Chapter 83
“Thank you, big sister, but why do I have my mummy’s chest? ” Tula asked with comfortable a expression. She could breathe easier after the chest armor was removed. Then she continued, “These things are heavy, it’s hurting my back.”
“L-let’s change shirts. Mine is larger and shouldn’t be very tight around your chest. But first, I need to make you a chest wrap. It will help to relieve the heaviness of your chest.” Ester quickly suggested.
Tula nodded. She felt a bit strange while Ester, who previously spoke with kindness and care, was glaring at her and her chest. As if an enemy appeared.
“Ok, the chest wrap is done. It’s not tight, right?” Ester asked with a relieved face. The chest wrapped with a long piece of cloth hid most of the voluptuous chest.
Shortly they swapped their shirts. Tula smiled as the ordinary shirt wasn’t tight, letting her breath without hindrance. On the other hand, Ester frowned in a grumpy mood when Tula’s tough padded shirt was a bit loose on her slender body.
Ester proceeded to help Tula remove all the armor pieces remaining on her body, leaving only a long soldier padded pants. She didn’t want to get surprised later when Vincent wakes up.
.....
“How do you feel?” Ester asked with a frown.
“Thank you, big sister Ester. It’s not tight anymore, and my chest feels less heavy with the chest wrap thingie.” Tula hugged Ester in excitement, revealing a happy smile. But the recipient of this hug frowned more deeply by the soft touch of the chest pushing against hers.
“Ahem... if you aren’t tired, shall we exchange stories while time passes and check on Vincent every few minutes?” Ester asked after she tapped on the excited Tula to stop her annoying hug.
“I want to hear a story, big sister Ester.” Tula happily replied.
Until the watch buzzed, indicating midnight was upon them, Ester heard a lot about what Tula remembers. She lives in the central city of the Lusterfall Kingdom called Lusterfall City.
Her mother is named Yula, and her father is named Koss. Both her father and uncle are twins and both soldiers. Ester felt a bit strange by their almost identical similar names.
They recently moved to a new bigger home after her father and uncle got sponsored by the Lionheart noble family. The lions head on the armor Kass had was the Lionheart’s emblem.
However, Tula didn’t know what sponsored meant, leaving Ester, who also didn’t know, unable to find out what it meant.
It seems many years have passed from her ten-year-old memories to her present self, considering Tula seemed like a woman in her twenties.
The story also confirmed how Tula wasn’t acting or lying to trick them. All her actions, mannerism, and talking remained the same all the time. As if a ten-year-old child was in front of Ester.
‘Only Vincent can tell if she has memory loss or not with his Inspection ability.’ Ester thought before she felt a weird chill.
Ester noticed the temperature gradually dropping and the humidity along with a faint cool breeze brushing against her body. As the sky became darker by the minute, so did the cold temperature. She swiftly grabbed the remaining two pelts and covered each other.
“Want to sleep with them, or do you want to stay here next to the fire with me? It’s not going to take that long until I have to wake Vincent.” Ester asked.
“I’m not very tired. I want to hear more of my big sister’s stories. When you caught a fish and fell in the water was funny, hehe.” Tula giggled. She wanted to hear more stories about Ester’s life and their journey.
*Beep
Later, midnight arrived along with the sound of the watch alarm beeping. It meant the time to wake Vincent arrived.
Ester nudged Lupa until she woke up. Then she proceeded to try and wake Vincent in the gentlest way possible. She didn’t want to increase his injuries any further.
Vincent weakly squinted open his eyes. He could faintly see three women looking at him with a worrying expression on their faces. He thought it was a dream, and the third woman was Kazumi.
*Argh
Shortly he realized it wasn’t a dream as the feeling of pain returned, forcing his face to contort from pain circulating in his body.
“It’s midnight. You can heal yourself, right?” Ester urgently asked.
[Midnight has finally arrived. I recently woke up since I had to rest in order to recover most of the mana I used. I’m sorry I can’t help more.]
Vincent didn’t want to inspect his body before he used the two healing spells on himself. He slowly opened his weak mouth and said with his trembling lips, “Soul Power... Minor Heal, Soul Power... Minor Heal.”
An aura of faint green light enveloped his body. On the second cast, his body shone even brighter, illuminating his surroundings green.
It was bright enough in the dark that Ester, Lupa, and Tula had to squint their eyes. Like a dim lighthouse guiding people in the night, Vincent lit the forest for a few seconds until the light faded away, and the aura of healing surrounding his body disappeared.
The healing quickly zapped away all his energy forcing him into a deep sleep, his body started sliding sideways, but Lupa caught his fall.
Ester rushed beside the sleeping Vincent and helped Lupa gently lay him down. She checked his condition and noticed the danger was finally was over.
Vincent was fast asleep, and his wound burnt closed. Only a burn mark remained on his shoulder, showing that Minor Heal wasn’t potent enough to remove scars left by the fire, a scar that will remind them of this victory.
Ester released a sigh in relief after checking his pulse. She fell on her bottom from being tired and said with a smile, “Vincent seems to be okay now. We should rest as well.”
Lupa took this occasion to grab the pelt, lay beside Vincent’s right side, and grinned at Ester before closing her eyes.
“Big sister Lupa is funny, haha. I want to sleep next to big brother Vincent too.” Tula lay beside Vincent’s left side and closed her eyes to sleep.
[Look at Ester and that frown on her face, hehe. Could Tula force Ester to become proactive and the creation of the harem soon upon us?]
“I know you are watching Kazumi. I will leave the guard duty on your hands. Wake me up if anything happens with your ability.” Ester said while looking at Vincent.
[It seems Vincent isn’t the only one that changed since this journey started. Well, we won by luck but with the unfortunate sacrifice of Kass.]
[Heh... I hope this was the most dangerous monster in this forest. This kind of difficulty is too much to handle. How much powerful can a person become in this world to combat such mighty monsters?]
Ester pulled the third pelt and slept beside Tula with a frown still etched on her face. It seemed Tula was going to be the main subject in her dreams that night.
As she feared, the busty Tula ended up appearing in her dream in the form of a nightmare. She took Ester’s place with her childish, playful actions similar to Lupa, leaving her alone in the woods. But later, her exhausted body stopped the nightmare and fell asleep.
*Day 20
The sun rose, and the cold temperature, along with a light fog disappeared. A brand new day started, while the four of them slept on the soft green grass and under the shade of the massive tree.
Tula woke up first. She yawned, stretching her arms up in the air. When finished, she dropped her arms down to the ground.
*smack
Tula became startled when her hand landed on something that produced a smacking sound along with a touch of a soft and warm sensation. She gazed down and noticed her hand on Ester’s cheek.
Ester instantly opened her eyes. She thought they were in danger, but her alerted crimson eyes saw Tula looking scared and embarrassed at the same time.
Ester raised her hand, touching her bright red cheek, feeling a tingle of pain with a frown at the unruly wake-up.
Tula quickly raised both hands shoulder high. She clapped her hands together, holding them in place. It was similar to praying for mercy.
“Please forgive me, Bis Sister Ester, I didn’t mean to slap you. ” Tula said with a shaken voice. She bowed her head for forgiveness while tears welled in her eyes, ready to cry.
Ester remembered how Vincent had forgiven her when she kicked his face, so she decided to forgive Tula. Ester slowly raised her hand and gently pinched Tula’s cheek while saying, “Now we’re even.”
Lupa opened her eyes from the commotion disturbing her sleep. She soon noticed a red hand imprinted on Ester’s cheek, causing Lupa to wake and laugh her ass off while pointing at the red cheek, saying, “Haha, your face is red. Did you have a good sleep, sister?”
*Yawn
Lupa’s fluffy wolf ears twitched, picking up the sound she was waiting for. She turned her gaze on Vincent with a warm smile on her face.
Vincent stretched his stiff body while yawning along the way. He opened his eyes and noticed many large tree branches above. They barely swayed along with the breeze and offering them a cool shade.
Vincent slowly pulled himself up just to get pushed and slam down on the ground.
[Hoho. Look at this. Now, this is some development I see.]
Ester lept on Vincent, knocking him down. She had something she wanted to say and couldn’t take it anymore. The next thing she knew, she was on top of him.
“You fool! You could’ve died! Are we more important than your life!” Ester said. It wasn’t raining, yet on his shirt fell droplets of water. The welling tears couldn’t hold anymore.
Vincent felt surprised by this action. It was an action he never expected to happen in his entire life. Not to him.
“I understand, but both of you are my everything.” Vincent approached his hand and gently wiped her tears. Then he looked at Lupa and continued, “You’re making your sister jealous.”
[Such a spoilsport. Flirting doesn’t kill, you know.]
Ester’s two red cheeks became redder by his words upon realizing her actions. She swiftly backed away and wanted to dig a hole to hide from the embarrassing thing she just did.
Vincent was free at last. But he pulled himself up just to get knocked down once more. This time Lupa stood on top of him. He could feel a cool breeze from her wagging tail.