Chapter 524 Bark

Ian and Lia walked through the night streets for a while and arrived at their destination, the park.

’Hmm?’

’What’s wrong?’

’No, is it just my imagination?...’

Lia glanced back several times with a strange look on her face.

Ian asked her if something was up, but Lia couldn’t explain exactly why.

It felt like someone’s gaze was on her....

But there was nothing where she looked back. The path leading up to the park was a place where there were almost no spots to hide in the first place.

Thinking she was just too tense because she hadn’t been out in a long time, Lia shook her head and replied that it was nothing.

Moving on again, the place the two arrived at was a spot a bit further inside from the park entrance.

Since it was a place they had already come for walks several times before, Lia naturally cast off her robe there without a word.

Inside the thin robe. Lia’s naked body, wearing nothing, was clearly revealed to the outside.

The discarded robe fell to the ground with a thud, and the only thing remaining on Lia’s body was a single collar wrapped around her neck.

It was a collar she had been wearing inside her robe since she left.

’Do you like that necklace?’

’Wh-what are you talking about?...’

When Ian asked that, Lia stammered in flustered embarrassment.

’This is just, it’s a gift you went to the trouble of giving me... and if I came out without it, you’d definitely say something....’

Lia muttered while fiddling with the collar around her neck.

Skipping over various long-winded excuses, the conclusion could be summarized as... it meant she liked it.

Eventually, Lia gave up on answering and, with a reddened face, silently held out the leash connected to her collar to Ian.

It was a signal to just start the walk.

Ian, who received the end of the leash, and the naked Lia slowly moved further into the park.

...And, not long after.

’Oh, is it not this way?...’

Rin arrived at the park a little later than the two had passed through.

A spot slightly inside from the entrance of the park.

Entering the park in the middle of the night, where no sign of presence could be felt at all, Rin looked around and tilted her head.

’Whew. My intuition definitely said it would be this way.’

Rin let out a small sigh with a troubled expression.

She had bragged to Frenda that she could catch up quickly, but honestly, how could she catch up so fast without knowing where the two had gone?

The place Rin arrived at by walking blindly, trusting only her intuition, was here.

Of course, she hadn’t walked in a random direction without any basis. Since this was a place they often came to when having important conversations with Ian, she had come here just in case.

She thought that if he had come out to have a serious talk with Lia in a quiet place, it would surely be here.

’I guess it’s not here after all.’

She had said it would be better to deliver Frenda’s memo as soon as possible... but there was nothing she could do since she couldn’t find Ian.

Rin turned back toward the path she came from, thinking she should deliver it when Ian returned.

’...Hmm?’

By pure chance. As Rin turned her head, something strange caught her eye.

It was the edge of a robe peeking out from a gap in the bushes.

Rin could recognize that it was the robe Lia had been wearing when she left. It was thanks to accidentally witnessing the two leaving from the second-floor window earlier.

That robe was lying inside a nearby bush. As if someone had hidden it there.

’Why is this in a place like this?’

Thinking that, Rin picked up Lia’s robe. Looking at it closely, it seemed certain it was Lia’s robe.

It was a bit strange that it was lying in such a place... but perhaps a wild animal in the park had bitten and moved it after she took it off for a moment and left it on a bench.

Honestly, that was a minor issue, and the important thing was something else.

’Then the Captain is definitely inside here!’

Rin nodded, admiring her own correct intuition, and moved further into the park.

She had Lia’s robe folded neatly and tucked under one arm to return it when she met her.

* * *

’I definitely left it here...!’

A flustered Lia rummaged through the bushes several times.

After finishing a short midnight walk in the park and returning to the place where she had hidden her robe, Lia belatedly realized her robe had disappeared.

’Aren’t you confused?’

’No, it’s definitely this side... five steps from the bench....’

Lia answered Ian’s question with a panicked expression.

Indeed, in Ian’s memory as well, the place Lia had hidden her clothes was correct. However, Lia’s robe had vanished without a trace.

’D-did someone take it?’

’Who would come to the park at this hour? Maybe an animal carried it off.’

’No way....’

Lia slumped to her knees in front of the bushes with a hollow expression.

’That’s why it would have been better to just carry it.’

’B-but....’

Just as he said.

If Ian had carried Lia’s clothes, it would have been much more convenient as they wouldn’t have had to come back to find them or worry about losing them.

But there’s... a bit of a thing, isn’t there?

Carrying the clothes so they can be put back on at any time... makes the thrill a bit less, so to speak.

’If I can just put them back on whenever it gets dangerous... the tension just kind of dies out....’

’...’

Should I do something about this serious dopamine addiction even now? Ian pondered deeply with a serious face.

In any case, that was something to worry about later. Now was the time to somehow solve the problem of Lia’s clothes.

Since Lia had come out without wearing anything under her robe from the start, she had nothing to wear now.

’Then I guess it can’t be helped.’

’C-can’t be helped? You don’t mean we’re going back like this....’

Lia swallowed hard and asked with a horrified expression, but Ian shook his head firmly as if that were nonsense.

’No way. Maybe in the alleys, but there will definitely be people on the main road in front of our lodging.’

’Th-that’s true.’

’I’ll go and bring a new robe, so wait here.’

’...!’

Lia flinched upon hearing Ian’s suggestion.

’By... by myself? You’re going to leave me here alone?’

’You used to go for walks by yourself all the time when I wasn’t around, didn’t you?’

’W-well, that’s true, but.’

A stray dog, a cat, or a fox. Anyway, a situation where she didn’t even have a clue where to find the robe taken by an unidentified animal.

If she didn’t want to return truly naked, waiting for Ian to bring a new robe as he said was the best way.

Eventually, Lia nodded submissively as if she had no choice.

’Now, then....’

’...Eh?’

Ian lifted the leash in his hand and tied the end to a tree branch inside the bushes.

Lia looked like an animal tied up so it couldn’t run away.

’...?’

’Wait here quietly. I’ll be back soon.’

’...?!’

Lia’s face flushed bright red belatedly.

To tie her leash and leave... wasn’t this really treating her like a pet?

Lia’s body trembled.

Of course... Lia didn’t get angry or untie the leash with her hands.

She just sat there quietly and stared intently at Ian’s receding back.

* * *

- Rustle....

Lia, who had been waiting for Ian to return in that state for a while, felt the presence of someone approaching from afar.

...Already?

Lia thought so and slightly lifted her head. It was a much faster return than expected.

Even though he acted like he was going leisurely, he must have run back because he was worried about leaving her alone.

Recalling that image, Lia chuckled silently.

Lia, who was sitting on all fours with her leash tied exactly in the posture she was in when Ian left, suddenly had an interesting thought.

Since Ian left her like this.

Should I... play along a little?

Lia thought for a moment, then made a sound as if welcoming the approaching Ian.

’B-bark....’

’Hmm?’

’...’

’...’

The person who brought Lia’s robe stopped in their tracks in front of her. Surprising the opponent was a success.

If there was a slight problem.

It was the fact that the person who parted the bushes and approached was Rin, not Ian.

Lia was frozen stiff as if hit by a petrification spell.

Rin stared at the incredible sight before her eyes, finally understood the meaning, and nodded.

’...Lia, was the reason you went out alone every night seriously because of this?’

’H-how did you know that? I definitely came out secretly....’

’No, everyone knows? You go out at least once or twice a week without fail. We just thought you were doing something like dawn training and didn’t say anything....’

Lia thought she had snuck out secretly by lowering her noise, but the other comrades were also high-level mercenaries who had risen to a similar level. They had noticed Lia sneaking out a long time ago. Though they didn’t know the reason until now.

Lia’s face, having belatedly been caught for the reason, turned a bursting shade of red.

’Th... sorry? I didn’t mean to see.’

’You too....’

Toward Rin, who was looking away, not knowing what kind of reaction to have while looking at a naked, tied-up comrade, Lia, who had been trembling with her head down, pounced.

’You strip too...!’

’Eh...?!’

Rin’s stats had become very high, but the situation was a sudden bare-handed fight that broke out without weapons.

Furthermore, since she was in a state where her thoughts had stopped, unable to find an answer on how to react to a naked Lia pouncing on her, Rin was helplessly caught by Lia’s hands and forced to have her clothes stripped off.

’W-wait... why do I have to strip!’

’You made me show such a shameful sight, and you expect to just go back!’

’It’s not like I made you do it!’

Shouting that didn’t calm Lia down. Eventually, Rin ended up in a similar state to Lia.

After a bit more time passed, what Ian witnessed upon his return was....

’...Rin?’

’...Bark.’

It was one more naked pet mercenary, for some reason.

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’W-wait, are we really going around like this?’

’...Yeah.’

’How can you do something so perverted!’

’Perverted, look who’s talking...!’

’Even I didn’t go this far!’

While calming down the two naked mercenaries who had started bickering with each other, Ian was finally able to return to the lodging only after taking the two for one more lap around the park.

* * *

Priscia returned to the temple with staggering steps.

It was late dawn, but the priests were waiting for Priscia’s return without sleeping.

’Priestess Priscia. How did it go?’

’It’s canceled....’

’Pardon? Canceled?’

Priscia, whose face was so red it looked like it might burst, shouted.

’Th-th-those kinds of people could never be Saintess candidates!’

’...Did they do some kind of devil worship?’

’Th-ugh.’

While hiding secretly in the shadows.

Because it was a space where it was difficult to properly hide her body, Priscia was someone who couldn’t even slip away in the middle and had witnessed everything that happened there from beginning to end.

Priscia covered her burning face with both hands and calmed her pounding heart.

The plan to investigate on the assumption that there would be a Saintess candidate in the Ian Mercenary Group was completely canceled.

In the end, the whereabouts of the Saintess were lost in the labyrinth once again.