Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 4 Episode 1 (section)

===Part 3===

The time after the island came into view from the ship went by fast.

The ship approached the pier that was made from stone, the anchor and the cargo were brought down, and then all of them walked through the road in a line.

The path that was surrounded by a grove of tall summer trees gave the image of a green corridor.

「The plants are growing really thick. The path is also rough. The maintenance here is lacking. ……Good grief.」

When Lisha was grumbling while both her hands were carrying her bag, headmaster Relie who was at the rear of the line started explaining with a smile.

「It’s on purpose that there are a lot of plants around here. This place is more or less also a military facility, that’s why it’s set so that gazes from outside can be avoided as much as possible. And so everyone, be careful not to get lost ok?」

By the way, Ries Island was quiet far from Cross field, so the preparation for this training camp was a bit problematic.

The summoning of Drag-Rides was unable to function if there was too much of a distance.

The nearest Drag-Ride hangar was at the neighboring port city, so the Drag-Rides of the participating members were re-stationed there temporarily. They needed to arrange such things so that they could summon the Drag-Rides on this Ries Island.

「Aah, aah, even though it would be a breeze walking through this kind of path if I could use <Wyvern>」

It was obvious, but the use of Drag-Rides outside of training and emergencies was fundamentally forbidden, even on this island.

Perhaps because of not being accustomed to traveling, even Tillfur of the Triad was muttering about how tiresome it was. It was at that time,

「You can be relieved. Looks like we have arrived already.」

When Lux raised his face at the same time as Krulcifer’s calm words──

「Waah……」

The surprised voices of the girls could be heard from behind Lux.

Ahead of the path that came out of the thick tunnel of leaves, a scene that looked like another world spread out before their eyes.

A spacious practice ground surrounded by thick and steep stone walls could be seen from afar. Right before it, there was a forest that functioned to absorb shockwaves and sounds from the practice ground.

There was also a huge lake and farming area. And not just lodging facilities to be used as a base, but there were also shops lining up, even though small.

Ries Island was originally the military facility of the Old Empire, but during these five years, it seemed that it has changed considerably.

There was also the existence of vegetation that were unique to the island that even gave them the illusion as though they had arrived in another country.

All the students including Lux had their gazes stolen by that scene for a while.

「Oo. Welcome, it’s a pleasure to be in your presence, Relie Aingram-sama. I would have come to receive you myself if only you contacted me beforehand.」

A gentle-looking old man who grew a white beard on his face was slowly walking their way.

It seemed that he was the village chief of this island.

「I came here today as headmaster, so please don’t worry about it. We will be in your care for a while.」

The village chief greeted Relie warmly. The two of them might be acquainted through the Aingram Conglomerate. After the greeting, Relie received something like a key and she walked to the front.

「Currently the military personnel aren’t using the practice ground, so you all can take it easy here.」

After Relie said that, they walked for a bit before reaching a hut that was the boarding house.

Perhaps because it was originally a lodging facility for the use of the Old Empire’s military, the structure of the building was spacious and solid, but when compared to the girl’s dormitory of the Academy, as expected it gave off a plain impression.

Even so, when Lux thought back to the period when he was doing chores, it was a building that was enough to be called as splendid.

After Lux put down his luggage, he was about to go help out someone else, it was at that time,

「……I’m just a bit, tired.」

Airi who finally arrived at the living room of the boardinghouse let out a sigh.

Her personal luggage should only be filled with things related to documents, but it seemed that she was tired from the long trip that she hadn’t done in a long time. She was sitting down deeply into the sofa.

「Airi, are you okay? If you feel unwell, then I’ll call the doctor of this──」

「I’m fine. Nii-san is always treating me like a child. Even I am already an adult you know?」

「……Ah, yes. You’re right.」

Lux showed a wry smile at Airi’s sullen expression while he replied like that.

「Come to think of it, why has Airi come along here?」

「What a heartless brother. Am I not allowed to come along here?」

「No, that’s not what I meant. This, it’s the training camp for the representative members for the international tournament right? I’m just wondering if it’s alright for Airi to come along too……」

About Airi’s accompaniment, it wasn’t hard to imagine the headmaster Relie giving Airi permission using her authority.

However, Lux thought that there wasn’t any reason for Airi to purposefully participate in this training camp, but,

「I came to monitor Nii-san.」

Airi replied to Lux’s modest question with a nonchalant face.

「Eh?」

「Recently Nii-san flirts with girls too much. It makes me a bit worried that some kind of mistake might happen, that’s why I came along here.」

「By mistake you mean……」

As expected, whatever the circumstances may be he didn’t think anything like that would occur.

Since Lux came to the academy, he came to get along well with a lot of girls, including the man-hater Celis. He wanted to think that it wasn’t just his conceit but, even so──.

「Err, I’m the only man here, that’s why everyone acts kindly to me. That’s all there is to it I think.」

「…………」

Lux’s sentence caused Airi to stare fixedly at him in exasperation,

「Haa……. I don’t know if I should be relieved, or perhaps I should feel uneasy……. Nii-san is Nii-san as expected isn’t it.」

「That’s, what do you mean──?」

When Lux tried to ask back,

「Airi-chan. Everyone has finished changing already. They are going ahead, so tell Lux-chi too ‘kay.」

Tillfur’s bright voice could be heard from outside the room.

Airi who heard that let out a light sigh 「Fuu」, and then she handed the bag in her hand to Lux.

「Then Nii-san, change into these clothes and then please go to the coast. If you go out of the lodging, and then go straight on the right path, you will arrive at that place.」

「Err……. Then, I’m going.」

Lux changed his clothes as he was told while still not really understanding anything, and then he got out of the boardinghouse.

It seemed that Tillfur and the others had changed and gone on ahead, but was the place they were going to the practice ground?

(But, as expected from everyone. For them to practice right after arriving──)

Just as he was told by Airi, he went through the many paths with a lot of vegetation and headed towards the coast.

「But, what’s this clothes? It looks different from the suit……」

The clothes Lux changed into was different from the suit for Drag-Ride use. It was only the size of underwear for the lower body.

……Was there some kind of mistake perhaps?

For a moment Lux hesitated whether to head back to the boarding house or not, it was at that time──

「Ooooi. Lux-chi, this way, this way─」

He could hear Tillfur’s voice from ahead of the narrow path, that was colored by greenery, from the opening of a thicket where sunlight shined in through.

When Lux moved his feet forward following the call, his view suddenly opened up and he could see the coast.

「Sorry. I’ve made everyone wait──……eh, eeeeeh!?」

When Lux got down with his hand blocking off the strong sunlight of the early summer, he could see it.

 
[[File:V4 004.jpg|thumb|right]]

The shining bright beach, and the transparent blue sea.

And then, the girls clad in colorful and vivid outfits who were gathering there.

「You’re late, Lux-kun. Everyone is already impatient here.」

The third year Sharis── one of the Triad whose body was clad in small clothes with rose decorations, was smiling elegantly.

「U, uwaaah!? I’m sorry-……! I, I’m not looking so──」

The exposure rate of the outfit was high, so Lux thought that Sharis was wearing underwear. He tried to avert his gaze in panic.

「No. I judge that your reaction is wrong. Lux-san, our clothing isn’t underwear.」

「Eh……?」

Lux felt puzzled hearing that. He turned his gaze towards the owner of that voice, Noct.

The exposure rate was high, but that outfit with polka dot pattern decorating it really matched the girl’s unique atmosphere.

「It’s unfortunate for Lux-san, but this isn’t underwear.」

「Why did you say it twice!? Or rather, in the first place it’s not unfortunate or anything!」

「Uwaa, geez Lux-chi, your mind is dirtyyy. But it’s fine you know, we’re always indebted to you anyway.」

Even Tilffarr, who was wearing an outfit with yellow sunflower pattern, was sending him a teasing stare. As expected, her outfit was an outfit with slightly high exposure rate compared to the suit she was usually wearing.

「No, it’s not like I──」

Lux’s face reddened and he was troubled of where to look. When he tried to make an excuse in a hurry,

「It seems that this thing is called a water dress.」

「Eh……?」

When Lux turned around towards the voice he heard from behind him, there was Krulcifer standing there.

The outfit made from black fabric accompanied with silverwork was bringing into prominence her transient and mystical beauty all the more.

Her smooth skin that was like fresh snow, and those limbs which, while slender, depicted an alluring curve, they caused Lux to gulp his saliva.

「It was from a few years ago, but it seems this outfit is popular among nobility. It’s a custom to create and wear outfits for the sake of dressing up yourself when swimming in the ocean. I too am wearing this for the first time in this country but──what do you think?」

Saying that, Krulcifer showed the 『water dressswimsuit』 she was wearing to Lux.

「E, errr── it’s really beautiful. It completely matches, Krulcifer-san’s atmosphere……」

「You think? Thank you. To hear you say that to me, it’s worth it for me to spend time choosing this.」

Krulcifer’s face wasn’t her usual cool expression, she was acting bashful with a slightly embarrassed face.

That gesture was excessively cute that Lux spontaneously felt his heart jump.

「My my, how nice. It feels like the springtime of youth.」

The headmaster Relie spoke out from under the pavilion to block the sunlight a slight distance away.

Perhaps it should be said as expected, she too was properly wearing the so called water dress.

「……Wait, even Relie-san is planning to play around!?」

She was the headmaster, someone who was in the position of leading others, and yet she was wearing an outfit with excessive exposure rate that shocked Lux unintentionally.

「My, discrimination is no good you know, Lux-kun. Although I’m the Academy’s headmaster, but I’m also a human. Can you allow me to let my hair down a bit this time as an occasional day off for me?」

「No, if it’s Relie-san, I get the feeling that you’re already relaxing quite often even usually ──I mean this, in the first place we’re not here for a holiday……」

When Lux retorted calmly like that,

「It’s just as he says. I cannot allow something like playing right from the first day. In the first place, we came to this island under the pretext of a training camp. We should strive for more seriousness.」

Celistia came beside Lux as though to give backing to those words.

Celis was wearing a light blue water dress with an appearance that was nearly a dress type compared to what the other girls were wearing.

Regardless of the exposure rate that was slightly moderate, the destructive power of that abundant body was sucking in Lux’s gaze unintentionally.

「You said that, but even you are properly wearing a water dress here aren’t you?」

「This is only because the headmaster(you) tricked me saying that this was for swimming practice!」

「Haa, you’re stubborn as usual……. Working hard is important, but this time it will be a long training, so don’t you think that a bit of a breather is also important? Right, Lux-kun.」

「Lux. You too, please say something to the headmaster. This kind of conduct cannot be tolerated.」

「Eh……!? Celis-senpai is also turning on me!?」

Honestly speaking, he was really poor at making a decision for a problem that affected more than himself.

What to do.

Certainly Celis’s opinion made sense, but he didn’t think that she would win against Relie by reasoning──.

(Aa……)

At that time, suddenly a silhouette entered the corner of Lux’s sight.

After giving a glimpse at that figure, Lux immediately determined himself.

「Eerr, Celis-senpai. Certainly I think that training is also important, but isn’t it also fine to spend a bit of time with everyone right now?」

Celis showed a vaguely sullen looking face hearing Lux’s polite proposal.

「You are a kind person, but you are a bit soft towards everyone. In order to obtain many victories in the international tournament, desperate effort is necessary──」

「Then, how about loosening up our bodies by swimming a bit before doing hand-to-hand combat training? The ground here is also soft sand, and it will also become warm up until we use Drag-Rides.」

Lux skillfully pacified Celis who was obstinate to the last.

「…………. Is, that so?」

「Yes! I think that’s so! Besides look, Celis-senpai too, you look really good in that water dress. You don’t need to be that bothered about the gazes of the surrounding──」

Lux pressed on when he saw Celis was wavering, at that time,

「Wha-……!? What are you saying-!? Ple, please don’t say strange things! It, it’s not like, I want to change clothes quickly because I’m not used to this outfit and it feels embarrassing. It’s nothing like that at all I’m telling you!」

(S, so that was it……)

Lux pushed those words down into his throat and he smiled awkwardly.

「──I understand. In deference to you, I’ll allow this just for today. But, don’t forget that this too is the extension of training. A, also, it’s prohibited to oggle intently at me.」

Lux felt relieved hearing Celis’s words while turning around to everyone behind him.

「Geez Lux-chi, you’re working hard like that, because you want to look at everyone’s swimsuits.」

「Yes. But, I think that’s understandable. After all, even Lux-san has sexual desires inside him.」

「He casually guides the conversation to carry out hand-to-hand combat training while we are dressed like this……. Lux-kun, you too, are a strategist, huh.」

The Triad said those things one after another.

「Even though I did my best for everyone, that’s cruel you know-!?」

The teased Lux reflexively complained with a troubled look, it was then,

「……ei」

「Wah……-!?」

Suddenly Lux’s back was splashed with water along with a girl’s absent-minded voice.

When he turned around hurriedly, he found Philuffy in a water dress standing there, dipping inside the sea where the water reached until under her knees.

「……Is it cold, Lu-chan?」

Lux’s childhood friend showed a faint smile slightly inside that usual expressionless face.

But, rather than the surprise from getting splashed by water, it was Philuffy’s appearance that Lux’s attention was directed to.

The light green water dress decorated with flower patterns had a lot more exposure rate compared to the pilot suit Philuffy usually wore, that bewitching springy white thighs, and the soft-looking breast valley, and so on were being emphasized.

「Us playing together in the sea. This is the first time.」

「Ah, yes……」

The face of Lux who replied half-heartedly like that was getting heated naturally.

When the two of them were children, he had played at the shallows of a river bank with Philuffy several times. Various things right now couldn’t be compared with that time.

The face that still had vague traces of childishness in it, with a voluptuous figure that stimulated male instinct.

In spite of that, it was only Philuffy’s attitude towards Lux that was still the same as in the past. For some reason that felt really nostalgic for Lux.

「Fuu……. I was able to imagine it but, when we came to this kind of place……as expected this girl completely makes me feel inferior.」

Krulcifer who saw that said so with a complicated face.

「Tha, that’s not true you know!? E, even me, it’s not like I’m only looking at that kind of place of everyone──」

「My? I wonder where are you looking at on my little sister’s body? Can you tell me in more detail, Lux-kun?」

When the startled Lux tried to make an excuse in panic, Relie came teasing him even more.

「Ra, rather than that, I don’t see Lisha-sama anywhere──」

「I, I’m right here!」

When Lux ran his gaze to the surroundings, he could see Lisha’s figure under another pavilion that wasn’t used by Relie.

「……Eh? What are you doing there, Lisha-sama?」

From what he saw it seemed that she had changed into a water dress, but she was hiding her body with a thin towel and stayed motionlessly in the shadow of the pavilion.

「Co, come here for a bit. I’ll explain the circumstance to you……」

Beckoned by Lisha, Lux approached her. Lisha was sitting down wearing a vividly crimson water dress the same color as her eyes.

Her waist was wrapped with red decorative fabric, but the exposure rate of the outfit was fundamentally high.

「Do, don’t stare so much at me!? That’s embarrassing……」

「Aa── could it be」

Lux finally noticed belatedly.

「Tha, that’s how it is. The area around my stomach is visible more than I thought, that──」

There was a mark that was branded on Lisha’s abdomen by the Old Empire in the past.

That secret was originally something that mustn’t be known by anyone.

The mark was being hidden by the fabric tied on her waist, but there was a chance that it could be exposed if she made a big movement.

「No, actually it would be better if I didn’t change into these clothes but……. How should I say it, swimming in the sea looks fun, so I was careless…….」

Lux smiled wryly seeing Lisha whispering shamefully.

Lisha was usually working hard at fighting and in developing Drag-Rides, but she also had a desire that was appropriate for her age.

「I understand. But, that water dress, it looks really cute you know?」

「Wha-……!? What are you saying!? Thi, this lecher!」

Lux returned a smile at Lisha who became bright red and panicked before he went out of the pavilion.

And then, he decided about something for the sake of the frustrated Lisha while returning to where everyone was, it was at that time,

「Ah──」

「Hello, I’ve been waiting, Nii-san.」

Airi who had changed into a water dress finally arrived at the sandy beach.

Airi’s dainty and ephemeral atmosphere really suited her pure white water dress.

However different from the past when she was frail and sickly, her body build was healthy and as appropriate for a girl her age.

「So Airi also changed into such an outfit, just as I thought.」

Lux abruptly smiled seeing his currently grown up little sister when he recalled about the past.

That was the feeling of relieve as the big brother, but,

「Nii-san, you said just as I thought, don’t tell me, has Nii-san been imagining about how I look in a water dress all this time?」

「You’re wrong!? Like that, won’t I become a person who is bad in various meanings!? That’s not what I meant. Just now, you were watching this way while hesitating right? You were at a loss of whether to come here to play together, or else──」

「……So Nii-san noticed.」

Yes.

When they were talking about whether they should train together with Celis or play at the sea, Lux could see Airi’s figure at afar spying this way.

There, Lux thought to skillfully guide the development to a direction where everyone would play together at the sea.

「But I’m glad. Like this you can play together with everyone.」

In this training camp, Airi who was unable to use a Drag-Ride would record the Drag-Ride’s output from outside, decipher the ancient documents from the Ruins, and many other tasks where she would be doing it alone.

Even if it would be for the sake of the training camp, but no matter what it would surely be lonely and boring for Airi.

That was why Lux decided that he wished Airi could at the very least play with everyone on the first day and he took a plunge.

「For me to be fussed about by the insensitive Nii-san, for some reason it feels like I’m defeated.」

Airi puffed up her cheeks slightly and she muttered with a complicated face.

But,

「And yet, that consideration makes me happy, just a little. That’s why, today I’ll play with Nii-san for a bit.」

Airi smiled at Lux with a voice that sounded just a bit embarrassed.

「……Looks like, I too am still immature as a leader.」

Celis suddenly muttered so from behind.

「Relaxing at least on the first day we arrived is it, but, just in case everyone should warm up their bodies lightly. The having fun will be after that.」

「Yes. Please.」

It seemed that Celis also changed her thinking after seeing the exchange between Lux and Airi.

「Then, please quickly gather the members who can move. It will be free time after we have a bit of a run along the sea.」

The leader Celis gave that order.

「Yes-!」

Like that, the eleven members other than Lisha replied with anticipation of having fun after that.

……But.

Right after that, everyone present including Lux came to a realization. The words “a bit” and “light” that came from Celis who habitually accumulated training steadily while treating herself strictly, actually referred to training on a level that was honestly wearisome even for Lux.

Although Airi tried to keep up at the beginning, she then quickly escaped to where headmaster Relie was. Lisha who was only observing was also relieved.

In the end, they were able to have fun at the sea an hour later.