Chapter 22 - All Woken Up

「HEY! You! Can you stop aiming for my eyes?! 」

「What’s wrong with aiming at your weak points? 」

I sat on the left side of the rocks to distance myself as far as possible from Toack and Aisha, who were having an intense water fight.

I wouldn’t have minded to join in to have some fun, but I will refrain from doing so when it got to such a serious level. They were seriously aiming at each other’s eyes, nose, and ears.

I will chill out in peace with Flora without participating in a fight like that.

「Eii~」

「Woah?! 」

Just as I was thinking that, I made a surprised sound as cold water splashed on my stomach.

When I looked in a hurry at the direction the water came flying from, I saw Flora there with a smile on her face like a naughty child.

I did not expect her to be the one splashing water at me.

Remembering the time with the pico as well, her real personality might be a bit of a naughty little girl.

「Now you’ve done it」

Even though I’m happy that I got to see another side of her, I’m still going to fight back.

「Kyaaa! Eii! Eii! 」

Flora let out a short scream as she got hit by the cold water. Then, water came flying back as she returned fire with her slender arms.

While I used one arm to block the water, I also splashed back undauntedly.

Was this something that could always be played like this?

When I was a child, I was desperate to live every day so I never thought of having fun.

Even as an adventurer, I have never played around like this.

Although we camped near water many times, we couldn’t do that since there was a chance that monsters would come out from the noise. All I did was train every day.

Dignified behaviours were also required as we got more famous as the kingdom’s A-ranked party. We could have never done something like this.

However, I am not the adventurer Aldred right now, but Aldo, a hunter living in Nordende.

Of course there is still a standard and a limit, but I can live without having to care about how others see me.

It’s just I’m very happy with the freedom I have now.

「Take this! 」

「Kyaa! I’m going to get you back! 」

「Same here! …Ah」

I was having a fun water fight with Flora, but then I suddenly noticed.

A large amount of water had gone on her shirt. The color of her skin could be seen through the blouse she wore over her chest.

The water had made the blouse stick to her skin, and the puffs on her chest were emphasized by the creases.

I knew she was decently sized there, but it was far bigger than what I expected. She might be the type that looks smaller in clothing.

Her skin that I could see through the white fabric was making me excited from the immoral feeling of seeing something that I shouldn’t.

Seeing her curves that were showing from her clothes tightly sticking to her skin was even more arousing than if I had seen her naked.

「Eeh? 」

Did Flora notice from seeing me staring at her in awe? She took a look at her own body as she said that.

「Kyaaa」

After realizing the situation, she turned her back to me as she shrieked out in shame.

I knew that I should be averting my eyes, but it’s the sad nature of a man that was making me look unintentionally even when trying not to.

Flora was frozen there hugging herself with her back faced to me.

Is she going to run away again soon?

「I-I’m okay. I-I’m a little embarrassed but it’s not going to be a problem once my clothes dries…」

Flora said to me with a smile on her face while I was having such thoughts.

In order to not turn out like last time, she was earnestly enduring the embarrassment. That made me a little concerned for her.

Seeing her put up a brave front like that, it made me able to take my eyes off her easily as well.

「Take this! 」

「Wah?! 」

Diverting my eyes from what I was looking at earlier, I had just witnessed Toack mercilessly throwing Aisha over his shoulder.

…The battle that’s going on over there is a bit too extreme.

◆ ◆　　　◆

「…Damn that Aisha… getting me all worked up like that… 」

Toack said as he stood by the stream squeezing the water out of his clothes.

「It was a splendid shoulder throw, but your opponent was pretty strong too」

I tossed him a towel that was taken from my house as the water dripped down from his clothes.

「Thanks」

With a short thanks, he used the towel and started to wipe his body.

Even though it’s spring time, our body temperature would still drop from the wind blowing into wet clothes. It’ll be bad to catch a cold like that.

Toack managed to throw Aisha into the stream with a splendid shoulder throw, but Aisha did not try to do the same. Instead, she quickly swept his legs when she was down and made Toack fall down from losing his balance.

It’s not easy to counterattack when you just got hit by an attack, so I was pretty impressed about Aisha’s athletic ability and judgement.

I think a bold person like her is quite suited to be an adventurer.

It’s a pity that she was just living a life in a grape farmer family.

And this daughter of a grape farmer family is now sitting on the stone and splashing water with her feet.

「…*haaa*, I feel so refreshed」

Aisha muttered in satisfaction as she brushed her hair up above her ears with her hands.

「Do you not feel embarrassed, Aisha? With all your clothes wet and sticking to your body like that? 」

Flora asked cautiously as she sat next to her in the same situation as her.

Just as she said, the red one piece that Aisha was wearing was all wet and it stuck close to her body.

She was not wearing a white blouse like Flora, so her skin could not be seen under it. But, the plumpness of her chest and the outline of her butt were emphasized and it was quite sensational.

Her appearance of water droplets on her skin combined with her glossy, red hair and healthy light-brown skin color was very charming.

「I don’t particularly mind since my clothes didn’t turn see-through like the blouse you’re wearing 」

「O-Oh, right… 」

You might not mind it but it’s hard to say that for us guys.

Honestly, it couldn’t be helped that I have no idea where to look. Let’s hurry and give them some towels so they can quickly wipe their bodies down.

With that plan in my head, I got closer to them to hand them the towels.

「….Even so, your legs are so white and pretty, Flora」

My eyes naturally shifted toward Flora’s legs from Aisha’s casual words.

「T-that’s not true! Your legs are prettier and healthier! 」

Feeling my eyes on them, Flora was rubbing her legs together as she replied to Aisha. I think she was doing that to try to dodge my gaze , but the way she was moving her silky smooth legs was a bit provocative and it had unintentionally caught my eyes more instead.

Oh no, it won’t do. It’s rude to keep staring at a female’s legs.

「…Here, a towel」

「Ara, thank you」

「T-thank you」

When I got rid of my naughty thoughts and handed them their towels, Aisha received it with a bright smile while Flora shyly held it against her chest.

The conversation just now was probably started on purpose by Aisha, judging from her smile.

I don’t know what she was trying to do, but I wish you would mess around with Toack instead ’cause it’s bad for my heart.

「Oii, Aldo. It’s about time we start fishing so let’s get a move on」

Toack interrupted my train of thought with his voice as he seemed to be done drying himself.

No fish could be seen at where we’re at right now. And even if there were, they would have been scared off already from all the noise we were making in the water earlier.

「Okay! We’ll move to a new spot to fish but what about you two?」

I asked Flora and Aisha at the same time I replied to Toack.

「Hm. We’ll find you guys after we cool off a little more here」

Flora also smiled to agree with what Aisha said.

「But, are you going to be okay, Aisha? You’re completely drenched」

「I’m happy that you’re worried about me. But, I’m not going to catch a cold in this warm weather. I’ve taken care of the grape farm so many times in heavy rainfall and I have never caught a cold. My body is quite strong」

Aisha waved her hands as she replied to indicate that there won’t be any problems.

I was surprised at the troubles that grape farmers have to go through; it made me think that she was as tough as a man. It might be due to her always eating nutritious grapes that she ended up with such a tough body.

「Okay. Well then, we’ll try to catch lots before you two get there」

「We’ll be looking forward to it」

「Catch lots and share them with us~」

I picked up the fishing rods and buckets from the ground as I listened to their voices and joined up with Toack.

「So, where can we find lots of fishes? 」

「Let’s see. There should be lots of fishes at this time downstream feeding on insects and water weeds. We’re sure to find lots there even if we don’t want to. There’ll be loads of them swimming on the surface and we’ll be able to catch them easily every time」

Toack pointed to the spot where he happened to know where the fishes gathered, and we headed downstream.