Last night, after I spoke with Reina honestly and sincerely, she forgave me. While it had only been for a single moment, that didn’t change the fact that I had indeed sensed her in the bath and envisioned her naked. We were living together, man and woman, and we were also in this closed space, so that type of behavior from me was unacceptable—all the more so because even though I had no intention of doing so, my overwhelming strength meant I was capable of forcing myself on her. That was exactly why I had felt it was necessary for us to truly acknowledge the situation we were in.
“Anyway, I’ll make sure to go somewhere far away whenever you take a bath,” I said.
“There’s no need to do all that,” Reina said. “Besides, if you wanted to do anything to me, you would’ve already done it a long time ago, right?”
“Well, I guess so...”
I was glad that she trusted me, but I wished she would look after herself more. Just recently, she went into the bath while wearing strangely light clothing. Shouldn’t she have a bit more of a sense of shame? She did at least get embarrassed and blush bright red when I saw her naked, but—
“Begone worldly desires!” I shouted. I had started to imagine her naked again, so I instantly punched my own face.
“Wha—” Reina exclaimed. “What are you thinking, hitting yourself in the face all of a sudden?!”
“Sorry for startling you. It’s fine; I’m not hurt or anything.”
I could launch an ultra-massive Emperor Boar far into the sky if I went all out, but even that wouldn’t be enough to actually hurt my invincible body. However, I did succeed in blasting away all my impure thoughts with the intense shock wave.
“Jeez, don’t scare me like that.”
“Fine...”
We had a house now, and I had built each of us rooms. Not to mention, she and I had originally slept in the same tent. Mina had made me feel self-conscious about it, but now that I really thought about it, I just had to act how I normally would. I decided that I would do my best to live up to Reina’s trust in me from now on.
As I thought that, Reina blushed slightly, then shyly spoke. “This might sound a bit pathetic, but...”
“Hm?”
“I’m not sure I’d be able to live on this island if we weren’t together. I put up a barrier at night, but it probably doesn’t work against the strong monsters here, so I’d probably never be able to sleep peacefully if I was alone.”
“Oh...”
“The monsters don’t come here because you’re with me, right? So, well...”
That made me finally understand. Basically, she was treating me less like a man and more like a mosquito coil. It was true that, unlike in the beginning, the monsters here stayed away from me. The word must have spread that something freakishly strong had come to the island, and it seemed like they’d all grown aware of my scent or something too. This meant that when I went hunting, they always instantly sensed me and ran away. Of course, there were hardly any monsters that could move faster than me, so by the time they entered my sight, it was already too late for them. Regardless, if my presence meant that Reina could sleep soundly, then I would gladly embrace the role of mosquito coil.
“Sure, if that’s how it is,” I said. “You’ve helped me out a bunch, so of course it’s all right.”
“Yeah. It’s good to hear you say that.”
She seemed happy yet relieved, and I was satisfied as well. I had been worried that she had come to hate me after last night.
“Anyway, I’m glad we had this talk, Reina. I hope we’ll be together for a long time yet.”
“I hope so too, Arata.”