The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Heretic Mob Character in an Eroge Where Everyone is Extremely Determined - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Let’s Take a Bath with the Heroine♡

A girl with an eccentric hairstyle standing next to Joanne caught my eye. I remembered Joanne’s height to be about 155 centimeters, but this girl was a size smaller in stature.

Black hair in vertical rolls, a gothic lolita. A perfectly beautiful girl like a moving doll.

I was intimidated by her overwhelming presence and naturally found myself bowing on the spot.

I held my breath and waited without raising my face until she approached a suitable distance, then greeted her respectfully.

“Stella-sama, it is my first time having the honor of meeting you.”

From my lowered gaze, I could see her lower body and white hands.

Joanne’s skin was as white as snow, but Stella’s skin was even whiter, o rather, it could be described as almost blue.

Recognizing my figure, Stella’s blue eyes widened.

“…Raise your face… Are you… the man in question?”

With a black gothic-style parasol resting on her shoulder, Stella scrutinized my entire body.

Her gaze seemed to pierce through my ears, eyes, lips, nose, even beneath my clothes, and I felt intimidated by her penetrating eyes.

…Could it be that she’s looking at what seems to be a tender spot?

Something like a perspective unique to a gourmet.

“…You have a well-trained, good body.”

“I am honored to receive such praise.”

“…Looks delicious.”

“…I am flattered.”

―Stella Belmont. The fourth-ranked Executive, a carnivorous girl with boiling madness hidden within.

Her magic is ‘Reflection and Absorption’. Stella has a barrier around her entire body that reflects physical attacks, and as for magical attacks, she absorbs them all, converting them into her own power.

A troublesome heretic with such an excessively high-spec skill.

There is a way to defeat her, but if you ask whether an ordinary person can stand a chance, the answer is no.

You would need to attack from inside the body or launch a magical attack of a level that she cannot absorb. These methods of attack are likely the only way to make it difficult for her.

Naturally, Stella is also equipped with healing magic, so if you leave even a piece of her flesh, she can easily come back to life—an extra hassle included.

I threw a glance at Joanne, who was standing next to Stella, and with my eyes, I appealed, ‘Why is she here?’

Her place is supposed to be at the northeast branch. She should have returned to the northeast branch after the Executive meeting ended, so why did she make a detour to Metashim?

Noticing my gaze, Joanne, wary of Stella, muttered,

“She said she wanted to see Oakley before going back.”

“To see me?”

“…I was curious… There’s no reason not to see the genius who came up with the plan to turn people into a mobile fortress.”

“Oakley, don’t worry about this girl, okay?”

As Stella was buttering me up, Joanne, visibly in a foul mood, cut in between me and Stella.

For a brief moment, silence flowed between both Stella and Joanne. Joanne glared at Stella, who, in turn, returned the gaze with a look of composure.

It was like a stare-down between fierce carnivores asserting their territories, and all I could do was pace back and forth awkwardly, not knowing what to do with myself.

After an uncomfortable few seconds, I was led down to the basement by Joanne, her cheeks puffed out in annoyance.

It was because I had a mission to complete the list of experiments I had received at the Executive meeting.

It seems Stella will be observing and assisting with the experiments.

Joanne warned Steela, ‘No snacking,’ but I wish she wouldn’t say it casually like ‘no touching allowed’.

I’m a human, okay?

“We won’t be able to sleep tonight, Oakley.”

“I guess so.”

The basement had been constructed by repurposing an existing underground space, and it was fully equipped with restraints and other devices.

The craziness of the Heretic faction often gets highlighted, but it’s a given that the Orthodox Church also engages in torture and confinement.

The underground space of Metashim was permeated with a peculiar stench of fresh blood.

The bizarre experiments that were about to begin would surely turn into a gruesome scene with mine and Joanne’s flesh and blood gushing out.

Even I, when I arrive at the scene, feel a sense of hesitation, or rather, fear welling up inside me.

In order to momentarily escape the dim enclosed space, I decided to ask for permission to take a bath.

I’m going to get dirty with blood anyway… but this is like that thing, like disinfecting the body with alcohol before surgery.

Right now, I need time to organize my thoughts and time to clean my body.

“Joanne-sama, may I cleanse myself first?”

“Hmm? …Ah, you mean the bath? I won’t stop you, but you’ll get dirty anyway, you know?”

“I’m sorry. I have a fear of pain, so I need to switch my mindset…”

“I see. Well, no matter how strong your devotion to Guru-sama may be, what’s painful is painful, and what’s tough is tough.”

Without being particularly stopped, I was sent out from the basement.

As I was leaving, I asked, ‘Would you like to join me, Joanne-sama?’ to which she replied, ‘I guess it can’t be helped”. She didn’t seem to mind.

It was just a joke, but well, I can’t keep going without some reward.

I tried to take Joanne with me to the bathroom.

“…Are you planning to leave this Stella behind?”

“Just wait there, we’re off to enjoy ourselves.”

Just as Stella’s figure was about to disappear from my field of vision, her monotone voice stopped us.

Joanne hugged my arm as if to flaunt it to Stella and stuck out her tongue.

Maybe she wants to take a bath too.

Should I earn some points with her? Without going too far of course…

“Would you like to join us in the bath, Stella-sama?”

“Oakley!? Wh-what are you saying―”

“…A passionate invitation, thank you… then I shall join you.”

Stella’s eye color changed. Meanwhile, Joanne stood dumbfounded as if she couldn’t believe it.

“…Joanne, it’s a joke… Get ready and go quickly.”

Stella, watching Joanne’s mouth agape, elegantly covered her mouth with her hand.

Her expression remained serious, but perhaps she was the type to make jokes.

As a result, Joanne, who had been toyed with by Stella and me, puffed up her cheeks with incredible force and dashed up the stairs.

I felt like I was enjoying my youth for a moment, and it made me briefly happy.

As I undressed in the bathroom, the pain’s rejection response and the fear pulled me back to reality.

When I cut my ring finger, I managed somehow with momentum.

High on the afterglow of intense pain, I felt ready to take on the next experiment with a bring-it-on attitude—but after a few days, when I faced the experiment once again, I felt like a condemned criminal sent to the gallows. I was filled with a sense of despair.

Pain perception is an important warning function equipped by the body.

When the body is injured, that information is converted into electrical signals, travels through the nerves, and reaches the brain. The brain recognizes this information to alert us that something abnormal is happening, that there is a risk to life due to bleeding, and thus we are able to feel ‘pain.’

Without this function, humans would not be able to notice bleeding from external injuries.

It is impossible to eliminate functions such as pain and touch sensation.

(…I really think people who endure torture are insane. Well, it’s not that I lack confidence. I’m scared to death, but I’m good at enduring it…)

Procrastinating might have been counterproductive. It only increased the fear.

That said, I am looking forward to seeing how much I will have grown after enduring this hell.

(It’s natural to feel instinctive fear. But I have a hunch that I can use this fear for growth, so I’ll take it positively because this will probably be the catalyst for my mental growth. I don’t even know what kind of torture I might face in the future. And for a Believer who was a candidate for Executive, I heard they undergo training to endure intense pain as a countermeasure against torture…)

Joanne said, ‘If you’re prepared for the pain, it’s not a big deal.’

There’s no way there’s a view that she can see and I can’t.

Don’t underestimate the madness that has kept me sane up to this day.

……

“Ah~ the bath feels so good~”

Soaking in the bathtub, I melted away as if forgetting all the hardships I had endured until now.

It’s the occasional dip in the bath that feels the best.

As I was thinking about this, I could hear the sound of footsteps pitter-pattering from afar.

Through the steam that filled the air, Joanne, her body barely covered with a piece of cloth, walked towards me.

(Crap, I let my guard down and got into the bath before Joanne…)

I shuddered and leaped out of the bath, folding my knees while still fully naked.

Joanne, who seemed oddly flushed at the sight, stretched the towel wrapped around her torso downwards.

“Excuse me, Joanne-sama, I will wash your back.”

“…Please do.”

Officially, this bath time was meant for cleansing my body, but it felt improper not to offer to wash my superior’s as well.

I placed the pumice stone and towel I had prepared aside and moved behind Joanne.

“…”

With a few hesitations, Joanne let the towel she had wrapped around her body fall open.

The visual defense of her back was gone, revealing her flawless, beautiful white skin.

The enchanting curve from the nape of her neck to her shoulder blades down to her tailbone captivates the eyes. And then, beneath the shoulder blades, the ribs on the back side are clearly protruding, stirring a strange emotion within me.

Furthermore, the curves of her hips are not fully concealed, revealing her outline even from the back.

(Come to think of it, she was a skinny beauty with large breasts. There weren’t many heroines like that on the orthodox side…)

Contemplating how this delicate body could burst into pieces, exposing even the internal organs, I cannot help but feel the immense wonder and mystery of life.

“What’s wrong? Hurry up and wash me…”

“I’m sorry. I was just mesmerized.”

“…You have a way with words.”

“It’s the truth.”

I was genuinely captivated. Not that I have any affection, though.

As I grab a pumice stone and a towel and start scrubbing Joanne’s body, the amount of grime that comes off is so satisfying that I can’t help but enjoy it.

I’m so engrossed in scrubbing away that I notice her ears and the nape of her neck flushing red.

I wonder if there’s really anything to be embarrassed about now after having been exposed so many times in battle.

When I think about this question, Joanne, with a towel weakly covering her front, murmurs,

“… It’s a little embarrassing to be seen naked by you.”

I see. Is that so.

“During battle, I recall you’ve been… in this state several times.”

“That was… you know, different. The place, the state of mind, everything was different.”

Joanne fumbled with her words, tousling her hair.

As she moved her arms, her chest swayed left and right.

After scrubbing off the dirt on her back, I realized how much grime had actually accumulated.

With the constant battles and the routine of bodily damage and recovery, there probably wasn’t a need to scrub off dirt.

The newly grown flesh must be pristine.

In the battle at Metashim, Joanne was supposed to have finished the fight unscathed.

The last time she had sustained severe bodily harm in battle was over two weeks ago.

With that much time, it’s natural for dirt to build up.

“I was this dirty?”

“With such beautiful skin, you really should wash it properly.”

“… I’ll think about it.”

Joanne, seemingly embarrassed by her own lack of self-care, let out a sheepish smile and, as if to cover up her shyness, asked me to wash her hair.

“Yes, with pleasure.”

I replied like a service professional and plunged my hands, lathered with soap, into Joanne’s hair.

Her hair was fine and delicate, unlike my own. I was surprised by how it slipped through my fingers, and I carefully scrubbed away the dirt with the pads of my fingers.

It felt like I was brushing a pet.

“Oakley, do you have a favorite hairstyle or something?”

Whoa, that’s a really tough question. If I answer this wrong, it could be bad.

At the very least, if I were to say ‘vertical rolls’ like Stella’s hairstyle, the bathtub might end up stained with blood.

But this really is a difficult question. I don’t particularly have a favorite hairstyle or anything.

“I’m not particularly fussy about women’s hairstyles, but I do think Joanne-sama’s hairstyle is very lovely.”

The moment those words left my lips, I thought to myself that I had managed a perfect response.

Joanne’s mouth fell open in surprise, and then she burst into a laugh while slapping her knee.

“You, you’re quite the charmer with women, aren’t you?”

“Haha, that’s not true.”

“Sigh… Just when I thought I had one less thing to worry about.”

“?”

One moment she was laughing merrily, the next she was covering her face and sighing.

I really don’t understand Joanne at all.

Having finished washing her hair, she douses herself with an excessive amount of water to rinse off the foam as if to wash away the daily frustrations.

Seeing Joanne raise her voice with a ‘Uhyaa~’, it seems like it’s all part of a playful interaction.

“By the way, Joanne-sama, what about the front of your body? Will you wash it yourself?”

“Eh!? N-no, that’s…”

She starts rubbing the insides of her knees together, still facing away from me.

Clutching a towel firmly across her chest with crossed arms, she hunches her shoulders.

“…Shall we stop then?”

“…A-ahh, for now… let’s do that.”

“Understood.”

“…You wanted to touch it, right? Sorry…”

Why is her self-assessment so exquisitely high?

After finishing washing Joanne’s body, I soaked in the bath with her and let out a big sigh.

I felt like I felt a little bit more at ease.