I Wanted a Cute Girl to Cast Healing Magic on Me, So I Kept Protecting My Allies—and Ended Up with an Overprotective Party - 22

Chapter 22: Beautiful Girls Melting Together

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So she ended up like that too, huh…

That was my reaction after seeing what happened when Emil cast Heal on Miya. After Emil moved a little away from Miya, Miya stood there blankly, her expression melted, as if her mind had gone completely blank.

“Um! Miya-san? Are you okay?”

“Huh…!?”

“Um, are you alright? You seemed kind of spaced out… Could it be that my Heal didn’t agree with your body or something…?”

“Huh…? Ah, wait—was I asleep or something? Uh, what do you mean it didn’t agree with my body? Oh, you mean whether the wound’s healed. Now that you mention it, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Saying that, Miya stroked her cheek—the one that had been injured—with her right hand and showed a relieved expression.

“I’m so glad my Heal was helpful! We can’t have a scar left on such a cute face!”

“Is this girl… Is she an actual Saintess or something!?”

Miya voiced what could only be described as a compliment unique to this other world. A Saintess, huh. Yeah, I could see that. Even the whole party would unanimously agree.

“Karinka-san, Miya looks really happy, doesn’t she?”

But there was no reply. It felt more like she had just spoken a name aloud than actually directed a comment at someone. Well, it wasn’t exactly an important line, so I guess it didn’t matter.

“Hey, Rikuto.”

“Yes? What is it?”

“Is Emil a Saintess?”

“I don’t know.”

“I see.”

That was the end of that short exchange. It seemed Karinka-san had asked me that question out of pure curiosity, which was unusual coming from her. After that, we continued training by fighting F-rank monsters and returned to the party base by 6 PM.

Apparently, Miya’s level had gone up by one just from today’s half-day of training. After leveling up, Miya seemed like a completely different person. Not in terms of ability, but in her intensity—she had a fierce determination about her. Miya slashed her dagger repeatedly at high speed. Even while in the middle of battle with monsters, she shouted in sync with her dagger’s movements:

“Today! I’m absolutely! Not getting hurt again! If I do, I’ll fall apart!”

Her strong will to not let even a finger be laid on her was plain to see. Watching her like that, there was no way I could ever say, “Actually, I’m getting hurt on purpose.” I was confident I wouldn’t spill the bean even if my mouth were split open.

Still, since this was a good opportunity, I activated 【Damage Adjustment】 to raise Emil’s level and had her Heal me again. I really just wanted to forget everything and stay in that blissful moment. It truly was a moment of pure happiness. And during Emil’s Heal, the number of people watching me with nervous anticipation had increased to two.

Back at the base, the first thing we did was heat up the bath, and Miya started preparing dinner. The thing I had to be subtly careful about was the order of who went into the bath. As the only guy, going in either before or after the girls could create awkward tension.

If I went in first, they might think, “Ugh, I don’t want to go in after Rikuto…” But if I went in last, they might think, “Are you planning to do something weird with the leftover bathwater?” Honestly, I’d be disturbed by that kind of behavior too.

For today, thanks to everyone’s consideration, I ended up going in first. Well, if the three girls felt like it, they could all bathe together anyway. The bath was pretty big.

After everyone was refreshed, it was finally time for the much-awaited dinner. On the living room table were steaks with a different aroma and sear compared to yesterday, a vegetable salad as a side dish, and beautifully plated, juicy fruits.

It looked like a lot of care had gone into the presentation too—the greens and reds of the vegetables, the oranges and yellows of the fruits—it was a feast for the eyes as well.

The living room table seated four. But it was long enough that even with food for all four laid out, it didn’t feel cramped. The chairs were arranged two on each side, facing each other. They could be spaced apart, but were placed just a few dozen centimeters apart for now.

There was no petty squabbling among the girls over who would sit next to me—Emil naturally took the seat beside me.

“Wow, it smells amazing!”

“After working out, taking a bath, and then sitting down to eat… What a blissful moment. Thank you, Miya.”

“Ehehe~ You’re very welcome~”

Everyone began eating at their own pace. I brought a piece of meat to my mouth first. Unlike yesterday, the flavor had a stronger, richer spice. The more I chewed, the more the umami spread throughout my mouth.

The meat was so tender it felt like it melted away. Then, when I took a bite of the salad, the spice still lingering on my tongue was neutralized by the vegetables’ crispiness, making their freshness stand out even more.

“Hawaaahh… This meat is so tender and delicious!”

“Aahh…! Eating really is the best…”

Just from the expressions on Emil and Karinka-san’s faces, I could tell how much they were enjoying the flavor, even without words. It seemed their faces were melting as much as their taste buds were.

For some reason, I sure seem to get a lot of chances to see beautiful girls with melted expressions. Finally, the assorted fruits refreshed our mouths, leaving us both full and satisfied.

“Hey, hey, Rikuto, what did you think of my cooking?”

Miya leaned forward from across the table to ask.

“It was delicious!”

That was the honest truth—and the empty plate would back me up.

“That’s it? But I like that kind of straightforward compliment.”

After the meal, we chatted in the living room for a while, then each of us returned to our rooms.

The next day at 10 AM. When we entered the guild again, we noticed that there were more people than usual gathered around the request board. Apparently, there was a plan to gather multiple adventurers soon to explore an unexplored floor in a certain dungeon, and that notice had been posted.

Adventurers who participated would receive a special reward and have a significant chance of ranking up. Since we wanted to raise our ranks as quickly as possible to catch up with Karinka-san, we decided to join. That meant not just Miya, but Emil and I also needed to start leveling up seriously.

Is it time to start spamming 【Damage Adjustment】 again…?

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