Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume7 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 1===

It was the fourth morning during the main battle of the Blade Dance festival -- the Tempest.

"Uwah... Ah..."

Lying on the futon in the tent, Kamito suppressed yet another yawn for who knew how many times already.

The morning after the intense battle against Nepenthes Lore, the whole team had just saw off the departure of Milla Bassett, the leader of the Rupture Division who had resolved herself to forfeit the event.

By the fourth day of the main battle, every team had already built their strongholds, and the blade dance was heating up. This was not supposed to be a time of rest, but having undergone the battle against Nepenthes Lore last night, Team Scarlet's members were all utterly exhausted.

Hence, they all decided to stay and defend the stronghold for a day in order to obtain sufficient rest.

(But this is unbearable...)

Kamito groaned as he turned on the bedding.

Despite his body's exhaustion and the sleepiness he felt, he simply could not fall asleep.

The reason was due to the memories Kamito glimpsed during the instant when Restia disappeared.

The memories of that day, sealed somewhere deep in his mind.

As Ren Ashbell, the strongest blade dancer, Kamito had emerged victorious from the Blade Dance three years ago.

Towards the young Kamito, Restia had declared her Wish--

'I hope you can assassinate them. The five Elemental Lords.'

(Assassinate Elemental Lords... What on earth did that mean?)

Lording over all spirits, ruling the elements that comprised the world -- they were the Five Great Elemental Lords.

They were not simply particularly powerful spirits. --If one had to describe it, this world could be considered their creation.

(Have me... Assassinate them?)

Why -- No, before considering why, this was simply beyond a human's ability.

What happened in the end to the Wish three years ago, Kamito had virtually no recollection.

What he could still remember was only the instant when that hateful and black Wish devoured her.

He was struck with an intense headache. Every time he tried to dig into his memories, this intense dizziness would occur.

It almost felt like the domain storing the memories had been uprooted whole.

(...That time, I failed to catch her hand.)

Kamito tightly clenched his leather gloved left hand. Mere hours ago, before she disappeared, the sensation of embracing her in his arms still lingered on his fingertips.

She had not been exterminated from this world. Simply exhausted in power, unable to manifest for now. The spirit seal branded on the back of his left hand was proof of that.

--At this time.

"...Hmm?"

Suddenly, Kamito noticed a sense of dissonance near his lower body.

Something seemed to be crawling around, restless around his waist. The cold soft touch felt a bit like the scales of a reptile.

(...A wild snake?)

Surprised, Kamito frowned and lifted the blanket from the bed.

"...E-Est!?"

The girl who slipped beneath his blanket was the sword spirit.

Her silver-white hair shone lustrously under the sunlight. Tender white skin that resembled the color of fresh milk.

Expressionlessly, she was gazing at Kamito with her mysterious violet eyes.

"Ah... Wait a minute, y-you, why are you dressed like that!?"

Kamito widened his eyes and shouted.

This was not her usual naked kneesocks look.

Est was currently wearing a tight-fitting erotic studded leather bondage suit in black.

The garter belt could be seen extending from beneath the leather miniskirt. Her bare feet were clad in black longboots.

Entwined several times around her right hand was a leather whip. In her left hand was a red candle.

Clad in this outfit, the cute little girl displayed even greater seductive charm than when fully nude.

"Kamito, is dressing like this really strange?"

Continuing her posture of riding on Kamito's abdomen, Est asked expressionlessly.

"No, rather than strange, let's just say the meaning is not... Hot, this is burning hot!"

Who knew when it had been lit, but the melting candle wax was dripping onto Kamito's upper body.

"Do you feel happy, Kamito?"

"No, who the heck would feel happy!? This burns, that's all!"

Kamito frantically blew out the flame on the candle.

Est inclined her head in puzzlement.

"...Not happy?"

"I'm not interested in something like this! By the way, who taught you this?"

"...How regrettable. This book says that people feel happy when wax is dripped on them."

Est took out a book from somewhere. Although Kamito was not very knowledgeable about novels, he could tell it was a love novel aimed at teenagers.

Casually flipping through the pages, he found beautiful illustrations throughout.

On first glance, there was nothing extraordinary about it, no different from a normal novel--

"...Wha!"

On one of the final pages, Kamito could not help but voice his surprise.

Probably the section most visited by the owner, this page was marked by a fold.

It was a scene where an elegant high-class lady was being punished by the butler working in the household.

The illustration depicted  the high-class lady's ecstatic expression as wax was dripped onto her bare skin.

"E-Est, this kind of book is not appropriate for you! It's too early for you, Est!"

Kamito instantly closed the book with a smack... Although Est was an elemental who had already lived for centuries, that was not where the issue lay.

"Where did you find this book?"

"Claire keeps it under her pillow."

"T-That girl, I can't believe she's reading this kind of book when she is a lady of nobility..."

Kamito's face convulsed as he grumbled quietly.

"So, which side does Kamito prefer?"

"Huh?"

Kamito answered Est's expressionless query with a question.

"Yes. To whip or be whipped... Whichever you choose, Kamito, all shall be according to your will."

"...!?"

Kamito could not help but gasp.

Instantly, his heart raced as he imagined Est wielding a leather whip tensely, restrained in a bondage suit, with numerous whip marks on her adorable rear end.

(...Damn me, what am I thinking about!?)

Kamito shook his head violently.

Whipping Est or anything like that... I can't possibly do that.

"I'd rather suffer a hundredfold than let Est be treated that way."

This forceful declaration prompted Est to nod.

"Yes, Kamito. So this means you prefer to be whipped, Kamito?"

"Eh? No that's not right, you're mistaken... Ouch!"

Smack smack!

Est remained expressionless as she began to whip Kamito's upper body.

"E-Est, what are you doing!?"

"Kamito, do you feel happy?"

Smack smack!

"Like I said, I don't have that kind of unusual interest!"

"In other words... Unhappy?"

Est tilted her head in puzzlement.

"A-Ahhh... Perhaps there exist people in this world who might be happy, but I'm not one of them."

Kamito shook his head as he rubbed his painful skin.

Hearing his words, Est slumped her shoulders as if a bit disheartened.

"Sorry, Kamito. Does it hurt?"

"Ah, don't worry about it... Umm, I appreciate your well-intentions, Est, but there is no need to put them into action."

"Huah..."

Kamito gently caressed Est's head as she inquired with worry.

After all, Est had come up with this less than ideal plan after much thought, for the sake of making Kamito happy. Reprimanding her would be quite pitiful.

"By the way, where did you get this equipment?"

"Hmm, from amongst Fianna's ritual equipment."

"...I see. So the other culprit is Her Highness the imperial princess."

Skilled in ritual magic, Fianna had brought to the grounds a large amount of equipment for festival rites and rituals. Amongst them included animal ears and exotic foreign clothes with bold high slits etc. Various ritual attires of unknown purposes were fully stocked in all shapes and sizes.

(...I can understand the candle, but aren't the leather whip and bondage suit way too weird?)

...That said, Kamito was completely uninitiated in the domain of ritual magic and had no basis to comment.

At this moment, the curtain draping over the tent's entrance was vigorously thrown open.

"...Kamito-kun, what on earth is going on!?"

"Fianna?"

A beautiful girl with gorgeous waist-length black hair had made her appearance.

Fianna Ray Ordesia, Her Highness the imperial princess.

Covering her mouth, her dusk-colored eyes were staring wide open.

Her gaze was directed towards the bondage suited girl riding on Kamito.

"...Kamito-kun?"

"Y-You've misunderstood, this is, umm..."

Kamito frantically tried to diffuse the misunderstanding, but&mdash;

"...Hmph, to think Kamito-kun actually had a thing for this."

Fianna was murmuring as if coming to a realization, cheeks blushing slightly.

"...In that case, you should have said so earlier."

"Eh?"

"I-It's not a problem! Even if Kamito-kun has such unusual tastes, I will accommodate you fully! Besides, it's not like I'm not interested either..."

Shyly covering her increasingly reddened face, the imperial princess turned around and fled.

"Fianna, w-wait!"

...It would be troublesome if this misunderstood scene was not cleared up. Transferring Est who was riding his body to the bed, Kamito frantically got up, planning to chase after Fianna. But just as he was about to exit the tent&mdash;

"Hey Kamito, my book's gone missing... Wah!"

Rushing without paying attention, he almost collided with the girl who was entering the tent.

The one arriving was the red twintailed beautiful girl with blazing eyes of ruby.

"C-Claire!?"

"Kamito... Seriously, what are you doing in such a panic..."

Claire frowned in surprise--

...Then turned her gaze towards the depths of the tent.

Over there was Est's crouching figure, dressed immodestly.

"Y-Y-You even made your contracted spirit d-dress, d-dress like that...?"

Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble...!

"W-Wait a second, that's all because of your b--"

"Excuses are futile. You great pervert, prepare to turn into charcoal!"

Completely mercilessly, Claire summoned Flametongue.