「Are you not going to leave? You're breathing hard.」
「Haa….master, you can't just stop now after all you've done. That's just too cruel.」
Her voice of accusation is firm and her bluish silver eyes still retain the color of reason.
Apparently, I seemed to have only worried too much. Let's resume then.
「Okay okay. Sherry's smart. You're a good girl.」
「Uwaaaa, thank you, oniichan.」
She hugged me tightly and I stroked her head back and forth.
She trembled horribly. I guess she was expressing joy because she was rubbing against me which Sherry does when she is praised.
「Good, Sherry's cute alright.」
「Waaaah, oniisshaan, hiyaaaa!」
Once you get past being annoyed, it starts getting interesting.
Sherry's light hair feels good in my hands and her smooth skin is comfortable to touch. It's worth spoiling her if she's this pleased.
「Yeah yeah, Sherry's so cute, very cute.」
「Ahhhh, please, continue….」
Sherry's hands loosened their hug on my neck and her small body lightly floated in the bathtub.
She felt so comfortable in the bath that she may have lost it. I also like baths so I understand where she's coming from.
「Well, that's it. Sherry has always been a great help to me so thank you.」
「Ahhhh…..you're still praising me. I can't get enough.」
「Hnn? I'm always serious when I'm praising you. I'm glad you're here. Just the thought of you not being here makes me shudder.」
「I, too, was so happy to serve you, master….」
Why past tense?
Sherry exhaled so much that her breathing calmed down. She pressed her head against my shoulder. Perhaps because our bodies are touching, I can hear her heart beating.
「Are you alright? You're acting weird. Shouldn't you go up?」
「No, I'm just ruminating….just ruminating. 」
「Is that so? 」
「Yeah… 」
I don't really get it but if she's so happy that she's trembling, I guess that's fine.
I felt like I owed Sherry so much and I never gave her anything back.
「Hmm, did you like how I spoiled you? 」
「Yes, it was very good. Ah! But if you want to ask me how I would like it more, I would prefer if you lowered your tone more from the beginning, starting with a whisper in ear, gradually heating up, and then coming strong in the end. In any case, it was pretty good too so I hope you spoil me again.」
Instead of being satisfied, I'm a little taken back by the number of orders. It's Sherry's bad habit to be logical.
It's hard to spoil her. I can't help but feel that she's a little off but that's okay since she has always been like this.
「Well, okay, in time. 」
「I'll continue to work hard so that master will spoil me again. 」
Finally, I ruffled her silver hair and urged her to get out of the bath which she was reluctant to do.
She slumped down as she put a towel on her body in the changing room. Probably from exhaustion.
I quickly wiped myself off and put my clothes on.
I opened the door to the bathroom from the inside to get her something cold to drink.
Then, something fell. It seems like there was something that has been propped up against the door.
When I checked it out, it was a sign saying "Bathroom is being cleaned".
If you've come up with something like this, you should have told me earlier.
-0-
—Scene Change—
-0-
After that, I received a report that the second opening of the "hotbed of corruption and delusion" had been completed and that it had been opened again.
This is the third time….
It is often said that what happens twice will happen thrice.
Open and close, the miasma hole is not a tulip, Freed.
Given what he's been doing, he's probably thinking "If you can embed two demon king cores, your power will be doubled and if you embed three, it will be tripled!".
Though according to Oracle-chan, the possibility is low.
「It won't work….at least that's what I think. Even with a hero's body, no one can withstand two demon king's cores in his body. Let alone three or more. That's nothing but suicide. He should already be struggling to suppress one so if he's going to embed another one in his body, he will die on the spot and will be reborn as a demon king. 」
「That sounds more dangerous. He's not planning of dragging it until he has too much demon king's core and be reborn as the 6th Heavenly Demon King because he self destructed, right?」
But we are talking about Freed here so I'm afraid I can't say that it's not a possibility.
If the crown prince dies and is reborn as the demon king, the Germania Empire will not be able to make an external expedition and wars between humans will likely be over but things will be more troublesome.
I can't read the intention of the golden lion but I could feel that this is a signal announcing the beginning of a new round.