After Luna was done dealing with the bodies, we continued heading to the waterfall. But now, since we were both caked in blood, we also had to wash ourselves and our clothes.
Of course, I couldn’t let this opportunity pass by me. Luna had always kept her clothes on while she washed me and Toba, and since she also locked herself in the tower when it was her turn, it was previously impossible to spy on her.
Now, however, I had only my shame to restrain my actions.
“Listen up you sissies! This is our first operation since arriving in this new world, failure will NOT BE TOLERATED! AM I CLEAR?”
“YES”
“YES SIR”
“UNDERSTOOD”
“We are currently underprepared and underequipped, it is no secret to any of you that our division is still in development, HOWEVER, it is precisely because of that that we managed to get so many great opportunities until now”
“Our enemies know of our weakness, but they don’t yet know of our intentions! If this covert operation fails and we are discovered, we could lose the privileges we have enjoyed until now.”
“Remember that our objective here is to merely GATHER the information we need, we are dealing with someone extremely skilled, so I repeat: USAGE OF THE RESOURCES GATHERED IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN”
“If I catch any of you three doing something I’ll personally cut you off, our mission here is to acquire the intel and make use of it later, in a secure location... AM. I. CLEAR?”
“SIR, YES SIR”
“Good… Let the operation begin, our primary targets are the twin peaks we have grown accustomed to, burn the image in your minds and keep every detail in. GO”
“Cona… You know I can see you, right?”
Shit, she saw me! I didn’t even manage to see anything because she had her towel covering her…
But even so… What’s up with those curves? Those wizard robes hide her pretty well…
“Uhh… I was just gathering some mushrooms, I’ll go get them somewhere else!”
“Sigh… Just don’t go too far away, ok?” She said in a helpless face, obviously my lie was even worse than my stealth… At least she didn’t seem angry.
Mission failed, I guess.
…
As we finished gathering everything, we laid down the buckets of water and sat down by the shadow of a tree to relax a little.
There was an awkward silence, and one could easily mistake it as a product of my spying attempt, but it couldn’t be further from the truth.
We had just unintentionally exposed ourselves to each other. Me, by dropping down my child act in a moment of carelessness, and Luna, by showing me a side of her no one would expect judging by her looks.
Of course, I didn’t care that Luna was apparently a badass killing machine. I was actually looking forward to learning her techniques, but a normal child should be scared by that, I guess.
Should I pretend to be afraid of her? I don’t think she is that stupid, and I don’t think my acting skills are that good.
I wouldn’t have ended up in fights with my teachers in my past life if I was able to pretend smiling and agreeing with everything.
After a few minutes passed, she finally broke the silence that was plaguing the cozy little waterfall.
“Cona… About what happened earlier…”
Luna blushed slightly as she stared at the ground for a bit after finally speaking, it was a beautiful sight to behold.
“You know… I guess you are curious and all and that’s fine, but you’re too young to be thinking about that… So, don’t do it again ok? Wait for big sister to finish bathing before you come looking for me.” She said as her blushed evolved to a completely red face and she turned her head away from me.
Wait, what?
So the awkward silence was about that after all? And what’s with all that blushing? I’m just a child lady!
Although I DO possess some less than noble intentions in my heart…
She had kept her face away from me in a cute display of shame, so she didn’t notice my look of complete shock.
“Uhm… Big sister Luna, I won’t do it again ok? I’m sorry…”
If she’s not going to touch on the matter then I’m not going to either, back to innocent kid mode
“It’s ok, it’s just that I have some things I can’t show, but… Yeah, it’s fine now.” She finished her sentence with a charming smile, still featuring some remnants of her earlier aggressive blush.
“But Cona, I can’t help but feel that you’re growing up way too fast. And I can’t understand some of the things you and Toba do either. You said before that you don’t remember much about who taught you all that, but why do you keep doing it? Eating all that food, the weird training…”
Oh crap, I thought she would let me off the hook but she’s still suspicious.
Since she was now asking about my motives though, I guess I could be a little honest with her.
“It’s to make my muscles bigger” I said nonchalantly
“But… why?”
Why? That question caught me off guard, aren’t big, strong muscles important for an adventurer?
“Well, to get stronger. I managed to stop the bad guy’s sword only because I was strong right?”
“Yes, you could say it helped, but isn’t it better to just practice combat normally to get stronger?”
“Is it?” I genuinely didn’t know, it’s no secret to me that muscle mass doesn’t translate 1:1 to strength in combat, but I was just getting started, I didn’t have excess mass by any means... Do people in this world refrain from strength training completely?
“Hmm… Here, let me show you” She got down on her stomach and placed her elbow on the ground while keeping her hand open and extended to me.
At least they have arm wrestling…
I copied her movements as she gestured with her hand for me to grab it, once we were locked in, she smiled and said:
“Now, see how my arm is skinny and kind of soft?” Luna said while pulling up her sleeve with a smile that hid a hint of mischief.
“Try moving my hand to your left using all your strength”
This woman… To think she would make fun of me… I can’t let her get away with it, I know she’s probably stronger just by virtue of being an adult, but I was getting pretty strong myself, even that bandit underestimated me.
I don’t need to win; I just need to prove to her that my training isn’t a waste of time.
I put on a serious expression and clenched my hand tight as I prepared myself to use all my strength, I even caved my knee on the ground a little so I would have a stronger base.
As I closed my eyes to focus completely, I started contracting all my muscles as strong as I could.
I used to do this all the time as a kid, this brings back memories…
I didn’t spare even an ounce of strength, normally I wouldn’t go all out from the start, but my goal this time wasn’t victory, so I couldn’t afford to hold back.
“Eh?”
I opened my eyes since I felt something was off, and there was Luna, with the same carefree expression from before and seemingly completely unaffected, her arm hadn’t moved even an inch and she wasn’t showing any signs of effort.
I was sweating profusely, and my head was beet red from using so much strength, but she didn’t even flinch.
What is this woman taking? I want some right now!
“Ok… huff… huff… I get it.” I said as I laid down on the ground, trying to stop my heavy breathing.
“See? It’s not that big muscles don’t help… But they’re not necessary to get stronger.”
“I guess that’s true, but…”
“Hm?” She tilted her head, apparently taken by surprise that I didn’t give up on the idea just yet.
“Don’t they look cool?” I got up and smiled as I did my double biceps pose.
Now that I think about it, that’s the last thing I did before I died, isn’t it?
“I guess so, hehehe” Her cute chuckle widened my smile a bit more.
I was learning about this world and the differences human bodies had from the ones of earth little by little. While it is true that I intend to make full use of that knowledge to get as strong as possible, it’s not like I have to give up on what I like either.
I don’t know why I ended up in this place, or what is my purpose here, but at the very least I want to enjoy it.
I ended my past life with too many regrets, I was always angry and the few times I felt alive was when I joked around with my small group of friends.
I didn’t want to end up like that all over again, focused on only one thing and driving away everyone in the process, getting more and more closed off from everyone until I eventually found myself lonely and resentful.
Of course, I couldn’t change completely, but I had decided to make my best effort in enjoying this new world and all it had to offer.
I’ll train because I like it, and I’ll be an adventurer because it sounds like fun. If I focus only on what’s optimal for getting stronger and stronger, I have the feeling I’ll end up lonely all over again.
All that to say, I’ll keep bodybuilding, necessary or not. Besides, even if there are other ways to get stronger, it isn’t like my training didn’t pay off at all. Sure, Luna is on a completely different level even though her arms are tiny, but I AM getting stronger, that much is certain.
Still, where does her power come from?
Without warning, I got close to her and grabbed one of her arms.
“Hm? You want to go back?”
I just shook my head and proceeded to fondle her arm a bit. I knew strength had something to do with muscles, unless there was magic involved, so if it wasn’t about size…
“So hard!”
I squeezed her arm a little harder, and after my fingers finished digging through the softness of her fat and skin, what I was met with was an incredibly hard muscle. It felt like I was touching metal cables weaved together instead of flesh.
“Kya! Cona don’t do that all the sudden!” She retracted her arm and looked at me while pouting.
“Don’t you know it’s rude to tell a woman that? Hmpf!”
“I’m sorry Big sister, I didn’t know…”
“Eh? Oh… I guess no one taught you…”
I tried to contain my laughter as I looked at her embarrassed expression, being a kid is truly wonderful.
Is it dangerous that I’m joking around with an incredibly strong killing machine like her? I should be more careful, but somehow, I know in my heart that she will never do me harm.
“But… why are Luna’s muscles so hard? Is that why you’re so strong?”
“You… Sigh.” She had a helpless look on her face, but she quickly shook it off and decided to explain it to me.
“The more you train and fight, the stronger you get. As you get stronger and stronger your muscles get denser and harder, even without increasing in size.”
“Hm” I nodded for her to continue.
“It’s not just physical strength they affect, either. Denser muscles act like a natural defense, and even reduce aging. In fact, some adventurers are so strong that wearing armor is a hindrance to them, so they use only their muscles for defense, and it’s said that the most powerful warriors from the War era are still alive to this day, even after hundreds of years have passed.”
“War era?” I did hear something about there being a lot of wars in the past, but I didn’t know it was whole separate era.
“If you stopped refusing to learn history and geography you would know…”
“Ugh… Sorry”
She got me on that one, but in my defense, I needed to focus on learning how to read and write, and I’m lazy so learning all at once isn’t possible.
“Sight, the War era was 500 years ago, when dungeons didn’t exist, and the demons hadn’t yet been banished to hell.”
I had a feeling I would be here all day if I started asking about demons and dungeons, so it was best to focus on muscles for now.
“Anyway, as I was saying, a denser and stronger body affects a lot, not just strength. I’m sure if you keep training with that sword of yours, you’ll eventually get much stronger than me, you have great potential after all.” Luna opened up a smile again as she said those final words, she really couldn’t stay mad for too long.
“Hehe, I’ll grow up to slay all kinds of monsters, just you wait!”
“I’m sure you will!” She said with a chuckle, but soon her face grew a little serious again.
“But Cona, be careful when fighting humans… If you were a bit quicker, you could have killed that man… That’s not something a child should experience.”
She looked at the ground with a gaze filled with complex feelings, and after a couple of seconds she completed:
“I don’t want you to end up like me…”
I didn’t know what to say. At this point it was obvious that she was no ordinary adventurer, but until now I thought she was just a really skilled one.
From her words, however, I could feel that there was something else.
I still had no contact with the world outside this forest, so it was hard for me to judge what was normal and what was not. And so, when I witnessed her mercilessly killing those bandits, I hadn’t really thought anything of it.
To me it was just a self-defense situation, and with the fact that this was a medieval world, and that even back on earth I was the kind of guy who concealed carried everywhere I went, I didn’t properly grasp the weight of her actions.
“Luna, I don’t think you’re a bad person.”
“Eh!? Wha-“ I brought her out of her daze, it seemed she really wasn’t expecting this response.
“And If being like you means being strong and brave enough to protect who I love, then I want to be just like you! I won’t hesitate again!”
Damn, I’m smooth as fuck.
“Cona… Uhhhhhhh…” She started to cry again… Now I’m feeling kinda bad…
She grabbed me with incredible speed and shoved my face in her bosom as she hugged me tighter than ever before. It seemed I had hit a delicate but important spot, and now I was being properly rewarded for choosing the right dialogue option.
Feeling bad? When did I say that again? I never once felt bad in my life!
…
After a little more sobbing, Luna finally calmed down.
At this point I’m practically this woman’s therapist.
“I guess we left Toba waiting a little too long, hehe. Let’s go back with the water.”
I was about to agree and start moving when I remembered a little promise she made me. Even I had forgotten about it so I wouldn’t blame her, but a promise was a promise.
“Luna, aren’t you forgetting something?”
“Hm? Oh right! We should carry the swords and equipment that survived the battle, I left them in a pile over there.”
Before she started moving towards our battle spoils, I interrupted her.
“Not that! You said after collecting water you would take me to hunt a beast!”
“Eh? That’s… You still want to do it?”
“Of course! And now that I know how strong Big sister Luna is, there’s a lot more things I want to learn from you.”
“…” She paused for a while, and it was clear that she was deeply conflicted about this, she was moving her eyes frantically while occasionally muttering something to herself.
“Luna… You promised…” I wasn’t going to let go of this opportunity, so I was already prepared to use every card up my sleeve. Thank God it wasn’t needed, however, because I was absolutely sick of all this crying.
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