Vol 3 Chapter 56 (1/2)

Chapter 56: Soakers in a Purifying Place

What is it-orrrrn?

Point Allocation (Criminal)

Mitotsudaira realized she was at a disadvantage

Once she entered the spring, her sensitive body was enveloped by the water that seemed to remake her and ht I would be outnumbered two to one!

She had no one to coone Sanored how s to soothe the heat of her wounds and Mary rubbed the water into her body to receive sos as a portion of the water spirits’ ether

The two Excaliburs were there, too One acted as a stand for a plate holding leftover breakfast and sweets The other floated in the water as their bodyguard Both of the it, so they would ood defenders even if they could not act as a cannon

Everyone is preparing in their oay, thought Mitotsudaira as she suddenly felt a stone in the sand below her soaking feet She reached doard the botto water had mostly turned to sand and she picked up a round stone that had been polished by the sand

She then recalled the night before

…One of e, wasn’t it?

One thing still bothered her about that battle When she had thrown that stone at Mouri-01, she had achieved a reater speed than expected It had alers and it had seemed like a failure, but it had had even more speed and accuracy than normal

…What was that?

There was a chance she would have to face her ain, so she wanted to understand all of her power The idea of finding “more power than she expected” was quite attractive

But when she threw this stone, it fleith standard speed and inertia before falling into the water

It was exactly what she expected

It had none of the speed fro froht?”

“Hm? What is it, Mito-tsan?”

“Ah”

She turned around and saw the other two girls tilting their heads

She realized they orried about her, so she decided not to hide it

“Uht, ree two nodded to urge her on, which er filled her heart, but she decided to stay positive, took a breath, and opened her mouth

“I threw that stone faster than even I expected, so I was trying to figure out the exact tier”

She could not exactly say she orried about her strength, but the large two exchanged a glance and Mary spoke first

“You probably won’t know unless you try to throith all your ht while in a sierous if you did do it here?”

“You’re right about that”

Mitotsudaira could only smile bitterly, but Naito continued

“I do re throw, but I didn’t realize you didn’t know the trick to it”

…That throw looked fast to Margot too?

That s

Mitotsudaira questioned it while suppressing her impatient desire to learn what that throw had been

“My pain was cut off, so I should have been weaker than nor like that before”

“It was a natural stone, so I doubt how you were holding it ?”

“Hmm”

The three of therew

“Well, this isn’t really the time, so I can think about it more later”

She had definitely pulled off an unusually fast throw

She only had to investigate it and pursue the ansithout rushi+ng things or disturbing her thoughts

If she could obtain that same kind of speed…

“It would be a powerful weapon for irls did look toward her

After a while, they se”

Mary sat on her sword and Naito spread her wings on the water and lay on them like a bench Naito looked up at the sky visible between the tree branches and stretched a little

“I wonder what Ga-chan’s doing right now We’re having a ton of fun here, but theytheir own troubles”

“You and Lady Naruze certainly are close Did you grow up together?”

“Yeah, but we didn’t use to get along all that well”

…Eh? Should you really be telling her that?

Mitotsudaira turned toward Naito and the Technohexen waved toward her so Mary wouldn’t notice

She was saying not to worry about it and she s

“Telling this kind of story is nice every once in a while”

“It happened during elementary school,” explained Naito

…A lot happened even back then

Mitotsudaira wondered if Naito was re

“Ga-chan and I didn’t get along too well back then, but we started living in the dorms for middle school The rooms were chosen by a lottery and we ended up in the same one Neither of us would talk to the other and we lived co in the saht a troubled hand to her cheek “Then how did you start to get along so well?”

She kno to listen to a story, thought Mitotsudaira while also wondering if Naito should really tell the rest of the story

Regardless, Naito kicked at the water to turn her wings boat so she faced Mary

Naito gave Mitotsudaira a look, so she gently h the water to approach the other two Mary slid her butt along Excalibur and nodded her way, but…

…Tenzou should really make a contract to worshi+p the butt God

Mitotsudaira smiled bitterly and only rested her elbows on the board

Was she being a coward to think it rong for an English and Hexagone Française girl to sit right next to each other?

Still, she was close enough to sense the girl’s body heat It felt ticklish It must have been the same for Mary because she let her hair soak in the sun and warrabbed soe Anye continued our silence for a while, but it was a stressful enough life that our feathers started co too seriously and we tried to conore each other”

Mitotsudaira re middle school when she had been pretty disobedient herself Seeing Naito and Malga back then had given her a certain thought

…We’ll eventually break apart

She had thought she was correct and mature to see it that way

“But for dinner and other ht? So one day I was eating dinner at the chancellor’s place… Oh, ere ignoring each other, but we’ddinner at the chancellor’s place Anyway, it wasto leave, the chancellor, orking there that day, said ‘take this’ and gave e circle with her hands

“The tart was tooit was about tirow up, so I prepared a table in our dorot there…”

“Yes?” urged Mary

“Judge” Naito scratched at her head “At first, she tried to protest, but when I asked her if she wanted to eat so When I asked her why, she said it was her birthday Apparently, her family used to always make a strawberry tart to celebrate her birthday”

And…

“Each year, she would eat a tart on her own at Blue Thunder, but she hadn’t been able to that year since it was my turn She could have waited until the next day, but she felt celebrating her own birthday both alone and a day late would just be too sad But then I asked her if she wanted to eat some of the tart I apparently reminded her of old tiain and again while crying, I looked and her and, well…”

Yeah

“It really turnedthe story!?

Naito waved a hand to say not to worry about it, but it was possible she just had no sense of ard

“Anyway,” she said with a s her into the bed and didn’t stop until I’d had my fill”

Should you really tell her that? wondered Mitotsudaira as she glanced over at Mary

Mary however nodded a few ti a tart in bed is bada delinquent would do”

“Ma-yan, you’re just plain a!”

A small chill ran down Mitotsudaira’s spine, but the source of the chill calmly smiled and spoke

“There sure are a lot of ways for people to get along I still have so much to learn about all of you”

Mary turned her usual smile toward Mitotsudaira

She was really close, neither of the to hide themselves with, and the water had ave Mitotsudaira a good view of Mary’s scars

Staring at someone’s scars was rude, but it was hard to look at Mary without also looking at her scars and they seemed to shi+ne in the dairl’s pride, but that was because she knehat had happened in England and because of her own knightly way of thinking

…But how does she see therown a lot closer last night Would they become classmates and friends just like Naito and Naruze had and like everyone else in the class had?

But, she thought That boy anted to pursue himself was almost always involved for the rest of us

He was nearby now too, but would he help here?

Would she end up using his help to build a bond between herself and Mary?

“Is so the matter, Lady Mitotsudaira?”

“Oh, I think Mito-tsan saw her otta be it”

“Th-that is not it”

As soon as she said that, herthat led to the candy house

Mitotsudaira looked up in surprise and saw her mother remove her shi+rt with a smile

“Oh, dear Nate, don’t tell me you’re jealous of my body”

“Oh!”

Naito looked up and saw Mitotsudaira’sher eyes toward her daughter

“Heh heh Nate, what do you think? I’ve still got it, don’t I?”

…Sh-she’s provoking ain!

Then her ht, but the wo

She had entered the water silently

…What was that!?

There was no splash, but nothing strange had happened Her initial velocity had been high, but she had slowed down just before arriving It was likely a ravity

But once the wo, she lifted the water with her body and stood up as if carrying it She then looked down at Mitotsudaira’s hands and feet

“Nate, you had both a manicure and a pedicure done? But when I did that for you, you said it felt too hot and refused to ever have it done again”

“I-it helps ht”

“I see Then do you want to kno to ood one?”

“Oh,” said Naito with a nod of understanding She held Excalibur out toward the mother to offer her some food “I know that one You make it froht? And it gives you the divine protection you need to protect them and be protected by them”

“Testament I use my husband’s for htly licked theh, nodded, and looked to the mother’s nails

“Loup-Garous have a lot of different spells like that, don’t they?”

“If we have ti, I can teach you how to do it”

“Um, but mother?”

“What is it, Nate? Not even the farow I ah”

“W-wait Can you stop uard which caused Excalibur to shake Mary grabbed the hilt on the other end to keep her balance and her shoulders were shaking The term “family shame” filled Mitotsudaira’s mind and she blushed

However…

“Oh?”

Her question ca fro! Is soht while the others gasped Naito also gave a cheer, wrapped herself in her wings, and sank into the water Mary said “oh, my” and only hid her chest

…Wh-why do they seem so calm!?

However, her mother was the last one to react She placed her hands on her cheeks and wiggled back and forth

“Oh, noooo! A peeping to!”

…C-curse this mother of mine!!

The fact that herlike that annoyed her all thea divine mail to her father, but she remembered how tolerant he could be and that he liked how her et so excited Simply put, her only choice was to bear with it

Wait A out in this family? she wondered, but she decided not to think about it tooto be a young girl to be any use, so she would have to deal with this threat herself She grabbed the ee

“Quit peeping and show yourself, chancellor!!”

She received an ie behind her

“That’s what I’ot permission to look now!!”

She heard the idiot’s voice and the sound of parting underbrush

…Eh?

Unexpectedly, they both came from behind her and she did indeed see the two boys when she turned around

“Oh, Master Tenzou?” said Mary “Are you here for a bath, too?”

Mitotsudaira screamed

As the scream stretched into the sky, Tenzou held back the idiot

“Nwoooh, Toori-dono! Mary-dono is in there, so you can’t look! You can’t!”

“Eh? Master Tenzou, I don’ther say that with her hands on her cheeks was enough to send his excite upwards, but he also sensed Mitotsudaira’s presence covering her body with her ar herself up to her chin

Tenzou soon finished tying the idiot to a nearby tree

“Now, then”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait Hey, you’re in the way! Completely in the way! I can’t see down there! I can’t see!”

I would love to look too, you know? he silently agreed while keeping his back to the spring and blocking Toori’s view The idiot’s expression was one of pure despair

“Kh… A-all I want to do is see soirls!”

“That’s a hell of an expression for only wanting to see so”

But…

He noticed another presence on the opposite edge of the spring

…A beast?

He looked in the spot Mitotsudaira had noticed earlier and saw the underbrush shaking as so walked out froed is here,” commented the Reine des Garous

Tenzou did his best not to look dohile checking the northern edge of the spring

“An oblong s?”

“No-orrrrn”

He saw four oblong white things that were twofrom their body itself They looked like short daikon radishes, they were supported by four wiry legs, and what seele horn

There were four in all As Tenzou wondered what kind of creatures they were, the Reine des Garous explained fro

“These are the famous forest spirits known as unicorns”

“Unicorns?”

Righteousness, a God of ith blue canine arside it Righteousness was holding the Palais-Cardinal’s hand because the silver God of as still having trouble walking properly, but Anne stood on the Palais-Cardinal’s shoulder while providing infors which faded away toward the feet and had the God of war move its hips forward

“Yes When unicorns run, the trees move out of the way and the underbrush and earth make sure not to obstruct their feet They are the fastest creatures…no, spirits to one Française sure has a lot of spirits and non-hu fah I’land would tell you differently Most of the nobles, royals, beasts, and spirits chose to live in Hexagone Française’s mountains, forests, and headwaters And of course, that includes the unicorns The Reine des Garous rules most of the forested areas and even the unicorns are her prey”

Anne laughed quietly and the Palais-Cardinal moved forward

“My friend is powerful …Noill you stick with er for my rehabilitation? If we circle the western fortress, it should raise the morale of the defenders”

Immediately after that, Yoshi+yasu heard a loud sound The MHRR warriors on the western bank of the Elbe River had fired a canon

“It’s only a blank They fire them every day to scare us …They do it on a whim to make sure we can’t relax and they’ll probably continue until toht”

“Testament The Far East uses the same sort of threats and restraints They must be devoted to the basics”

…Come to think of it, there are probably Far Eastern warriors in their ranks