Chapter 26 – Priestess Sisters / Under the Starry Sky – Part C

 

After the talk with the head priest, we return back to our lodging, eat dinner, and then take a bath in turn. I am the last to take a bath and after that, I take a walk outside by myself.

The watchtower is just a walk away from the lodging house. I always wanted to climb one but…… It is actually quite high once I start climbing.

Well, I could still climb it without any problem though. The watchtower is not covered with a roof so I could see the sky full of stars if I look up. With this height, I could indeed easily spot any enemies coming to the village from the surrounding area —- There are only two roads leading to the village and both could be clearly seen from here.

 

“…… Are you preparing for the war? As expected of Guild Master, you are always meticulous in everything wane”

“UWA! …… Mi-Mikoto-san!? ……”

 

The foothold on top of the watchtower is not that big that if two people are standing on it, they have to be glued together with each other —- So in short, Mikoto-san’s position, who climbs up after me is pretty much hugging my body.

 

(Thi-this sensation on my back…… Even with a layer of black clothing and a layer of chain mail underneath, It-it still feels very soft……)

 

I could feel two heavenly elastic pressures pushing my back. And Mikoto-san, who does not seem to mind the contact, continues on chatting while still hugging me in her arms. Her voice comes very close to my ear and it feels ticklish but I tried my best to keep calm as I put my concentration on our talk.

 

“When I heard that you are going to protect the village, I didn’t feel surprised desuwa. You could easily defeat enemies of just that level no matter how many came, right? …… Back in the game, the logic of defeating under-leveled enemies easily was the norm but in this world, because we personally defeat enemies with our own hands, ordinary people might see us as a queer existence out of the norm desuwane”

“Tha-that might be right…… We-well, Mikoto-san… If you get too close to me like that, well……”

 

Even when Mikoto-san is being serious, I couldn’t help but be jittery and I feel like being impolite to her. Every time she moves, even just a little, all my attention would just focus on the part where our bodies touch each other…… I still feel nervous even though I am already quite familiar with the female body by now.

 

(She is the first comrade I met directly so that might be the reason…… and to think that I would be in this intimate situation with my former comrade like this……)

 

It feels so surreal but this is the actual reality. But even so, I still feel guilty. Is it alright to do something like this?

 

“Well, whatever it is, I will just follow Guild Master’s command anyway so let’s put that aside for a moment…… Actually, I have something I want to ask you so that’s why I’m here following after you”

“So-something you want to ask?”

“Fufu…… You don’t have to be that nervous desuwa. I don’t have any intention to kidnap and eat you up after all”

 

Mikoto-san let out a short giggle. She seems to be having fun. Hearing her melodious laugh just next to my ear like this makes me feel like melting from the core of my brain.

 

LOG   – <Mikoto> is whispering: “…… I should be the nervous one you know”

 

The words that appeared in my log window synchronized with the words that Mikoto-san whispered. When I am still stunned by the sudden development, she continues on with her words.

 

“…… Guild Master, how old were you in the previous life? I never heard of it even until the very end”

“I was…… 16 years old. Mikoto-san, how about……”

 

When I was about to ask her about her age, I finally realized the out-of-place feeling that I have been having —- something that has been stuck inside me finally becomes clear.

 

(Mikoto-san said that she continues on with her age from her last life…… and then she also said that she has been in this world for 5 years. Do-does it means that……)

 

“…… It seems that you finally realized it wane. That’s right…… [Dark Shadow] was just a 12-year-old little girl. I have always played Eternal Magia since the beta just like a disabled person. I start playing the game when my age was still in the single-digit”

“You were 12!? …… Those crazy playstyles and rich knowledge of the game was……!?”

“You don’t have to feel shocked about that desuwa. MMO is a game where the time you spend playing and studying it pretty much translates into your skill after all…… I have played the game longer than most of the adults to be able to beat them”

 

To think that one of the deputy leaders of Stairways to Heaven was still this young…… I really can’t tell it from her speech and mannerism in the game. Did she aim for that effect with the character she role-played with?

 

“I never realized it…… When we met in this world, you were far older than my physical body. My only impression of you was that you are a pretty oneesan and nothing else”

“…… That is not good wane, Guild Master. There was a rule in Stairways to Heaven that forbid members to flirt with the opposite gender desuwayo?”

 

The me in my previous life always went with ‘normies go explodes’ after all. Although I still turn a blind eye to the romance within the guild to some extent, officially, I forbid any men-women relationship so it won’t complicate the relationship in the guild. Well, when two of my members told me that they are married in real life, I still gave them my blessing at that time. I wonder what happened to the celebration screenshot that I took at that time……

 

“Got you…… Imagine it. I, who is still 12 years old at the time, act like a grown adult? Doesn’t it sound hilarious desuwane. Even now, I might have become a 17 years old girl but inside, I am still just a child. Although my body has grown rapidly over the years”

“N-no…… You look matured already. You don’t look unnatural at all. Compared to me, you already got your act together by miles away”

“…… Thank you. When I was still playing the game previously, I always felt afraid to know Guild Master’s real age. I don’t want Guild Master to think of me as just a brat……”

“I also think the same, you know. I always desperately tried to act like an adult……
But I was surprised when everyone accepted me even when I acted like my usual self in real life. I realized that I can only act the way I wished inside the game……”

 

I was 16 before and I am 8 currently while she was 12 before and 17 currently…… When I think about it, the circumstances between our ages have become reversed. I, who chose to start all over again after transmigrating, and her, who continues on her age even after she got transmigrated.

 

“…… But I feel glad desuwa. This way, I could meet the little version of Guild Master…… And just like that, I could witness Guild Master’s growth into an adult firsthand. My ultimate fear was that Guild Master is actually far older than me if I have to say”

“Eh…… I never take age as a consideration when it comes to comrades……”

 

There was even one member of my guild that was already 50 years old in age although it was only according to their own self-report. That person never used the term youngster or greenhorn to me. I also never excessively concern myself with other member’s ages and treat them all the same.

—- that’s why I thought that it was only natural to do so. Until it finally dawned upon me.

 

“Wah……!?”

 

The hands that have been hugging my body exerted more force than before and hugged me tighter. I unintentionally let out a surprised cry but Mikoto-san still did not relax her hug. And then I feel her cheek touching my nape.

 

“Why am I being overly scared knowing that I wonder…… It is because Guild Master has always been this kind of person that I have always…… I have always imagined what kind of person you are and I still doubt it. Maybe, I should believe in myself who believed in you a bit more desuwa……”

“…… I am no saint nor an exalted man. Even as a guild master, I don’t even know whether I have enough qualification……”

“No matter what your circumstance before, you were the best guild master ever desuwa. You have worked your hardest to show our little team the summit. Even when you log in the game the longest of everyone else, no one ever thought of it as strange. They all understand what was your goal for playing the game desuwa”

 

—- How could it be? My reason was nothing praiseworthy.

It’s just because the game is the only place where I belong. Of course, I would be very desperate in trying to protect it.

But Mikoto-san accepts even that pathetic side of me, anything and everything. She gives me a positive affirmation to all my dark past……

 

“And then even now…… You are still going to unsparingly use the power that you have been cultivating to help others. That is the best part of you. You literally have the power in your hand to achieve anything for your own benefit but you still consider using it for helping others. Now that I have affirmed it myself, I don’t have any other reason to doubt you anymore desuwa. You are truly the master of the guild which I was a member of before…… and the top player that I have always adored, Sigurd desuwa”

“…… I was…… just lucky that everyone has been so cooperative. Mikoto-san, MaroMayu-san…… and everyone else”

“Of course. That’s why Stairways to Heaven quickly disbanded while still leaving its name behind. There’s no meaning for everyone back then to continue the guild where you are not present…… There’s a lot of members who even retire from playing Eternal Magia completely. Do you even know how devastated everyone feels when they know that your account has ceased to exist after its monthly membership billing halted? That was like the coup de grace to our hope of your comeback after realizing you have never log back in the game”

 

—- Is that so…

Stairways of Heaven that used to be everything for me have been disbanded. I thought that someone else would still continue running it even after I went away…… I thought that my presence was replaceable.

 

“Morioka Hiroto-san, my name is Yamakawa Mikoto desumono. The Kannazuki part is my birth month…… the 10th-month desuwa”

“So that’s how it means…… You elaborate quite a good name there. My nickname smelled chuunibyou from the get-go when compared to yours”

“I don’t think it mattered desuwa. I didn’t have any concept of making a different nickname for myself in the beginning…… So when everyone calls me Mikoto, I sometimes feel a bit embarrassed because of it. I kinda regretted I use my real name in-game now”

“Is that so? …… I think it is a wonderful name you know”

“Hiroto-san also…… no, we should stop fussing over our previous life desuwa. You are Hiroto Siegrid and I am Mikoto Kannazuki now…… No more, or no less”

 

But even so, I think I will never forget the name that she told me. Just like how I would never forget my past life name, Morioka Hiroto —- and also the name Miyamura Hina.

Mikoto-san then gently let my body go. Standing on the small platform, she then looks around the surroundings. When I look up, I can only see her back with the starry sky as background but then she suddenly turns around again —- her long braided hair follows her flowing movement like trying to draw an orbit.

 

“I have learned some acrobatic skill so I could do a somersault even in this place but even just turning around in place has already given me quite the thrill”

“Haha…… Mikoto-san is indeed someone who enjoys thrilling sport”

“Of course. Especially the thrill from battle and…… I also found another one that is just as thrilling. And that is in what kind of timing would Guild Master asks me to do suckling……”

“Buh…… *cough cough cough… N-no, we-well, I was, you know…… Even if it is toward someone that I am familiar with in my previous life, and that she even knows about that skill, I still don’t have the nerve……”

 

I can’t decisively complete my sentences. But Mikoto-san was just a 12 years old little girl back in her previous life.

But she is now way older than me…… Alas, everything feels so tangled up. My soul age would be the older one if I also include my previous life after all.

 

“…… I got it desuwa. How about we promised something when we survived this battle? What do you think?”

“…… We-well, all I have in my mind is only about surviving the battle……”

“Fufu…… I am also thinking of the same. And when it comes to surviving together, of course, there is some give and take processes involved in it desuwane…… I will never hesitate for the sake of raising our skill level. But still, this will be my first time being seen by a man……”

 

(If you keep teasing me like this, my eyes will turn into the eyes of a predator, like hawk eyes, you know……)

 

Even when I thought that it was immoral, my eyes are still locked on the ‘targets’. Mikoto-san, who realizes my gaze, blushes slightly while unconsciously trying to cover her sensitive frontal parts with her hands.

 

“S-skill and thrill almost sound the same desuwane…… That is just me trying to lie to myself desuwa”

“Guh…… How vexing. No, I mean of course you will feel like that. Indeed it is not good to give something so precious that easily to others. And I am being honest here”

“…… It’s not like I am giving it cheaply so isn’t that fine? After all, it would help protect the existence of one village”

 

This kind of dialogue has a strong stink of death flag brewing on it but I don’t have any intention of dying whatsoever.

Mikoto-san should also be thinking the same as me. That’s why the talk between us does not have the usual grim aura that is associated with death flag…… We have been smiling from the start.

 

“Well then, I will return first desuwa. If we return back together, I’m afraid that the holy knight will turn sour from jealousy”

“P-please don’t be too hard on me…… I am also still not used to being loved by other people like this”

“You don’t look like someone unfamiliar with it from how I see it though…… But you still have some of your innocent side left and I am happy desuwane……”

 

While saying that, before Mikoto-san goes down the watchtower ladder, she approaches my cheek with her lips —- she reaches the distance where it is hard to judge whether she touches me or not and then turns back again.

 

“Mi-Mikoto-san? ……”

 

LOG   – <Mikoto> is whispering: “…… It is good that he doesn’t realize desuwa. My heart is still beating wildly……”

 

Did she not realize that the log window still recorded her speech? —- Maybe the current development is just too much for her to mind anything else. She then briskly returns back to our lodging.

Looking at her retreating back, a flash of thought appeared in my mind. Even if I managed to get Ninjutsu skill after surviving the battle, perhaps I would not be able to relish myself with this metaphorical meal set before my eyes.

 

(She was just a 12 years old little girl after all……)

 

When I remember the time back in the game when I thoroughly relied on Mikoto-san’s gaming prowess, I started to blush unintentionally. Even back then, she was already someone dependable…… That is all that I could think of.