Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Latch Onto the Hero's Golden Thigh!
Molay departed the Church not long after, and Lilu immediately felt a weight lift off her shoulders—but the moment she thought about the hellishly regimented life that likely awaited her every single day if she went to the Holy Capital, she wanted no part of it. If she could stay in Bedrock Town and live freely, wouldn't that be so much better? Why did she have to go to the center of power and get dragged into all that scheming and backstabbing?
You need to be strong enough to stand on your own! And yet, Lilu knew full well that she couldn't stand on her own just yet. If she possessed real power, would she even need to be at anyone else's beck and call? This sense of helplessness—of having no grip over her own fate—chilled her to the bone, and she had no choice but to search desperately for a way to break free of it.
First of all, the woman Serina was clearly not to be relied upon. Lilu had already begun to sense that this woman was a consummate self-serving opportunist—and the reason she didn't like Lilu had nothing to do with jealousy over the Holy Maiden title. It was because Lilu was an Elf Race. For centuries upon centuries, the Holy Maiden had been tacitly understood to belong to the Human Race. What was an Elf doing turning up out of nowhere? Foreign-race Holy Maidens weren't entirely unheard of, but every single one of them had met an early end.
Second, leveling herself up by grinding monsters on her own was practically impossible—because a Holy Maiden was a healing Class, and not just any healing Class, but the kind of fragile, glass-cannon support role that could only heal. There was simply no way to solo a dungeon. To raise her strength quickly, she needed to join a powerful party—and that made Fred her only viable option.
Having been taken twice in succession, even someone as slow to catch on as Lilu had noticed Fred's obsession with her. She wasn't the only one who lost her head in the middle of things—so did Fred, who turned into something resembling an unstoppable force of nature. Although this kind of relationship couldn't go on indefinitely, the present Lilu truly had no other options. If there was anyone to blame, it was Fred for being far too handsome—and for not being the kind of heartless scoundrel who lost interest the moment it was over. That gave Lilu an opening. An opening to latch on.
"Ahhhh! A normal girl would absolutely never do something like this—but I…… have no other path to take!"
Having once been a boy herself, Lilu of course understood what boys wanted. And so, bracing herself for the possibility of being taken again, she went to find Fred.
"Fred, are you home?" She peered over the fence outside the yard. "Um…… good morning! Wuah!"
And then she saw the golden, radiant figure of a beautiful young man practicing swordwork shirtless in the yard. His firm, evenly-muscled body glistened with a fine sheen of sweat, the whole of him practically sparkling. Fred, in the midst of his practice swings, also noticed the small head poking out from behind the fence. He set his sword down by the well and walked toward Lilu, wiping sweat as he went.
"Lilu, good morning."
Fred flashed a sunshine-bright smile—and that smile on that handsome face was frankly dangerous to the world's peace and stability. He hadn't expected Lilu to come looking for him of her own accord after having witnessed the humiliating sight of him being beaten and injured that day, and his heart soared with joy. Lilu, however, wasn't paying attention to the upward curve of Fred's lips at all—her gaze had landed entirely on his muscles. That physique was simply too perfect—a genuine work of divine artistry. Lilu immediately felt her own body begin to stir against her will, and the tips of her ears turned a faint involuntary pink. Fred ruffled her little head, then lifted her clean off the ground and, turning around, deposited her inside the yard.
"Aernis is making breakfast—care to join us?"
"Breakfast! Yes please!" Lilu could feel her mouth watering. "The Church's breakfast is nothing but potato soup and bread—my mouth is starting to forget what flavor even tastes like."
"The potato is a magnificent crop that once saved the Empire—you mustn't look down on it."
"I know—the drought of Imperial Year 145, right?" Lilu recalled a book she'd read. "The Emperor of the time, Conrad III, promoted the widespread cultivation of the potato and saved a great many lives. Then people discovered the secret that sprouted potatoes produce toxins, and improvements were made. Ten years later, the potato became the Empire's second most widely cultivated crop, and in colder regions it became revered as a lifesaving grain."
Fred's eyes lit up on the spot. He hadn't expected this little Elf girl before him to be so extraordinarily well-read—historical knowledge rolling off her tongue without a moment's hesitation. Even the top scholars of the Imperial Academy would struggle to match her, wouldn't they? He couldn't help giving Lilu's head another rub—which resulted in Lilu spinning in place until she completely lost her sense of direction.
"Ahhhh, my head is so dizzy—Fred, catch me!"
A self-satisfied smile spreading across his face, Fred scooped Lilu up in one arm. The girl in his arms was soft and delicate, carrying a unique and faint natural scent that was simply intoxicating with even a single breath. He felt his Holy Sword beginning to slip beyond his control—but this was not the moment for that sort of thing. He pressed down hard on the desire rising inside him and set Lilu down gently in front of the dining table in the sitting room.
"Oh, Lilu's here!" Aernis walked into the sitting room carrying a platter. "Come try my grilled lizard tail in sauce—it's made with the Sotuk Tribe's secret marinade, something you won't find anywhere else."
Lilu looked at the circular cuts of meat arranged on the wooden platter and couldn't stop herself from swallowing. She used the small knife she carried to gently peel back the thick outer skin, then worked out the tail bone running through the middle. Once both were removed, she was left with a piece of meat that was crisp on the outside and tender within. Succulent and juicy, the meat was richly marbled with fat and melted on the tongue, and combined with the secret marinade, the taste was absolutely extraordinary.
Lilu ate with oil all over her lips, her face a picture of pure contentment. Fred watched her cheeks puff out and broke into a warm smile. He sliced open two long, heated bread rolls, arranged the meat and vegetables on top, and added a pinch of grated cheese. The cheese quickly melted from the heat of the meat and blended into the fragrant meat juices. Fred picked up the sandwich he'd made and ate at an unhurried pace, then handed the other to Aernis as she came in from the kitchen.
"You civilized folk actually invented bread—I have to say, that's rather impressive." Aernis took the sandwich and began eating in large bites. "Back home we only have one kind of flatbread—the type that could knock your teeth out. Absolutely terrible!"
"Hmm?" Lilu asked. "Aernis, aren't you from the Southwestern Wilds? Are there grains there?"
"No," Aernis replied. "Our flatbread is made from wild-harvested grains, ground up and mixed together—nowhere near as good as cheese and meat."
"I remember there being a lot of sheep in your area—and Centaurs too."
"Hmph—we and the Centaurs are sworn enemies," Aernis gave Fred a smack on the back. "Allow me to now formally introduce you to the Sotuk Tribe's First Warrior—Fred Thunder!"
Cough, cough, cough—Fred nearly choked. Lilu suspected half the reason was Aernis's smack, and the other half was probably that the name was extraordinarily over-the-top.
"No wonder Aernis formed a Blood Pact with Fred—so that's how it was."
"Lilu, you even know about Blood Pacts!" Aernis exclaimed. "I didn't think you'd know so much about our culture! Would you consider coming to our Tribe as a Shaman? A Holy Maiden heals and saves lives—so does a Shaman. I think it could work!"
"I'd rather not," Lilu shook her head. "I can't divine the future or read the stars, so there's no way I could become a Shaman."
"That's true," Aernis nodded. "I just feel like Lilu is so impressive—you know everything!"
Lilu felt a twinge of guilt. Over the past seven days, Molay had kept her pinned down and made her read every single book in the Church Library from cover to cover—and she had it all committed to memory. At the same time, thanks to attending classes every day, she had also gained an extremely comprehensive understanding of theology and this world's mythological system. If it weren't for Molay tapping away at her with his little riding crop from behind, with Lilu's somewhat go-with-the-flow attitude it would probably have taken her half a year to absorb all of that.
"By the way," Fred asked carefully, "what has become of Lord Molay?"
"He received urgent orders and has already left Bedrock Town." Lilu replied. "According to Bishop Serina, a Beast Tide has broken out in White Mist Forest to the southwest—the situation apparently looks quite serious. The Templar Knights have dispatched a large force to provide support."
Upon hearing this news, both Fred and Aernis fell silent. From the grave look that settled over both their faces, Lilu suddenly felt she had said the wrong thing. She had only ever read about Beast Tides in books and had no intuitive sense of what they really meant—but Fred and Aernis had carved their way out of piles of monster corpses, and Fred had even lost a party member because of one.
"I'm sorry," Lilu lowered her head. "I…… said the wrong thing……"
Her pointed ears drooped down, and the sight of her looking so pitifully dejected was enough to melt anyone's heart. Fred ruffled her little head, and Lilu immediately perked back up as though someone had switched her on. Those large, dewy eyes—clear and transparent as a lake—showed not the slightest trace of being tainted by desire.
Fred felt a jolt run through him. He desperately wanted to pounce on her right then and there, press the girl down against the floor and have his way with her completely—to ruin that clear gaze of hers with nothing but overwhelming pleasure! At the most critical moment, he drove his fingernails hard into his own thigh, and the pain instantly cut through the fog in his mind. Fred had absolutely no idea why he was generating such deeply shameful desires—and he couldn't help feeling a surge of guilt toward Lilu, a compulsion to make it up to her.
What he did not know was that he was under the influence of the Beloved by All aura—and the higher the rarity of one's Class, the more severe the effect.
Hehehehehe~~
The Goddess's gleeful laughter drifted through the void. She was waiting for the show to begin.