"Haa, the sand's warm under here."
The pure white beach glittered in the sun.
Buried straight down beneath it, I let out a leisurely sigh as I watched everyone else—except for me—splash around and have fun, squealing with excitement.
"Ah, Ais. Th-that... swimsuit. It, it suits you re-really well."
"Ah, yeah... thanks."
"Grrr, you wench. That Varen-shmaren-whatever! How dare you set your sights on my Bell!"
"Lady Hestia, I do sympathize with that feeling. But lurking behind us like that is looking pretty disgraceful."
"M-my Ais is being ensnared by that wicked rabbit...! B-but even a shy Ais is so noble~!"
It was absolutely not a sigh over the cauldron of chaos right in front of me.
Honestly, what twisted kind of flirting was that?
Still, if there was any small comfort in this situation, it was that they had at least set up a little shade so I wouldn't get roasted by the blazing sun.
It wasn't actually that bad a mood.
Though not getting what I wanted was still pretty disappointing.
"Well, it's not like today is the only day."
"Jeez, you really are something else. You still haven't given up on that insane plan?"
"A man who draws his sword should at least try to slice a radish."
"That sounds impressive, but in practice it's just a huge nuisance to everyone except you."
"I feel no hesitation in my heart or actions. All of this is, ow!"
"Honestly, you're pinned down and still all mouth."
I snapped back for no reason and got smacked by Tione, who was keeping watch beside me.
But even though it was only a light tap, it hurt quite a bit.
Well, I wasn't even using any mana reinforcement right now, so that was only natural.
Even so, between the betrayal of the trusted Liritus and my own pitiful state, my heart had already been thoroughly bruised.
At times like this, what I needed was the broad, nurturing love of a mature mama.
"Here, An. Aaah~"
"...Well, I guess that works."
Just being cared for this gently by a beautiful girl beside me was luxury beyond luxury.
Though the standard for her kindness being one bite of herself—manga meat—was a little much.
Seriously, couldn't she at least tear off a piece about the size of her finger and give me that, Tiona?
"Hm? What was?"
"No, nothing."
Wu wei ziran, wu wei yi, huh.
I couldn't bring myself to complain to those innocent eyes.
At times like this, the best thing to do was probably just say nothing and gloss over it vaguely.
"All right, all right! Everyone, settle down and gather up!"
And so the morning passed, and afternoon came, with the shadows growing a little longer.
Everyone had played enough, eaten enough.
It was about time to get to the real reason they'd all come here.
Though in Hestia Familia, I was the only one actually working.
"Let's see, our side's job is to inspect the state of the other Dungeon entrance under that lake. Your side's job is to investigate this marine ecosystem abnormality, right?"
"Yeah. That's what I heard, Loki."
"Then I'll have our side check the entrance while we take a look around here too. After all, none of your kids have a diving skill, do they?"
"Ugh, th-that... p-please take care of it."
"No, if you just let me loose, I can handle everythi—"
""Tsk.""
Those were some very obvious looks of absolutely not a chance.
Good grief, how embarrassing for a Magus to be seen like this.
So my credibility had fallen this far... annoyingly sharp, tsk!
"Tch, I guess I have no choice. As a substitute, though, I'd like you to get me some Leviathan fossil fragments. If possible, make them a pretty big one."
"Okay! Got it, An."
"A fossil, huh. So I just need to bring back some old rocks nearby? Okay, received."
As if.
aGZUVy93RzJ5R25hSGRhTDR5cW9zNVgrMTNJMXl1bjE1WjhqYUJVb2ZrdW5XZ21aTXZ4cktBMm5Ga3ZxdnFjeQ
I grabbed the two of them just as they were about to head into the sea and spent a long time talking—talking and talking and talking some more—about the characteristics, distinguishing features, and collection methods for the kind of fossil sample I wanted, forcibly stuffing the information into their heads.
As I did, steam from brain overload started rising from Tiona's head.
And as time went on, my impromptu lecture was finally cut short by Tione's anger-fueled retaliation, which she could no longer bear.
Still, it seemed my stubborn effort to hold onto the two of them had paid off.
Fortunately, both of them now remembered at least roughly what I actually wanted, so there didn't seem to be any major problem.
While the two of them were warming up for the dive,
"Hey, An?"
"Hm? What is it? Still something you don't know, Tiona?"
"No, it's not that..."
Suddenly, Tiona twisted her body around and looked at me with a shy expression.
Uh... so what was that supposed to mean?
What on earth had made the usually so lively girl look that embarrassed?
And then came the meaningful question.
"Ho, how do I look t-today?"
"Hm?"
"N-no, I mean... how do I look today?"
"Uh, um?"
I tilted my head, completely unable to grasp the flow of the conversation, let alone the context.
Apparently annoyed by my hopeless reaction, Tiona finally pointed at her own outfit with a finger and raised her voice for emphasis.
"Jeez! I'm asking how my swimsuit looks today!"
An is a meanie!
Then Tiona puffed up all by herself, going "Hmph! Hmph! Pfft!" in a cute little sulk.
A quick glance at her eyes showed a fair amount of expectation hidden there.
But.
"Well, even if you ask me how it looks..."
I didn't really have all that much I could say to her.
"It's a very well-made [Undine Cloth]. Must've been pretty expensive, huh? What brand is it?"
That was about all I could come up with.
And the result was.
"U..."
"Hm?"
"Uuuuuuuuuuunng!"
Tiona's cheeks puffed up with air from inside her mouth until they were bulging to the point of absurdity, and her face turned bright red as well.
On top of that, her eyes were faintly glistening with tears... no matter how I looked at it, I was the one in the wrong, right?
I didn't exactly want to figure out the full details of why, though.
"Hmph!"
In the end, Tiona glared at me like she wanted to kill me, huffed angrily all by herself, and then, still fuming, she jumped into the sea first.
And for some reason Tione followed after her, looking at me with a very pitiful expression.
"What's wrong with her?"
"An, are you sure you aren't doing this on purpose?"
"No, what did I do?"
"...Forget it. It's not like Lili has the luxury of worrying about other people."
"I'm asking what?"
Lili, left alone with me, was also giving me a cold side-eye full of pity and contempt.
And that wasn't her reaction alone.
Looking around, for some reason everyone else was making faces similar to Lili's, or else expressions that looked troubled and sorry for me.
Thanks to that, I was the only one who looked normal, and it felt like I'd become Alice dropped onto a deserted island.
No, what the hell are you all doing?
Just because I'm tied up and can't move, you think I'm some kind of bundle of straw?!
Even I...!
"And what exactly are you goddesses making those faces for? Why do you keep staring at a motionless Magus like that?"
"Hey, flat-chest. Your kid's pretty weird, ain't he?"
"Yeah. Though it's a little contradictory that he calls that his 'sincerity.'"
"What? So that's his idea of 'consideration'? Good grief. Never in my life did I think I'd see that same side in a brat like him as I do in my own dog. No, seriously, what kind of guy is that, twisting himself up like that?"
"My point exactly..."
Haa.
The two goddesses didn't even answer my question, just muttered to each other and kept sighing.
Then they looked at me like I was some hopeless idiot, and really...!
No, I mean, what the hell am I supposed to have done?!
"Ugh, forget it. With me looking like this, what am I even supposed to do?"
In the end, worn out by my own frustration, I threw my head back and shut my eyes, as if to say screw it.
I'd just kill time like this for now, then later go back and think of some way to pull something off in secret from the others.
About an hour later, maybe.
Voices, voices.
"Hm?"
Something was getting noisy over by the sea.
So I lifted my head again and looked that way.
"Huh?"
There was a ship I didn't recognize floating on the water.
That alone wouldn't have been anything worth worrying about.
And yet, for some reason.
"Tiona? Tione?"
One of them looked unusually serious, or maybe anxiously pissed off, unlike her usual self.
And the other, unlike before, had a strangely gloomy expression on her face.
Neither of them looked to be in good shape.
And naturally, my own expression as I looked at them was...
"Hmm."
Probably not looking very good either.
I hadn't checked in a mirror, but...
It was probably obvious.