The Banished Black Swordsman Wants a Peaceful Life with the White Saint in the Frontier ~Huh? You Want Him to Come Back with the Saint? It’s Already Too Late~ - 67

Chapter 67: A Night Alone Together

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Night had fallen. In the grass outside the house, insects chirped thinly, and the wind brushing the distant trees made the abandoned village’s roofs tremble faintly. After eating dinner and letting the feeling of fullness settle, they bathed. Once the cleanup was finished, Lloyd and Lusha lowered the lights and entered the bedroom.

From the time they started living here, there had only been one bed. By the logic that there would be no problem if they slept facing away from each other—no, by her wish as well—it had become normal for them to sleep together. In fact, there had been no problems. …Until last night.

Even on the same bed, the meaning differed between housemates and lovers. Unlike when turning their backs to each other had been the habit, tonight they faced each other from the start. The moment they slipped under the blanket, they ended up embracing without hesitation—whether it was because he wrapped his arms around her first, or because she slid into his chest first, it was no longer clear which had come first.

Lusha’s cheek touched his shoulder. The warmth from just after bathing, the scent of freshly washed cotton. And then, the lingering fragrance of soap in her hair. Near his ear, her steady breathing wavered softly. His pulse gradually adjusted itself to match that rhythm.

“Haah… Somehow, I’m tired today.”

Holding her close, Lloyd let out a small sigh. There was such a thing as a fulfilling kind of fatigue, but this was the type where heaviness welled up slowly from the depths of his body. He had crammed too much into the day, from morning till night.

“I suppose so. It might be the punishment for oversleeping in the morning.”

Lusha chuckled softly in her throat. Even knowing it was a joke, his chest felt oddly itchy. Oversleeping. In truth, they had merely been lost in love until nearly noon, but she seemed to be poking fun at it with a touch of self-deprecation. Through the palm of his hand resting on her back, he felt her heartbeat. When he put just a little more strength into his arm, Lusha curled her body as if searching for a comfortable position in his embrace, then gently pressed her forehead against his sternum.

“But tomorrow we have to prepare to entertain guests, so we’ll be even busier.”

Though she said “even busier,” her voice sounded strangely cheerful. She was probably imagining tomorrow. The smell of freshly baked bread, steaming soup, the sweetness of fruit. Somehow, he could sense the table being set inside her mind.

“You did buy all sorts of things.”

“Yes. Lloyd, please look forward to it too, okay?”

“I’ll start looking forward to it now.”

Tomorrow, Elena and Fran were scheduled to come to the former site of Zaxon Village. They said they were just coming to visit, but in truth, it was probably to check things out and scout the place.

Lusha had been brimming with enthusiasm almost like she was hosting a home party, buying mountains of ingredients in town. Still, there was no need to worry about their wallet thinning. The reward for subjugating the Shadow Wolf had been more generous than expected. Cron had said he would add a little extra, but it had been so much that it seemed like he might have added too much. They were always saved by the consideration of the “boy merchant.”

The edge of the blanket slid back over his chest. Naturally, the topic drifted toward work.

“It was lucky that it was Elena and the others who caught my scent, but… We can’t really be optimistic. Maybe I should change how I handle jobs.”

The moment he said it out loud, the tension returned along his spine. Because it was Elena and the others, there had been no problem. But if the Church had arrived first, there would be no peaceful sleep on this bed right now. If he let his guard down, this life could easily crumble. He was made keenly aware of that once again.

“That may be true… But I don’t want to quit being a ‘handyman.’”

The hand she had around his waist tightened just a little, as if confirming the core of her words. Lloyd smiled faintly in the darkness. He had known she would say that. To cherish and to help. Those were likely teachings of the Earth Mother Goddess Leafia’s faith, but there were not many people who could take joy in them. She was one of the few.

“I know. I feel the same way. That’s exactly why I went along with Cron’s proposal. If there’s another ‘handyman’ team, everything changes.”

As if in response, he added just a little strength to the arm holding her. According to Cron, requests for “troubles” from the town were likely to increase from here on. If they deliberately limited what they accepted, dissatisfaction would arise. But if there was another outlet, that would not be the case.

Of course, he had no intention of dumping everything on Elena and the others. They would take on the high-risk jobs and those requiring difficult judgment themselves. Dividing tasks based on strength and specialties should work fine. Those girls would adapt to the work quickly.

Lloyd knew well how capable the two of them were. Elena was a versatile mage who could handle offense, support, and barriers, and she was sharp-minded. Even when they had been in the same party, after seeing his movements once, she would read the next step and place groundwork ahead of time. Fran, on the other hand, would be far inferior to the “White Saint” as a holy magic user, but her fighting style did not rely solely on the goddess’s miracles. Along with holy magic, she had the guts and grit to trade blows on the front lines.

And above all, both of them had experience fighting as part of the Hero’s party. That experience was significant. That was precisely why….

If the Church came after him in earnest, if the Kingdom tracked down the “Black Swordsman who was supposed to be dead”…. Simply put, the more people who could fight, the better. The range they could protect differed between him bearing everything alone and sharing the burden among three. Those calculations had mixed in with his decision to go along with Lusha’s proposal, which was to fix up another abandoned house and have them live there. Of course, there was no way he could tell her that.

“But… Is it okay?”

His thoughts returned to reality. In eyes adjusted to the darkness, her outline floated softly.

“What do you mean?”

“If more people start living here… Then…”

“It won’t be just the two of us anymore?”

There was a mischievous note mixed into her soft chuckle. Hitting the mark, Lloyd nodded with lips pursed like a child. She laughed quietly near his shoulder.

“I like lively places too. And besides, look.”

Lusha raised her upper body and reached toward the window. Lifting the curtain just a little with the back of her fingers, she indicated outside. Lloyd also half-sat up. Straining his eyes in the dimness, he saw a single roof like a black box beyond the grove diagonally across, the closest abandoned house to this one.

“Even the nearest house from here is quite far away. Being just the two of us…That fact won’t really change.”

Lusha turned back and smiled radiantly. The soft shadows on her cheeks wavered, and his chest tightened a little. That was right. Here in Zaxon Village, the distance between houses was wide, and since it was an abandoned village, there were few usable houses to begin with. Even if someone lived here, there would hardly be any worry about their daily boundaries being invaded.

“Lusha.”

“…Mm.”

The two of them gently gazed at each other. Naturally, their faces drew close, and their lips touched. One light kiss, then another.

“Um… Shall we do it today too?”

After a pause, Lusha asked timidly. There was just the slightest hesitation in her voice. Lloyd understood the meaning behind why she asked.

“No, let’s not today.”

“Huh?”

“Because it hurts, right?”

As he spoke, his gaze dropped toward her abdomen. Lusha’s eyes widened for an instant, then her cheeks flushed with an embarrassed smile.

“To be honest, just a little. …It’s kind of embarrassing to put it into words like this. I thought you hadn’t noticed.”

“I’m a warrior, after all. I can sort of tell when someone’s hurt. If anything, I’m sorry I didn’t notice it this morning.”

He had not been certain. But the way she shifted her weight getting down from the carriage, the subtle sway in her stride, the breaths entering at slightly different points than usual… The habit of reading a companion’s condition before battle had come in handy even here.

And then there had been the faint blush left on the sheets that morning. Even knowing logically that it was only natural since it had been her first time, something had pricked painfully in his chest. He found himself slightly resenting his own lack of consideration, carried away by affection.

“N-no! That’s totally fine. I also… I didn’t mind it in the morning.”

As she said that, she lowered her face and gently rested her forehead against Lloyd’s shoulder. Her warmth transmitted through the fabric. From now on, this would probably become her habit when she tried to hide her embarrassment. Lloyd gently pulled her slender shoulders closer. From her back down his arm, the pads of his fingers traced her soft frame.

“To tell the truth, I can heal this pain anytime. But I don’t want to… So I’m leaving it as it is.”

“You don’t want to heal it? Why?”

Now that she mentioned it, it did sound strange. Lusha was the greatest holy magic user in the country. Erasing pain with Heal would be effortless for her. She had healed fractures and dispelled poisons and curses. And yet…

“…I don’t like people who ask that.”

She said it playfully, and instead of an answer, her lips touched his. Again and again, their lips overlapped. Somehow, he felt like he understood the answer to his question.

Until sleep claimed them, the two of them chatted lazily under the blanket. Tomorrow’s schedule, the order of baking, how strong the fire should be. The flavors Elena would like, the sweetness that would surprise Fran. Speculating why the baked-goods stall near the town well had been so busy. A wager that Cron would make another sarcastic remark.

Along the way, another brief kiss slipped in. They shared a few small laughs. Before long, the sounds of insects seemed to draw closer. Somewhere, the dried wood of the house creaked softly. Before he realized it, Lusha’s breathing had deepened.

“…Good night, Lusha.”

Lloyd leaned close to her hair and whispered in a voice so small it barely made a sound. There was no reply. Instead, just her fingertips moved slightly within the hand he was holding.

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T/N: What’s this?! They’re going to give me diabetes! (,,>﹏<,,)