12-2. Journey to the Royal Capital (2)

Satou's here. The story of Amaterasu-Oomikami hiding in the cave behind a rock is famous. Though I think there aren't many people who know about the hidden reason as to why the goddess hid herself in the cave.

◇

Now then, I'd have liked to see it if Nana acted as the Ame-no-Uzume, but judging from the usual pattern, it's probably going to be Arisa or the other little girl member.

I stand up without hesitation and step forward before the closed door that separates us from Lady Karina.

I cut off sounds with wind magic, and then use [Clairvoyance] and [Magic Hand] magic at the same time to unlock the door with the key from the other side.

It's scary if this combo is used to do crime, but if someone can use [Wind Magic], [Space Magic], and [Force Magic], they should be able to succeed in life even without becoming a criminal.

I entered the bedroom while thinking such a trivial thing.

Raka is flickering blue light on the table.

It's quite rare for Lady Karina to not wear Raka. She usually even wears it during her sleep....

Judging from Raka's flickering state, it probably had noticed my intrusion, but since Lady Karina didn't warn him, it's guarding her silently.

Unfortunately--err, fortunately, Lady Karina is still wearing the clothes from before, lying her face down on the bed, sulking.

No, checking the map, she isn't in [Sleeping] state, so she's still awake.

"Karina-sama, I've heard that you weren't feeling well, how are you feeling now?"

I whisper to Lady Karina near the bedside.

Lady Karina who's surprised jumps out of the bed and puts her back on the board that's on the wide bed.

Oops, I approached her silently since I had used magic to erase sound when I unlocked the door....

Let's feign ignorance.

"Did I surprise you?"

Lady Karina's face has inconspicuously reddened while her mouth is opening and closing, the area around her eyes look red.

....She was really surprised huh.

Looks like she was frustrated about losing, her moist eyes are violently sexy.

I float Aze-san in my mind to hold back my desire.

"Please be still."

"...Yes...."

While pretending to wipe the area around her eyes with a handkerchief, I heal it with magic. It's good now.

Lady Karina has closed her eyes, and Raka shouldn't be able to see me invoking magic since my body is in the way, so it should be fine.

However, Lady Karina is still closing her eyes even after I've done wiping her eyes.

--She's too vulnerable.

I'm a carnivore-type man after all, so I could end up kissing and pushing you down you know?

"I've wiped your eyes. It's alright to open them now."

After opening and closing her mouth for a moment, Lady Karina looks at me, dumbfounded.

She matches eyes with mine and seems to be dissatisfied about something, and then she puffs her cheeks.

"Satou is mean desuwa!"

The pillow thrown by Lady Karina hits my face.

◇

"It's the arrival of the dish nodesu!"

"Karage mountains~?"

Pochi and Tama jumped into the room while saying so.

They're spreading sweet atmosphere while I'm being troubled as to how to handle the sullen Lady Karina, so they've honestly saved me.

"Un, it smells nice."

"Snatching food is no good nanodesu!"

Pochi scolded me when I was going to taste the dish.

"It's just food tasting, tasting."

"It can't be helped if it's tasting nodesu."

"Tama is tasting too~"

"Pochi will also not hesiteta to taste it nodesu."

Pochi, that should be [Hesitate].

I take the karage from the plate that Tama's holding and then put them into Pochi's and Tama's mouth.

Next, I put one into mine.

Lulu has become even more skilled. Isn't she already better than me with my maximum cooking skill?

Since Lady Karina beside me was looking enviously at Pochi and Tama, I also present one into her mouth that's opened slightly.

Maybe it's because I've put the karage into her mouth so suddenly, she's protesting while chewing it.

The reason why she doesn't yield, though, is probably because the karage that's in her mouth has no sin.

And then, Mia and Arisa who came a bit later returned here.

The two are wearing mantles that cover their whole bodies even though it's hot. I'm afraid to ask what are they wearing inside the mantle.

"Guilty."

Mia reacted by condemning guilty after looking at the atmosphere released by Lady Karina, but the ones that should be deemed guilty are you girls.

"Ara, you've already lured Oppa--Karina-sama out of her room?"

Arisa asked, although with slightly bad wording.

I wholeheartedly ignore the turbulent words from Arisa and Mia who are muttering in whispers, "Our bewitching clothes gone to waste", "Night", "Y, yeah you're right!"

Now then, I guess we might as well start the party?

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"Fumu, as expected of the works of the best labyrinth city chef."

"Delicious. I would have never thought that I'd be treated to the Phantom Chef's dishes in the airship."

The mithril explorers easily raised their voices of admiration once they tasted the party dishes Lulu had made.

We've invited the explorers who are in the dining hall and start a party since Lulu had made many dishes.

There were more people who participated that I had anticipated, so I had added more with the cooperation of the airship's kitchen staff.

Explorers who ride the airship are mostly males, but there are also 7-8 female explorers among them.

I thought that Lady Karina would make some friends with them since they were of the same female explorers, but my expectation was a miss.

Erina and Newbie-chan are forming a protective wall around her in one corner of the table, while she's continuing to eat.

The male explorers who are captivated by the demonic breasts and her beauty have just swarmed her just awhile ago, but since Lady Karina gets frightened when they approach her en masse, I've become stuck to be the one who ensure that no more than two people can approach her at a time, like a manager.

After some extent, it seems the male explorers perceived that Lady Karina was not interested, so they changed their target to the waitresses.

Nana is also surrounded by the male explorers, but she's handling it in "my pace" mode like usual. Looks like they're not experienced enough to break through Nana's impregnableness guard.

In exchange of the men who had disappeared, I introduced Lady Karina to the female explorers whom I had befriended during the party, but it didn't go well since they couldn't have a conversation for long.

I wanted to ask her why did she act so prickly even though the other parties had favorable impression about her during this occasion.

I was thankful that the female explorers didn't feel too offended even thought they had wry smiles.

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In one corner of the dining hall that's not too big, Mia begins her performance.

Looks like one of the explorers has asked her, she's playing the famous tune that's used for ballroom dancing in Shiga Kingdom.

The male and female explorers have begun dancing to the tune.

Everyone of them seems unused to it, maybe they never practice much.

"Please don't laugh at us. We are all commoners unlike Sir Pendragon and Jeril. Everyone wants to practice before we arrive at the Royal Capital."

"I won't laugh. Everyone is a beginner at the beginning."

The thirty-year old female explorer who was talking with Lady Karina earlier covered for the explorers who were dancing awkwardly.

They should be invited to parties from various nobles once they arrive at the Royal Capital. They're probably practicing the social dancing in order not to embarrass themselves when that happens.

This is just right.

I might as well have Lady Karina practice during this time.

"Now, Karina-sama. Let me have this dance."

"I-I won't dance."

"That is not good. Furthermore, even if you step on my foot here, no one will scold, laugh or be disappointed at you."

"But...."

I take the hand of Lady Karina who's shrinking back.

"I shall exercise my right as the winner now."

I exercise the right and take Lady Karina to the space where we can dance.

Arisa and the others protested, but they consented after I said that they could change place with Lady Karina once her dance practice is over.

After Lady Karina, the next one is going to be Lulu who has worked the hardest for this party.

"Karina-sama, please lean your body a bit more."

"Uu, i-it's embarassing desuwa."

I'm getting a bit stimulated to see Lady Karina being shy, but I have to concentrate teaching her to dance now.

Concentrate Satou.

You must not concentrate on the pair of miracles that are touching chest.

You cannot.

I teach Lady Karina how to dance while evading Mia's sharp glances.

"That's right. You're pretty good."

"...N, no way."

I praise her every time she's become better even a bit to remove her doubt.

"Don't be preoccupied with the footsteps you can't see. Please remember your footworks during battles."

"L-like this?"

"Yes, like that."

Lady Karina can't check her footsteps during the dance because of her all-to-great breasts. Her worries seems to increase due to that.

She's getting better little by little after I informed her to mix the steps with close combat footworks.

The dance cannot be said to be elegant, but it's a speedy sharp dance.

She just has to accumulate experiences afterward.

After Lady Karina, I dance with Lulu and our other girls, and then going with the flow, with Erina, Newbie-chan, and even the female explorers.

For some reason, in the end, I ended up instructing the male explorers the way to dance.

It was slightly hard, but getting the explorers indebted to me with only this is a cheap price to pay.

Just that, I was dumbfounded to see Arisa began breathing roughly when I became the partner of the male explorers as a way to teach them the dance steps.

◇

The airship we're riding has passed through the last rough mountains before the Royal Capital without any particular flying monsters attacking.

Now then, soon it's the Royal Capital.

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