Free Web NovelChapter 295: Two Nymphs
"...So... um... w-what should I call you?" I ask Nerina’s friend as we’re all sitting at the table, and I’m serving them drinks. I can’t believe they both saw me in such an embarrassing test moment.
"You can call me Arial, little fruit." When she says it like that, I feel strange, especially with the way she refers to me.
’Little fruit? Like actual fruit? Is it because I’m serving fruit?’ I glance at the fruit on the table. The island kind of only has fruit, a few small animals, and mostly monsters around. Nothing else, so all I have left to serve is fruit.
"Ah, right. You can call me Evelyn... are you an ocean nymph too? Not trying to insult you... but you seem weak?"
"..." Her expression keeps the smile on her face.
"It makes sense to think that. I have less magic than Nerina, but I’m without my two cores, so I’m not weak, just weakened. Plus, my real body isn’t here, so I emit very little magic. But no, I’m not an ocean nymph."
"I’m a lake nymph, which is... weaker... however, I have interesting things that Nerina doesn’t. Besides, I can teach you lots of fun things." She blows me a little kiss with the palm of her hand.
"H-Hahaha... do we know each other? I... feel like I know you?" Unlike Nerina-sensei, who I didn’t feel much from, with Arial I strangely feel something—not necessarily bad.
But I feel like she was part of my past somehow. Hearing what I say, she loses her smile for a moment.
"Oh yes, we have a contract. You wouldn’t forget it completely, obviously. I wouldn’t say we were great friends, but we were acquaintances who made fair exchanges."
"And I even helped you once by giving my powers temporarily for some uses. In fact, I also helped you with an emotional problem you had in the past involving... your wife... but I guess you don’t want to know about that?" When she talks about that, I feel a bit uncomfortable.
"I-I guess so. It’s kind of uncomfortable... although I appreciate you helping me. Thank you, Arial." When I thank her, since I don’t feel anything bad and she said she helped me, she seems completely surprised.
"It’s a bit strange to see you thank me, but of course, whenever you need help, just ask. After all, I’m always open to a deal." She says, picking up her glass and drinking the fruit juice.
"Nerina-sensei, you brought your friend here to help train me, right?" Arial has such a sweet scent... so... good. It’s strange, but I like her smell. It’s very different from Nerina-sensei’s bloody scent. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
"Yes. You want to learn more about your nymph powers, right? It’s complicated to teach that alone, but since we’re together, how about the two of us teach you soul attacks?" When I hear about soul attacks, I almost spit the juice in my mouth.
"Really?!!" I get alarmed by this. I know what it is, even if I don’t know how to use it, and knowing how to use that would be incredible!! Just imagine using it to create a puppet that can attack the soul!
"Yes. Nymphs are spiritual beings; most know how to use soul attacks, even if just the basics. Interacting with souls is easy." Nerina-sensei speaks confidently.
"Wow! I want to learn that too!!" I’ve been learning so many things, and if combined, they’ll help me a lot in the future in whatever I want to do!! My tail starts wagging from side to side excitedly as I finish my glass of juice.
"Before anything else, Evelyn, what is that little thing?" Arial points to a little 30-centimeter doll that looks like me. The little doll hops off the arm of the sofa, running to my leg and climbing it to get up on the table.
"Hnfn!" She makes a low sound while standing with erect posture and a confident expression.
"This little doll is a test. I’m giving her other puppets." I created this small doll to test the ability to sacrifice puppets to fortify other puppets. With the materials Nerina-sensei has been giving me, I’ve been making puppets with abilities and sacrificing them to give their powers to this little doll.
"She looks really cute." Arial pokes and gently rubs her head. But before I can say something proud about my creation, Arial grabs her by the waist and slips a finger under her skirt.
"W-What are you doing!!" I try to grab the little doll from her hand, but she pulls her hand away and keeps rubbing her finger under the doll’s skirt while the little doll makes a confused expression.
"Stop!! Hey! Hey!! She wasn’t made for that!" She raises her hand up, not letting me grab it while Nerina-sensei lets out a little laugh. I climb onto the table to get it, but she climbs onto the table too, not letting me reach.
"Give her back! Hey, give her back!!" I try to jump, but I can’t reach. However, just as I’m about to jump higher, I notice her gaze is entirely on me, and then I realize I’ve been tricked.
"Y-You pervert." I get off the table quickly, having realized the deception.
"Just showing you, little fruit. Nymphs don’t rely on magic to ’seduce.’ Analyze personality and predict actions. I made you rub your breasts against me without asking for anything. That’s how nymphs play the unfair game we call life." She tosses the doll into my hands, and I place her on the floor. She runs off, hiding under the sofa.
"Th-That wasn’t fair at all..." I mutter, frustrated at being tricked.
"No, it’s not fair. After all, nymphs don’t play fair. We are beings of seduction. We can’t forget that actions are easy to control. If we were in a lake, you’d have fallen right into my sweet trap by now." She does something Nerina-sensei has never done so blatantly.
"W-What supposedly would be the use of me tricking someone like that? Besides, you apparently know me, but I don’t know you. How could I possibly understand someone’s personality just by looking at them for a few seconds?" I question, confused, sitting back down.
"Little fruit, don’t be so green."
’Green!!? She’s really treating me like I’m some kind of fruit!!’
"Anything indicates emotion. For example, I’ll evaluate you now. Your posture is confident, but your voice stutters sometimes, so you trust Nerina, but you don’t fully trust the environment she’s providing at the moment."
"Your clothes—you wear a very detailed dress, indicative of high vanity, but you’re wearing no panties, which can mean you’re comfortable enough with the situation." freёweɓnovel.com
"Action, too. You trust me. If you didn’t trust me, you wouldn’t have tried to take the doll from my hand. You would have felt uncomfortable and asked Nerina for help."
"And your tail. Your tail wagged like a happy little animal as soon as Nerina proposed teaching you something you liked, so you see Nerina as a master and trust her."
"Furthermore—"
"O-Okay!! Okay!! I get it!! I’m predictable... stop taking my body apart like I’m a little doll." I say, a bit uncomfortable with how she predicted my feelings and actions just by observing.
And worst of all, it’s not old stuff. It’s new things from the present, current feelings that she knew how to observe and use almost instantaneously.
"Nerina-sensei, can you do that too?" I question with a slightly cooled curiosity.
"I can. Although I’m not as precise as Arial, because most of the living beings I met were people who wanted to die. The ocean, unfortunately, is a place where, for some reason, suicidal people think it’s good for their final moments. That diminished my capacity for sentimental and behavioral prediction."
’Makes sense...’ I look at Arial, who is also completely naked just like Nerina-sensei. I raise my gaze to her eyes and smile, then follow my gaze to her hands.
’I don’t know... what could she want?’ Her smile is different from Nerina-sensei’s. Hers is more predatory, her gaze emptier, as if she’s seeing beyond me, as if she’s observing my insides.
And her hands indicate nothing. She’s made of water; there’s not much I can read from her body.
"Nerina-sensei... why do you hide your core?" When I say that, both of them seem tense. They both avert their gazes while I quickly understand.
"...That’s not fair to me." There’s no way to read them, not because it isn’t possible, but because I just now realized I already knew a piece of information: apparently, nymph cores have something to do with their emotions.
I don’t remember where I learned that, but if I can’t see their cores, there’s no point in trying to read their bodies. They’re just solid, liquid, or gaseous matter simulating a body, and their real emotions are in their cores.
Me, on the other hand, I have a flesh body, and I’m not just a nymph but also a demon, so my body is much more expressive.
"Evelyn, don’t worry so much. All nymphs hide their cores, but you can use this with other people. Besides, just the fact that you noticed this shows you have great assessment capabilities." Nerina-sensei praises me.
"Hmph. Compliments won’t change my mind... I’m going to go sleep for a bit... Arial, there’s an extra room next to the room I made for Nerina-sensei." I tell her with a small wave as I head to my room, a bit sulky about the situation.
After all, despite her having read me like a book, part of it was manipulation—using what she learned to build a narrative that seemed truthful in order to control me.
’I want to learn how to do that too!!’ It seems impressive, even if I’m sulking.
