----On the Oarburgh's side----
"Mera-sama! Are you alright?" Gilberda asked still with her mask on while helping Mera to get up.
"I am fine, his kick didn't cause any damage." Mera sat up and started rubbing her arm.
"*sigh* Then everything is alright. I don't know what I would do without you..." Gilberda sighed in relief and then said with a sad expression.
In such a situation, Mera would normally try to cheer her up by sexually "harassing" her but...
"Yeah..." She replied with 1 word while looking into the empty space with a confused expression, still sitting on the ground.
'?! What is wrong with Mera-sama?! She would normally swear to get revenge and then have some fun with me to cheer herself up. What is going on inside Mera-sama's head right now?' Gilberda thought with a shocked expression because even she was aware of Mera's strangeness.
'...What was that? When he touched me and I could feel his burning hot hand on my shoulder...why didn't I hate it?!' Mera's mind was in disarray, she had no idea what to think about what just happened.
"You are safe..." Finally, Babara and Taeko caught up to them and Babara immediately commented in relief.
"What was that?! Why did you stop me, miss Babara?!" Gilberda asked with a confused and angered expression.
"It was necessary, I will explain it later. Merraid, do you want to leave or observe them for a little while until they will meet up with the Rebel army?" Babara replied and directed her gaze at Mera who was still sitting with absent-minded expression.
This was Babara's first time seeing Mera in such a state which definitely surprised her.
'What is going on with her? It looks like her feelings are in disarray...don't tell me her lust will also be directed at men after this encounter...no, that's impossible since she really hates them but it doesn't mean there can't be exceptions. *sigh* It seems this incident will create even more troubles in the future.' Babara thought while very carefully observing Mera, with her experience she was able to more or less guess what she is thinking about. She also didn't forget to cast a quick glance at Taeko standing near her who just tilted her head in confusion.
"Ah, I- I want to observe Esdeath more and since we are already here, why not observe their battle till the end." Mera finally woke up from her thoughts and immediately answered.
'Was I just really thinking about using Akashi to also get nearer to Esdeath? Was I thinking about threes- NO! No man can touch Esdeath.' Mera thought after she finally calmed her mind down however she wasn't even aware that she called Akashi by his name and not by "that man" which already was very strange in her case. And the most ironic thing is that she rejected the idea of Akashi touching Esdeath but never mentioned herself.
----Akashi's side----
We are finally returning to the camp through the forest while supporting each other because even though Esdeath recovered to stand on her own and walk, she didn't recover enough to jump around so we were supporting each other while jumping from one branch to other.
"Akashi?" She called out my name with a slightly curious expression.
I glanced at her face which was only a few inches away and then returned my gaze in front of me.
"It's not exactly a Teigu. My house worships fire and Fire Lord but since there are no records of such person we simply worship just fire. It's something I have been born with." I didn't bother trying to convince her that it's just Teigu since my abilities were indeed beyond Teigu's capability.
"So you worship this Fire Lord...?" She asked with a curious expression.
"Me and worship something? Haha, nah, I just accepted fire as my friend. If I had to worship it to get this power I wouldn't bother to." I said with an amused expression.
If I didn't have any of these powers, I would play it safer and probably tried to join the Oarburgh clan since they have very nice techniques and I would only be able to survive as a cunning assassin in this world where many people have weapons with powers of nature or body manipulations or other things.
"You "accepted" it as your friend?" She asked with an absent-minded expression and I just nodded.
---
'Shouldn't it be the other way around? Whatever...I still have something in my mind that's bothering me.' Esdeath thought and prepared herself to ask another question.
---
"What that vile woman said before...about the love makes everyone stronger. What do you think about it?" Esdeath asked me with a curious expression.
"Her term of love is twisted, it's more like lust for her but to answer your question...Yes, didn't you experience it beforehand in our fight? I have become this strong because I have people I care about and I don't want anything to happen to them." I replied to her with a teasing smile.
"Then what should I do if I don't have anyone like that left...?" She instantly asked me question that surprised me so much that we had to stop for a while.
"That's...very hard question to answer. You can find someone who has the same interests as you and slowly form a friendship with that person and with passing time, you will discover if he is your true friend or just seeking benefits from you. But let me give you advice, never go finding someone like that if your goal is just to become "stronger", that's not how it works. You will become stronger if you will want someone like that because you want to "belong" somewhere or someone you can talk to. It's very complicated and I am not a suitable person to answer your question." I explained with a thoughtful expression while touching my chin.
"...I see, what about you? Do you have any friends like that?" She nodded after a while of thinking about my words and asked another question.
"Hmm, I have my servants but I treat them as friends. There is also one girl that I care about." I blurted out without even thinking about my answer.
We started to move once again.
"...Do you love that girl?" She suddenly asked after a small moment of silence.
"*cough* *cough* What? Ah, it's not like that...she is even younger than me plus love is still a few years away from me." I coughed when she asked me that question and I couldn't help but remember Kurome's cute face while calling me Nii-sama. She almost made me cough out my lungs.
"...I have never asked you but how old are you?" Esdeath frowned when she heard me talking about my age.
"12" I said with a poker face.
"WHAT?! You look at 15!" Esdeath exclaimed with a surprised expression.
---
'I lost against someone so young...*sigh*' Esdeath thought with a complicated expression while looking at Akashi's face.
---
"I hear that a lot, let's focus on getting back so we can recover before the battle with Rebels." I turned at her and replied with a small smile.
"Mm" Esdeath nodded and we stopped talking to save energy.
[Health: 327/610] I am slowly healing but it will most likely take the entire night to fully heal up.
When we returned to the camp, we parted ways. Esdeath went to her tent to tend to her wounds and get some rest while I went towards my own tent.
However, when I entered my tent, I found someone who shouldn't be here.
"Zzz...ah...not there, hihi." Mez was snoring in my tent while muttering some nonsense with flushed cheeks.
"Ehm!" I cleared my throat aloud which should be enough for someone like Mez to wake up.
"Oh? Akashi-? Eek!" Mez rubbed her sleepy eyes looked towards me just to see me standing near her and glaring at her with my body full of wounds.
"What the hell? Why is your body full of wounds? Did I overslept the entire battle with rebels?!" She started to panic and horrified expression appeared on her face once she thought that she missed the opportunity to fight.
"Calm down, it's still night and I am wounded because I was having a spar, nothing serious. But what I am curious about is...why are you sleeping in my tent? Where is Suzuka?" I explained with stern expression
"Oh? I see...I tied her up in her tent so she couldn't cause any trouble. I had to tie her really tightly because of her special body manipulation." Mez replied with a smile but didn't show any sign of leaving my bed.
...Good to know, I definitely won't be the first one to enter her tent the next morning. She is probably even enjoying herself right now, knowing her personality.
"Alright but you still haven't answered my other question. What are you doing in my tent?" I asked with a weird expression.
"Tehee" She started to scratch back of her head with an embarrassed smile.
"You see! I wanted to ask you something but when I noticed that you aren't here, I decided to wait for you and guard your things so no one would steal them~" She immediately pointed at me with her index finger while looking at me with a serious expression.
"...Yeah...no one stole them, instead it seems that they ate them." I muttered while looking at the empty bag lying on the nightstand previously filled with my mini cookies.
"*Whistle* *Whistle*" She put her hands behind her head and started to whistle while looking away.
I simply glared at her and waited until she stops.
"...Fine! I might have noticed them innocently lying there and I might have taken a few" She finally surrendered said with puppy eyes.
"A few?" I asked once again with a weird expression because that bag was packed with those cookies and that bag isn't exactly small.
"A little more?" She closed her right eye and stuck out her tongue.
"*sigh* Whatever, I should have expected this from you. Since I am already here, you can go back to your own tent." I massaged the bridge of my nose with a tired expression and told her that she can leave.
"Don't be mad, I will repay you for it." Mez replied with a surprised expression when she heard my words but she missed the point. I wasn't kicking her out because I was mad.
"I am not mad, I just want to go sleep and recover from my wounds." I said with a helpless smile.
"Oh! Alright!" Mez got up from my bed and gestured me to lie down which I did but something was bothering me...
"Why are you still here?" I turned my head at Mez who was standing next to my bed, observing me.
"Since you are injured, I am guarding you, hehe" She replied with a big "innocent" smile.
"I won't fall asleep if you will keep standing next to my bed like that..." I replied with a forced smile but even I was slowly losing my patience.
"I see, that's the problem. So will it be alright if I lie down next to you?" She leaned forward right above me with a bright smile.
Hearing her words, a small vein appeared on my forehead, indicating that my patience ran out.
This girl...she is all flirty but just judging from her childish behavior, it's obvious that she is inexperienced in those things!
I wanted to just kick her out but if I won't teach her a lesson, she will keep trying to tease me.
She most likely isn't aware of my age but even then she should know when to stop.
Thankfully, spending time with Raksaya taught me a few things about women so I am sure that she is just acting. Let's teach her a little lesson.
"Well if you want, come here!" I said and caught her hand, pulling her on my bed. I climbed up on top of her to immobilize her.
"Huh?" Her green eyes opened wide. She definitely looked surprised by my sudden initiative.
I raised her chin with the help of my hand and then brought my face closer to hers. Our mouths were so close that it would take only a small movement forward for us to kiss. Yet despite such a chance, she was unable to move her head up to meet my lips which only made my smirk wider.
---
'Is this what I think it is? I know that I was trying hard to make him take some bold actions but...I am not sure I am prepared for this...' Mez thought with her wide-open green eyes that were constantly shaking as she was looking straight into Akashi's red eyes.
---
I could feel her breathing getting faster and faster, I could even hear her rapidly beating heart.
I brought my face next to her to whisper something right into her ear.
"W-What is it?" She asked with a frightened tone when she noticed this.
"*You look completely different in bed compared to when you are in the battle. You look like a frightened little kitten but that only makes you cuter~*" I whispered right into her ear and let my lips touch her ear for a moment.
She immediately shivered when she felt my touch together with my words and closed her eyes.
I finally sat up and looked at her with a satisfied smirk.
"You can go, now." I got up from her and told her while adjusting my clothes that I was slowly taking off while I was on top of her.
"...W-What?" She finally opened her eyes when she heard me and her face became immediately fully red even redder than before.
"You didn't hear me? I said that you can go..." I said with a confused expression, acting as if nothing happened a few seconds before.
...Her face indicated that she was frightened but I expected her to fight back a little...I guess she wasn't fully against it, she is just too inexperienced.