Senior, I've Come to Visit - Chapter 2

The trouble that came with the milk was no joke.

Milk leaked little by little throughout the entire day, so I had to tuck cloth into my underwear and replace it periodically. Most of all, I had to hand-express the milk from my ducts when my breasts filled up. The potion worked so well that it produced too much milk, but I couldn’t expel it fast enough, and that was how I ended up with this breast engorgement.

“Ahh….”

I kept moving my hands, enduring the pain. Making a magic potion was much easier; becoming the test subject was a hundred times harder. I didn’t know anything about breastfeeding and had learned how to hand-express only by reading books.

Every time I pushed from the areola to the nipple with both fingertips, milk squirted out with a sharp, shooting sound. The stream of milk was so strong that it stretched out long, and in some directions, it even splashed outside the bathtub.

“Hmph…!”

My whole chest was hard and flushed red, and I gently rubbed the spots that were especially red and stiff. I thought I needed to massage the blocked spots to loosen them, but the pain was so severe that it felt no different from self-inflicted harm. The area near my cleavage, the upper inside part of my chest, was especially bad. As I loosened the hardened spot and expressed the milk, a sudden dizziness washed over me.

“…!”

My body twitched, and my head spun.

This won’t do….

I alternated between resting and expressing small amounts of milk. After removing milk for a while and washing myself clean one last time, I finished the long bath.

When I came out of the bathroom, it was still early morning. Lupina must have left for work by now. I slipped a thin outer garment over my pajamas and uncovered the crystal sphere.

The Magic Tower’s research wing, Magic Potion Development Department, Team 3.

Once I connected to the team I belonged to, Lupina appeared shortly after.

—Eloise! Is something wrong?

Her startled face reflected in the crystal sphere.

“Senior, I’m sorry, but I’d like to take a day off today. I came down with a feverish illness.”

—Goodness, there’s nothing to apologize for. Rest, rest! Your face is bright red. Did you take a fever reducer?

“…I’m going to take it soon.”

—Make sure you take it. You must’ve overworked yourself lately. Don’t think about anything today and just rest!

“Yes, thank you.”

The connection cut off shortly after.

Is this my first day off since joining the Magic Tower?

I wanted to go to work if possible, but staying home was clearly better today. It was better than when I first got up after expressing milk, but there was still a heavy pool sitting inside my breasts. They throbbed and ached like tiny needles were poking me. My feverish head felt dizzy, and my hot body shivered with chills.

For today, I planned to rest at home while expressing milk periodically.

Then I’d get better without taking any medicine.

Even though fever reducers and painkillers—magic potions, really—were scattered all over the house, I couldn’t take them. They could affect the experiment. I had to avoid everything except the lactation-enhancing potion I was testing.

Should I adjust the dosage a bit….

If the Queen took it later, she’d probably breastfeed the baby frequently, so it might be just right. The problem was me at the Magic Tower, where expressing milk or even changing cloths was troublesome. For now, I decided to keep the dosage as it was and took today’s potion.

Returning to the bedroom, I lay on the bed and pulled the blanket over myself.

At a time when I’d normally be at work, lying here like this felt strangely pleasant. But my breasts were swollen and sore, so I couldn’t lie on my side or on my stomach; I had to lie flat. Planning to sleep and then get up to express milk again, I closed my eyes.

***

Ding-dong-

“…?”

Half asleep, it felt like I’d heard something.

As I blankly blinked my eyes, a few seconds later, the ding-dong doorbell rang again.

Who is it?

I got out of bed and started walking.

There was no one who’d come looking for me.

If it were my older sister Iella, she’d be at the herb shop working at this hour, and she thought I’d gone to the Magic Tower, so there was no way she’d come. Standing behind the front door, I asked cautiously.

“…Who is it?”

“Senior, it’s Nardi!”

Nardi?

Startled, I hesitated, then first unlocked it and opened the door.

Under the bright sunlight, Nardi was standing there holding a huge bouquet and a fruit basket, grinning widely. When he saw me, his expression quickly turned worried.

“Are you alright, Senior? I heard you were down with body aches, so I came to visit you.”

No, who comes to visit someone in bed just over some body aches….

Hiding my surprise and bafflement, I stepped back.

“I see. Come in first.”

Even so, I couldn’t just leave someone who’d come to visit me sick standing at the door.

“Then excuse me for intruding.”

Nardi walked in readily, and I led the way in front.

Where should I take him?

Flustered, I fussed around for a moment.

I cleaned often, so the house was generally tidy, but it had been so long since I’d had a guest, no, aside from Iella and my niece Rubel, this was the first time ever.

“Uh… do you want something to drink?”

After wandering in confusion, I headed to the kitchen.

“I’m fine. More importantly, shouldn’t you be resting? You don’t look well, Senior.”

Nardi, who’d followed me, set the bouquet and basket down on the table and studied my face. The kitchen, which I’d always thought was a decent size, felt rather cramped with the tall Nardi standing there. His presence inside my home felt out of place.

“It’s just a cold… body aches. How did you find out where I live?”

“I asked Senior Lupina. She was really worried because it was your first time taking sick leave. I said I was worried too and wanted to visit you, so she gave me your address.”

“Ah….”

“Did you take any medicine? It seems like you have a fever.”

His hand came forward without hesitation and touched my forehead. I flinched, then stayed still. The broad back of his hand and his palm felt my forehead, then my cheek.

“Your fever’s high. What about a fever reducer?”

“…I have some, but I didn’t take it. It’ll go away on its own if I rest.”

Nardi looked puzzled. “Senior, you’re not one of those natural-healing believers, are you?”

“….”

There were people in the world who, even when they got sick, refused both non-magical medicine and magical medicine and waited for natural healing. The kind you couldn’t talk sense into.

“I’m a magic potion researcher, so of course not. It’s just… it doesn’t feel that serious.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet… I woke up for a bit earlier, then kept sleeping.”

Oh, right. Come to think of it, I was still in my pajamas.

When I glanced down, my light purple nightgown skirt was thin, and since the hem came to my knees, my bare legs were exposed. Embarrassment rushed over me and I looked around for an outer layer, but there wasn’t one nearby.

“Oh no, I must’ve woken you up. I’m sorry. Have something light to eat and go back to sleep.”

I pointed at the fruit basket Nardi had brought and said, “I’ll eat this. Thanks.”

All kinds of fruit looked luscious and fresh.

“Please sit! I’ll wash them and cut them for you.”

Before I could say anything, he pulled out a chair and sat me down.

Even though Nardi was the guest and I, as the homeowner, should be the one treating him, he was the one moving around instead.

“I’ll borrow your kitchen.”

Nardi quickly moved the fruit and washed it in the sink. Looking around the kitchen, he skillfully washed the fruit and found a paring knife and dishes as if he were in his own home. I stared blankly at his broad back from behind.

I knew he was sociable, but this level of friendliness was almost astonishing.

Spending all day with him in the same lab as part of the same team was an everyday thing, but with the setting changed, I just couldn’t get used to it; it felt completely different. Nardi also wasn’t in his usual white lab coat but dressed casually. The beige linen shirt and long black pants suited him well.

“Please, go ahead.”

A plate of dewy green grapes was set down in front of me. He sat across from me and started quietly slicing an apple. I silently plucked off a grape and popped it into my mouth. Sweet and tangy juice spread through my mouth.

“I wonder why you came down with body aches. Have you been cold lately or tired?”

There was absolutely no way I could say it was because of my milk.

Research at the Magic Tower hadn’t been that busy lately, and as someone on the same team, Nardi knew that well.

“I’ve got a private project I’m working on alone, and I guess it made me a bit tired.”

It wasn’t a complete lie.

Because I’d been cutting down on sleep for a while to make the magic potion after work, and ever since completing it last week and starting the experiment, there’d been so much to worry about because of the milk.