Chapter 898: Lunch at the Celesta Mansion
It was still a bit early for lunch, so I stopped fooling around with Maia and the others and left the room. Well, I could have kept going until they came to get me, but I figured some people might be worried, and just keeping at it in silence felt a bit off. So, I took my time cleaning up and headed to the bathhouse to rinse off. I thought I’d say hello if anyone was there, but there was no one. The bath water was lukewarm. I figured if I called Laila, she’d heat it up right away, but if I waited for the bathwater to get hot, I might miss lunch by the time I got out. Well, as long as the smell comes off, I thought, and quietly rinsed myself off.
“Master, let me dry you off”
“……Good morning, Leda”
I gave a wry smile to Leda, who for some reason always rushes over at times like this, and let her dry my back. Leaving the naughty stuff aside, it really is nice to have my back thoroughly wiped. When I have female slaves, I tend to have them do it, but come to think of it, I used to wipe my dad’s back all the time when I was a kid. I wondered if someday Peter or maybe other sons who might be born, would wipe my back too……and for some reason, I found myself looking forward to that future.
“I’ve got to work hard to have a big family”
I muttered something that even I thought was a bit off. No, I don’t mean in the sense of let’s have tons of sex. As things stand now, whether it’s raising kids or formally marrying my female slaves, the environment is a bit too, well and my position is a bit well. I’m far too unprepared for the future that’s sure to come. I mean, relying on others’ help is fine, but I need to put more effort into my own affairs.
“Haa, of, of course!”
For some reason, Leda nodded vigorously at those words. ……Ah, yeah, I guess it sounded like I was saying, 「I want you to have lots of kids and work hard at it」. But since she’s so enthusiastic, I won’t correct her. Even though those words were originally meant for myself, I have no complaints about Leda getting fired up. She’s my bride, too. Even if she’s spinning her wheels a bit right now, I won’t dampen her spirits. ……Just as I was spending time in this somewhat complicated and silly situation, the changing room door clanked open and Luna appeared. She looked super sleepy.
“Luna? Do you want to take a bath?”
“……N”
Nodding, Luna began tossing her clothes into the laundry basket.
“I overslept……but if I don’t snap out of it, Diane’ll trick me……”
“……Does Dianne-san actually do that?”
You know, the one who snaps her fingers right in front of you. In the Crossbow Corps, they’d routinely give sleep-deprived members a kick in the butt during training, but I guess they wouldn’t do that to Luna. Well, Luna is a girl and has a rare talent, so maybe they’re worried that being rough with her might make her sulk. Besides, since she joined the unit, there hasn’t been much time to nurture her properly.
“The bath water’s lukewarm, you know. Be careful”
“Nyaa……”
Luna let out a meow that could be taken as a half-hearted reply and headed into the bathroom. ……I seem to recall her saying she wouldn’t give that kind of childish reply once she grew up, but well, she’s half-asleep. As I watched her back, I turned around and noticed that Leda looked somehow dejected.
“……Leda, what’s wrong?”
“……That was a real 『Nyaa』……!”
Eh, was that really that shocking? I’m used to hearing the cat beast kids say 「Nyaa」, so I didn’t think much of it, but maybe it struck a chord with Leda.
“So natural……and it suits her so perfectly……!!”
“Well, she is a cat, after all……”
“I can’t win against this……!”
“Were you two having a contest!?”
Could it be that Leda was planning to build her character around 「Nyan」? No, even so, I don’t think it’s right for Leda, who usually relies on her unexpected charm, to try to compete with a real cat beast?
“Uh……I thought I’d found a fighting style the other dragons didn’t have”
“……W, Well, you don’t have to take it so seriously. There are plenty of ways to enjoy sex……”
Glancing sideways at Luna, who was shivering and shaking off the lukewarm water she’d just been doused with in a very cat-like manner, I comforted Leda.
——————–
It’s customary for Renfangas to have a light lunch, but since many of us, myself included, had overslept, Hilda and Dianne had prepared a fairly substantial meal.
“Andy-kun, make sure you eat a good, hearty meal, okay☆”
“Going all-out against my big sister is reckless. Even though we’ll be returning to Polka eventually, today isn’t the day, is it?”
“No, it wasn’t my idea for the fight to turn out so reckless, you know!?”
Dianne’s cooking is actually pretty impressive. Not quite on par with Selenium or Cima, of course. I’m glad for the hearty, meat-heavy menu that really fills you up. As I gnaw on a bone-in cut smothered in thick, creamy sauce, I ponder what to do this afternoon.
“Should we head out somewhere again to give Fiona some real-world combat training……or maybe just take it easy today and tour Rennesto?”
Since I’ve already slept through half the day, there’s no need to force myself to stay busy. Besides, I’ve already done more than enough to help out during the Great Invasion, so I could just take it easy today and save any tasks for tomorrow.
“Speaking of which, how’s Fiona doing?”
“She woke up early and is training with Neia and Sharon. I told her not to use the healing power of the miraculous spring here so she doesn’t wear herself out before we head out”
Dianne said this, and just as she mentioned it, she glanced toward the dining hall entrance. Fiona, Neia and Sharon, still in their workout clothes, were just entering the dining hall.
“What about the princess?”
“She might still be asleep. It seems she stayed up late with Charlotte”
“Ah……but doesn’t Fiona get angry about that sort of thing?”
“I hear she doesn’t interfere with her sleeping in. Since she was frail to begin with, she probably never made a habit of forcing her to wake up”
Come to think of it, that makes sense. It wasn’t all that rare for her to be unable to sleep due to a seizure, or to be in a state where she couldn’t be woken up just because it was morning. ……Between collapsing from intense writing sessions and the dynamic between the Princess and Fiona, we might need to be careful. It doesn’t seem like we can just leave them alone and feel at ease, given the way things are. Just as we were talking about that, Princess Ran and Charlotte arrived at the dining hall. They were late, but unlike someone who’d just slept in, they weren’t disheveled or sleepy, they looked perfectly put together, which is to be expected of their high station. The rest of the group had mostly started eating as well; at a glance, no one seemed to be missing. The dragons, the Gauntlet Knights members, Anzeros, Aurora, Apple and Beatrice were all present. The only one running late was Luna……wait, Luna finally showed up too. I took another bite of meat while looking at her face, then suddenly turned to Sharon, who hadn’t taken a seat yet.
“Hey, Sharon”
“Yes?”
“Do the Gauntlet Knights have something like a training facility?”
“Of course they do……but at this time of year, training”
Just then, Tetes chimed in to add.
“It looks like they’re doing it this year. Seems the Holy Warrior Alliance is here again”
“Oh……”
“The Holy Warrior Alliance, the one from the Valery Federation?”
As I say this, I remember. I’m pretty sure I saw them before.
“That’s right. ……Thanks to Laila and the others’ rampage the other day, we’ve got plenty of leeway in defending Rennesto now, so apparently they’re actively holding exchange matches. I just went to check it out”
It seems she hasn’t forgotten her duties as an intelligence officer, as usual. Tetes is flawless when it comes to gathering information.
“So, what are you planning to do at the training hall?”
“Well, of course, I was thinking of asking Fiona to give me a little training”
“I see, that’s a good idea”
Fiona herself nodded vigorously. Meanwhile, the Gauntlet group exchanged glances……and didn’t look too pleased.
“Eh……at our training facility?”
“I’m a little worried about that……”
“It might be better to ask them individually……”
“It might be a bit hard to recommend right now, especially”
……Eh? Is there something that bad going on? Isn’t this Lord Buster’s own turf, after all?