Chapter 502: Scent
Leonel was shocked to the point of speechlessness. Did he really just hear what he thought he did?
"… You don't want to?"
Aina's soft voice shook Leonel to his core. She had never sounded so fragile to him before and a part of him thought that the only reason she managed to drum up the courage to say such a thing was because she was facing away from him.
"Yes, yes. I'll do it!" Leonel hurriedly replied.
Aina stood from Leonel's lap, still facing away from him. Most of her alluring back-view was obstructed by [Light Curtain] and her long hair. But, Leonel's imagination alone seemed to be capable of spinning him away into a land of fantasy.
Aina slowly waded into the deeper waters until her waist was submerged. Her body shifted slightly and Leonel's eyes almost popped out of their sockets when she bent over and stood again with a black fabric in her hand.
'… That's definitely… That's definitely her underwear…'
Leonel looked toward the ceiling and gulped.
"… Are you coming?"
Aina's voice sounded even weaker than before. If Leonel didn't know better, he would think that she was still wounded.
Shaking his head, Leonel also stood from his seated position. He had already taken off his upper garments, revealing a toned torso, even more toned than he seemed to remember, in fact. So, all he had to do now was take off his pants.
Leonel looked down toward a certain region.
'Behave.' He said sternly.
Leonel tossed his pants to the side, slowly walking forward.
When Aina sensed that he was close, she shuddered slightly, but she still grabbed at her long hair, pulling it into a ponytail and sweeping it to her front. The action should have completely exposed her back to Leonel, but [Light Curtain] obstructed everything.
Leonel activated [Magic Touch] and grabbed a small towel at the edge of the pool. With the ability of the Cleansing Waters, soap was completely unnecessary. But, Leonel still brought out a few herbs he had found in the underground garden of the hive.
He rarely had uses for these herbs, however that didn't mean that they didn't have special abilities of their own.
Leonel smiled. "Which scent do you like more? This one? Or, this one?"
Aina froze when she realized how close Leonel was. She could feel his warm breath on her neck, it was the sort of feeling that sent goosebumps racing across her body.
After a while, she finally paid attention to Leonel's words.
Leonel's arm stretched around her and raised two different budding flowers to her nose.
One had a gentle purple color and dozens of tiny petals clumped together to form its figure. It had a slight spicy scent that tickled the nose almost like a carbonated drink. It reminded Aina of cinnamon.
The other was a gentle yellow color, so pale that it almost seemed white at first glance. It only had three petals, but each was as large as Aina's palm and flopped about like drooping dog ears. Though Aina's hands weren't particularly big to begin with, such a size on a flower was quite surprising.
This flower's scent was far more subtle. It reminded Aina somewhat of lavender, but also of freshly made apple juice. It was hard to pinpoint its exact scent, but it left her feeling intrigued.
"This one." Aina said softly, pointing to the yellow flower.
Leonel nodded. "Watch this."
The number of Mage Arts Leonel had learned from Camelot numbered in the hundreds to even thousands. Among them, not all were tailored toward battle. In fact, the vast majority weren't. They rather existed almost as foundational understandings one could build upon.
Many of the 'useless' Light Elemental Apprentice Arts Leonel learned built the foundation for far more complex Arts.
But, that didn't mean that this was all the 'useless' Arts could do. There were many that existed not for the sake of battle, but rather for convenience.
There was one water spell that went by the name of [Fragrant Touch]. It was able to concentrate natural fragrances one found in the wild into a liquid, soapy form. It was a favorite of female water mages, especially when they were out on missions.
Of course, this was only because Camelot hadn't exactly invented soap. So, they found other methods.
Leonel cast [Fragrant Touch]. At that moment, tendrils of Cleansing Waters spiraled up from the pool around the two, circling around the yellow flower and grinding it into a paste. That paste soon dissolved into the water and formed a thick white liquid with a hint of yellow.
Just a single flower formed over a liter of this viscous liquid.
Leonel allowed the blob of thick liquid to hover in the air before dabbing it the towel. Steeling his will, he approached Aina's back.
"Wait…" Aina suddenly spoke out.
"Hm?" Leonel paused, his heart filled with half relief and half unwillingness.
But, Aina's next words almost made his vision go black.
"… Shouldn't you remove this light spell first? How are you going to help me if you can't see what you're doing?"
Leonel coughed. Suddenly, he felt a little lightheaded.
"Yes… Right… I should."
Leonel dug deep and caused [Light Curtain] to vanish. But, no matter how he prepared himself, he still wasn't ready.
The first thing he noticed was Aina's alluring silhouette. Her slender shoulders, the curve of her torso to the hips, the toned strength of her back…
Leonel gulped. Though the water submerged her waist down, without the lights of [Light Curtain] and with how crystal clear the Cleansing Waters were, Leonel could faintly see a distorted image that made any sort of lower body self control he had fly out the window.
Thoughts of what Aina's frontview might look like took hold of his mind.
'Calm down… Breathe…'
Leonel slowly raised his hand, dabbing the towel in the yellowish liquid and reaching for Aina's back once again.
When the towel met Aina's back, Leonel could almost feel the suppleness through the fabric. He gently scrubbed across her skin, watching as a soapy whiteness began to slowly form.
"… Can you wash my hair too?"
Leonel nodded silently. At least this was much less stimulating. He could do that much, right?
Soon, Leonel felt that he had regained his calm. Rather than feeling anxious, he began to enjoy the process. The silky smoothness of Aina's skin and hair gliding across his fingers was therapeutic.