Chapter 61: The Birth of Venus.
"Wait, hold on!"
Jason suddenly changed his tone.
"I've thought it over again—doing that would really be too humiliating. How about letting Heracles lose face once instead. Anyway, normally he's practically naked already, so no one would laugh at him. The important thing is that as Captain, I have to maintain my prestige!"
Seriously, just a moment ago he was saying things that sounded so cool, yet as soon as it rolled over into the next chapter, his true nature was exposed immediately.
Damn it, give me back the emotions from just now!
"So what should we do now..."
Looking at the people drawing closer and closer, even the darkness could no longer provide any effective cover.
Eikou even saw Barghest walking toward them within the crowd.
This is bad—she's a member of the Student Council in charge of beach patrols. If she notices this, it's all over! Heracles will definitely be arrested!
Could it be that someone as illustrious as Heracles would end up losing all the reputation of his entire life right here...?
Everyone thought despairingly in their hearts.
At this very moment, Tristan, who had the highest Agility stat, came panting as he ran back.
"I found it..."
Tristan took out the item in his hand. "This—put this on Heracles!"
Eikou looked at the object in his hand and broke out in a cold sweat. "Th-this… is this really okay?"
"There's no other choice now, hurry up and put it on him!"
Jason shouted loudly. "Please, it's definitely better than me having to do a mosaic!"
"Damn it, then we'll just treat a dead horse like a living one and try to cure it."
Gritting his teeth, Eikou took the item from Tristan's hand.
Then, when the beach tourists and Barghest who was on patrol turned their heads to look over...
What came into their view was the muscular Heracles, his legs and chest covered by a string of seaweed, looking like a flower bud that had just begun to bloom.
"Umu, sexy."
Gawain commented calmly.
Heracles: "?"
"..."
Barghest was silent for quite a while. Her lips moved slightly, but she said nothing.
After another moment passed, she finally spoke with an expressionless face:
"Eikou, what exactly is this?"
"This is, well, that, that thing, uh, I mean, art from the Italian Renaissance..."
Recalling a famous masterpiece, Eikou spoke seriously:
"The Birth of Venus!"
"...."
[Barghest does not believe a single word of your nonsense. That so-called "birth" looks no matter how you see it like nothing more than Naked Heracles.]
[You were reported by beach tourists for damaging the scenery, and as a result were called to Chiron's office and punished with copying lessons ten times.]
[It feels like your relationship with Heracles, Jason, and the others has improved a little.]
[After finishing copying the lessons, while rubbing your aching wrists, tonight finally comes to an end.]
[After spending a period of time with the male students of the Greek Class.]
[Time gradually passes, and the night grows late...]
…
June 24th, ten thirty at night.
Inside the room of the seaside hotel where they were staying together, right before going to sleep.
With a face full of vigilance, Eikou quickly locked the room door tight.
Feeling that this still wasn't safe enough, he even bought an extra pair of locks and a chain himself, hanging them right in front of the door and tying everything up tightly.
"Sir Eikou, what are you doing again?"
Gawain looked at his incomprehensible actions with a baffled expression.
"Can't you tell? I'm strengthening the security measures of this room."
Eikou said seriously. "According to my observations last night, this crappy hotel has ghosts at night!"
"Like our Chaldea dormitory?"
Gawain chuckled lightly, noncommittal. "The school has ghosts, this place has ghosts too—then are you sure that ghost didn't follow you here?"
"No, according to my judgment, the ghost in the hotel and the ghost in the school dormitory are not the same one."
He answered very seriously. "The one in the dormitory is clearly female, while the one in the hotel hasn't had its gender determined yet."
"So that means there's another ghost woman chasing after you?"
"Maybe that's how the development goes,"
Tristan interjected. "In the past, this hotel had an unsatisfied married woman. After she died, she became a spirit bound to this place, and then fell in love at first sight with Sir Eikou, who happened to stay here."
"Why are you assuming that whatever's following me must definitely be a woman, and even a married woman at that?!"
Eikou said in confusion. "Can't it be something else clinging to me? And come to think of it, does Disaster With Women actually work on ghosts too?"
If it's a ghost woman, then it's even more impossible to let her in!
Seeing that the two Knights of the Round Table both had an unconvinced, indifferent attitude, he immediately gave a serious reminder.
"In short, everyone remember to place your Noble Phantasm right next to the bed. If there really is something filthy outside, we'll fire Noble Phantasms straight at it. With our lineup, is it possible we still can't beat a single ghost?"
"Sir Eikou, I have to tell you a very cruel truth..."
Gawain cleared his throat. "Strictly speaking, we ourselves, as Heroic Spirits, can also be considered a kind of—"
"No no no no no, shut up, don't make my fear increase any further!"
[You have fully learned your lesson from last night.]
[To avoid waking up in the middle of the night because of the heat, you deliberately pulled the beds of the two Knights of the Round Table a little farther away, so you wouldn't have to deal with these guys kicking off their blankets and flinging them onto you after falling asleep.]
[You also deliberately pulled their beds a bit farther forward. That way, at the very least, if a ghost breaks down the door and charges in, you can sacrifice your teammates and then make a quick escape.]
"Sasuga Sir Eikou, best scumbag."
Tristan gave a thumbs-up.
"It's just a small merit not worth mentioning."
Eikou was a little proud.
[Like this, the night gradually grew deeper...]
[Perhaps because the daytime had been too tiring, amid the slightly noisy sound of the old electric fan, you quickly lay down on the bed and sank into a deep sleep.]
[Before you even had time to feel afraid, you had already fallen asleep.]
[Tonight, you were not disturbed at all and slept very peacefully.]
[...]
[Of course, that kind of thing was absolutely impossible to happen!]
A little past eleven at night.
Suddenly, bursts of sound came from outside the door, waking Eikou, who had been sleeping soundly.
"Haa..."
He rubbed his drowsy, bleary eyes, yawned once, and checked the situation around him through the darkness.
Both Gawain's and Tristan's beds were sleeping soundly.
Very good, very good—this time the two of them didn't kick their blankets over to this side.
"..."
Thump, thump, thump.
Just as Eikou was about to turn over and go back to sleep, he heard a series of hurried footsteps outside the door.
At first he was still a little dazed, but once he reacted, his eyes flew wide open and all traces of sleepiness vanished.
Someone is outside the door?
Again?
His heart instantly leapt up into his throat. Half his body leaned out of the bed, and his left hand immediately grabbed Galatine hanging at the head of Gawain's bed, ready to give the other party a solid blow with the flat of the blade, while also preparing to wake up the "sacrifice."
Thump, thump.
The footsteps grew closer and closer—very light, yet very hurried.
Finally, the footsteps stopped right in front of their room door.
Damn it, did the ghost outside really come again?!
...