Chapter 63: Two Swim Bladders

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I thought I had drowned, but before I knew it, I woke up on the beach.

Did the waves wash me ashore, maybe?

“Could it be that I swam back to the shore unconsciously?”

“There's no way!!”

“Mitsuha!!”

“Hm?”

Just now, I thought I heard someone's voice coming from behind the rocks at the edge of the beach…

No, must be my imagination.

I don't want to drown again, so I'll just wait here until Nee-san and the others come.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Ask.”

“You're late, Nee-san.”

“Take that up with Princess Victoria. She couldn't decide until the very end whether to go with a string bikini or an ultra-tiny micro bikini.”

“Mm. I want you to look now that I've finally decided.”

“Oh—very cute.”

I'd been bracing myself for something extremely daring, but surprisingly, Victoria was wearing a one-piece swimsuit with quite a lot of fabric.

Still, because her ch*st was so large, it looked like it might spill out at any moment.

“Mm. I did say I wanted you to look, but if you stare that hard, it's embarrassing.”

“Sorry. But it really suits you.”

“…Thanks. So, shall we swim?”

“Let's swim.”

Victoria and I ran toward the sea.

““Gabo baba…””

“H-Hey, you two!?”

Lidiel hurriedly dragged me and Victoria out of the water as we drowned.

That was close. We almost drowned together.

The two of us were made to sit seiza-style on the sand and got scolded by Lidiel.

“If you can't swim, say so!! You might have died if I'd been any later!?”

“That's not it, Lidiel-san. I did exactly what the book said, but I still couldn't swim.”

“Mm. The water is rejecting me.”

“…Please don't be too hard on my little brother, Lidiel.”

Nee-san stepped in to support us.

“There are no seas, lakes, or rivers in the kingdom where you can swim, so we don't learn how in the first place.”

“Eh? R-Really?”

“Yes. To be honest, I'm not very good at swimming either. I can only manage a few meters.”

After Nee-san's honest confession, Lidiel fell silent in thought—

Then her eyes widened.

“In that case, I'll teach everyone how to swim today!!”

“Eh, really?”

“Yes!! It'd be such a waste to come all the way to the sea and not swim!!”

“I-I'll help too!!”

“Then we'll be counting on you, Lidiel-san, Eri-chan.”

And so, an impromptu swimming lesson by Lidiel and Eri began.

“First, the absolute basics!! Let's start by putting your face in the water!! Eri-chan, please demonstrate!!”

“Yes!!”

“Okaaay.”

“Mm.”

Just putting my face in the water should be easy.

Like Eri, I went to the shallow area where the water was about waist-deep, took a deep breath, and put my face in.

At that moment, a strong wave came in, and I accidentally opened my eyes.

What you must never forget is that seawater is saltwater.

Which means—

“My eyes!! It stings!!”

“Oh no, we forgot the goggles!!”

After that, Eri went to buy goggles from the shopping street, and we retried. This time, I cleared it without any trouble.

“Alright, next is practicing floating!! I'll demonstrate first, so watch closely!!”

“Okaaay.”

“Mm. Got it.”

Lidiel took a deep breath and floated on her back.

“Take a breath as if filling your lungs with air, relax your arms and legs, and you'll naturally float!!”

“Ah, okay.”

“…Hey, Ask-kun? Are you actually watching?”

“Mm. Lidiel is lewd.”

“Huh!? Why!?”

There was no mystery.

When Lidiel floated on her back, her generous ch*st floated on the water.

Well, yeah. It was kind of erotic.

“Mm. But I understand how to float now. If Lidiel's br**sts can make her float, then mine should work too.”

Saying that, Victoria started practicing floating as well, copying Lidiel.

Victoria's ch*st floated too.

“…Lidiel. I don't have anything as impressive as yours or Princess Victoria's. How am I supposed to float?”

“You can float even without br**sts!?”

“…Even without… br**sts…”

“A-Ah, no, that's not what I meant!!”

A careless remark from Lidiel, who had them, wounded Nee-san, who did not.

After continuing swimming practice for an hour—

“Fufu, all three of you have improved so much!!”

“Yes!! Everyone's amazing!!”

“That's because you and Eri-chan are great teachers, Lidiel-san.”

“Indeed.”

“Mm. …I'll say thanks.”

Having learned how to swim, we were able to fully enjoy the sea.

---

After enjoying the sea for the first time,

As the sun began to set, we headed to the lodging prepared by the balding town mayor.

There was one single room and one large shared room. Since I was the only male, it was only natural that I'd get the single room.

“Mm. The idea of Ask and me sleeping close together on the single room's bed—”

“Rejected.”

Victoria was dragged by the collar into the shared room by Nee-san.

“Good night, Ask-kun.”

“G-Good night!!”

“Good night, Lidiel-san. Eri-chan too.”

That said, since we'd come all this way, it'd be a waste not to go around the port town and do some healing.

So I climbed out the window.

This time, the indiscriminate healing magicians Nightingale was nearby too, so I'd act not as No-Name, but as No-Face.

Wearing my plague mask, I looked down over the entire city of Zotas from the rooftops, searching for targets.

“Alright, where are the injured and sick?”

That was when it happened.

Despite it being late at night, I could see several suspicious figures wandering around the town.

People walking around at this hour were suspicious enough as it was.

“…And there seem to be a lot of them?”

There were dozens of suspicious people, even just from what I could see.

Wondering what was going on, I jumped down from the roof and called out to them.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah… aaah…”

“Hm?”

The moment the suspicious person saw me, they stared at me—

Then charged straight at me at incredible speed.

“Whoa, dangerous.”

I lightly dodged, and the suspicious person tripped over a pebble at my feet and fell spectacularly.

Someone's injured!! I need to heal them!!

Thinking that, I rushed over, but the suspicious person got up without caring about their injury and came at me again.

Something's not right here.

“Aaahhhh!!”

“Ah… aaah…”

“Wow, they're coming out in droves like a zombie movie.”

Dozens of suspicious people poured out from the dim alleyways.

They were clearly not in their right minds.

“Take this.”

“Agh!?”

“Extra Heal & Mind Up.”

“Aaah—!! H-Huh? W-What was I…?”

I grabbed one of the resisting suspicious people and cast healing and mental magic on him.

The light returned to his eyes as he snapped back to himself.

“You back to your senses?”

“Huh? Y-Yeah… Who are you?”

“My name is No-Face. No, that doesn't matter right now. What's happening in this town?”

“I don't know, I don't really—ah.”

“Hm?”

Just as I was about to question the man who had regained his senses, it happened.

Once again, the light vanished from his eyes, and he came at me.

“Aaahhhh!!!!”

“…That's strange. Both the healing and mental magic were definitely working, but he lost his senses again? For now—take this.”

“Agh!?”

I caught the man again and cast healing and mental magic, but although he briefly returned to his senses, he immediately reverted.

This is an abnormal situation, right?