CH 51

51 – Ex-Holy Sword, Now Beauty 2

「Hello, sea!!!!!!」

It’s noon the next day.

We teleported to the uninhabited island we went to before.

But the people who came with us are different from last time.

The kids and my school friends Fripp and Jural aren’t here.

It’s just Mika, Louto, Monana, Vivi, and me. Just five of us.

Mika’s the one who gathered them.

Louto the magic academy teacher is close to Mika.

She probably invited Monana because she’s responsible for helping turn Mika into a person.

Vivi’s the only one with different circumstances.

She appeared at the meeting spot just before we departed, so I asked her if she wanted to come along.

Louto and Monana weren’t happy about it, but what could go wrong?

And so, here we are.

A beach heated up by the light of the sun, beautiful azure skies, and a calm sea.

「Hmph, how naive of you, Louto and Monana. Did you think you could slip past my information network?」

Vivi had on her torturer-esque swimsuit today as well.

She’s exposed all over, making her very alluring. She also has on a military cap.

「Oh my~, whatever could you be referring to~?」

Louto puts a hand to her cheek and tilts her head in confusion.

She’s wearing the same swimsuit as last time too.

The front looks like a one-piece swimsuit, while the back makes it look like a two-piece. The amount of exposure goes up too.

「I-I-I-I have no idea what you’re talking about, Vivi.」

The shaking woman whose eyes are darting everywhere is the Magic Tool engineer Monana.

Her swimsuit was the same as Mika’s but a different color. This was blue.

Louto said they resembled the type of swimsuits worn by female students during swimming class in the magic academy.

Each of theirs was specially ordered for different reasons. Monana for her size, and Mika for the color, as there wasn’t a white-colored one originally.

「Let’s go, Rain! I’m not gonna let you stick me in the sand and leave me behind this time!

Yup, she did hold a grudge.

I should create good memories of the sea for her here in order to fix her mood.

Mika and I did everything from splashing each other in the shallows, chasing each other on the beach, to building sand castles.

I taught her how to swim. I was a little surprised at how fast she was improving.

By the way, the other three fainted when I told them that their swimsuits looked good on them. I carried them to a shaded area and laid them down on the prepared beach beds.

「Being able to move freely with my own hands and feet is the best!」

Mika’s smile was sparkling.

「Is that so?」

I returned a smile, but there was an uneasy feeling in the depths of my heart.

Did she always want to be human?

So, she’s been holding in that desire for the past ten years since we met?

If that’s the case, I’m an embarrassment of a partner for not noticing all this time.

「Still, I wonder where this actually is? It’s really pretty, but there was a giant squid last time, so it’s dangerous too.」

She’s referring to that thing that appeared last time.

It’s hard to tell, but that giant squid wasn’t exactly a demon.

Because it didn’t look like it was affected by the miasma.

If it was driven mad by the miasma and became a giant squid, then that would be a demon.

「In terms of a map, I bet it’s in Demon Territory. The beauty of this place was probably preserved by a barrier.」

「Yeah. If I’m not mistaken, this island is for royalty to evacuate to. So, there’s reason to maintain a barrier.」

It takes an enormous amount of mana and an excellent user to maintain this barrier that repels the miasma.

We’ve been using it like a resort, but it’s originally a place for royalty to evacuate to in case of emergency.

A secret island established purely because they have someone who can use Space Time Magic.

「Oh, I invented a Magic Tool to maintain the barrier on this island.」

Monana recovered and joined us, saying that.

「You can make stuff like that, too? Amazing.」

I honestly praised her and Monana’s face turned bright red as she flapped her hands.

「N-no. I-it’s nothing. Ehehe. Thanks.」

The fact that she’s shy yet not humble shows how confident she is in her skills.

「Monana really is amazing. I mean, she turned me into a human! She’s a genius!」

「Oh, don’t both of you compliment me like that… I’m so happy I don’t know what kinda face to make.」

「I really owe a lot to you, Monana. I want to thank you. Rain, little help?」

「Hm? Well, if it’s something I can do, sure.」

「Huh?! Really?!」

Monana’s eyes sparkled, her breathing got heavy.

「You’ve made Mika this happy, and I haven’t repaid you for making that horned hair band yet either.」

「I-In that case, here! Uhm! Let’s do this together!」

I thought Monana ran away, but she actually went to drag something heavy.

It was a log.

「Isn’t that heavy? Do you need help?」

Thinking I should help her carry it, I run over and grab it. It was extremely light.

「This is called a log boat. It’s a two-person boat. It can be operated using the mana of the passengers. I made it just for today… I would be delighted if I could ride it with Rain.」

If she went that far, I couldn’t say no even if I wasn’t trying to thank her.

「Alright, I’ll ride it. Mika, I’m off.」

「Yeah, have fun. But hey, it’s my turn next, okay?!」

「Yeah, I got it.」

I carry the log boat with one arm and approach the waterside with Monana.

The boat floats on the water, Monana sits in front.

I sit behind her, but it’s hard to get my balance.

「I-I may have miscalculated when building this. Uh, there’s only one handle and it’s in the front. I-if you like, uh, i-if you don’t mind, you could…grab a hold of me…」

I do as she says and wrap my arms around Monana from behind.

「Is this okay?」

「…! O-of course! Actually, I’m glad…!」

I couldn’t hear what she whispered at the end, but I heard her give permission.

「I-I see. Well, then…」

Monana grabbed the handles that stretches out like a tree branch.

Her plump breasts made contact with my arm, perhaps due to our physical differences.

Her body was soft and she smelled like baked sweets.

「Hya!」

Monana let out an embarrassed voice.

「Sorry, I didn’t mean to.」

「It’s okay. This was all because of my miscalculations when building this, after all… Fuhehe…」

As we talked as such, we started floating along the sea.

「What a blunder! Gr, Monana, what are you doing?!」

Said Vivi.

「Monana~? Are you getting ahead of us again~?」

Said Louto.

Those two seemed to have woken up together.

「Kuh, we better hurry!」

Monana grabbed the handles like she was steering, flowed mana into them, and the boat started moving.

It moved faster than expected. Faster than a four-legged animal could run on land.

「Whoa!」

「Wh-wh-whoaaa, this is faster than I thought!」

Monana’s hair and mine fluttered in the wind, and Monana’s large breasts shook wildly.

Every time, something soft would bounce off my arm.

「Calm down, Monana. If this is operated via mana, then it should move depending on what you’re imagining.」

「R-Rain is whispering into my ear!」

We sped up.

Fast enough to make our cheeks flap in the wind.

「Monana!」

At this rate, we’ll go out of the barrier, but she managed to curve around just before we did.

Even though she was red all the way to her ears, Monana managed to regain her composure.

「Th-this is too exhilarating. I don’t think my heart can take it…」

「In combat, I’ve moved faster than this, but even so, I’m a little shaken right now too.」

Different feelings are involved in combat and playing around.

With Monana on board, I was nervous thinking about what would happen if we overturned.

Or maybe it’s because I’m stuck so close to Monana.

「Hm?」

I just noticed something.

Something like a shadow swam parallel to us.

「Rain? What’s wrong? …! No way, is that…」

A triangle-like protuberance sticks out of the surface of the water.

Monana yells.

「SHARK…!!」