Volume 2 Chapter 7 (1/2)

[Youya, Welcome back!] (Luna)

[As told, we changed the princess’s clothes and washed her body. Be thankful okay, it was hard work.] (Til)

[Thanks, you two. Here’s your reward.] (Youya)

During the short shopping trip earlier, i had bought a bunch of fruits that resembled apples in my previous life. I threw those fruits towards the two girls and the two of them happily caught them.

It must have been really tough since the princess was encased in the cocoon for almost three days, she was unable to change her clothes and since she couldn’t move, various stuff came out, staining her clothes. It wasn’t just a hygiene issue. If the person had woken up in that state it would had been a terrible experience to be seen so Til did a good job. I couldn’t be the one doing it since it’ll be bad if she woke up and saw a male cleaning her up. Although the girl with silver hair was alive, her body was still very weak. After escaping the Starfish Larvae, the blackening process caused by the curse began to slowly fade away. Her blackified skin was slowly reverting to its normal pale white. At this rate it should be about 2 hours before the curse completely disappears The pouch she was carrying also had several water bottles and preserved meals remaining, however after she was caught by the spider she was unable to even consume that. Starvation is one of the reasons why she is currently this fragile. Little by little, I poured the recovery potion into her mouth while Luna and Til were anxiously watching over the girl.

[She’s very pretty.] (Luna)

[Right? Although the two of us are pretty cute ourselves, she is on a different level. Looks like my sister has a new competitor.] (Til)

[Til, you shouldn’t go around calling yourself cute.] (Youya)

[But it’s the truth right? There aren’t many girls that look like me and Luna around you know.] (Til)

I can’t refute her point. Luna and Til are both cute girls in their own rights. Although I think it’s better to be cute than beautiful though. The princess could be the very definition of the word “beautiful”. She is probably around 16 to 18 years old right now. I knew that she would grow up to be a very pretty girl but I didn’t expect her to look this beautiful.

[Luna, Til. This girl is in a precarious situation right now. It’ll be bad to let anyone see her here so we will be waiting here until she wakes up. Since it’s about time for dinner, heres some money. Both of you head over to the bar.. Actually, I’m afraid of leaving the two of you in the bar too. Both of you go get whatever you’ll like from the restaurant in the inn as a reward for your hard work today.] (Youya)

Although I’ll like to have dinner together with them, someone has to be around when the princess wakes up. I have also thought about sending the princes to a hospital. However a situation when the princess of the Laluzulu Kingdom was eaten by the Starfish Larvae in Greenwood is far from normal. There is likely a conspiracy going on behind the scenes. It is unwise to bring the princess to the hospital since we don’t know who might be an enemy. That’s why after we got out of the dungeon, I hid my face with the hat and wrapped the princess in a cloth to hide our identities.

[No can do. If Youya isn’t here then the food won’t taste good.] (Luna)

[Uhn uhn. Anyway since the bar opens late at night, its fine for us to wait here. In the meantime let’s have some snacks!. Jajan!. Here’s some nuts that I picked up in the forest of God Trees! It was a popular snack back in the elve’s village too.] (Til)

[That’s perfect. Til.] (Luna)

[Enjoy~.] (Til)

[It’s delicious. Til is a reliable person.] (Luna)

Luna and Til began to munch on some dubious-looking nuts. It’s not good if I’m not there huh. They are good children that are wasted on someone like me.

[I understand. Then we’re remain here together until this girl wakes up. Are the two of you tired? You should get some sleep.] (Youya)

[Uhn. I’ll sleep. After eating some nuts I feel sleepy.] (Luna)

[This is our preparation to become night owls!] (Ti)

The two of them got into the bed together and fell asleep. It’s nice that they are getting along well.

While Luna and Til fell asleep, I continued to read a book while sitting next to the sleeping princess, occasionally feeding her a recovery potion. When the body is in a poor condition, feeding too much of a potion may cause it to have an inverse effect, thus it’s much more beneficial to feed it little by little instead.

Just like this, about two hours has passed. Then the princess’s eyelids began to move.

[NOOOO. THE SPIDER. THE SPIDER AHHHHH.] (Princess Lutra)

The princess started to scream uncontrollably, waking up Luna and Til. I grabbed the princess’s shoulders firmly and looked straight into her eyes.

[Calm down. I defeated the Hunting Spider and we’re outside of the dungeon. You are safe now.] (Youya)

[Outside? I was rescued?] (Princess Lutra)

With a half-trusting half dubious look, the princess began to scan her surroundings. After realising that we were inside a building, she heaved a sigh of relief.

[When we were inside the dungeon after being eaten by the Starfish Larvae, we defeated a Hunting Spider and found you inside a cocoon on it’s back. Afterwards we left the dungeon and brought you to this inn in Greenwood.] (Youya)

After realising she was safely within Greenwood, strength left the princess’s body and she collapsed. In a state of shock, I hurriedly grabbed her body to support her.

[I’m glad that I was saved. I’m glad.] (Princess Lutra)

After being in that dungeon for an extended period of time, she began to cry and I continued to hug her in silence. Embracing a girl without her consent is an invasion of privacy, however it is precisely at these sort of timings where she needs to have someone by her side to give her a sense of security. Although I tried to release her, she continued to stay in my arms and I gently patted her back. After she calmed down, we resetted the situation and faced each other. The princess opened her eyes.

[Uncle Youya..] (Princess Lutra)

[I didn’t think that you would remember me. It’s been a while, Princess Lutra.] (Youya)

She was the 6 year old princess that I met while on a quest a decade ago. However, it seems that she still remembered my face vividly.

[After all, Uncle Youya is Lutra’s knight right?] (Princess Lutra)

We hugged each other once more, this time with her face leaning onto my chest. Witnessing such a scene, only one person had a different reaction. Luna’s ears began twitching and she ran towards me, pulling me away from Lutra while clinging onto me like a koala. Then, she said towards Lutra.

[Youya belongs to Luna.] (Luna)

It was her usual childish reaction. Her statement being a threat towards Lutra, with her fluffy fox tail repeatedly slapping the bed.

[It’s nice to see that some things will never change. Back when you came to Laluzulu, Phil had reacted in the exact same way towards me.] (Princess Lutra)

[It seems that I was born under a weird star I guess.] (Youya)

I am often being hugged by girls like this. Speaking of it, Phil did show this sort of childish reactions similar to Luna back when we first met Lutra. Seems that the two of them were both jealous of Lutra.