The day finally arrived. The day to meet Galene. The day to help her with her new quest.

  To sum it up, it’s a monster extermination. In a neighboring country, there’s a region being attacked by monsters similar to wolves. Our job is to find and eliminate them. Or so go the lies Thivadi, the noble I met the other day, wants to feed Galene.

  In reality, the wolves aren’t even monsters, and the only ones attacked were his people, working on a project to expand into their territory.

  The streets of Ebrilyon were filled with people, lots of people, as was the norm. Since we had plans to leave, we were meeting near one of the gates. It was a bit windy, making it relatively chilly, a welcome change from the heat we’ve been getting in Three Records. As I passed the people starting their workday, I couldn’t help but wonder…

  Are their lives blessed? Blessed with joy?

  Because mine… Hehehehe… Mine’s blessed! Very blessed! How couldn’t it be after waking up next to Carol?

  That was such a nice surprise… I thought it was over the moment she asked me to see my room… I wasn’t expecting that, much less getting a request to stay the night… She’s… She’s such a nice girl! I can’t believe how well she handled it. I should have squeezed her cheeks more! Both of them…

  …

  “Good morning…” That was the first thing I heard today… Carol lying in bed while facing me. She had a smile on her face, but it was not entirely normal. Not that my brain had been working properly so soon.

  “It is, isn’t it? It really is… Good morning…” I felt my face melt with joy as I looked back at her. I could just kiss her right now… That’s what was going on through my head.

  I was a nervous wreck at first… When she said she wanted to stay over, I was thinking something crazy could happen. But it didn’t… It wasn’t the right time. Instead, we talked a lot. We talked after I showed her around, we talked during dinner, we talked after dinner, and we talked late at night. We even ended up doing some stuff together. We got to play together for a bit before dinner. I didn’t have things set up to play with someone else locally, but solving that ended up being the easy part.

  Sleeping was the real challenge.

  I didn’t really wanna sleep on the couch in my own house, but making my precious girlfriend sleep there would be even worse… I was ready to bite the bullet, but…

  ‘It’s not like I really want to, but we can sleep together.’ That was what Carol said, squirming while averting her gaze. My Carol is really smart… What a lovely idea… Lovely? No doubt. Now good? Hmmm…

  My tiny bed was nowhere near enough for two people. For us to fit, we had to squeeze really close. But that made sleeping borderline impossible. The way my heart was pounding did not allow me to sleep at all… Carol was the same… Neither of us could fall asleep while practically cuddling, so that’s how we ended up talking late into the night.

  “Hey, Iroha, did you just wake up now?” Carol interrupted me while I was thinking about last night with a weird question.

  “Ye- yeah?”

  “Really? Hmm… did you sleep well?”

  “Ahahaha… We didn’t get a lot of sleep, but… it was the best sleep, right?” Quality over quantity…

  “Well, you don’t seem to be lying…” Lying? About what? “Then, what about now? What are your hands doing? Like what you’re touching?” My hands…? Where…? I closed my fingers to try to find where they were… It’s soft? Squishy? Just a little more…

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Huh?!” Time froze… I’m dead. Th- that’s her butt, isn’t it? Why? Why are my hands there? How is that possible? Was there some kind of force pulling my hands there? Did she get a new skill? “Uhmmmm… Uhhh….H” Carol waited for my excuse while glaring at me. Glaring more after receiving a good squeeze. “I… well… *sigh…* Thank you…”

  “Hands off!” She instantly kicked me out of bed.

  …

  To make it up to her, I decided to be a good wife and brought her breakfast to bed. Carol was more embarrassed than mad, so everything just kinda worked out. I had to leave not long after that, and here I am now, heading straight for some gate to meet with Galene.

  It got surprisingly quiet as I got further away from the center of Ebrilyon, but there were still people around, working.

  I’m actually a bit sad Carol isn’t coming… It’s gonna be a bit lonely with just Galene and Abby. Ririna might have come if I had asked her, but I don’t wanna expose her to unnecessary danger. Hecate and Miyuki are out of the question, and Sarasa… who knows… I haven’t seen her since we started dating… Does she actually like me? Was that just something she said in the moment?

  “No point in dwelling on it too much…”

  I finally got to the meeting place and was able to quickly spot them thanks to Abby’s ridiculously large sorcerer’s hat and vibrant red hair. Galene was right next to her, tall enough to match Abby’s height with her hat.

  It should have been just the two of them, but there was someone else. They were speaking to someone else. A girl with bronze, tanned skin, short black hair with straight cuts, and a pair of cat ears-

  “*Gasp!*” Agility Burst! “Sarasa! Sarasa Sarasa Sarasa!” By the time she turned her head, it was too late to escape. “I missed you so mu-” I was in position. Position to hug her, squeeze her, squish her, but stopped. Galene and Abby are right there… I can’t do this in front of them…

  I went back to normal, and Galene spoke up. “Good morning, Iroha. Good to see you’re doing well.” She politely said with a smile.

  “Hi, you two!” I waved before grabbing Sarasa’s collar. “How’s your day? Actually, give me a sec. I need to have a word with her.” I pulled her to the side. Sarasa looked at me with a confused, brain-empty kind of smile.

  I put my arm around her shoulder, and we huddled together.

  “What the hell are you doing here?!? Hehe… You’re so cute… Don’t show up unannounced! I could kiss you right now!”

  “Uhhh… You’re giving me really mixed messages here…” True… I wanted to grill her, but I think I kinda failed… “Good morning to you too, nyaa! Sorry for not saying anything. I had to go home and return the keycard.”

  She winked while completely ignoring me. “Yeah… We figured… Doesn’t explain what you’re doing here, right now, with Galene.”

  Sarasa crossed her arms with a smugly clever look on her face. “Well, I figured it’d be good to get on the heroine’s good side, you know? They told me you’re going with them on some kind of job, and I felt like coming along. I already told them I’m part of the team, and they bought it, so don’t worry!” She gave me a thumbs-up.

  …

  “But you’re not!”

  I screamed at her while whispering. She already lied to them? She’s gonna get us in trouble again.

  “Nyahahahahaha!” She broke away from my hold and ran up to Galene and Abby. “Once again, my name is Sarasa F. Dremsa. Among other things, I’m a pretty good scout. Thanks for having me!”

  “It will be nice having you around. We’re counting on you.” Galene gave Sarasa a little nod. Great… She’s already successfully infiltrated the group. “Although… I don’t remember hearing that you’d be joining us until just now.”

  Galene was suspicious, and rightfully so. Sarasa wasn’t part of the plan, so there’s no way Bea would have told her about her.

  “Really? Bea didn’t tell you?” I jumped between them to vouch for her. “But it was always part of the plan. We don’t exactly know where the enemy is, so she’ll help us with that. Bea must have forgotten to mention her. It’s not a problem, right?”

  I turned to Abby, who seemed to be shaking from excitement. “The Feather Touch? Do we really get to travel with the Feather Touch?” Her voice got lower as she whispered to herself. “Does she sign autographs? Wait, I can’t ask that. Galene’s a bigger deal… Yeah… We’re a bigger deal…”

  “There’s no problem having Sarasa come with us. Right, Abby?” Galene playfully poked the back of her hat, exposing her stuttering face.

  “Ah!” She fake coughed and quickly composed herself. “Hm! Yeah. No problem. You want the honor of being remembered in Galene’s legend, don’t you? That’s fine. You two can come with us this time.” She puffed out her chest. “Enjoy sharing the story of the one time you helped the heroine Galene and the great sorceress Abby for the rest of your lives. The more you do, the more famous we get. Muahahahahaha!”

  Hmm… ‘Muahaha’ is not the correct laugh for the childhood friend of the righteous heroine… Makes you sound like a villain… But whatever, you’re cute, so I’ll let it slide. Galene had a smile on her face that told me she was thinking something similar.

  “We have the means to travel in a party of up to twelve, so one or two more makes no difference.” Galene reached around and pulled out two whistles. The gryphon whistles.

  “Nyahaha… We’re flying again?” Sarasa nervously looked at me, and we both hesitantly reached for Galene’s extended hand.

  From here to another country is a bigger distance than to Rocky Ridges. That took me and Carol, like, three days, so it’s nice that we’re flying this time… We may get things done in a day or two, but… We’re flying… Again… I’m already getting nervous.

  Abby noticed our hesitation and giggled. “At this rate, you’re gonna be remembered as comic relief characters. The two amateurs scared of flying while Galene is saving the world.”

  This little… She thinks she’s all that just because she acts big… I wasn’t that obsessed with fame, so I let it go, but Sarasa was gritting her teeth.

  “Who’s scared? Me? Iroha? Iroha, you scared? Well, of course not. Neither of us would get startled by something this minor.” Sarasa answered with big theatrics. “Better watch your mouth, you fake sorceress…”

  “Fake?! Y- you may be the famous Feather Touch, but I won’t let you talk to me like that! Do you know who we are?”

  “Feather Touch again… Didn’t I tell you not to call me that? If I ever find the one who came up with that, I’m gonna rip their-”

  “Stop, stop…” Galene placed herself between the two of them with her hands out. “Save that energy for our quest… There’s no need to be mean…” Galene had a certain angelic energy that actually made both girls feel bad.

  Hmmm… I wonder if I could learn that. Sounds like it’d be really useful for someone trying to date multiple girls at the same time… Like, someone dumb enough to try to make a harem… Ahahaha…

  “Good, relax…” Galene led by example, dropping her shoulders. “Now, shall we get going?”