Boy did I really find myself in a tight predicament. I really shouldn’t have been taking a bath with a girl that’s barely half my age.

“Okay, normally we’d wait until the sun hits the top of the pillar.” Pepper pointed to the tower that was overlooking the training ground. However, this storm still had yet to let up, despite it being almost noon. “But I know when it’ll be there, so… Just you wait.” I’ve never felt less threatened in my life over her obvious emotional response. It feels so over-the-top. I guess to be fair, she did catch me in a bathtub with her little sister.

“Look, if we just talk this out. I’m sure you’ll understand and things won’t look so bad.”

“Look so bad?!” She eyed me like I just committed some heinous crime. “You were taking a bath with my baby sister. I knew you were weird when I saw your girlfriend, but I never would’ve thought you’d go after children. A lolicon like you needs to die!”

“It’s not what you think it was.” I plead for my case. After all, I’m no criminal. Sadly, I think she’s correct that I’m turning into more of a lolicon the longer I’ve been here. “Right Salt?” I turn to the little girl that standing off to the side, making sure she stays indoors as this storm continues to rage on.

“T-that’s r-right.” She yells out from the distance to us. “But Pepper, it’s okay. I kissed him, he didn’t kiss me!”

“Don’t tell her that!” Oh sure now you’re fine with saying that.

“Oh so you’re even more disgusting than I thought.” That really set off Pepper… Gee, thanks a lot Salt. “That’s it, I ain’t waiting to kill you now.” With whatever apparent formalities we had out of the way, she charges at me with her sword. Even with this wet muddy dirt, she moves swiftly towards her target. That target being my head.

Even if I can’t maintain my balance all that well in this weather, she’s not moving at full speed either. So, I can at least move my head out of the way to dodge the attack. Ducking out of the way and moving off to her side.

“Just stay still and let me hit you!” She yells at me in frustration. Heh, as if I’d do something stupid like that, but now I’m really stuck in an unfortunate situation.

First off, I doubt I can talk my way out of this situation. She seems pretty heated over the sight we gave her, and it’s not really something people are just so willing to forget. That said, I also can’t beat her up, and killing’s definitely not an option. Mostly because I’m not anywhere near strong enough to do so. Though I’m also certain There’s a lot of trouble in it for me, if I did anything like that to the future queen.

Oh yeah, she is going to be the future queen. Wow, this fight is the complete opposite of what I was expecting I’d be doing when I first got here. A little silly to think that I actually thought I was about to become a hero.

“Salt, are you sure we can’t calm down your sister?” I ask her, while she’s watching this all unfold.

“I’m sorry, but when she gets like this. It’s kind of hard to stop her.”

“You’re darn right it is.” The subject of our discussion gets back her footing and attempts another slash towards me. I take a chance here and pull up my shield to block her blow. If I keep on trying to dodge her, I’ll eventually slip and that’ll be the end for me.

Thankfully, it works and she’s not going to be cutting me through this barrier. However, she’s really strong, because the power of her swing is enough to send me sliding across the wet floor. I guess it’s because I can’t maintain a footing through the downpour, but at least I’m not gonna die.

Getting back onto my feet, it’s clear that I’m going to need an attack plan. Let’s see, I have no clue what to do with weapons. So it’s only my magic that I can rely on using to keep my heart beating. That leaves me with my shield, the ability to blind her, and… That’s about all I’m confident with using.

I know that I can shoot a beam of light, but that’s only happened once. I’ve never gotten a chance to try that out in practice, nor do I really know what I did to perform such a move in the first place. Not to mention that I can’t just fake it to her like in those joke comic. Mostly because I think she’s the type of person to take that chance.

Wow, I’m really pitiful here.

“Get back here. So I can cut you up.” She yells again. I swear, that girl really doesn’t understand the concept of not yelling out what you’re going to your opponent. Maybe I can use that to my advantage.

She charges once more, and this time I allow her to get close. I prepare another shield, but that’s only a feint as she side-steps to try and get around it. I get her to face just the way I want her to, directing herself towards my other hand, which has a different spell to hit her with.

Flash! I score a direct hit on her eyes, causing the girl to stumble backwards in pain, hands over her face. This is the opening I’ve been looking for, as I make my own move towards her. She might be the one between us with all the training, but even I know what it takes to bring down a Goliath.

“Ahhh!” I put everything I have in one punch. Slamming right into her gut, causing her double over down in pain. When I do so, she drops her sword down and writhes in pain. Though I don’t think it did much to lower her temper.

“Tsk, I can’t believe you’d take such a cheap shot.” She says, as she goes down to one knee. “You really are something else, aren’t you?” I’m not really that worried about losing her respect in battle. Seeing as she probably had none in the first place for me.

“Please, we don’t need to fight each other.” I say. Aside from how dangerous that encounter was. I’d also like to stop getting soaked in this rain. Man, to think I just took a nice bath last night too. “Please, you’re misunderstanding me. I have no intentions of doing anything to your sister. And I really don’t want to continue this fight either.”

“…” She sounds like she has a low growl as I wait for her response. I’ve really hurt how much she feels about me, which is a huge shame. After all, the last couple of days weren’t so bad. “You’re getting off lucky for now.” She finally speaks up. Sure, it’s not the most positive of things to hear. Though I’m glad my life won’t be on the line.

“Okay, let’s get out of this rain then.” I reach my hand out to help her up. However, I feel the ground beneath me tremble, and thanks to the slippery wetness. The two of us fall over, with me on top of her.

Now, maybe it’s not the time to really mention it… But I can’t really ignore how awkward this position feels. I mean, who doesn’t get a little flustered if they fall atop a beautiful girl, regardless of their relationship status. Not to mention that despite having just been in a fight, she’s not wearing any armor. I guess because I wasn’t using any weapons. So I can feel the full roundness of her breast pushed up onto my chest. And we’re just so close, I can look right into her bright, emerald eyes.

“Get off of me you pervert!” She yells and shoves me over the side. Probably the most reasonable things she’s done all day if you ask me.

“What was that?” I ask, as I feel another tremor shake the ground below us. Do they earthquakes here? Because I don’t have a proper explanation of what’s going on. Though the next thing that happens certainly shows me it’s not going to be something I’ll enjoy.

A thunderous roar, much louder than the thunder that’s been filling our ears, echos around us.

“No…” I hear Pepper quietly say to herself. “But, they were supposed to take care of it.”

“Take care of what?” I don’t understand what’s going on here. Was that a monster? Who was supposed to be taking care of something that sounds so… Huge.

“We gotta go.” I guess I’m not going to be getting an answer from her. Instead, Pepper grabs my arm very harshly and pulls me across the training ground. From the concern in her voice, I’m glad that she’s caring about my life here, but what’s gotten her so scared. At least with Salt, I can live with a little girl being fearful of lightning. Whatever has gotten an adult my age to be this freaked out. It’s clearly something very serious. Very dangerous…

Boom! A crashing object lands behind the two of us. The force throws me up into the air, and causes me to fall. I turn my head to see what it is that’s the cause for all of this. I don’t believe it…

It’s… It’s… It’s a dragon!

The beast lets out a monstrous roar that nearly blows out my eardrums. I’ve never been so scared in my life from such a sight. In a fantasy world, I kind of expected creatures like this. But now that I’m seeing something like this, towering before me in this courtyard. It’s really an experience that can take your breath away.

“Come on, let’s go!” Pepper commands me back onto my feet. Right, this isn’t going to be something I’d want to be facing right now. So for now, the two of us are going to have to retreat into the castle to keep our lives intact.

But from the one glance I took of this epic monster. I know that our fortress won’t be able to stave it off for long.