Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 229

229: Happiness in My Hand

I was soaking in the bathtub with Liz and Bridget.

I rested my arms on the edge of the tub and my head on them, and I was limp.

“Ah, I’ve had a wonderfully terrible time…”

“Make up your mind, whether it was wonderful or terrible.”

“Both.”

I replied to Liz and thought back to what had just happened. To have my back washed by two beautiful dark elf girls of different types, to put it nicely, and to be their toy, to put it badly.

I wondered if I could send a souvenir from the underworld by mail. I might have a little too much to carry.

Ah, but maybe I didn’t need to have so much.

What I had. What I had gained in this world.

I turned to Liz and Bridget and smiled.

“…I love you both.”

“Huh?!”

“W-what’s with the sudden…”

The two of them were surprised by my sudden words and blushed.

“I just felt like saying it.”

I wouldn’t say, ‘while I can.’ Because Liz would get angry. But I… had no intention of being killed.

The people who were trying to kill me probably had a just cause. And a reason why I should die. There might not be a single reason why a person like me should be alive.

I wouldn’t say that I wanted to live, even if it meant making an enemy of the entire world. But as long as the people I loved loved me… I would live.

And then Liz and Bridget both, their expressions serious, looked at the wall.

“Don’t worry.”

“Why?”

“Liz, I’ll go first. Protect her… her.”

“Yes, Neesama.”

The two of them took their positions, and their supple muscles tensed, and they were ready to move. If the two of them from before had been adorable kittens, then now they were ferocious tigers. They had the air of a large carnivore.

“I said, don’t worry.”

The two of them remained on guard for a moment, and then they sighed.

“To be unarmed… is nerve-wracking.”

“Yes…”

“I don’t want to be seen naked by the two of you.”

“That’s not the issue.”

“Yes.”

“…So, Master, why are you not worried?”

Liz and Bridget, who were getting back into the tub. Pushed by their movements, I felt the ooze wriggle.

“Because I believe in all of my ‘friends.’”

If this were enemy territory, then it would be a different story. This was the city of Litalside. This was the Listrea Demon Kingdom. And I was a supreme commander of the Demon King’s army, and the commander of the Sixth Army.

I had a personal relationship with His Majesty and all of the supreme commanders, and the chances of the elite of each army targeting me were extremely low.

I thought that the one from before had been a human, but no matter how carefully they hid, this was enemy territory. While there was almost no difference in the magical signatures of a human and a dark elf or a beastman, they couldn’t even walk the streets without illusion magic. To get information, to get a weapon… to even live in hiding, they would have to pay a great price.

On the other hand, we had the full cooperation of the Litalside garrison, and we had a multi-layered security network. They couldn’t move a large army, and I didn’t think there was an assassin who could deceive the magical eyes and ears of Rebecca and Samarkand with a small number, and who was better than Harken with a sword, and who could also escape the hawk’s eye of the Litalside archers.

All of the top five assassins in the world were in Listrea. And one of them was in front of me. And the leader of the Dark Knights, who would surely be a candidate when it came to deciding the strongest in the world.

“But thank you. For worrying about me.”

“Of course.”

“You’d worry, normally.”

“…Yes.”

It was probably a human who had tried to kill me just now. The one who had summoned me to this world. The one who had tried to push me off the ramparts. The one who had sent assassins to kill me, over and over. All of them were human.

There were people from Listrea who had come to kill me, starting with Samarkand, but I had been on the verge of being killed by humans more often.

And yet, the beautiful dark elf sisters before me were telling me that it was ‘of course’ and ‘normal’ to worry about me.

“Thank you, really.”

I reached out.

“…Why are you rubbing the base of my ear, while saying thank you with a nice smile?”

I was rubbing the base of both of Liz’s ears with my extended hand.

“Liz, I came here to take a bath.”

“I know that.” And at my silence, Liz tilted her head.

“…Is that all?”

“Huh? Do you need any more reason?”

“I think so.”

“Alright. Then I’ll explain properly. A bath is a place to relax, so I thought I would help the cute dark elf, who must have been tired from being on guard just now, recover from her fatigue by massaging the base of her ears.”

“You can really talk a lot of nonsense so smoothly. In a way, I respect that.”

Liz, who was trying to cut me down. To be cut down with a single blow was also fun, but to always do that was not very creative.

So I smiled and asked, “Do you really think it’s nonsense? Should I stop?”

“…” Liz’s face turned red, in a way that I didn’t think was from the heat.

Rub, rub.

“I-I’ve recovered enough, so please let go.”

“I see.” I let go.

Liz was good at running away. Like a cat. Just when you thought she had come a little closer, she would turn and slip away. Someday, I wanted to catch her. And I also wanted to maintain this distance forever.

But someday.

I lightly touched Liz’s ear one last time and turned to Bridget.

“Now! Which one do you want?”

“Huh? Which one? What are the two choices?”

I couldn’t help but enjoy this kind of a playful exchange, so I smiled, a suitable smile.

“An ear massage. From the front? Or from the back?”

“The front… no, from the back, please.”

“Yes, I understand.” I nodded and moved behind Bridget.

I placed my fingers on the base of her ears and massaged them, with my thumb and my index finger.

“By the way, of all the parts of a girl’s body, I really like the nape of the neck.”

“Why did you say that now?!”

“I think it’s because she wanted to see that face of yours, Neesama.” Liz’s voice was filled with exasperation.

“You can’t see my face from that position.”

“There’s the pleasure of imagining.”

In fact, since I was touching her ears, I could feel the blood rushing to them, and they were getting hot. It was probably partly because of the massage. Since her long hair was tied back in a ponytail, her bare nape was flushed, and it was very alluring.

“I’ll wash your hair later, too.”

“N-no. I’ll do it myself.”

“I’ll wash it for you.”

“…Please.”

The trick was to not give her a choice.

“…Will you wash my hair, too?”

“Of course.” I nodded at Liz.

“…Then I’ll wash your hair, Master.”

“Huh? That’s not really…”

“I’ll wash it for you.”

The trick was to not give her a choice. No doubt about it.