Chapter 22
Aris's behavior after returning from spending time with Livnil's party feels a little different.
Usually, when I was reading, she would quietly stretch or sleep beside me.
Or she'd occasionally say she was going out to exercise.
Whenever she did, I'd usually go out with her, but lately she hasn't been bringing it up much.
But today feels a little different.
“Aris. You're touching me....”
“I'm fine. If you'd like, you may touch me.”
I was sitting at my desk, about to read, when she sat down in front of me.
In other words, I was reading with her held in my arms.
With both hands holding the book open, her shoulders pressed against my arms and her breasts against my wrists.
The sensation of her thin loungewear—and the fact that she wasn't wearing underwear—came through clearly.
Looking into her eyes, she didn't seem to be in heat yet, and there was no flush.
It was almost as if she simply wanted to be held in my arms?
I liked being like this too, but she was doing something she normally didn't.
The feeling was bewildering, yet not unpleasant—an odd mixture.
More than anything, it felt as though she was deliberately pushing her butt backward, looking for something.
Her tail moved beneath us, tickling my neck.
She smells nice. The feminine scent from her hair, her tail, and her skin.
Aris always figures everything out by smell, so I wondered if I'd become the same way.
“Master.”
“Hm?”
“Are you erect?”
“Uh...a little. But why? Are you in heat...?”
“No. It's just that Livnil said a girl should take the initiative with physical affection.”
What on earth had that woman taught Aris?
She didn't seem like a bad person...but what kind of ideas had she put into our innocent Wolpi's head...?
“Do you dislike it?”
“N-no. Aris is warm, so I like it.”
“Thank you. Aris will try harder and warm things up.”
“You don't have to. This is just right.”
I read while holding her, occasionally touching the breast that brushed against my hand....
Let's think carefully. Am I okay right now?
Wasn't something happening now that I never could have imagined in my life?
From when I was young, when I did nothing but study magic in the Mage Tower, to now.
My life, which had never involved women at all, had suddenly taken a sharp turn.
I'd bought her as a slave, but from the beginning, I'd intended to purchase one for combat.
Naturally, I'd been thinking of a male. This wasn't how it was supposed to turn out.
And even if I'd bought a woman, how often would a slave deliberately act like this toward her master?
Aris was innocent and kind.
She was a cute girl who had been a virgin. Above all, she was approaching me of her own accord.
I'd even heard that female Wolpis only clung to people during heat and had no interest in anything else otherwise.
Aris sometimes went into heat on her own. She masturbated and had sex with me, too.
Sometimes she even acted like a human.
She was a girl, but she was easygoing, without the prickly attitude unique to girls.
She was perfect for me. Could there be anything more?
What were the odds of all these things coinciding?
Was I okay right now? What if I were struck by lightning out of nowhere while walking down the street?
“Mmm...Master.”
“Ah, sorry.”
While touching her breast, I'd pinched her nipple a little too hard.
Even this reaction was cute. Her moving tail was amusing too; she really was a girl I liked.
A life of leisure.
I'd always been too busy wandering around and searching for red monsters.
My situation was still the same, but with Aris currently registering as an adventurer, I had quite a bit of free time.
It felt as if my mind had settled, too.
Simply having Aris with me kept all other stray thoughts away.
I could concentrate on my books, and more than anything, I felt good.
“Master. Master. I think it's time.”
“Has it already been that long?”
The time for the announcement of Aris's adventurer registration results was approaching.
“Then let's go to the guild, check the results, and get your tag.”
“Are you going to accept a quest?”
“How about we take care of one for the occasion and have a campfire meal outside?”
“Yes!”
I touched the girl's chin as she looked up at me and nodded, then stood.
Aris seemed to be in an extremely good mood.
Every time I looked toward her, our eyes met. It was as if she wasn't watching where she was going.
Rattle-rattle—! Neighhh!
Just then, a carriage came racing toward us from far away.
Aris had been distracted and looking over this way for a while.
I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her toward me as she walked along the edge of the sidewalk.
The girl slipped into my arms and looked up at me as if she had no idea what had happened.
“Master...?”
“Aris. You haven't been watching where you're going for a while now.”
“Huh? I'm sorry. I got distracted because I was in such a good mood.”
She blushed as if embarrassed, but she was still looking straight at me.
Usually, she'd subtly avert her gaze.
“Aris, by any chance....”
“Yes.”
“What did Ms. Livnil tell you?”
“Huh? N-no, nothing....”
“Your behavior has been changing little by little since yesterday.”
Then I noticed the girl's eyes wavering.
She tried to look away, then looked back at me. Tried again, then looked this way again.
Didn't she look as if she'd been placed under a gaze-locking curse?
“Is there something on my face?”
Aris fidgeted and moved her lips, then lowered her head and rested it against my chest.
“Ms. Livnil said it would be good if I made eye contact with you...often!”
“Eye contact? Often? Why...?”
“Th-that... Ah, I don't want to.”
What did she mean by saying she liked making eye contact but disliked the reason?
If I took her words literally, it sounded strange...?
“Aris? You're saying you dislike the reason for making eye contact...?”
“Huh? No, that's not what I mean by disliking it! It's just...I'm embarrassed to say it.”
She said she was embarrassed, then suddenly wrapped her arms around my waist.
She pressed her forehead against my solar plexus, apparently intending not to show me her face.
She did say she was embarrassed whenever something embarrassing happened to her, even normally.
But today felt different. Much more intense.
I felt like teasing her for no reason.
“Hmm...what could be so embarrassing? Aris, if you keep this up, are we even going to be able to get to the guild?”
“P-please don't ask.”
“When you say that, it makes me want to ask even more. What's so embarrassing?”
But there was one problem: the girl's arms were tightening around me.
Hmm...this could be a little dangerous.
If she tightened any more, my waist might snap.
“Hey, Aris...? How about letting go for now?”
“No. I-I can't. Please let me stay like this for just a little while!”
“Gah...!”
Her arms tightened further. What on earth! What could possibly be making her this embarrassed?!
Thump, thump. I could hear Aris's heartbeat.
She was definitely embarrassed about something, but...!
I endured it and stroked her head.
Judging by the way her tail swayed gently, she seemed to be in a good mood.
Her arms had relaxed considerably, and she seemed to be returning to normal.
“Was Aris always this clingy?”
“I'm sorry....”
She still couldn't look this way.
“You don't have to apologize. I actually like it.”
“A slave acting this spoiled... That is far too presumptuous.”
The girl glanced up at me. Her face was flushed red, contrasting cutely with her blue eyes.
“You know that, and you're still doing this?”
“I'm sorry. I'll move away... Eek!”
I wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulder as she hurriedly tried to pull away from me.
Normally, she tried to fulfill her duty as a slave.
But every now and then, she crossed that line.
Most of the time I let it slide because crossing that line was so cute, but what was she thinking?
Of course, I didn't mind. Instead, I wanted to know what Aris was thinking.
“Is Aris testing how far she's allowed to go?”
“No. I'm sorry... M-Master, you're just so kind to me....”
“A slave who looks her master straight in the eye just because he's kind to her? Hmm?”
“I'm sorry... I'm sorry.”
Her wagging tail drooped. Hmm...I didn't want to see this.
Aris's tail should always be wagging energetically.
I took the girl's shoulders and widened the distance between us. Then I lifted her chin.
“You can look at me directly. Aris's eyes are so beautiful. I always want to see them.”
“Huh? Th-that....”
“You can speak to your master first, even as a slave. You can say you're hungry when you are. You can sleep when you're tired, and you can wash without worrying about what I think.”
Aris stared blankly and nodded as she looked at me.
Maybe she thought I was going to scold her; her eyes were slightly brimming with tears, making her look pitiful.
Her drooping tail began wagging again.
“Let's do what Aris likes. That said...I won't permit you to leave me.”
“Yes...Aris will not leave you, Master.”
“Thank you.”
The girl smiled while looking straight into my eyes again.
As expected, I really loved seeing her smile.
“I have one request for Aris.”
“Yes? What kind of request?”
“Smile at least once a day.”
“A-a smile...?”
The girl traced the corners of her mouth with both index fingers.
Was it a little awkward for her, since she usually wore a blank expression? But she knew how to smile.
“Yes, give me a smile. If I ask for one, give me one. Can you do that?”
Her face reddened with embarrassment, but she nodded. Then she gave me a somewhat awkward...smile.
“Hehe....”
“Hmm. A natural...no. This is cute too.”
“Thank you.”
We headed for the Adventurers' Guild again.
The only difference was that I had Aris walk on the inside of the sidewalk.
She was still walking while looking at me, and that was bound to make me nervous, right?
“Aris. You really aren't going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“You said Livnil taught you about making eye contact.”
……
“I can ask Livnil myself, you know.”
The girl scratched her head and rolled her eyes.
She was probably weighing ‘telling me herself’ versus ‘having me hear it from Livnil’ in her head.
“U-uh... The reason is...!”
“The reason?”
“A way to...become closer to you, Master....”
“A way to become closer?”
The girl's face turned red as she bobbed her head rapidly.
She squeezed her eyes shut and shuddered with embarrassment.
“Sigh... Aris, do you want to become closer to me?”
“Y-yes! I wanted to become closer to you, Master. I'm sorry!”
“Why are you sorry? I see. Being close is a good thing, isn't it?”
It felt like I'd realized something I'd been overlooking.
The girl stayed by my side for the sole reason that I'd paid money to buy her as a slave.
It wasn't because she actually wanted to stay with me at all.
But if she couldn't leave, then finding some way to grow closer would make her feel more at ease.
I hadn't understood her feelings at all.
“I want to become closer to Aris too. How should we do that?”
“Th-that... I don't really know either.”
It was a difficult question.
Judging by Aris's disposition, she was quite a quiet type.
I was the same.
If we hadn't met as master and slave, we would have been people whose paths crossed, who would silently stand there, and then pass each other by.
“Even so, I'll try. I want to become closer to Aris.”
The girl's tail wagged so hard that I could almost hear it going whoosh-whoosh-whoosh.
What if she wagged it so hard that she broke her tailbone?