Ch 136.1
Translator: Jimi Editor: Ryunakama
—The next day, at a suitable timing, we took a horse-drawn carriage to Izu. We arrived at Izu Port City after a few days, then we set sail from Izu towards Southern Island.
「It was nice to see the kids after such a long time. Everyone looked healthy too…」
「Good for you, Shirushu!」
While I was buying the tickets for the ship, Shirushu, who had been living in Izu until recently, went to see the children of the church.
I also showed up briefly and saw that everyone was glad to reunite after a long time.
「Southern Island is pretty close to here, isn’t it?」
「We should reach in about two hours.」
Blessed with clear skies and a nice sea breeze, the ship advanced steadily.
Milly was in high spirits, running around on the deck of the ship. Meanwhile, Claude and the rest were watching over her.
Hey, you’d better not get seasick and throw up again.
「Ah! I see it! Isn’t that it?」
After a while, we could spot some land in the distance.
Everyone turned to look in the direction in which Milly was pointing.
Looks like that’s Southern Island?
As we approached the island, we could see fish swimming in the crystal-clear water.
It was still in the morning, but a few people were already seen playing on the beach.
「Waa, they look like they’re having fun! I can’t wait to go play!」
「…Well, that’s fine, but don’t forget that we still have our commission to complete. Don’t get too crazy, alright?」
「I know, I know ♪ You should look forward to seeing us in our swimsuits, Zeph! Hee hee!」
Milly laughed cheerfully.
Her face radiated with joy under the sunlight, like a sunflower swaying in the ocean breeze.
◆ ◆ ◆
At the same time, there was a small boat drifting along the coast of the island that was just behind the place where Zeph and his friends were.
It was at a cove, surrounded by steep cliffs where no one would stop by.
On top of the battered boat laid a man who had already passed away.
–Immediately after a particularly strong wave came in, flames engulfed the boat. Despite being on the water, the flames incinerated both the boat and the man’s body.
On top of the cliffs, two men watched the scene unfold below them…
The Southern Island was a place with an everlasting summer, therefore it was a resort island where rich people and adventurers would come to spend their leisure time.
The island was home to rare flora and fauna, and the sea, forests, and beautiful nature were so attractive that people from all over the world would flock here during the holiday season.
However, there were small dungeon spots scattered around the island. If left unchecked, the number of monsters would increase, hindering tourism.
This was why the island’s management would hire adventurers to exterminate the monsters before the holiday season.
The Sti Beetles we were asked to exterminate this time have a habit of eating the garbage that people have thrown away and storing it in their bodies. Occasionally, they would even attack the tourists to obtain items that they have yet to dispose of.
In terms of experience or money, it was not profitable to hunt the Sti Beetle. However, in exchange, adventurers who come to exterminate it are allowed to play freely on the island, hence many undertake the job.
Due to the low level of difficulty in defeating the monsters on Southern Island, the monster-subjugation requests here were fairly popular.
「Waa~ ♪ The sea is so beautiful!」
Milly jumped off the boat and ran along the pier, flailing her arms about enthusiastically.
Hey, you’re getting too excited. Please don’t fall off.
We followed Milly onto the island, and after all the passengers had disembarked, the ship sailed off towards Izu.
For a while, we watched the ship go further into the distance. Then, Milly turned towards the beach.
「Alright then! Let’s go for a swim now!」
「I agree. The sun is still high up too.」
「Geez Clau-chan, you’re already holding your swimming float around you, you don’t have to act calm~」
「Th-this is just in case I fall into the water… Eh, please don’t push me, Lydia-san!」
When Lydia used her elbow to nudge the striped swimming float, Claude lost her balance and grabbed onto Shirushu’s tail.
「Hyaa!?」
「Awawawawa!?」
When Shirushu suddenly had her tail grabbed, she also grabbed onto Milly’s hair which happened to be close by. At that, Milly stumbled and her hand landed on Lydia’s breast, which she grasped.
「Wait… Milly-chan… Ahn!」
At the sudden assault, even Lydia could not respond in time, and the four girls fell into the ocean.
Meanwhile, Silverie and I watched from the pier, dumbfounded.
Geez, what are they doing?
「Puha!」
Milly’s head emerged from the water, while in her hand was Lydia’s top.
Usually, Lydia only wears a crop top.
It greatly improved one’s ease of movement, but it was very revealing. In addition, Lydia usually didn’t wear a bra underneath.
The fact that her top was in Milly’s hand would mean that Lydia was now…
「Geez~ Milly-chan~」
Next to the surface was Lydia, followed by the other two girls.
As they were close to the beach, the water was not that deep, and Lydia was able to stand on her feet.
Although she was facing away, I could see her bare back from the water’s surface.
「L-Lydia-san your clothes…」
「Hmm, what~?」
At Claude’s voice, Lydia turned around.
What caught my attention was her swimsuit, which, as expected, was very revealing.
I just couldn’t see it at first, but at least she was wearing one?
Lydia seemed to have realized what I was thinking, as she grinned at me.
「Ahaha~. Zeph-chi were you perhaps, expecting something?」
「Hm…」
She placed both hands on her hips and teased me with a smile but…
In some sense, isn’t it more embarrassing to wear that swimsuit than to be naked?
You being so brazen about it makes me embarrassed instead.
「Zeph and Silverie, hurry over!」
Milly waved us over. She had also taken off her clothes, and was in her swimsuit.
Her swimsuit was decorated with many frills, and was cute and childish. In various meanings, it suited Milly perfectly.
When I looked closely, I could see Claude’s and Shirushu’s swimsuits through their soaked clothing.
I guess they were already planning to swim from the very beginning.
「Hmph… Milly-san, you’re too hasty! Before swimming, you should do warm-up exercises first…」
「There, there, Claude-san, it’s fine, isn.’t it? Let’s swim too…」
Shirushu let out a grunt as she took off her soaked clothing, and carefully folded them on the pier.
It was actually quite skillful of her to take off those heavy-looking clothes while swimming.
Shirushu’s swimsuit was blue and showed less skin, but even so, it was revealing in all the right departments, so there was plenty worth seeing.
「Understood. Hmm, Zeph-kun, sorry but can you pull me up?」
「Ah.」
I pulled Claude up to the pier, then she began to take off her clothes excitedly .
Inside her clothes, she wore a plain, white bikini, but it further accentuated Claude’s moderately toned body.
As Claude was earnestly doing her warm-up exercises, our eyes met, and she quickly averted her eyes in slight embarrassment.
「Erm… Wh-what do you think..?」
「It looks good on you.」
「…Thank you very much.」
Claude muttered in a voice so soft it seemed like it would vanish, while her face was bright red.
She was probably embarrassed since it was a pretty bold swimsuit.
「Claude! Hurry up!」
「I’ll be right there…」
When Milly called, Claude picked up her swimming float and jumped into the water.
The four girls seemed to be enjoying themselves in their own ways.
「…Everyone seems to be having fun.」
I noticed that Silverie was looking at the four of them enviously.
It looked like she wanted to join them, but was too shy to step forward.
…It can’t be helped, I’ll give her a hand.
「Silverie, shall we go too?」
「Eh? What do you mean…?」
While Silverie was bewildered, I took her hand and directly dived into the sea.
The seawater felt cold and pleasant. When my feet touched the sandy seabed, the water was just deep enough to submerge my body fully.
It wasn’t as deep as I had expected. With that thought, I kicked off the seabed, wanting to surface for air. However, all of a sudden, my body was dragged deeper into the sea.
In my shock, air escaped from my lungs in a stream of bubbles.
When I looked down in the water, I saw Silverie hugging on to my waist and crouching on the seabed.
Silverie didn’t seem to be wearing her swimsuit under her clothes, as I could feel the protrusion of Silverie’s breasts directly through her clothing.
…Could it be that she was looking envious earlier because she couldn’t swim?
《H-hey Silverie, let me go!》
《Zeph! Are you going to abandon me and run away!?》
《You idiot! I can’t do that now, can I! I’ll go get help right away, but let go of me first!》
《No! …I don’t want… to be alone anymore… Don’t… abandon me…》
Bubbles of air escaped from Silverie’s mouth.
I used telepathy to persuade her to let me go, but Silverie got into a panic and I could not get through to her.
More importantly… I’m losing air…
The pain was causing my consciousness to fade.
I can’t… go on…
Just when I thought that, someone grabbed me by the hand and pulled us up to the surface.
「What were you doing, Zeph-chi?」
「…Ha ha, you saved me, Lydia.」
In the meantime, Silverie had lost consciousness while clinging on to me. Lydia carried us in her arms and brought us to the beach.
There, I performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Silverie, and soon enough, she spat out some water and regained consciousness.
When she came to her senses, she was flustered and made a commotion at first, but after a while, she ran away from me and curled up under a tree, hugging her knees to her chest.
Now, as we were playing on the seashore while waiting for our wet clothes to dry, Silverie continued to glare at us reproachfully from afar.
…What a lonely sight.
I guess I ought to play in the sand with her later.
「Zeph! Here, here~ ♪」
Suddenly, Milly threw seawater on my face as hard as she could.
You… ambushing me…
「…How dare you!」
「Hee hee~♪ Catch me if you can~! 」
Milly began to run away while teasing me, so I chased after her and caught her as we both fell into the water, laughing.
「Puha ♪ Ahaha I got caught~」
「Fufun, you thought you could get away from me?」
Milly looked up from the seawater, beaming from ear to ear. The droplets of water on her face reflected the sun’s rays and glittered.
I was momentarily stunned by her dazzling smile.
She may still be childish in some ways, but… she looked much better now, didn’t she?
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