Chapter 14 – Second Day with Alicia (1/2)

Alicia and I sat together, enjoying the warmth of each others bodies as we basked in the afterglow of coming so much closer to each other.

It was such a minor thing, but for us to exchange names, even though mine was literally received from her just now, would normally be such a minor thing and the first thing done when two people met, it was a big step for us to come closer since we would be living together from then on.

But that same act took a toll on Alicia's small body.

Rather, the excitement had finally dissipated and now she was openly yawning.

”I guess it's getting late. Let's go to sleep”

”Mmmm”

The little girl rubbed her cloudy eyes as she drowsily nodded.

I got up to make room on the couch so that she could lay down.

But I felt a tug on my sleeve as I tried to go and clean up after dinner.

”...can...can we sleep...together...?”

Alicia's cloudy eyes were filled with unease and worry. I didn't even consider it before, but it was a given that being abandoned by her family, even if it was so that they wouldn't starve, would've been a traumatizing experience for such a little child.

”Sure. That's not a problem. Just give me a sec”

When her little fingers let go of my sleeve, I walked to the edge of the room and made a rudimentary coat hanger from the leftovers of the iron ingot I'd been using, and hung my clothes on it as I stripped down.

(My clothes aren't suitable for sleeping in. They'd just get in the way of Alicia having a restful sleep.)

The couch wasn't big enough for two people to sleep on normally, so the only way was for Alicia to lie on top of my body like before. The leather of my chest wrap and pants would be uncomfortable for her, and my robes could get tangled with her body as she slept.

I could technically wear my tank top, but if Alicia drooled in her sleep, it would be another thing I had to wash, so I opted to go without it.

Now that I was only in my panties, I went back to the couch, lifted Alicia's frail body against mine, and lay down on the couch and draped the pelt she had wrapped around her body on top to keep warm.

We lay both facing up, with Alicia's head on my inflated chest like a pillow, but she immediately turned around and hugged me, burying her face in my chest.

Her thin arms pulled her body as tightly against mine as they could, even though they trembled slightly. In return, I wrapped my arms around her body and slowly stroked her bare back.

Alicia's breathing slowed and shallowed, and eventually the strength left her tired body as she drifted to sleep.

I on the other hand was stuck there, unable to move, only able to curse my biology for being unable to sleep.

I absently wondered how many hours I'd have to keep up this position until Alicia woke up.

(...I need to make her some clothes)

The rags that she wore weren't suitable for anyone outside of the most desperate of times. It only barely offered modesty, and did basically nothing to protect her body from the elements. She'd probably be cold even here in the fountain room where there's no wind to chill her.

I could make something pretty quick with the spare fur I had laying around, but a proper outfit suited her better. That meant working on the loom again. I thought back to that machine that I left on the 80th floor. I had barely touched it since making my robes, being so time consuming to make even the most basic thing.

But there wasn't any way around it. All the cloth drops in the dungeon were magical, and I still didn't know what sort of properties they had. It was too much of a risk to use any of them, so I was stuck making them from the threads that I can loot from various monsters.

So in the end, food and clothes were at the top of my priority list. I still had leftover ingredients so breakfast wasn't a problem, but I'd have to go out to get lunch. The time and effort for me wasn't a big deal, but I felt uneasy about leaving such a young child all alone while I went out to get ingredients.

But a child didn't belong in a dungeon, especially a blind one that wouldn't have the means to know how and when to hide.

The only way to deal with that would be to just be as quick as I could and come back, leaving Alicia alone for as little time as possible.

On the other side, clothes wasn't too much of a problem. I already had all the materials to make her several outfits.

Anything after that can be left for later. There wasn't much point in planning until we had some time to talk properly after Alicia wakes up.

Shoving those thoughts to the back of my mind, I opened up my status window to examine the source code once again.

Last time, I was working on making a skill to resist sunlight, but that completely fell apart. Instead, it was probably better to concentrate on understanding how the system worked first. There didn't seem to be any sort of manual or help files, so I've have to decipher the syntax manually.

One by one, I read through the source code on the skills I owned. Not only did doing so allowed me to learn how the coding language worked, but it also helped me to understand my skills to a deeper level.

For example, [Arcane Magic] was the most ambiguous magic skill I had. Arcane was a type of magic typically, usually beside divine and maybe a few others. Normally arcane would indicate the source of magic along with the types of magic that could be cast using it, but in this world, [Arcane Magic] was actually just a synonym for 'unaspected'. Basically it covered all the magic that the other magic skills didn't cover, which would be the six major elements of this world.

But by reading the source code, I got a better understanding than simply 'miscellaneous'.

I had already been using it to levitate and move objects around, but in reality it was the basis of all magic skills. It effectively functioned as a manipulation of force and energy. On Earth, energy was the currency of the universe, and that meant that if you could control energy, you could control everything. Obviously that wasn't actually possible and was only a theory. Over here though, [Arcane Magic] was exactly that, control over energy. But the difference was that energy seemed to be more strictly defined here than on Earth.

Energy seemed to include kinetic and thermal energy, as well as gravitational and electromagnetic force. But in addition to those, it included mana. From a fundamental level, it was incredibly powerful and versatile.

But it wasn't all powerful. The six elemental magic systems were much more limited in scope, but were proportionately stronger and more efficient.

Just this knowledge was an incredible find. I didn't know how much the people of this world understood how [Arcane Magic] worked, but it was hard to imagine that they knew exactly where the limits of the skill was.

It was a surprising benefit to my administrator privileges.

”Mmmmm”

As I continued to read and analyze through my skills' source codes, Alicia shifted in her sleep, bringing my attention to her for a second.

A quick glance suggested that there wasn't anything wrong, but I lightly rubbed her back just in case and went back to reading my skills' code.

”Mmmm...chu”

”Uah!”

Suddenly there was a strange feeling on my chest. It was like a pulling or sucking sensation, but the way it felt was alien as a shiver ran down my spine in time with sensation growing stronger and weaker.

I lifted up the fur blanket again. Alicia had shifted a little again, but that wasn't what was important. She was suckling in her sleep, and the feeling of it was making my body burn up.

Unable to stand the feeling on my chest, I desperately tried to suppress the need to squirm, yet my knees rubbed against each other against my will.

I couldn't let her keep doing this at all, so I moved my hands to try to force her off, or at least wake her up, but instead I froze.

”Ma...ma....mama....”

There were tears running down Alicia's face as she whispered that word in between sucks.

In an instant, she put me between a rock and a hard place.

As I was stuck there trying to debate what I should do, in the end the need to comfort this little girl won over. I squeezed her small body between my arms as I stroked her head.

I needed to prevent this from occurring ever again, but for now I lost to her anxiety.

My mind moved away from trying to learn about the system to trying to get Alicia to not suckle on me tomorrow night.

”MMmmmmm....mmmm...?”

”...morning Alicia...”

”...! Ah! Ahh...good morning Scarlet...!”

Finally, after suckling on and off in her sleep for who knows how many time, Alicia woke up and pushed herself upright, propping herself up with her hands pressing on my belly. She jerked up when I called her name, but calmed down after her mind cleared.

I, on the other hand, was wiped out. To think that I'd be feeling so tired while doing practically nothing. I felt like being unable to sleep an entire night and being forced to go to work anyways. Well, I can't sleep in general, but the conjured memories of that actually happening in my last life made me sigh.

But my personal condition aside, for some reason Alicia stiffed up again right after she relaxed.

”...Did...I do something wrong....?”

”Hmm? What do you mean?”

”Maybe I did something while sleeping...?”

(Was that a habit she had from before?!)

The prospect that this would continue no matter what I tried filled me with dread, but I did my best to play it smooth for now.

”What makes you think that?”

”Your body is really stiff, a lot more than when we went to sleep”

Alicia bit her thumb as she nervously said.

(Ah, that's why)

”Don't worry too much about it. It's my first time sleeping with someone”

(Technically I didn't sleep though)

”cough...okay...?”

Alicia tilted her head cutely after a second's delay.

”But first thing's first. I need you to get off of me so I can make breakfast”

”Ah! Right!”

The little girl quickly shifted over to sit on the couch cushion so I could move.

I got up and walked over to get dressed, but noticed how uncomfortable my underwear had become. My eyes flickered to Alicia for a second. She was staring right at me while pulling the furs we used as a blanket around her naked body to keep warm.

Despite being well aware that she was completely blind, my face grew hot at being stared while virtually naked, also despite having both bathed together and slept mostly nude together.

I removed my underwear and tossed it into the now cold water in the bathtub before reaching for my clothes. But as I grabbed for my chest wrap, the feeling of something wet sliding down my belly made me reconsider. There was saliva dripping down my body.

Before letting it get onto my clothes, I levitated a pelt over and wiped myself down before getting clothed. The chest wrap and tank top went on, then I went over to wash my panties before using [Arcane Magic] to evaporate all the water off of it in a new application I just came up with. The benefits of learning the background details of my skills had already shown itself, even if it was pretty mundane.

I left my hat, robes, gloves, pants, and boots for later. There wasn't much need in putting it on until I headed out to hunt.

”Okay then...breakfast...”

In the corner of my eye, Alicia jerked up to my words and a faint grumble came. It looked like I'd spent more time than I should've. I had to get used to the fact that whenever I did anything, there was someone who would be waiting until I finished.

There was a serious lack of ingredients, especially in variety, but I had to make do.

I started by heating the stone pan on a magical flame and greased the surface. As that was going on, I skinned then diced up the remaining potatoes then soaked them in a bowl of water drawn from the fountain. Next, I ground up the last of the wheat in a mortar, then mixed it with some water to make a paste.

On another plate, I diced up half an onion and shredded a quarter of a carrot with my claws, then after draining the potatoes, I mixed them all together in a bowl with some salt and pepper. Once the stone pan was hot enough, I poured the mixture onto it, making four small patties.

While that cooked, I cut up an apple into slices and removed the seeds and put them onto a small wooden plate. Next, I shaped some stone into a cup and squeezed some oranges to fill it.