Two of the special ingredients on their list had already been gathered; all that remained was the spring water from the Great Cloudmist Falls. For some time now, apart from collecting morning dew, the Gourmet Edifice had spent the rest of its hours searching beside the several-hundred-meter-high Great Cloudmist Falls for the legendary spring said to bubble forth with clear syrup.
It was said that the most telling sign of such a spring's appearance was that a single brilliantly-colored, several-meter-tall emerald glass-lily would sprout up beside the water.
Even after they had obtained the rainbow hen's egg, they still had yet to see any such flower appear. Instead, they had come to know every inch of the lakes beside the waterfall up on the mountain peaks.
What delighted Pecorine most of all was the fish in the Great Cloudmist Falls—they didn't taste sweet when you ate them.
Because it had been so long since she'd last had grilled fish, during one expedition her gluttony got the better of her and she dashed into the lake to haul out a big fish. Sweet or not, she simply had to indulge her cravings. The instant the grilled flesh entered her mouth, the familiar, savory deliciousness brought tears of emotion streaming down her face.
For now, only the spring itself remained to be found. Jhin set the Capsule House down on a flat patch of grass not far from the lakes both great and small, and at Kokkoro's suggestion, everyone changed into swimsuits to go play in the lakes.
Since Kyaru wasn't much of a swimmer, she resolutely headed out clutching her little yellow rubber-duck swim ring.
Before heading out, Megumin called out to stop Jhin: "I... I'm not very good at swimming. Could you teach me?"
"No problem—satisfaction guaranteed!" He thumped his chest with a resounding boom, brimming with confidence.
He led Megumin to the lakeside. This was nothing like a beach, where there might be shallow and deep ends. Jhin leaped into the lake first, then gestured for her to sit down and slowly ease herself into the water.
"You... you'd better hold on to me tight, you hear? If... if I drown, I'll haunt you and never let you off, even as a ghost!"
"Relax, I won't let go until you've learned."
"O-okay then." Megumin gripped the grass with both hands and slowly lowered her body into the water. The icy cold of the lake sent goosebumps rippling across her whole body.
Jhin wrapped an arm around her slender waist, manipulating the water element to form a solid platform beneath his feet so he could stand perfectly steady atop it. "Take your hands off the grass, hold on to my hands, and try to let your body float in the water."
"It's not like I've got that wad of fat on my chest the way Pecorine does... how am I supposed to float?"
"Don't talk nonsense. Isn't Kokkoro swimming just fine too?"
Out on the lake's surface, Kokkoro—in the middle of a splash-fight with Kyaru and Pecorine—suddenly clutched her chest, feeling as though an invisible sharp blade had run her clean through, a thick, heavy sorrow welling up from the bottom of her heart.
"I... I still feel like this lake is too deep. How about... how about we switch to a shallower one?"
"That works too."
Jhin called out a word to the others, then moved with Megumin to a small lake about two meters deep, where he taught her to swim.
It didn't take long before Megumin grasped the basics of how to relax her body and float in the water. Jhin still conjured a platform beneath his feet, gliding through the water as though walking on flat ground while slowly guiding her by both hands.
"Kick hard with both feet—yes! Just like that. See... you can swim forward on your own now without me pulling you along."
"O-of course I can. I'm a genius archwizard—I pick up everything fast. A trifling thing like swimming is no challenge at all!"
"Look how smug you are."
Megumin forgot to keep her head tilted back and accidentally swallowed a mouthful of water. In her panic she felt her body turn into a heavy iron block, sinking straight down.
Luckily, Jhin had been keeping a close watch on her. Reacting swiftly, he reached out both hands and placed them under her armpits, lifting her up. "You okay?"
"Cough, cough... I'm fine..." Megumin had choked so badly her eyes had gone red around the rims. Her legs clamped tightly around Jhin's waist in the water like a crab's pincers. She had just been about to release them and resume practicing when she felt something poke her, and a teasing smile spread across her little face: "You've got even more energy than I do, huh."
Jhin's old face flushed. Ever since the two of them had taken up more nighttime activities, he'd rarely relied on meditation to clear away stray thoughts anymore. The Dao-heart he once had—"no woman in my heart, and the blade draws like a god"—had shattered with a thunderous crack, turning him into an upbeat, hot-blooded greenhorn.
The moment Megumin's thighs wrapped around him, he saluted in perfect tacit understanding, without the slightest hesitation.
This was simply human nature, and it also amply demonstrated... mm, your charm.
"Hehe." Hearing this, Megumin loosened the legs coiled around Jhin's waist and decided to give him a proper reward: "Turn me around."
"Huh? What are you going to do?"
"Don't worry about it, just do as I say."
"Oh."
Jhin did as told, helping her rotate a hundred and eighty degrees. Megumin leaned her jade-smooth back against his chest, then controlled her body to barely float, using her sense of touch to find a point of support before pressing her thighs together with a slight squeeze.
"Sss~"
Hearing the sharp intake of breath behind her, the red glow unique to the Crimson Demon Clan lit up in her eyes. She tilted her head back and looked over her shoulder with a wicked grin: "How about it—haven't I found myself a pretty excellent study method?"
"It's certainly... not bad..."
"S.S. Jhin, full speed ahead!" Megumin patted his arm and wriggled her hips a couple of times, urging him to hurry up and cooperate, propelling her forward.
Unfortunately, she didn't know that Jhin was manipulating the water element to congeal a platform beneath his feet to walk on. After he'd carried her forward a few steps, she immediately sensed something was off—this manner of moving forward was nothing like swimming through water.
"You jerk... you're not walking in the water, are you?"
"Yep. I was doing the same thing back in that first lake too."
"Then switching lakes was completely pointless!"
"Don't say that. Look, haven't we discovered a fun new way to play?"
"Shut up, keep your voice down!" Megumin had originally meant to use this method to tease Jhin and reward him on the side, but she'd never expected it would instead turn into a situation where she was the one getting worked over.
Jhin wrapped both arms around the soft, supple waist in front of him so she couldn't get away. The sensation of her skin, even more tender and smooth in the water, made him shudder involuntarily.
That single shudder so startled Megumin that her voice came out twisted: "H-hey! You... you wouldn't..."
"You're overthinking it. You know perfectly well what my combat stats are, don't you? Enough chatter—let me take you for a couple of laps."
"How is this swimming at all—hey, don't do that, mmh~" A coquettish cry slipped out from between her lips before she could stop it. She hurriedly covered her mouth with her hand. The laughing, rowdy voices of the others seemed to be right beside her ears, making her heart pound wildly.
Just now, under the pretext of swimming, they had in fact walked one lap around the lake. Jhin felt that something was off—the constricting sensation of the clothing on his body had vanished entirely. He lowered his head to glance at Megumin again: her little face was flushed crimson, her gaze hazy as she leaned against him, and through the water's surface he could even make out the red eyes of the little white rabbit.
This lake had actually dissolved their clothes away!
Jhin hurriedly carried her over to the lake's edge and gently patted her little cheek: "Megumin, snap out of it—the lake water dissolved our swimsuits!"
"Wha... whatever... it's not like you haven't seen it before. Compared to that... let's just do a couple more laps." With her fair, delicate fingertip she traced circles on his chest, her eyelashes trembling faintly, the misty haze in her eyes not yet faded.
"???"
____
👻🔥P-a-t-r-e-o-n: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: DanMachi: But I am a Monster — new on The_Mikudayo
📚 40 chapters ahead over at Walnut-chan — your support is what pays for the translations
Help us hit our targets:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all