Tale of Discovery

With my tongue invading Natsumi's small mouth, I wrap my arms around her slender body as I begin to push her in for a passionate kiss.

As a response to this, Natsumi simply remains motionless, not because she likes it, but more likely because she is unable to muster up any strength anymore.

After a short while, I let our bodies float up and detach my lips from hers.

Following this, Natsumi's eyes shoot open as she coughs a few times while glaring at me.

"Is there something you are displeased with?" I say in a casual tone with a smile on my lips.

"Why did you do that!?" she exclaims while slapping the water, resulting in water splashing into my face.

Not minding it, I grin and say, "Did you really think you could get away with lying to me?"

"B-but I-" she says in a nervous tone but is unable to finish what she has to say as I seal her lips once more while using Illusion to make it appear as though I am simply holding her.

This time, Natsumi directly slams her small fist into my head, but it expectedly has absolutely no effect on me as I continue to play around with her tongue.

After a solid twenty seconds of pure kissing, I separate my lips from Natsumi's and proceed to observe her face.

What meets my eyes is the sight of a slightly dazed Natsumi with a tinge of red hue covering her cheeks.

"You really are adorable," I say while rubbing the tip of my fingers against her lips.

This seems to break her out of her stupor as she once again begins to struggle.

Letting out a sigh, I pull her close to myself before beginning to move toward the direction that Yoshino exited the water from.

And so, I get out of the water while carrying Natsumi princess-style. Naturally, she struggled to the best of her ability for a few seconds before I disabled her motions using telekinesis.

Just like that, under the curious gaze of Yoshino, I begin walking toward a bench that's a short distance away from us.

Shortly, I reach the bench and take a seat while seating Natsumi atop my lap and saying, "I hope you understand the situation you're in right now."

"You- You're bullying me just because I am not as cute as the rest of the girls!"

"Huh?" a baffled voice escapes from my lips, "What are you even saying? You're absolutely adorable. Where are your uncertainty and doubt even stemming from?"

Hearing this, Natsumi simply harrumphs before looking down at her wet clothes and letting out a sigh.

"Natsumi," I say while gazing at Yoshino who just sat down at the ledge of the pool and lowered her legs into the water, "Where is Kotori?"

"Hmph," she scoffs, "You will never be able to find her as long as you keep me here."

"Are you sure about that?" Kotori's voice suddenly reaches my ears, somewhat startling the two of us.

Turning around, I find Kotori and Tohka both standing behind us with a smile plastered to Kotori's lips.

"How!?" Natsumi blurts out with widened eyes.

"Did you really think that a simple chain will be able to keep me down?" Kotori responds in a smug tone.

"When did you get here?" I ask before Natsumi can say anything.

Hearing my inquiry, Kotori, who is now wearing her black ribbon, points at two small circular metallic objects on the ground and says, "We had to make use of these anti-perception devices to get back here."

"Unfortunately, they're one-time use only…" she mutters.

Where did they even get them from? And why did they need to use it?

Seemingly reading my mind, Kotori grins and explains, "Ratatoskr has a delivery function. I called for it due to some irritating groups targeting us."

Hm?

"What do you mean?" I say as I feel a cold sensation invade my body.

"Just some males who were looking for fun," Kotori says dismissively, "You don't need to worry about it much."

…

Too bad they're nowhere nearby.

Shaking such thoughts away, I focus on the devices that are supposed to block perception and wonder how they work.

Such technology is useful if it could be produced. Back in Sorcerers' Lair, the colorful stones are being researched in hopes of properly reproducing the various effects I have witnessed over the time I spent there.

One of such effects was the one that rendered the flying ships unperceivable.

If the technology here is advanced enough to mass-produce devices that provide similar effects, then it would pose a great military advantage to my kingdom.

Just the thought of forming an unstoppable army capable of running my errands for me is enough of a motivation for me to gather methods to achieve that.

The problem with all this is what Kotori just muttered which is the fact that they're one-time use only.

Perhaps, if I am to get my hands on an extremely advanced facility and well-experienced researchers, it would be possible to deal with that issue?

"Shido," Kotori's voice suddenly reverberate within my ears, causing me to shift my focus back to reality, "Are you going to keep on her holding her like that?"

Gazing at Kotori's face, I notice slight annoyance. Beside her, Tohka has an expression of apparent displeasure as she gawks at Natsumi.

As for the person in question, Natsumi currently has her head pressed against my chest as she stares at the artificial sky with an impassive expression on her face.

Letting out a sigh, I press the tip of my left index finger against her nose and say, "Hey, what do you think of taking residence in my home?"

"Why would I do that," she asks as she snaps her eyes to peer into mine, "In fact, why would you want that?"

"Didn't I tell you last time?" I respond with a smile, "You're so cute that I want to take you home with me."

Hearing my response, Natsumi's brows furrow for a brief moment before she looks away and says, "Whatever. It doesn't seem like you're going to let go of me anyway."

"Good girl," I whisper as I pat her soaked hair.

Following that, I get up from the bench and set Natsumi down on the ground, surprising her by no small margin.

Before she can say anything, I state, "You can try running away and see how that will turn out for you."

Natsumi simply nods her head once before looking down at her clothes and the surrounding people.

"Come on," I say, "Get in the pool with us. It will be fun."

As a response to my suggestion, Natsumi simply looks up with a complicated look on her face before nodding her head as confirmation.

At this moment, Yoshino appears within the corner of my vision as she proceeds to walk past Natsumi and hug my left side.

"What, don't tell me you had enough?" I say while patting her head, to which she shakes her head and responds, "No. Together is better."

Hearing her words, not only I but Kotori and Tohka smile as they gaze at her with looks of adoration.

Unlike us, however, Natsumi seems to find this bothersome as she casts a ruly glance at her before looking down.

Letting out a small sigh, I place my hand atop Natsumi's head and rub it a little roughly.

"So," I say as I begin looking over at everyone, "What should we do now?"