Chapter 22: A Familiar Glimpse
Watching Clara walk away after agreeing to meet us tomorrow in the Robot Settlement, the place where she lived alongside Svarog and where many of the Underworld's vagrants had built settlements around the Furnace Core, I felt a small smile on my face at how well that went.
As soon as she disappeared from sight, however, that smile vanished.
A wave of vertigo suddenly hit me, and my legs temporarily lost the strength to support me.
"Cough! Cough!"
I swayed in place while holding my head.
Immediately noticing my predicament, Virgo and Aries were beside me in an instant, their steady hands making sure I remained standing.
“Caelus-sama!” Aries exclaimed in worry, panic immediately appearing on her face.
“Master, you’ve pushed yourself too much today. You need rest.” Virgo's voice was unusually gentle as she lowered my head and settled it against her soft breasts.
Deciding not to argue, I simply relaxed against her bountiful chest and closed my eyes while waiting for the dizziness to pass.
“I-Is he going to be alright?” Aries asked nervously while fidgeting. “Should I make some bedding for him with my magic so he can rest?”
“It should be fine, Aries,” Virgo replied calmly.
It was honestly a little strange hearing her sound so mature. I was actually a little annoyed that I couldn’t even enjoy this side of her properly with my current condition.
“Caelus-sama simply overworked his body today. He should recover after a proper night's sleep.”
'Tsk, this cheeky maid.'
I grumbled internally.
'Acting all mature and caring when I feel terrible, while acting like a complete degenerate all other times.'
“I-I see. Thank goodness. I thought he might've been hurt earlier and simply hadn't noticed.” Aries visibly relaxed.
Virgo continued gently stroking my hair, seemingly ignoring her.
Then her tone lowered.
“Though I think we need to have a serious discussion about actually using that unconventional healing ability of yours if you're going to keep pushing yourself this hard, Caelus-sama.”
Before I could even think of a response, Aries tilted her head.
“Unconventional healing ability?” she asked curiously.
The moment those words left her mouth, a horrible realization hit me.
My eyes widened.
‘Oh no.’
Unfortunately, Virgo immediately returned to her usual self.
“Caelus-sama possesses an ability that can help mitigate his illness, but it functions through sexual intimacy~ The greater the intimacy, the more effective the healing. Isn't it amazing?” Virgo declared enthusiastically.
I groaned and buried my face deeper into her chest.
“Wha-Wha-Wha-Whaaaat!?” Aries squeaked. “An ability like that actually exists!?”
“Yep~ And as his personal maid, I fully volunteer for this noble cause. I don't mind sacrificing my body if it helps Caelus-sama after all~”
Virgo shamelessly puffed out her chest and brought my head closer to her chest as I did my best to ignore the hard stub poking my cheek.
“V-V-Virgo! You can't just say something like that so casually! It's embarrassing!” Aries cried while covering her burning face.
I silently contemplated digging a hole in the snow and jumping into it and never emerging again.
Then Aries spoke again.
“…T-Though, if it's to help Caelus-sama... I suppose I could...”
I froze.
Slowly looking up, I found Aries peeking at me through her fingers with a completely red face.
My brain immediately stopped functioning.
Thankfully, before anyone could say anything else, approaching voices echoed through the path we had come from.
Familiar voices.
“Hey Bronya, did you hear something?”
“Yes. Let's move carefully. We don't know what we might encounter.”
=====
Not wanting Seele and Bronya to see me in this position, as it would lead to uncomfortable questions that I didn’t feel like answering tonight, I slowly pushed myself away from my heavenly pillows, getting Virgo and Aries’s attention.
“Caelus-sama, you shouldn’t push yourself,” Virgo reprimanded me gently, though she made no move to stop me as I straightened my posture and made it look like everything was fine.
“It’s fine, Virgo. I’m feeling well enough to walk now,” I said dismissively.
Aries, on the other hand, had steam practically rising from her head due to sheer embarrassment over what she had almost admitted out loud. She covered her face as a cute, embarrassed sound escaped her lips.
“Hieeeee~”
Just as I had made myself look presentable, the figures of Bronya and Seele came into view, walking down the descending path leading from the orphanage.
“Caelus, everyone. It’s nice to see some friendly faces in this place,” Bronya greeted us with a pleasant smile while Seele simply nodded from beside her.
Notably, she was standing much closer to Bronya than before.
Bronya’s expression then shifted into a frown as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Though it was rather rude of you three to leave us behind in Boulder Town and go ahead without us.”
Shrugging my shoulders, I let out a sigh.
Right now, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into the bed of my rented room back in town, even if it smelled a little strange.
“Can you really blame us?” I asked calmly before raising an eyebrow at the pair of them and crossing my own arms.
“You two spent most of the trip to the Great Mine arguing, and from the look of things, it seemed like it was going to happen all over again tonight.”
At my words, a faint blush appeared on Bronya’s cheeks while Seele clicked her tongue and looked away, completely unrepentant.
“I didn’t want to be stuck in the middle of whatever you two have going on, so we decided to head out first.”
I then gestured toward Aries.
“It paid off too. We found what we came for.”
Seeing me point at her, Aries quickly realized what I meant and raised the bag of medical supplies we had gathered that evening.
“I-I see. That’s good then,” Bronya replied with a nod.
Then, after a brief pause, she looked away and lowered her voice.
“And... sorry for making you deal with that.”
I was about to respond and wave away her worries since I did consider Bronya a friend, especially after the private moments we had shared so far, when Seele suddenly spoke up in an abrupt and rude manner.
“Whatever. Let me check what you guys got. I need to make sure you picked the right supplies.” Seele rolled her eyes as she walked toward Aries and extended a hand toward the bag.
I felt my eyebrow twitch at both her words and actions, acting as if we were idiots who couldn't tell medical supplies apart.
‘This fucking bitch. The more I interact with her, the more my opinion of her keeps decreasing.’
I thought with a blank expression.
Just when I was about to open my mouth and tell Aries we were leaving, Bronya spoke up.
“Seele! You're being very rude right now!”
Bronya's serious tone immediately caught the purple-haired girl's attention as a look of surprise, and even hurt, briefly crossed her face.
“Caelus and his friends didn't have to forgo sleep and come here tonight, but they did anyway because they're good people.” Bronya continued firmly.
“The way you're treating them right now is not only rude but very unprofessional. You should be thanking them instead for completing the task Miss Natasha asked of us. Which I might remind you, we we’re not able to do the same.”
Seele frowned and took a small step back.
“…Sorry.”
The apology came out quiet and awkward, as if she wasn't used to giving them.
Blinking in surprise at Bronya actually defending us, I looked back at the gray-haired girl with a bit of awe.
‘And here I thought that after finding out about their shared past, Bronya would completely ignore us and focus all her attention on Seele and vice-versa.’
A small smile appeared on my face.
‘Well, color me pleasantly surprised.’
Seeing Aries and Virgo looking toward me to take the lead, I stepped forward.
“It’s fine. I'm sure Seele just wanted to make sure we didn't accidentally grab the wrong things.”
My gaze shifted toward the bag.
“Now, while I don't mind showing you what we found, can we do that on the way back to town? Today has been a long and tiring day and, if I'm being honest, I'm dead on my feet.”
Bronya blinked before sending me a grateful nod.
“Thank you for understanding, Caelus. And yes, I believe that would be perfectly acceptable.”
Seele simply nodded, still looking somewhat sullen after Bronya's reprimand.
“Very well then, let's be off.” I said with a small smile.
Along the way, I also told them about my chat with Clara and our planned meeting tomorrow in the Robot Settlement. They all agreed to accompany us.
Seele also cheered up after a while. After checking the medical supplies we had gathered, she even shyly thanked us since we had found more than she had expected.
When we got back into town, Seele took the bag off our hands and told us that she would handle returning everything to Natasha so we could head in for the night.
Too tired to argue with her, we agreed.
Bronya surprisingly accompanied us as well, telling me that she would be getting some rest too, feeling much better after our talk and our little adventure to Rivet Town.
After bidding her goodnight, I headed straight to bed and almost immediately passed out, not noticing the mischievous, nervous, and embarrassed looks directed at my sleeping form.
=====
Following Day
Far too soon, I felt knocking on my door pulling me from my slumber.
Groaning, I mumbled a sleepy reply.
“One moment.”
Blinking my eyes open, I shook my head, trying to chase away the lingering drowsiness. Even after a few hours of uninterrupted rest, I still felt really tired from pushing myself too hard yesterday.
As I moved to sit up, my body groaning in slight protest, I ran into a small problem.
I couldn't move my arms.
My legs felt heavier than they should, and there was also a noticeable weight resting on my chest.
Curiosity immediately won out.
Looking down, I blinked as I found the answer to my question.
Or, more accurately, the two pink-haired problems.
A blush rushed to my cheeks, completely destroying the last traces of sleep and leaving me wide awake.
Aries and Virgo were sleeping comfortably on either side of me.
What was worse, was that they were wearing nightgowns that left little to the imagination. They barely came down their thighs that any movement would reveal their panties leaving everything else for my eyes to take in greedily.
Virgo was wearing a pink one with frills while Aries wore a white one of a similar style.
One of their arms was draped across my chest while a leg rested over mine, and both of them were using my shoulders as pillows.
‘When did they!? Did I unconsciously say something to them last night?’ I thought in a mixture of confusion and shock as I tried to recall anything from my exhausted state.
Nothing came to mind.
‘No. I would definitely remember saying something like that. Then how did they—?’
My answer came a second later.
I felt movement to my left and saw Virgo slowly waking up.
She stretched like a content cat giving me a nice view of her swaying breasts and a peek at her panties before looking up at me with sleepy but happy eyes.
“Good morning, Caelus-sama~ Did you enjoy your present? I bet you're feeling all energized after getting to share a bed with two beautiful girls, right?” Virgo teased as she began poking my side playfully.
My eyebrow immediately started twitching.
A second later, my hand came down on top of her head in a chop.
“Mmn~ Please choose another part of my body if you wish to reward me, Caelus-sama.”
Being as shameless as ever, Virgo closed her eyes in bliss instead of wincing in pain and actually encouraged me to continue.
“Tsk, idiot. Get your head out of the gutter.” I groaned while shaking my head.
“And if you were going to do something like this, you should’ve told me beforehand. Did you forget that I have to actually have the ability active for it to do anything? And you even dragged poor Aries into your shenanigans too.”
Virgo blinked in confusion before a look of realization entered her eyes.
A moment later, she simply shrugged.
“Oh well. At least I got to enjoy sleeping next to Caelus-sama, and he got to wake up next to two beautiful girls.”
I didn't dignify that with a response.
Mostly because some part of me had actually enjoyed it.
Instead, I turned toward Aries and gently shook her awake.
Aries cutely rubbed her eyes as she stirred before opening them and finding me staring back at her.
She instantly turned red and let out an embarrassed squeak.
“Morning, Aries. We’ll talk about this later. For now, can you please let go of me? Someone’s at the door.” I asked gently, offering her a reassuring smile.
Unfortunately, that only seemed to make things worse.
Aries turned even redder as she realized she was still clinging to me like a limpet.
Immediately letting go as if I were on fire, causing her breasts to bounce in front of my face and making my pants tighten, she started babbling out a stream of apologies.
Smiling, I reached over and rubbed her head for a moment while internally willing my morning boner to disappear.
“It’s alright. I couldn’t possibly be mad at you since you did this because you were worried about me, so thank you.”
Aries nodded nervously, though she thankfully seemed a little calmer now.
Getting out of bed, I watched as Aries and Virgo quickly changed back into proper clothing. Their bodies glowed for a brief moment before their usual outfits replaced the nightgowns.
Stretching a little, I walked over to the door and opened it.
Dan Heng stood on the other side.
His gaze briefly drifted past me and landed on Aries and Virgo.
Aries immediately looked down while blushing furiously.
Thankfully, Dan Heng chose not to comment on what he saw.
“Caelus, we're meeting Oleg in a few minutes. You should get something to eat beforehand. I have a feeling this is going to be another long day.” Dan Heng informed me calmly.
“Thanks, Dan Heng.” I nodded.
“Don’t mention it. Now I’ll leave you to... whatever it was you were doing. My apologies if I interrupted something.”
Before I could explain myself, he turned and walked away.
I stared after him for a moment before letting out a groan and closing the door.
“Great. Now he probably has the wrong impression of us. I just hope he doesn’t tell March about this.”
Aries somehow turned even redder.
Virgo, meanwhile, puffed out her chest proudly.
“It was only expected this would happen, Caelus-sama. I am your personal maid after all, so please don’t worry about it.”
“This is so embarrassing...” Aries quietly muttered to herself while hugging her arms.
“Haah, let’s just get something to eat.” I sighed tiredly.
At this point, I was already looking forward to the day being over.
=====
A While Later
After having breakfast, even if it wasn’t the best meal we’d ever eaten due to the supply shortages in the Underworld, we finally made our way to where we would be meeting Oleg, finding the rest of the party already waiting for us.
Wanting to conserve energy, since keeping Virgo and Aries summoned at all times required a constant drain on my mana even if it was small, I had sent them back for now.
If I was going to meet Svarog today, I figured it was best to be in top shape, or as close to it as I could manage in case an altercation occurred.
“Will Miss Aries and Miss Virgo not be accompanying us?” Bronya asked curiously.
The question immediately earned me a silent raised eyebrow from March.
“No, they won’t. They’ll be staying behind this time,” I answered.
Bronya simply nodded and turned her attention back to Oleg.
With her facing away, I looked toward the still-waiting March, who now had a small frown on her face.
Silently, I mouthed a few words.
"Tell you later."
Thankfully, she understood and nodded back, probably already guessing it had something to do with my strange powers.
With no more questions coming my way, I let out a small sigh of relief and turned toward Oleg as he began speaking.
Only to suddenly do a double take.
My eyes had been drawn toward a particular spot in the distance completely unconsciously.
A curious expression crossed my face.
‘W-Were my eyes playing tricks on me, or did I just see a rather familiar head of silvery-blonde hair?’
My heart immediately started racing.
The color was far too familiar.
And with that recognition came a powerful feeling of longing that momentarily drowned out everything else around me.
‘C-Could it really be...?’