I go back to Reina after clearing up the misunderstanding with Tiltue, and see she’s already awake and talking to Luna.
I’m glad to see they’re both smiling, and Luna really didn’t have a reason to be worried.
“I’m back.”
“Ah, mister!”
“Welcome back… You too Elga…”
Reina is a little stiff after what happened earlier, but Elga is holding back his magic energy, so it doesn’t look to be having a big effect on her.
It seems like they don’t influence her badly unless they get serious.
“Hey. Sorry about before.”
“No, it’s fine. You’re just out here living normally. It’s my fault for being inexperienced.”
Reina is also just living normally, but she doesn’t want to speak badly of others.
The way Elga is looking at me with a surprised expression tells me he expected her to hurl abuse at him.
“Arata’s one thing, but you’re pretty strong too. In more ways than one.”
“She’s cool, isn’t she?”
“Kukuku. You’re a nice, gutsy girl.”
“Are you meant to be complimenting me?”
Of course.
Even Elga feels like he’s not classifying her as a feeble human anymore.
I’m sure he has accepted her as an individual too.
“By the way Arata, who is that?”
“Mu? Me?”
Reina is looking at Tiltue. It makes sense for this to be strange to her. From her point of view, a girl she doesn’t remember seeing is just here all of a sudden.
I signal with my eyes to Tiltue, asking her to introduce herself, and she proudly puffs out her small chest.
“My name is Tiltue! The most magnificent ancestral dragon on this island, with the divine dragon Bahamut as my ancestor!”
“So basically?”
“She’s that black dragon from before.”
“…I see.”
Reina and I have been together on this island for two days, but I’m surprised by her adaptability.
She seems rational, and actually is, but I feel like she accepts things that don’t fit her common knowledge and rolls with them.
“And my darling’s wife!”
“…So basically?”
“A misunderstanding.”
“Y-yes, it did start as a misunderstanding, but I am head over heels for his magic energy!”
“…Eh…”
Reina’s eyes feel cold.
Why do I feel bad about it? I didn’t even do anything wrong. I feel like a husband that was caught cheating.
“…Anyway, let me explain everything from the beginning.”
“Yes, please do.”
I have to go back to when Reina collapsed, in order to explain everything to her.
Incidentally, as I check things with Elga, I come to understand who I should ask if I need accurate information.
By the time I’m done, Reina looks exasperated.
“Arata, are you by any chance under the divine protection of Loki?”
“What do you mean?”
“It means you attract trouble without looking for it. Although unlike divine protection from other gods, this one is said to be a myth.”
“I just want to live a quiet life, so I’ll pass on that.”
That said, I don’t know what god reincarnated me, but I do get the feeling it was a god that attracts trouble.
“Anyway, Miss… Tiltue…?”
“Just Tiltue! We are equal as females who like the same male!”
“Eh?”
Did this loner dragon just say something outrageous?
I turn to Reina without thinking, and while she does look surprised, I can tell she’s really trying to maintain her composure.
“Tiltue? Arata and I met just two days ago. I do like him as a person, but it’s too early for any romantic…”
“What? I just met him a few hours ago. Time doesn’t matter when a female likes a male, especially a strong one like this. It’s within a female’s instincts to want to lay with a strong male.”
Tiltue’s pure eyes pointed at Reina show she really means it. I feel like their sense of values isn’t the same as humans’.
Reina understands that too, and thinks about it while talking to Tiltue like she’s explaining things to a child.
“…Humans take time learning the good and bad things about other people, and in the process fall in love. So, well, we don’t suddenly fall in love, and time is important, so those temporary emotions aren’t enough.”
“…Humans sound like a real pain.”
I feel Tiltue’s sense isn’t that far from a wild animal’s, but Reina is right, we just met two days ago.
Of course, we do like each other in general terms, but suffice to say we don’t want to go beyond that right away. At the very least, we would have to know each other better.
Not to mention that Reina wants to leave the island and I want to stay, so it would be hard for us to be together on a fundamental level.
“A-anyway! Arata and I aren’t lovers, so please don’t misunderstand that!”
“You’re not? I thought for sure you were when I saw you two hugging before.”
“…!?”
Reina is surprised by a comment from the sidelines she wasn’t expecting, and I don’t really want to touch that topic.
I really did do that just because I was concerned for her health, but I’d be lying if I said that was all that was going through my mind.
I mean, her body was so soft, and that feeling hasn’t left my mind yet.
“Hey, I know you’re all having fun, but let’s leave it at that and go back to the emperor boar before someone takes it.”
“Ah… That’s right! You two were saying it’s really good too. Let’s go!”
“I doubt anyone would snatch away prey with my smell, but you’re right.”
Elga’s words prompt Reina to run back to the forest, followed by Tiltue, and then Elga walks after them.
I’m left here with Luna, and I can feel her staring at me.
“What?”
“Mister, do you like Reina?”
“…Hm… I guess I do, but not in a romantic sense.”
“I see… I think you two go well together.”
I guess one thing that unites girls through different worlds and races is that they like talking about love.
That’s probably why she reacts like my answer is boring, and runs after the other three.
“I know I’m late, but it really is huge.”
There are twenty meters from the ground to its head. I can’t even imagine how one would work with this.
But it looks like I’m the only one thinking that, as the other four are already skillfully taking it apart.
“I will cut its midsection, so can someone else gut it?”
“I’ll do that.”
Says Elga.
“Ah, Arata, you should stand over there, or it’s not going to end well.”
I do as Reina says and stand back next to Luna. She says she’s going to cut its midsection like it’s simple, but can she really do it to such a huge monster?
As I think about that, Tiltue turns back into a black dragon, grabs the emperor boar, and holds it in the air.
The emperor boar is flinching, meaning it’s actually still alive after taking a hit like that.
Reina also sees this, and a green magic circle appears under her.
“I have been doing nothing but look uncool to Arata since we arrived on this island, but I need to show why I’m one of the seven great mages!”
She created invisible wind blades when we were attacked by wolves, but this time she’s using way more powerful magic energy.
“Here it goes! Zephyrus!”
The giant wind blade rushes towards the emperor boar and slices its midsection, slowly opening its insides and creating a big blood waterfall.
“Uwah…”
It’s too graphic to call it fantastical, but strangely enough, it doesn’t bother me.
I guess this new body is also mentally strong. That’s part of a healthy body.
At the very least, I think I would’ve thrown up if I saw a gruesome scene like this back in my original world.
Now I get why Reina wanted me to move away.
The blood waterfall is still going, and it has enough force to carry me away, let alone get me dirty.
“Nice and sharp. Now it’s my turn.”
Elga jumps at the emperor boar like he’s running through the sky, and starts gutting it. He’s moving faster than my eyes can see, and keeps cutting here and there.
“Not bad…”
Says Tiltue, who goes back to her girl form after a while, probably because her job is done. The emperor boar doesn’t look like a boar anymore, and is now a collection of parts.
“Elga’s the best when it comes to hunting and taking prey apart!”
“Yes, he’s great.”
Eventually Elga, whose body is dripping blood all over, comes over to us.
That mixture of beastly wildness and manly coolness is exactly what a guy would think is great.
“That ’bout does it. Now it’s just gotta be cleaned and it’s good to eat.”
“Good job. By the way, I know it’s too late to be noticing this, but we can’t eat all that…”
Reina says with a concerned tone as she looks at that giant lump of meat.
“We can take it to our village ’cause it’s better than lettin’ it spoil, but…”
“No Elga! Our people would be mad if they knew you brought back prey someone from another race hunted!”
I guess they have their own sense of pride.
I don’t mind letting them have it, especially considering we’re going to be living here, but if Luna says so, we should refrain from doing that sort of thing for now.
“Can’t we do something with magic?”
“Storage magic freezes time, meaning it wouldn’t spoil, but even I have a limit… And this is more than I can store anyway.”
“Then maybe it can fit in my storage magic.”
“…Eh?”
I learned it by watching hers yesterday.
I just somehow know how to do it, and the space in front of me starts distorting like yesterday.
I think about wanting to put the emperor boar meat in there, and all the meat in front of me disappears.
It feels like I still have plenty of space.
“Ooh, this is useful… Reina?”
“…”
I turn around and see Reina looking at me with a dumbfounded expression.
It looks like I’ve done it again. I always realize it after I’ve already done it.
Anyway, I’ll just prepare to apologize. I’m pretty good at that.
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Thanks for the treat.