Chapter 43
"We're going to continue from yesterday. Karen, start by closing your eyes and sensing the spirit. Darling, keep your eyes open and try to capture the spirit's true form."
"The spirit's true form?"
"Every spirit has a source of power called a spirit core. It's difficult at first, but once you've seen one, you become familiar with the sensation, and you'll be able to see Darling's spirit too."
"Ahh. Like learning how to ride a bicycle?"
"A bicycle?"
Isti reacted as though she had heard an unfamiliar word.
"Don't they have them here? It's a vehicle with two wheels. Once you learn how to ride one, it's easy after that."
"I've never actually seen one."
They did exist, but apparently they were some kind of rare luxury item.
Come to think of it, even considering modern history's long timeline, bicycles only began to be mass-produced relatively recently.
In another world whose civilization had stopped at the medieval level, they would naturally be hard to find.
Still, there were aspects of this other world that made it difficult to simply declare it to be exactly medieval in level.
Judging by the way they collected the souls of monsters alone, the resources they considered important seemed entirely different.
Nor were their ideas so horrific that one could call them barbaric.
Then again, if something had gone wrong, this would probably have been a goddess-certified highest-difficulty world, right?
At this moment, learning spirit magic at leisure in such a comfortable living environment, I felt extremely happy.
I thought I could endure even the boring parts for quite a while.
At least until about three hours had passed.
"……."
The sky was blue.
The sea breeze was refreshing. But with Isti and Karen standing there while I kept my eyes open and did nothing, I was gradually beginning to grow tired of it.
Perhaps she read my expression, because Isti smiled gently with her eyes.
"Dekal. Are you tired?"
"I'm bored."
"Hang in there. Look at Karen. She's been concentrating incredibly hard for a while now."
Karen's expression was perfectly serene, as though she couldn't even hear us talking.
In fact, I felt like poking her to see if she had fallen asleep standing up.
Ah, how peaceful.
"……."
Perhaps I wasn't the only one who thought so, because Isti gave a small yawn.
Isti's defenseless, natural appearance….
"Ah…."
Isti met my eyes and blushed in embarrassment.
"Darling. You're supposed to be training to see the spirit, not me."
"Isti, you didn't get enough sleep, did you?"
"Not quite."
She must have gone to bed late yesterday while helping Bella practice her cooking.
Perhaps because the training itself was incredibly boring, I got to see Isti yawn—a precious sight indeed.
"Ah, I felt it!"
Karen opened her eyes.
"It's next to Isti, right! Wow, that's amazing. I can't believe there was such a spirit beside me this whole time and I never knew."
Karen's reaction was exactly what I had felt.
It was a moment that made me appreciate Isti's greatness all over again.
"Good job, Karen."
When Isti praised her, Karen twisted her body shyly.
I clapped my hands and livened up the atmosphere.
"All right, Karen has cleared one more step. Shall we go get something to eat?"
"I agree!"
Karen always looked happiest when food was involved.
"I'll only eat a little. If I eat too much, I think I'll fall asleep."
Isti seemed quite sleepy.
With the weather so nice, I could readily understand how she felt.
Should we put the training on hold for a while and take a nap?
"Bella. Isti says she wants something light."
When we went to the kitchen, Bella was cooking in a completely different appearance from usual.
"Got it! Leave it to me, Master, and sit down."
Perhaps because she was immersed in her role, she had changed out of her dress into a neat chef-like outfit, and had carefully tied her long hair back.
Bella, dressed modestly with the back of her neck exposed as she devoted herself to cooking, made for an incredibly fresh sight.
It seemed like touching her carelessly would only get in the way, so perhaps I should just sit still.
"I didn't know Bella was so passionate about cooking."
"She doesn't want to disappoint you, Darling. Beleira is passionate, after all."
Passionate, huh? I understood what she meant.
Like the fire that symbolized her, Belleira was emotional. At times, it seemed as though her feelings might overflow and burn something else, but
when that passion was focused in a good direction, it emerged as an incredible desire for self-improvement.
I felt as though I had seen that true side of her today.
"It's finished."
The food came out just as ordered.
Not bad. It was a little tastier than what we'd had for breakfast. The seasoning, which I had thought was somewhat ambiguous, had turned out quite appropriate.
"You're improving. It's delicious, Bella."
"Hmph. Of course it is. Still, I'm glad Master enjoyed it. What about the other two?"
"It's delicious!"
Karen kept saying the same thing, but strangely enough, the nuance sounded slightly different every time I heard it.
"It's edible."
Isti gave a restrained evaluation, but her hands never stopped moving.
If her cooking skills continued to improve at this rate, couldn't we have Bella take over as the permanent chef of Eight-Colored Shell Castle instead of merely as a temporary stand-in?
A hope that had been unimaginable on the first day could now be seen on these plates.
After the meal, training resumed in the open lot outside.
The task itself hadn't changed much. I had to keep my eyes wide open and focus on even the slightest changes in order to capture the spirit core.
"Ah, I saw it."
Karen spoke as though surprised.
What? Had she overtaken me?
"That blue thing floating over there…."
I shifted my gaze in the direction Karen pointed, but I couldn't see anything.
Isti also seemed surprised.
"That's right. I'm amazed you learned so quickly."
"I did it before Oppa!"
"Hmm~?"
What was she talking about floating there?
I stared for a long time, but I couldn't see it. Karen had overtaken me….
"Darling, you'll have to try harder."
As I looked back at her to ask why, I discovered something astonishing.
"Isti, Karen. This training is unfair to me."
"Hehe. Oppa, making excuses like that is just pathetic."
"……Darling."
"No. I'm not just saying that. How am I supposed to concentrate when I can see the two of you right in front of me?"
I could swear there wasn't a man alive who could focus on some invisible spirit while standing in front of Isti.
Isti must have realized what I meant, because she let out a small laugh.
"Darling. You were looking at me rather often. This is training to see the spirit, remember."
"How could my eyes not be drawn to you?"
"Ah, Oppa. You kept stealing glances at my breasts too. …But for a man, is it really so difficult not to look for a little while?"
"How could you two possibly understand how I feel?"
Of course women didn't know.
No one could understand unless they were a man themselves.
Isti's thighs, Karen's breasts…. Whenever I got bored, I inevitably ended up looking at them. If I had to refrain from doing so, I would go mad, to put it a little dramatically.
"Even if you say that, Darling… the spirit core can't move far away from the spirit mage. Even if we separate Karen from you, I still have to stay with you."
"You're going to separate me?! That's a little hurtful…."
"Your lewd boobs are the problem. They keep distracting me and making it impossible to concentrate."
"I-I didn't do it on purpose! Geez!"
Karen protested while covering her breasts with both arms.
"There is a solution. The two of you can stand together where the spirit is located."
"Karen and me?"
"…Oppa. There's no way you'll be able to see it that way."
"It's worth a try. We'll incorporate a man's instincts into the training."
"Then……."
Isti gestured toward Karen with her eyes.
Karen moved closer to where Isti was standing and pressed herself against her.
Oh! The sight of the two of them pressed together was astonishing.
"Is this close enough?"
"Karen. Our breasts are touching."
"Sorry! They couldn't help touching when we pressed together…."
"……It's frustrating, but I understand why Darling likes them. They're soft."
"D-Don't say things like that! It's embarrassing."
Isti and Karen had no choice but to stand on the narrow platform, intertwining their bodies as though trying to make room for themselves.
I honestly ended up getting an erection.
"Darling, how about now?"
"Oppa. You're not lying, are you?"
"I think you'll need to draw my gaze a little more! Karen, take off your cape! Isti, hike up your skirt."
"……T-Take it off? We're outside!"
"We're the only ones here. It's fine!"
Karen looked around and reluctantly removed the cape draped over her shoulders.
As she took it off, Karen's armpits and shoulders were fully revealed.
"Will this kind of perverted behavior really help…?"
Half doubtful, Isti casually hiked up her skirt. Blue panties with a wave pattern came into view.
Amazing. It was an incredible sight. I almost regretted not being able to take a picture.
"Karen, use your arms to emphasize your breasts."
"Oppa. Your demands are getting more and more…."
"Hurry! Wait. What's that covering it? That blue lump of light beside Isti's hip."
"This…."
"Move it out of the way. I can't see."
"Darling, that's the spirit core."
"……."
Oops. I had done it.
Karen wore an utterly incredulous expression.
"……Wow. This method really works…."
"……."
"Isti. What do you think? This is how you teach〈Spatial Leap〉to a man. From now on, this method will be passed down from generation to generation."
There would probably even be a book with my name on it.
The title would probably be something like〈You Can Do It Too with an Alluring Elf: The Wind Spirit Art〉.
"I can't tell the other elves about such a lewd training method…."
Karen burst out laughing.
"Oppa, you're a genius when it comes to thinking about lewd things."
"What's the next lesson?"
“Because this is my spirit. We have to go back to the first step and feel the spirits of the two of you.”
“……”
I wanted to die from boredom.
Karen started right away, but I couldn’t.
After seeing what had just happened, my erect cock refused to go down.
I tried closing my eyes and thinking about something else, and even sang the national anthem in my head, but none of it helped.
“Yaaawn.”
Isti yawned again sleepily.
“Isti. You don’t need to watch this stage anyway, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then how about going to take a short nap?”
“…Should I?”
Without any suspicion, Isti took the bait I had thrown out.
“I’ll wake you once we succeed in seeing our spirits, so sleep well.”
“Yeah. Got it.”
As I watched Isti’s retreating figure, I suppressed my pounding heart.
I knew I had to concentrate on training. But that wasn’t the only reason I had brought the two of them to the Eight-Colored Shell Castle.
Let’s pounce on Isti once she falls asleep.
I closed my eyes and spent about ten minutes planning how I would pounce on Isti.
“Karen. I’m going to the bathroom for a bit. Keep training.”
“Okay, Oppa.”
Leaving Karen, who was approaching this with the attitude of a diligent student, I walked down the corridor with the mindset of an intruder sneaking into a house.
Perhaps because my thoughts were so filthy, it felt as though something suspicious was wafting off my body.
Where would Isti be sleeping?
I checked the interior of the guest rooms using the map data.
Isti was in the room where she and I had stayed together for two days.
“I’ll be there soon, Isti.”
I opened the door carefully so I wouldn’t wake Isti.
Perhaps she was very tired, because she had fallen asleep facedown on the soft bed.
It was the defenseless sight of someone with whom I shared my living space.
Seeing her pert, bouncing buttocks made my heart race.
I suppressed even the sound of swallowing and tensed up, afraid she might wake from my breathing.
Though I wasn’t even sure why I was acting this way when it wouldn’t matter if she caught me.
Returning to the mischievous mindset of a boy playing a prank, I climbed onto the bed.
I took off my pants, pulled out my already swollen, rock-hard cock, and placed my hand on Isti’s buttocks.
Carefully, so she wouldn’t wake…
Even with the slightest touch, the softness and firmness of her buttocks traveled through my fingertips.
Applying a little more pressure, I slowly spread Isti’s buttocks apart. I gradually pulled her panties to the other side.
Then the slit hidden by her panties came faintly into view…
Squeeze.
I applied a little more force and spread her buttocks farther apart.
Pink mucous membrane was revealed, and I could see Isti’s cunt.
It looked wet.
I lightly placed a saliva-moistened finger against it and slowly inserted it into her cunt.
Press…
When my finger had gone in to the second knuckle, her cunt tensed and clenched around it.
Then, little by little, it relaxed.
“……”
After watching that series of movements, I withdrew my finger and got into position.
I climbed on top of Isti and placed my cock against her cunt.
Because I didn’t want to wake her until the very last moment, I carefully pushed the glans inside.
Squeeze.
I felt a strong pressure.
Thinking about fucking Isti while she slept, I applied force even though I wasn’t fully prepared, but I missed and ended up rubbing her cunt with my cock.
“……”
Isti showed no reaction whatsoever.
Stay calm and try again. Put it against the opening and slowly…
Squeeze, squeeze.
“……”
Then Isti lifted her hips slightly.
With all my strength pressing against my cock, it slid deep inside her cunt.
Just now… Did Isti lift her hips to make penetration easier?
“Were you awake?”
“Did you think I was asleep?”
Isti asked me a question in return.
“You pretended to be asleep because you knew I’d come? Hm?”
“…I’m asleep right now, so I don’t know.”
Isti adorably played innocent.