As soon as I opened my eyes, Ember’s face quickly entered my view.
She smiled faintly as she gently caressed my face, her expression exuding a sense of relief and fatigue at the same time.
“Welcome back, Master…”
She then pecked at my forehead before gently raising me by the shoulder. There, I noticed that both Fang and Igni were by my sides. Their expressions were the same as Ember’s, showing both relief and fatigue.
They wore white ritual robes, similar to Ember’s. The water around us made it wet, turning the thin cloth semi-transparent.
Their bodies, hidden behind the robe, were slightly visible as the cloth clung to their curves. Although it was inappropriate, I felt excited upon seeing this sight.
“Ahem.”
A short cough brought me face-to-face with reality. Ahead of us, a priestess was standing wearing white and red shrine maiden attire. She had a smile on her face, but her eyes were dead serious.
“We can vacate the room for about 10 minutes if you want.”
She commented while gesturing to the door behind her.
“Don’t belittle me! I’m not that quick! Wait, no!”
I shouted out of reflex but realized that it wasn’t really an appropriate topic right now. I was already feeling cold, as my whole body was covered in a wet ritual robe. Similar to the girls, my robe turned semi-transparent, letting the others see my body’s contours and emphasizing the chiseled muscles that usually stay hidden under my clothes.
I quickly brought my hand down there to block my junior from view. It was trying to exert its presence, though, so it was hard to completely conceal it. I just lowered my stance and tried to hide it under the water instead.
“A-Ahem… Girls, can anyone explain this situation?”
I asked awkwardly, trying to change the topic of conversation. To this, the priestess answered my query.
“You shattered your life vessel, so we needed to replace it. Your companions shared a small part of their life vessels to repair it,”
She said matter-of-factly. Although some important bits were missing, I could more or less guess.
I do remember fighting a large number of demons. I also remember the memories that I happened to recall back then, including the two forbidden skills, Lifeblood and Echoing Thunderclap.
“Right… I used Echoing Thunderclap!”
I quickly inspected my body. Other than being cold and wet, there were no injuries left. It should’ve burned my body as I speeded through the environment, but seeing that I’m fine, the girls should’ve already healed it.
“So as expected, I shattered my life vessel after using that…”
I sighed. ．𝒄𝙤𝙢
Suddenly, two shadows appeared between us and the priestess. They wore all-black clothes that covered most of their bodies. They knelt on the ground as they addressed me, who was still hiding in the pool of water.
“Greetings, sir. Our young master wishes to meet with you; please come with us.”
One of the two, the male one, said as he stared at us. After realizing that our current attire wasn’t really appropriate for an audience, he immediately corrected himself.
“Sir, let me, Sasuke, lead you to the changing room first. The others should follow Chiyome here to the girl’s changing room.”
He then stood up and walked towards one of the side doors.
I was speechless at his behavior. He didn’t even wait for our consent before going on his way. I sighed as I told the girls to be careful as we separated from each other for a moment.
The changing room was a bit far from the pool. It took us roughly five minutes just to arrive at the place. Inside, different styles of formal kimonos were displayed. Looking around, I took a liking to the blue one and decided to borrow that one.
As I was wearing this type of clothing for the first time, it took me quite a while to finish dressing up. Sasuke just watched me the whole time, not offering to help even once.
“Follow me.”
After I finished dressing up, he just said that as he led the way once more. I bet he’s the type to have no friends, given how bossy he was acting.
We followed a long corridor down a few sets of stairs, exited the building, and entered another building. Then, from there, we walked another long corridor and entered several layers of sliding doors before I was told to sit down and wait in what looked like a waiting room.
There were no chairs, only cushions on the floor. Having no choice, I sat down on one of the cushions. I don’t know what way of sitting would be acceptable, so I just went with sitting cross-legged.
A long time passed with only what seemed like a female apprentice serving me tea. I passed the time while sipping tea, keeping my head clear as I perked my ears, listening to even the faintest noise that I could grasp.
Soon, a familiar set of footsteps approached. I turned to the door as it slowly slid to the side. I was slack-jawed as I stared at the three girls’ appearance.
Ember wore a pink kimono with a lot of flowery decorations. It matched her perfectly, enhancing her cuteness to the limit. However, her chest was exerting its presence. It slightly overpowered her cuteness and made her look a bit more seductive instead.
Fang, on the other hand, looked gallant in her black-themed kimono. Her long black hair was tied into a bun with a gold needle to hold it in place. Her attire, matched with the few pieces of red flowers as decoration, makes for a sharp and cool image.
Igni, the last of the three, was wearing a loosely fitted kimono. It wasn’t that the kimono didn’t fit, but rather her choice of style. Her shoulders were exposed, along with a large part of her cleavage. The cloth wrapped around her belly was pulling the kimono together, doing its darnedest to keep parts that should be hidden, hidden.
Whoever coordinated their looks definitely knew what they were doing. I gave a thumbs-up in my mind to him or her.
“It looks like everyone’s here already.”
A voice echoed beyond the opposite sliding door. For some reason, it sounded extremely familiar, but I can’t seem to remember where I heard it.
The two black-clad shadows from earlier suddenly appeared and pulled the sliding door open, revealing the person beyond it.
“You are…!”