“Ugh…”
Iberis shuddered as a sensation enveloped his sensitized body. At that moment, with a splash, warm water touched his stiff legs.
“…! Huh, what?”
Startled, Iberis opened his eyes wide. As his deeply submerged consciousness awakened, a familiar scene came into view. It was the bathroom of the official residence.
“When did I…? *cough*!”
“Don’t you remember? After you collapsed, Major, we returned to the base. You were examined and given emergency treatment in the infirmary, then moved here.”
“Is that so? Hmm…”
Iberis hummed softly at Lucas’s explanation. There were a few scenes that came to mind, but everything was hazy and disjointed, as if cut with scissors.
“You did wake up intermittently… but it seems all your memories have flown away. It’s understandable, considering you were nearly in a coma.”
“*cough* I was?”
“Yes, I thought I was going to lose my mind. I’m so relieved you’ve regained consciousness.”
*Chu*. Lucas kissed Iberis’s still-pale cheek and sighed in relief. It wasn’t time to completely relax yet, but they had overcome a critical moment. At least Iberis had regained consciousness.
A few hours earlier, when Iberis fainted, Lucas immediately moved him to the car. Then, throughout the journey back to the base, he performed a mana shower. Fortunately, it had some effect, but it wasn’t enough to completely prevent the mana outburst.
This was because Iberis had used his abilities beyond his limits, resulting in severe after-effects and injuries in various places. Above all, the unidentified drug used by Livio was interfering with the treatment and guiding.
Because performing high-level guiding on a body that hadn’t been detoxified could have adverse effects, Lucas desperately poured out mana. As soon as they arrived at the base, he took Iberis to the infirmary. Identifying the type of poison was the priority before treating the injuries.
“When we briefly stopped guiding to do a blood test, your vital signs became unstable…”
Lucas’s face contorted as if the memory was still horrifying. Even now, his heart sank remembering that moment. If the treatment had been delayed even a little, Iberis could have fallen into a critical coma.
“The drug that bastard used was more potent than we thought. It took time to analyze, but the detoxification is complete now.”
Lucas quickly composed himself and spoke in a deliberately cheerful voice. He couldn’t instill anxiety in Iberis, who had been suffering in pain until just before regaining consciousness.
“Now we just need to calm your mana through guiding, Major.”
Lucas embraced Iberis, who was trembling finely like an aspen tree, and submerged him up to his neck in the bubbling bathtub water.
“Ugh, *cough*, *cough*…!”
Iberis burst into a fit of coughing as a sudden chill swept over him. He could sense that the situation was not normal. It was the first time he felt cold despite being so close to Lucas.
Usually, he would have calmed down long ago, but the chills running through him were strange. His mana was still raging violently. The warm water was quickly cooling due to the cold emanating from his body.
“Whew, but why in the bathtub…? Are you going to do it here?”
Iberis, having finally stopped coughing, wore a puzzled expression. Unlike himself, who was completely naked, Lucas was clothed. It suggested that the situation had been so urgent that there hadn’t been time to undress until just now.
“I thought this would be best for treating the burns and frostbite, and for relaxing your stiff muscles…”
Lucas explained softly as he turned on the hot water again. After checking the temperature, he scooped up water mixed with a potion and poured it over Iberis. As the slightly sticky liquid touched his blistered skin, Iberis’s round shoulders tensed up.
The effects of the potion were immediate. Lucas smiled faintly as he watched the large and small blisters on Iberis’s cheeks and neck, and the reddish spots on his hands and feet, quickly clear up. Finally catching his breath, he grasped Iberis’s slender chin and lowered his head.
*Chu*.
A wet sound echoed as he kissed Iberis’s white, chapped lips. Lucas felt the body in his arms flinch as he pushed his tongue into the parted lips, as if welcoming him. At the same time, he released mana with enough force to fill the entire bathroom.
“Mmnh, mm…”
Iberis’s waist twitched at the fleshy sensation languidly swimming in his mouth. Unlike usual, the slow movement of the tongue made his long lashes flutter. As the golden mana poured down like sunshine, the turmoil inside him gradually subsided, and the needle-like pain also began to ease.
Feeling Iberis’s mana, which had been raging like a storm, become somewhat more docile, Lucas tilted his head for a deeper kiss. As he did so, he gently caressed the nape of Iberis’s neck where fine hairs stood on end.
“Haa…”
As the kiss lengthened, Iberis naturally became short of breath. When he opened his mouth as wide as possible to fill his lungs with air, Lucas’s thick tongue delved in as if it had been waiting for this moment. As their flesh rubbed and tangled messily, lewd friction sounds echoed throughout the bathroom.
“…Are you alright? How do you feel?”
Lucas pulled back and examined Iberis’s complexion. Although they had succeeded in detoxification, his condition was far from good. Even though he had regained consciousness quickly, it was impossible for a body that had nearly fallen into a coma to be normal.
Perhaps that’s why, even though they were this close, Iberis’s mana showed no signs of stabilizing. The only fortunate thing was that color had returned to his previously bloodless face. It meant the guiding was having an effect.
“I’m not sure… It’s better than before, but I’m still cold…”
Iberis shivered and mumbled as if he couldn’t understand it himself.
“As we continue, you’ll gradually warm up.”
Lucas released his mana while soothing Iberis to keep him from feeling anxious. Then he hastily removed his damp shirt and tossed it aside.
“Just a moment.”
With a splash, Lucas pulled Iberis, who had been submerged up to his chest, out of the water and sat him on his thighs. Then he showered him with kisses.
“Mmm, it tickles…”
As the hot flesh touched and left various parts of his cool skin repeatedly, Iberis placed his hands on Lucas’s shoulders. Red heat blossomed wherever Lucas’s lips lingered.
Lucas lightly nibbled on the protruding collarbone before burying his face in the chest fully exposed before him.
“Ah!”
As Lucas’s tongue, as warm as his lips, circled around the erect nipple, Iberis’s fingers curled into Lucas’s broad shoulders. Feeling Iberis’s neat nails scratch his skin, Lucas sucked on the sensitive area. Meanwhile, he gently caressed Iberis’s back, tracing its graceful curves.
“Hah, Luke…”
Iberis moaned helplessly at the tingling sensation rising from his chest. As his body heated up, his consciousness became hazy as if drunk. Even the feeling of water lapping at his waist felt strange.
Unable to bear the peculiar sensations, Iberis repeatedly clenched and unclenched his hands and feet. At this, the lips stimulating his chest parted, and large hands firmly grasped his buttocks.
“Ugh, haa…”
Iberis winced as the cold suddenly engulfed him again. As the mana that had seemed to be settling down began to churn in his stomach, his whole body shivered. The back of his neck kept feeling chilly too.
“Luke, I feel strange… Why is this happening, ugh, it hurts so much…”
Iberis explained his condition with a perplexed expression. Based on past experiences, the chills should have subsided by now. But while he felt better momentarily, he was still cold. Moreover, his mana remained completely uncontrolled.
“We removed the remaining poison, but… we couldn’t eliminate what had already been absorbed. Your mana circuits were greatly damaged from overexertion, and the drug used by Livio Logan caused a forced outburst…”
Lucas gritted his teeth in frustration. Thinking of Livio, who had done this to Iberis, filled him with uncontrollable murderous intent. He regretted not torturing Livio instead of just knocking him out, but at the time, suppressing Iberis’s outburst had been the priority.
He swallowed his anger as he caressed Iberis’s skin, which was covered in goosebumps. For now, he needed to focus on returning Iberis’s condition to normal.
“Then, what should we do?”
“It will take a while to calm down completely, but if we continue guiding like this, it should get better. However…”
Lucas trailed off. What worried him was what would happen after the guiding. The results of the earlier examination had been the worst possible. All of Iberis’s readings, including mana contamination and circulation rates, had worsened.
Moreover, his body damage rate, which had been maintaining in the 10% range for the past month, had risen back into the 20% range. The situation they had feared most had come to pass.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
