Chapter 72: The Bathing Event

After lighting a fire, I listened to the girls laughing and splashing in the lake while I set simple traps around the area.

Since we’d finally found a chance to rest, I wanted them to relax after handling all the fighting on our journey.

That meant letting them forget about monsters for a while. They probably didn’t want to fight while undressed either.

I therefore planned to handle any monsters that attacked while they bathed.

Even so, I couldn't fight by flinging flashy skills everywhere. Instead, I strung traps of 'Hard Thread (M)' between the trees all around us.

I sat where I could still hear the girls and lightly touched one of the taut threads. The spider monster from which I’d stolen this skill had set similar traps for us. It had noticed the slightest contact, so I should know immediately if a monster approached.

As I kept watch, lightly tugging the thread, I suddenly felt it pull hard.

“Caught something. Here goes—Intermediate Magic: Lightning Paralysis!”

With one hand on the 'Hard Thread', I cast the paralysis spell. Electricity crackled through the thread. A moment later, something jerked it with tremendous force.

“BUMOOOO!”

A deep monster roar sounded, followed by the crash of something huge falling. I hurried toward the noise and found a giant boar-like monster collapsed and twitching.

"'Hard Thread' really is convenient."

I drew my sword and brought it down on the immobilized monster.

Perhaps combining the skills I’d stolen would let me defeat monsters without resorting to my large, conspicuous attacks.

“Waaah! Something weird appeared!”

Lilina’s tense shout came from the lake.

“None of the threads moved… Then it’s a monster in the water!”

Lilina and Alisha might not have their weapons while bathing.

I sprinted toward them.

At the center of the lake floated an enormous jellyfish-like monster.

In the shallows, mist faintly concealed the girls' backs. Their flawless pale skin almost made my heart leap, and I frantically shook my head.

This was no time for distractions. They were fighting a monster.

Lilina and Alisha splashed through the water, responding to its attacks.

“Yah!”

Lilina easily severed a tentacle that shot toward her. It splashed into the lake and dissolved, but another immediately regenerated in its place.

“Swift Wind… Sniping!”

Splash! Splash!

Alisha fired at the monster’s body, but it layered several transparent tentacles as a shield. Her arrow lost its momentum before reaching the core.

Both appeared to be struggling.

“Lilina! Alisha! Are you all right?”

“”L-Lloyd-sama?!””

Their voices cracked when I arrived. I immediately looked away from them and toward the monster.

“I-it’s fine. At this distance, the mist makes it hard to…see much.”

It would have been dishonest to say I couldn’t see at all, so I blurred the wording and concentrated on the monster.

Ordinarily, I would have turned away entirely, but doing that in front of an enemy was impossible.

“Wait. I remember that monster. It’s the one from the bathing scene.”

I’d seen that transparent jellyfish-like monster before.

In a fan-service episode during the anime’s first season, Lilina and Alisha had been temporarily captured by it.

Its body consisted of water, and it couldn’t be killed unless you destroyed the red crystal—something like a magic stone—at its core.

As I remembered, the girls spoke in unusually high voices.

“W-we know its weak point, but our attacks won’t reach it.”

“I-its body is like water, so it kills the momentum of my arrows.”

I scratched my cheek at their obvious discomfort.

It was difficult for them to fight with me watching, wasn’t it?

"Um… If I cast 'Support' and close my eyes for ten seconds, can you finish it?"

“Y-yes. In that case, leave it to us.”

Hearing Alisha regain some composure, I extended my left hand and activated the skill.

“Support.”

Green light enveloped all three of us. I immediately bowed my head and shut my eyes.

“Swift Wind, Swift Wind, Swift Wind… Sniping!”

SHOOOM! SPLASH!

I heard an arrow streak with extraordinary force and water explode. Even allowing for 'Support', it sounded vastly more powerful than the earlier attacks.

I counted ten seconds amid the splashing, then slowly lifted my head and opened my eyes.

For some reason, Lilina and Alisha were standing shyly while facing me. Their cheeks were scarlet, and their wet hair looked strangely alluring.

“Um… Would Lloyd-sama like to join us after all?”

Lilina asked hesitantly. Alisha silently looked up at me too.

Facing a situation likely to get me reported to the authorities, I frantically shook my head.

I’d often cursed steam and fog for getting in the way during anime scenes, but now I truly understood their importance.

…This was far too dangerous for my heart in several different ways.

Anyone invited by the heroines of an anime they’d always watched would be unsettled.

Concealing my pounding heart, I moved a short distance from the lake and resumed keeping watch for monsters.