Chapter 53: That Sort of Thing Is Far from the Feeling of a Calm, Mature Woman

(A woman’s room... this is the first time.)

Sitting on a black leather sofa in the living room of Lumia’s apartment, Kazui muttered in his heart.

Excluding when he was a small child, this was the first time he had visited a woman’s room, so while feeling nervous, he looked around the room.

(It really does feel like a mature woman’s room, with a calm atmosphere.)

The interior walls were gray mortar, and there were many simple wooden pieces of furniture.

The sofa and table set, the chest of drawers, the cabinet, and so on gave a normal living-room feel.

The room, furnished with a calm atmosphere, seemed to Kazui to suit the adult woman Lumia very well.

(But that sort of thing is far from the feeling of a calm, mature woman.)

Looking at the swords and other weapons and armor decorated on the light-gray mortar walls, Kazui formed that impression.

In this world it was relatively normal for weapons to be displayed in a room, but to Kazui, who had been raised in Japan, it was an unfamiliar sight.

(She participated yesterday too, so did she use them?)

He had heard from Lumia both that she had been a swordswoman in her adventurer days and that she had participated in yesterday’s battle.

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

Lumia’s voice came from the direction of the doorway leading to the dining kitchen.

Holding a tray and trailing the aroma of coffee, Lumia appeared in the living room.

After returning home she had taken off her jacket, so Lumia was dressed in a white blouse and jeans.

Placing the tray she was holding on the table, Lumia sat down to Kazui’s left.

She arranged the things she had brought on the tray in front of Kazui and herself.

A white plate with a log cake on it, coffee cups, and forks and spoons, and so on.

A log cake was a cake in which a roll cake had brownish chocolate cream spread around it and patterns resembling the surface of wood applied to it.

Because it looked like a log... a round piece of timber, it was called a log cake.

"Well then, shall I dig into Kazu-kun’s souvenir...?"

Lumia took a fork and cut a small piece of the soft log cake.

"I like log cake."

Saying that, Lumia brought the log cake to her mouth and ate it with a look of enjoyment.

(It seems choosing log cake instead of cheesecake was the right decision.)

At the confectionery shop, Kazui had at first intended to buy a cheesecake.

However, he recalled that Lumia had previously mentioned in casual conversation that she liked log cake, so he had made the log cake the souvenir.

Because his throat was dry, Kazui picked up the coffee cup and took a sip of the caramel-colored coffee.

In the conversation with Lumia at the park, he had said that he put sugar and milk in his coffee.

Therefore, after asking how much he preferred, Lumia had put sugar and milk in Kazui’s coffee.

The coffee was sweet and easy to drink — a taste to Kazui’s liking.

While eating the log cake and drinking the coffee, Kazui and Lumia enjoyed small talk.

"Did you use those yesterday as well?"

Looking at the swords and armor displayed on the wall, Kazui asked Lumia.

"For the first time in a while. Well, I didn’t manage to do anything particularly impressive, though."

In yesterday’s city defense battle, because there were not enough adventurers, Guild staff members with high combat ability, such as former adventurers, had also been forced to participate.

The part about not being able to do anything impressive was Lumia’s modesty; in reality she had defeated more than ten times as many monsters as Kazui and Yuri.

"That’s an unusual gauntlet."

Kazui pointed at a black gauntlet that had eye-like spheres embedded in it — five each for the right and left hands.

"Unusual" was a rather considerate expression; to put it bluntly, it was a gauntlet with a creepy design.

"It’s a quite convenient one that lets you use magic-type skills. The appearance is a little creepy, but I used it a lot."

"You can use magic skills?"

At Kazui’s question, Lumia nodded.

Incidentally, the word "-type" could be used or not; it did not matter.

In the case of magic, the word "skill" was often omitted as well.

As long as the meaning got across, that was the general feeling of most people.

"There are times when you get separated from mage-class companions, and there are times when you run out of magic cards, so once martial-artist-class adventurers reach mid-rank or higher, many of them possess basic magic-type skills."

Lumia added to the explanation.

"Well, the magic-type skills that become usable when you equip this gauntlet aren’t the basic ones like that; they’re quite rare ones."

"I see."

Kazui became interested in what kind of magic-type skills they were, but while he was hesitating over whether it was okay to ask, Lumia continued the conversation.

"Even among mage-class adventurers, once they reach mid-rank or higher, there are people who possess basic martial-artist-type skills such as Aura Speeder or Aura Mail."

Lumia added.

"It’s not to the point of being ’many,’ though. Especially with Aura Mail, similar things can also be done with magic."

"I’m a martial artist, yet I don’t have it... Aura Speeder."

With a bitter expression, Kazui muttered.

"Come to think of it, that’s right."

As if to follow up, Lumia continued with a smile.

"If it’s a movement-enhancement-type skill, I don’t only have Aura Speeder; I also have Rapid Yalt, so I can let you copy that."

Rapid Yalt, like Aura Speeder, was a skill that enhanced running speed and jumping power.

As Lumia said, it was classified as a movement-enhancement-type skill.

"With Rapid Yalt, it might be better not to use it until your level exceeds 20. It’s hard to control, and the aura consumption is intense."

"It would be great if I could copy Aura Speeder or Rapid Yalt, but my Replication... I can’t choose which skill to copy."

"...Until you can copy the skill you want, why not just keep doing it with me as many times as it takes?"

While blushing in embarrassment, Lumia added.

"Well, that’s only if you make me enjoy it enough that I want to do it with you many times, Kazu-kun."

"I have almost no experience, so I’m probably bad at it. To be honest, I don’t have confidence that I can make you enjoy it..."

Kazui spoke his true feelings.

"I’ll do my best so that I can make you enjoy it!"

"I’m looking forward to it."

Lumia replied with a smile and then added.

"Even if you say you have almost no experience, you still have more experience than I do."

"Even if I have experience, the first was a succubus and the next was Yuri, so I don’t have experience with human women."

Because he had no experience with human women, Kazui did not have the confidence to act like an experienced person toward the inexperienced Lumia.

Consciously, Kazui was still in a state that was practically the same as being a virgin.