"…Lieutenant Yeager, are you in there?"
A familiar voice laced with hesitation. It was Serapina. I immediately activated a skill.
'Status Analysis.'
[Using the skill 'Status Analysis (Lv.3)' on 'Serapina von Reinhardt'.]
[Name: Serapina von Reinhardt]
[Status: Suppressing a mana reflux episode with strong willpower. Physical and mental exhaustion have reached their limit.]
[Emotion: Intense shame at having swallowed her pride to come to a subordinate's quarters, but desperate to escape the pain.]
[Hidden Trait: Mana Reflux (Mana Overload) - Chronic internal damage. Condition aggravated.]
[Hidden Desire: To escape this wretched pain.]
'…She couldn't hold out after all.'
I rose from my seat and headed for the tent entrance. Lifting the worn cloth, Serapina's figure was revealed, standing in the darkness and relying on the faint glow of a lamp. She couldn't meet my gaze, forcing herself to look down at the ground.
"What brings you here, Captain? …Please, come in first."
I spoke with deliberate ignorance. At that calm voice, Serapina's shoulder flinched. She hesitated for a moment, then stepped inside my tent with small steps. Once I confirmed she had entered, I firmly closed the tent entrance.
"…I need your help. Briefly."
Serapina barely managed to open her mouth. Her trembling figure was pitiful to behold. It seemed the price of recklessly using mana in today's battle had returned with a vengeance.
'I had a feeling this would happen.'
The price of using mana affected the entire body. Yet the only part I had stabilized with [Harmonizing Touch] was her shoulder, so this was nothing short of an inevitable sequence of events.
"It's because you overexerted yourself today. You don't look well, so please, sit down."
I offered her the only chair inside my small tent. I knelt before her as she sat in the chair, feigning an examination as I spoke.
"Where does it hurt the most?"
"…My whole body. It feels… as if thousands of needles are piercing me all over."
I nodded and placed my hand on her shoulder.
'Harmonizing Touch.'
[Skill 'Harmonizing Touch (Lv.1)' activates.]
The mana I felt through my palm was a blizzard in truth. It was incomparably rougher and more ferocious than before. I concentrated my consciousness as much as possible and sent a warm flow of energy into her.
[Stabilizing the target's bio-energy.]
"H-hup…!"
At my touch, strength drained from her body. But while the pain in her shoulder may have subsided, the mana was still rampaging deep inside her body. The flow I had stabilized was beginning to turn rough again.
Serapina's body stiffened. The suppressed convulsions resumed.
"Hng, ugh…!"
The seizure would not stop. Cold sweat poured down her pale face like rain, and her trembling lips had lost all color.
"…Lieutenant Yeager."
Serapina barely managed to speak.
"Didn't you say… that if it touches the skin directly, the effect is better…?"
"That's correct."
"…Turn around for a moment."
"Understood."
I turned around without a word. Inside the cramped tent, only the worn canvas walls and military gear were visible. Silence fell behind me for a moment.
Rustle, rustle.
Soon, the sound of fabric rubbing filled the narrow space. The small sound of buttons undoing, the metallic clink of a belt unbuckling, and the rustle of clothes sliding down skin.
"Hnn…."
A faint moan, as if holding back pain, was heard intermittently. Even the simple act of removing her clothes seemed no different from torture for her in this state.
"…It's done."
Only after a long while did a subdued voice reach me.
"Turn around…."
I slowly turned my body. And I paused for a moment at the sight before my eyes.
Serapina sat in the chair, having removed her upper military uniform down to her waist. The removed white sleeveless shirt and standard-issue bra were pulled forward to desperately cover her chest. Thanks to that, what was revealed to me was her defenseless back.
"……."
It was a smooth curve worthy of admiration. Skin so white it was hard to believe it belonged to a soldier weathered by the cruel storms of the battlefield. The line of her spine, starting from her nape and extending to her slender waist, formed a deep valley and stretched out elegantly.
Her shoulder blades protruded like wings on either side, and her delicate shoulder lines looked precarious. But even before that beauty, what caught my eye was her condition.
Cold sweat flowed down her white back like rain. Her muscles were taut and convulsing, and beneath her skin, bluish veins stood abnormally pronounced.
[Hidden Trait: Mana Reflux (Mana Overload) - Chronic internal damage. Current mana is rampaging along her spine.]
I swallowed hard. The fact alone that Serapina had stripped her upper body and was waiting for my touch made blood rush to my lower body. But now was not the time for lust.
[Skill 'Indomitable Will' is active.]
[Suppressing unnecessary emotional agitation and inducing the most efficient thought process.]
That haughty Serapina had cast aside her pride. That meant her condition was just that bad. I had to show her a proper effect.
"…Hurry."
Serapina urged, her head bowed deeply. Whether from shame or pain, her ears were dyed red.
"…Pardon me."
I approached behind her. My shadow draped over her seated form in the faint lamplight. I pretended to hesitate for a moment, then placed both hands near her shoulder blades.
Swish.
"Hah…!"
The moment my palm touched her bare skin, Serapina's body flinched violently. The skin under my hand was strangely cold like ice, yet simultaneously burning with a fire-like heat from within.
'Harmonizing Touch.'
[Skill 'Harmonizing Touch (Lv.1)' activates.]
I immediately focused my consciousness. What I felt then was frozen mana. Her entire back was like a massive sheet of ice. Sharp ice shards were scraping against her nerves. I pressed both palms flush against her back and slowly swept downward.
"Hah-uuht…!"
Serapina's head tilted back. A moan she couldn't contain burst from between her lips.
[Stabilizing the target's bio-energy.]
I infused warm energy while moving my hands along the line of her spine. From the nape of her neck, between the shoulder blades, to her waist. Wherever my hands passed, rigid muscles melted like ice.
"Ah, aah…."
A sigh of relief flowed from Serapina's lips. She loosened the hand clutching her clothes and leaned back against my palms as if entrusting her body to my touch. My palms pressed flush against her back.
Shhk, shhk.
I moved a bit more boldly. I pressed my thumbs firmly into each vertebra of her spine, unraveling the clumped energy around them.
"T-that's… hnn…!"
The spine was both a pathway for mana and a nexus of nerves. Even without deliberately using [Harmonizing Touch] to induce pleasure, Serapina reacted sensitively.
'Status Analysis.'
[Status: Pain from mana reflux rapidly vanishing. State of extreme relaxation.]
[Emotion: Relief from the warmth penetrating to the bone. Craving for Max Yeager's touch.]
'Craving, huh.'
A sly smirk crossed my lips. A sudden curiosity arose. What would happen if I used the second function of [Harmonizing Touch] here? I had no particular reason to hold back. I mixed a very minute and delicate stimulus into the stable flow of energy.
[Sensitizing the target's senses and inducing faint pleasure.]
"…!"
Her body, which had been comfortably slack, quivered with a jolt. Her back muscles spasmed faintly, and her breathing grew subtly rougher. She seemed to try turning her head slightly in confusion. But the moment her eyes met mine, she immediately turned her head back forward as if fleeing my gaze.
"W-what… is this? Just now… it's different from before…."
'Status Analysis.'
[Emotion: Bewilderment and shame at the sudden pleasure.]
I lied nonchalantly.
'Enchanting Eloquence.'
[Skill 'Enchanting Eloquence (Lv.3)' activates.]
"As the mana flow stabilizes, sensory nerves that were blocked are reviving. It is a natural phenomenon, so you need not worry."
[Skill 'Enchanting Eloquence (Lv.3)' affects 'Serapina von Reinhardt'.]
[She begins to trust your explanation.]
Her wariness softened. She once again relaxed her body and entrusted everything to my touch. Watching her, I increased the intensity of the stimulus slightly.
"Hah…! Hnn…!"
Now she was letting out moans without reservation. Her waist curved slightly unconsciously at the tingling sensation running up her spine. Beads of sweat formed on her pale back.
'If I go just a little lower….'
I lowered my hands below her waist. The boundary between her military trousers and bare skin, past her slender waistline to where the smooth curves leading to her buttocks began—the point where the spine ended just above her pelvis.
I could feel her breathing grow rougher. Slowly but surely, I slid my hands and pressed firmly into her depths.