#69
After the imperial party, which was fairly uneventful except for meeting two ex-husbands without any mental preparation, Noah went completely off the grid. He didn’t want to be dragged to any more party venues, and he was also afraid of meeting those guys again.
The chain business “Aeongi’s Place” now ran well without Noah’s supervision, his parents were still happily traveling the southern region, and even Lopen, who had been urgently looking for him, stopped contacting him after Noah insisted with the nonsensical phrase “one step back for ten steps forward.”
Having decided not to appear at any official events until he found a suitable fake partner, Noah lived quietly, only responding to Matthew’s messages out of old friendship and for his future wellbeing.
A few years ago, after his parents and Aeongi had left, even his close friends Ray and Benjamin, who had graduated from the academy at eighteen, became too busy with their own lives to visit during vacations as they used to.
With no friends visiting, Noah spent his time solely focused on work. After his nineteenth birthday, when he officially became an adult, he was reluctantly dragged to various parties.
Now, as if his pleas to finally be left alone had been heard, the formerly persistent contacts gradually decreased, and Noah was finally enjoying his time completely.
“Ah, this is truly the life I wanted.”
A quiet hot spring with nobody around.
Noah, who had traveled alone with Aeongi through the warp that Lucas had built inside Schwein Castle, casually shed his clothes.
“Eating, playing, sleeping. Living like a slacker is my dream. What was I thinking, trying to enjoy wealth and glory?”
Noah removed his thick coat and tossed it into the basket nearby, then looked around before removing his last piece of clothing.
It was literally a small hot spring in the middle of the forest.
Though villagers and knights frequently visited this place, hardly anyone would come here on a weekday afternoon.
He hadn’t brought a change of clothes, having impulsively crossed over through the warp zone while wandering around the castle. He hadn’t brought anything at all.
So Noah boldly took off even his underwear, dipped his feet into the hot water, and smiled with satisfaction.
“Aeongi!”
Looking around for Aeongi, who had been scurrying beside him just a moment ago, Noah spotted Aeongi’s small back turned away at a distance.
Aeongi had been changing his size at will lately, and now he was staying in the form of a small kitten, requiring constant attention. When Aeongi was big, Noah could ride him freely or nudge him without worry, but somehow, when he touched or accidentally stepped on the small Aeongi’s tail, he felt sorry.
“Aren’t you coming in?”
Noah spoke to Aeongi, who was showing his small back and staring blankly elsewhere, but Aeongi only twitched the tip of his ear without responding. Noah carefully picked him up.
“Don’t want to go in? Should I go in alone?”
With his hands under Aeongi’s small armpits, Noah lifted him high enough for their eyes to meet, and he could see Aeongi’s wide eyes.
As Noah carefully stepped into the hot spring one step at a time, a small sigh escaped from Aeongi’s mouth.
“What are you sighing for, sighing?”
Noah had thought a lot about Aeongi recently but decided to think of it simply. Whether Aeongi was truly a Silver Dragon or a guardian spirit of the Heidel Mountains, Noah didn’t want to treat Aeongi, who had been with him for most of his life, with difficulty or discomfort.
It might have been self-justification from someone who had inflicted affectionate violence while speaking harshly. If Aeongi had truly disliked it, he could have left Noah’s side anytime, and a dragon or guardian spirit could easily have killed a mere human.
To be honest, it was hard for Noah to accept that Aeongi was such a special being, and since Aeongi behaved no differently than before, Noah decided to treat him comfortably as well.
“Ahh, this is nice.”
Sitting down in the hot water, Noah smiled with satisfaction as he felt the warm water enveloping his body.
Splash—
Whether intentionally or not, since Noah was holding him, Aeongi flapped his front paws, causing water droplets to splash onto Noah’s face, and Noah quickly released him.
As if disliking being held, Aeongi immediately turned his back and swam away from Noah, who scooped up some water with his hands and poured it over his shoulders.
“Yeah, this is it.”
When his face and shoulders exposed above the water started to feel chilly, the warmth rising from his body submerged in the hot spring pushed back the cold. Adding warm water to his shoulders made it perfect. As Noah continued wetting his shoulders with handfuls of water, he gazed at the distant mountains.
Almost 15 years ago, just like when he first came to this hot spring, cute, joyful sounds flowed from Aeongi’s mouth as he swam leisurely, floating in the hot spring.
“Aeongi, can you see that mountain range over there?”
Recently, Noah had been frequently gazing at the Heidel Mountains during this self-declared vacation period with reduced contact with everyone. When he finally had free time, he found himself without much to do.
There were no games, no comic books. He’d tried sleeping more than 18 hours a day, but after a few days of that, he developed insomnia and a sore back.
He’d even tried knitting, one of Austen region’s specialties due to its cold climate and longer nights, but only reaffirmed that he lacked dexterity.
So all that remained was sitting by the warm hearth, enjoying his favorite snacks, and looking at the distant mountains. As he gazed at the far mountains, he recalled a dream from his childhood.
Things he wanted to do, written in a crooked handwriting.
The territory, which had been stably operating since the discovery of the magical stone mine, was left to a caretaker, and Noah’s personal assets were steadily increasing thanks to “Aeongi’s Place.”
What he naturally wanted to do when he had time and money.
Have fun!
Of course, he wanted to have a good time. Noah, who had loved winter sports before his transmigration, had already gone up and down the rugged Heidel Mountains numerous times in his mind.
“Aeongi~”
Noah called to Aeongi, who was busily moving his four legs and swimming around the hot spring as if he hadn’t heard Noah. Only then did Aeongi approach, and Noah spoke to him.
“Look here. If you look there, you can see three courses? If we carve out the gentle left side, it’s for beginners. The steeper right side would be for intermediate level. And if we carve out the steepest part visible from here, that’s for advanced users. Isn’t it perfect? There’s perpetual snow year-round, so we don’t have to worry about snow. Honestly, it’s quite rugged… Should I call Ray and have him carve it all out?”
Noah wrapped one arm around Aeongi, who had come close, holding him so he could see the Heidel Mountains clearly too, and raised his other hand.
“I’m talking about skiing and snowboarding. Have you heard of those? Well, even if you’re really a dragon, you probably wouldn’t know about skiing and snowboarding. Snowboarding needs one board, skiing needs two. Simply put, you place a board under your feet and ride down the mountain.”
“Nyaa~?”
Hearing Aeongi’s small voice, which usually just made a small “nya—nyaa” sound, tremble and rise at the end, Noah laughed loudly. I’m telling you, he really understands human language.
Noah hugged Aeongi tightly, who seemed to express that he understood but couldn’t easily comprehend, and playfully pressed his lips against Aeongi’s mouth repeatedly.
“Nya~”
“Ah, really, our Aeongi, do you want to be a ski resort mascot too? Even though I have quite a bit of money, it’s not enough to build a ski resort, so I’ll get a loan from Lopen. No, should I extort money from Matthew?”
As Noah began to seriously consider doing what he had been thinking about all this time, life started returning to his eyes, which had been as limp as a squid or octopus until now.
“Should I call Ray? Or Raymond? Which one is better at magic? Honestly, are there excavators in this neighborhood? Forklifts? There aren’t even proper bombs to blast the mountain. So we’ll just carve it out with magic, swish-swish.”
Noah hugged Aeongi, who kept struggling as if wanting to escape from his arms, even tighter and measured the Heidel Mountains with his other hand. I’ll start working on the gentle left side first, but before that, I should probably get rid of the beasts.
As Noah was muttering his thoughts to himself, he quickly shut his mouth at the sound of rustling.
The hot spring was one of the spots on the knights’ patrol route, which they covered regularly—almost daily except for days with terrible weather—so there was no reason for a large beast to appear. And small animals wouldn’t make such loud rustling sounds.
As Noah heard the sound of small branches or grass being crushed under someone’s feet approaching, his body slowly moved to one side of the hot spring. Ah, if I had known this would happen, I would have at least kept my underwear on. Blaming himself for being completely naked, thinking no one would come, he hugged innocent Aeongi even tighter.
“Haah— really tiring…”
Noah’s mouth fell open as he saw a person emerging not from the path used by people, nor from near the small house built beside the hot spring where the warp zone was, but from the thick undergrowth.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
