Songs in the Void

Arifureta Universe, Tortus, True Orcus Great Labyrinth, 1st Floor.

"Come on, Sumire-San." Tatsuo said with a bitter smile on his face. "How long are you gonna stay mad at me for this?"

Instead of replying, Sumire pouted and turned her head away while pouting in a way that Tatsuo could only describe as adorable. However, he was smart enough to not put that put that thought into words.

"I told you I would help when I finished making our shelter, didn't I?" Tatsuo asked.

"You said help!" Sumire shouted with a whine. "What you did was not help. What you did was. Kill. Stealing! And that's. So. Not. Cool!"

Tatsuo had been trying to convince Sumire to forgive him for the last half an hour after killing the bear-like magic beast before her battle with it could begin. All the while, he had been doing his best to hold back his laughter. However, when he heard her shout, he finally lost it.

"Hahahaha!" Tatsuo laughed uproariously.

Immediately, Sumire snapped her head in Tatsuo's direction, intending to yell at him again. However, when she saw his happy, child-like smile that accompanied his laughter, she felt the desire to rage die in its infancy.

"Hah… Hah… I'm sorry, Sumire-San." Tatsuo said while wiping the tears from his eyes. "I'm really sorry for stealing your kill like that. So, please… Hah... Please tell me… how can I make it up to you?"

While Tatsuo got his laughter under control, Sumire only stared at his smile blankly. And when Tatsuo noticed her current state, his smile turned from innocent and child-like to as charming as possible over the next few seconds. And Sumire's face reddened proportionally.

'I'll have to admit, learning the art of seduction from that bitch, Christie, wasn't so bad now that I get to see Sumire-San like this.' Tatsuo thought to himself.

While that thought was running through his head, Tatsuo made a point of leaning forward, bringing his face into range for a kiss. Yet, he was ready to pull back if he felt Sumire tensing up to lean forward, as well.

"Well… Um.. I… Uh… I'll tell you… Um… later…" Sumire stuttered out while her heart started racing due to the proximity. "Yeah… I'll tell you later. So, why don't we get to doing some actual work, okay?"

By the end of her little outburst, Sumire was talking so fast that if Tatsuo hadn't been superhuman, he would have had a really hard time understanding what she said. Still, he maintained his position for a bit longer before backing away with a nod. Though, he still had one thing left to say.

"Okay, I'll be waiting." Tatsuo said. Then, he licked his lips seductively before continuing. "Just let me know when you're ready to collect. And you should know, there's very little I'm not willing to do to make you happy again."

"*Gulp!*" Sumire gulped audibly, some not so child-friendly images running through her head. However, she snapped out of her indecent fantasies soon enough, though her neck and ears turned red, as well. "*Cough* Anyway, should we get started already?"

"Before we do that, I wanna show you some of the features I added to the shelter." Tatsuo said with a smile.

Tatsuo then directed Sumire's attention to a magic circle carved into the center of the area's floor.

"This is for any cooking that we might need to do." Tatsuo said.

"Oh, a [Spark] magic circle." Sumire said, recognizing the magic circle from the ones she learned from the magic instructors in the capital.

[Spark] is a spell that creates a flame with the aid of the caster's mana. Depending on how intricate the magic circle, the flames heat and intensity can be controlled at will, as well. And with Tatsuo's [Magic Circle Creation] Skill, Tatsuo had made a cooking surface as precise as a modern gas stove.

"That will come in handy." Sumire said while nodding her head in approval. "But… We're not going to be here that long, right? Was something so elaborate even necessary?"

"It was." Tatsuo replied with a nod of his own. "I mean, I'm used to the finer things in life. So, it's only natural."

"If you say so." Sumire replied while shaking her head with an exasperated smile on her face.

"Anyway, let's move on." Tatsuo continued as he pointed to another part of the area.

When Sumire looked where he was pointing, she could not help but blush. That was because what Tatsuo pointed to was, for all intents and purposes, a bathroom. There were a makeshift toilet, shower, and bathtub set up in one area of the shelter. And like the cooking area, they all used magic power to create water, heat the water, and remove any waste. Sumire even suspected that there was a magic circle built somewhere in that set up that would remove any unpleasant smells, as well.

Also, surrounding the bathroom area, as well as the shower, were curtains haingon stone rails [Transmuted] from the rocks making up the space.

"I wanna say you're going too far with this, but having somewhere I can take a bath and wash clothes is nice." Sumire said.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like that." Tatsuo replied while smiling proudly. "Plus, going out to find a place to do your business on the floor doesn't sound very pleasant, does it?"

Sumire shuddered after imagining leaving the shelter to pop a squat in an unassuming part of the labyrinth floor.

"Lastly, there's our bedrooms." Tatsuo said, pointing to the last section of the shelter. "I even made some beds. And because I knew where we would be coming on this [Mission], I even brought a few mattresses in my [Inventory]."

"When did you have time to get those?" Sumire asked curiously.

"Before we left the castle, I took the ones in yours, mine, and James' rooms." Tatsuo replied with a shrug. "It may cause a little stir when the maids realize that the mattresses and bedding are missing, but I don't think it will set the royal family back by very much."

Sumire could only smile exasperatedly at Tatsuo's reply while smiling bitterly. Even so, she was more inclined to just let Tatsuo's act of thievery slide since she would rather sleep on a comfortable mattress than a stone bed or the cave floor.

"James is gonna be annoyed when he sees is bed is missing, too." Sumire replied while a small smile crept onto her face. "Hmph! Serves him right for calling me old."

"Anyway, shall we get to the point of our trip down here?" Tatsuo asked with a smile, amused by Sumire's response.

As he spoke, Tatsuo pulled out the corpse of one of the Lightning Wolves they killed when they first arrived in the True Orcus Great Labyrinth.

"Okay." Sumire replied with a nod. "I'll just clean this up and get it prepped for cooking.

Grabbing the Lightning Wolf by one of its hind legs, Sumire went about draining its blood, though she understood it would take a while. Luckily, Tatsuo, at her request, devised a magic circle that would speed up the process of draining of its blood.

Half an hour later, after the blood was drained, the wolf was skinned, and the meat was separated, Sumire, using a pan that Tatsuo created from Taur Metal, began frying up the Lightning Wolf's meat. Also, because Tatsuo could use his [Inventory], she had a variety of spices and seasonings to use in her cooking, as well.

"If only we had some rice and a rice cooker." Sumire mumbled as she flipped the food in the pan. "Although the food in this world isn't bad, not having rice with our meals feels strange."

"Yeah, I didn't think that far ahead." Tatsuo muttered. "I didn't bring any with me from home."

As he spoke, Tatsuo was busy devising a magic circle for another purpose. Above him, the Divinity Stone the shelter was built around was shining with a gentle blue glow. Below him, a basin was collecting the Ambrosia that dripped from it.

"By the way, what are you doing, Tatsuo-Kun?" Sumire asked curiously.

"Oh, I'm making a magic circle that will draw in ambient mana." Tatsuo replied. "We don't wanna run out of Ambrosia, right?"

"So, you're going to artificially saturate the divinity Stone?" Sumire asked in a tone filled with interest.

"Yeah." Tatsuo replied with a nod. "Although I'm sure we can get quite a bit of Ambrosia from it, it definitely won't be enough to sustain us for the whole time we're here."

"That's a good idea." Sumire replied as she flipped the meat again. "But you can work on that later. For now, let's eat."

Though she said that, as Sumire plated the wolf meat, the apprehension in her expression could not be hidden. Still, there was no hesitation in her movements. She was already aware of the danger she would be putting herself in by eating this monster meat. She was also ready for the pain it would inflict.

But what made Sumire the most nervous was the description of Hajime's appearance after he first ate monster meat. She really did not want to have to dye her hair black if it turned white thanks to the pain she would feel during the mutation process. She would even have to wear colored contacts after returning to her world if her eyes turned red, too.

"Alright." Tatsuo replied as he put down his pen and pad. Then, he dipped a small cup made of stone into the collected Ambrosia, filling it up, as he continued. "I think you should go first. That way, if something happens, I'll be here to feed you the Ambrosia."

"Does it really matter who goes first?" Sumire asked curiously. "I mean, either one of us can help the other, right?"

"That's true." Tatsuo replied. "I'm just worried about you. And I don't' wanna be too tired from my own transformation when it's your turn."

Hearing the concern in Tatsuo's tone, Sumire felt a warmth invading her heart. Though she wanted Tatsuo to go first for the same reason, she ended up giving in because of the warm fuzzies she was feeling.

"Okay.' Sumire replied as she lowered her head with a blush on her face. "Then, I'll start."

Sitting the plate in front of her on the floor, Sumire used the fork and knife Tatsuo crafted from Taur Metal to cut a piece of the still steaming meat. Then, after hesitating for a moment, she made eye contact with Tatsuo, who gave her a reassuring smile, before stuffing the forkful of meat into her mouth.

"*Chew* *Chew* It doesn't have much flavor, even after I seasoned it." Sumire grumbled while chewing her food. "But at least it's not gross."

"That's good." Tatsuo replied.

A moment later, Sumire swallowed the meat. Then, she waited for something to happen.

About ten seconds later, Sumire felt something. A pain in her stomach that was quickly spreading to the rest of her body.

"Ah~~! It hurts." Sumire groaned as she curled up, holding her stomach. However, in the short time it took her to say those few words, the pain she felt increased exponentially. "Argh~~~~~~~!"

Reacting quickly to Sumire's pained scream, Tatsuo, with the cup of Ambrosia in hand, picked up Sumire, sat down cross legged, and cradled her to his chest. Then, he carefully fed her a mouthful of the Ambrosia from the cup.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Tatsuo said in a soothing tone with one arm wrapped around Sumire while the other was ready to feed her another mouthful of Ambrosia if necessary. "Don't think about the pain, just focus on my voice, okay?"

Unfortunately, Sumire was unable to respond, as she continued to scream unintelligibly. The magic poison in the meat was constantly breaking her body down, cell by cell. And that was excruciating. But to make it even worse, the Ambrosia she just drank was rebuilding her body just as quickly. And the cycle of creation and destruction going on within her was almost enough to shatter her mind.

This process went on for nearly an hour, with Sumire screaming at the top of her lungs nearly the entire time. And because of the strength of her physique, her voice never went hoarse, so her screams echoed around the shelter and the area surrounding it the entire time.

Luckily, the pained screams were enough to frighten off any Lightning wolves or Kickmaster Rabbits that approached during that time. Otherwise, Tatsuo would have had to leave Sumire to her own devices for a while to deal with them.

Eventually, Sumire's screams died down. Instead, she was left gasping for air while she was covered in sweat. In fact, she ad sweat so heavily during her mutation that her clothes were completely soaked and clinging to her body. Even Tatsuo, who had been cradling her to his chest, had been soaked by her sweat.

Even so, Tatsuo held onto Sumire, and continued to do so to give her a sense of security while she underwent such an ordeal.

"*Pant* *Pant* I think it's.. *Pant* over." Sumire rasped out. "But I'm so… *Pant* tired now."

"*Sigh* It's okay." Tatsuo replied as he placed the cup of Ambrosia next to him on the floor. Then, with his hand free, he started patting and stroking Sumire's head to help relax her. "As long as you're safe, everything is fine. Just get some rest. We can deal with anything else after you've recovered."

Nodding in agreement, Sumire shifted her body to get more comfortable. Though, thanks to her fatigue, shifting into a more comfortable position proved to be more challenging than she expected. However, before she could try again, Sumire felt her wet clothing sticking to her body. Then, she stopped to think about why she would be all wet.

A moment later, with her face turning a bright shade of red, Sumire shot up to her feet and out of Tatsuo's embrace as if her fatigue had only been an illusion.

"I'm gonna take a shower first." Sumire said as she walked unsteadily to the bathroom area Tatsuo had set up.

Luckily, there was a curtain he had set up, as well. So, with clumsy movements thanks to her still spasming muscles, Sumire sectioned off the area with the curtain. Then, she quickly got undressed, dropping her sweat soaked clothes onto the floor, before activating the magic circles Tatsuo set up to take a hot shower.

Meanwhile, Tatsuo watched Sumire with amusement flickering in his eyes. At the same time, he could not help watching her walk away while her wet clothing stuck to her wide hips and full butt.

"I hate to see her leave…" Tatsuo muttered quietly.

A few moments later, Tatsuo could hear the sound of the water falling to the floor from the [Water Creation] magic circle he had inscribed into the ceiling of the shelter. So, he went back to working on the magic circle that would draw ambient mana into the Divinity Stone.

'Oh. My. Goodness!' Sumire thought to herself while letting the warm water produced by the magic circles wash over her body. 'I can't believe I sweated so much while Tatsuo-Kun was holding me. So~ embarrassing.'

Reaching that point, Sumire began to squirm in place while covering her burning red cheeks with her hands. And that lasted for a few moments. However, as she calmed down, she realized something. Something that she had forgotten.

'I don't have soap, a towel, or anything to wash myself with.' Sumire muttered internally. 'I forgot to ask Tatsuo-Kun to take out a set of clothes for me from his [Inventory], too.'

As previously mentioned, Sumire did not have the ability to use her Inventory in this world. So, all the clothing she packed before starting the [Mission] could not be worn. However, after reaching Tortus, during their time away from training, Sumire bought more than a few sets of clothes from the stores in the capital and had Tatsuo store them for her in his [Inventory].

"Um… Tatsuo-Kun…" Sumire said, barely loud enough to be heard over the flowing water.

"Yeah? What's up?" Tatsuo asked.

"Do you have soap, a wash cloth, and a towel?" Sumire asked, sounding rather embarrassed to do so. "I'll need some of the clothes you put in your Inventory for me, too."

"Yeah, I got it." Tatsuo replied. "Just give me a second."

"O-Okay." Sumire said, lowering her head to hide her blush, despite the fact that no one would be able to see her.

A few moments later, Sumire heard the sound of Tatsuo's footsteps drawing nearer. Then, she heard the sound of the outer most curtain shifting. Clearly, Tatsuo had entered the bathroom area. Lastly, she heard the sound of him setting down something soft, mostly the towel and her clothing.

"Alright, I'm gonna throw the soap and the wash cloth over the curtain.

"O-Okay." Sumire replied.

A moment later, a bar of soap and a wash cloth sailed over the rail holding up the shower curtain, which Sumire caught easily. Then, she heard the sound of Tatsuo walking out of the bathroom area.

"Thank you… Tasuo-Kun." Sumire said in amosquito-like voice.

"Take your time.' Tatsuo said, a hint of laughter in his tone.

Sumire did not respond. Though, she did start washing herself rather quickly.

After washing off all her sweat, Sumire deactivated the magic circles. Then, after shifting the shower curtain, she looked around. Quickly, Sumire found the clothes and the towel folded neatly sitting on the makeshift toilet seats lid.

Sumire then walked over, picked up the towel, and started drying herself off. While she did that, she inspected the clothing Tatsuo picked out for her.

Instead of any of the fancier clothes she had bought in the capital, Sumire noticed that Tatsuo chose clothes that would be easy to move in. Mostly, he had made that choice just in case they had to move out quickly. Then, Sumire froze when she saw the undergarments lying next to the outer clothes.

However, she did not panic. It was natural for Tatsuo to lay out a set of bra and panties for her. She did not want to go commando, after all. She didn't even blush. At least, that's what she would tell anyone who asked. As for the red on her cheeks, it was because of the lighting in the shelter. The fact that all the lighting in the shelter was either green or blue was irrelevant.

While getting dressed after drying off, Sumire looked into the makeshift mirror, a sheet of polished metal that Tatsuo had created with [Alchemy]. And she finally realized that something about her had changed.

Originally, Sumire had long black hair with natural grey highlights and green eyes. And although her eyes did not change color like Hajime's did in the canon, her hair had undergone a significant change. For one, the grey highlights were completely gone. However, that did not mean that her hair had become pure black. Instead, there was a white streak of hair on the left side of her head.

"It… It really happened." Sumire muttered as she reached up and grabbed a lock of white hair. "and Tatsuo-Kun probably already saw it. But at least he didn't' laugh at me."

Shaking off those thoughts, Sumire finished getting dressed. Then, she left the bathing area. When she did, she saw Tatsuo sitting on the floor working on the magic circle.

Hesitating for a moment, Sumire eventually made her way over to Tatsuo. Then, she subconsciously pushed the white bang her new highlight created out of her face.

"I'm done." Sumire said quietly.

Looking up from his drawing, Tatsuo smiled at Sumire. And to Sumire's relief, there was no laughter or mockery in his smile.

"it looks good on you." Tatsuo said.

Hearing that, Suimre's nerves settled by quite a bit.

'Maybe I'll leave it this way.' Sumire thought to herself while stroking the bang she just moved out of her face.

"Anyway, it's your turn now, right?" Sumire asked.

"Yeah." Tatsuo replied while nodding his head. His smile disappearing, replaced by a solemn expression.

"Okay." Sumire said, turning around and walking over to the cooking area as she did so.. "I'll warm up the food for you."

"Don't worry about it." Tatsuo replied as he stood up to follow Sumire. "I'm not picky about that."

"If you say so.," Sumire said before cutting a piece of meat for Tatsuo, putting it on a plate, and handing it to him.

After handing Tatsuo his plate, Sumire sat on the floor. Then, she patted the spot next to her, signaling Tatsuo to sit down, as well.

Taking Sumire up on her offer, Tatsuo sat next to her. However, before he started eating, he looked at her with aserious expression. .

"Before I do this, you should check your status." Tatsuo said. "We need to make sure you got at least, [Magic Manipulation]."

Sumire's eyes widened to a comical degree after hearing Tatsuo's suggestion. Then she shot up to her feet and ran to the bathing area, rummaged through her discarded clothing, took her Status Plate, and returned as quickly as she could.

"You're right." Sumire said as she sat down next to Tatsuo again. "Okay, let's see… "I got the skill. [Magic Manipulation's] right here. That means I should be able to use my mana without a magic circle now, right?"

"Yeah." Tatsuo replied. "What about a lightning skill?"

"Nuh uh." Sumire replied while shaking her head. "My stats went up a little, though. They're all over three hundred now."

"Well, I guess we can't expect to get skills from every magic beast we eat." Tatsuo said with a shrug. "It would have been nice if you could coat your spear in lightning, though."

"That sounds dangerous… and painful." Sumire replied.

"Only for your enemies, though.' Tatsuo pointed out.

"I guess that's true." Sumire replied. "Anyway, you can start eating now."

"Okay." Tatsuo said as he put the plate on the floor in front of him and picked up the fork and knife. "Well then, here goes."

With that, Tatsuo cut a piece of meat before unhesitatingly putting it in his mouth and starting to chew.