Chapter 94: Sword Saint’s Smile
「Fufu… The hot water’s temperature is just right.」
「This is the first time I’ve seen a bathtub this big!」
After their intense training, Aria and co. were currently enjoying the mansion’s bathtub on Alisha’s recommendation.
Aria was fully enjoying herself, while Stella was frolicking in the huge bathtub.
「Yaay, it’s perfect for swimming!」
「The smell from the hot water is shoo goo~d!」
Lily and Faeri were also enjoying the bathtub in their own way.
Despite its size, the bathtub was emitting a really nice smell.
According to Vulcan, this bathtub’s hot water came from the nearby hot springs.
（Fumu, it’s just as master had said, the hot water is wonderful.）
Tama, who was also enjoying the hot water, floated in between Aria’s twin melons. He leaked out an adorable purr with a 「Nyaa~…」
「Fufufu… It seems all of you enjoyed the bathtub.」
As Aria and co. walked along the corridor of the mansion after their bodies and hearts were both warmed, Alisha greeted them from the other side of the corridor with a warm and gentle smile on her face.
「Muh! What a wonderful aroma! I know this smell. IT’S MEAT!!!」
Stella raised her voice as her nose twitched after detecting the nice aroma drifting around the corridor.
Sure enough, the aroma was really fragrant.
It seemed Alisha had been preparing the dinner while everyone was enjoying the bathtub.
「Alisha’s dishes are really delicious. Just look forward to it guys.」
The one who said those words stood a little bit behind Alisha… It was Prince Julius.
Hearing Prince Julius say so, Alisha―
「Although I’m reluctant to treat a gentleman other than my master with my dishes… I can make an exception for Your Highness, my dear master’s sworn friend.」
―said those words with a composed look on her face.
Aria and Tama were dumbfounded when they heard such a straight and rather rude remark toward the Empire’s first prince.
But the person himself, Prince Julius, just wryly smiled as he said 「You’re still as harsh as ever toward any man other than Maiya.」.
（Come to think of it, Prince Julius seems to be quite reserved when talking with Sword Saint Alisha…）
Tama recalled that fact when he saw Prince Julius’s reaction toward Alisha just now.
The Prince had told them before that he was the bosom friend of Maiya, the archmage.
Thus, he was simply used to the reaction of Alisha, his buddy’s wife.
◆
「S-SHooo good! This is the first time I’ve eaten something shoo good!」
Aria and co. were sitting in a gorgeous dining room.
A sumptuous feast lay on top of the dining table in front of them.
Stella voiced her admiration after taking a bite of one of the meat dishes.
「Yeah, this is the first time I’m eating meat as tender as this. Moreover, its meat juice is…!」
Aria, who tasted the same dish as Stella, let out similar words.
「That’s a dish from another world. It’s called 〝Hamburg Steak?, and it is made by mixing minced meat, minced onion, and breadcrumbs. My dear master taught me the recipe a long time ago.」
Alisha explained the origin of the dish to the astonished Aria and co.
「A dish… from another world… Come to think of it, there’s a rumor that Archmage-sama, Alisha-sama’s husband, is someone… who come from another world.」
「Yes, he told me that he came from a country called Japan in a world called Earth. It’s a peaceful world without monsters and magic…」
「But their magecraft is extremely developed. It seems that the magus of earth can create their own inherent skill with magic even when they’re born without skills.」
Alisha and Beelzebub respectively replied to Aria.
「A world without monsters and demon race, and magus who can use magic even without skill… This world sounds like an extremely amazing world…」
Aria was really astonished. She couldn’t help but imagine such a world.
「Nnya~~! You really love hamburg steak right, Your Highnya~?」
「Umgh…! But of course. The hamburg steak made by Alisha and Maiya is the best after all!」
On the side, Vulcan merrily chatted with Prince Julius, who ate his hamburg steak with the vigor of a naughty youth.
The way he ate completely destroyed his cool image.
「Come to think of it… How is the crafting of the artifacts going, Vulcan-san?」
「I finished one for Stella-nyan for now. I mean, making an artifact take a lot of times, preparation, and concentration, nyan.」
Vulcan replied to Aria with a smile. She implied that it would take her a while… And yet, her words were full of self-confidence.
She might have been hiding her identity in exchange for her freedom, but… there was no mistaking that her blood boiled hot with passion once she started to make artifacts again.
「I’ll look forward to when the new weapon is ready!!」
Stella joined the conversation with an excited look on her face.
It was a natural reaction for a battle junky like her to get excited about the new weapon.
「The artifacts made by Vulcan are the best you can find out there. So look forward to their completion.」
Beelzebub said so with an unladylike smile while sitting on Alisha’s lap.
There were only a few Artifact smiths in the world. They were ranked according to their skill, and Vulcan could be said as the owner of the best skill amongst them.
Aria and co. were really fired up. As they enjoyed the delicious dishes, they couldn’t wait to see their new weapons.
Later at night―
（Uhm, I can’t sleep at all.）
Tama couldn’t even get a wink of sleep. He was sandwiched in between Aria’s melons. Aria, herself, was soundly sleeping in the bed of the guest room.
Tama’s passion as a knight had been lit up after he had seen today’s mock battles.
He was extremely surprised on seeing Aria and Stella, who had recently shown tremendous growth, get so easily toyed around by Prince Julius and Alisha.
Yes, toyed around. It meant that the Prince and Alisha had yet to go all out. Thus, he couldn’t help but wonder how powerful would the two of them be at their best.
（Yosh, let’s enjoy the night wind to cool my head.）
He was too fired up to sleep.
Thus, he slipped out of the room very carefully, so as to not wake Aria up.
◆
「Oh my! Are you strolling this late at night?」
「Nya!!」
Tama went toward the mansion’s garden from the windows of his room. His ears suddenly caught the ephemeral voice of someone along with extremely light footsteps.
When Tama turned around, he caught sight of Alisha’s figure, which was wrapped in an almost transparent negligee. A coat was draped on her shoulder.
Her platinum blonde hair and those pair of big eyes cast an almost ephemeral light under the moon in the night sky.
Tama’s mouth was agape, and he almost mistook her for a saint.
「Fufufu, upon a closer look, you really look like nothing but a kitten. I mean, it’ll be bad if they know that you’re actually a 〝Behemoth?, right, Tama-chan?」
「……!!!?」
Tama’s eyes opened wide upon hearing Alisha’s words.
（Did she say… Behemoth… just now?）
In short, she already knew about Tama’s true form!
「Fufu…」
Alisha just gently smiled as she brushed the head of the dumbfounded Tama. She then stood up and left the garden…
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