"Okay, you completely lost it."
Staring at me as if I was some kind of alien, Ayda appeared to be too powerless to even shake her head in disbelief.
"I know it won't be easy, but surely there has to be a way to achieve it!"
I couldn't agree with how negatively Ayda was approaching the topic. While she obviously had more reservations about messing around in this place as she knew far more about it than I did, it didn't change the fact that unless I was willing to give up on meeting and learning from her ever again, then I had no other choice but to fulfil this world's mission.
"Additionally, even if things turn a little bit… awry, you could always consider it as a mean for me to practice my new abilities. Nothing beats a crash-course!"
With my flamboyant and energetic attitude, I attempted to hide away the fact that the perspective of doing something so huge scared me quite a lot. If anything were to go wrong, I could always salvage myself by opting to use my emergency exit… But that would mean failing this world completely, and never being able to return to it.
Right now, I was in quite a pinch. With no idea how long it would take to fulfil the world's mission, I had to start reaching for it as quickly as possible, since I had no clue whether I have enough time or not to achieve it. On the other hand, if Ayda's worries were greatly justified, starting this mission prematurely would mean that this entire world would turn hostile towards me, not only forcing me to be far more careful with living here, but also potentially sparking trouble for the Ayda.
Sadly, with no information required to estimate how long fulfilling my mission or learning everything that Ayda had to offer would take, I had no other way than hurrying all my actions in hopes that I would somehow fulfil both of my objectives.
After all, even with how urgent the situation with my mom was, I was unwilling to just give up on all the people I was meeting on my path to save her. This would be both ungrateful to those who helped me and could also greatly increase my hardships to grow in strength, as I could only imagine how long it would take me to practice witchcraft to its perfection of my absolute own, not even daring to mention how potentially costly it would be regarding my ability to feel emotions.
"Ehh… It seems that I won't be able to stop you from attempting this… So let's stop wasting the time."
As suddenly as always, Ayda reached out and grabbed my hand before almost pulling me out of the room. For some strange reason though, for the very first time, I managed to resist her pull.
"Hey, we need to change our clothes first. We are both soaking wet."
Stopping the girl from moving out of the room, I pointed something so obvious that it barely slipped past my attention. Even though I wasn't all that worried about getting sick as even my pitiful level of cultivation was enough to reinforce my body and make it almost immune to common illnesses, it didn't change the fact that we would not only look stupid by walking in wet rags like that, but it could also hinder our movements if a fight were to erupt.
"Right… Give me a moment…"
Staring at me with her eyes lacking the light of understanding what I said for a moment, Ayda suddenly snapped, with dangerous sparks appearing in her eyes.
And just like that, she started undressing.
Before I could even manage to turn away, the upper part of her clothes fell down, allowing me a quick glance of her completely bare breast. Even though her cleavage only pretended to cover it before, it didn't change the fact that the feel of watching her chest in its full, enormous beauty was something incomparably better than sneaking some peeks at her dressed body.
Luckily, I managed to turn away before more stimulus could wreak havoc in my mind. Given how I only recently started operating on emotions, I couldn't vouch for my actions if I allowed my lust even the slightest window of opportunity right now. After all, what if the time that we would potentially end up on fucking would turn to be the pivoting point of all my plans?
Casting those thoughts away while pretending not to hear a short giggle from the girl behind my back, I quickly took off my own, wet clothes before pulling some of the fresh ones from my backpack.
To be honest, to call this shirt and a pair of sweatpants a fresh one was a gross overstatement, but compared with the rest of my laundry sitting in a separate bag of mine…
What could I say? Even though I was travelling through a different world, I was still a child of my era. While I was perfectly capable of manning up the washing machine, doing its work by rubbing cloth against cloth in the cold water of a river… Was a bit too much for me to effectively achieve.
"Are you done, yet?"
By the time I was pulling up my shirt on my back, I suddenly felt the delicate warmth of Ayda's fingers touching the muscles on my back. Soon after, her entire body pressed at me from behind, once again putting me in the real of the grandeur battle against the ultimate boss of an adolescent young man like me - my lust.
"Ayda… What are you…"
Something seemed to click. For a moment, I was sure that Ayda cast some spell, yet the feeling was simply too fleeting for me to remain sure after just a second. Her hands greedily moving all over my still naked upper body could be another reason why I didn't pay that occurrence that much of my mind.
"Just making sure you are okay."
Her voice was filled with worry. For the first time since I met her did Ayda dared to expose her inner self so openly. Even with her face hiding away from my sight, I could tell that she was right now extremely emotionally fragile.
"Don't worry."
Reaching up with my hand, I grasped Ayda fingers that just happened to stop on my chest right now. Feeling her soft body slightly shaking, I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming wave of a strange feeling that compelled me to protect her.
It wasn't something that she cast with her witch abilities. That bit I was sure off. It was my natural instinct as a man to protect someone… I cared about?
If that quick reasoning of mine was on the point…
"Don't worry. We will be okay."
Right when I said those words, I couldn't help but scold myself in my mind. Even if those words were what Ayda needed the most right now, wasn't it quite dangerous to risk playing against the ultimate force of cliche right now?