"Are you really all right? You don't feel unwell anywhere?"
Freime still sounded worried as she asked, afraid Herbert might be suffering some adverse reaction.
"I'm fine, really. Believe me!"
Herbert had been asked so many times that he felt helpless. No longer in the mood to joke, he surrendered outright.
"Miss Freime, that's the thirteenth time you've asked. I'm really fine! If anything were wrong, I'd definitely tell you."
Forget just telling you. I'd definitely use it as an excuse to milk you for all you were worth!
I'd make you let me give your tail a good feel... ah! Why didn't I think of that earlier?
What a waste.
What a huge waste!
But things had already come to this, and he couldn't shamelessly use it as an excuse to demand compensation now-why not?
Herbert kept a straight face and began spouting nonsense in all seriousness. "No, wait. I've suddenly realized I'm gravely injured. Only touching your tail can cure me."
Dignity really wasn't worth much.
That held true at work, in everyday life, and in relationships alike.
"That's right. I've contracted a terminal illness that requires me to touch a Sea Monster's tail to survive."
With that, Herbert solemnly nodded, his expression so sorrowful that it almost looked true.
He didn't care whether anyone else believed him. He already believed it himself.
It was absolutely true!
Freime: ???
"Huh?"
After a moment of stunned silence, the anxious Freime caught on. For some reason, she felt the pressure ease and burst into laughter.
"Haha, you're such an amusing little fellow!"
She rocked back and forth with laughter, her tail slapping hard against the waves.
Splash, splash~
After laughing for quite a while, she wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes and nodded at the boy, who was struggling to keep his expression straight.
"So you're determined to touch my tail?"
"All right, I'll grant your wish."
Unexpectedly, she didn't refuse. Instead, she generously extended her tail out of the water sphere and offered it right to Herbert.
"Here, go ahead. But don't get carried away."
Huh?
Herbert stared wide-eyed at the iridescent fish tail right in front of him.
She was actually letting me!
She was so nice.
Far more generous than that Valentina.
With her tail offered up right before his eyes, Herbert certainly wasn't going to stand on ceremony. He gladly accepted the compensation he deserved.
He wiped his hands on his clothes, then reached out and grabbed it.
Slick.
That was his immediate first impression.
It was incredibly slick and soft, with a faint coolness, like touching a piece of slippery, chilled jelly, or dipping his hand into a clear spring.
Yet the fish tail was surprisingly dry, without a single trace of lingering moisture, as though its surface had a water-repellent coating.
Wow.
As he touched it gently, Herbert's expression grew almost languid.
This felt so good.
If I could cuddle this to sleep, I'd sleep like a dream in summer!
Whoosh-
But just as Herbert was about to examine it more closely, moving his hand upward to compare how it felt, the fish tail whipped away.
"Ah, the tail's running away-"
He raised his hand and weakly grasped at the air in the direction the tail had vanished.
Come back~ I can't bear this alone~
Herbert pouted and muttered reluctantly, "Why did you pull it away? I hadn't finished examining it."
"N-no. You can't touch it again this time."
An unusual flush colored Freime's face. She shyly turned her head aside and muttered, "Y-your technique is too strange... it tickles too much!"
She didn't actually know why she had agreed to such a strange request. She had simply felt that letting him touch it wouldn't be a problem.
After all, he might be the only special person in this world who could listen to her entire song without suffering any harm.
But the instant Herbert actually began touching her, Freime regretted it.
That sensation was simply... too strange.
He was clearly touching her tail, yet it felt as though he were touching other parts of her body.
Gentle strokes, careful observation, his fingers gliding softly along every delicate groove in her scales.
Rubbing, rubbing, ruuubbing against those smooth scales-
!!?
Those strange sensations made Freime itch all over-her whole body tingled!!!
But it wasn't an entirely unbearable sort of tickling. Only when she truly couldn't hold out any longer did she forcibly pull her tail back.
N-no more.
If this kept tickling, I was afraid I'd really start feeling strange...
"Not this time? Oh, all right. I'll touch it next time, then!"
Herbert seized on the loophole in Freime's words and settled it on the spot. "It's a deal. Next time, you'll let me give your tail a proper feel!"
"..."
Freime's lips moved. She had meant to refuse, but for some inexplicable reason, she didn't argue. Just like that, she tacitly accepted Herbert's proposed agreement.
Though Freime was very reluctant to admit it, she felt that a little tickling wasn't much of a problem. She could just endure it until it passed...
Freime shook her head, forcefully banishing the distracting thoughts.
Never mind. I'd deal with those things later.
Freime suppressed the turmoil in her heart and forced the conversation back on track. "W-why did you suddenly show up? Isn't it midnight?"
"Haha, I just had a sudden whim to see what you all do in the middle of the night. Am I disturbing your rest?"
Herbert didn't tell the truth-after all, an absurd reason like "protecting the hook from other people's interference" was very difficult to explain.
Naturally, Freime couldn't have guessed that either. After hearing his answer, she shook her head. "Sleep became optional for me long ago. Besides, there's no difference between night and day here."
She spoke lightly, but her words made the corners of Herbert's mouth twitch.
That's right.
For prisoners like them, what meaning did the passing of day and night have? They were still trapped in this Prison either way.
Herbert was trying to think of a way to comfort her, but Freime herself didn't dwell on it. Instead, she shyly asked in a whisper, "Then... will you come again?"
"Maybe? Why?"
Freime drew a deep breath and finally mustered her courage. "I-I'll sing again next time. Would you still like to listen?"
Would he refuse?
Would he?
He...
"Of course."
Herbert smiled and gladly accepted the Sea Monster lady's invitation without a moment's hesitation.
"It's an honor to hear such beautiful singing."
Looking at Freime, who was visibly relieved, he chuckled and said:
"When the time comes, please be sure to sing a few more songs."
"He got away."
"We were still one step too late. He's already fallen completely."
Beneath the bright moonlight, the Bishop of Thorns lowered his head and stared at the slime and blood on the ground, slowly shaking his head.
"Where did he run off to? The Mist Mountains?"
But what the Chief Inquisitor didn't know was this.
While he pondered, a hunched figure shakily pressed a hand against the door of the Third Disciplinary Ward.
Creak.
Incidentally, the Third Disciplinary Ward had another, more straightforward name within the Monastery-
The Foreign Races' Prison.
Before you continue