Chapter 266: …The Plan Worked, Didn’t It

In the morning I woke to a soft feeling and the scent of roses.

I blinked my sleepy eyes several times. My waking head understood what the dark view was.

I tried to ease my face a little out of the valley of her chest, but Erika was holding my head with both arms as if hugging it. I could not pull away.

The best way to wake up... but the stimulation was too strong.

Because she was sleeping, Erika’s body heat was pleasantly warm, and that warmth seemed to make the rose scent thicker.

I must have fallen asleep with one arm still around her waist. I brought that hand to her tapered waist and stroked it gently.

I think it every time. Is it all right to have a chest this large and a waist this slim?

For a while I worried so much I even ate meals with her, but it was not that Erika ate little.

If anything I think she ate more than most women... hmm, a mystery.

If you think she is too thin, put a little strength in and you can tell there is a pleasant amount of flesh. Together with the feel of the slip it felt good to touch.

"Playing with a sleeping maiden’s body. You are a naughty person."

"Sorry. Did I wake you? Morning, Erika."

"Good morning, Raide-san. Ahn, nnuuun, honestly... yaa, ahn, what is it?"

"Your body feels good, Erika... I was taking a reward."

I moved the stroking hand from her waist along her rear and stroked that well-shaped backside. A small moan came from above my head.

"Nn, from morning, na, demanding a reward, ahn, na." She pressed my face hard into the valley of her chest and moaned in a glossy voice, so I could not stop.

I slipped my other arm under her body, held her, and rolled onto my back.

With a small startled cry Erika ended up on top of me. She took both hands off my head and slid down, rubbing her body against me.

Then we looked at each other and kissed with only our lips touching. Flushed Erika protested.

"Honestly, you startled me. Please say one word first."

"I wanted to hold your body with both arms. I wanted to touch this hair too, you know?"

"...Honestly, it tickles. Nnn, nmuu, nn, nnuuun..."

I moved my right hand as if combing the beautiful blonde hair spilling down her back, and stroked her back gently with my left.

I kissed her again and again to close the mouth letting out hot breaths as she fidgeted, and little by little tangled our tongues.

The large breasts crushed against my chest changed how they mashed every time she moved. I could not take that.

I stopped the kiss and eased my face away. Erika’s expression was glossy and melted.

I wiped the thread of saliva from the corner of her lips with a finger of my right hand and asked, "A little more... all right?" Still flushed, she smiled seductively and kissed me instead of answering.

For a while in the just-woken bedroom we flirted thickly, then left the room.

We had a breakfast full of color in the annex with Nimi and the others, Erika, Hiero and Pafa, and the twins.

Then Rinelle said she wanted to stay and rest instead of going to Santony. I scratched one cheek with a finger and agreed.

I said I would report it to Croana myself. Rinelle said she would tell her herself. I smiled and nodded.

Micon and Scon tilted their heads the whole time at Rinelle’s words, looking between my face and hers.

Well, you know? I am glad, and I can tell Rinelle is happy too...

A sixteen-year-old girl stroking her belly affectionately is, in a way, intense.

And because it suits her it troubles me even more. I ended up smiling with a troubled face without meaning to.

I asked Nimi and the others to contact me at once if anything happened. Everyone smiled happily and nodded.

After that Eima and Rinelle went home once. Elysia and Erika went home once too.

Nimi and Lucian were hearing about the tavern from the twins. Pafa and Hiero were consulting about something in low voices.

I watched that peaceful scene while drinking tea Melaine had poured, then suddenly thought of something and decided to consult Erika later.

I got ready to head to the academy in the living space, came out of my room, and found Hiero and Pafa standing there waiting.

They came up and made a request. Hearing it, my face went surprised.

Nimi had just come back from the tavern. When I told her the two of them’s request she smiled gently.

"Oh my, fufu. I think it is fine. You must not get in the way of Raide-san’s work, all right?"

"We will protect him, if anything. Nimi, thank you!"

"Thank youuu!"

"Fufufu. Not at all. Raide-san, I leave the two of them to you."

"Aah. Understood."

The two of them must have been happy Nimi allowed it. They clung to her from both sides and had their heads stroked.

I nodded at Nimi’s words with a wry smile and told the two of them to get ready to go out.

I followed them with my eyes as they pattered toward Nimi’s room, then came up to Nimi and held her gently.

"What is it?"

"Um... lately have I been spoiled too much? I end up wanting human skin."

"Kus kusu. Oh my. The plan worked, did it not?"

"Spare me. I will really go bad..."

I set my forehead against Nimi’s, smiled with a troubled face, and said it. She kissed me once and smiled with maternity. "Please spoil yourself more, all right?"

I held her a little tighter, kissed her, and went outside the inn. Erika and Rinelle in uniform, and the twins, were waiting.

Lucian had gone home just now and would get ready at home, then head to Flower Mist.

While we waited for Hiero and Pafa to come out I told Erika and the others the two of them’s request, and they laughed happily.

I think if Pafa is the one asking permission to go somewhere I understand, but Hiero moved fairly freely, I thought. Did something in her change?

Thinking will not tell me, so I will ask her later. I can already see myself being called a Handful...

I held Erika’s hand and walked toward the academy, telling her what I had thought of earlier.

Behind us Hiero and Pafa held hands like friends and talked happily with the twins and Rinelle.

Then Erika sighed, looked at me with flat eyes, played with a vertical roll with her free right hand, and opened her mouth.

"The burden is large, true, but is that not something you should not be the one thinking about, Raide-san?"

"That may be so... but it is like having them go along with my private business, so I cannot help thinking about it."

"Haa... honestly. That is right. You were that kind of person. So? What is the idea?"

"Marika-san and Dine-san. Will they not open a shop in Santony?"

"...Ha?"

Erika’s face said, what are you talking about? I smiled wryly and started talking about Magic Bags.

The talk I had explained to adventurers at camp, about carrying cargo by wagon. If you use a Magic Bag the wagon gets lighter and the horses’ fuel improves.

And a lighter wagon means you can put out more speed, and the money for caring for the horses should drop quite a bit.

Here is the most important part. Putting goods in a Magic Bag to carry them means you can move a considerable amount.

It should hold several times what you load on a wagon normally. If we use that, would we not get by without going back and forth so many times?

I explained that far, peeked at Erika’s lowered face, smiled, and asked, "How is it?" She started trembling.

Then she jerked her face up, puffed her cheeks, looked up at me with flat eyes, and started patting my chest with both hands in a continuous pos.

"That is the part! That, is, the, part!"

"No no, wait wait. I said it, right? This is a consultation, and I want the decision to be yours..."

"If I let a talk this good slip I would just be an idiot!"

"Ah~. May I have you ask Marika-san and Dine-san?"

"Leave it to me!!"

Is she angry, happy, or troubled... which is it? When I asked, "All of them!" she said, and the speed of the continuous pats went up.

I smiled with a troubled face at Erika, rubbed the back of my neck with one hand, and told her the point to watch.

That was to keep Magic Bag transport secret and do it only with Bell House.

My consideration so this method would not spread all at once and wipe out traveling merchants’ work.

If the method spreads naturally the world can adapt, but sudden change sometimes calls war.

I experienced that until I was sick of it in my previous life, and looking at the world’s history it is the same.

So until this way spreads naturally it is better to hide it as Bell House’s technique alone. I explained that.

Hearing it, Erika stopped the continuous pats, folded her arms so her chest swayed, and looked at me with flat eyes, sounding unconvinced.

"That is right. I think so too."

"I thought of it. Please forgive me."

"Sly... you always... honestly."

I put my right arm around Erika’s waist, pulled her in, and said it with a troubled smile. Her cheeks went red and she turned her face away with a huff.

From behind I heard, "He is a Handful, haa..." "Ah~, yeah, this is a Handful," from Hiero and Pafa. I rubbed the back of my neck with my free left hand and smiled wryly.

Sateur and the others had moved away from us, watching the area, glancing this way and grinning happily.

I noticed it recently... is it my imagination that even when I consult I feel like I am being scolded?

No. Even if it is, if I think about when I do not consult, consulting is better than not...