I got all dressed up for my date with Delmare today just like my date with Lisa.
Katsuki also seemed much more experienced in helping me with my makeup than before since Mary only told her off once while she was doing it, which meant she most likely practised a lot in the past week.
I was put in another dress before I was out the door to meet Delmare by the front gates.
I was expecting her to be using her Somatomancy to transform her tail into legs but I was surprised to see that she was waiting for me outside without using that magic.
Instead, she had laid out a cloth so that she could sit on the ground with her fish half to wait for me.
She was also wearing a dress with a design that matched with mine too, so we already looked like a couple with our clothing alone.
“Delmare?” I called out to her, making her jump when she heard my voice.
“Ah! Aster! Did you wait long? I just got here! I… I… Wow…”
I was about to point out that she was the one doing the waiting when I realised she was stuck staring up at me with her mouth wide open, just like what happened to Lisa.
Really? I’m pretty sure you’re just exaggerating it at this point… You’ve already seen me in makeup before.
Unless today’s look worse than last week’s?!
No, no… That’s not possible… If that was the case, Mary would have said something about it. That means Katsuki did such a good job with the makeup that Delmare was surprised by it?
I guess that’s why she chose to wait in her Siren form so that she doesn’t break her concentration and cause her transformation to break apart.
I waved my hand in front of her, “Delmare? Are you alright?”
“Abababa– Wha?”
I giggled, “Come on now, it’s our date, remember?”
“Ah… Yes! That’s right! Ummm! Did you wait long, Aster?”
“Eheheh~ I should be asking you that, Delmare~ Did you wait long?”
“Oh! Not at all! I just got here!”
Well of course you did, you live here after all… So all you did was come out here and wait for me after you heard from the maids that I was done with my preparations.
I then shifted my attention to her tail, “Umm… Are you going to transform your tail?”
She poked her fingers together, “Umm… Umm… If it’s not a bother… Could I ask Aster to carry me?”
Oh right, unlike with Lisa where I was the one being ‘escorted’, I would be ‘escorting’ Delmare today.
I did a curtsy to her, “Of course my lady~ If you would allow me to carry you in my arms?”
“Awawawa~ O… Of course!”
I then reached down and picked the Siren up in a princess carry, the girl blushing in embarrassment despite being the one to suggest it.
She wrapped her arms around my neck to steady herself while I held her close to my chest and stood up.
But when I did so, she suddenly pulled away to look at my chest, “Mmm? Aster? Did your chest get bigger?”
How the heck are you even able to tell?! All you did was press your face against it!
I sighed, “Yes… Apparently I did… I had to wear new underwear because of that today…”
“Kukuku~ I guess Aster is still a growing futa after all~”
I had no rebuttal to that since it was true.
“Are you comfortable?” I asked while adjusting my grip on her.
“Eh? Ah! Y… Yes!”
𝑂𝑽𝒍xt.𝗇𝓔t
“Ufufu~ That’s good. Allow me to carry us to our destination then~ Where are we headed today?”
“Ah… Ah… We… We could just go to… Umm… The place that Lisa brought Aster to…”
“You mean the Star Cavern?”
“No… The place where they rent out boats…”
I nodded, “I know the place. Hang on tight then!”
She tightened her grip on me while I let my wings explode out from my back, giving them a powerful flap while I leapt up into the air and took to the skies.
Delmare let out a yelp of glee as we flew through the air, the Siren enjoying the feeling of flying as much as I was.
“The city is beautiful from up here, Aster~” The Siren muttered, looking down at the city without any sign of fear.
“It really is~” I replied, before deciding to copy what Delmare said to me yesterday. “But still not as beautiful as you, Delmare~”
“Ahhhh! Stop! Please stop, Aster! My heart won’t be able to take it! Ahhhh!!” She screamed, while covering her face with embarrassment.
She really is cute~
I banked to one side to adjust my course, angling myself to use the shore as a reference to locate the pier’s location.
Soon enough, I found the pier right below us and swooped in for a landing, dropping the both of us just in front of the hut.
The same old man was there in front of the hut and he waved at me when he saw me land there, “Hoy there young’un! I see yer here with a different one dis’ time! Coming to rent a boat again? Ah, I s’ppose dis time yer only need one fer’ yer’ self?”
Obviously he saw the fish half of Delmare so he assumed that she would not need to be on the boat with me. Not that I was intending to rent one in the first place since I don’t know where my Siren lover intended to lead me to.
I turned to Delmare to make sure and she quickly shook her head, “Ah… Ummm… We don’t need a boat, sir… But thank you!”
“No mind, no mind. Jus’ go ‘head and enjoy yer’ selves~ The seas be nice today too.”
Delmare then turned to me and pointed out at sea, “We… We can dive there~ I’ll guide you to where we should go~”
She already knew I could breathe underwater so it’s not a surprise that she would ask for something like this.
I leapt up into the air again with her in my arms, flying right above the sea until I was right above where she had pointed.
Quickly casting the [Air Pocket] spell on myself, I dived into the sea with Delmare in my arms.
Since that also creates a pocket of air around my head, the makeup that Katsuki spent so much time on was not ruined.
The moment she was in her element, the Siren swam away from me and righted herself before reaching out her hand to me with a smile on her face..
I grasped it and she started to pull me along, taking over the leading role as she pulled me behind her deeper down into the depths of the sea.
The water slowly got darker and darker until one would not be able to see their hand even if they were to stretch it out in front of them.
But thanks to my Umbramancy, I was able to see my surroundings at least.
Several species of fishes I’ve never seen before swam past us while we went even deeper into the waters.
I was about to ask where we were going when she suddenly turned and pulled me towards a rock at the bottom.
I looked around and saw that there wasn’t anything special about the place and wondered why she would bring me here until she pointed at the rock wall itself.
She let go of my hand and started pushing against the wall, causing a part of it to come loose and I quickly realised that it was actually the entrance of a cave with a boulder rolled there to cover it.
I’m going to guess that Delmare was the one who covered it so that no one else would be able to find this place while she wasn’t here.
She must have felt really sore that Lisa brought me to the Star Cavern before she did.
I wanted to help her move the boulder but she managed to push it away by herself leaving just enough of a gap for the both of us to swim through.
She took my hand again and pulled me in through the entrance, revealing a tunnel that seemed to lead deeper down into the bowels of the earth.
I really doubt that anyone else would even be able to come here since you would need to be able to breathe underwater to reach this far. Anyone else would have simply just drowned.
And those that could breathe underwater most likely wouldn’t come here anyway.
I was starting to think that she had wanted to have a completely underwater date when the tunnel curved upwards to end in a pool inside an underground cavern of sorts.
There were some luminescent mushrooms growing on the walls that provided a light source while a small tree was growing in the middle of the cavern.
The entire sight was giving off an eerie kind of beauty.
“Ehehehe~ What do you think, Aster?”
“It’s beautiful~ How did you find this place?”
“Well… After that day with Lisa… I went to swim around here hoping to find somewhere else to bring you and found this place by accident~”
So I guess this is where we’re having our date? It certainly does feel like a place Delmare would bring me~
Not that I’m complaining though! This place really is beautiful~