Shield Hero: A New Hero

Chapter 14

Slowly opening my eyes, I noticed I was still in the room I rented. Sitting up, I saw Makoto and Daenerys, their heads resting beside me on the bed, as they both slept.

Glancing down, I saw my shirt was off and my chest and left arm were wrapped in bandages. Lifting the covers, I moved my legs slightly, only for Makoto to suddenly spring up. Looking at me, a few seconds passed before she suddenly pounced, wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Hey." I gently returned the embrace.

Pulling away, she wiped her eyes. "How long have I been out?"

"4 days." Daenerys said. I looked to her as she stood up and walked over to me. We shared a hug for a few seconds before she pulled away.

"What happened?"

"You had been injected with some sort of venom." she replied. "I found a doctor shortly after you passed out. He asked what did this to you, but I didn't know. He then asked for symptoms."

"What'd you tell him?" I asked while gesturing to my shirt, which laid on the dest. Makoto noticed and handed it over so I could put it on.

"I didn't know what to tell him, so he started asking different symptoms, feverish, pains, that sort of thing." she continued. "I told him that you were feverish and had felt some sort of pain in your shoulder, and that you were easily angry. After I told him that, he said he knew what kind of venom it was and rushed to his shop to prepare an antidote. He came back a few minutes later with a small cup, a bowl of water and some bandages."

I kept quiet.

"He got you to drink the antidote before dipping the bandages in the water and carefully wrapping them around your body." Daenerys continued. "After that, he just said we had to wait for you to wake up."

"What was-" I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked over to see Makoto holding a piece of paper. "It was a type of holy water." I read. "He dipped the bandages in holy water?"

Makoto nodded her head.

"Did he say if I was fit for travel or not?" I asked.

"He said you should rest for a few days." Daenerys replied. "Then he gave us directions to a village that had a...uh...hm..." she looked down in thought. "Hot...spring? I think that's what he said."

"There are hot springs here?" I looked over to Makoto and she nodded. "How far?"

"It's actually the next village over." Daenerys replied.

"Good." I got to my feet. Wincing, I held my side as it began to ache.

"Are you sure you're okay to go anywhere?"

"I'm just a bit sore. It's nothing." I replied. "C'mon."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah." I grabbed my boots and cloak, putting them on before heading for the door. "Besides, a hot spring sounds relaxing."

An hour later

Reaching the next village over, we parked the carriage before heading to the hot springs. Paying for a room, we each grabbed a towel. Me and Makoto also put our spare clothes out on the beds to change into for when we got back. Makoto and Daenerys stripped out of their clothes while my back was turned, wrapping their towels around themselves, before heading off ahead while I made sure to have extra bandages prepared for when I dried off.

Once I was done with that, I took the bandages off that were on me and found my veins had gone, mostly, back to normal. Stripping out of the rest of my clothes, I wrapped the towel around my waist and headed for the door.

Opening it, I almost bumped right into Makoto. "Oh, hey." She looked me up and down, her face turning a soft red, before motioning me to follow her. I noticed her body was already wet. "Makoto?"

She waved her hand before gesturing for me to follow her. "Okay..."

She led me to one of the hot springs. It had a statue in the center. It showed a man, with his fist in the air. A woman, caressing the man's chest. And some sort of boar at their feet.

"Makoto, I-" I trailed off as Makoto glanced back at me, her face an even darker red than before, as she removed her towel. I immediately looked away as I felt my face heat up. Hearing Makoto enter the hot spring, I did my best to keep myself from taking a peek.

Turning around to leave, I cleared my throat. "So, I guess I'll just lea-" I was cut off as I felt some hot water hit my back. "Hey!" I turned around to see Makoto gesturing for me to join her. She had one hand over her chest while beckoning me with the other. "Alright..."

Slowly reaching for my towel, I saw Makoto was still staring. Motioning with my index finger for her to turn around, she stiffened a bit, as if realizing she was staring, before turning her back to me. Taking off my towel, I slid into the spring.

"Alright." I kept a bit of distance from Makoto since this was the first time I was naked with a woman and I had no idea what to do. "So, uh...what now...?"

Makoto slowly moved over to me. Backing away a bit, I felt extremely nervous. Pressing my back against the edge of the spring, Makoto moved over to me and grabbed my hand. "What are you..?" she pressed a finger against my lips before pulling me over to the statue. Moving in front of it, Makoto pointed to a sign under the figures.

Moving forward to get a better look at the words, Makoto pointed to the affects. "The affects of this hot spring are success in love." I read. "The couple that enters this hot spring together will be...united eternally." I glanced back at Makoto, who was nervously pressing her index fingers together, her face still a deep red. "I didn't think you-" she quickly and suddenly closed the gap between us. Surprise overtook me as she pressed her lips against mine.

Once she pulled away, I touched my lips. "I didn't think you thought of me in that way."

Makoto had her head bowed a bit as she looked up at me. I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "I have no idea what to-" Makoto kissed me again, but this time, I leaned into it.

Minutes later

Makoto and I didn't go any further than kissing before leaving the hot spring. Grabbing our towels, we dried off and went back to our room. I put on my pants as Makoto got dressed.

Grabbing the roll of bandages, Makoto gently took the from me. She began wrapping them around me. "Thanks."

She was done in under a minute, allowing me to put the rest of my clothes on. As I pulled my shirt over my head, Daenerys walked in. "We need to visit hot springs more often."

End of chapter 14