The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated
chapter-168

In the end, Shien never did make those cliched speeches.

He really isn't all that good at giving therapy. Now if it was provoking others, that's a different story.

Crushing someone with words is easy as pie for him, but he'd have no luck with gentle persuasion.

Thus, Shien couldn't say a thing on his way back to the Latrard home with Diere.

The entire way, Shien and Diere didn't say a thing to each other.

Just as Shien thought that the two would just separate like that and each head to their own rooms, Diere suddenly spoke up.

"Did you already take your bath?"

The sudden question came out of nowhere, and Shien paused for a moment.

He unconsciously answered before he even fully considered or understood why Diere asked such a thing.

"I did, but I might go take another one in a bit."

After all, having ran off after Diere in this trip, Shien had accumulated a bunch of dust and sweat.

In normal circumstances, Shien wouldn't particularly mind that, but he's already somewhat fallen in love with the Latrard home's huge baths, so he didn't mind taking the chance to go for another soak.

"Is that so?" Diere nodded and spoke evenly, "Then you go ahead first."

"Alright." Shien answered.

However, Shien froze a second later.

Wait…

"Go ahead first?"

What did that mean?

This was another question that Shien have the chance to think through.

That's because Diere left a final statement.

"I'll come find you in a bit."

Then Diere left.

Shien just watched as Diere left, not reacting for some time.

After a few minutes later…

"Eh?"

Shien made such a dumb noise.

So, he could understand it this way right?

Diere is planning to come find him in the baths.

Why does she have to find him in the baths of all places?

Choice A: Share a bath with him.

Choice B: Share a bath with him.

Choice C: Share a bath with him.

Choice D: Still share a bath with him.

Which is the answer then?

"Is there a difference————!?"

Shien's yelling filled the main hall.

The fanservice that he didn't get before seemed to have now suddenly come.

…

Latrard home. The great baths.

This bath wasn't just extremely large, but also unusually richly decorated.

The flooring of the baths are all made of shiny and beautiful stone tiles.

Beautiful statues were let all around the perimeter.

And in the center of the baths was a huge bath extending at least 20 meters. The waters in there are still steaming, filling the area with water vapors.

Based on the butler's explanation, the baths also have eight separate underground pipes connected to it. Once it's night, it will automatically drain and refill every so often, thus guaranteeing the cleanliness of the bathwater. The new water would flow out from the mouths of the eight statutes and fill the pool. Besides some cleaning, no other labor is required for maintenance of the baths.

Not even the heating for the water requires manual labor. It's instead done by the magic item set under the pool.

A bath like this would cost thousands of gold just for the construction. As expected of the super rich.

At this moment, Shien was soaking inside while constantly chanting to himself.

"Calm down. Calm down. Things may not be what I imagined."

Shien had been chanting that ever since he got in.

"She just said that she's going to come find me later. It's not like she said that it'll be while I'm in the baths, right?"

"Maybe she just meant that she'll come get me after I finish my bath?"

"Although she did say something like ‘go ahead first', having me go first doesn't necessarily mean that she's going to join me in the baths, right?'

"Yeah, this is reality here. No, there's no way that something like a super beauty heroine running over to wash the back of a boy they haven't confirmed a relationship with could happen. Those are all just fanservice given to shameless otaku on the other side of the screen. If they didn't do that, how would they get those otaku to keep spending money to keep watching.

"Therefore, there's no way that kind of unscientific things could happen in reality."

Shien did his best to convince himself like that, but his legs, still submerged in water, had started unconsciously shaking, betraying just how restless he really is.

It couldn't be helped.

Although reason did tell Shien that something like that couldn't possibly happen in reality, Shien still can't help himself from imagining it.

It just goes to show that Shien's a man. A very pitiful man at that.

Since he's a man, then even though the chances are minuscule, he'd still hold hope.

Thus, Shien fell once again into a whirlwind of thought.

"How did I react to that kind of scenes before?"

"Right, even though I knew full well that nothing could possibly happen, I still couldn't help but keep on watching. Only until it's confirmed that nothing would happen would I turn into an internet warrior and spew out insults toward the male protagonist."

"After all, in that kind of situation, when the girl's practically throwing herself at you, why wouldn't you go ahead and take it?"

As he remembered that, Shien started muttering to himself.

"If Diere really does come…"

What the heck do I do then?

Is he really going to turn into the same kind of male protagonist that he had looked down on so many times?

But I'm not the protagonist though!

"Right, I'm not the protagonist, so why should I act like a gentleman?"

At these times, as a man, he should just decisively go for it!

As he thought that, Shien showed a hard expression.

"Don't blame me for not saying it beforehand. If you really do dare to present yourself to me, then don't blame me for taking it!"

Shien acted like he's saying it to some unknown person as he firmed his determination.

At that moment though…

"Taking what?"

An even voice entered Shien's ears.

"Cough…!"

Shien instantly came back to himself from his thoughts and accidentally choked.

Only now did Shien finally notice that a familiar magic signature had at some point already arrived in the baths.

Naturally, a familiar figure was also here.

"You…"

Shien was stunned and dumbfounded.

Before his eyes, Diere did in fact appear just as she said over by the edge of the pool.

Shien felt like that sight will stay with him for countless nights after.

That's because Diere had not only removed her signature black cloak, she even left herself completely bare.

Indeed.

She, had striped.

And she even just appeared before Shien just like that, without a shred covering her.

This was unquestionably the first time that Shien had seen such a beautiful sight. It's also the first time he had seen Diere show so much skin.

Thanks to that, only this moment did Shien find out just what Diere's figure beneath her cloak was really like.

However, Diere still wore a mask on her face, covering up the upper half of her face.

In other words, Shien still didn't know how Diere actually looked.

However, Shien did confirm Diere's hair color.

Diere had a head of long violet hair reaching to her knees. It was extremely gorgeous.

And Diere, while only wearing a mask, just walked up to Shien like it's completely normal and entered the waters.

At this moment, Shien only had one thing he wanted to say.

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