Published at 25th of March 2019 10:00 pm

Chapter 11: Being Concerned.

[Ne~ Shiki, er, do you always do this?]

First floor of the labyrinth.

After defeating the Fang Rabbits, Ruruka asks me while I’m lightly petting Yuel who was retrieving the dropped items.

[That’s the case, what’s wrong?]

I carefully use my right hand to slowly stroke Yuel’s hair and my left hand to tickle her chin.

Possibly unable to forget about the battle yesterday, although Yuel doesn’t resist having her hair stroked, she doesn’t hug me as tightly as she did in the past.

While I feel slightly unsatisfied about it, I still continue stroking the soft, silvery hair in front of me.

Ruruka shows a complicated expression but doesn’t say anything further after watching this scene.

[No, it’s nothing…]

She sounds somewhat dissatisfied.

As expected, I wonder if she thinks I’m a lolicon.

However, this is my [Job].

This skinship is for the sake of increasing Yuel’s motivation.

There is no way I could stop doing it.

Besides, if I stop doing this, then all I will be doing is following behind the party.

My whole worth in this labyrinth is stroking Yuel.

Acting like a pimp, I praise Yuel, stroke her, encourage her and put in my best effort to make her motivated for the next battle.

At the same time, petting Yuel is also one of my joys in life.

The joyous feeling of being respected by Yuel.

It is just impossible to stop this.

After we complete the first floor and in the middle of the second floor, I understand the basic battle style of Ruruka.

Ruruka is a warrior who uses a one-handed sword and shield and fights by deflecting enemy attacks, evading and attacking when she sees an opening.

From my observation, she can use shield skills and specializes in evading and attracting the attention of the enemy.

She throws small stones to attract and disrupt the attention of monsters trying to get behind her.

Although her attack does not seem strong, she is able to bring a sense of reliability to her teammates by drawing the attention of multiple enemies.

This is the so-called shield user.

Thanks to Ruruka attracting the attention of the enemy, Yuel can focus on annihilating the enemy and we proceed through the dungeon more smoothly than usual.

We reach the fifth floor.

There are four giant birds in front of us.

Except for the presence of Ruruka, it is the same situation as yesterday.

The image of Yuel crying as she was unable to protect me flashes in my mind.

This is a good opportunity.

[Please wait a moment]

I stop Yuel and Ruruka the moment they are about to rush forward.

This is an opportunity for Yuel to regain her confidence.

[Ruruka, could you leave this battle to Yuel?]

To overcome her previous failure, she must redeem it with her own ability.

Different from yesterday, she is carrying throwing knives with her now.

I believe the current Yuel can handle this situation.

[Uwa~, that’s amazing]

The four giant birds fall to the ground after the small knives pierce through their throats.

This is the result of Yuel’s throwing knives.

As expected, Yuel is definitely amazing.

The battle ended faster than normally fighting with a hand-held knife.

Even though the giant birds would only move in a straight line, it is still extremely difficult to accurately pierce the monster’s throat 10 meters away using a small knife.

Although I am respected by Yuel, I felt that I am beginning to respect Yuel instead.

[I did it, Master!]

After Yuel retrieves the small knives and dropped items, she happily runs over and leaps into my chest with all her momentum.

It seems like she did not hold back.

Casting aside her previous gloomy face, Yuel’s whole face is smiling widely.

Yuel overcame her past failure and regained her confidence.

Looking at the innocent Yuel being so happy, I am so pleased for her.

[Amazing, Yuel is so amazing!]

I gently hug Yuel who leaped into my chest and caress her head.

Yuel hugs my waist and rubs her head on my chest while sticking her body to me.

I use one hand to hug her back and the other hand to gently stroke Yuel’s head.

I feel Yuel react to my stroking by rubbing her head against my hand.

Such a nostalgic feeling.

Such a nostalgic reaction.

Despite Yuel feeling depressed for only one day, I feel that it has been a long time since I saw such a reaction.

I feel extremely happy.

I wonder what kind of feeling this is.

Oh right, it feels like my cute daughter getting first place in her athletic meet.

I have this urge to praise her even more.

I want to fully express this joy.

More, I want to praise Yuel.

I will not do with only caressing her head like usual.

It won’t do with only this.

Today is the day Yuel overcame her past, yes, today is such a memorable day.

I squat down, loop my hands behind Yuel’s leg and back and carry Yuel.

A princess carry.

Yuel lets out a surprised voice for a moment but immediately loops her hand over my head and rubs her head on my chest.

I let Yuel do as she pleases after she stabilizes her upper body while using my left arm to stabilize her lower body.

I caress Yuel’s head with my freed right hand, and lightly press Yuel’s head into my chest further.

[Yuel is so amazing]

Praise her, stroke her, praise her, stroke her.

Yuel gives out a happy sound and rubs her head even more.

Just when I want to hug the head of such a cute Yuel —

[Wait a moment! This is strange, is it not!?]

All of a sudden, I hear Ruruka’s voice. (T.L I forgot she is still there when I translate half way)

Ruruka, whose face turned red, is looking over here with eyes wide open in surprise.

[What’s wrong?]

I am only praising a hardworking child with some skinship.

I am not doing anything weird.

[E, eto, no, but, you won’t do anything to Yuel-chan?…]

I didn’t do anything weird.

I am just rewarding Yuel for her hard work with a princess carry and stroking her head.

There is nothing sexual about it as it is just skinskip between a parent and their child.

Or is the matter of not doing anything to Yuel referring to not even being allowed to touch her?

It is so unfair if I am judged as a lolicon just by this.

[I am only stroking her?]

[Although that’s the case… but you see, princess carry as such…]

Ruruka says such a thing while behaving suspiciously.

It seems like she is unable to calm down.

I wonder what this reaction means —

When my attention turns towards Ruruka, Yuel starts squirming around.

It seems that it is due me stopping my hand movements.

Behind my head, with all the fingers on her hand intertwined, Yuel seems like she wants to hug my head.

Yuel uses her fingers to caress my head and locks my neck with her elbow and says:

[My, Master]

Yuel is whispering into my ear just a few centimeters away from me.

Just like this, Yuel’s cheek closes in onto my face.

Soft silvery hair and cheek.

Yuel’s moist skin approaches my cheek and I feel a contact.

And then, Yuel’s cheek is pressed against my cheek and she starts rubbing.

Her face is sticking to my face.

In addition, I can smell a faint sweet scent of shampoo used by her during bathing.

My soul is being healed and my heart becomes warm.

[Hey, you know a girl must not stick so close to a man?]

This time, Ruruka forcefully sticks her body between Yuel and me.

Closely sticking between Yuel and me.

In other words, in front of me.

It is a distance where I will touch Ruruka if I slightly move my face.

And different from usual, Ruruka is showing a desperate expression.

Contrary to the gentleness of her voice, she forcefully pulls Yuel away from me.

[Ruruka?]

And then my eyes met with Ruruka’s.

She might be surprised by her own actions as her eyes grow wide in shock by our close proximity.

Matching her bright red hair, I can also see her big and beautiful green eyes in detail.

This is too close and I feel something weird.

Ruruka is also the same as her face becomes red— no [her whole head is red like a tomato].

…Huh, what is this.

I feel something weird about this flow of events.

[Ruruka-san?]

[Wh, what is it!?]

Her body stiffens when I try to talk to her and she immediately moves a great distance away from me while still having a bright red face.

She avoids looking at my face by looking downwards and shows an uneasy expression.

What’s with this.

This reaction.

Furthermore, stopping Yuel from having close body contact with me.

Could it be.

Could this really be it.

… No, I must not get fooled.

Stay calm.

If I look back on Ruruka’s past actions.

Even back in the clinic, how many times has a misunderstanding occured which leads to a reduction in treatment cost.

This must all be an act.

… However, is this really all an act?

Ruruka’s anxious look, bright red face and her suspicious behavior.

If all of this is an act, I might never be able to believe the creatures known as women ever again.

Up until this date, there is no reason for Ruruka to like me.

After all, there is no event of me saving Ruruka’s life during danger and we did not come into contact for long.

Eris whom I lived together with for three months in the clinic has a higher chance of liking me.

I do not have any idea why Ruruka showed such an expression.

Our contact is only limited to treatment at the clinic and payment for the service.

Furthermore, Ruruka is an extremely charming woman who will not fall in love with just anyone.

No, she might like me since she allow me to touch her breast.

No, no, she did all this to lower the cost of the treatment.

This is all for the sake of money.

…However, what if she appears money-minded in order to hide her shyness.

No, because, I only got to her name recently.

Our relationship is only till the level of knowing each other.

Huhh, but yet Ruruka knows my name.

I do not recall introducing myself to her.

What?

Is that it?

Like when I go to a convenience store and secretly look at the name tag of a cute clerk —

No, this is not about the matter of naming.

The main question is, how does Ruruka feel about me?

Although I felt over-conscious, it seems too obvious judging from Ruruka’s behavior.

Asking [Do you like me?], it feels so direct that I can’t say it out loud.

If, by any chance, I misread Ruruka’s behavior, I will be labeled as [Misunderstanding-kun].

It will then only cause me to go [Aahhhh] every time I remember it at night during bedtime.

I can’t afford to ask, but I am very curious.

— What is this, it makes me feel very uncomfortable.

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