Page 153

"Ugh... What happened? Why does my head feel so heavy?"

Right after Lily finished kissing the four adventurer girls and giving them the payment for her personal Quest, the young man who had received a slap and a hard punch that made him unconscious suddenly woke up seeing the condition of his adventurer party that looked strange.

The four girls who were members of his adventurer party looked like they were holding their lips, sulking with their cheeks puffed out.

Without the young man realizing it, the four members of his adventurer party were now in a worrying situation.

"It feels... like I’m being toyed with and can’t refuse Lily-sama’s request. On the other hand... I enjoy the personal Quest given by her," muttered one of the noble adventurer girls.

Her murmur was heard, and the other girls nodded in agreement.

"I think... now I understand what Princess Anastasia has felt," replied the star witch while pressing her pointed hat until it covered her entire face which was now covered in a bright red blush.

"I can’t say anything else because it was my first kiss on the lips," said one of the shrine maidens who was now seen hugging her heavy hammer tightly.

Of all the words that were full of implied meaning, there was one shrine maiden who seemed to smile and give off a happy aura because she had just had her first experience which made her heart flutter.

"The nervousness of kissing someone’s lips and the feeling of loss after giving my first kiss, this feels very happy and also sad at the same time," she muttered softly with her face downcast but smiling.

The young man who had just woken up from his slight fainting could only stare at his adventurer party members with a look of astonishment.

"What happened actually?"

Even though the young man asked a second question and repeated the question filled with curiosity, not a single girl in his adventurer party wanted to answer it.

Because his curiosity was ignored by the girls, the young man went back to grilling potatoes for his dinner.

"Hey, does this mean that Princess Anastasia has a special relationship with Lily-sama?" the star magician girl asked a noble adventurer girl.

The question made the young man who was roasting potatoes prick up his ears to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"I think Princess Anastasia has a special relationship with Lily-sama. Without Princess Anastasia’s help, the news of the Golden King Bear herd hunting quest would not have reached the Aurora Kingdom’s Capital and received full support from the Aurora Kingdom’s Capital’s Adventurer Guild Master," replied the noble adventurer girl.

On that increasingly cold night, the only source of warmth for them besides the burning campfire that was roasting potatoes was the flashback of their lips feeling the softness of a girl who had caught their attention.

"Tch~ so this Princess can use her authority even though she doesn’t have enough power to participate in the political power struggle between nobles," grumbled the star magician girl.

The noble adventurer girl shook her head.

"I doubt that."

"Huh? Does that one Princess have enough power to change the course of the ongoing political power struggle?"

"No, that’s not what I mean. While I was still part of the Baron noble family who actively followed the news from the nobles of the Aurora Kingdom’s Capital, I had heard mixed news about a Princess who was able to control the Aurora Kingdom from behind the scenes."

Ctaakkk...

Cttaakkk...

The words of the noble adventurer girl made the flames of the campfire now change into a warm atmosphere filled with mystery.

"Don’t tell me... that Princess is... Princess Anastasia who we just met?" asked the star witch girl with cold sweat starting to wet her neck. In the cold conditions of this winter night, her cold sweat could not lie to her who looked excited and liked the mystery story that was slowly revealed.

The noble adventurer girl only nodded when she heard the guess given by the star witch girl. Even within the scope of her small Baron family, rumors about Princess Anastasia who was like a living legend who controlled the kingdom from behind the scenes had been told hundreds of times.

Without knowing her figure, the noble family who heard Princess Anastasia would obey all orders given by the royal family and try as much as possible not to attract further attention from the Shadow Princess.

Seeing the figure of the Shadow Princess in person had made the noble adventurer girl shudder in fear.

"Yes, you could say, she is a Princess who can control this kingdom just by saying her name."

The words of the noble adventurer girl made her feel afraid after realizing her jealousy after kissing Lily had to compete with someone who might be an obstacle for her adventurer party in the future.

"That’s a really interesting story. Competing with someone who uses her intelligence and cunning to move a large kingdom from behind the scenes. Isn’t that worthy enough to be my rival?" said the star witch girl while showing her face filled with a confident smile.

"I’m sure that Princess Anastasia will be a rival who will make you dizzy and look stupid in front of Lily-sama."

"Hey, at least don’t make me look like a stupid girl after saying something cool like this!"

Ctaakk...

Ctaakk...

When the campfire began to burn the potatoes that were now ready to be eaten again by the young man, his ears had heard the contents of the conversation between the noble adventurer girl and the star witch girl began to interpret what had happened when he fainted.

His hand that was now holding the baked potato began to feel as if he had been stolen by someone. This theft was not a theft of an object but rather a theft of a feeling that was still vaguely felt by the young man.

With a feeling of discomfort after being stolen by something he was not aware of, the young man began to eat his baked potato slowly.

Cttaasss...

"Aahh!! Hot!!" shouted the young man after feeling his tongue burn.

His baked potato fell to the ground and his gaze was fixed on the two shrine maidens who came from the follower of the Goddess Aurora. The young man stared at the two shrine maidens hoping that he would immediately get first aid after his tongue was burned by the still hot baked potato.

However, a surprising sight was seen before his eyes.

Chuuppp...

Sluurrpp...

The young man who had an innocent face and seemed to have not known the sins of mankind had received an undeniable divine revelation before his eyes. Both of his eyes widened after seeing the two shrine maidens kissing each other in front of his eyes.

Chuuupp...

Sllurrpp...

"Hmmph? This feels different from before?" After giving a kiss by demonstrating what had happened before, the two shrine maidens gave each other an assessment of their kiss that felt different from kissing Lily.

"Why does this feel different? Are we doing it the wrong way?" asked the other shrine maiden after losing something that made her mood even more chaotic than usual.

The two shrine maidens looked at each other and wiped their lips that had been wet from the previous kiss.

The young man who saw this looked surprised again after finding his adventurer party feeling strange. It was like he was getting a hallucination magic attack that made his eyes see strange things that rarely happened to his adventurer party members.

"W-What exactly happened?" The same question was asked again by the young man. Without getting a clear answer, the young man only got a strange response from the girls around him who started looking at each other with strange eyes.

The gaze contained a feeling of jealousy, curiosity, and a strong desire to get to know Lily better.

Degg... Deggg...

"Huuuhh... my heart is pounding when I think about Lily-sama," said the two shrine maidens at the same time.

"Could it be... I have fallen in love with Lily-sama?" said one of the shrine maidens who suddenly attracted the attention of her adventurer party members.

"EEHH?!!" shouted the young man after hearing the shrine maiden’s words.

"What exactly happened!" shouted the young man who was now trying to satisfy his curiosity about what had happened when he fainted after falling to the ground.

The wounds that covered his entire body due to the slaps and punches from the noble adventurer girl made him recover from the curiosity that began to flood his mind.

"What happened?"

"What happened!"

"Am I the only one filled with curiosity like this?!"

The young man’s scream made his adventurer party members bow their heads and mourn their faces with a red blush. The shame that spread quickly filled the young man with curiosity that needed an answer as soon as possible.

"Hey, is there none of you who want to tell me about what actually happened?!" with a tone filled with his strong curiosity, the young man only got an answer from the behavior of his adventurer party members who were very strange.

"Y-You all don’t want to tell me?" the young man tried to look calm with his authority as the only man in this adventurer party.

Explore stories at Lokepub

With his mature attitude that tried to look like a tough stud, the young man hoped that his attitude filled with responsibility would give him the answer that he was looking for.

"..."

"..."

With his patience almost running out and time also running out, the four members of his adventurer party now stood up to do something.

"I-I’m going to set up a tent to sleep," said the noble adventurer girl as she left the young man first, her face still bowed with a blush covered by both of her hands.

"I-I’m going to prepare a spell to protect us while we sleep," said the star witch girl who was now rushing off to prepare a high-level protective spell for all members of her adventurer party.

The young man who saw this began to feel that the four girls in his adventurer party seemed to be hiding something from him very clearly.

The rejection he experienced showed that this was a situation that threatened him as the leader of this adventurer party.

The young man began to scratch his cheek while maintaining his curious attitude so as not to peek too far ahead. The simultaneous secret of the four members of his adventurer party, made him feel ostracized and abandoned by his adventurer party members.

"I don’t know why... this feels painful and sad."

"Oh, my poor self..."

"What happened to my adventurer party members!"

By shouting about his heart and his current bitter experience, the young man tried to assume that this was his bad experience and bad karma for understanding the color of women’s underwear to be answered with the right answer.

"Oh, Goddess Aurora, what did I do wrong?" the young man muttered when he realized that he was suddenly left alone and only had a bonfire to accompany him.

Even the two shrine maidens who were very close to him had left him without saying a word.