The Team Gathers at the Gate
The handshake carried a surprising strength even in that casual grip, sending a small flutter through my chest. He released my hand and pulled a business card from the inner pocket of his suit, which looked ready to burst from his muscles, then offered it to me.
“I work for Davison Company, specialists in hunter equipment. We handle everything from off-the-shelf communal gear to custom-made pieces tailored for individual hunters. If you ever need equipment, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll serve you with the utmost sincerity.”
“Of course.”
His warm, friendly smile effortlessly melted away any wariness. Ruya also seemed approachable and good-natured, which helped soften my preconceptions about Orks and sent them drifting away.
“I have a scheduled meeting, so I must be going. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
“I’ll reach out next time I need gear~”
“Kahaha, thank you.”
He laughed heartily and strode off with long, confident steps.
As we started walking again, I turned to Ruya.
“Is he an Ork?”
“An Ork? You mean an Ork?”
“An Ork?”
“The native people of the Orkus dimension. A powerful warrior race that built a civilization ruling an entire dimension. They usually stay in their own world and rarely travel to others, but Damon is a rare one who works as a salesman here on Earth.”
“So they’re completely different from the Orc monsters in my dimension.”
I glanced at the card in my hand before tucking it into the spatial pouch at my waist. Then Ruya and I sat on a bench in the open plaza in front of the gate management office to wait for the others.
The first to arrive was Ekaterina.
“Welcome, Ekaterina.”
“Hello.”
“I hope you’ve been well.”
Still wrapped from head to toe in her black nun’s habit, she clasped her hands and bowed politely at the waist. Her graceful, dignified movements seemed to reflect her generous nature. Unlike us, who carried only spatial pouches, she had a rather large bag slung over her shoulder. A staff peeked out from behind her back, glinting in the sunlight, while various strange ornaments and pouches dangled from the outside of the bag.
She set the bag down and took a seat, once again thanking us for accepting the request.
“Thank you so much for accepting the commission.”
“Ah, it’s nothing. By the way, I heard the temple’s been struggling. Is the situation really that bad?”
At Ruya’s question, Ekaterina glanced at me briefly before answering with her usual gentle smile.
“Unfortunately, yes, we’re in quite a difficult position. But once our followers start establishing themselves properly, I expect things will stabilize.”
“Well, compared to your dimension, it must be harder to gain a foothold here.”
“Any new faith that appears in a place where many religions already coexist always faces hardship.”
“By the way, what kind of goddess do you serve, Ekaterina?”
The question had been on my mind, so I asked. In the dimension I came from, the only active religion was the Sun God faith. Aside from Sun God worshippers, Ekaterina was the only religious person I had ever met directly.
Her eyes sparkled with delight at my curiosity.
“You’re curious about the goddess I serve? Are you perhaps considering converting?”
“No, I’m just curious.”
“Now that you mention it, a Succubus does seem quite compatible with the goddess Ekaterina believes in.”
“The Goddess of Fertility and Love, Lady Erutina, encourages reproduction filled with love. Lust is an essential desire in reproduction. The existence of Succubi, spirits of lust, is the very embodiment of the goddess’s doctrine.”
Hmm. Because of the common perception that nuns should be chaste, it felt strange to hear Ekaterina, a nun, speak so openly about reproduction. She went on at length about the Goddess Erutina. In her original dimension, the goddess was a high-ranking deity with a considerable number of followers. As the patron of childbirth and love—matters vital to humans—she boasted a wide range of devotees, from prostitutes to nobles. Since the goddess accepted only women as followers, all her clergy were nuns. Moreover, because Erutina temples also functioned as brothels, Ekaterina, like the other nuns, had been born to a mother who was both nun and prostitute, and had grown up exposed directly and indirectly to human sexual desire from a young age. So she, too, was both nun and prostitute.
She looked like an ordinary, devout nun on the outside, yet she also worked as a prostitute. A goddess of fertility and love who accepted prostitutes—quite a broad-minded deity.
“Unfortunately, in Korea all brothels are state-owned and regulated, so our temple is just an ordinary shrine. That makes it difficult to secure operating funds.”
“Then are all your current followers prostitutes as well?”
“Some of the sisters recently obtained prostitution licenses and work as prostitutes, but most are ordinary women.”
“So some of them do work as prostitutes. Maybe I should get a license too.”
Ruya said this while glancing at me for permission. Hmm. I wasn’t sure why she suddenly wanted a prostitution license, but since I knew she wouldn’t actually work as a prostitute without my approval anyway, I nodded to let her do as she wished.
Ekaterina, watching us with a smile, clapped her hands together.
“Why don’t both of you become followers of Lady Erutina while you’re at it? If you become her followers, she will bestow divine power upon you every time you work as prostitutes.”
“Eh, is that true? It’s that simple?”
“Of course. The goddess is merciful to her followers.”
“Then would we also be able to use that divine power for healing?”
“There’s quite a bit of individual variation, but even with little talent, if you work diligently as a prostitute for about three years, you can receive enough divine power to heal minor wounds.”
“It takes a while, but compared to other religions, it seems like a relatively easy path.”
I had heard that divine power was an extremely demanding ability—some people spent decades in service to their religion and still never obtained it. Because the conditions and required talents differed from one religion and deity to another, those capable of wielding divine power, such a useful and important healing ability, were rarer than one might think. In other words, Ekaterina was an exceptional priestess who could perform both healing and buffs as a nun.
Come to think of it, even though the Bitnari Hunter Team was quite small, the quality of its members was high. There was Ruya, an Elf who could handle spirits and attack from range with a bow; Ekaterina, a skilled priestess capable of both healing and buffs; Charlotte, a beastkin with superior senses and physical abilities compared to ordinary humans; and Gwangnam, a promising hunter in his own right, as Ruya had acknowledged. The Bitnari team was an elite squad.
“You may worship other gods alongside her, and the doctrine is simple. Simply keeping the goddess in your heart while devoting yourself to reproduction and love is enough.”
“Sounds good. What do you think, Elisha?”
“I think it’s fine too.”
“Ah, I’m so happy to see more followers of the goddess. Whenever you have time, please stop by the temple and I’ll perform the baptism for you. You must come.”
The recovery boost from vital energy wasn’t immediate and its efficiency was low, so it would be good to have access to powerful healing through divine power for emergencies. The doctrine wasn’t much of a burden for a Succubus either.
While Ekaterina was explaining the goddess’s mythology, Charlotte arrived. The cat beastkin, still wearing her leather-armor-like protective gear and carrying relatively light luggage, greeted us energetically.
“Good to see you, nyang! Did everyone sleep well, nyang?”
“Welcome.”
“Slept great.”
Ruya answered with a smile directed at me. She seemed to have really enjoyed sleeping while hugging my body wrapped in Las.
Charlotte sat beside Ekaterina and excitedly described the dinner she had eaten the night before. Then her nose twitched, and she leaned forward to sniff both Ruya and me in turn.
“Sniff, sniff.”
“Why are you suddenly doing that?”
“The female scents on both of you are mixed together, nyang. Did you mate, nyang?”
“Huh? No, we just slept together.”
“Nyang nyang, this isn’t the kind of scent you get from just sleeping, nyang. Are you ignoring my nose, nyang?”
Charlotte crossed her arms over her nearly flat chest and spoke in a sulky tone. Her constantly twitching ears and swaying tail made it clear she was quite displeased; she seemed to take great pride in her ability to distinguish scents.
Ruya looked at me in panic, but I couldn’t think of a good way to resolve the situation either. Just then, Ekaterina, who had been covering her mouth with a smile, spoke in a suggestive voice.
“Hohoho, the two of them are undergoing special training to become followers of Lady Erutina. That’s why their scents have mixed.”
“Ahaha, right. We decided to become the goddess’s followers.”
“What, nyang. If that’s the case, just say so honestly, nyang.”
“We haven’t been officially baptized yet, so…”
“That’s right.”
Charlotte’s expression softened and her tail movements calmed. Thanks to Ekaterina’s help, we had managed to smooth things over. It wasn’t exactly smooth, but it was better than admitting we had had sex.
“By the way, when is Gwangnam getting here?”
“He probably left late again and is rushing over in a panic, nyang.”
“That guy’s always late. He hasn’t changed since he was a kid.”
“Still, I think he’s a reliable man.”
“I agree, nyang.”
The three of them naturally began gossiping about Gwangnam. It was a back-and-forth between Ruya’s negative view and the other two’s positive one. I wasn’t particularly interested in him, so I half-listened while looking around at our surroundings.
As I watched the various races moving along the waterway, I spotted a mermaid with the upper body of a beautiful woman and the lower body of a fish. Once out of the water, she shook her body to fling off the droplets, then pulled a wheeled board from what looked like a waterproof bag slung over her shoulder. She placed her fish-like lower body onto it, stood on her tail atop the board, grabbed the handle that extended upward, activated the mechanism, and began gliding away. Watching her receding figure speed off, I thought to myself that adaptation really was a matter of perspective.
‘Are you sightseeing?’
‘You’re awake?’
Elisa, who had been holed up alone in her room-lab and hadn’t come out at all, finally spoke.
‘What were you so busy with?’
‘I got a lot of good ideas after looking at the technology here.’
‘You should come out and get some fresh air sometimes.’
‘I was planning to look for more information on the technology anyway. But it looks like you’re going somewhere.’
‘Ruya got a request to obtain fairy fruit, so I’m tagging along.’
I briefly explained what had happened so far. Since Elisa wasn’t particularly interested in assisting Ruya, there wasn’t much else to say once I left that part out.
‘But why were you staying inside the house?’
‘I don’t have any official status here yet, so it felt awkward to wander around.’
‘Then just take a slave registered for identification purposes and go out.’
‘Aha!’
So that was an option. I had simply assumed I couldn’t go out on my own and stayed inside, but all I had to do was have Ruya take me out. I was speechless at my own lack of common sense.
‘Why couldn’t I think of that? Am I really an idiot?’
‘It’s probably a side effect of simplifying your thought processes when we separated your personality during the doll modification. I actually prefer that clueless young lady, though.’
‘Hmm… I was already called an idiot before, so maybe it’s gotten worse.’
Come to think of it, I had been feeling like my thoughts were getting simpler lately. It wasn’t just my imagination—it was the real effect of being turned into a doll.
‘Anyway, a doll who has to live for others rather than herself doesn’t need complicated thinking. The simpler you live, the less stress you feel and the more enjoyably you can live, so try to see it positively.’
‘I’m not sure if that’s praise or an insult, but… it’s true that I don’t feel stressed, so I guess I should think of it as a good thing?’
‘Still, it’s a bit of a problem if you become so simple-minded that you can’t even think of obvious solutions. Hmm, I’ll have to create a thought-assistance program. Now, the things I need to consider are…’
Elisa muttered something to herself and then fell silent again. In any case, when she got absorbed in something she liked, she became oblivious to her surroundings, so she really needed a doll like me to assist her.
“Elisha, what do you think of Gwangnam?”
“Me?”
The three of them had been talking about Gwangnam and suddenly turned the question on me.
“To me he just looks like a troublemaker in every way. I don’t know what’s so good about him. What do you think of him as a man, Elisha?”
“I haven’t even known him that long.”
“At least tell us your first impression, nyang.”
“Hmm.”
My first impression of Gwangnam… A frivolous guy who acted like a neighborhood thug? A womanizer who got excited easily—not a good impression at all.
“A womanizing thug type.”
“Puhaha! See? I told you he doesn’t have a good image at all.”
“He may look that way on the outside, but once you get to know him, he’s such a good person. He always treats my problems as his own and shows consideration.”
“Actually, we took this request because we knew about Ekaterina’s situation, nyang.”
“Ah, really? No wonder he accepted it even though he knew he’d get scolded.”
“He’s also someone who regularly donates to the temple.”
Hmm. He actually took action for his teammate. He was a better person than I thought. My impression of Gwangnam improved slightly.
While we were continuing our conversation, I spotted Gwangnam running toward us from a distance. He wasn’t using any mana equipment to enhance his physical abilities, so he arrived at a slower pace than expected. Breathing heavily, he greeted the four women watching him.
“Huff, huff. How is everyone? Huff.”
“It’s 9:18, nyang. You’re late, nyang.”
“Are you out of breath just from running? I told you to exercise regularly.”
“Oh dear, are you all right? Please have a seat.”
While the other two scolded him for being late, Ekaterina fussed over him and restored his stamina with divine power. Sitting between Ekaterina and Charlotte, he quickly caught his breath with her help and laughed.
“Hahaha, that’s just the stamina of an ordinary human male. By the way, Elisha, this is your first time going into a real dungeon, right? Will you be okay?”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m confident when it comes to using my body.”
“Using your body… Ahem.”
Gwangnam muttered that and turned red before coughing awkwardly. Ah, had he imagined something lewd from the phrase “using my body”? He must be quite pent up.
Ruya, seeing his expression, placed a hand on her forehead.
“You’re having dirty thoughts again, aren’t you? I really can’t with you.”
“Males can’t help it, nyang.”
“They’re the kind of people who get hard just from having strength in their arms, after all. Hohoho.”
“Kuhum. Anyway, sorry for being late because of me. Let’s head out right away.”
He seemed embarrassed by the women’s comments and quickly changed the subject before standing up. We followed suit and entered the building to complete the procedures, then stood in front of Gate 4 leading to the Jungle Dungeon.
During the check-in process, my presence caused a brief issue as expected, but it was immediately resolved thanks to the power of the Agrasil surname. Come to think of it, I had meant to learn more about Ruya’s parents but had forgotten. I’d have to ask later.
In front of the gate, Gwangnam, as team leader, conducted one final check.
“Nobody forgot anything, right? Once we go in, we’ll have to stay at least fourteen days, so double-check everything.”
“We’ve done requests more than once or twice, nyang. Don’t worry, nyang.”
“Hah, you’re the one I’m most worried about, Charlotte.”
“Want to get hit, nyang?”
“Uwah! Are you already hitting me while saying that? Ow! Stop!”
While Gwangnam was being punched by Charlotte, Ruya and Ekaterina also spoke up.
“I’ve prepared everything for Elisha.”
“I’ve checked several times as well.”
“O-okay! Then let’s depart right away!”
“Stop right there, nyang!”
Gwangnam, still being hit by Charlotte, was the first to leap into the gate, followed by Charlotte, then Ekaterina. When only Ruya and I remained, she gave me a mischievous smile, smacked my butt, and said,
“Shall we go too, Master?”
“Hnn, yes.”
Feeling the pain and pleasure blooming from my backside, I followed Ruya through the gate.