“Remove spell formulas from my body... You mean you can’t learn spirit arts if you acquire magic?” Celia questioned with wide eyes.
“Right. In order to interfere with mana, the user’s imagination and will plays an important factor, but if you have spell formulas within your body, they won’t be transmitted to the mana efficiently.”
“...Which means... wait a minute. Then... the reason you failed at all those spell contracts and were unable to acquire magic during your time at school was because using spirit arts made you unable to learn magic, or something? Were you failing on purpose?”
“That’s very astute of you... But not quite. The reason why I failed at the spell contracts and was unable to acquire magic was because I had a spirit contract with Aishia. At that time, I didn’t know anything about spirits or spirit arts.” Rio smiled softly, shaking his head as he spoke.
“So that’s where the spirit contract comes in... In that case, do you have to be contracted to a spirit to use spirit arts?”
“No, there’s no requirement for a spirit contract in order to use spirit arts. However, since the spirits are sublimated forms of mana, which is essential to the use of spirit arts, their harmony with spirit arts is excellent. As a result, the contracted user’s spirit arts affinity rises once a contract has been formed. On the other hand, the disadvantage is that contracting with a spirit means that spell contracts cannot succeed, making you unable to use magic.”
“...In other words, you’ve been contracted to Aishia since your school days? Then such intimacy... is understandable, I think?” Knowing that they had been contracted for so long made Celia boldly ask for the reason behind their intimacy. She pouted her lips a little, sulking.
“No... it seems like that, but Aishia has been asleep until only recently, and we were contracted without my knowledge too. I tried to ask her the reason, but it appears Aishia doesn’t have any memories from before she woke up...” Rio scratched at his head with a troubled expression, glancing at Aishia slumped against him.
“...Really?” Celia asked, looking between their two faces.
“Yes. According to an acquaintance that’s knowledgeable about spirits, Aishia’s rank as a spirit is high, but she’s a newly born spirit... Like a baby spirit, almost.”
“Hmm... Is that so?” Then the fact that Aishia was slumped against Rio may just be because she wanted to be doted on. Such a thought crossed Celia’s mind, but she didn’t voice it out loud to confirm it.
“Do you understand our relationship now?” Rio asked, watching Celia’s expression.
“Yeah, well... I guess.” Celia nodded somewhat reluctantly.
“Then next is the explanation about the Time-Space Cache, right?”
“There’s that too, but...”
“Is there something else bothering you?” Rio asked.
“Where did you get that knowledge and those magic artifacts from, Rio? You didn’t seem to know about spirits and things when you were at the academy, so I’m sure you learned about them after you left Beltrum, but...”
“Actually, on my way to the Yagumo region, I met some people that lived quietly, away from humans. They taught me many things. About spirit arts, about sorcery — their technology was far beyond what was available in the Strahl region — and while they had cut off all contact with outsiders, I was fortunate enough to be accepted as an acquaintance...” Out of consideration for the spirit folk, Rio spoke vaguely about their specific circumstances.
“I see... So that’s where you got the Time-Space Cache.” Celia read the room and chose not to pry too deeply about the identity of the people that Rio was referring to.
“Yes. They presented it to me as a symbol of our friendship.”
“You must really have their trust if they would give you such a bold and amazing artifact. Or is it something that can be easily made by those people?”
“No, it isn’t something that can be mass produced easily,” Rio said out of respect toward the spirit folk. He shook his head with a hint of a smile.
“I see... Umm... Then it wouldn’t be good to research it blindly after all, right?” Celia looked at Rio’s expression regretfully, thinking her earlier statement was careless.
“No, I don’t mind if you look at it. If there’s any knowledge you wish to acquire, I can tell you as much as I am able to. As long as you follow the condition of not spreading or circulating the knowledge you gain... But I’m sure you can be trusted with that, Professor.” Rio gave his ready assent, showing his strong trust in Celia.
“Uh... T-Thank you. If that’s the case, then I... I swear. I’m even willing to bind myself in a sorcery contract,” Celia said her thanks uneasily, giving her oath with a shy blush in her cheeks.
“I understand. Well, we can leave the troublesome rituals for later. Would you like to have a look now?” Rio said, reaching for his left arm with his right hand.
“...No. It’s a very tempting offer, but I’ll pass for now. There’s been so many shocking truths... I’m a little tired.” Celia shook her head with a strained smile.
“Oh, then how about a bath instead? It’ll help you relax,” Rio suggested.
“A bath! That sounds great...” Celia’s face brightened at once. She got close to Rio sitting directly opposite to her when Aishia’s sleepily relaxing form entered her field of vision. “...B-But could I relax a little more here? Watching Aishia being all sleepy has made me feel a little sleepy too. S-She looks pretty comfortable,” she said in a high pitched voice, glancing over at Aishia.
“Then, let’s decide what your room should be, Professor. There’s lots of space, so you can use whichever one you wish... but if you need a studio, then a bigger room would be better?” Rio replied with a cheerful suggestion. Celia pouted and stared fixedly at Rio’s face with a reproachful look, as though she was making an appeal.
“...Yeah, let’s,” she agreed a little gloomily after a moment.
Rio sensed Celia’s suspicious behavior and tilted his head in question. “Umm, is something the matter? Professor... Wait, Aishia?”
Aishia stood straight up, then briskly walked over to Celia and stopped in front of her.
“W-What?” Celia looked up at Aishia nervously.
“This way.” Aishia grabbed Celia’s hand and gently made her stand up.
“What?!” Celia raised a voice of objection in surprise, but Aishia continued to pull her hand.
“H-Huh?” Celia was made to sit down next to Rio. She let out a squeak; her recoil from being made to sit down had caused her to lean on Rio closely before she realized it. Seeing Celia like that, Aishia gave a single nod before sitting down on the opposite side, snuggling close to Rio like she had been earlier.
“The three of us should just go to sleep like this,” she suggested with Rio sandwiched in the middle.
Once she finally processed the situation, Celia’s face turned red. “Wh... Wh-Wh-What?!”
“C-Calm down, Professor!” Rio tried to appease the suddenly panicking Celia.
“W-What is this, what is this?!” With a bright red face, Celia questioned Aishia seated on the other side.
“You wanted to do this too, no?” Aishia replied bluntly.
Celia shook her head. “T-That’s! That’s...!” she yelled, feeling as though she was losing her mind.
“P-Professor, calm down! Look, take a deep breath.” Rio grabbed Celia’s shoulder and faced her. With that, Celia’s movements froze for a second, but meeting Rio’s eyes from point-blank range had Celia blushing even more.
“B-Baaath! No no no, I have to take a bath, a bath!” Celia stood up in a fluster, running out of the living room noisily.
“P-Professor?!” Rio called after Celia to stop her, but her footsteps showed no sign of ceasing. However, before long, Celia trudged back into the living room.
“...W-Where is the bathroom?” she asked, embarrassed.
Chapter 2: The First Night
Several minutes later, Aishia accompanied
Celia into the changing room beside the stone bathroom. In contrast to Celia, who removed her one piece dress in a hesitant manner, Aishia instantly released the material form of her clothes and stood in only her underwear.
“...Ah, that underwear’s made by the Ricca Guild, isn’t it?” Celia asked in a bright voice. She had gazed in amazement at how Aishia stripped in the blink of an eye before she realized the design of Aishia’s underwear seemed familiar.
“Yup, that’s right. Miharu chose it for me.” Aishia nodded. She was wearing a pale pink bra and boy shorts with small but cute and elegant ribbons on it.
“Miharu... that’s one of the girls Rio took in, right? It really is an adorable design. Can I feel what the fabric is like?” Celia asked with great interest.
“Sure,” Aishia agreed readily.
“Then if you don’t mind... Oh, and you have a really gorgeous figure, you know? Your skin is youthful and beautiful, too, just like a baby’s... Wait, we were talking about the underwear right now. Underwear...” Celia’s eyes were captivated by Aishia’s good proportions before she shook her head and reached for the underwear.
“Yup yup, this really is good quality fabric. Not only is it comfortable to wear, its design is well thought out. I also have several of these, but the Ricca Guild’s products are popular, so they always sell out of their low stock in the Beltrum Kingdom. It’s pretty hard to get your hands on them,” Celia said.
“They sell lots in Amande. You should just get Haruto to buy you some, too, since we’ll be going shopping in Amande tomorrow.”
“It’s the headquarters of the Ricca Guild, so I’m sure there’ll be lots in stock, but is it really okay? The underwear in the Ricca Guild is fairly expensive.”
“It’s fine. Haruto is rich,” Aishia said, giving her approval of Rio’s financial status.
“S-Still, it makes me feel bad having him buy expensive things for me... There are lots of other things I need to buy, too.” Celia frowned, feeling bad for causing trouble.
“Underwear is a necessity, so it wouldn’t be a wasteful purchase. And Haruto would want Celia to wear good quality underwear,” Aishia said on Rio’s behalf. There was no knowing what kind of expression Rio would have made if he was present, but he probably would have said something similar if he was pressed on the subject.
“A-Ahaha... W-Well, I can’t show Rio my underwear, b-but I’ll make sure to talk to him about it.” Celia must have pictured something in her mind, as her voice squeaked with embarrassment.
“Yup.” Aishia nodded, moving her hands to her bra to take it off.
“...Huh? Come to think of it, how come you have real underwear when your other clothes are all materialized...?” Celia suddenly noticed.
“Yeah. Underwear is complicated to make.”
“Oh, I see... So you can’t make anything complicated.”
“Actually, it’s more like the clothes I usually wear are a part of myself. I can change the color and design a little, but I generally can’t create anything else,” Aishia said, giving a concise explanation of her materialized clothes.
“Huh...” Celia hummed with deep curiosity.
“Let’s get in already,” Aishia said, sliding off her boy shorts in one go before heading toward the bathroom.
...S-She’s a rather bold girl, isn’t she? She doesn’t seem to care about what others think at all. Celia couldn’t help but blush at the sight of the beautiful body that entered her line of vision. However, she had no reason to remain in the changing room by herself, so she took off her cute minisole that she’d been wearing as underwear and headed toward the bathroom, too.
◇ ◇ ◇
When Celia opened the door that led from the changing room to the bathroom, she looked around the room and froze.
“What... is this place...?”
The sight of the bathroom interior far surpassed anything she had pictured in her mind. It was a wide, spacious room; the walls were bare stone, long in depth and with a high ceiling. Beyond the spacious washing area that was tiled with stone was a wide bathtub, also made of stone. The water spouting artifacts lined along the stone wall continuously supplied hot water, making a white steam rise off the surface of the bathwater. Celia stood in dumbfounded amazement for a while.
“It’s a bath...?” Aishia answered Celia’s question, tilting her head to the side.
“...A-Ah, no, I can see that, but... What?!” Celia objected in a fluster. It was clearly different to a traditional bathroom in the Strahl region.
At the very least, it wasn’t the standard for bathtubs to be deep enough to immerse oneself. Not even the royalty and nobility had bathing facilities this fancy, and it wasn’t possible for them to make hot water come pouring out endlessly as it did here. The climate of the region was rather dry, so they couldn’t secure a water source that could be used so wastefully. It’d be a different matter in a land with hot springs, but nothing like that existed in Beltrum or Beltrant.
“What’s wrong?” Aishia asked Celia curiously.
“W-What do you mean ‘what’? What’s going on with this bath...? What is this — why is the hot water flowing endlessly?” Celia asked, pointing at the stone wall where the water was refilling the bathtub.
“That’s a magic artifact that makes hot water,” Aishia replied.
“A m-magic artifact... No, but... How is the essence supplied to it?! If the hot water is continuously being created, wouldn’t the essence consumption be ridiculously high?”
Celia’s question was reasonable; water sorcery already used a higher amount of magic essence than the other elemental sorceries, but to have a spell formula that created water and heated it up at the same time would use even more essence than that. If it was left running around the clock, it would continue using up essence much like a snowball effect.
“A high quality spirit stone is being used as the core of all the magic artifacts in the house, so as long as that one is replenished with essence regularly, it’s fine,” Aishia answered easily.
“Spirit stone... That’s another term I haven’t heard of before.”
Celia sighed tiredly. Even though she had come to the bathroom to wash away her tiredness, it seemed to have the reverse effect on her.
“Come. I’ll teach you how to use the artifact,” Aishia beckoned in a calm voice.
“...Okay.” Celia put on a smile of resignation and followed Aishia, deciding to put herself at ease for now. Aishia then explained how to use the hot water artifacts placed along the bathtub. “Before you submerge yourself in the water, you first wash your body and hair. This is the soap.”
At Aishia’s suggestion, they started to wash their bodies first. She handed Celia a bottle with body wash inside.
Celia removed the lid from the bottle she received and checked the inside, her eyes widening quite a bit. “Huh? This is soap...? Wait, isn’t this a liquid?! And it smells really nice too!” She was even more stunned after sniffing the scent of the soap.
In the Strahl region, solid soap was the standard. On top of that, it was already considered a high class item — despite the quality itself being only so-so. It often smelled rather bad, too.
“I heard that the Ricca Guild was extending their hand toward the development of soap, but...” Perhaps it was because there had been issues in the development process, or the stock had simply been too low, Celia thought.
“This soap was made by Haruto.”
Celia’s eyes widen in shock. “Huh, really?!”
“Yeah. He made all kinds of soap while Miharu and the others were here. Miharu has approved of the quality of each one.” Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and maybe a face wash was enough if it were just a man living alone, but with Miharu and Aki around, Rio tried to make all the varieties of soap he learned to create in the village.
“Huh... T-Then, can I use it right away?” Celia asked with great interest. She was also interested in this Miharu girl whose name kept on coming up, but right now, her curiosity was
piqued toward the unknown but nice-smelling soap.
“Of course. What do you usually wash first? Your hair, body, or face?”
“Huh? Umm, maybe face? I have some light makeup on from the ceremony still.”
“Then use this one.” Aishia handed Celia the bottle with cleanser in it.
She first started with cleansing her face; after slowly and carefully washing off her makeup, she next washed her hair and body.
“Wow! My hair and skin feel completely different! It’s so much better than normal!” Celia said with a fully satisfied expression after everything had been washed.
“Let’s get into the bath, then,” Aishia suggested.
“Okay!” Celia replied cheerfully. Wrapping her hair up in a steamed towel, she carried her feet over to the bathtub and got inside it with Aishia.
“Wah, hah...” At the sensation of the hot water wrapping around her body, Celia unthinkingly let out a coquettish sound.
“So warm.” Aishia also smiled happily beside her.
“...I could get used to this.” Celia sank into the bath water and completely relaxed her entire body, letting the stress drain out. It was her first time sitting in a bath this large and deep.
“You can come here every day from here on out, you know,” Aishia said.
“I see... I look forward to it,” Celia giggled with a smile.
...It still doesn’t feel real, she thought sentimentally. Was it really okay for her to be this happy? When she thought about the family she left behind in the kingdom, guilt rose up within her and made her frown.
“From now on, you can think about the future with Haruto.” Aishia must have noticed the slight change in Celia’s expression, prompting her to speak. Celia widened her eyes.
“...Yeah, thank you. You always seem to be aloof, but you’re actually rather sharp, aren’t you?”
“That’s not true.” Aishia shook her head slowly. Suddenly, Celia grinned widely. “Hey, Aishia. I know you only woke up recently, but do you know anything about the past Rio?” she asked.
“I know everything there is to know about Haruto.”
Twilight Overture (Premium) Page 3
