chapter_0150

‘What the hell is going on?’ I thought as I woke up to find Leona and Aria sleeping soundly on either side of me, each with an arm wrapped around mine.

The pillows they had brought were strewn haphazardly on the bed, and they had each pulled a blanket over themselves, their hands clasped together on my stomach. I knew they had planned to sleep in my room instead of going back to their own, as they had pretended to check if I was asleep when I was actually awake. I had simply missed the opportunity to tell them I was awake, and if Aria hadn’t leaned in so close or if Leona hadn’t insisted on doing the same, I would have spoken up.

‘I need to get out of here,’ I thought, worried that Sylvia would walk in and misunderstand the situation.

First, I carefully extracted my arms from under Leona’s and Aria’s heads and placed them on the pillows next to them. They were still sound asleep.

With my arms free, I gently unclasped their hands on my stomach and placed them on the blanket. Now, I just needed to get out of bed…

“Leona, are you here… oh my,” Sylvia said as she opened the door and saw the two girls sleeping peacefully on either side of me, her face lit up with mischievous grins.

Sylvia, with her golden eyes that were so similar to Leona’s, looked back and forth between them and me, a smile slowly spreading across her face. I sighed inwardly, knowing that she was probably already forming her own conclusions.

“I came to look for my daughter, and I see you’re having a good time,” Sylvia said, her tone playful.

“It’s a misunderstanding,” I said, feeling a bit flustered.

“I know, I’m just joking. If you were really having a good time, you wouldn’t all look so neat and proper,” Sylvia replied, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

It seemed that Sylvia was supportive of Leona, as any other mother might be upset to find their daughter sleeping next to a man. As for Aria, she was a guest, so Sylvia probably didn’t feel it was her place to comment.

“It’s almost morning, so you should wake them up. I’ll go downstairs and prepare breakfast,” Sylvia said.

“Yes, of course,” I replied.

“Oh, and if you’re too late, I might ‘misunderstand’ the situation, so don’t take too long,” Sylvia added with a wink before closing the door behind her.

This gave me another reason to wake them up quickly. If we were late, all three of us would be teased throughout breakfast.

“Leona, wake up. It’s morning. Time to get up,” I said, gently shaking her shoulder.

“Hmm… just one more hour…” Leona mumbled, her eyes still closed.

“That’s a pretty long extension,” I said, amused.

But Leona just turned over in her sleep, showing no signs of waking up. I decided to try something else and pulled the blanket off her, exposing her bare shoulders and a hint of her stomach below her loosely-buttoned pajamas. She seemed to have a habit of sleeping with her clothes in disarray.

“Leona,” I said again, a bit more firmly.

“Hmm…” Leona murmured, her eyes still closed.

I tried shaking her shoulder again, but she just shook her head stubbornly, refusing to wake up. It seemed that it would be easier to wake up Aria first and have her help me with Leona. I turned to Aria and pulled the blanket off her as well.

“Ari…” I started, then stopped in my tracks.

Aria was lying there, bathed in the morning sunlight streaming through the window, her half-unbuttoned pajamas revealing her shoulders and collarbones. Her porcelain skin was mesmerizing, and I found myself frozen in place.

The way she was lying, with her arms tucked under her, pushed her chest together, emphasizing her cleavage. While it wasn’t unusual for her pajamas to ride up like that, I noticed that she wasn’t wearing any underwear, and my heart began to race.

My mind spun with questions and concerns. Should I wake her up like this? How would she react when she woke up? What if she sat up and the blanket fell off completely?

Should I adjust her clothes before waking her up? What if she woke up while I was doing that? My mind raced with possible explanations and excuses.

“……” I decided to put the blanket back over her and change my plan. It seemed that it would be easier to wake up Leona first after all.

“Leona, wake up. It’s time for breakfast,” I said, gently shaking her again.

“It’s vacation… just two more hours…” Leona mumbled, still half-asleep.

No matter how hard I shook her, Leona only pretended to be more stubborn, asking for more time to sleep. Usually, the body would wake up naturally after such vigorous shaking.

‘Is she doing this on purpose?’ I wondered. Just like I had pretended to be asleep, Leona could be doing the same. Feeling a bit challenged, I decided to take it a step further and try to get her out of bed. Suddenly, Leona opened her eyes. Her golden eyes, still hazy with sleep, scanned me up and down.

“Huh… Mira…? Why are you in my room…? Am I dreaming…?” she mumbled, her voice groggy.

“This isn’t your room, it’s mine. Stop talking nonsense and get up,” I said, a bit exasperated.

“Hmmph.” Before I could finish, Leona grabbed my outstretched hand and put my index and middle fingers in her mouth.

“Suck… haat… slurp…” The sound of wet lips and the sensation of her tongue wrapping around my fingers, along with the faint sound of her swallowing, caused my mind to freeze once again.

“Chulp… hmm?” Leona slowly opened her eyes, realizing that her tongue was wrapped around something.

Our eyes locked. Blink, blink. As her eyelids fluttered, the golden eyes that had been hazy with sleep now sparkled with newfound energy.

“Huh…? I’m definitely awake now…?” she said, seeming to realize that her tongue was wrapped around my fingers.

She slowly took my fingers out of her mouth, and I saw the glistening trail of saliva on them as she brought them right in front of my face.

“……” I couldn’t help but let out a small hiccup.

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“……”

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“……”

“Oh dear, what’s wrong? Did something happen?” Sylvia asked, noticing the awkward atmosphere between us during breakfast.

It was inevitable that the morning would be awkward after what had happened. Leona, who had woken up to find herself sucking on my fingers, was understandably flustered, and Aria, who had been startled awake by the commotion, had her own moment of panic when her pajamas slipped off her shoulders, revealing her upper body. I had quickly turned away, but if I had been just a second later, the pink tips of her breasts would have been imprinted in my mind.

After such an eventful morning, it was no wonder that breakfast was filled with tension. Only Sylvia seemed blissfully unaware, wearing a broad smile as she enjoyed the show.

“Well, let’s get going. I’ll show you around the village,” I said, trying to break the ice.

“Yes, yes, let’s go, Mir Mira,” Leona and Aria replied, their voices still a bit stiff.

As we left, Sylvia waved us goodbye, her smile even wider than before.

Their hometown was a typical rural village, but thanks to magic, it had all the amenities one could desire, and it was larger than one might expect.

“This is the central square. It’s where the first well was dug, and the village grew around it. The well is gone now, though,” Leona explained, her voice gradually regaining its usual enthusiasm as the awkwardness of the morning faded away.

Aria also joined in, their brief, concise explanations becoming more detailed, a sign that they were feeling more comfortable.

“Hey, I don’t see many men around,” I observed, looking around. For every ten women I saw, there was maybe one man.

“Oh, that’s because most of them are away on an expedition with my dad. He’s done this before. They can’t work while they’re gone, so they take a loss, but it’s better than letting monsters run rampant nearby,” Leona explained.

I had assumed that it was because this was a yuri romance world, but it seemed I was wrong. Laura’s influence had provided a convenient explanation for most of the unusual circumstances I had encountered, and I had forgotten about the expedition story I had heard the previous day.

“Good morning, sir! How are you today?” Aria greeted a passerby.

“Did you sleep well? How’s your health?”

“How’s the calf doing? I hope it’s doing well,” Leona asked a villager, her friendly demeanor surprising me.

As we toured the village, I noticed that Leona was much more outgoing than I had expected. She greeted most of the people we encountered, and they all responded with warm smiles. It wasn’t just because she was a hero; there was something inherently likable about her.

“Leona has always been like that since she was little,” Aria said, noticing my surprise.

“You were the one who approached me first, despite your introverted nature,” I pointed out, recalling our first meeting on the first day of school. It was the first time I had met someone so different from me, and I never imagined that we would end up in this situation.

“That’s…” Aria blushed slightly.

“You may find this question a bit odd, but do you believe in fate, Mir Mira?” Aria asked, her eyes shining with curiosity.

‘Fate…’ I remembered the conversation I had with Leona the previous night. She had given an ambiguous answer, while Aria had confidently stated her belief in fate.

“Well, if I had to choose, I’d say I don’t believe in it,” I replied.

“May I ask why?” Aria’s question was simple, but my answer was complicated.

If fate truly existed, then all the struggles and efforts I had made in my previous world would be negated, as if they were all predetermined and inevitable.

“Because I don’t want all that I’ve done to be dismissed as ‘fate’,” I explained. “It’s like saying that everything I went through was meant to be, and that’s something I can’t accept.”

“I see…” Aria fell silent, deep in thought. I waited patiently for her response.

“I’m here! Let’s go have lunch!” Leona interrupted our moment, returning with a basket full of fruits, a clear sign that she had lost the argument with the fruit seller.

Aria smiled brightly, her earlier question seemingly forgotten. “Yes, let’s go. Let’s head to my house, Mir Mira. We can greet my parents as well.”

“Is it okay to just show up like this? We didn’t even tell them we were coming,” I said, a bit concerned.

“It’s fine. Mom already let them know,” Leona assured me.

So that was the reason for their natural behavior earlier. I nodded and followed Aria, with Leona by my side. As we approached the village entrance, we heard a commotion.

We exchanged glances, knowing that it wasn’t a good sign. We quickened our pace and found the villagers hastily making way for us. At the center of the crowd was a man with bandages wrapped around his arm.

The sight of blood on the bandages caused Leona and Aria’s faces to stiffen.

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‘This doesn’t look good,’ Wilhelm Brynhild thought as he surveyed the approaching horde of kobolds. His blade was already dull from the blood and fat of the monsters he had slain.

Using the injured man’s weapon as a replacement was only a temporary solution, and now even that option was gone. There was no way they could fight off this many kobolds.

Kobolds were not usually a threatening type of monster. That was why Wilhelm had led a group of villagers on this expedition, and they had always emerged victorious. But today was different. The kobolds were not only more numerous but also much more aggressive, their strength and speed far surpassing those of the kobolds they had faced before. It was hard to believe.

Wilhelm, a former knight, relied on his instincts and skills to survive the initial attack, but he knew that their luck wouldn’t hold forever. They had managed to escape without any casualties so far, but their escape route was quickly narrowing.

“Everyone, get ready to fight! We need to buy some time!” Wilhelm ordered.

He had made a decision: to trust in the one person who had managed to break through the encirclement and make it back to the village. By now, his daughter should have returned as well.

The able-bodied villagers armed themselves, though there were only about ten of them. Wilhelm took the lead, his bloody blade at the ready.

However, Wilhelm’s plan was cut short.

A torrent of ice rained down from the sky, freezing the kobolds in their tracks. The monsters became ice statues, their lives frozen along with their bodies.

As the villagers shivered from the cold that crept up from the frozen ground, a young man descended from the sky. He held a shimmering sword in his right hand and turned to face them, his left arm outstretched, a green light emanating from his palm.

“Sir, your wounds!” one of the villagers exclaimed, and a miracle unfolded before their eyes.

Not only did the man’s injuries heal, but his severed arm and leg regenerated as well. The villagers were both astounded and overjoyed, too caught up in their relief to notice the young man approaching them.

“Are you Leona Brynhild’s father?” the young man asked, his voice calm and steady.

“Y-yes, I am,” Wilhelm replied, still reeling from the surprise of hearing his daughter’s name.

He was taken aback, but not for long. Only one person could address his daughter so casually and possess such overwhelming strength—the very same person his daughter had spoken of so fondly. Originally, Wilhelm had intended to test this young man as any father would, but now he had changed his mind. How could he test someone who had saved not only his daughter but also the lives of everyone here?

Moreover, the young man’s skill was evident from the way he had effortlessly frozen the kobolds. Wilhelm sheathed his sword, wiped his hands on his clothes, and extended his hand with a wide smile.

“Please take care of my daughter,” he said, his voice filled with gratitude.

“Yes?” the young man replied, a hint of confusion in his eyes.