Ten silver per job.
It really can’t be anything but suspicious. Especially when the one bringing it up is a grotesque Shadow Monster-taming Mage, and the job description is vague at best.
But do you know why shady high-paying part-time jobs exist?
The answer is that there are always people falling for it. Just like me right now.
“What should I do first?”
As I said this with the smile of capitalism, Benny took a half-step back, looking startled.
“What’s with that strange smile all of a sudden?”
“No, I just asked what you want me to do for you, Benny.”
“What do you want me to do…?!”
Benny’s eyes momentarily glazed over as if imagining something.
Then, she averted her gaze slightly, sneaking a peek at me.
“Are you really going to do anything for me?”
“Oh my. Benny. What on earth were you thinking? I was just talking about the job!”
“Huh?! Oh, no! It’s not what you think, you perverted pink creature!”
Benny yelled, her face turning red. Tears started welling up in her eyes.
“Uh? Benny, are you crying?”
“I’m not crying?!”
Just like when she mistook me for a rattlesnake the first time, it seems she has a knack for getting teary-eyed.
But, for Benny, who hails from a reverse-gender world, this must be a sensitive topic.
She wiped her face again until it was beet red and managed to say steadily.
“I told you I’m not crying.”
“I never said you were crying.”
I understood her feelings. She probably didn’t want to show any weakness. Or more precisely, she couldn’t be seen as weak.
In this world, women protect others, not the other way around. Revealing tears is no different from exposing vulnerability.
…On the other hand, to me, who remembers Earth, seeing a crying girl—especially a Benny who looks like a child—filled me with guilt.
I cautiously reached out and brought my hand to the corner of Benny’s eyes.
“Wait a moment. Stay still, Benny.”
“Ugh!”
Benny paused as my finger touched her. But she obediently stayed still, so I smiled gently and closed my eyes to concentrate.
Authority is power already completed. As long as I have enough mental control, I can use it freely.
That’s also why adventurers are obsessed with powers. Who would refuse a chance to perform miracles with minimal strength?
But authority is a divine miracle, drawing on divine power, whether from a dead god or the still-living Goddess of Love.
Of course, the more divine power you expend, the stronger and more diverse the authority can be.
The original power of Basilieus is to accelerate my growth, similar to giving rapid growth to plants by investing divine power in it.
The recently acquired authority should keep my skin moist as well.
The beauty authority that maintains my skin in an ideally moist state at any time. At first glance, it seems like a trivial power, but the principle itself is pretty advanced.
It maintains the most ideal skin condition at any given time.
The reason why my scent disappears when I need to hide is for the same reason. To be precise, it’s a power that maintains the ideal scent for the situation.
I haven’t tested it yet, but the healing speed for wounds on my skin must have dramatically increased.
Perfectly smooth skin without a mark is the ideal.
There’s a reason it’s called divine authority.
And now, I’m about to pour divine power into this moist skin and apply the effect temporarily to someone else.
Whooo—
A warmth resonating with my will deep inside my body. I pulled that sensation and focused it into my fingertips.
Then I opened my eyes.
My fingers radiated a soft light. The swollen skin began to settle down from where it made contact.
“Heal? Did Ellie-sister really say that?”
“When did you learn healing magic…?”
Benny, who was surprisedly caressing her eyelids, and Ellie, who stopped shaking a shaker in disbelief.
I shrugged at them.
“This isn’t healing magic; it’s an application of authority. It can only heal wounds on the skin, so don’t expect too much.”
At best, it would be a substitute for a low-grade potion. Of course, this is in reference to the efficiency when applied to others.
If limited to myself, it might be equivalent to a lower-grade potion.
…Either way, it’s not that impressive.
Since it was my first attempt, I felt a bit drained from concentration. I buried my head in my arms on the counter and turned to Benny.
“So, what do you want me to do?”
“Uh? Well, when you touched my shadow just now, you enjoyed it instead of attacking me, right?”
“Yeah. It had a surprisingly cute side to it… By the way, the way you talk, it doesn’t seem like you’re controlling it directly.”
“If I could, how nice would that be? I just ask it to listen to me.”
“Such a nice creature.”
It looks terrible but has a gentle personality?
Confused, I reached out my hand. Various appendages rushed toward me. I petted the eyeballs, poked the horns, and scratched the tentacles, making it shudder with pleasure.
Benny frowned at that and shook her head.
“Nice? It’s more of a total jerk. If it were someone else, one of my arms would have been gone by now.”
“Oh. It’s a set with Ellie!”
“…I’m really sorry for saying this to someone I just met, but are you crazy?”
“Benny’s not exactly sane either, so isn’t it a fair deal?”
“I’m sane!… For now.”
Benny, holding back emotions with a deep sigh, opened her mouth wide to show her sharp shark teeth and continued.
“See this? Ever since it was implanted in the shadow, it has been slowly consuming my body. If this continues, I’ll turn completely into a monster and become part of it.”
“…Are all these traces originally human?”
“Yeah. This horn was Marek, this tooth was Melonia, the shell was Frey, and the eyes were Jammit. I don’t remember names of others since I’m not close with them, but they were all likely human. When I fully metamorphose, I’ll probably grow another eye, with a heart attached!”
Saying this while laughing self-deprecatingly, Benny looked at me directly in the eyes.
A gaze full of determination. But the name of that determination was undoubtedly desperation.
“I’m currently researching a way to separate myself from this creature. If that’s impossible, I’ll at least think of ways to slow down the assimilation rate.”
“Oh? So you want me to help with that experiment?”
“Exactly. As I mentioned earlier, this creature doesn’t obey my command; it’s more like it listens to me. So it often ignores me when I ask….”
“Which is why the experiments have limitations?”
“Yeah. Whenever I try to confirm something seriously, it hides in the shadow or tries to bite me. Not that it bites hard, though.”
“Alright. I understand the reason now, and I get what you want from me. So, I just have to coax it into participating in the experiments? But can I add one condition?”
“What is it? Running low on pay? I’m not even asking you for anything too grand, so increasing the pay from now is a bit much.”
“No, I’m satisfied with the pay. But the issue is the time I’ll need for this.”
“Huh?”
Benny, blinking her heart-shaped violet eyes, looked back at me with an awkward smile.
“I have certain circumstances, so I need to go to the Third Floor. I have things to search for there. Well, there’s no guarantee I will find them, but I should at least try as much as I can, right?”
“I get what you mean. You can’t afford to take too much time away due to my experiment hampering your growth, right? Is 10 silver not enough for that?”
“Yeah. Of course… if you triple the pay, I’d gladly spend the whole day participating.”
Thirty silver was kind of overkill, wasn’t it? Benny frowned and began to contemplate.
But honestly, there was no other way around this. To compensate for getting stronger in the Labyrinth with Gacha, I need to make provisions like this.
Benny, who had been whimpering like a platypus stepping on its tail, let out a big sigh.
“I can’t give you more pay. I need money for the experiments too. But if your goal is to get stronger, I might be able to help.”
“How?”
“First, I’ll go into the Labyrinth with you and keep an eye on things.”
“That’s already what Lydia is doing….”
“Well, it’ll be different.”
Pouting in disappointment, Benny flashed a deliberately smug expression.
“I’ve heard you can cast some magic, even if just a little, right? I’ll teach you the basics of magic. If you actually use it in the Labyrinth, you’ll improve quickly.”
“…That’s an appealing condition. So, back to the first question. What should I do first?”
“Well….”
Nodding seriously, Benny said.
“First, could you take off your clothes?”
“?”
You said there wouldn’t be any perverted stuff.
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