Thud!
In darkness, Akira could hear footsteps. Floating in empty void the only thing he felt about his body was his slow breaths.
"Hey, someone is lying here."
"There is too much blood, looks like we are late."
"Look at the monster, it must be a strengthened species."
"Ouka, the 3rd floor isn't supposed to have this."
'Ouka, I think I remember that name from somewhere.' Akira thought.
"Asuka, take out its magic stone, we can give it to this adventurer's goddess. Chigusa, carry his weapon. Mikoto, you are responsible for fighting. I will carry his body."
"Hmm... He is alive. Quick, give me a potion."
Akira felt his body being turned.
"Akira-dono..." the girl's voice—he remembered her voice. She had said thank you to him before. What was it for, he thought.
Akira felt the darkness to be comfortable. With that, he closed his eyes to sleep.
"He is bleeding too much, the potions won't make it. What should we do?"
"Get away, Mikoto. Let me do it."
"Ouka, the fire might do more harm than good."
"We don't have time."
SIZZLEEE!
The excruciating pain woke him up. He tried to scream but only blood came out of his mouth. With his tearful eyes he saw a visage he recognized. As the tears flowed, he could see Mikoto's face. She was calling out his name.
He looked down to see a burning axe carried by Ouka. With the smell of burning flesh he knew what was happening.
'It hurtttssss... but it won't be enough,' he thought.
With his will he summoned an elixir from his inventory, just touching his lips. He opened his mouth to let the upside-down potion drop in, catching the neck with his teeth.
Seeing a potion appear, Mikoto was surprised.
"Do you want to drink it?" she asked. Akira moved his left eye up and down slowly.
Mikoto took the bottle as Akira released his bite. She opened it. She started to pour it into his mouth. The potion fell into his blood-filled mouth, but since he wasn't able to swallow, it overflowed and spilled out.
Seeing this Mikoto stopped pouring the potion. She looked at him and said softly, "Sorry, Akira-sama."
She filled her mouth with the remaining potion and bent forward, brushing her hanging hair behind her ear. She placed her lips on his lips and forced the potion into his mouth. Blood and potion flowed down his throat into his stomach. He could feel the potion working.
As the last drop left her mouth, their lips separated. Mikoto sat back up, with her sleeve she wiped his blood from her lips while maintaining a stoic demeanor.
GULP!!!!!!!!!
She unconsciously swallowed the blood and potion remaining in her mouth. Finding it sweet, she saw Akira's eye on her, feeling it was judgmental of her thoughts. She blushed, avoided his gaze, and covered her mouth with her sleeve.
'No no, that is impossible, how can a single eye express this much,' she thought, and her expression turned back serious.
'Oye! Oye! I wanted to use one more potion just to be sure. But I don't think I am thick-skinned enough to do that,' Akira thought nervously.
"It's done." Ouka looked at Akira's waist. It had a 10-centimeter hole, the burned flesh stopped the bleeding. He said, "Mikoto, you are the fastest, take Akira-san out of here. We will follow behind."
Mikoto nodded. She put down her armor to lessen weight, only taking her sword as a weapon.
Ouka helped place Akira on her back. Akira, who was feeling better, looked at the dead kobold—the corner of his mouth couldn't help but turn upward. With that, Akira closed his eye, knowing he was in safe hands.
-----------------------------------
Back at Airmid, to let his body recover properly, she had to reopen all the wounds to let them heal properly using elixirs given by Akira. The elixirs worked wonders; they also regenerated the missing mass from his waist.
After going through 4 hours of torture—cycles of getting cut and then healed—the operation done by Airmid was successful. The life-threatening injuries were healed. For the other injuries, Airmid decided it was best to let them heal naturally, as more potions would be harmful for his body.
She wanted to ask about the potions he used, but looking at him sleeping peacefully on the bed, she decided to ask later. Taking a towel, she wiped the sweat on his face.
Getting out of the room, she faced a very concerned Hestia and Mikoto, who decided to stay to take care of the goddess. After Airmid told them that he was okay and would be able to recover in a week, Hestia jumped in joy and ran past her to see her beloved Akira-kun, but Airmid grabbed her by the collar to stop her.
After lecturing Hestia to not inconvenience the patient, she let her enter his room.
"Akira-kun..." Hestia sat beside his bed, waiting for him to wake up.
-----------------------------------
Next morning, Akira opened his eyes and remarked, "An unfamiliar ceiling."
"Mmmh... 5 more minutes," Hestia murmured, feeling disturbance in the bedsheet. While she was sitting on the chair, her head was on his bedside. Careful not to disturb the goddess's sleep, Akira pulled himself to sit.
The room he was in was a bit bare. The presence of things like plants, a table, a soft bed, pure white curtains, and the big window through which sunlight poured in made it a very serene place.
Deciding he couldn't do much, he took out a manga named Dungeon Meshi, some paper sheets and a small bed table out of his inventory. He opened the manga at the bookmark he left before. Placing an unfinished draft on the table, he took another box, this one enchanted.
[Item: Manga creation toolkit (Uncommon)
Properties: Mangaka Talent +500%, Drawing speed +200%]
With that, he was ready to copy it all. Of course, he was not going to make an exact copy. The first change was the language, and the second was the position of panels and pages. The manga usually starts from back to front and panels are read from right to left. This was not going to work in Orario.
He could have left it in the original format and added instructions, but that would just be another hurdle for new readers. If he learned anything from the modern world, it was that the fewer hurdles customers face, the better.
Hestia woke up and rubbed her eyes. Hearing "good morning," she replied good morning. Her ponytails stood straight up and she went wide awake. Throwing the table out of her way, she dove into Akira's chest.
"Akira-kun..." Akira couldn't see her face as she rubbed it against his chest. Feeling the weight on his body, he replied, "Hestia-sama, you are heavy."
Hestia left the hug, still sitting on her knees on the bed. She looked up at him teary-eyed and concerned. "Are you okay, does it hurt? Should I call someone..."
"No... I feel just fine." Akira took out a tissue box and gave her one. "Yosh! Yosh! Look, I am fine, no need to cry."
She snatched the tissue, wiped her tears, blew her nose, and tossed the tissues into a small bin he set beside her.
"I was just worried, you know."
"I know."
"I thought I would lose you..." Hestia took out another tissue to wipe new tears. "This was your second dungeon dive, you are more injured than before. Can you not go in the dungeon again? If you have any wish I am sure you can fulfill it using your wealth of magic weapons."
Akira put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Kami-sama, we both know that's not possible. I also can't lie to you and say this would be the worst injury you will see in the future. I want to be strong, I love fighting stronger opponents and growing stronger. That means there might be a day I will not be the winner. The only promise I can give you is I will give it my all to come back to you."
Akira took a tissue and wiped her tears. "So, my goddess, my only wish is when I come home I see you smile and welcome me home."
"Akira-kun..." Hestia again dove into his arms, soaking his shirt in tears. Only after promising her that he would not be adventuring for the next 10 days did she stop. Then came the negotiation for the offense of calling her fat, which was ironically solved by Akira's promise to cook her a luxurious feast when they went back home.
Outside the door, Mikoto was listening to their conversation. She had stayed by his side from the start and had just gone out to get breakfast a few minutes earlier. Hearing their conversation nearing its end, she knocked.
"It's open," the voice from inside answered.
Mikoto opened the door and walked inside. Seeing her, Hestia pointed at her. "Akira-kun, you should be thankful to Mikoto and her team, they were the ones who rescued you."
"No! No! We are the ones originally in your debt. Akira-sama didn't even tell anyone about our shameful display during first encounter, protecting our honor," Mikoto was sincere.
"The fact that you saved me doesn't change. I can't thank you enough. If it makes you feel better, with this act, I consider the memory of our first encounter forgotten." Hearing his words, Mikoto felt the weight of her guilt lessen. But Akira wasn't done yet. He continued, "Having forgotten the first shameful incident, I witnessed, the memory of the second shameful incident became more profound."
Mikoto remembered what was the second reason she stayed by his bed.
"You know Hestia-sama, when I was lying injured in the dungeon, a woman sat by my side and she kissed me. I wasn't able to move so I could only lay there. My memory is foggy so I don't remember much about the girl."
Hearing this, Mikoto breathed out, feeling fortunate and guilty at the same time.
"I can still remember her taste. She tasted like a candy I used to eat as a kid." Akira looked outside the window as if reminiscing. Seeing this, Mikoto blushed, a light shade of red appearing on her face.
Hestia, hearing this, felt jealous. "I will report it to the guild, how perverted a person can be, taking advantage of an injured person. Do you remember anything about her, her hair, anything? I swear I will find that vixen."
Hestia's comments only added to Mikoto's shyness.
"I remember a few things." Akira turned to face Hestia. Mikoto looked at him, hoping the information would be vague. As if sensing her gaze, Akira's eye turned to her. She recognized that gaze.
"She had bluish-purple eyes and her long black hair was tied into a ponytail. She wore a purple kimono, along with a dark red sash and thigh-length boots. She also wore a red shoulder guard on her non-weapon arm, arm guards, and kept her katana in the sash at her waist." Akira said it in one breath.
'He clearly remembers.' Mikoto screamed internally, her face turned tomato red.
"What..." Hestia turned to look at Mikoto, who was trying not to look back and cover her face with her sleeves. Other than not wearing armor, Mikoto fit perfectly the description.
Hestia leapt from the bed and caught Mikoto's kimono's collar. As she hung on the kimono, pulling it apart, she shouted, "You vixen, I thought you were saving him out of goodness of heart. Let me tell you, your hero-saving beauty won't work on him! He is already married to more than one woman!"
"Hestia-sama...." In front of Hestia's assault Mikoto could only hold her kimono shut. Looking at a rabid Hestia clinging to a shy Mikoto, Akira felt his pain lessen.
At the end, Akira had to tell her the whole truth, earning him a scolding from Hestia. In the corner of the room, a disheveled and tired Mikoto adjusted her clothes.
..........................
(A/N: It has been so long that I wrote something by myself that I feel I forgot how to write. Any advice to improve would be a huge help)
You can Support me on p@treon: [email protected]/Uchiha_Itachi007 (replace @ with a)
I mainly translate other fanfics on there.