Chapter 62: Choosing a Swimsuit

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Translator: Soafp

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Nee-san and I left the town mayor's house and regrouped with Lidiel and Belchika.

However, there was an unexpected person there.

“Why is Princess Victoria here?”

Yes—somehow, Victoria was there.

Belchika and Lidiel were holding their heads, and it was obvious at a glance that something had happened while Nee-san and I were storming the mayor's house.

Belchika explained what had happened.

“It seems she secretly slipped in with the luggage and followed us.”

“Huh?”

“Mm. Sister-in-law, I'll explain the reason, so please stop staring at me with dead eyes.”

“Then hurry up and explain.”

Nee-san pressed her with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Victoria, looking flustered despite her blank expression, started making excuses.

“Mm. I had a premonition.”

“A premonition?”

“A premonition that Ask would get close with another woman. So I came to stop it.”

Huh, me?

“Ask, go get a suitable box. We're sending this princess who's spouting nonsense back to the kingdom.”

“The kingdom, not the empire? Also, isn't boxing up a princess kind of bad?”

“If we say it's for Princess Victoria's safety, that king should forgive us. She forced her way to the empire against his wishes in the first place, so let's put His Majesty at ease.”

“Okay.”

There happened to be a box of just the right size at the mayor's house, so I borrowed it.

Nee-san hogtied the struggling Victoria and stuffed her into the box.

Wow, this looks really bad.

“Mm. As expected of you, sister-in-law. You're really good at tying people up.”

“Please don't blush. Now, hurry up and get in the box.”

“Wait. I'm not the only one being shipped.”

“…What do you mean?”

“When I sneaked into the carriage, I heard a noise from a different wooden crate. There's probably one more person hiding.”

Saying that, Victoria pointed at a wooden crate loaded onto the carriage.

Nee-san opened the lid.

“Eek!!”

“W-What are you doing, miss?”

“A-Ah, I-I've been found……”

It was a girl I recognized.

Eri, the maid who had been assigned to take care of me by the emperor's order.

“Eri-chan, what are you doing?”

“U-Um, my moth— I mean, by order of His Majesty the Emperor, I was entrusted with taking care of Ask-sama!! So I chased after you!!”

“That's some initiative. But you shouldn't follow us to a place rumored to have an epidemic. Well, it seems that was a misunderstanding, though.”

“Uu, I'm sorry.”

Eri bowed her head on the spot, reflecting on her reckless actions.

Even Nee-san couldn't scold someone who apologized so sincerely, and she shook her head.

“No, there's no need to apologize. But please be more careful from now on.”

“Y-Yes. I will……”

“Mm. You treat me differently. I can't accept that.”

“Ask, we're boxing up Princess Victoria.”

“Mm. I'll resist with everything I've got.”

A full-on fight broke out between Nee-san, who was trying to pack Victoria into the box, and Victoria, who was struggling to avoid it.

Nee-san pushed through with pure physical strength, while Victoria handled it with her outstanding magic skills.

Seeing this, Lidiel raised her voice.

“Ask-kun, and you too, miss—could you stop being so rough? The epidemic turned out to be a misunderstanding anyway, right?”

“Well, that's true, but—”

“Then let's just think of it as a little trip and enjoy ourselves together!! Zotas even has a beach!!”

“…Haa. Fine. Ask seems to want to swim in the sea anyway. But we're leaving tomorrow, Princess Victoria.”

Nee-san really is soft, one way or another.

At that, Victoria looked at Lidiel and puffed her lips slightly.

“Mm. I'm not such an easy woman that I'd acknowledge you over something like this.”

“? Um, I don't really understand, but let's all have fun together!!”

“…You're kind of dazzling.”

Hit by Lidiel's sunlike, dazzling smile, Victoria's expression grew tense.

And so, our one-night, two-day little trip began.

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Zotas has a beach.

It's not peak beach season yet, so there aren't many tourists, but the water temperature is apparently warm enough to swim.

However, we were missing something essential.

So we came to a clothing shop on Zotas's shopping street.

You can buy swimsuits here.

“This is, um, how should I say it… isn't it a bit lewd? This is that eyepatch bikini, right?”

“It looks great on you, Lidiel-sama!! You really give off a mature big-sister vibe!!”

“R-Really? Thank you, Eri-chan. Your swimsuit is lovely too. If I remember right, that swimsuit is……”

“Yes!! It's the ‘school swimsuit' said to have been designed by the First Hero!!”

Was the First Hero Japanese? And relatively modern, at that.

Basically, this world's civilization is about medieval Europe, but the fact that the Kishirika Kingdom has things like takoyaki—could that be because of reincarnators like me?

…Well, no point thinking too hard about it.

“Mm. Sister-in-law, if you want to captivate Ask, shouldn't you wear a string bikini that really emphasizes your chest?”

“Why are you asking me? Is that sarcasm? Or are you bragging?”

Beside her, while Victoria was hesitating over outrageously indecent swimsuits that no princess should ever wear, Nee-san clicked her tongue at Victoria's ample ch*st.

By the way, Nee-san seemed to have chosen an off-shoulder swimsuit.

Wait, huh?

“Nee-san, Nee-san, where did Belchika-san go?”

“Belchika? She said she had ‘something to take care of' and went somewhere.”

“Oh, really?”

Now that I think about it, she did say in the carriage that she'd volunteer as a guard while running an errand.

“Mm. Ask, which do you like better, this tiny micro bikini or this string bikini?”

“Aren't they basically the same?”

“Not at all. This one is erotic, and this one is perverted.”

“I can't tell the difference……”

Victoria was agonizing over which swimsuit to choose.

Lidiel and Eri were seriously discussing which swimsuit would suit her best, and Nee-san joined in, turning it into full-blown girl talk.

This was going to take a while.

“Nee-san, Nee-san, I'm going to swim at the beach first.”

I've heard in my past life that girls take a long time shopping, and at this rate the sun would set.

Not wanting to waste time, I headed to the beach alone.

“Ooh—amazing.”

A blue sea stretching all the way to the horizon.

A sight I'd only ever seen in photos and videos in my past life was now right in front of me.

I tried licking a bit of seawater—it was salty.

“Alright!! Let's swim!!”

After taking in the view just enough, I headed straight for the sea.

Huh? Can I swim, you ask?

Don't underestimate me. I read books about how to swim more than once or twice in my past life.

Probably. Surely. I should be able to swim!!

“Guh, blblbl!!”

That's what I thought, but it seems knowledge and skill are two different things.

I completely started drowning.

If my neck gets torn off, healing magic can fix it, but drowning to death is another matter.

As my consciousness gradually faded—

“Oh no, Mitsuha!! We've got to rescue him!!”

“Why did this kid walk straight into the sea when he can't even swim?!”

“Is this the time for that?! If we let this boy die here, do you know what kind of punishment Kokonoha-sama will give us?!”

Just as I heard the voices of unfamiliar girls, I woke up on the beach.

Huh? I'm alive?