I gave my report to Liesel and took a long, relaxing bath.

Then I had a proper dinner as well.

Elena returned to her home, and Teresa had some kind of work to do, so she retired to her room early. As usual, it was just me and Seriana left in the room.

Of course, I didn’t have anything scheduled for later, and neither did Seriana, so we were just going to spend the rest of the time idly until bed.

I’d been working since morning today… Even if I was just floating around, being on alert and aware of my surroundings took a toll on my nerves. I planned to get some rest early tonight.

And so, here I am, in Seriana’s bedroom…

“…A little more, please.”

“Okay.”

Sitting on the bed, I grabbed Seriana’s hands—she was also sitting on the bed—and began to lean back.

To explain our current position: Seriana had her legs spread while leaning forward, and I was pressing against her knees with my feet to keep them from closing as I helped stretch her upper body forward.

Only a big bed could make this setup possible.

By the way, Seriana was wearing a negligee.

Thinking back to when we first started, or even before we began, she’s gotten pretty used to these stretches.

“You okay?”

“…Yes. No problem.”

“Alright, going to push a little more then.”

I pushed her down further… and further…

“This far, maybe?”

She probably didn’t mean to, but I think she instinctively tensed up.

Just when my back was about to touch the bed, it wouldn’t go any further.

I probably could have pulled her down by force, but… there’s no need to go that far.

I stopped there.

And then, in that position, I began to count.

“Okay, I’m gonna count now—one, two, three…”

Even though we were holding the stretch, the higher the number got, the more I started to lean back, unable to maintain the position.

“Se—Sera!? Wait a second!”

“Nope.”

Usually, I’d let go when she asked me to stop, so she probably didn’t expect me to keep pushing her.

Seriana began to panic… but hang in there.

“Okay, four, five, six…”

Ignoring the struggling Seriana, I resumed counting.

◇

Once Seriana’s stretching was done, it was my turn.

Not exactly a switch in offense and defense, but now Seriana was the one assisting me.

That said, I didn’t actually need assistance, so she was just leaning on my back—or rather, almost collapsing onto it.

My face was buried in the bed, so I turned to the side, which made talking a bit difficult.

Still, it wasn’t like I couldn’t talk at all, and we discussed today’s investigation and plans for the following days.

“No abnormalities… huh. That’s good.”

“Yeah, but still, we had such a big group and didn’t find anything big… It’s hard to get that many people together just to transport stuff cleanly, so it’s kind of a waste.”

From her voice against my back, I could tell Seriana was relieved that there weren’t any problems near the domain capital.

Well, she is the lord’s wife.

If nothing happens, that’s the best-case scenario.

“Well… the one I’m using now is something I cobbled together from leftover materials anyway. I do plan to make a new one eventually…”

Saying that, Seriana shifted her weight slightly onto me.

“I mean, I’m the one who invited you to do this, right? And all we have is the mat, so I’d really like you to have some decent equipment.”

“There’s no rush, so I’ll wait patiently. More importantly… aren’t you uncomfortable?”

“Hmm? Not really uncomfortable… maybe just a bit heavy?”

It’s not that heavy, but with my face buried in the mattress, it’s hard to talk.

“How rude.”

Saying that, Seriana lifted herself off me.

Apparently, she decided I didn’t need any help.

Well, we’ve done this plenty of times already…

She stepped down from the bed and moved around to sit in a chair facing me.

“…Huh? You’re coming over here?”

“Yes. There’s no need to press from the top, is there? So… what about from tomorrow onward?”

…Maybe saying she was heavy was a mistake?

There was a bit of an edge in her tone and the look she gave me, but… whatever.

“Hmmm… I was thinking of doing a patrol hunt in the First Forest, maybe. There might already be adventurers hunting there, but I doubt they’ve checked for rain damage or anything. And since the number of Second Squad members is down right now, I’ll stick to the shallows.”

It came up a bit when I submitted my report to Liesel… As long as I’m at the estate at night, I’ve basically got free rein.

…And I’m always here at night.

So yeah, I’m pretty much free.

“I see… That’s for the best. We can’t afford to pull troops from the dungeon, after all.”

“Exactly. Teresa is still around, but until Alec and the others return…”

If I went overboard hunting monsters, disposing of the corpses would be a problem.

Usually, I rely on patrolling soldiers, but we’re short on them right now.

Depending on the situation, they might have to make multiple trips, and while it’s not as bad as summer, it’s still warm enough during the day that corpses could start to rot.

It’d be a pain to put too much burden on the patrols and adventurers, so until Alec and the rest return, I’ll just make quick rounds in the shallows.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Sera ・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Blessing of Mira】【Clothes of Wind】・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】【Monkey’s Arm】・4 cards

Seriana ・【Area Detection】・【】・39 cards

Elena ・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec ・【Power Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards