This was the first time I had rejected someone so clearly.
"Oh my, you live in an interesting place."
"Yeah, well..."
"No way, it's modest but there's a tower. Can I climb it?"
"Go ahead."
But even if I rejected her...
Whether the other person understood was a completely different matter.
And so, Mineha-san came to my house.
To her, my "no" was nothing more than wasted resistance... Oh, wings really are convenient.
In the blink of an eye, she flew up to the top of the watchtower.
I'd been thinking it was a hassle to climb up and down, so I was envious.
She came back after a short while.
"Hmm. The view is decent enough."
"I see."
Well, it wasn't exactly a spectacular panorama, but it was a view I was fond of myself.
Then I told her about the other places, giving her the full tour.
At Mineha's request, we returned to the front of the tower.
"Still, having the kitchen in the same room as everything else is unusual."
"It's convenient. I can start cooking right away when I wake up."
"Is that really convenient? And for a place this big, everything seems concentrated in one area. The right side isn't used at all."
"That's the storage, and lately I've been using it for training."
"Training?"
"For knife work, building stamina, things like that."
Lately I'd been getting into it and training beyond just my routine.
After a "Hmm," Mineha said:
"You have a Relic, don't you?"
"If I rely on that all the time, what happens when I can't use my Relic in a pinch?"
"Something like that could never happen."
"I don't think it's impossible. There are monsters and situations where Relics don't work. And don't you forget about cooldown times?"
Some Relics have cooldown periods.
During that time, they can't be used.
"I'll still manage with my Relic. And my personal Relic has no cooldown."
Relic, Relic, Relic... I was getting irritated.
"Is that so. At the very least, you should train your body. I absolutely refuse to end up fat and bloated and looking disgusting because I relied on Relics. I don't want to see that either."
"What!? Are you saying I'll end up like that?"
Mineha shouted and glared at me.
I knew this topic was a landmine for women, a real sore spot.
But I was irritated and it just came out.
"Mineha-san. Didn't your master tell you to train your body?"
Mineha reacted like she'd been caught off guard.
Easy to read.
"Training is the most fundamental thing for a delver. I was told that your body is your greatest asset."
"I knew it."
"A-and, um. Don't get the wrong idea, I do train a little bit too."
"Then why did you say 'even though you have a Relic'?"
"Because you were being dismissive of Relics."
"I wasn't being dismissive. But I'm not worshipping them either."
"Nobody said anything about worshipping! What is wrong with you? You've got a Relic, but you act like you hate them."
"I hate Relics. Maybe I do."
"You're receiving their blessings!"
"I am grateful. Thanks to my Relic, I am who I am today, and I can keep living."
So I was grateful.
Huh? Wait a minute. What did she say?
Receiving blessings? The blessings of a Relic?
"What's wrong?"
"Mineha-san, did you know that I have a Relic?"
"I just found out now."
"Huh?"
"I had a feeling about it. You didn't realize, but at that time the other three didn't have Relics, so they were quite angry at me. You were certainly angry too, but it didn't feel like it was because you didn't have a Relic. I can't explain it well, but... it's a woman's intuition."
"W-woman's intuition..."
"I wasn't trying to probe you, but sure enough. You did have a Relic."
"...I do, yes."
"Then—"
"That's exactly why I draw the line. Relics are convenient tools and techniques. You have to know when to use them and when not to. If you only rely on Relics, you'll never become a proper person."
"Are you saying I'm like that?"
"Yes, I am. Because, Mineha-san, you look down on Axe and the others—"
"That's enough!!"
Mineha screamed. She glared at me ferociously.
I felt fury and intimidation radiating from her. As expected of a delver.
I messed up.
I'd gotten worked up and said too much.
"I-I'm sorry."
"I'm sleeping in the tower."
"Y-yes."
With that, Mineha flew off toward the tower.
I... regretted what I'd done.
---
Middle of the night.
I was startled awake by an unexpected sound.
Water flowing from the room next door.
"...?"
That room was where I washed up.
A large wooden tub with a small bucket.
And a barrel filled with water.
Part of the floor was stone so it wouldn't matter if it got a little wet.
The room had no door. There was a cloth hung as a partition.
That's why I could clearly hear the sound of water. And that, ordinarily, shouldn't have been possible.
Could it be Mineha? I had a guest now. Was Mineha washing herself?
If so, there was nothing to worry about... Wait, the water sound was loud?
Mineha was a fairial. A fairy. She was about as tall as my head.
So when she washed herself, she... well, pardon me, but shouldn't make much noise.
Anyway, hearing a girl bathe when she's younger than you isn't exactly proper.
But this was a loud sound.
Given her size, something didn't add up.
"..."
I carefully got out of bed.
I moved as slowly as possible, crawling to avoid making any noise.
I somehow reached the entrance without a sound.
I peeked through the gap in the cloth.
"——!?"
I almost cried out.
Wh-what was going on. Wh-who was that.
There stood a beautiful woman with flaxen hair streaming down, her gorgeous body on full display.
She looked to be in her early twenties.
She was sitting in the wooden tub filled with water, wiping her body with a towel.
Her eyes were closed as she used a small bucket to rinse herself.
Her body was... the kind of alluring figure I remembered from gravure models in my past life.
Everything that should stick out was unapologetically sticking out, and everything that should curve inward was firmly curving inward.
Wh-who was she?
Why was this beautiful woman in my house?
That was when I made a sound.
"Who's there?!"
She spun around.
This was bad. This time I moved back as slowly as I could without making a sound.
Footsteps approached.
The cloth serving as a door was roughly pushed aside, and the mysterious beauty entered my room.
"............"
In the darkness, I lay still.
I could feel her presence pressing against my back.
"...Must've been my imagination. What a dreadful night."
She left the room.
That was close.