Hero Audition Ch. 16

https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/16/

Thief

The five of us came together in the bathroom. Earlier, we watched from the shadows as the nobles took a bath together.

“What are we doing here?”

Ran’s already formulated a plan in her head, but she hasn’t shared it with us yet.

“We’re going to confiscate all of their underwear.”

Everyone looked at Ran like they had no idea what she was talking about. Her plan was childish and not exactly the “act of justice” she was preaching before.

“What are you…..that’s just plain harassment.”

Peony felt the same way I did.

“There are ten people in that group, and we’re just five. Plus there’s the Candy family wizard and Lily Ruhuna with them. If we try fighting normally, we’re going to lose right? So we must find victory without any fighting. That is what is written in the book of war passed down in my ancestor’s hometown.”

There was pride in her voice, but nobody else was convinced.

Nerine Candy is an upstart noble, and it’s not like she’s done anything especially wrong to any of us. I feel a little bad getting her involved in all this.

“There! Let’s go!”

Ran charged ahead as a lone warrior without bothering to give any of us the chance to agree or disagree. Is that another tactic writenn in you ancestor’s book of war? Because where I come from, it is idiotic to have the general rush in on their own.

Everyone else was as reluctant as I was, but since we’ve already come this far, we followed all the way to the end. I’m not going to have a grudge against someone just because they are a noble, but it’ll be good to let off some steam after everything Olive has said to me.

We put Melia on guard duty while the four of us dug through baskets of casually placed clothes. All the girls just randomly tossed their clothes into a basket, probably because they are so used to having servants take care of them for them, but I did find a single basket where the clothes were neatly folded and stored away.

White cloth with yellow embroidery. Lily’s clothes. So, that means, the basket I currently have all to myself includes Lily’s underwear. No matter how many times I swallowed, I couldn’t stop my mouth from salivating.

That piece of cloth has been in contact with Lily all day long. So naturally, her scent will be firmly ingrained. I could enjoy her smell without needing the main body. I never considered this possibility.

When I lifted the set of neatly folded clothes, I found a set of blue undergarments that had been carefully folded in half and laid out. The lace was beautiful, but when I thought about the possibility of that cold face always wearing such flashy underwear underneath it all, my drooling got even worse.

Everyone else is fishing through baskets without paying any attention to what was going on around them, doing what they can to finish before anyone else arrives. Now is my chance. I tucked Lily’s underwear into my pocket.

“Oi, how is it?”

Ran spoke up from behind me. Since I was hyper aware that I was doing something I should feel guilty about, her suddenly talking to me made me jump.

“W-…..What?”

“Are you done?”

“Y-…..Yeah! Of course. I was just wondering about what everyone else got.”

A wide grin spread on Ran’s face as she held up a large amount of underwear in her arms.

“Hehehe. Then let’s finish up. I know a better way to get some payback than just hiding these.”

Ran led us back outside of the bathroom and into the corridor. Handing me roughly half the pile of underwear she was carrying, she pointed to a suit of armor that is used for display in the corridor.

“We can stuff all these inside the armor. The helmet is too high, so we’ll have to boost each other up in order to drop them in.”

Me, Ren, Ran, and Peony paired off, and using the suit of armor itself to steady us, we took off the helmet and began dumping the underwear. It was after I had carefully inserted the first two pairs that I suddenly felt this sense of emptiness and wondered what I was doing.

By pure chance I had managed to get hold of Lily’s underwear. I want to run into a private room as soon as possible to enjoy the smell. Considering that fact, I quickly finished decorating the insides of the armor.

“Phew….finally finished. No need to sweat.”

Ran made her way back to the bathroom, basking in our accomplishments on her own.

“Will it be okay though…..?”

Melia kept worriedly glancing back and forth down the hallway. Even if she didn’t touch any of the underwear herself, she is still part of the crew. If we get found out, she will almost certainly be treated as an accomplice and given the same punishment.

“Don’t you worry about a thing. Hey, how about a diving competition?”

Ran through off all her clothes in the dressing room just like the noble girls had done. Peony also apparently wanted to jump into the bath, so she ran in right after her.

When the three of us slowly finished changing our clothes and entered the bath, the other two had apparently already finished their jump since the hot water was rippling out from the center. The noble girls were all gathered at the edge of the tub, rubbing their faces, so the water must have splashed on them as well.

“Peony-san! Ran-san! I told you to go take a shower first!”

Olive was making a rare showing of raising her voice. Peony and Ran must not’ve thought a well-to-do noble woman would do anything to them even if she was feeling angry. They were chuckling to each other and shrugging their shoulders.

But this was a naive belief. Lily got out of the bath immediately afterwards and grabbed Peony and Ran by the back of the necks. Unable to overcome her strength, they were dragged across the floor like a sack of old clothing and into the shower room.

“Think about your actions inside. I’ll let you know since this is your first time using one, but once you twist the handle to the left, hot water will come out.”

Lily’s voice was resolute as she pushed both of them into the showers. But I already know this is Lily’s trap. If you twist the handles to the left, cold water comes out. You have to admire a kind of revenge that makes good use of both physical strength and cunning.

Hearing the screams of two women dashed by cold water, I grew to love Lily even more as she straightened her back and returned to the bath without skipping a beat. The sight of her long, silver hair untied like this is something I only get to see in the bathroom, and it gives off a fresh feeling.

She glanced towards me just as she did in the dining room, and our eyes met. This time her expression was clear and resolute as she dipped into the water and began talking to the other nobles again.

“What’s wrong? Unless we want something similar to happen to us, we should take a shower before entering.”

“That’s right…..Lily-san is scary when she gets angry…..”

Ren and Melia made their way to the showers while offering prayers to the two sacrifices used for the cause. That was my intention from the beginning though, and to be honest, I’d like it if everyone got into the habit of taking a shower as well.

♠

After finishing our showers, the five of us replaced the nobles and began soaking in the tub. The dressing room became noisy almost immediately after. Ran smiled and sank further into the tub.

It was a minute later when Olive returned to the bathroom by herself.

“Hold on! Who was it!? I know it was one of you! Our underwear…..is…..”

“Oi oi. What are you accusing us of? I don’t know what happened, but I don’t have the energy for any kind of pranks after only eating bland soup and hard bread tonight.”

Olive glared at Ran once before turning back. As she was leaving, Ran yelled at her back, “Nice g-string by the way!”

And just like that, the rift between nobles and commoners grew even larger. I am equally responsible in that though.

The three other than Ran were also looking pleased with themselves. Did they not even care about the sarcasm Olive threw at us as she left the dining room? Grudges over food are terrifying. I am definitely not on the side of the nobles, but that doesn’t mean I’m against them either.

Oh yeah, I just remembered I secretly stole Lily’s underwear. Yet she never returned to the bathhouse. I gave into my desires at the time, but now that I’ve calmed down, she is definitely going to know who it was that stole those.

She was getting dressed just as I’m entering the bath. She is going to notice her underwear is gone just like everyone else’s.

I was uneasy getting out of the bath and walked with nervous steps. But I didn’t see Lily inside the dressing room. After seeing her clothes were gone, she must’ve put everything besides her underwear on and gone back to her room to replace them.

If I can get back to my room without getting caught, it’s my win.

The five of us left the bathroom with a sense of relief floating over all of us, and there was Lily waiting in the hallway.

“Liffy-san. Can I have a minute? I need to speak with you about some underwear.”

The other four thought I was the main suspect behind this underwear incident, and they immediately used me like a sacrifice and left me behind. It would’ve been nice if at the very least General Ran put in at least a little effort to protect me.

I watched those four backs walk off with resentment.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Lily’s eyes were cold. We both know why I’m here. Lily’s blue underwear.

“N-……No…..you see…..”

“What do you think is going on under these clothes?”

She purposely stuck out her chest to show it off. If I focused, I could make out two protrusions poking through the cloth.

“Some pervert took advantage of the commotion to steal my underwear. So now my clothes are rubbing up against my bare skin, and it feels dreadful.”

“T-…..That sounds tough.”

“It really is. So Ms. Criminal, shall we go?”

I’m the only member of our group she is suspicious of. I think it is natural to make that assumption though. She’s right after all.

I’m taken to Lily’s room. I wasn’t expecting any kind of special punishment this time around, rather, I’m more nervous that I might have my ear bitten clear off today.

Chapter 15 ⊥ Chapter 17