Rise of the Weakest Summoner

Chapter 17 – A Moonlit Bath

The area they found themselves in after getting through the hole in the cave’s ceiling was your typical, small clearing in the woods. Five meters from the opening there was nothing but flat grass. The trees started just after that distance, making the forest in which they were currently in. It wasn’t possible to pinpoint their exact location from this spot so they slowly walked around, trying to find some hints.

They confirmed the directions of the world with ease, both Asterios and Miria knew how to handle themselves in the wilds and their worlds weren’t that different in that aspect. The former remembered that they ran to the south-east when they followed the man into the trap the adventurers set so they began moving in the opposite direction, hoping to stumble onto some recognizable landmarks.

After an hour of walking, with Miria supporting Asterios all the time, not like she found that troublesome in any way, they started hearing a sound of water flowing somewhere nearby. They approached the source and found another small clearing, just by a river. There was a small curve at the place, creating a pond with a grassy beach.

It was a perfect spot to rest so they started setting up their new camp. Or rather, Miria did since she talked Ast into just sitting on the side while she took care of it alone. He didn’t argue for long as he was aware that his overstrained body would only get in her way. Miria brought out a tent, started a fire so they could prepare something to eat and then took out a sleeping bag. But, there was only one, the spare.

Ast walked into the small tent as she was laying it down.

“I should have bought two. Well, I guess you can spend the night at home. You were in this world for a long time,” he said while watching her smooth out the material.

Miria stood up and turned around to face him. She already decided on what to do, now she just had to tell Ast without getting all red. She shook her head at him.

“No. I will stay with you, Master. You are weakened and I’m your guardian so I obviously can’t leave you alone like this.”

“I see. I expected nothing less. Well, I’m fine with sleeping on the ground so—”

“I won’t allow that!” She raised her voice and locked her eyes with his. “If someone has to sleep on the ground then it should be me since I’m your familiar and you are the master. But…” Miria dropped her gaze to the ground and her tail started swishing behind her back. “I… I think it will be even safer if I… sleep close to you… just in case… of course only if you are okay with it!” she spoke the first part very quietly while almost shouting at the end.

Asterios chuckled and stroked her head. “That’s quite the sound point there. I will be in your care then.”

She only nodded while blushing. They came out and prepared some light meals over the fire, finally getting a decent fill since they only ate some rations Ast had on himself when they ran out of their previous camp. During the meal, they discussed the battles so that both of them could share their own thoughts about them.

The sky started getting darker and soon the night arrived. A beautiful, crescent moon began moving through it gracefully. Finished eating, they walked closer to the little shore and gazed into the water.

“We should wash ourselves since we have the chance. Go first, I’ll keep watch. And don’t worry, I won’t peek.” Ast smiled, took a few steps back, turned around and sat in a cross-legged position.

Miria wanted to argue that he should be first with how much worse his clothes and body were, but that would be pointless so she quickly jumped back to her home to grab a spare change of both their sets and came back. She could naturally just take a bath at home, yet something was telling her to do it here. The water in the night looked beautiful and there was something romantic in having Ast keep guard for her.

She took one more glance at Asterios and quickly stripped off all her dirty clothes and slowly descended into the little lake. The water was cold, but not unpleasant, it was rather refreshing. She first washed the clothes as good as she could and brought them back to the shore. Then, she began scrubbing all the dried blood off her skin and fur around her arms and legs.

For the whole time, she kept sending occasional glances at Ast, but he didn’t seem to even think about trying to peek. She felt partially relieved, but also a bit anxious. Miria glanced down at her figure and cupped up her breasts. She was happy that they weren’t too big since thanks to that, she had no issues with her agile movements.

But at that moment, she began having doubts that maybe her slightly toned and muscular figure with a decently sized chest just wasn’t as appealing as she thought. Other Beastfolk from her village always tried to catch her bathing in her favourite spring, but Asterios didn’t seem to have even a slight intention to turn around.

A thought appeared in her mind as she stared at her chest upheld by her arms. What if the black fur growing over her arms and legs was something unnatural or repulsive to him? As far as she knew and saw, Humans didn’t seem to have any, besides the hair on their heads and faces. He said to her previously that he likes her and that she is beautiful, but what if it was just to not make her feel bad?

Starting being more and more self-aware, she remembered another place that had a patch of thick hair on her body. Miria glanced a bit lower and saw it, just above her private parts. It wasn’t exactly as abundant as the fur on her arms or legs, but nevertheless, it was there, a spot of black hair in the middle of the area under her navel. Suddenly, it seemed really embarrassing to have it there.

She looked at Ast again, wondering what would be his impression of her after he saw it. Then, she realized what she just implied and squirmed in embarrassment. One question still persisted in her mind between all those anxious thoughts about her own body. She started walking back to the shore, arriving closer to the spot where Ast was sitting. While staring at his muscular back, that single question subconsciously slipped out of her mouth.

“Are you really not interested in my body even in the slightest?”

After a few more steps, which were accompanied by the sloshing of water, she froze, realizing how indecent that question sounded and tried her best to cover that mistake.

“Ah! I mean, as something new or unknown! People here have no fur on their arms or legs as I do! And you are someone who loves studying stuff linked to summoning, right? I’m pretty much a summoned beast, right?” She frantically shook her hands in front of her, getting increasingly red.

Asterios chuckled after hearing her voice. Miria quickly covered her breasts with her arms and her girly parts with her tail since she was quite close to him, but Ast still didn’t turn around.

“If you put it that way, then certainly, I’m all curious about many things when it comes to your body. But, do you think I’m a person who would order, or even ask a girl to strip naked so that I could thoroughly examine her body?” he asked.

“No,” Miria answered instantly.

“I’m glad then. Nevertheless, I’m constantly fighting the urge to turn around even right at this moment, to take even a little peek to sate my curiosity. But, before being some kind of an unknown entity, first and foremost, as I’ve mentioned before, you are a girl. A really charming and beautiful girl. And that means I can’t just nonchalantly stare at your naked body like some thug and make you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. You barely can stand my pats so how could I fluster you even more by peeking at you?”

Miria was blushing more and more as he was explaining his reasoning to her. She was getting warm inside from him calling her beautiful again and her tail began dancing happily. Some of her doubts disappeared, replaced by now clear impressions that Ast wasn’t repelled by her fur and that he saw her as a real girl with all the assets too, just that he was a very kind and thoughtful person.

She took a deep breath, stepped out of the water and squeezed her tail dry. Then, she grabbed an earlier prepared towel and tightly covered her front. Taking one more glance at Ast’s back, she started walking towards the campfire.

Asterios watched as she passed by him with her back completely exposed. He could see not only the joyfully dancing tail but also her whole figure, including Miria’s enticing, plump butt which jiggled seductively. With visibly nervous steps, she arrived at the campfire and sat down in front of it, facing away from him.

He only broke out of the daze induced by this unexpected sight after Miria glanced at him shyly over one of her shoulders, quickly returning her eyes to the front as her tail increased the speed of its wags.

He shook his head and chuckled. That was the first time he saw such a dazzling woman naked. He also took a deep breath to clear his mind, picked up another towel and started walking towards her after getting up.

Miria, of course, heard him approaching and her heart started beating faster. She wasn’t sure what Ast was going to do. She began thinking that maybe she took it a little bit too far and it seemed like an invitation to him. Then, she shivered internally at how quickly her thoughts had changed from assuming that he would be repulsed to considering that he would go after her. She quickly calmed her mind with a few breaths, telling herself that there was no way Ast would do anything that could offend her without a clear sign that it was okay. But then, was her walking naked in front of him a sign?

She started panicking again. She liked him, she was sure about that, but she definitely wasn’t ready to do that. Miria didn’t even know if they could do that. She knew only some stuff about Humans from the stories and legends. Theoretically, Princess Kaguya most likely had eloped with her Human partner from the myth, but that was never confirmed. She might have just assumed that the Princess did and they actually didn’t do these things because it was just not possible for their races.

While Miria was lost in an internal conflict, Asterios stopped just behind her and sat down. He dropped the towel he was holding onto her head.

“Mind if I give you a hand? It would be a little hard to dry your hair if you use both of your hands to cover yourself, right?” he spoke calmly.

Her eyes widened and she squirmed. She was thinking of such indecent things and he only wanted to help her dry her hair. Miria felt stupid and ashamed of herself.

“If it’s too embarrassing then I’ll just leave,” Ast asked, not hearing any response to his previous question.

Miria quickly shook his head. “No, please do! I always struggle with it, ehehe~.”

She giggled meekly and he started gently rubbing the towel on her head, trying his best to not hurt her ears. Miria noticed his attempts.

“It’s fine, you can be more forceful, Master. Only the inside is delicate.”

Following her advice, he kept using the towel while Miria enjoyed the pleasant feeling of this massage. Her tail coiled around one of Ast’s arms just as it did on the day they met. He smiled and not being able to hold his curiosity back, he softly poked it with his finger.

Miria jumped a bit and he quickly retracted his hand. She glanced at him over her shoulder with rosy cheeks. “If you want to touch it… it’s okay… I was just surprised…”

She moved it so that it fell into his hand and stopped moving. Asterios squeezed the fluffy strand very gently.

“Nyaahnn…”

It didn’t stop Miria from releasing a quiet moan while shivering a little. The delightful feeling of Ast touching her tail surprised not only him but even her, taking Miria by surprise. She quickly covered her mouth with one hand to prevent more of them escaping.

Asterios didn’t want to embarrass Miria too much so he only stroked it a little with the tips of his fingers, enjoying the pleasant sensation, and released it from his grasp. He soon finished dealing with her hair and stood up.

“I’ll be taking my turn then. You don’t have to keep looking the other way, but I guess you already know that.”

Without waiting for a reply, Ast walked to the edge of the grass and hastily got rid of his dirty clothes and jumped straight into the water. Miria planned on returning the favour and not peeking, but she wasn’t able to restrain herself as good as he did and glanced over her shoulder quite quickly after she heard the splash.

And just at that moment, Asterios was emerging from under the water’s surface, wiping his hair to the back to get rid of most of the droplets. The sight of his handsome figure basked in the moonlight captivated her. Fortunately, the small pond was deep enough for water to reach slightly above his waist at the spot where he stood so she didn’t see anything too embarrassing.

She didn’t notice for how long she was staring at him until Ast began walking back towards the land. She quickly turned around, blushing furiously. He covered his waist with one towel and sat to her side by the campfire, beginning to wipe his body with another one. She kept stealing shy glances at his chest while also trying to somehow wipe herself without dropping the towel.

Asterios moved to the tent first so that Miria could finally dress up. He was sure she wouldn’t be able to do so if they stayed like that. He also put on a fresh set of clothes while his gear was hung to dry. Miria soon joined him in the tent and they looked at each other and then at the sleeping bag. She was averting her gaze while not saying anything.

He sighed and slid himself in, holding it open with one hand and gesturing at her with the other. Slightly hesitant, Miria slowly joined Asterios. She tried to move as far from him as the material allowed while lying on the side and also facing him. She kept looking down to not match his eyes by accident.

Ast could clearly see how tense she became and sighed again. He then put his arm over her and placed his hand on Miria’s back, pulling her close to him, pretty much making her lean on his chest. She was surprised by that sudden movement but didn’t run away.

“Relax. I’m not going to eat you. You won’t be able to sleep if you keep straining your muscles like that. Just stop worrying over everything and let yourself be comfortable.”

He spoke and started brushing through her hair as he did back in the cave. Miria decided to try to listen to him and took a few deep breaths, quickly loosening her muscles up. She let the pleasant warmth lead her and she pulled herself closer to Ast’s chest, resting her forehead against his collarbone and enveloping his torso with her arms. Miria felt great with his fingers gently scratching behind her ears while she snuggled her face into his body. She didn’t even notice when she dozed off.

Asterios smiled seeing her calm down and almost instantly fall asleep. He soon followed after her.