Fuoooo… the final stitch…
It’s done… it’s done…
At last, it’s complete!
I told everyone that I had some important work to focus on and asked them not to come in. I even said I’d eat in my room so no one would approach, and I holed myself up in the alchemy lab until finally it was finished.
Seventeen sets in total, including spares… I’m exhausted… so exhausted…
I made detours, like going to the tailor in the capital that Hayato favored to learn from them, or crafting mannequins to match the girls’ sizes, but at last I managed to finish.
Their stay here was nearing its end, so I barely made it in time…
But I can’t be satisfied with just this.
Our plan is not over yet.
If anything, it begins now.
I pulled out my guild card and pressed Hayato’s name.
The two of them had gone slime hunting, and we told the others that they had accepted a quest together, so they’d be away for a while.
They don’t get along, so they framed it as a competition before heading out.
After a short wait, a voice came through the card.
『Ah, Itsuki-san. Could it be…』
「Aah… it’s finished. I’ll come pick you up, is that alright?」
『Not right now, it’s a bit dangerous. Whoa, 』
『Hey, Hayato! Hurry and wipe them out! I’m getting slimed! Slimed all over!』
『Yes yes. I’ll clear them all now, so try not to die』
『You bastard! You’re about to fire Excalibur, aren’t you! That thing hurts like hell if it hits! Wait, just give me a second to dodge, uwaaah! That was close!』
『Phew. All wiped out. It’s fine now』
『Hayato, you bastard! That was cutting it too close!』
『I made sure to fire so you could dodge…』
「A-ah…」
…Maybe leaving just the two of them together was a mistake.
Is this the same way they struggled with the Seadran?
…If this keeps happening, I should probably send them to different areas next time.
Their mutual hostility is too much.
When I arrived, the place was a gruesome scene.
「Cleaning this up will be a pain… ugh, it’s all slimy. Oh, a membrane, found one」
Makoto, drenched as though he’d had a bucket of slime poured over his armor, lifted a thin membrane from the goo that covered everything around.
「This is amazing…」
「It’s Makoto’s fault. His Heavy Howling has too wide a range」
「Well, I thought it’d be faster to deal with them all at once…」
「There’s a limit! How many hundreds did you attract!?」
This is seriously a pain to collect.
But slime membranes can be used normally in my alchemy, so it would be a waste to leave them. We had no choice but to gather them all.
We finally finished the collection, but the three of us were slimy and drenched in goo…
There was no way we could go home like that, so we washed ourselves off in Yutopola before returning.
We made it back to the underground room of the house, but since it had taken longer than expected, the unveiling was postponed until the next morning.
After dinner that night, Hayato and Makoto went to bed early, while I continued working alone in the alchemy lab.
Using the slime membranes, I crafted balls, swim rings, even boats.
Still, I couldn’t afford to ruin my health, so I made sure to get enough sleep.
I needed to be in perfect condition for this day.
-0-
And so came the fateful morning.
We finished breakfast early and went out to the garden, moving at once to put our plan into action.
「Is this spot fine?」
「Aah」
「Here we go…」
「Control it, alright!? Make sure you control it!?」
「You’d better block it properly」
Hayato drew his Excalibur and thrust it into the ground, with Makoto standing in line with its path.
Makoto was in full gear with armor and shield, while I prepared several layers of Invisible Jail between them.
『Sacred Light Saber』
Light burst from the sword Hayato had driven into the ground. As he swung, the light shot forth as a sword, racing straight toward Makoto.
My Invisible Jail resisted briefly but was cut through, and the light’s edge closed in on him.
「Ghhhnnnrraaaah! 『Castle of Guardna』!」
When Makoto invoked the skill, an illusory shield appeared in front of his own.
Though he stepped back slightly under the pressure, he firmly held his ground and stopped the advance of the sword.
As the light subsided and he lowered his shield, a deep trench had formed in a straight line across the garden.
No doubt Hayato was holding back, but… these two were terrifying.
「Seems manageable… Alright, let’s keep going」
「Haa… haa… you bastard… I’ll make you pay later…」
「Drop it, Makoto… no point. Sorry, but hang in there. Once this is done… paradise awaits」
「Aniki… you’re right. Paradise… swimsuits… alright! Hayato, come at meee!」
After several more repetitions, a rectangular trench was complete.
We carved out the garden into that shape, lowered the edges by a step, and covered the trench with Invisible Jail.
The dug-out earth was stored away in my magic space, to be put back and hardened with earth magic later.
Then, by using Input and Output to channel water from the bathhouse…
「Pool complete. Temporary, but not bad」
「「Ooooh!」」
To an outsider it might look like a pond.
But since the water didn’t touch the soil and stayed clean, this counted as a pool.
「Now here’s the critical part. First, we have to play in it ourselves! We’ve got floats and balls! The key is to make it look fun!」
We stripped down, the three of us standing at the edge of the pool in nothing but swim trunks.
Today the sun blazed with its usual eagerness, the heat shimmering in the distance, but for once it felt wonderful.
「Alright, let’s play!」
「「Yeah!」」
「…Before that, don’t forget warm-ups. Accidents happen around water」
「「…Yeah…」」
We carefully went through our stretches, counting out loud as we moved, wrists, ankles, Achilles tendons, making sure we wouldn’t cramp once in the water. Just as I thought we’d done enough, Makoto muttered under his breath.
「…Hey, Aniki, do you really think this will work? Just us playing around… will the girls even join in?」
「Idiot!」
I smacked his cheek and shoved him straight into the pool.
He splashed down with a loud crash, staring up at me in surprise from the water.
「I told you it’s just like the Ama-no-Iwato! Trust me, my plan… is flawless!」
「Aniki…」
「Alright, Hayato, you’re coming in too!」
「Wait, what, why are you grabbing me!? No, aaahhh!」
I locked Hayato in a hold and leapt in with him.
Cold water roared in my ears as it swallowed us whole, washing away the heavy, stifling heat in an instant.
「Pwah! This feels amazing!」
「Cough, cough! Geez! That’s dangerous without warning!」
「It’s fine between men! Take this!」
「Wah! Not in the mouth!」
I splashed him and darted away, laughing.
It had been a long time since I swam, but my body still remembered.
The sun bore down, gradually warming the pool, so we added water now and then to keep it refreshing as we played.
「Aniki! Here I go!」
「Yeah, go for it!」
Using Invisible Jail as a foothold, Makoto climbed high before launching himself off.
With a triumphant shout, he crashed down, sending up a huge splash that rocked the floats Hayato and I clung to. We burst out laughing.
…This was actually just plain fun. What do we do now?
「…lord?」
「Oh, Shiro!」
She came. Finally, she came.
As I thought, Shiro was the first.
If I was lucky, Mii would follow after.
「What are you doing?」
「Playing in the water. Want to join?」
「Hmm. I do. It looks cool and refreshing」
「Then change into this! It’s special clothing just for water play. And of course, you’ll change inside the house」
「Understood」
I handed Shiro a swimsuit and watched her head inside.
「Aniki…」
「Fu, fu, fu. The plan is going smoothly. Now come on, let’s keep playing!」
「Itsuki-san! I want to try diving next!」
「Alright. How high do you want? Higher than Makoto?」
「Of course!」
「Oh, a challenge? I can still go higher, you know!」
「Take turns, you two. I’m not doing it, I’m fine just rocking in the float. Try it, Makoto, it’s fun!」
And so, before we knew it, we had forgotten our original purpose and were simply having fun.
And then…
「Lord, I put it on」
「「「Ooooh!」」」
What I had given Shiro was a pink, one-piece swimsuit.
Honestly, I had hesitated between a few choices… but in the end, I picked the pink one-piece.
「Shiro, you look adorable!」
「Hmm. This is cute」
Then she leapt forward into the pool, swam underwater straight toward me, and burst out of the water to cling to me.
「Oh, so you’re good at swimming too」
「She was really fast just now…」
「Hmm. There were tasty fish in the pond in the Elduke Forest, so I worked hard」
Elduke… that’s the dangerous forest where Shiro grew up, right?
If even the fish there are fierce, she must have been fighting them off with swimming practice…
「Hmm. Shiro also wants to try that dive from earlier」
「Oh, you’ll do it? Ah, then, Shiro… can you manage the thing with the… you-know-what?」
「Hmm. I can. I’ll try」
I lifted Shiro up to the top, while I floated in the ring and adjusted the height.
「What were you two whispering about?」
「Secret, secret. You’ll see soon enough」
「Still, she’s so small and cute…」
「…Makoto, you’re not a lolicon, are you?」
「N-no! I was just saying it normally, she’s a beautiful girl, that’s all!」
「Well, Shiro is definitely cute enough to be called a beautiful girl, but if you ever lay a hand on her… I’ll twist you」
「Twist what!?」
「Hayato will」
「I asked ‘where’, not ‘who’!」
「Understood. I’ll twist him」
「I didn’t even do anything!?」
While we bantered like that, Shiro checked the edge of Invisible Jail, stepped back a few paces, then raised her hand to signal.
I raised mine in return, and we all looked up at her.
She broke into a run, planted her hands, cartwheeled forward into a roundoff, flipped into a back handspring, and then, still flipping, dived into the water.
「No way, she’s going through with it!?」
「Incredibleee!」
Like a professional diver, she tucked her body, spun in the air, and extended her arms right at entry, slipping into the pool with barely a splash.
She swam underwater back to me and surfaced.
「Hmm. How was it? Did I do it right?」
「You did. That was amazing」
「Hmm! Playing in the water is fun」
Shiro perched herself on top of my float ring, leaning back against me with a satisfied smile.
And at last, the moment we had all been waiting for arrived.
「What are you all… doing?」
「Did you dig this out yourselves? It’s not a bath… it’s water?」
「This is… a pool?」
Curious about the noise, the girls peeked out from the house one by one.
「That’s right. It’s hot today, so we made a pool to cool off in. Look, I even made swimsuits」
「Swimsuit… what is that? Aren’t those just ordinary trousers?」
「Nah. It’s made from fabric that drains water quickly. Think of it as proper attire for playing in the pool」
By deliberately using the word ‘formal attire’, I made sure they would think swimsuits were necessary for joining in.
The real issue, of course, was Mika-chan and Misa-chan, since they already knew what swimsuits were…
「I see. So that’s why you asked for our sizes…」
Judging by Misa-chan’s expression, she had figured out our plan.
But I had expected she would, and seeing that look on her face, I was certain she would play along.
「It looks so cool and refreshing…」
「Hmm. It feels very good」
「I’m jealous no desu. Mii wants to join too no desu!」
「We’ve got swimsuits for everyone. Look, right over there」
I created a rack and pointed to the swimsuits hanging on it.
「What the heck is that! That’s just underwear!」
「No, no, those are proper swimsuits for women. Right, Misa-chan?」
「Yes, that’s right. There’s nothing strange about them」
「Really!? They don’t look any different from underwear…」
「Well, if it’s your first time seeing them, I suppose you’d think that. Isn’t that right, Mika-chan?」
「Y-yeah… They’re different from underwear, at least」
「Hm. If Mika-dono says so, then it must be true」
Fufufu.
Nice assist, Misa-chan.
And that quick wink she flashed me… I might as well leave the rest to her.
Hm? She’s mouthing something at me…
『You.Owe.Me.』
…Eh?
Owe? Me!?
Ugh, that’s scary. What’s she going to demand later?
「Hmm. But Shiro is wearing something cute and already in the water no desu」
「Mii, come play. It feels wonderful」
「Hmm. Let’s play, Mii」
「It’s embarrassing to be seen by anyone but Hayato-sama, but since Shiro is in there, Mii will join too no desu! I’ll go change no desu!」
Yes. One of the biggest hurdles this time was the presence of other men.
Even if it isn’t underwear, many girls would hesitate to be seen in a swimsuit.
Among us men, we had agreed it was fair game and formed a sort of alliance, but the women’s side was another matter entirely.
In our old world, swimsuits were common and pools were always crowded.
Even then, many people still felt uneasy being seen in swimwear by acquaintances.
For the residents of this world, who had no prior concept of pools or swimsuits, the resistance would naturally be even stronger.
But if Shiro was already in a swimsuit, and then Mii joined in as well…
「Emily, what about you?」
「I don’t mind」
「Really? Even with the men around, wearing something like that…?」
「Isn’t it considered formal attire for swimming? Besides, it’s not often we get the chance to play safely in the water」
「That’s true, but… Chris, what about you?」
「I… well, it’s embarrassing, but… if Mii-san is going in, then I want to play in the water with Hayato-sama too…」
「I see… Then I can’t very well be the only one not joining」
「Yeah. Let’s all play together!」
「I-it’s not like I want to play or anything! It’s just hot today, and I thought cooling off in the water might feel nice, that’s all!」
With that, Hayato’s team was all in.
I had figured that once one of them joined, the rest would follow like dominoes. As long as Mii went in, the others would naturally follow.
「But still, wearing a swimsuit in front of everyone is…」
「Ara, Mika-chan. I’m going in, but you’re holding back? Maa-kun, let’s have a water fight」
「Misa-nee! You’ll wear it!?」
「Of course. You picked it out for me, didn’t you?」
「I sure did! Hell yeahhhh! Groveling on the floor was worth itttt!」
No problems on Makoto’s side, then. With Misa-chan there, she would handle things well enough.
And then…
「What should we do?」
「Even if you ask me…」
「I don’t really mindssu. I mean, it’s not that different from my usual clothesssu」
「What about you, Wendy, Mizera?」
「I’ll go in. It looks so refreshing, and I want to float together with Master on that round float」
「I… I’m a little embarrassed. Besides, I’d like to work on alchemy…」
「Ara, Mizera. Let’s play together. Taking proper breaks is important too. Look, even Master is beckoning you kindly」
Come hereee… over hereee…
I slowly beckoned with my hand, Shiro mimicking me beside her.
「Hmm… But why is the cloth area different for each one? Sorte’s has much more fabric」
「Even then, this is still embarrassing enough… But yours, Aina, that’s practically the same as underwear…」
「Indeed…」
「Mine’s just like underwear on top. The bottom… you wear it layered, right? Ah, Wendy’s is the same as Aina’s, but with an extra strip of cloth」
「For now, why don’t you just try them on? Mizera’s has cute lace toossu. Put it on, then ask Mika-san and the others what they think before decidingssu」
「O-okay… You’re right. Something this bold… would it really suit me?」
「Hmm. Shiro will enjoy lord until then. His muscles have gotten harder lately」
Shiro pressed her face against my chest and squeezed my arm. Seeing that, the others, flustered, hurried into the house.
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