if playing with it.

Perhaps thanks to her stirring left hand, Ariel maintained a stable equilibrium in the water, unlike me who had lost balance.

“Huuuup… Ugh!”

Holding my breath tightly, I trusted her words and tried to stir my right hand in the water, mimicking her.

Then, as my hand stirred the water, the water was pushed away, and my body, which had been tilting sideways, slowly began to rise.

“Swimming~ It’s not a big deal, is it?”

Ariel smiled brightly, as if she had known it would happen, as I mimicked her, stirring my right hand in the water to regain my tilting body’s balance on my own.

However, unlike her smile, my face was frozen pale.

“Don’t… let go of my hand…”

In the middle of the deep lake where my feet couldn’t touch, the only connection between Ariel and me was my left hand and her right hand.

Although I had managed to balance my body by following her and was floating in the lake where my feet couldn’t reach, my anxiety had already risen to my chin.

The moment I realized this hand would be let go, leaving me isolated alone in the middle of the lake, it felt as though the bursting anxiety, not the lake water, rising to my chin would choke me.

“You can do it, Jazel.”

But contrary to my wish, Ariel slowly began to release the last clasped hand, as if it were the final hurdle for me to swim on my own.

“W-Wait! Ariel! I’m not… ready yet…”

As the clasped hand, seemingly about to be let go at any moment, slowly began to loosen, I tried to stop her actions with a desperate voice.

“Jazel needs self-belief and courage. You can do it.”

Ariel, looking at me resolutely as if she couldn’t disregard my urgency and whining, finally released the hand that had barely been connected by fingertips.

“Whoa!?”

At that moment, the lake that had been supporting me suddenly seemed to turn against me, as if trying to swallow me whole, and my body was pulled into the water.

But the fear and terror were only momentary.

The moment the lake water enveloped my head, the quiet stillness and cold chill in the water quickly began to cool my head, which had been hot with tension and bewilderment.

‘Slowly swing my legs… and gently stir both arms.’

I stopped the aimless flailing of my body, caused by fear and bewilderment in the water, and calmly put into practice the actions Ariel had taught me.

My slowly swinging legs began to gently push away the pulling lake water that sought to engulf me, and my arms, gently stirring as if playing with the water, maintained my body’s stable balance.

‘This is it…’

And only after my whole body was submerged in the water did I clearly understand what Ariel had meant by “the flow of the water.”

As if to prove my body was rising with each kick, I felt the gentle brush of water against my ears, and clearly sensed the swirling flow of water between my arms and fingertips.

“Pwhoosh!”

Pushing away the lake water that had momentarily tried to swallow me, I surfaced and took a deep breath, holding it for a moment.

“That was really… well done!!”

As if welcoming me, who had surfaced on my own without her help, Ariel swam over to me and abruptly pulled me into a strong embrace.

“Whoa… Whoa!?”

When she embraced me, my body instantly swayed violently, and I nearly lost my balance.

However, as she had taught me, I didn’t lose the flow of the water and calmly stirred my hands, stably re-balancing my greatly swaying body.

“I didn’t know you’d learn this quickly! Do you know how truly amazing that is!?”

She praised me unreservedly, holding me in her arms, her eyes wide with genuine astonishment.

I was rather flustered by her excessive praise, which was beyond imagination, and replied with an awkward laugh.

“Isn’t it because the person who taught me was excellent?”

“No, no. You can truly be proud of this! I’ve never seen anyone learn as quickly as Jazel!”

But Ariel shook her head firmly, as if to say her praise was not an exaggeration.

“Even I had to sink about three times before I could properly learn how to swim. But Jazel learned it in a single try!”

“Your strong praise is truly appreciated, but… you don’t need to exaggerate so much…”

I could only think that her excessive praise was an attempt to flatter me, so I shook my head, trying to calm her down.

Then Ariel, who had been looking at me with a pouty expression for a moment, pointed below the surface with her finger.

“If you don’t believe me, look into the water.”

At her words, I tilted my head, then bent down to look at the surface of the water beneath my feet.

Below that surface, I could see numerous oddly swaying water droplets, which I hadn’t noticed until just now.

“What are those?”

They were strange water droplets, seemingly alive and moving like large and small jellyfish.

“They’re slimes. They were a safety measure I prepared for any eventuality.”

As if to prove her words, Ariel raised her fingertips and wiggled them lightly.

Then, the water droplets swaying beneath my feet began to rise to the surface.

As she said, the water droplets were indeed large and small slimes, each holding air proportionate to its size.

The slimes, having surfaced at Ariel’s command, seemed to realize they were no longer needed and began moving towards the lakeside, flailing their tentacles like fins.

“If Jazel hadn’t grasped the knack of swimming and had sunk… I was going to use those slimes to rescue you.”

“So… you expected me to sink?”

“I told you, didn’t I? Even I didn’t grasp the knack of swimming and sank three times.”

At my words, Ariel answered my question with a sulky face, as if recalling her embarrassing past.

“But Jazel grasped it in just one try. There wasn’t a single student at the academy who learned that quickly!”

“Still… letting go of my hand was too much.”

Recalling the dizzying moment she let go of my hand despite my earnest plea, I looked at my left hand, which she had released, with a regretful expression.

“I understand the fear and betrayal you felt at that moment. But that’s how I learned too.”

I slowly nodded, as if understanding her apology-filled excuse.

She had also learned to swim in that way, and she had adequately prepared safety measures for any eventuality.

As a result, I had certainly learned to swim through that moment of crisis and urgency, so I couldn’t fault her actions.

“Hmm~ Then a diligent student deserves a reward befitting their effort, don’t you think?”

Ariel, who was still hugging me, gave a bashful eye-smile and gently stroked near my waist with her fingertips.

At that moment, my desire, which had briefly cooled due to the bewilderment of being submerged, began to blaze hot as if reacting to the movement of her fingertips.

“Aha! Jazel’s reactions are quite intuitive, I like that!”

Perhaps it was the effect of having felt a threat to my life, however brief. My reproductive instinct, stimulated even slightly, surged like a fierce flame.

Blood rushed to my lower body, causing my ‘other self’ to rise instantly, thrumming against Ariel’s thigh, which was pressed close, as if to prove my rapidly burning desire.

“Now, now~ Lead me that way~”

Amused by my honest and swift reaction, Ariel, with a slightly playful smile, gently put her arms around my neck and lightly clung to me.

And she pointed to a spot where a dark shadow fell, thanks to a tree growing at a slight incline along the edge of the lake.

“Alright. Hold on tight.”

Although she was clinging to my body, Ariel was also gently kicking her legs in rhythm with my movements, so leading her while swimming was not difficult.

In the cold lake water, I slowly swam towards the dark tree shade at the lake’s edge, indicated by her, fully enjoying her warmth and soft skin, which were blazing as hot as my own, without reservation.