Chapter 52
A day had passed since the unprecedented disaster.
From early morning, Tarmin had been trying to keep the door of the house closed.
He struggled with a middle-aged man, straining to pull the handle shut.
“You don't have to do this. Your words alone are more than enough!”
“Listen, you saved my daughter. Take this as payment for her life.”
“There's a patient here. She needs to rest, so I have to go!”
He stopped the man from squeezing through the open doorway and slammed the door shut.
At an unfamiliar sound, he turned and saw letters and gifts, including gold trinkets, being tossed through the open window.
He hurriedly locked that window, too.
It wasn't as if he could just throw the gifts back outside.
He sighed, gathered them up, and set them on the round table.
Outside, people celebrating their victory were holding something like a festival.
Cheers could be heard from afar.
When he headed for the bedroom, the patient in question smiled and said,
“Oh, the savior of Tariq.”
“Are you making fun of me?”
“It's not wrong, is it?”
Enya was lying in bed, beaming at Tarmin.
After the two of them raced all over a city teeming with monsters, saving people, they had become famous in an instant.
“What did I even do? You should be the one getting thanked.”
“I'm a patient, remember.”
The monsters and centaurs had vanished without a trace, and Tarmin had carried Enya home and laid her down after she collapsed from exhaustion.
Then he'd been summoned by the garrison to deal with the aftermath, and had turned away the citizens' thanks. Meanwhile, Enya had slept soundly, woken up, and was now lounging comfortably as she watched him.
She might be a patient, but seeing her relax so comfortably was irritating beyond words.
The more Tarmin scowled, the wider Enya's smile grew.
“Do you remember how many people came by just to see your face?”
“They came to thank me, not look at my face.”
“Who knows? Lots of young ladies came by to confess to you in person. So, what does a promising hunter from the west think? Were there any nice girls?”
“You little…”
“Ah, I'm so curious! I can't move an inch, so I can't see them… Sorry! I was wrong!”
Enya hurriedly apologized, her face paling.
Tarmin had slipped both hands beneath the blanket.
When he placed his hands on Enya's waist, he felt her soft flesh through her thin negligee.
Resisting the urge to pull her into his arms, Tarmin let out an exaggerated sigh.
“Oh-ho, how wicked. So you only repent when faced with a real threat. How are you any different from those evil monsters?”
“D-Don't!”
He was imitating the way preachers sometimes spoke in the plaza.
As he wiggled his fingers up her side, Enya burst into helpless laughter and grabbed his hand.
“Ahihit! Stop!”
Enya squirmed and held onto his hand, but couldn't push him away at all.
It seemed she really couldn't move an inch.
At her feeble strength, Tarmin felt his heart ache.
Whether she knew that or not, Enya pleaded with him tearfully.
“Taal, please… I'm a patient, remember? Okay? I don't have any strength.”
Tarmin let out a deep sigh, pulled his hand away, and brought over a chair.
In the brief moment he moved away, Enya had switched from tearful to grumbling, as if she had never been about to cry.
She was getting better and better at pretending to cry with each passing day.
Her blanket had ridden up, exposing her smooth bare legs beneath the negligee, but Tarmin paid it no mind.
Instead, he sat in the chair and gazed at Enya with a pained expression.
“Ugh, forget it. I'm not teasing you anymore, you petty bastard. You were the one fondling my breasts without permission,”
“Enya.”
“A man being so petty over a little teasing… Hm?”
“Why didn't you tell me that using the holy sword hurts?”
Enya blinked and looked at Tarmin.
This was the second time she had used the shining sword in front of him.
The first time he'd seen the holy sword, he'd thought it was just an amazing magical tool.
He hadn't realized it put a burden on Enya.
After the night of the Garden Festival, he'd sensed an inexplicable precariousness in Enya.
Now, after a thousand monsters had been wiped out, Enya was lying in bed, unable even to get up.
Then what would happen next?
Enya thought for a moment, then spoke in a bitter, resigned tone.
“…Because you would have stopped me if I told you?”
“Of course I would!”
“See?”
“There won't be a next time. I'll stop you from ever using it again.”
Enya smiled.
Tarmin didn't like that warm, gentle smile one bit, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.
Her smile seemed to say it all.
If she hadn't used the holy sword, either Sigona or Tarmin would have died.
The city east of the grasslands would have been abandoned, and the people wouldn't be thanking her like this.
But was that enough?
Was it all over once people had offered their tributes of gratitude?
Was there something more that would make Enya happy?
Tarmin thought for a while, then scratched his head vigorously.
The person in question was right in front of him; he could just ask.
“Enya, is there anything you want? Anything you need?”
“Hm? What is it, all of a sudden?”
“Well, since we finally have some free time. I thought I could buy you something.”
Tariq was a frontier city at the westernmost edge of Akhraba, but it was also an important trading hub linking the Empire and Akhraba.
He should be able to find whatever she wanted without much trouble.
Tarmin had nearly accomplished everything he'd come to this city to do.
He thought it might not be a bad idea to devote all the unexpected free time to Enya until she recovered and got back on her feet.
With that thought in mind, he looked at her and saw Enya making a peculiar expression.
It was the look of someone who had thought of something but was hesitating over whether to say it.
Tarmin had expected her to say she didn't need anything, so he gladly prompted her,
“Hmm, what is it? Enya, you can tell me. I'll do anything I can for you.”
“N-No…”
“No, what?”
Enya's face was turning pink.
She pulled the blanket toward her and drew it up to the tip of her nose.
The blanket rode up even higher, leaving her cool bare legs fully exposed.
Just as the suggestive atmosphere was making Tarmin's face grow a little warm, Enya spoke in a tiny voice.
“You still haven't done it for me.”
“Hm? Done what?”
“Kissed me.”
What?
Tarmin doubted his own ears for a moment.
He thought he must have misheard because Enya was speaking with her mouth covered by the blanket.
“Uh, what did you say? Could you say it one more time?”
Enya buried herself in the sheets and said,
“Yesterday, you said I did well and that you'd kiss me…”
Tarmin didn't answer for a moment.
Amid his confusion, he searched his memory of the previous day.
Had he said that? He thought maybe he had.
No, there was something more important than that.
“Enya? You wanted me to kiss you?”
“Aah…”
At Tarmin's astonished words, Enya's face disappeared completely beneath the blanket.
Her barely visible ears were bright red.
Tarmin shuddered.
Enya had pulled the blanket over her head.
The way she clutched the thin blanket as if it were a shield was unbearably adorable.
Come to think of it, it had been a while since they'd kissed.
After crossing the line with the help of alcohol, they'd kissed almost every day, using one excuse or another.
But Enya had been looking forward to a kiss from him!
At her unexpectedly coy behavior, Tarmin smiled so hard his face nearly hurt.
They'd already done more than that, but wasn't this the first time Enya had asked him for something?
It was Enya's first kiss in that sense.
Tarmin grinned and spoke over the blanket.
“Enya, I can't kiss you if you're covered up like that.”
“…Ugh.”
When Tarmin gently tugged at the blanket, she seemed to resist for a moment, but soon her face emerged, so embarrassed she looked ready to die.
Enya looked about to cry and said,
“I shouldn't have said anything…”
“Enya, should you close your eyes or keep them open? Turn your head to the left? Wait, was it the left before? Now I'm confused. I don't know. I'll do whatever you want!”
He wanted to hear what she preferred, but Enya seemed to take it as teasing and glared at Tarmin.
“Get lost, you bastard.”
From Tarmin's perspective, it was utterly unfair.
Instead of protesting, Tarmin stood up and reached out to cradle the back of Enya's head.
He brought his face close and looked her straight in the eyes. Enya flinched, then squeezed her eyes shut.
She trembled as if this were her first kiss.
Tarmin smiled and gently kissed her.
“Mwah…”
The kiss after so long was much sweeter than he'd expected.
Perhaps because he'd teased her so much, Enya's mouth was tightly shut. He gently opened it and entwined their tongues.
He playfully tapped the tip of her tongue, sucked gently, then pulled away.
“Haa…”
Enya's lips were wet and parted, and her face was hazy.
He chuckled at the sight and started to get up, but Enya was holding onto the hem of his clothes.
Wondering what was wrong, he looked at her. Enya hesitated, then spoke softly.
“J-Just a little more…”
Today, Tarmin was learning what it felt like to lose control.
He was almost impressed that it really made a distinct snap.
"Mmph!"
As they kissed frantically and lay down on the bed, he heard a key turning in the front door.
*****