WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 29

 After defeating Orurk, we made our way through the mountain palace of Hovebrann, defeating Sekbeists as we went. This palace was large. Like all the other Dwoerg buildings we’d come across, the hallways were wide and tall, massive columns lined numerous rooms, and the artfully designed balustrades, staircases, and entryways made this place feel like we were traveling through the home of a giant with a penchant for extravagance.

It did not take long to reach the entrance hall. Following Hreidmar, we raced down a wide staircase and ended up in a hall not unlike the one in Jordiskger.

A pair of Elites were guarding the doorway, and they appeared quite shocked to see us inside.

“Humans?! What they are doing here?!”

“Forget that! Kill them!”

The two Elites readied their weapons, a mace and a halberd respectively, but Kari and I used the Flash Step to appear before them. Kari impaled the one holding the mace with her ranseur. Meanwhile, I brought down the Dragon’s Tail Ruler on my enemy’s head, splitting them from their crown to their groin.

While Kari and I took care of the guards, Hreidmar came up with Erica and Tungsten. He pressed a panel of some kind on the wall, which lit up with several Runes, and then the mythril bars keeping the entrance shut slowly pulled into the walls and floor. Once the bolts keeping the door locked were removed, the door slowly opened of its own accord.

The six commanders who’d led the Dwoerg in Hreidmar’s absence came into the entrance hall, followed by a large number of Dwoerg. There was only been about two or three hundred last time I saw them. That number seemed to have tripled. I wondered just how many Dwoergs had been turned into slaves. However, I didn’t have time to dwell on that.

“Dolug, Brulor, Jadouc, Bezet, Safrud, and Throrgouck! I am glad te see yer alright,” Hreidmar exclaimed with a grin.

“And you, my king.” The blond Dwoerg bowed. Uh… which one was he again?

“It looks like ye’ve taken the palace,” another said… Jadouc, I think was his name.

“Not quite,” Hreidmar exclaimed. “We killed Orurk, but there are still many enemies lurking about. We need te be careful on our way te the Warp Gate.”

“We also need to hurry,” Tungsten said.

Erica nodded. “I am eager to return home.”

Kari and I said nothing, but we agreed with them on that front. Neither of us wanted to remain in this world any longer.

With the large group of Dwoergs now in tow, we pressed deeper into the palace. The Warp Gate was apparently located in a basement far below the mountain’s surface. To reach it, we needed to use a moving platform called an elevator, which could be raised or lowered with Runic Spirit Magic—the term Hreidmar used to describe using Runes to create various effects.

There was no one present when we reached the Warp Gate outside of a few guards. It seemed Orurk was the only Warlord within the palace. Hreidmar said he was the one who had invaded this world and killed the Great Dwoerg Overlord, which I guessed explained why no one else was present. He’d probably sent the other Warlords out to search for the Dwoergs.

The Warp Gate was located in a massive room shaped like a cylinder. To reach the Warp Gate, we had to walk across a long walkway. I glanced down at the chasm below, which was so dark I couldn’t even begin to guess at how deep it was much less see the bottom, and then looked back up. That sight made my stomach drop.

In the center of this room was the Warp Gate, an utterly gigantic object that looked like an archway similar to some of the ruins Kari and I had seen—except this archway was composed of two separate parts. Each half had the arched curve I’d come to expect, but the two halves didn’t touch in the center, leaving about two meters of distance between them.

“This was the first Warp Gate ever created,” Hreidmar said with clear pride evident in his voice. “The Serafer commissioned it when the Sekbeist began invading the nine worlds. It took nearly one hundred years to complete.”

“Can you activate it?” I asked curiously.

“Course I can,” Hreidmar grunted. “Who do ye think I am? As the king, I was taught by the Great Overlord himself how te activate and calibrate this Warp Gate.”

Saying this, Hreidmar stepped toward a small section of the floor that seemed to be a slot of some sort. He took his battleax, flipped it around so the head was facing down, and then slid it into the slot. Something clicked into place. Then he turned the handle of the battleax like someone turning a key.

A loud whirring noise echoed all around us. I turned my head in every direction, but I couldn’t see anything at first. I only noticed after several seconds that the walls were spinning—no, it wasn’t the walls. It was the platform we were standing on that was spinning. I could sense the shifting underneath my feet. As this happened, the Warp Gate sparked, crackling as though long disuse had caused its power to fluctuate. I worried that it might explode on us, but then a black substance just like the one we’d seen at the Warp Gate in Vahnn appeared.

“We’re doing a random jump,” Hreidmar told us. “I don’t know the coordinates te any of the Warp Gates in Miðgarðr since I’ve never traveled to them.”

“That’s fine,” Kari said. “I’m sure we can find our way so long as we can return to our world.”

Hreidmar nodded. “In that case, ye four can go through first. We’ll be right behind ye. Make sure ye go first, Eryk. As a halfling te one of the eight great races, ye are the only one who can let these three travel through the Warp Gate. Also… thank ye for allowing my people te travel te yer world.”

“You can thank us when we’re all safe on our world,” I said. Hreidmar said nothing.

Kari, Erica, Tungsten, and I looked at each other and nodded. Our thoughts were aligned. We turned to the Warp Gate as one and walked through the gate with me at the front.

It felt a lot like getting sucked into a tornado. Our bodies were pulled forward the moment we entered the gate. Everything seemed to stretch. Colors blurred together around us as if everything was moving at incredibly high speeds. While these sights and the sensation of being stretched seemed to last for a lifetime, it was really just a moment. Barely a second had passed before we appeared on another platform, one that looked more worn than the one we’d been standing on. I glanced around and realized we were back. Not only that, but…

“Hey,” I began, “Isn’t this where the three of us went on that mission to rescue a group of villagers who’d been kidnapped by the Sekbeists?”

Erica and Kari, who were also observing our surroundings, nodded.

“It is,” Erica announced. “It has been a long time since we were here, but there’s no way I could forget this place. It could be said that my personal war against the Sekbeists started here.”

“So this is the infamous ruin where you first uncovered the truth behind those Sekbeists.” Tungsten turned his head left and right as though searching the area thoroughly. “I had always wondered about the place you kept speaking of back then.”

“This place has bad memories for me,” she admitted with a shiver.

Before anyone else could begin speaking, a loud crackling sound issued from the gate as Dwoerg began appearing before us in groups of twos and threes. This platform wasn’t big enough to hold us all. We directed everyone toward the other side of the boiling water, allowing more and more to appear. It didn’t take long before the six commanders finally walked through the gate.

“I guess now we just need to wait for Hreidmar,” I said.

Dolug shook his head. “There’s no need. Hreidmar… isn’t coming.”

“W-what?”

I could feel the way my eyes widened at those words, which I took for callous disregard at first. It wasn’t until I looked into the eyes of the six commanders that I understood what they meant. Once I realized what he meant, I turned to the gate and made to run back inside, but the Warp Gate suddenly dissipated.

“W-what just happened?” asked Erica.

“The gate… closed,” Kari murmured with wide eyes.

“That… damn fool.” Gritting my teeth, I turned my glare on the six commanders. “Why?! Why did Hreidmar stay behind like that?! Why didn’t he come with us?!”

No one said anything at first, but then Safrud stepped forward. He gave me an even but disheartened look, like he could understand how I felt even better than I did. Hreidmar was his king. I guess that meant he really did understand better than me.

“The battle axe that King Hreidmar uses is called Clavemril. It is both a weapon of war and also the key needed to activate the Warp Gate. The Sekbeists have been activating the gate through forceful methods like sacrificing the lives of humans for their Spiritual Power, but if they had Clavemril, they could open a gate whenever they wanted te wherever they wanted, including the other seven worlds. To prevent that, King Hreidmar remained behind. He’s probably gonna destroy it.” Safrud’s fists shook with emotion as he clenched them. “Of course, the gate closes the moment Clavemril is removed so…”

Words stuck to my throat, unable to come out as I thought about what I’d been told. Hreidmar had known this whole time that he wouldn’t be able to come with us, that he would be left behind, and yet he’d still gone ahead and sent his people through the Warp Gate despite knowing this would happen.

“Few are the people who can knowingly sacrifice themselves for others,” Tungsten said in a solemn voice.

Erica nodded. “He was a brave man and a good king.”

“Don’t write off our king just yet,” Jadouc exclaimed with a wide, forced grin. “He’s a resourceful one, that he is. I bet we’ll see him again when we least expect it.”

We could all tell Jadouc was going for unrealistic optimism, but we nodded along and agreed anyway. I think most of us really wanted to believe that Hreidmar would survive. I hadn’t known him for long, but he struck me as a good man.

“What should we do now?” asked Kari, switching topics to something obviously less depressing. “We’ve returned to our world, but honestly, I almost don’t know what we should be doing now that we’re back.”

It had been so long—too long since we’d been in our own world. I guessed that explained why Kari couldn’t think of what we should be doing. Fortunately, Erica and Tungsten had an answer.

“We need to return to Midgard,” Erica said with a gesture toward herself and Tungsten. “Our sects are probably worried sick about us. What’s more, we need convene with the Council of Seven and let them know about what we’ve discovered. The knowledge of these Warp Gates, the other eight worlds that exist apart from our own, and the Dwoergs. This isn’t something we can just let sit.”

“We also have to find a place for these people,” Tungsten added. “They have been displaced. It is our duty to set them up with a home.”

Kari and I knew that finding a home for the Dwoerg would fall onto Erica and Tungsten, who belonged to the two largest fighting sects in Midgard. The level of authority they had was far from ours. We belonged to the Explorer’s Guild, which was a mid-level sect with very little authority in the day to day affairs of the Northern Plains, though our name had been on the rise for all the wrong reasons.

“I think Kari and I should return to the Explorer’s Guild and let them know we’re back,” I said. “I’m sure they’re worried about us.”

“They probably are,” Kari agreed. “Who knows how much time has passed since we disappeared.”

With all of our plans in place, our group journeyed outside, where we said our goodbyes and parted ways.

Little did any of us know that we actually would meet Hreidmar again, but it wouldn’t be for another several years, and it wouldn’t be a happy reunion.

***

“The rumbling has stopped,” Catalyna said.

“Seems that way,” Kari agreed.

It had been about fifteen minutes since the rumbling had begun, which had been so bad that it felt as if the very world was being shaken apart. A number of avian Demon Beasts had flown by their camp site overhead. None of them had seemed to notice them, however. It was more than likely that they were fleeing from whatever had caused that shaking.

“What do you suppose that was about?” asked Catalyna.

Kari shrugged. “I don’t have the faintest idea, though if you consider what happened to us, it’s possible the cause of this was a very large Demon Beast.”

“I have heard a rumor that there is an A-rank Demon Beast that made an area west of here it’s territory,” Ander said. “However, I don’t think it was ever verified.”

Kari shivered at the idea of an A-rank Demon Beast living near this mountain. The very thought caused her blood to freeze.

“Whatever the case may be, now that the shaking as stopped, perhaps we can explore these ruins,” Finn suggested with a polite smile.

“Yes, I suppose you are correct,” Catalyna said. “Let’s head inside the ruins now.”

Upon passing through the archway, Kari and the others were cast in darkness, though not for long. Kari rotated her right hand in a circle, generating a small sphere of light that cast away several meters of darkness.

“Nifty ability,” Catalyna hummed in approval. “Fire affinity Spiritualists have something similar, but this light ball looks like it was almost made for illuminating dark places.”

Kari shrugged her shoulders as the sphere floated a few centimeters above her palm. “The light element is light-based, so we have a wide variety of useful Spiritual Techniques aside from ones that are only used for attack and defense.”

“I’ll bet. Anyway, let’s explore a bit.”

With Kari taking the lead, the group walked through the first room, which appeared to be a large entrance hall. As she swept her light around to illuminate the area, she spotted the walls. They were large and appeared to have been carved from the stone in the mountain. Each wall looked like a mural, which depicted the same figures as those giant statues. Many of the depictions had these figures fighting against strange monsters that she’d never seen before. They looked almost like the bastard children of a human and a Demon Beast.

“This is incredible,” Kari muttered.

“Ruins like this are pretty rare,” Catalyna said with a whistle of appreciation. “Most ruins are nothing more than the destroyed cities that were around before the Catastrophe. I’ve also found several tombs. Ruins like this one are few and far between.”

Kari nodded but didn’t respond with shock. “There are a few records of people finding ruins like this one, but I hear there hasn’t been a new one discovered for at least several decades. That you found one so close to Nevaria is astonishing in and of itself.” She continued to stare at the murals. “Seeing this makes me really curious to explore more and find out what sort of history these ruins have and their significance on the people and cultures that came before us.”

“Please keep your enthusiasm down for right now at least,” Catalyna said. “Our current goal is to find a room where we can keep warm and spend the night.”

“I know that.” Kari pouted at the woman.

At the other end of the entrance hall was an archway leading into a long hallway, and though it didn’t look like these ruins had any traps, there was no harm in being cautious. Kari kept her eyes open for signs of danger. However, the hallway soon came to an end and nothing happened. They reached a staircase, which they descended, and then came into another hallway. However, this one branched off in numerous directions.

“Which way should we go?” asked Finn.

“I’ve explored some of the already excavated ruins like this and most of them only have one path,” Catalyna said. “The others will usually lead to a dead end, though we could always just head back the way we came in the event of that happening.”

“Unless the ground is unstable and causes a collapse,” Ander corrected. “These ruins are always well-built, but they are still thousands of years old. Having gone unmaintained for so long, it’s little wonder these places collapse so easily.”

“I guess that means we should just pick a path and go down it,” Kari said, turning to the path on her right and beginning to walk. She forced the others to catch up with her, sweeping her hand left, then right to illuminate the walls, which were covered in the same depictions as before. “Whoever made these ruins really had an eye for detail.”

“It really does make this place seem like a temple of worship,” Catalyna said. She paused as they turned a corner, which led into a hallway that had a series of doorways, though the doors themselves were missing. “You know, I’m surprised by how calm you are.”

“You are? Why?” asked Kari.

“Because Eryk and Fay went off on their own to draw the Demon Beasts’ attention away from us.” Glancing at Kari out of the corner of her eye, Catalyna continued. “Are you not worried for their well-being?”

“Of course I’m worried,” Kari exclaimed with an annoyed frown. “Eryk is the person I love most in this world, and Fay is another person I believe will become my sister in the future. It is only natural that I be worried for their safety.” Wearing a soft smile that suddenly appeared without warning, Kari placed a hand against her leather chestplate. “But even though I am worried, I also have faith that they will be able to make it out of this situation alive and return to me. That’s why I’m not letting this get to me.”

As she spoke of Eryk and her faith in him, a sudden feeling of ill-intent washed over Kari, making her shiver. She paused just as they were about to step into the hallway. Looking around, she couldn’t find the source of this feeling. This made her glance at Finn, wondering if that sensation might have been him, but he appeared to be talking to Ander, who looked rather put out as though talking to Finn upset him.

“Must be nice to have someone you can place so much faith in,” Catalyna sighed.

“It is,” Kari said.

Their conversation finished for the moment. Kari and the others moved to each doorway and checked them out. They didn’t really contain anything. The rooms beyond each doorway were about two or three dozen square meters and filled with absolutely nothing. They were just empty square-shaped rooms made of stone.

“I think we can use these rooms to sleep in,” Kari said.

“I think you are right.” Catalyna agreed. “Come on. Let’s go topside again and get everyone inside.”

They went back outside to discover that Marko and his group had returned with food. It seemed they’d discovered a stream that ran through this mountain and had caught plenty of fish. With some help from Lin, they hacked several branches off the trees, found some dried leaves to use as kindling, and settled down in the first room within the hallway they had discovered. There they lit a fire and cooked the fish. While the fish was bland because they didn’t have any seasoning (the seasoning had been in their bags, which none of them bothered grabbing when they fled their campsite), it at least filled their bellies.

“I think we should all get some sleep for now,” Catalyna said. “Don’t worry about a nightshift. I doubt the Demon Beasts will come here.”

No one had it in them to complain. Everyone looked like they were close to passing out from exhaustion. A few of the more tired Spiritualists literally laid down where they’d been eating and fell asleep on the spot. Only a few of the stronger ones like Marko, Ander, Catalyna, and Finn didn’t outright pass out.

“Big Sister?” Lin inquired when Kari remained seated by the fire. “Are we not going to sleep?”

“Oh. Yes, I’m sorry.” Kari smiled at Lin, who was sitting right next to her. “Yes, let’s go to sleep.”

They didn’t have anything to sleep in, but Kari and Lin quickly snuggled together. Having Lin’s cold tail coil around her was a bit chilling because of her low body temperature, but the fire was doing a good job of warming them both up, and they stuck close to it so they wouldn’t freeze later on. Kari also hoped this room would be able to retain warmth. She wasn’t sure how well stone walls worked in regards to acting as insulation.

Closing her eyes, Kari tried to ignore the eyes boring into the back of her skull as she attempted to get some sleep.

***

I woke up with a startled gasp. My eyes snapped open as a disorienting number of questions popped into my head. Where was I? How did I get here? What time was it? Why were their a pair of boobs in my face? That last question, at least, was answered when I looked past the two large hills to see long red hair falling in my vision. Fay’s head was leaning over as she slept, eyes closed. Of course, this strange position with her chest hanging in my face made me wonder about our respective positions, but then I realized my head was resting in her lap, which meant she’d fallen asleep sitting up.

That had to be uncomfortable.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly eased myself off Fay’s lap. I would have liked to stick around, but I first needed to figure a few things out. First, I checked myself over. My limbs were all intact and I could feel again. However, the dull ache spreading through my body let me know I’d overdone it a little. Also, my legs were broken.

I closed my eyes and, after confirming that my reserves of Spiritual Power were fully recovered, began circulating the water element through my body, particularly my legs. An itchy feeling came over me for a moment. Then a sigh of relief escaped my lips as the bones in my legs were mended. I even went out of the way to heal all my cuts and bruises as well—just to be on the safe side.

With my own injuries healed, I turned to Fay. She had several scratches on her face and body. Her arms were in particularly bad shape. She used them a lot to block attacks from Demon Beasts, which resulted in them taking quite the beating. There was also a large and nasty gash on her torso. That would need to be disinfected.

Standing up and being careful not to make any noise, I eyed my surroundings, but then realized it was too dark for me to see anything. I channeled the lightning element into my eyes. It wasn’t quite as good as the light element, but it did help illuminate the area around me.

It looked like we were in a room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all the same uniform shade of gray. However, I could tell this wasn’t a cave or anything of the sort. Caves weren’t this geometrical. The floor was flat as though it had been sanded down, same with the walls and ceiling, and the room was also shaped like a rectangle. Nature never made something with perfectly flat plains like this.

There were two exits, one in the far back that looked like an archway, and one that looked like someone had created their own exit by destroying a wall. Light spilled in through the larger entrance. However, it was the light of the stars, which meant nighttime was upon us.

For just a moment, I thought about going back to sleep. I shook my head. Not only did I no longer feel tired, but I wanted to do something about Fay’s wounds, and also, I was really hungry.

Gggrgggllee!

I held a hand to my stomach as it let loose with a soft groan, basically demanding I feed it. Looking back at Fay, I watched her for any signs of movement, and then moved toward the exit when I found none. With luck, I would return before she woke up.

The first thing I needed to do was find a source of water, which wasn’t easy considering the area I found myself in upon leaving that room was the same desert landscape from before. I wandered around for a few kilometers one way. Then I had to turn back. There was nothing over there. I fortunately discovered a small oasis in the other direction. It was nothing but a tiny pond with water trickling into it through several cracks in the mountain. However, it was surrounded by gentle greenery and the water looked pure. Sadly, there weren’t any fish swimming around inside. This pond was too small.

When I returned to the room, Fay was awake and on the verge of panicking. The moment I stepped inside, her face went through a myriad of emotions before settling on relief mixed with anger.

“Eryk! You’re awake! Don’t… just run off like that!”

“I’m sorry for worrying you,” I said as I stepped into the room and walked up to her. I grabbed her hands, which seemed to embarrass her because she turned her head.

“It’s… fine,” she mumbled. “Just… wake me up if you’re going to leave.”

I smiled but didn’t comment on that, instead choosing to change the topic. “I’d like to dress your wounds. There’s a pond not far from here where I can clean them.”

Though Fay looked about ready to tell me not to worry about her injuries, she paused just as she was opening her mouth, and then looked down at herself. A slow hiss escaped her lips as she became aware of the nasty cut.

“Okay. If it will ease your mind, I guess we can go and clean my injuries,” she said as though they weren’t a big deal.

I didn’t let on that cleaning her injuries wasn’t the only thing on my mind. Leading her out of the room she’d found, I took her over to the small pond, which I’d say was barely a meter across both ways.

The first thing I did was take the fronds growing around the pond and create a soft bed for Fay to rest on. I spread the large leaves across the ground, making sure they were not only even, but that there was also enough padding underneath her to be comfortable—as comfortable as I could make it at any rate.

“Reax right there please,” I instructed.

Fay sat down and crossed her legs. “Like this?”

“Yes, that is fine for now.”

There were two more steps I needed to complete. The first step was gathering water, which I did by manipulating the water in the pond. I sent my Spiritual Power into the water, grabbing hold of it and bringing it out of the pond with my will. The spherical ball of water undulated as I maneuvered it over my hand under the watchful eyes of Fay. Next I used some of the dryer fronds to start a fire and heat the water until it was boiling.

“I don’t have a rag to clean your wounds with,” I muttered as a new problem suddenly presented itself to me. I looked down. “And our clothes are too dirty to be used as rags.”

“You didn’t think about that, did you?” asked Fay.

“No, not really,” I admitted. After glancing at myself for a moment, I grabbed a hold of my barely held together shirt and took it off. Fay squeaked like a mouse and looked away, but I wasn’t paying as much attention to her just then as I dipped the raggedy clothing in the pond and used water manipulation to purify it. While this didn’t fix the damage, it did clean it off. “This will have to do.”

“You’re… going to use your shirt?” Fay asked.

“Is that a problem?” I asked in return.

“No. It’s no problem.” She looked away. “It’s just… well, it’s a little embarrassing.”

“You think so?” I frowned as I put out the fire, held the shirt underneath the boiling ball of water, and let it slowly sink into the fabric of my shirt. “I don’t think it’s that embarrass. Anyway, please take of your shirt.”

“Do… do I have to?” asked Fay.

“It would make cleaning your wound easier.” I frowned at her. “Also, what is there to be embarrassed about now? I’ve already seen you naked.”

“I… suppose that is true. I suppose it wouldn’t be a big deal… if I bared myself to you again.”

After admitting this, Fay reluctantly grabbed the hem of her ruined clothes. I called it a shirt, but it was actually the remains of her blue coat, which she slid down her shoulders and off her arms. The undershirt was also destroyed. Given how little remained, it could scarcely be called a shirt. Even before she had taken it off, I could see her breasts and inverted nipples. She flushed a deep scarlet the same color as her hair but removed the shirt as well.

With her torso now exposed, Fay’s embarrassment seemed to reach a peak, but I couldn’t let either of our feelings bother me right now. Cleaning Fay’s wounds was more important than either of our feelings. I took the rag, steam wafting from it, and began going over her injuries. The first one I cleaned was her the one on top of her left breast. It was the worst-looking out of all of them, and I didn’t want it to scar. While I cleaned the wound with hot water, I sent the water element deep into her wound and began healing it, slowly closing the wound up until not even a scar remained.

“I am always impressed by your ability to heal people,” Fay said, having gotten over her embarrassment enough to hold a conversation.

“I used to get caught up in a number of dangerous situations,” I explained to her. “Similar to how I learned to refine alchemy pills by necessity, I needed to learn how I could heal my own injuries. Of course, by learning to heal myself, I also learned how to heal others.”

“That does make sense, though I’m wondering what kind of situations you got into that required you learn how to heal yourself.”

With the wound on her chest healed, I shifted to the ones on her arms, wiping them off and healing them with magic. I discovered another located on her back, so I moved behind her and pressed the remains of my shirt against what appeared to be four long claw marks. How did I miss those?

“I hope to one day tell you that,” I admitted. “I feel you, Kari, and Lin deserve to know more about me, but for the moment, would you mind if I kept it a secret?”

“I don’t mind.” Fay shook her head as I stared intently at the closing claw marks as the skin was knit together, waiting until the skin knit together before checking for more injuries. “So long as you tell us all eventually.”

“Thank you.” I moved back around to her front and began checking for more injuries. It didn’t look like there were any—wait. There was a cut on her leg.

“E-Eryk!” Fay squeaked when I went to clean up her wound.

“What? Your leg is cut.”

“I-I can do this one myself.”

“But… you don’t have the water element,” I pointed out. “The whole reason I’m the one doing this and not you is because I can also heal the injury as well as disinfect it.”

“That… yes. You are right. I’m sorry.” Fay’s shoulders drooped as she resigned herself to her fate. “Please heal this too.”

“Is it really that embarrassing to have me heal you?” I asked as I placed the rag against her leg and gently wiped off the blood.

“I don’t know why I feel this way myself,” Fay admitted. “It’s just… ever since you began courting me, I’ve felt strangely self-conscious. Even when you aren’t with me, I can’t help but feel this way. I’ll see some clothing in a store and catch myself wondering if you’d like to see me wear it, and then I wonder if I’d even look good in it. What’s more, I’m not a traditional beauty like Kari. I don’t have her refined appeal or charm, so I feel like I need to try even harder, but I don’t… know what to do. Sometimes I wonder what you even see in me.”

I listened to her as I finished cleaning her injuries. The one on her leg wasn’t her only one. She also had an injury on her foot, which I found because I used the water element to scan her body for blood. I took off her left boot and sock, set her foot on my lap, and placed the rag over her blistered toes, massaging them as I slowly healed them. It was only after I had switched to her right foot that I began speaking.

“I hope you don’t think I’m courting you out of pity,” I said.

Fay quickly shook her head. “I know you better than that. You aren’t the type do something out of pity.”

“Mm.” I slowly pressed my thumbs into the pads of her foot. Her toes wiggled underneath the rag and Fay bit down on her lip. “Then you should also know you don’t need to try harder to make me want you. I already want you.”

Fay hesitated before asking, “Is that true?”

“What reason would I have to lie?” I asked. Her foot was healed, so I set it on the bed of fronds, got onto my hands and knees, and crawled over to Fay. “I want you, Fay. I really do. You say you aren’t a traditional beauty like Kari, and that might be so, but you have a beauty she doesn’t.”

“I want to believe that, but…”

I wondered what happened to make Fay this unconfident in herself. There was more to it than her being easily embarrassed. This problem seemed to be rooted in something else, but without knowing what that something else was, I couldn’t really do anything about it—and right now wasn’t the time.

However, there was one thing I could do right now.

“Fay?”

“Yes?”

When Fay looked up, I leaned down and stole a kiss. It wasn’t long, and I moved right back, but it was enough that Fay was now staring at me in shock. I smiled at her. It was… probably a bit mischievous. Then I leaned back down and kissed her again.

Fay looked like she didn’t know what to do, but as the kiss continued, she closed her eyes and kissed back. During that time, I pushed her onto the fronds while keeping our lips locked. I let my hands roam over her bare stomach and chest. Her inverted nipples were growing stiff when I rubbed my fingers over them and her stomach was twitching. As I pushed my tongue into her mouth, eliciting a moan from those sweet lips, I let my hand drift lower and lower until I was cupping her sex—

“W-wait!” Fay suddenly shouted. I stopped.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

We… we can’t do this,” she muttered, out of breath and panting.

“We can’t. Why—ah.” I glanced around and nodded. “This isn’t really a good place to do something like this, is it?”

“That isn’t… really it.” When all her words did was make me stare at her in confusion, she averted her eyes. “I… wouldn’t really mind doing it with you here, um, b-but we already have a pecking order.”

“A pecking order?” I didn’t really get it.

Fay nodded. “The night before we left for the Demon Beast Mountain Range, Kari, Lin, and I talked about who would get to, erm, sleep with you first. We all agreed that since Kari was the one you loved first, she would be the first to share your bed, so…”

“I see.” I nodded and thought about what I should do. Truth be told, I really did want to take her right now, but I also knew she wouldn’t like it if I forced the matter, and I didn’t think I could forgive myself if I pushed her into something she didn’t want. I took a deep breath and removed my hand from her warm virginal lips. “If that’s how it is… then that’s how it is.”

“Thank you,” Fay mumbled.

I nodded and sat up. “We should probably get dressed.” I looked at how her bare breasts jiggled when she sat up, and then turned away. The light pink of her nipples and the way they were inverted made me want to see if I could coax them out. “I honestly don’t think I’ll be able to control myself for much longer like this.”

My words caused Fay’s entire face and even a little bit of her chest to turn a bright shade of crimson.