With a soft click of the aging door lock, Kadi, leading Gray like a pair of common thieves, slipped into her small cottage in the southern part of the city.
The interior was pitch black; it seemed Madam Farley had gone out on business again tonight.
Although Kadi had always been curious as to why a sixty-year-old woman spent every night away from home, at this moment, she had to admit she was grateful for the woman’s absence.
After all, if Madam Farley were home and saw her—a young maiden—bringing home a tall, disheveled man at ten o’clock at night, covered in bloody bandages and exposing swathes of firm muscle… especially since this was the same fellow who had waited all night in a living room chair after visiting her previously…
Even jumping into the River Styx wouldn’t wash away the scandal.
Kadi shoved Gray into the room first, then warily poked half her head out the door to peer left and right.
Once she confirmed the coast was clear and that the neighbor who loved eavesdropping wasn’t lurking about, she slammed the door shut and bolted it shut.
Even if the neighbors seemed like decent folk, as a member of the Demon Race, she strictly adhered to the principle of “always be wary of others.”
Even if people were just gossiping without malice, it would still be a bit scandalous for her actual landlord, Madam Farley.
Yes, this is strictly for the sake of her reputation, she told herself.
It definitely wasn’t because she didn’t want to be hounded with questions about her relationship with Gray, or when they were getting married, every time she saw the woman.
“Miss Kadi?”
Watching the girl busily locking doors and drawing curtains until the entire house was sealed airtight, Gray stood in the center of the dark living room, feeling somewhat awkward.
“Ah, sorry, sorry!”
Snapping back to her senses, the girl hurried to light the magic lamp in the living room.
A soft glow spilled out, bathing the modest space in an ambiguous, warm hue.
“Mr. Gray, sit here.”
Kadi pointed to a reasonably spacious long sofa in the center of the room, then briskly brought over a small medicine box and a basin of hot water.
“Take off your clothes… er, unfasten them.”
“Alright.”
Gray obediently sat on the sofa and unbuttoned his shirt with one hand.
As the blood-stained fabric fell away, the lean, powerful physique of a warrior was exposed under the lamplight, covered in shocking scars and crude bandages.
Kadi took a quick glance and felt her face grow inexplicably hot.
You there, the ‘lump’ in my left chest, what are you doing?
Why are you throbbing like a freak again?
While controlling her blood flow, she took a deep breath, forcing herself into the professional mindset of a priestess.
She carefully snipped away the bandages that had adhered to the scabs.
Looking at the fresh wounds with their rolled-back flesh, Kadi’s heart felt as though it had been pricked by a needle, causing her voice to instinctively soften.
“Was the battle this morning… very difficult?”
Gray smiled.
“It wasn’t exactly a hard-fought struggle. Among the battles I’ve experienced in the past, this probably wouldn’t even make the top ten.”
“If Miss Kadi wants to hear about them, I’ll tell them to you one by one later,” he said, watching the girl’s lowered eyelashes in the silence.
“Stories like those where a party would be wiped out if the dice never rolled a six.”
“I’m sorry…”
Kadi looked up, her blue eyes full of earnestness.
“I can only be a listener for the stories of the past, but in the stories of the future, I will definitely be by Mr. Gray’s side!”
The moment the words left her mouth, she realized the line sounded a bit like a confession.
Her face flushed as she scrambled to fix it:
“—I mean, standing together as the leader and a member of the Black Crow Squad! Don’t get any ideas, Mr. Gray!”
“Yes, I know,” Gray nodded cooperatively, though the corners of his mouth twitched with a suppressed smile.
Exasperated, Kadi gave his shoulder a playful swat, then told him to turn around.
Her cool fingertips brushed across his broad back, touching the burning skin.
A soft flow of healing light surged from her palms, slowly merging into Gray’s body.
The pure energy converted from mana wrapped around the injured tissues like a gentle, warm current.
It wasn’t just repairing the wounds; it felt like invisible little hands lightly caressing every sensitive nerve ending.
That tingly, numbing sensation—almost like a bolt of electricity—shot straight up his spine to the crown of his head.
“Mmh…”
Gray couldn’t help it; a muffled, somewhat embarrassing groan escaped from deep in his throat, causing Kadi’s hand to tremble along with it.
Wait, why did my heart flutter just because a man made that kind of sound!
At a time like this, shouldn’t I be mocking him mercilessly?
That’s right, mock him!
“M-Mr. Gray!”
The girl protested in a small, red-faced voice.
“Could you please not make such… misleading sounds? It’s interfering with my treatment!”
“Sorry, sorry, I’m just a bit…”
Gray swallowed the word “sensitive.”
He felt, for some reason, that he couldn’t say that in front of a girl—especially Kadi.
“Cough, it’s just that the skin of the newly healed wounds is a bit sensitive.”
A few minutes later, as the last wound on Gray’s body healed and scabbed over, Kadi finally let out a long sigh of relief, and the radiance in her hands slowly faded.
Gray sat up from the sofa and stretched his stiff shoulders, his joints letting out a tooth-aching crack.
“Thank you for your hard work, Miss Kadi.”
Kadi looked at the man’s broad, sturdy back muscles, recalling the sensation of secretly feeling them during the treatment.
Those muscles were as hard as stone, clearly in a state of long-term tension, never having truly relaxed for a long time.
“Um, Mr. Gray.”
The girl’s eyes flickered, and she suddenly revealed a somewhat mischievous smile.
“Since the wounds are dealt with, how about I help your body relax completely while I’m at it?”
“Relax?”
“Mhm~ This is an exclusive benefit for members of the Black Crow Squad!”
Kadi held up a finger, speaking with a beaming smile.
However, hearing the words “member benefit,” Gray’s brow furrowed slightly.
If other members joined in the future—especially male members—would they also receive such gentle treatment from Kadi?
At the thought of those soft little hands wandering over another man’s body… an inexplicable flame of possessiveness flared up in Gray’s heart.
“Hmm? What’s wrong?”
Noticing the look in Gray’s eyes had turned strange, Kadi tilted her head in confusion.
“…It’s nothing.”
Gray took a deep breath, suppressing that ill-timed possessiveness.
The current him wasn’t strong enough to keep her entirely to himself—especially as the only member of the former “Sword of Dawn” who had yet to awaken and wield authority… he needed to become stronger.
“Then I’ll trouble you, Captain.”
“Mhm mhm, then lie face down on the sofa and don’t move. I’ll go get ready!”
Kadi scurried back into her bedroom.
A rustling sound of clothes rubbing together came from inside.
Gray was left alone in the living room, lying shirtless on the sofa.
Listening to those suggestive sounds, his mind was a mess.
A moment later, the bedroom door opened.
The sound of light footsteps approached from behind.
It sounded… as if Kadi were walking on the floor without shoes.
Just as Gray was wondering why one would need to take off their shoes for a massage, the footsteps stopped by the sofa behind him.
“Um, Miss Kadi…” Gray started to turn his head to say it wasn’t necessary to go to so much trouble.
“Don’t move.”
the girl’s soft, sweet voice sounded from above.
Immediately following that, a sensation—soft yet possessing a hint of resilience—lightly landed on his back.
The pressure wasn’t heavy, but the bizarre sensation of that moment made Gray let out another involuntary groan:
“Ugh!”
Wait, this sensation, and this shape… is what’s on my back—!?
“H-how is it? Is the pressure alright?”
Kadi’s voice from behind him was trembling, seemingly embarrassed to the extreme.
“Is it uncomfortable being pressed like—eek! Don’t turn around and look!!”
Feeling Gray beneath her attempting to turn his head, Kadi instinctively lifted one foot.
In her flustered state—perhaps to maintain her balance, or perhaps to stop him from seeing her shameful state—
Slap.
That foot stepped directly onto the side of Gray’s face as he had turned halfway.
It was delicate, warm, and carried the faint scent of body wash.
“…”
The frozen Gray, aided by the dim lamplight, caught a glimpse of a vista in his peripheral vision that he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The little priestess, who usually looked like an angel, was currently flushing a deep red while clutching the hem of her nun’s habit.
Her long, slender legs were tightly encased in a layer of thin-as-a-cicada’s-wing white silk stockings, outlining the seductive curves of her calves and arches.
And one of those “popsicles” was currently stepped against his face, gently rubbing against his cheek as its owner trembled with shame.
So, this is what a massage is like.