Trails with Cuddle-Cuddle Osbon
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Author Note:
This may be the last chapter I will be uploading as of this year.
To everyone who has read, commented, recommended, favorited, and given reviews to this fanfic, thanks.
Please continue to support me next year.
Though, Duvalie-chan moved around a little too much on her own…
Thank you for the typo reports as always.
Chapter 051 – Fufufu, son. It’s the June Field Study⑨ [A]
“T-Thank you very much……Y-You have my gratitude……”
After returning ashore and placing Duvalie inside Loa Valimar, Rean set off to sea to retrieve Duvalie’s armor.
As Rean handed the shivering Duvalie some towels and hot coffee he brought out via Osbon, Celine asked her in amazement.
“One normally won’t think of swimming to catch up after seeing what happened. What were you thinking?”
“S-Shut up…… I-I just didn’t want to lose……”
Swimming with Loa Valimar shouldn’t have been a competitive experience, but it seemed like it had counted as one in her mind.
After wiping the water off and drinking a hot drink to keep her body warm, Duvalie let out a cute sneeze.
Even if she wore an inner garment, if her clothes remain wet, she would feel cold again.
[“Fufufu, son. You should put this on Miss Duvalie.”]
Saying that, Osbon took out a white blouse with a ribbon brooch, a corset skirt, and black tights as well as boots as a bonus.
Holding the outfit, which exuded elegance reminiscent of an aristocratic lady’s garment, Rean frowned.
……? Did I put something like this in?
[“Aah, you did. It hasn’t been used since it was first bought, so you must have forgotten about it.”]
How many years ago was that?
[“I don’t know. Maybe not long since we first met?”]
If so, it would have been more than five years ago.
At that time, Rean had a lot to do, such as training to control the power of ogre, so he just did things as Osbon told, including purchasing things Osbon told him to and left it to Osbon to organize them, so it wasn’t surprising that Rean didn’t remember.
Not wanting to waste time waiting for Duvalie’s clothes to dry, Rean handed the clothes to Duvalie.
“Well then, Duvalie-san, please wear this.”
“W-Why do you have a woman’s garment?”
“It’s for occasions like this. I apologize if the size is wrong.”
“Mumumu, it doesn’t sound convincing…… but I’ll take it. I appreciate it.”
“As expected, I don’t have women’s underwear with me, so please excuse me for that.”
“If you had one, I will cut you down.”
Duvalie accepted the clothes, but made no further move.
As Rean looked at her in disbelief, Duvalie’s face trembled and she was at a loss for words.
“Duvalie-san, what ——”
“That’s the question to ask you. If you stay like that, she can’t change her clothes.”
Celine climbed onto Rean’s head from under the hood, stretched out her front paws, and covered Rean’s eyes.
The sensation of paws covered Rean’s eyelids and his vision turned dark.
Rean realized the intention and turned away. Then finally, Duvalie made her move.
“You seem to have delicacy, but you actually don’t, seriously……”
The sound of Duvalie moving her hands while grumbling could be heard.
There was a sound of water splashing, as if she had taken off her inner garment.
“Phew……”
Duvalie’s breathing sounded somewhat sensual.
In addition, there was also the sound of her wiping her body with a towel, presumably to brush off the water on her body.
Rean immediately covered both his ears.
This was not good.
This was bad in many ways.
Even though it had been a clone, it had instinctively closed its eyes when it saw Fie taking a bath.
Rean’s main body actually got to see Fie when she came into the room in her bathing suit for a longer period of time than his clone had seen Fie bathing.
In comparison, Rean felt as if he was being strangled with a silk scarf.
Although Duvalie was hesitant to change while Rean was looking, it seemed she could change casually in front of a man if the said man wasn’t looking.
No, maybe she just thought of changing out of her clothes as fast as possible.
But not only were they in close distance, Rean was so conscious of the situation that even after he covered his ears, his trained senses were still able to pick up the sound coming from behind him and it wouldn’t leave his mind.
The inside of Loa Valimar was as spacious as the cockpit of the Divine Knight itself, and the space was originally only meant for one person. If two people squeezed in a space like that, it was only natural that they’d be in close proximity.
Celine seemed to feel relieved as she covered Rean’s eyes and didn’t do anything else.
That said, if his current thoughts became known, Rean would be met with stares colder than the ocean Duvalie had just swam in.
Behind him was a half-naked…… or maybe close to naked, woman.
Just thinking about it made Rean’s heart pound, when he remembered the sight of Duvalie’s body through her wet inner garment earlier, and he quickly dismissed the thought.
Rean felt that training and slaying monsters felt easier than this.
Dad, Valimar! Anything is fine, just speak to me!
[“Fufufu, son. You need to learn to train yourself more.”]
{“My apologies, I need to concentrate on swimming.”}
Valimar aside, why is dad so calm!
[“Unfortunately for you, I’m devoted to Kasha. I am not going to be distracted.”]
Damn iitttt!
Osbon seemed to be enjoying his teenage son’s reaction, as he offered no assistance to help Rean.
Naturally, Rean tensed up and his power of ogre began to overflow.
That sudden transformation caused not only Celine, but also Duvalie to turn around.
“Wait, what happened, all of a sudden?”
“What are you doing all of a sudden?!”
“I-It’s better safe than sorry.”
“Indeed, even if we haven’t encountered any until now, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any monsters in the sea. Mumu, to think there’s someone who embodies the principle of always being on the battlefield at your age……”
Duvalie spoke in a somewhat off-tangent way.
In a sense, it could be considered Rean was fighting for his dignity as a man, but he was definitely not going to say anything about it.
Fortunately for Rean, neither Duvalie nor Celine noticed the distress he was feeling until the end when Duvalie finished getting changed.
Just as the battle for Rean’s dignity as a man came to an end, Loa Valimar stopped.
It seemed like they had arrived at their destination.
It was an extremely tough fight, such was what Rean would later recall.
“Thank you, Valimar. It really helped.”
{“Don’t worry about it. Just call me if you need me for anything.”}
With that, Valimar returned to Rean’s heart.
“What on earth is a Divine Knight, really……?”
“I’m the one who wants to know that the most.”
Duvalie, who was watching this, made an indescribable expression, and Celine muttered with a resigned tone.
She then shook her head, and Duvalie returned to the original topic.
“But this is a very strange singularity. Normally, we would be sent straight to a labyrinth-like place……”
“Maybe the singularity has a combination of two parts. This part, including the isolated island in the sea, might be the labyrinth, and the village might be another singularity.”
“Either two singularities overlapped, or a singularity was so large it split into two…… either way, we’ll find out more about it by exploring the temple.”
Perhaps because her hair was wet, Duvalie let go of her hair bun and brushed back her long chestnut hair that reached down to her back.
When Rean saw Duvalie with her hair down, her childish impression changed and she seemed a little more mature.
Osbon, who had declared that it was devoted to Kasha, seemed to feel something for Duvalie, who had her hair down, as it didn’t take its eyes off her.
“Duvalie-san, how does the clothes feel?”
“Well, the design is not bad.”
“No, I was asking about your ease in movement.”
“There-is-no-problem!”
For some reason, she replied with an angry voice, which made Rean flinch.
There must surely be something inside the temple, so perhaps she noticed his intention that if she felt the clothes were in the wrong size and was difficult for her to move, she should change.
“Okay, okay, leave the skits right there, the two of you.”
“What do you mean by skits!”
Duvalie yelled at Celine with a flushed face.
Celine coldly brushed it off, saying, “yes, yes, I know.”
Throwing a wry smile at the two’s interaction, Rean followed behind them who were leading the way.
The moment they entered the temple, Rean was overwhelmed with a sensation that was completely different from anything he had experienced before.
It felt like they had crossed a boundary or something.
Rean naturally unsheathed his tachi and sharpened his senses to become more alert of his surroundings.
Duvalie also seemed to have sensed the same thing as Rean, and readied her sword and shield.
“……! Something is coming!”
“Hmph!”
As Rean’s voice rang out, something appeared ahead of them.
But before they could confirm it, Duvalie galloped past him and cut the shadow in half.
“…………D-Duvalie-san.”
“W-What? What’s wrong with defeating the enemy?”
Duvalie was flustered by Rean’s accusing gaze.
Celine explained the reason.
“Well, it’s not like I can’t understand your desire to hurry, you know? If the people in the village were those who got spirited away, then it’s possible there might be someone in a similar situation in this temple…… that’s what you mean, right?”
“Aah. Fortunately, it happened to be a monster that would disappear once defeated, but please be careful next time, okay?”
“I know that even without you telling me! I made sure to check before slashing!”
“Really?”
“I am known as The Swift not just because I am quick on my feet, but also my ability to quickly perceive what I see. It’s a piece of cake for me to recognize my target without being overwhelmed by my own speed.”
Now that she mentions it, Rean reflects.
No matter how incredibly fast one moves, it would only make them dizzy with their own speed.
It should be natural that he would have an eye for making the most of their speed, but it was hard to believe Duvalie was capable of that from what Rean knew from the interaction he had with her so far.
“What is it?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Sensing that his thoughts were seen through, Rean shook his head to deal with the situation.
Rean immediately resumed moving, but even though he couldn’t see Duvalie, he could feel her stare at his back.
“So, what did Duvalie-san cut earlier?”
“It’s something like a small ogre. At the very least, it’s not a monster that exists in Zemuria. That said, it doesn’t feel like something from a higher dimension either…… I’d say that it is a being from a similar dimension.”
“How is it different?”
“Think of higher dimensions as vertical, and similar dimensions as horizontal.”
“Okay,” replied Rean as he nodded to Celine’s supplementary explanation, then the two people and the cat continued through the temple.
In addition to the road being as complicated as a labyrinth, numerous strange creatures, different from monsters, blocked their way.
But the people present were Rean, who had his power of ogre and whose martial arts has reached the expert class, Duvalie, who was at a similar level of power, and Celine, who had mastered much magic.
There was no weakness in their team in both physical and mental aspects, and even without the tactical link provided by ARCUS, they traversed the temple without difficulty.
“I wish Duvalie-san had an ARCUS too.”
“So that’s the secret behind that amazing teamwork that defeated Cryptid. Unfortunately, I don’t have any such equipment, but if it’s something similar to a link, I do have something.”
“Is that something you were about to do with the other two from Stahlritter?”
“You have a sharp sense. That’s right.”
Before they were sucked into the singularity, Duvalie made a spiritual link that connected her to the other women of the Stahlritter.
The link was severed when they were sucked into a hole that suddenly appeared, but that could be said to be a magical version of ARCUS, as opposed to ARCUS which could only connect everyone as a tool.
But on the other hand, wasn’t it possible to connect them?
“And so, why don’t we give it a try?”
“It’s impossible. The Sparkling Star Formation can only be used by Stahlritter. Even if it’s the latest tactical orbment developed by Reinford, the result is the same——”
{“If so, I’ll act as an intermediary. I’ll convert the links and make them into the same thing.”}
“What on earth spoke just now!”
“It’s the personality of Valimar the Ashen Knight.”
{“Should I introduce myself once again?”}
“Why are you reacting like ‘it is common sense’!!!”
Duvalie screamed at Rean, who looked completely puzzled as to what she was so angry about.
It was the power that the three from Stahlritter had jointly developed based on the wisdom bestowed by their beloved master. If that could be so easily analyzed and equated to a single tool, it would greatly stimulate Duvalie’s pride.
Meanwhile, Rean activated the tactical link from ARCUS, and with Valimar’s intervention, it went into standby state.
All that was left now was for Duvalie to use the thing she called Sparkling Star Formation, but at this rate, it would be a while before she would use it.
As they pursued Duvalie, whose cheeks were puffed up, through the temple, Rean and his group eventually reached an open space that seemed to be the innermost part of the temple.
However, there was nothing in the square, and not even a trace of the strange phenomenon that had attacked them until now.
Rean spoke to Celine.
“Celine, can you sense anything through magical means? It’s impossible that after coming all the way here, we won’t find anything, though……”
“Wait a minute. I’ll check it out now.”
As she spoke, a magic circle appeared at Celine’s feet.
As they kept their vigilance up, Rean and Duvalie formed a circle to protect Celine.
“……My detection was traced back?! Something is coming!”
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