After naming the Shadow Monster, the fairy and silver coin returned.
The door burst open, and arms spread wide.
“I’m here! It’s me, Jonah, Ellie’s cute fiancé!”
A voice echoed throughout the tavern. A moment of silence fell over the noisy pub, but as their gazes turned my way, it quickly returned to its previous ruckus.
Of course, some chuckled as if finding it amusing, while others whispered to each other in confusion… but that was as far as it went.
It’s not like I have some hypnotic power that makes people think nothing strange is happening. They’ve just gotten used to it.
There were some who occasionally hit on me, but… most just became docile under Ellie’s possessive punches.
By now, it seems they pretend not to see it even when they do notice.
…Speaking of pretending not to see, I’m a bit curious just how far that goes.
Arriving at the counter while resisting the temptation of the defenseless adventurer ladies’ buttocks and the wallets dangling nearby.
Ellie let out a big sigh and lightly tapped my head.
Slam.
“Ouch!”
“I told you not to shout every time you walk in, right?”
“Meh. I’m baby Jonah. My memory’s bad.”
“Oh, but you remember that you said you’d become independent when you turn twenty, right?”
“When I turn twenty, wasn’t it a promise to do lewd things?!”
Slam.
“Ugh!”
“I never made such a promise! I said I’d think about it seriously if my feelings hadn’t changed by then!”
“Come on. I trust Ellie. You’re definitely going to get me drunk like an adult the moment I turn twenty, right?! Just like in the red book! Just like in the red book…!”
“…Ha! How many times have we gone through this pattern that I seem like I’m going to be thrown off guard again?”
“Then again. Since you’ve changed your preferences lately, you probably hid that kind deep in the storage, huh? What was the last thing you bought… a comic version of ‘For Sale. Ruined Version. Never Used.’? You must really have liked the novel I gave you!”
“…Kuh!”
Ellie pouted, chewing her lips with a frustrated expression. Going by her crimson face, she must be embarrassed by the exact hit.
Chuckling as I sat across from her, Lydia, who was sipping beer with a sausage as a side dish, waved her hand.
“You’re a bit late.”
“Did you stay here the whole time? I thought you’d leave since it took me so long.”
“Ellie said she’d give free beer and snacks if you told her how you fought, Jonah. I was just drinking while she kept talking.”
“Oh? So what did you talk about?”
“Ultimately, compliments. The second floor is relatively easy, but you can’t just circle like on the first floor.”
“Why not? The difficulty as a labyrinth is similar, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. But the specs of the monsters are different. And usually, they detect you first, so ambushing is tough.”
The overall difficulty as a labyrinth may be similar, but since the monsters have gotten stronger and adventurers rely on sight, they can’t really show their full capabilities until they get used to it because the monsters distinguish enemies by sound and smell.
“For me, it was actually quite favorable.”
“Right. So don’t let your guard down.”
Lydia nodded with a faint smile.
That’s true. No matter how much I can reduce my presence with my sound-eating footsteps, if I accidentally get hit by a kobold, it’s game over.
“Should I get some armor?”
“You’re still fine. The skin of the Iron Wolf is like steel. Just be careful of golems and floor guardians on the second floor, and you should only end up with a fracture at worst.”
“…Fractures are scary, though.”
“Just don’t get hit. You’ve been doing fine so far.”
“……”
Something about how Lydia treats me feels a little too casual.
It’s trust, sure, but why does it hurt a little?
As I sulked, Ellie placed a plate with warm pasta topped with a few pieces of meat in front of me.
“Aren’t you hungry? Benny doesn’t eat much, so there’s probably nothing at home. Eat up and grow strong.”
“Now that you mention it, all I had was snacks. The cream pie was really delicious, though….”
As I stirred the sauce, Ellie’s expression turned strange.
“Cream pie….”
“Oh my. What were you just thinking, Ellie? It was something lewd, right? Come on, look! Lady Lydia! Ellie just had a lewd thought!”
“…Jonah, don’t act like a kid. Ellie’s an adult. She might be a bit frustrated.”
“But I’m a kid!”
“Then there’s nothing I can do.”
Nodding, Lydia attempted to spear a sausage with her fork and bring it to her lips. However, maybe she didn’t dip it deep enough, and the sausage dropped right between her breasts.
“…Hot.”
With slightly narrowed brows, Lydia held up her breasts with one hand while bending her head down just a bit.
Then she pulled the sausage out from between her breasts to eat it.
Feeling my gaze, Lydia confidently made a V sign with her fingers.
“V.”
“……”
Wait, did she just take out what she received with her breasts and eat it without touching it? And it’s hot and greasy?!
While I was dumbfounded, Lydia calmly started wiping her chest with a tissue. Not just the top part, but even going inside to clean between her breasts.
Glup.
I swallowed unconsciously. But sadly, it didn’t last long.
“Jonah.”
“Gah!”
Ellie was looking down at me with a deadpan expression. …With her oddly rough breath, she seemed half angry and half excited.
“What kind of experiments did you do at Benny’s workshop? It’s not dangerous, is it?”
“Oh, it’s not anything like that. Today, I was figuring out why the shadow… I mean, the Shadow Monster likes me so much….”
I explained the day’s events to Ellie, sweating profusely.
Tentacles, cream pies, affinity, shadows, moist Benny-chip cookies…
“And I also brought back a magic book to read by myself. It’s not difficult; it just has basic magic like weak flames.”
I took out a fairly thin book that hardly felt like a magic book and waved it around.
Although it only contained basic magic and wasn’t exactly great spells, it was knowledge largely monopolized by the Mage Tower, so it has a standard price of one gold.
So Benny didn’t just give it for free, he lent it to me.
Bummer…
If it had been given outright, I could have mastered the magic quickly and sold it off to roll the gacha.
Ellie’s expression softened as she listened to my story.
“What? I was a bit worried, but you did well.”
“What were you worried about… Ah! You didn’t think I was fooling around with Benny, did you?”
“No. If it were Lydia, maybe, but you don’t need to worry about Benny; that part’s fine. He’d just hold your hand.”
“…That’s also annoying!”
I puffed out my cheeks, visibly unhappy, and Ellie just smirked.
“I told you I’ve heard about Benny’s situation, right?”
“Right?”
“Benny cares about that. He’s always cautious in case any other traits awaken.”
“Ah.”
Benny had received the eyes of a succubus.
Because of that, he was embedded in a girl’s body, and as a trade-off, he gained magical talent.
Even with a shadow, it’s not easy for an experiment that has never learned a proper means of resistance to wipe out even a branch of the One Who Devours the Twilight.
But Benny knows the fate of a human consumed by the power of the God of Madness lurking inside the monster.
Either the body crumbles and twists to death, or they completely go insane, becoming another monster.
So far, it’s been fine, but I can’t guarantee that will last. The fusion with the shadow is becoming more intense too.
“Got it. I guess I need to tease Benny a bit less.”
“…Isn’t ‘no teasing’ an option?”
“It’s just my way of showing affection. And honestly, Ellie, you kind of like it, right?”
“……”
I chuckled at Ellie’s tight-lipped stance and stood up from my seat.
I held out the completely empty pasta bowl, shaking one hand toward Ellie and patting Lydia’s back with the other.
“Then I’ll head up now! I’m tired and I want to read this!”
As I tapped the basic magic book, Ellie finally lifted her lips into a smirk.
“The kids’ bedtime was long ago. Go on then. Lydia, you should start moving too.”
“Ugh, no. Ellie, you have plenty of rooms. Let me stay tonight. Give me more beer. The next snack should be chateaubriand.”
“Do you have any idea how many bottles you’ve drunk?! Get up already, you brat!”
Leaving Ellie and Lydia bickering behind, I went up to my room.
Even if it’s basic magic, it’d be impossible to learn it just by reading before bed. But understanding the contents should be possible.
I’ll read it now, and later, I’ll mull it over while practicing.
Honestly, rolling the gacha is a gamble. It’s true that if you’re lucky, you can hit the jackpot… but isn’t the fun part of fantasy also working hard to learn magic?
With inflated expectations, I opened the book. And then.
“…What is this nonsense?”
I can read the letters. I can only read the letters.
I can’t make sense of what it’s trying to say. Why are there so many pretentious phrases?
Even if I try to get rid of the side distractions and focus on the content, it’s all about the heart’s circle or whatever, but I don’t even have a circle!
I know that magic gathers around the heart and can turn it into power, but that’s about it.
After a long moment of contemplation, I nodded.
“Should I roll the gacha?”
I guess this is how it goes….
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