Chapter 543 - 543: Spring Water

Crystal light filtered through the gaps in the leaves and spilled across the camp.

The scene returned to when the expedition party had first set up camp.

"Finally, we can wash off this rotten stench..."

"If it weren't for Little Rookie, I honestly don't know what we would've done."

"Same here. It's all thanks to that boy..."

The women, especially the Elves, had been tormented by the monsters' stench throughout the journey. As they chatted, they gathered their towels and spare clothes, preparing to head to the spring together for a bath.

Alicia walked between the tents until a head of emerald-green hair came into view, then stopped.

"Riveria-sama, please come bathe with us. I promise I'll stand guard properly. If anyone dares to peek, I'll tear them limb from limb."

Alicia solemnly declared her loyalty.

"No need. I'll go a little later."

Riveria gently declined her offer.

"Absolutely not! Making the Princess endure this smell for even one second longer would be a failure on our part!"

Alicia refused to back down.

Even if everyone else had to wait a little longer, washing the rotten stench from the Elf princess had to come first.

"Enough fooling around. I appreciate the thought, but I still have something important to do, so I can't go to the spring with you."

Riveria firmly brought the discussion to an end.

"I understand..."

Alicia nodded and left.

Just before looking away, she seemed to catch a meaningful expression on the Elf princess's face.

Her eyes were slightly narrowed, and the corners of her lips had curved upward.

That faintly alluring gaze was not directed at Alicia, but toward the white-haired boy standing some distance away near the tents.

Alicia froze for a moment, but she did not dare make any disrespectful assumptions about royalty based on a single expression.

Once the blonde Elf had left, Riveria glanced around and quietly approached the boy like a child sneaking off to do something naughty.

...

Crystals clustered together like blooming daisies, filling the forest with a peaceful atmosphere.

Bell and Riveria walked side by side along the path.

"Riveria, no one's keeping watch for us this time. Someone might see us."

Bell quietly reminded her.

Although the Elf princess had concealed the truth from Finn by claiming she was going to gather fruit, there was still a real chance that someone might stumble across the two of them meeting in private somewhere in this vast forest.

"Hehe. I'm a top-class Level 6 Adventurer. I'll sense anyone nearby before they ever notice us."

Riveria answered casually.

She loosely carried a bundle containing her spare clothes, her light, cheerful steps showing none of the dignity expected from an Elf princess.

"Then if any monsters attack, I'm leaving them all to you?"

Watching the unusually high-spirited Riveria, Bell felt a strange sense of displacement.

It was almost as though he were in Alf's Royal Forest, freely wandering through the woods alongside that rebellious, willful Elf princess.

"Of course. When I was little, I used to take a bow and go hunting all over the forest."

Riveria cast aside all formality and gave him a childishly willful smile.

She was not reminiscing about the past.

A similar forest.

Similar scenery.

Yet unlike those suffocating days of long ago, Riveria now felt that even if time stopped at this very moment, even if she had to remain in the forest for years and years, everything would still feel warm and rosy as long as Bell remained beside her.

Simply having the boy at her side had changed the way she saw the entire world.

Riveria unconsciously quickened her pace.

As they approached their destination, she suddenly stopped.

"Wait, Bell. I need to cover your eyes and ears first."

"I understand the eyes, but the ears..."

Before Bell could finish, Riveria produced a towel and a pair of earplugs.

"Don't worry about it. I'll take them off when we're finished."

The Elf princess firmly covered the boy's eyes and blocked his hearing.

Once she was satisfied, Riveria took Bell's hand and led him toward the blue crystals ahead.

"..."

Bell was somewhat confused, but still cooperated.

Perhaps Riveria was embarrassed about him hearing her undress...

Their destination was an extremely secluded spring known to very few people. Unless someone deliberately avoided the more commonly used areas, there was almost no chance they would come here.

Yet reflected in Riveria's emerald eyes was an Elf girl idly trailing her fingers through the clear water.

"Riveria-sama? Why are you here?"

Ryuu's eyes widened as she hurriedly covered her exposed chest with her arms.

Her clothes were lying on the shore, while her slender, graceful body remained submerged beneath the water, its delicate curves faintly visible through the clear spring.

"Um... Cranel-san?!!!"

The moment Ryuu noticed the boy standing behind the Elf princess, her face turned bright red and she immediately sank deeper into the spring.

"Calm down. Bell Cranel can't hear you or see you right now."

Riveria led Bell to the shore so Ryuu could clearly see his condition.

Originally, Riveria had not intended to go through such an awkward procedure. She knew that if she simply told Bell not to turn around and peek, he would never cross a boundary she could not accept.

The reason she had covered his eyes was because she had sensed Ryuu's presence.

"Um... Riveria-sama, what exactly is going on?"

Ryuu could not follow the situation at all.

Why was the noble Elf princess here with the boy?

A man and a woman alone at such a secluded spring, with one of them even blindfolded and wearing earplugs?

"I wanted to wash Bell Cranel's back, but it isn't something I want the others to see, so I deliberately came somewhere secluded. I didn't expect you to already be bathing here."

Riveria answered honestly.

"Wash his back? Riveria-sama? Are you saying you're going to take off your clothes and enter the spring together with Cranel-san?!"

Ryuu's eyes trembled with disbelief.

The revelation was so shocking that her thoughts seemed to grind to a halt.

"Of course. Gale, you can join us. I'll leave helping him undress to you."

Riveria spoke as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Wh-what?! I-I can't do something so shameless!"

Ryuu had already given up trying to understand the Elf princess. All she wanted now was to escape as quickly as possible.

"You have some nerve saying that... Bell Cranel went into Water City alone to eliminate the monster wave for all of us, and now you're disgusted by the smell clinging to him? Not only that, you're treating something as simple as washing his back to show your gratitude as though it were something lewd and disgraceful. Gale, I'm deeply disappointed in you."

Riveria spoke coldly.

"I-I'm not saying that..."

Ryuu frowned and protested.

"Actions matter more than words. Hurry over here."

Riveria urged her.

"Um... I understand..."

Ryuu pursed her lips and approached the boy, her face bright red.

Ripples spread across the spring.

And with that, Ryuu was swept into an endless tide of embarrassment.

Following Riveria's instructions, Ryuu guided Bell through removing his clothes and trousers while blushing furiously, then led him into the spring.

"Don't worry. I'll keep this a secret. As long as we don't touch him at the same time, Bell Cranel definitely won't realize you're here."

Riveria's voice softened considerably.

"Um..."

Ryuu picked up a towel and began washing the boy's back.

Embarrassment completely overwhelmed her thoughts, leaving everything feeling almost dreamlike.

She was standing naked behind the boy, washing his body.

If Syr ever found out...

"Focus. Don't get distracted."

Riveria watched the Elf girl with an amused look and gently reminded her.

Gale was on very good terms with some of the boy's lovers. If a harem conflict broke out in the future, using today's events as leverage to make Ryuu cooperate from the inside might actually prove useful...

"O-okay!"

Ryuu gently continued washing the boy's body, completely unaware of the Elf princess's plans.

"I've heard that in certain countries of the Far East, pressing one's breasts against someone's back is considered the highest form of courtesy. Why don't you try it?"

Riveria pushed Ryuu's embarrassment even further.

The more ashamed Ryuu became, the easier it would be to turn this incident into an unspoken weakness in the future.

"Th-that's absolutely impossible?!"

Ryuu instinctively tried to retreat, only for her foot to land on a smooth stone.

She slipped toward the boy and accidentally carried out the very "courtesy" Riveria had just described.

"..."

Bell remained silent throughout.

"I'm sorry, Cranel-san!"

Ryuu hurriedly pulled herself upright, the bases of her pointed ears turning bright red.

"Don't worry. Bell Cranel will definitely assume it was me, so there's no need to be embarrassed. More importantly, what did that feel like?"

Riveria asked curiously.

She had been wondering about the interaction between Lefiya and the boy.

It was only a matter of her chest touching his back. Wasn't that essentially the same as touching his clothes?

Then why had Lefiya later done something as strange as rubbing her own chest, just as Alicia had described?

Although Riveria knew plenty about romance in theory, her personal experience in this area was still practically nonexistent. She wanted an answer from Ryuu.

"Um... It felt a little... a little... I'm sorry, Riveria-sama, I don't know either!!!"

After that intimate skin-to-skin contact, embarrassment finally shattered Ryuu's remaining defenses.

She spun around, grabbed her clothes at a speed worthy of the name Gale, and fled the scene.

"...Was it really that embarrassing?"

Riveria glanced at the boy, curiously stepped forward, and pressed her body against his back.

The contact lasted only a brief moment.

Riveria quickly adjusted herself as though nothing had happened, then took Bell by the hand and led him back to shore.

Only after the Elf princess had changed into her spare clothes did Bell finally regain his sight.

On the way back, Riveria's face remained flushed, and she barely spoke.

Bell tactfully kept silent as the two returned to camp together.

Remembering that unbelievably soft sensation, he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to bring the matter up with either Ryuu or Riveria.

Perhaps because of [Luck], the earplugs had not completely blocked out the sounds around him.

That could hardly be blamed on him. Even if the earplugs had worked perfectly, the two women's distinct scents and the difference in how they felt would have given them away anyway, wouldn't they?

Bell stared into the distance and decided to seal everything he had overheard, along with that wonderful experience, deep within his memories.