I Was Caught up in a Hero Summoning, but That World Is at Peace

Now then, although we were suddenly thrown into a hot spring, this place is, just like with Shiro-san, inside a dream. The sensations and such are no different from reality, but there are also significant differences.

First of all, while we are in a hot spring, it’s not like we arrived here through the changing room or anything. So neither I nor Lilia-san have a change of clothes, and even our magic boxes are unusable in a dream. On top of that, there doesn’t even seem to be a way to exit the bath area where the hot spring is located…… not even past what you’d call a changing room……

[……Errr, Lilia-san, are you okay?]

[J- Just give me a second. I’m trying really hard to remind myself…… This is just a dream…… This is just a dream……]

Lilia-san, though not as extreme as Alice, is quite shy and not good with romance-related things. As expected, being suddenly thrown into a situation where she’s in a hot spring with only a towel, without any preparation or mental readiness, is too much for her. Her face was already flushed bright red, to the point I wondered if she was already getting dizzy from the heat, as she desperately kept whispering to herself like a mantra that this was just a dream.

Fortunately, in a way, Lilia-san and I had previously experienced a mixed bath together. It was under circumstances where she’d been tricked by Luna-san, but still, having had that kind of experience once already probably helps her mentally a lot now.

If not for that previous experience, and we were suddenly dropped into this situation, I imagine Lilia-san might’ve actually fainted right here in the dream……

[……Lilia-san, a thought just came to me.]

[Yes? What is it?]

[Sorry if this sounds like I’m bringing up old things, but in the past, haven’t you fainted from embarrassment from this before?]

[Y- Yes, it’s terribly embarrassing, but yes…… When I get overwhelmed with embarrassment, my thoughts kind of shut down, I suppose. Something like that.]

[……And I assume you’re feeling pretty embarrassed right now too, but since this is a dream, can you even faint in it?]

[…………So I don’t even have the option to escape by losing consciousness huh.]

Whether that’s actually true or not, I’m not sure. It might be possible to faint inside a dream, but fainting isn’t really something you can do on purpose, so there’s no way to test it. I don’t really know…… but I feel like it’s safer to assume you probably can’t.

[More importantly, are we really inside a dream right now? It feels no different from reality, and all my senses seem to be working normally……]

[To be more precise, it’s like our minds were pulled into some kind of special space. Well, there’s still a lot that I don’t fully understand either…… But just standing around like this forever isn’t going to help. Shall we go ahead and get in the hot spring?]

[Y- Yes, let’s.]

[Ah, and it’s not like this is some public bath or inn or anything, so I think it’s totally fine to keep our towels on.]

Technically, it’s considered bad manners to soak a towel in the water at a hot spring, but this isn’t a public facility or a regular hot spring inn. It’s a dream after all. In this case, prioritizing Lilia-san’s peace of mind is more important, so I think it’s perfectly fine.

And so, both Lilia-san and I decided to enter the hot spring while keeping our towels wrapped around us.

Once I soaked in the hot spring…… just like when we were at the ocean, it was hard to believe this was really a dream, the sensations felt so real, it truly felt like I was bathing in an actual hot spring.

[Ahh~~ but it’s actually nice. It feels like a good way to refresh myself after what felt like quite a long time.]

[For us, it was only a short time, but for Kaito-san more than two whole days have passed, hasn’t it? Wasn’t it exhausting?]

[Not at all, really. I didn’t feel tired in the slightest. Honestly, I was just enjoying some pleasant conversations while receiving gifts. I didn’t even have to worry about the time, so it was all pretty relaxing.]

[Fufu, that’s just like Kaito-san. I’m a noble as well, so I’ve had to exchange many greetings at parties, but the mental fatigue can be quite overwhelming. I suppose it’s a bit different from what you experienced, but I still admire your mental resilience.]

From what I imagine, greetings between nobles likely involve a lot of reading between the lines, like a battle of subtle probing, which sounds mentally exhausting, so I can understand how tiring that could be.

As a side note, Lilia-san still looked extremely embarrassed. Her face was bright red, and her eyes kept darting around while she tried to keep up the conversation, clearly doing her best to focus on talking in order to distract herself from her embarrassment…… Honestly, while I’m sure it’s tough for her, from where I’m sitting, it just makes her look kind of adorable.

[Lilia-san, how should I say this…… it seems like you’ve got it rough again this time. Though, yeah, most of that is my fault……]

[Why do things always turn out that way……? No, well, regardless, what’s important is that we got through the difficult parts, and there shouldn’t be anything else to worry about now.]

[……When you say that, Lilia-san, it kinda makes me feel like something else is going to happen……]

[……Yes, I had the same feeling, so I’ll stay alert until the very end, just in case.]

After hearing my words, Lilia-san seemed to sense something might be coming, based on her past experiences, and answered that she wouldn’t let her guard down.

Well, in most cases, when you’re prepared and on alert, unexpected things don’t tend to happen. And so, I feel like we’ll probably be okay…… but somehow, I can’t shake this sense of unease. Like something might happen the moment we let our guard down, maybe after the birthday party ends.

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<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [Oh? Avoided the follow-up attack by not being too optimistic huh…… But since the Stomach Annihilator has already declared a death sentence, I feel like your gut’s gonna get punched for something else after the party anyway.]