Chapter 209 - A Delicious Deal
As I tilted my head and stepped into the bathroom, an earlier visitor was waiting for me.
"Nyaa~"
In the middle of the bathroom, a black cat sat primly.
The woman who had her original body destroyed, leaving only a single Fragmented Soul behind—Erin.
I thought she'd be asleep at this hour... but since she's using a cat's body now, her daily rhythm has probably turned nocturnal too.
"Nyaa. Nyaa. Nyaa."
"What's with you? You're awfully energetic."
I jokingly asked if she wanted to come in with me.
I've heard cats hate water, and besides, we were trying to kill each other until just recently.
I don't think she's warming up to me. I might get my face scratched.
Still, since she was once a comrade, I ended up speaking to her with some expectation.
...It's pointless, isn't it, I thought, letting out a dry, solitary laugh.
"Nyaa."
"Hm?"
Eventually, Erin approached my feet with a smooth, gliding motion.
Bracing myself for a cat punch or something, she instead rubbed her face against my ankle, back and forth.
What the hell is this?
She's acting just like a normal pet cat. What happened to the pride of the mage race?
"...Don't you hate me?"
"Nyaa~..."
After that, Erin's strange behavior continued.
Even though I was watching, she started licking her own lower body—it was an abnormal situation, to say the least.
Had her mind truly become that of a real cat?
I didn't really get it, but she didn't seem to want to leave, and it was cold, so I decided to just take a bath.
I scooped up some of the water that had collected in the tub with a washbasin and lightly rinsed my body.
Once that was done, I plunged into the bath with a splash!
"Ahh~..."
Feeling like I was coming back to life, I was scrubbing my face when—
"...You got water on my face, nya."
—a voice of reproach flew at me. It was a girl's voice. A low-energy anime voice, the kind you'd hear from a quiet, reserved heroine type.
Actually, it was Erin's voice.
Following a bad feeling, I looked up and met the eyes of a small girl sitting in a ladylike pose, her legs folded to the side.
Her blue hair reached her shoulders in a layered Shaggy Cut.
Her eyes were yellow like the moon, and combined with her pure white skin, she exuded a strong sense of exoticism.
Also, since her apparent age was around thirteen or fourteen, she also exuded a strong sense of criminality.
And, this is very important.
The girl in front of me was completely unclothed. In other words, stark naked.
On top of that, black cat ears sprouted from her head, and a cat's tail extended from her rear.
I was thrust into a situation where a bare-skinned cat-eared girl and an old man were crammed into the same bathroom—a "Get the ordinances working!" scenario.
"Haha. Why the hell are you in human form?"
I spun around, switching to a mode where I couldn't describe Erin's naked body.
I am a gentleman.
...Though, it's also partly because I'm not that interested in ogling girls who look too childish.
I'm a perfectly healthy adult male, so the people in this house I'd look at with sexual interest are pretty much just Angelica, Ayako-chan, Rio, and Philia.
"..."
Wait, having four women who could be objects of sexual desire cooped up in my home is absolutely not healthy, and with three of them being under eighteen, isn't this incredibly unhealthy?
"So, when did you become able to take this form? Are you going to try and fight me again?"
Having realized this uncomfortable fact, I tried to cover it up with a line befitting a Hero.
Erin, having no way of knowing my state of mind, replied in a truly serious tone.
"...I became able to transform into this form starting yesterday. Thanks to my accumulated magical power... nya."
Come to think of it, Erin was always sunbathing in the moonlight on the balcony.
I see. So she was storing the moon's magical power in her body.
"If you've only just managed to regain a human form, then using full-scale magic is still impossible, right?"
"..."
"Hit the nail on the head, huh. So right now, you have almost no combat ability."
"...That's about right... nya."
There were a mountain of things I wanted to ask.
Like, do you still hate me?
Or, do you have any idea when The Kingdom from the other world will launch a full-scale attack?
Or, why do you have "nya" at the end of your sentences?
Or, why are the ears and tail still there?
I decided to start by asking the most important question.
"What's with that half-assed cat-girl state? It's kind of cute, you know."
"...I still can't achieve a complete human form. ...No matter what, my heart and body seem to be partially dragged along by the cat, nya."
A magic expert has now degenerated into a soft cat-eared girl.
How cruel can fate be?
I, the very person who caused that fate, set aside my own role and felt deep sympathy.
From the bottom of my heart, I thought it was pitiful.
Whether that feeling got through to her or not, Erin stood up silently and stepped her foot into the bathtub.
She slowly crouched down, letting out a "Funyaa~..." as she sank into the hot water.
A mixed bath, at a distance where our shoulders might touch.
It was a little awkward.
Even at the highest estimate, Erin's apparent age is the third semester of eighth grade, so I felt like a teacher who had laid hands on a student.
"Um, why are you getting in the bath with me?"
"...I have a request for the Hero... nya."
Erin's cheeks were dyed bright red, and she looked unbearably embarrassed.
"...My body has entered its heat cycle."
The water's surface rippled with a splash. It was because Erin had hugged me.
"...I've been enduring it, but I've reached my limit. I can't win against a cat's instincts. ...I want you to calm it down... nya."
"Wha, what are you saying?"
"...I want the Hero to do it... nya."
With hazy eyes, Erin looked up at me.
"...If you sleep with me, I'll listen to anything you say. ...I'll even officially become your ally. I'll even fight against The Kingdom for you... nya."
—So please, I want you to have sex with me right now, nya.
With a voice that seemed about to fade away, Erin whispered.
As if to say she would die if she didn't. With a voice burning with heat, over and over again.