Chapter 332
"Ahhh, this feels amazing."
Kurome stretched lazily and let out a long, contented sigh.
At the moment, she was soaking in milky-white hot spring water, feeling the smooth warmth wash over her skin while bright stars glittered across the clear night sky overhead.
It was almost impossibly comfortable.
"Yeah. Who would’ve thought there’d be a hot spring on this island?"
Jeanne smiled.
"If our fight with that flood dragon hadn’t broken through an underground water vein, we probably would’ve missed it completely."
"Nothing beats soaking in a hot spring after a huge battle and having a few drinks afterward."
Esdeath leaned back against the edge of the pool with both arms spread along the stone rim.
She took a small sip of alcohol and narrowed her eyes in pure satisfaction.
"Now this is life."
"Too bad there’s no meat."
Akame smacked her lips regretfully.
"You really do love meat, Akame."
Jeanne laughed.
"Kiriya’s Shadow Clone is already cooking. By the time we finish here, dinner should be ready."
"Mm."
Akame nodded immediately, her large eyes already filling with anticipation.
"Ever since Kiriya came along, hunting Danger Beasts barely feels like roughing it anymore."
Esdeath sighed with exaggerated melancholy.
"I’m starting to worry all this comfort is making me soft."
The others could not help agreeing.
Before meeting Kiriya, expeditions meant sleeping outdoors, eating whatever was available, enduring freezing snow, rain, wind, and every other inconvenience nature could throw at them.
Now?
Kiriya could casually build an enormous, comfortable wooden house almost anywhere.
The moment he discovered the underground water vein was actually a hot spring, he had simply used Earth Release to construct a proper pool around it.
So even in the middle of nowhere, they somehow had access to a luxurious hot spring, while outside waited an extravagant meal made from Ultra-Class Danger Beast meat.
It hardly felt like wilderness survival anymore.
"Big Brother has so many strange abilities."
Kurome’s eyes gleamed with intense curiosity.
"I really wonder how much more he’s hiding."
Jeanne and Ryuu immediately exchanged complicated looks.
"Careful, young lady."
Esdeath kept her eyes closed, her voice soft and lazy from the heat of the spring.
"That line of thinking is dangerous."
"Huh?"
Kurome blinked.
Esdeath tilted her head and opened one eye.
"For a woman, curiosity about a man is often where trouble begins."
"Really?"
Kurome pursed her lips and thought for a moment.
Then she answered with characteristic honesty.
"That doesn’t sound so bad."
"Big Brother is handsome, he cooks really well, he’s ridiculously strong, and he’s considerate toward girls too. It’d be stranger if nobody liked him."
Then she casually added—
"Big Sis even talks about Big Brother’s cooking in her sleep."
"Kurome!"
Akame, normally so quiet and expressionless, immediately lost her composure.
She looked as though she wanted to sew her younger sister’s mouth shut on the spot.
"But I’m not wrong."
Kurome stared at her innocently.
"You’re always mumbling about the food Big Brother makes. Aren’t you?"
Akame: "..."
"So... Kurome."
Jeanne cautiously entered the conversation.
"Do you like Kiriya?"
Ryuu also looked over with concern.
"Of course."
Kurome admitted it without hesitation.
"If we could stay together forever, I’d be happy."
Then her expression became slightly dejected.
"But it’s impossible."
"Big Brother would never like me that way."
"Oh?"
Ryuu tilted her head.
"Why not?"
"Because..."
Kurome hesitated, then made a small gesture in front of herself.
"Big Brother once said he likes women with more... presence."
Her eyes wandered toward Jeanne, Esdeath, and Ryuu before filling with obvious envy.
Jeanne naturally possessed an exceptionally feminine figure.
Esdeath had once been slightly less developed, but after a full year of eating highly nourishing Danger Beast meat and continuously strengthening her body, she had matured considerably and now carried herself with all the confidence of a powerful adult woman.
Even Ryuu had grown taller and more elegant, giving her a distinctly mature elven beauty.
"Kiriya... honestly."
Jeanne and Ryuu both flushed.
They suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to grab him by the ear and lecture him.
Why was he saying ridiculous things like that around younger girls?
"Well, you’re still growing."
Esdeath found the whole thing amusing and offered a rare bit of comfort.
"You’ve got plenty of time."
"No chance."
Kurome glanced toward Akame.
"Big Sis is two years older than me and she’s still like this, so I probably won’t be much different."
Akame: "..."
That one hit directly.
Esdeath immediately burst into laughter.
Ryuu and Jeanne struggled to suppress their own smiles.
A cheerful atmosphere filled the hot spring.
Everyone was having fun.
Except Akame.
Akame alone had suffered!
...
Later, after finishing their baths, everyone gathered around the dining table and launched an assault on the feast Kiriya had prepared.
Grilled flood-dragon meat.
Flood-dragon bone soup.
Spicy skewered meat.
Stir-fried dragon slices.
Dish after dish covered the table, fully demonstrating what true extravagance looked like.
Once everyone had eaten their fill, Kiriya finally brought out the true centerpiece of the meal—
the body-tempering medicine.
It had been brewed from rare medicinal treasures collected throughout the Empire, many of them more than a century old, combined with the flesh, bones, marrow, and essence of a top-tier Danger Beast like the three-headed flood dragon.
Its ability to temper and strengthen the body was extraordinary.
The problem was that absorbing the medicine consumed an enormous amount of the body’s energy and vitality.
That was why everyone had to eat heavily beforehand.
By now, they had already gone through this process many times, so nobody hesitated.
Each person picked up the enormous bowl in front of them and began drinking.
Gulp.
Gulp.
Gulp.
"Ugh."
Kurome’s face immediately twisted.
"This stuff still tastes horrible."
She grimaced.
"Like someone soaked a filthy dishcloth in water, left it outside until it went bad, then served the liquid."
"Kurome, stop talking!"
Everyone had already been struggling against nausea.
Her description made their stomachs churn even harder.
Only sheer willpower kept the medicine down.
"..."
Several bowls of rich meat broth later, they finally managed to suppress the soul-deep aftertaste.
Then came the heat.
A violent burning sensation erupted throughout their bodies, stronger than anything they had experienced during their previous treatments.
It felt as though every cell had been set ablaze.
"It’s starting."
Akame’s face turned bright red.
She looked toward Kiriya.
"Want to fight?"
The medicine’s effects were too violent to simply sit still and endure.
They had to push their bodies through intense exercise and combat so the medicinal power would fully integrate into their flesh.
Otherwise, the accumulated energy could overwhelm them from within.
"Let’s go."
Kiriya stood without hesitation and headed outside.
The others exchanged glances before splitting into pairs and following.
Kurome versus Esdeath.
Jeanne versus Ryuu.
Akame versus Kiriya.
The three pairs spread across different parts of the island and immediately began fighting.
Clang! Clang! Clang—!
Kurome’s sword moved with unusual aggression.
Every strike was fierce and relentless, as though she intended to burn herself out completely.
"You’re unusually fired up today."
Esdeath continued parrying while watching her carefully.
"Because..."
Kurome’s sword paused for the briefest instant.
"You’re leaving soon."
Esdeath smiled.
"So you noticed?"
She did not seem surprised.
"Want to come with us?"
"There are plenty of interesting things waiting on the other side."
After a year spent together, the trust between them had grown considerably.
Kiriya had already allowed Esdeath to learn some of the truth.
A mysterious Dungeon.
Endless monsters.
Countless battles.
Strange Skills and Magic.
And gods standing at the very peak of the supernatural world.
To Esdeath, it sounded absolutely perfect!
She loved everything about it!
"No."
Kurome rejected the offer immediately.
"I want to stay with Big Sis forever."
"She’ll stay here, won’t she?"
"I see."
Esdeath’s smile softened slightly.
"Then fight properly."
Her sword came forward again.
"Put all your reluctance, all your sadness, everything you don’t want to say... into your blade."
...
"Still sure you don’t want to come with us?"
Kiriya sounded almost like some suspicious old man trying to lure a little girl away with candy.
"There’ll be lots of good food."
"No."
Akame shook her head.
"There are still things I need to do here."
Her expression became serious.
"In the past, I was nothing but a blade."
"I killed many people because I was told to."
She tightened her grip on her sword.
"Now I want to do something meaningful with my life."
"To make up, even a little, for the things I did back then."