Chapter 273: Chapter 159，Part1: 1 - Vacation ②

Chapter 159 Vacation ②

Part 1

And so, the festival began.

I like festivals. Luke and Liz also love to have fun. Sytry isn’t averse to festive things too, and Anthem is a good brother who prioritizes his sisters first, so we are used to always being festive and making a lot of noise.

And then we will get scolded by Lucia.

It used to be just a small event, but as a result of an increase in money and power we have, it has now turned into a reasonably large one. Treasure Hunters are often people who seek momentary pleasures, but I have never seen anyone else do anything as large scale as our Party.

The only entrance that existed was closed off by an earthen wall, and the spacious space was filled with dense steam. A large amount of food and alcohol on a nearby table, mixed with the smell of the hot spring, formed a chaotic space.

The soil underneath our feet was *pikapika* shiny and hardened like ceramic, so water wouldn’t seep in, and the soles of our feet wouldn’t get dirty.

.

“Wooooooooooh, Onseeeeeeeeeen!! Cry, order me a dragon too!” (Luke)

Luke roared loudly enough that he could have annoyed neighbors and took a grand plunge into the Onsen. There was a big splash and it almost hit the food, but it was repulsed by an invisible wall. It was a nice assist from Lucia.

Seeing this, Liz’s pouted, and without hesitation, she untied her obi and slipped off her yukata. Her well-tanned skin glistened lustrously in the hot light.

…… Apparently, she wasn’t wearing any underwear. She took off her clothes with such an imposing manner like she didn’t care about being seen. She was embarrassed in the Garest Mountains, but looks like she isn’t embarrassed now.

Her Relic has been deactivated, and her legs, which were always hidden, have grown slender and are now slightly sexy. The standby form of Rise to Heaven hanging on her ankles was a nice accent.

“Not fair~! I was planning to go in first~!” (Liz)

“One-Onee-sama~!? You can’t…… You can’t do that in front of Master~, i-it is too immodest!” (Tino)

On the other hand, Tino turned red and snapped at Liz. Liz raised her eyebrows and yelled at her modest apprentice.

“Shaddup Ti! There’s nothing to be embarrassed about after all that happened~! We’re not between people who will get embarrassed after seeing some skin~! If you don’t want to go in the Onsen, why don’t you do something else!?”

“No way――” (Tino)

“Liz.” (Cry)

“!! Masteeer~!” (Tino)

As if she had received help from heaven, Tino smiled brightly.

I said while hitting a soft sponge to Liz who had a curious look on her face and, like Luke, wasn’t hiding herself.

“It is not good if you don’t wash your body before going in.” (Cry)

“Yeeeees! As expected of Cry-chan, you get what I mean~!” (Liz)

“Master~!?” (Tino)

Tino’s voice rose up like she was screaming as Liz’s eyes livened up. But Liz was right, unfortunately, it is now too late to care about that.

Liz and I have been together for a long time, and more importantly, Liz isn’t someone who will get shy.

She didn’t do it this time, but the truth is that she is the kind of girl who will plunge into a men’s bath without a second thought, mixed bath or not. Of course, if she doesn’t want to, she won’t, but if she does, she won’t hesitate. And then, with the speed she is so proud of, she would knock down any other customers who get in her way and would throw them out of the bath.

She always dresses in a reasonably revealing fashion and it wasn’t the first time we have been in an Onsen together, well to put it simply, her being naked…… I got a little used to it. It was fine as long as it didn’t become a bad habit.

And she isn’t the kind of person who would hesitate to have skin-to-skin contact with someone just because she was naked, but when Lucia was around, it wouldn’t be a problem as Lucia would repulse her off with her magic. She even applied a visual filter.

Lucia also sighed deeply but did not do anything more. Tino seemed to be shocked at the culture gap, but we had already factored it in when we prepared the Onsen.

“Today…… We’re breaking etiquette. Let’s eat and drink without worrying about it.” (Cry)

“Ti, it is obvious, but………… It is fine if you don’t take off your clothes.” (Lucia)

“You can wrap a towel around yourself, or wear a swimsuit. Or you can even leave your clothes on.” (Cry)

There were about two people who didn’t wear swimsuits, didn’t have towels wrapped around them, and weren’t afraid to be seen, but there was absolutely no need to worry about them. They were something like wild beasts. There was absolutely no need for Tino to worry about them.

“Look! Cry! I’m fine even in the big whirlpool! It’s the result of my training! It will be a good training for my legs!” (Luke)

Luke shouted confidently as he swam and stood in the middle of the big whirlpool.

I was having so much fun with it that I didn’t care about anything else, and the steam was making me hot, so I unbuttoned my clothes.

For now, I will just take off the top of my body. I remove my Relics one by one, leaving only one Barrier ring. With my friends here, I can remove most of my Relics that I always wear even when I am sleeping.

“Ma-Master~! Will Master~…… Well, also take off your clothes?” (Tino)

What is the big deal now of all times…… I am the least of your worries. No one cared about me taking a few of my clothes off.

In the first place, Tino, you also smashed down the wall and came into the men’s bath…… I won’t bring that up again though.

Lucia, still wearing her yukata, snapped her fingers, and a glass was automatically filled with alcohol and came to me. It was a sweet sake with a low alcohol content that even I can drink.

I took it gratefully and raised my glass with narrowed eyes.

“It is not healthy for your body to take a bath right after drinking alcohol, you know.” (Cry)

“………… So why did you prepare it then.” (Lucia)

I didn’t prepare for it. It was Liz and the others who brought it on their own. We, 《Strange Grief (Nageki no Borei)》, are a group of people who do a bunch of things when we feel like it.

Well, whatever, today is an etiquette-breaking day. I won’t say anything bothersome.

I sipped from my glass and gulped down the alcohol that Lucia had chilled for me.

Tino *gokuri* swallowed her spit and said as if she had made up her mind. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Ma-Master~………… I…… I am going t-to change.” (Tino)

“Un, un, you are right.” (Cry)

Tino scurried to pick up a towel in the pile of towels in a short run, took off her shoes, and went up to the tatami room. I narrowed my eyes and watched my childhood friends frolicking in a peaceful mood.

§

“Luuuuciiiaaa, rapids! There are no rapids! I can’t train if it’s like this!” (Luke)

“Lucia-chaaaan~! Sauna~! Sauna, pleaaaase~!” (Liz)

“Shut up! Aaah, come on, shut up! You don’t even know how many spells I’m using in parallel……” (Lucia)

One of the huge barrels of alcohol floated up and exploded on top of Luke and Liz who were screaming. The golden ale violently hits them, spreading a stronger liquor flavor than ever around us. Still, I applaud the fact that it didn’t get mixed in with the food or the Onsen.

Liz screamed as she lifted her alcohol-soaked hair.

“What are you doing, that’s mean~!” (Liz)

“This is…… The drunken sword? Is this a training for the drunken sword?” (Luke)

Their skin was wet and sparkling because of the alcohol. Tino, who had taken off her yukata and was wrapped in a towel around her body, said in fear while her Onii-sama and Onee-sama looked unconcerned even though they were covered in sake.

“Master~…… Is this what you call pond of wine, forest of meat?” (Tino)

I wonder what she meant when you said that.

“Well, why don’t you have some food?” (Cry)

“While looking like this… It is embarrassing, Master~.” (Tino)

Tino looked down at her appearance and shook her shoulders. Tino had a long towel covering her entire body. It was wrapped and fixed tightly around her so that it wouldn’t fall off. She always wore an outfit that showed off her shoulders, so it didn’t make much difference in terms of exposure, but her white skin was stained red because of the steam. Her shoulders seemed to be quite hunched forward.

“Thank you for your hard work, Onii-chan. Did you bring back that thing we were talking about?” (Sytry)

“………… Umu. I left it in the Imperial Capital.” (Anthem)

A little farther away, Sytry, wrapped in a towel like Tino, was washing Anthem’s back, while he was sitting on the floor, with a soapy mop. It looked as if she was cleaning a large wall, but it was in reality what people call washing someone’s back.

Sytry was also *nikoniko* smiling and seemed to be enjoying herself. It was sibling love. His back was so tall that she even needed to use a stepping stool to rub all of his back.

Anthem’s back was as huge as a rock, and with muscle buffing all over. The countless old scars on him were proof that he was always at the forefront and had taken innumerable attacks for us.

Anthem is the cornerstone of our Party’s defense and at the same time, he is the “Healer (Kaifuku-yaku)” of Strange Grief. His healing magic is so powerful that the country’s top officials come to him for help, but the only thing about healing magic is that it doesn’t work on the user himself.

It didn’t seem to be hurting him, but looking at his back, I can’t help but think that it was thanks to him that I have never been hurt.

I stood up, took my floating ring, and went near Anthem.

“Anthem, thanks for your hard work. It has been a while so let me wash your back too.” (Cry)

“Umu.” (Anthem)

“Are you sure? Ah, then instead, I will wash your back for you, Cry-san! You are fine with that right, Onii-chan?” (Sytry)

“…… Umu.” (Anthem)

TL notes:

Thanks for reading!

The chapter is quite long and I wanted to split it into 3 parts but as it’s the last chapter of the arc I’ll do my best and just do like usual and split it only into 2 parts!

But this chapter reminds me of One Piece at the end of each arc when they party hard with everyone! I particularly like the one they did on Skypeia. (Small aside, damn the Wano arc is getting epic!)

But most importantly the light novel have a pic of this scene! It’s so good!

Tchao à plus!

Footnotes

Pond of wine, forest of meat: Chinese idiom for excessive extravagance and debauchery.