Chapter 154: Something Inherited
After we had been holding each other for a while, Fia smiled and said "Wait a moment" before leaving the room.
Sitting on the sofa and waiting, it was not long before Lea entered.
Lea was not her usual energetic self; there was a slightly demure atmosphere about her.
The clothes she wore were a nightwear arrangement of the dress she had been wearing when we first met; the black negligee dress left her skin faintly visible through the fabric.
Walking up in front of me, Lea grinned and, with lively energy, sat down between my open legs with her back toward me.
"Fia-nee was so happy. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Fia-nee that delighted. Thank you, Raide."
"I’m glad she was happy."
"We’ve gone through a lot of hardship, after all~"
"...That goes for you too, doesn’t it, Lea?"
"..."
I gently wrapped both arms around Lea’s small body as she leaned her back against me in silence and held her.
It was not only Fia who had suffered; Lea, too, had destroyed their clan for Croana’s sake.
To Croana, Lea was an older sister every bit as worthy of respect as Fia.
Unlike her usual lively self, Lea, wrapped in a calm atmosphere, moved the body I was holding and pressed her back against me.
To Lea who shifted her body so that we would be even closer, I responded by strengthening my embrace a little.
I suddenly realized that this was the first time I had been alone with Lea.
Normally Fia or Croana was always present, so being alone with Lea felt fresh.
Bringing my face close to the head of the Lea I was holding and resting my cheek against her hair, a pleasant scent like sunlight rose.
"...If I’m not cheerful, Croana ends up making a gloomy face, right? I’m the big sister, after all..."
"Thanks to that, we’re receiving energy. Not only Croana. Me and the other lovers—everyone is receiving energy from you, Lea. But I want you to lean on us sometimes, too."
"Nha, and you’re the one saying that, Raide?"
Laughing happily, Lea gently grasped with both hands the arms I had wrapped around her stomach.
The negligee that clung tightly to her skin made her body twitch ticklishly when I stroked her stomach with my hands.
When I stroked the slightly recessed navel area with a finger, Lea grabbed the finger and stopped me.
"Goodness, Raide really loves mischief, doesn’t he?"
"You’re the one saying that, Lea?"
"Nhaha, true enough. Mutual, maybe?"
Since my finger had been grabbed and my movement stopped, I pulled one arm free, took the necklace box from my magic bag, and brought it in front of Lea.
Opening the lid and showing her the inside, Lea let out a happy voice.
While smiling, I spoke gently into Lea’s ear.
"Will you accept it?"
"...You know, I used to dislike accessories."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. But even though I disliked them... I found an accessory I want to keep wearing."
Lea raised the hand that still wore the bracelet so that I could see it.
It was the bracelet I had given her; Lea turned her face sideways, looked at my face, and smiled happily.
Certainly, from her personality and atmosphere, I did not think Lea liked things that bound her.
The fact that she had continued wearing the bracelet for me was her way of telling me it was not only for the life-extension magic.
Lea gently stroked one of my cheeks, then, instead of her bright smile, narrowed her eyes and smiled affectionately.
It was an expression of Lea’s I was seeing for the first time, and I was captivated.
With her cheeks dyed red and her eyes a little moist, the atmosphere carrying a hint of melancholy was alluring in a way different from the usual Lea.
"Thank you for giving me so many precious things."
"Lea..."
"Put it on me."
I took the necklace from the box and fastened it around the neck of Lea, who had turned to face forward.
When I explained how to use it at her ear, Lea nodded small, grasped the gem with one hand, and began pouring mana.
Then scarlet and purple light shone from the gem; just when I thought it had stopped, Lea pinched the gem between her fingers and held it up.
Looking at the gem she held up as if wanting me to see it as well, half of it had changed to a bright scarlet and the other half to a pale purple.
While staring intently at the colors that had divided so cleanly in half, I noticed that the shoulders of the Lea I was holding were trembling slightly.
Thinking she might be cold, I strengthened my hold a little and drew her toward me, bringing my face close to her profile.
When I peeked at Lea’s profile, she was narrowing her eyes at the raised gem, smiling happily, and shedding tears.
With an expression as though she had obtained a treasure, while tears rolled one after another, Lea spoke in a murmuring voice.
"It’s... beautiful, isn’t it?"
"Because it’s you, Lea, the gem became those colors."
"I see..."
I simply watched with a smile as Lea examined the gem from various angles.
Occasionally we exchanged idle conversation, gazed at the gem, or talked and then gazed again.
Such a Lea was dear, cute, and beautiful.
After a while Lea stood, turned around, and kissed me with a bright smile.
Then, saying she would go call Croana so I should wait, she left the room.
After waiting only a little, Croana entered the room.
Wearing a pale purple negligee with a black stole draped over her shoulders, she looked at my face and smiled with genuine happiness.
Sitting down beside me, Croana leaned her body against my arm, looked up, and spoke.
"It’s the first time I’ve seen my older sisters with faces that happy."
"It’s far too great an honor; I’m at a loss."
"Kuku, for someone who’s at a loss, you have a rather satisfied expression, don’t you?"
I wrapped one arm around Croana’s shoulder and drew her close, stole and all.
Bringing my face near, I gave her a kiss that only touched her lips, pressed our foreheads together, and smiled at each other.
The soft sensation of her breasts against my body, the nostalgic scent drifting toward me—feeling happiness, I naturally smiled.
Being able to present something that those two great sisters called a treasure made me uncontrollably happy.
It was not only those two; being told the same by all my lovers made me happy.
When I said as much, Croana narrowed her eyes, kissed me, and then spoke.
"I am happy as well. For all the hardship I caused them, I want my older sisters to be happy."
"That goes for you too, Croana. We promised, didn’t we?"
"...Yes, we did promise."
I took the necklace box from my magic bag, gently placed it on Croana’s knees, and opened the lid.
Croana’s eyes as she gazed at the necklace were shining; when I explained the effect she stared at it with deep interest.
As a lover of magic tools, Croana must have been unable to help being curious about the necklace’s structure.
When she asked where I had purchased it and I told her, learning it was a crowded place made her expression turn a little sour.
I took the necklace from the box and gently asked Croana to turn her back to me.
Croana, as if coming back to herself, dyed her cheeks red with embarrassment, smiled, nodded, and turned her back toward me.
Carefully so as not to catch her hair—longer than anyone else’s—yet gently, I fastened the necklace.
Even though I had put them on many times already, the moment of fastening it around a neck always made me nervous.
Immediately after it was on, Croana poured mana into the gem; orange and black light shone.
When the light faded and Croana turned toward me with a happy expression, she lifted the gem with both hands and showed it to me.
The gem was beautiful, with many lines of black and orange crossing one another in a lattice.
"You said it would become a single color... but this is a beautiful thing."
"I was thinking about that, and I believe it became two colors because it is you sisters."
"Hmm? Because it is us...? I see... something inherited, is it?"
I nodded with a troubled smile, and Croana nodded as if convinced before dropping her gaze to the gem.
Because of the Criela clan, the sisters had been forced to inherit the power of others.
In other words, the gem had judged that there were two people’s worth of power and had changed into two colors.
The personalities of the people whose power had been inherited, plus the personalities of the sisters themselves—two people’s worth.
For the sisters it must have been an unpleasant memory... As I was letting my mood drop, both of her arms wrapped around my neck and I was softly embraced.
Croana rubbed one cheek against me and spoke into my ear in a gentle, beautiful voice.
"Do not think unnecessary things. I am happy... we are happy, Raide."
"...Did I overthink it?"
"Yes, you overthought it. Please judge by how delighted we look."
At the motherly way of speaking that seemed to wrap around me, I wrapped both arms around Croana’s back and held her.
The scent of books and the nostalgic fragrance, and Croana gently stroking the back of my hair.
Burying my face in Croana’s neck, not wanting to let go, I strengthened my embrace.
Truly, the inclusive capacity of these sisters was far too high.
And that could be said not only of the sisters but of all my lovers.
At this rate, if I let my guard down I would go straight toward becoming a worthless man.
Thinking that and smiling wryly, Croana, who had turned her face sideways, kissed my cheek.
"You will not become that, Raide."
"...Reading hearts is unfair, you know?"
"Kukuku, I do not want to hear that from you, Raide."
Laughing together like that, we kissed so that our lips touched.
Occasionally we kissed passionately, talked, and kissed again many times.
After a while Fia and Lea also entered the room, and the four of us drank tea while talking about the newly completed magic tool.
In the end the conversation turned to the price, and because that proved difficult we decided to involve Erika and discuss it on another day.
I was weak with pricing matters as well, and like Croana I expected I would end up consulting Erika.
As expected, all I can do is provide the ideas...
Noticing that from my expression, the three of them explained, as if exasperated, that that itself was something amazing.