CH 190

The night had grown late, I had bathed, and was in my room.

「Uuaa~」

I groaned as I writhed around on my bed. I wasn't doing stretches.

「If you hate it so much, why don't you just say no?」

That was what Rana said to me.

Seated in front of her dressing table, she was getting ready for bed.

「It'll be more troublesome if I refuse」

「Is that how it is?」

「That’s how it is」

That's what my experience tells me.

By the way, we're not talking about the assassination.

I had received a royal order directly from King Lemuria to cook a welcome meal for the magistrate.

Even though there are plenty of skilled cooks available, he said something along the lines of, "There's a significance to the food being prepared by an adventurer", or some such nonsensical reasoning.

I never thought a foreigner like me would have to act like a chef in such a high-profile setting.

I'm not confident at all.

And it's such a pain.

I mean, there are other skilled cooks out there, and in my case, it’s the novelty of my food that makes it popular. It's not because of my skills.

That said, if I refuse, Rutsuko-san will have to take my place.

Having heard the bad rumors about the magistrates, I can't leave it up to her.

She's a woman, she's from my hometown, and even though it was only for a short time, she's a friend who was once in the same party as me. If anything happened to her, I might not be able to get her back.

But it's such a pain.

But I have no choice but to do it.

「Nuuuu」

That's how I feel about it.

「There, there. You don't have a choice, right?」

A pleasant smell came closer. Rana climbed onto the bed as well, gently placing my head on her folded legs.

Various people sometimes forget that I'm a married man.

I have an elven wife.

It's not a delusion.

It's dreamy, but it's real.

「I know I'm not one to talk……but what a difficult person」

「Who is?」

「You, dear」

Is that so? I'm not really conscious of it. I mean, I'm in such a good place right now.

「But I'm glad. You've been telling me all sorts of things lately」

「That's……well, yeah」

Lately, when I'm with Rana, I feel at ease. I can't help but talk about such trivial things. I think it's uncool, but she says that it makes her happy.

This is a part of the female mind that I just don't understand. Is it because of what they call male pride?

「Do you have an early morning tomorrow?」

「No, I've asked Tyutyu and Rutsuko-san to procure and prep the ingredients. I'm just going to cook. I'll leave for the castle………………just before noon should be fine」

「Then you can take it easy for the first time in a long time. You're an early riser and a late sleeper, so I was worried about your health」

「Being hardy is my selling point」

I changed my posture slightly.

I rested my cheek on Rana's thigh, with the top of my head pressed against her stomach. Having nothing else to do, I brushed her gold-dust-like hair with the back of my hand.

「That's exactly why」

「Hmm?」

「The hardiest people are the ones who collapse and pass away in a flash the moment their health fails. That was the case with my mother」

「Don't worry, even if I die, I'll come back from the dead. I'll even outlive you」

As a person who has a death wish, that may be too dark of a joke, I suppose.

But I can sense Rana smiling.

「Oh, that's right, Rana―――――」

There was something I wanted to ask her, but the pleasant feeling of her stroking my hair halted my words.

At the same time, I felt a softness rest on my other cheek. It was soft but heavy, making me feel as if I was drowning, not in water but flesh.

When we're alone, Rana often rests this weight on me in this manner.

As I thought, they must be heavy.

But to have my face sandwiched between her thighs and breasts, is this heaven?

「What is it?」

「Ahh, umm, err………………」

I can't think straight. Truly, these are boobs that ruin people.

They're too much.

As I started to doze off, I mumbled out my vague thoughts.

「Rana, Gladvain-sama's training, is it harsh?」

「It’s harsh, but……」

「But?」

「It's different from magic. The feeling of growing stronger day by day is such a rare experience. When I studied in the detention library of the Hohens School, all I did was eat stale bread and shriveled vegetables while endlessly trying to commit stories to memory. While I enjoyed being able to express the culmination of all my knowledge through destruction, I feel like my current way of life suits me more. And I get to eat delicious food too」

Gladvain-sama's blood runs thick in Rana after all.

The blood of ancient warriors.

The blood of those who seek life and death in battle and glory.

「What's the matter?」

「Oh, did I show it on my face?」

「I can tell even if you didn’t」

She gently ruffled my hair. Her touch strangely made a chill run through me.

I feel like I'm being teased by an older sister.

A sexy elven older sister with big boobs would be awesome. No, it's my wife that's awesome.

I don't quite know where I'm going with this line of thought.

As Rana and I continued to touch each other, my thoughts drowned.

「You just started thinking lewd thoughts, didn’t you?」

「That must have been all over my face」

「Yeah, it was」

I'll reflect on that.

I'll have to train myself to be able to be lustful without being noticed.

「Ahhh, Rana, is there anything that you want?」

To gloss over things, I asked her that.

They say that women cost a lot of money, but Rana spends a lot less than most.

「I've already received such a splendid dressing table. Anything more would be excessive」

The dressing table with mirror and the chair that went along with it were originally too damaged to be sold. Makina and I had repaired them and made them usable.

It did take a lot of work, but it hadn’t cost me any money.

Rana has become an advanced adventurer and she also teaches classes on magic. She uses the money she earns to buy cosmetics, clothes, and simple luxuries.

Women are costly creatures, but she doesn't let me spend much money on her. For the sake of my manly pride, I'd love to be allowed to spend a little bit more on her.

She's a good wife.

Well, I think she's too good for me.

Oh, that's right.

I just remembered what I had wanted to ask her. The order of my questions is a bit messed up though.

「Rana, why do you want to be strong?」

Even if she enjoys working out, the training is too harsh.

The pursuit of strength leads to dangerous battles and formidable enemies. And what awaits at the end of that path is the glory of a warrior's proud death.

This is just my own selfish desire, but I don't want to see my woman fighting with her life on the line.

「The reason why I want to be strong………………I thought for sure that you've already realized that」

「Sorry, I hadn't realized it at all」

I'm a failure as a husband.

This is completely unrelated, but I wonder why the character for "husband(夫)" and the first character for "failure(失)" are so similar.

「It's simple. It's so you don't have to worry」

「Eh? Huh?」

No, it just does the opposite and makes me worry though.

「If I'm not strong enough, you won't be able to leave in peace, right?」

I hadn't expected those words at all.

「To begin with, our lifespans are different. In addition, you like to do things recklessly, you don't discuss things with anyone and go off by yourself to face death as you please, and you've also abruptly disappeared once already. Besides, you're a foreigner. Your hometown is different from mine. You don't intend to make this land your final resting place, am I right?」

「………………」

Why?

For some reason, I can't answer her.

Say it, tell her that she's wrong.

Isn't it an easy thing to say? After all that's happened, I have no intention of going back to Japan. I don't need the company's money, and there's no one waiting for me to return.

Even if I reached the 56th floor because of Tortch's wish, that still doesn't give me a reason to go back to Japan.

After our adventuring is done,

I should live out the rest of my life in comfort here, in this world, with Rana and the others.

This wish is right there at my throat, but I just can’t say it out loud.

Something……there's something stopping me.

What's going on? What's so important that I have to go back? There shouldn't be any reason. There shouldn't be anyone.

I'm pissed off.

The urge to kill myself for being so powerless and so stupid comes over me.

And yet, I can't remember.

I feel a terrible pain, as if my heart and soul are falling apart.

「It's fine. It's going to be okay」

Rana hugged my head tightly.

It appears that my anxiety was showing.

I'm really such a no-good man.

「I'm going to get even stronger and become a strong woman that you can entrust everything to without worry, so please wait just a little longer」

「What are you talking about? You're already more than strong enough」

The one who's weak is me, who can't trust you.

I want to become strong.

I want to trust you strongly.

Even if I can't do it now, if we continue to spend nights together like this from now on, will I someday be able to trust you without worry?

「Then, why don't we see if you're right?」

「Err, dear wife, does that mean………………」

That kinda went without saying.

Well, I won.

Well~~~~, if you thought for a moment that Souya was doing the deed at the start, that’s on purpose, since that’s exactly what the author was going for. If you didn’t, I apologize for failing you… Well, they did it in the end though.

That part near the end though… Although Souya has no memory of his sister, he somehow has an inkling that something is very wrong. Is this an effect of the hat the Faceless King gave him? Or is it something else?

On that topic, have you noticed that there’s one thing that’s always the same whenever Souya uses Wild Hunt? Yup, it’s always when he’s facing a beast of Elysium. And there’s now an apprentice hero, an actual hero, and a magistrate of Elysium here in Lemuria…

What kind of person is this magistrate and what kind of intrigue is there between them and Khius? Will Souya be able to stay out of it? Stay tuned!