Tale of Discovery

Chapter 131: Bath ; Summoning

I open my eyes early morning as a feeling of comfort washes over my whole body.

It takes me a moment to realize that my body is sinking in immense softness on all sides.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time to bask in this sensation.

Slowly moving away from Gabriel's body, I nudge Louise a little to wake her up.

"Louise, get up," I whisper into her ear.

Getting up from the bed, I head outside to check on the academy's state.

As expected, everyone is excitedly guiding their familiars as they make their way through the hallway to where the competition will be held.

Several minutes later, the door behind me opens as Louise along with everyone else steps out.

Scooping the ever so excited Aruru into my arms, I face the others and say,

"Do you want to take a bath before we leave?"

Gabriel begins to deliberate while Ddraig directly asks,

"Is there someplace where I can enjoy a solitary bath?"

Oh? I didn't expect that Ddraig would be looking forward to bathing.

"Why don't you take one with me?" I say while smiling.

[[Did you just seriously suggest that?]]

Ignoring Tia's remark, I gaze at Ddraig who is staring at me with a deadpan expression on his face.

"Fine," I say, "I was just joking."

[[I highly doubt that was a joke.]]

"Now that I think about, I have yet to take a bath with you, Tia-chan."

[[]]

Yeah, I really haven't taken a bath with her yet. It's a waste, so I should do so sometime.

[[Please, wash away any thoughts in your mind right now.]]

"It's just your imagination," I mutter before shifting my attention back to 'reality'.

"Gabriel?" I voice.

"Mhm. I would like to take a bath."

"That settles it, we're going to the Arena," I announce.

Before I am able to perform my next action, Louise waves her arm hastily and says,

"What about me?"

I gaze at her for a few seconds before saying,

"Don't they have a special bath for nobles here?"

Louise immediately pouts and says,

"I want to go to where you're all going!"

Deciding that there is no point in not bringing her along, I mutter,

"Arena."

The next moment, all of us find ourselves in the 'modern' city of Dubai.

"Woah." Louise says while looking around with stars shining in her eyes.

She's acting like a kid. Well, I suppose that something like this is a big thing for someone from the era Louise is from.

Anyway, before anything else, I check for those strange presences from before. After a while of sensing nothing, I conclude that the bay is clear.

I proceed to look over at Ddraig and say,

"We will head over to a luxurious hotel now. You can choose any room there and take a bath."

Ddraig nods her head once before going back to looking around the place.

"As for us," I say while turning to face the others, "We will enter the bath in the presidential suite."

"Presidenshial sweet?" Louise mutters.

"You'll see when we get there," I say.

--

After a while, we finally arrive in the presidential suite section of the hotel.

As I'm not able to carelessly use my abilities anymore due to the limitations set on them, we resorted to walking and making use of the elevator.

What's strange about this 'world' is that despite there being no humans, all electronic functions don't cease functioning.

Where does electric power come from, and how is it being maintained?

Such questions swirl around in my mind as we make our way to the bath.

As if suddenly realizing something, Louise turns to face me and asks,

"What are you going to be doing while we're in the bath?"

I look back at her with a dubious expression as I say,

"What are you talking about? I will be with you."

Her suspicions having been confirmed, Louise's face is covered in a red hue as she opens her mouth to say something.

However, before she can utter a word, Aruru, who's in my arms claps her hands as she exclaims gleefully,

"Yay! Bathing with Father!"

Finding her actions adorable, I squeeze her cheek before kissing her forehead.

"Victor," Louise voices while staring at Aruru, "Why is she calling you her father?"

Ah, crap. How do I explain this?

"Father is Father!" Aruru passionately exclaims before I can think of a response.

"Exactly. Good girl," I say while patting Aruru's head, "It's pointless to ask such questions. Aruru can call me whatever she wishes to."

"Okay," Louise responds, a little confused.

Shortly, we reach the bath. As expected, it's as luxurious as it can get, with multiple utilities available for usage.

"Alright then," I say while setting Aruru down and begin undressing her, "Everyone, strip down to your underwear."

Louise immediately reddens up as she begins to act bashfully, while Gabriel calmly begins to take off her clothes.

As for me, I make use of telekinesis to turn the tap of the bath while undressing Aruru.

Steamy water pours out and begins to gradually fill the tub.

"You're not feeling cold, are you?" I question Gabriel who's already in her underwear.

"Not at all. The temperature here is just right," she responds.

Good. I'd feel terrible if my lovely daughters were to feel uncomfortable in any way.

It doesn't take long before everyone, apart from Louise, steps into the rather large tub while completely naked.

The moment I had taken my clothes off, Louise covered her eyes while stealing some glances now and then.

As for my daughters, Aruru, being the cute innocent child she is, didn't think much of it. Gabriel, however, looked at me with a slightly teasing smile and a light blush on her face.

Aruru sits on my right thigh and lays her head against my chest, while Gabriel sits right beside me and holds my hand.

"Come on, Louise, didn't you want to join us?" I say in a teasing manner.

"I didn't think that you would be so sh-sh-shameless!" she cries in response.

"Me," I say while pointing at myself and acting shocked, "Shameless? Don't make such jokes, Louise."

Louise ignores my words as she begins to deliberate on something, which I assume is whether she will enter the rub with us or not.

After a while, she says,

"Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to be seen by you while I'm undressing!" she directly responds.

"Sure," I say before laying my head back and closing my eyes.

There is the fact that my Clairvoyance allows me to see despite my eyes being closed, so there is no meaning to closing my eyes.

Naturally, Louise doesn't know this, and I, being the gentleman I am, won't tell her about it, as it would make her feel uncomfortable. There is the possibility of thinking of me as a lecherous peeper, which I am not.

Anyway, I focus my 'sight' on Louise's body as she begins to slowly undress.

In no time, Louise is standing before me completely naked. Her skin seems soft, and her boobs are pitifully small not that I mind.

She wastes no time by directly stepping into the warm water.

I open my eyes and look at her as she sinks most of her body under the water.

"You didn't see, right?" she inquires.

"My eyes were closed the whole time," I respond, earning a sigh of relief from her.

Technically speaking, this isn't a lie.

And thus, we stay like this for a while. After a while of being fidgety, Louise finally began feeling comfortable, to the point that she dozes off.

Now, that she's asleep, I pat Aruru's wet hair before turning to look at Gabriel.

Sensing my movements, Gabriel turns to face me back.

The moment she faces me properly, I move my head forward and kiss her lips.

In response to my action, Gabriel's body flinches a little before she moves her arms to hug my waist and return the kiss.

With one of my arms around Aruru's small waist, I use my other arm to cop a feeling of Gabriel's soft breast.

While continuously fondling her breast and kissing her, I make sure to not make much noise to prevent alerting the others.

"Father," Gabriel softly whispers once we separate our lips for a second before pressing them against each other once more.

---

"That was refreshing, wasn't it?" I question once we're back in the Platform.

"Mhm," Louise hums in response.

Aruru excitedly nods her head, while Gabriel just smiles. What piques my interest is Ddraig's reaction.

"Ddraig, what's wrong?"

Hearing my words, Ddraig turns to face me with a blaming look and says,

"Why didn't you tell me how the bath works!?"

"Huh? Is that even necessary? You just turn the tap which results in water flowing out"

"Ugh." Ddraig scowls.

How could she screw up with something that simple? The image of Ddraig confusedly trying everything gives me an urge to laugh, for some reason.

"Father, what are we going to be doing today?" Gabriel suddenly asks.

"Right, I haven't told you girls about it yet," I respond before explaining the gist of today's matter.

"Can't Father also summon a familiar?" Aruru asks me once I'm done with the explanation.

Huh? That's a rather interesting notion.

"Louise, is that possible?"

"In theory, yes. You should be able to summon a familiar if you make use of a proper incantation."

"Then, let's do it," I say.

"What? Right now?!"

"Of course," I respond, "If possible, I want it to participate in the competition."

Louise suddenly seems to be enlightened as an excited expression covers her face.

"If I got him here, and he won, it's the same thing as me winning!" she softly mutters to herself.

Seriously? Whatever, I'll let her think however she wants to.

"I reckon that the competition will begin soon, so let's get this done with quickly," I say.

--

"That's an example of an incantation," Louise says proudly after uttering a series of cheesy lines.

I decide to make use of my own incantation as the words seem to just appear within my head,

"Ye who art birthed to serve thine. I seek thy. Anaphaino, harbinger of devastation."

The next moment, Louise who is close by lets out a yelp as she exclaims,

"What's happening?!"

{Necessary energy needed for the ritual extracted and enhanced. Commencing}

Before I know it, a huge magic circle with ominous symbols on it appears on the ground.

The sky darkens as gray clouds form and circle above us.

Multiple lightning bolts strike the land all around the academy, which scares the living soul out of Louise.

Seeing this, I can tell that this will probably cause a lot of commotion.

Damn it. I should get this done with this hastily and head to the competition. On the bright side, they might think it's the end of the world and delay the competition a little.

Soon, the sky beings lighting up, not because the clouds have gone away, no, but because the clouds seem to be charging up.

As ridiculous as that sounds, this world is one that has magic, so it's not surprising that the physics of this world is different

After a few seconds, a sense of dread washes upon me, which I immediately treat as a premonition of upcoming disaster.

Making use of my telekinesis, I push everyone away before stepping back myself.

The next moment, a violet lightning bolt strikes the magic circle directly at its center, before a light blinds my vision.

Moments later, my vision begins to clear up. The first thing I notice is that the sky has cleared up and everything has seemingly returned to normal.

I check on the girls and see that they're all fine before turning to look at where the magic circle was.

There, a giant pit has appeared. At the center of the pit is a small snake that's coiled around itself.

Its scales seem to be glistening in a majestic purple with yellow streaks.

The next moment, the snake's tail which was covering its eyes moves away, revealing a pair of red eyes that are glowing eerily.

Despite its appearance, the snake is giving away a dangerous aura, as if it could wipe everything out of existence if it wanted to.

However, that feeling doesn't last for long, as the aura suddenly dissipates as the snake begins to slither toward me at an incredible pace.

The next thing I know, it has coiled itself around my arm and has begun rubbing its head against my skin.

There is this weird sensation that seems to be overwhelming me Joy, curiosity, and nostalgia?

Are these the snake's feelings?

I move my left hand to rub my fingers on its scaly head, which the snake seems to take pleasure in as it responds by rubbing its head against it.

"You look magnificent," I mutter while admiring the snake's beauty.

Suddenly I hear Louise's voice a few meters away from me,

"Is that your familiar?"

Looking at her, I see her having a doubtful look on her face. Beside her is a serene Gabriel and a curious Aruru.

Ignoring her, I use Clairvoyance to check on the place that the competition is to be held.

There, I see that everyone seems to be calming down and discussing among themselves, I assume, what just happened.

After looking around some more, I find Henrietta making her way over to where we are while being escorted by a platoon consisting of only women.

Shortly, she reaches us and directly looks toward the pit that has formed before turning to face me with a questioning gaze.

"Is that Prince Wales?" one of the women accompanying her suddenly mutters to her comrade.

"It really is him!" comes the response.

"Be quiet," a blonde-haired woman says strictly, causing both girls to straighten their posture and put on a serious expression.

"Henrietta," I voice, "What has brought you here?"

"What else other than the overwhelming phenomena that transpired a moment ago?" she responds.

"Ah, that," I say before grinning and saying, "That was just me summoning my familiar."

...

"What?" Henrietta voices with a baffled look on her face.