My wounds stung slightly as green, herbal bathwater seeped into them. Soaking in a tub of lukewarm water in the second floor–dungeon public baths, I tried to organize my thoughts. I mulled over my next steps, our future explorations, but the same phrase played over and over again in my mind: Life is not all about adventuring.
I had other ways of supporting myself that did not require exploring the dungeon. If this country didn’t permit that, I could always take my wife and my sister and go somewhere else. I couldn’t say for sure whether we’d be able to survive, but for them, I would make the impossible happen. That at least, I was absolutely certain. Through my merfolk and merchant connections, I could arrange passage for us on a ship to another continent where we’d live happily ever after in peace and quiet. It was definitely an option.
However, assuming we did decide to keep delving further into the dungeon in Remlia, I had to confirm something no matter what, a question I’d never been able to ask out of consideration for her feelings. After this heinous experience, though, I’d finally made up my mind. I had to know. If she refused, worst-case scenario, I’d…
“Worst case, I’d what? Ugh, I’m such a dumbass.” I’d cross that bridge after I heard what she had to say.
“Yaya, do you mind?”
“Hmm?”
I heard my sister’s voice, the swish as the curtain slid open, and the pattering of feet—her naked body slipped into the tub.
“Heh-heh.”
“Wait, hang o—” While spacious for private use, the tub felt crowded with two people. Éa’s hands grazed my more sensitive regions. She’d sat on my lap many times, but I’d never felt this level of skin-to-skin contact with her. She looked adorable with her hair tied up and out of her face for once. Wait, that’s not what I mean. Well, it is, but this isn’t the time for that.
“Éa, what the hell are you—?” Ah, shit. The words caught in my throat midsentence. She was trembling. “Did the test get to you?”
“Yeah, a little.”
I’d failed again because I was thinking about no one else but myself this time. Unsure what to do with herself, Éa fidgeted awkwardly.
“May I?” I asked, then gingerly placed my hand on her head and guided her to rest over my heart. “They say listening to a heartbeat calms you down.” I’d done this before, reassured someone this way in the past, but I couldn’t remember who for the life of me.
“Yaya, your heart beats so fast.” Yeah, well, I am tangled up with my naked elven sister, you know. If anything, my poor heart’s going into overdrive trying to keep blood from flowing down there.
“You think? Personally, I—”
“Hush. I can’t hear.”
I shut up. We stretched out, practically lying down, our legs intertwined. After a moment’s hesitation, I wrapped my arms around her quaking shoulders and rested my chin on her head. She felt warmer than the hot water.
My mental state at that moment could be summed up in a single word: enlightened. No dirty thoughts could be found anywhere in my infinitely pure heart. In other words, this was in no way, shape, or form illegal. Sure, I was locked in a naked embrace with my sister, but internally, I was right up there with Buddha. Nothing inappropriate to see here. Plus, this was my wife’s sister, okay?! Nothing wrong with that. If anything, the fact that she was my sister-in-law made it totally fine.
………It’s fine!
Yeah, who am I kidding? Buddha himself would probably drop-kick me to hell. Forget the other gods—they’d probably get their canes out.
So on went my horny—I mean, anguished—thoughts as I counted the lines on the ceiling. As a famous philosopher once said, “A single moment with your hand upon a stove can feel like an entire hour, but an hour lying naked with a beautiful elf flies by in a minute.” The next thing I knew, our bath had turned cold. Pulling on a string hanging next to the tub, I had fresh, hot water pour in through the pipe near my feet. Excess bathwater flowed over the lip of the tub and drained through grates along the floor into the sewers.
“Hey, Yaya, look.” Shifting her position, Éa steadied herself on my shoulder with one hand on the edge of the tub to show me her abdomen. Strands of hair from her loose ponytail cascaded over her chest. Immediately, I turned away, then squinted sideways at her. “My scar’s almost completely faded.”
“Ohhh, is that where it was? That’s great, real great.” She meant the scar from her bullet wound. Her post-op care had worked wonders, and now only a faint line remained.
“Hee-hee,” she giggled, then hugged me, slinking both arms around my neck and setting her chin on my shoulder, once again closing the space between us. I felt two firm tips press against my chest. There was no way I could stay calm like this. Afraid my body would speak for me if I didn’t start talking, I said, “Hey, Éa, were you scared when you first explored the dungeon?”
“Hmm, not really. I used to hunt for a living before I moved to the Heuress Forest, mostly wild boar. They live east of here in the Beastfolk Woods, and they’re superstrong, always hungry, ferocious, and huuuge. I’m pretty sure they’re like an ancestor to dungeon boars. People died on hunts all the time, but…” She trailed off. “…Today was the first time I ever saw someone put their life on the line to save me and then die—even if it was just an illusion.” Slight tremors shook her body once more.
Then she continued speaking. “I feel like I’ve done nothing but rely on other people to save me since I became an adventurer. It’s kind of humiliating. We all used to go out together on the hunt, but I’d never had anyone protect me like that.”
“Really? Yeah, sometimes it works out that way. But you know, you’ve saved me before—and everyone else in the party, too, for that matter. Who knows how many monsters would’ve caught us off guard and killed us if you hadn’t sensed they were coming?”
“That’s true. Yeah, you’re right. I guess when you’re an adventurer, you share those jobs and keep going until too many people die and the party can’t work anymore.”
“……Yeah.” That was our work in a nutshell. You risked your life, fought, then fell into eternal darkness. It wasn’t a career anybody sane would pursue. You had to convince yourself that your dreams and sense of adventure depended on it. For someone who had no dreams, it was pure hell.
“You know, I watched that rabbit kill everyone one by one, but when I saw you die, I just collapsed. Nothing, nothing mattered anymore,” she whispered grimly. “……I don’t know what kind of adventures we’ll have from here on out, but you can’t ever die, Yaya. If you do………you know what’ll happen, right?” She stared deep into my soul with her piercing crystal-blue eyes. Our foreheads touched. I could feel her breath on mine and the warmth of her lips without touching them.
“As you wish.”
“Nope, not good enough.”
“I’m not gonna die. I mean, I might eventually from old age or if I get sick or something, but I’ll do my best to live as long as a heim can.”
“Well, I suppose that will have to do.” She kissed my cheek. “By the way, Yaya.” Puzzled, my elven sister took me into her hands. “What’s this?”