You Seduced Me First!
After finishing the last bit of farming, the total came to roughly fifteen silver. In the past I would’ve been shaking Bread with joy over such a windfall, but after burning through gold the other day, it didn’t feel like much anymore. There was a time when I’d risked my life for eight copper, so treating copper as pocket change now made sense.
“Becoming an adult is such a sad thing.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“The more experience you rack up, the more numb you get. …In that sense, Lady Rydia, you’re an adult.”
“…I don’t know what you mean, but it’s annoying.”
Rydia’s face scrunched up and she started pinching my cheeks with gusto.
Stretch—
“Owowow!”
My cheeks stretched out, bringing a sharp sting with them. Normally I would’ve thrashed around to escape, but right now I couldn’t. Every time Rydia tugged, those massive, jiggling mounds swayed right in front of my eyes. Good grief. How did a body that size even support something that big?
They’d already looked enormous in regular clothes, but seeing them barely contained by bikini armor made it impossible to look away from their unrestrained movement.
Ignoring the pain in my cheeks, I widened my eyes, trying to burn the sight into my memory. Maybe my expression looked strange, because Rydia abruptly let go.
“Did that hurt a lot?”
“N-no, it’s fine. More importantly, what did you mean when you said you got a report? I don’t think I caused any trouble.”
“You didn’t cause trouble. But the report was understandable.”
“Huh?”
“Imagine a whole pack of local thugs roaming the neighborhood. Of course civilians would feel uneasy.”
“Ah.”
Fair enough. A few gangsters loitering around was something you could just click your tongue at, but dozens of them clustered together was definitely report-worthy.
“I never expected Yona to be behind it, though.”
“I didn’t expect things to turn out like this either. Listen, Lady Rydia! Let me explain how it happened…”
I gave her the whole messy story. Rydia nodded after hearing the summary.
“So in short, you went out to pickpocket and ended up getting mugged instead?”
“The wording’s a little off, but that’s basically it! Isn’t that unfair?!”
“Yona… do you have no sense of mercy? No matter how much of a thug they were, beating them that mercilessly was your fault.”
“But like you said, they’re thugs. They were extorting orphans, so an orphan like me taking the money back shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
“That’s…”
“I’m not in the wrong. The bad ones are the Labyrinth City thugs who used to torment the old me. Remember that—it might be on a test.”
“……”
Rydia mulled over my words with a complicated expression. The last part had been a joke, so the lack of reaction was a little embarrassing. I cleared my throat and changed the subject.
“Ahem! Anyway, where are we headed now, Lady Rydia?”
“The guild. I had other business, but while I was taking care of it, they asked me to help with the report that came in.”
“And that’s where I was. This must be fate!”
“Don’t say things like fate. So why were you there in the first place?”
“Huh? I was just trying to pickpocket a little…”
“You’re not short on money anymore. You earned two gold last time.”
“Hmm. It’s not that simple.”
“…Don’t tell me you really blew it all on gambling?!”
Rydia’s red eyes widened in shock. A flicker of something like responsibility crossed her gaze.
I can’t leave him like this. If I don’t properly educate this child, he’ll end up living a ruined life…!
That seemed to be the feeling. Rydia, who usually showed so little emotion, was being this expressive—it was surprisingly easy to read.
But letting the conversation go that way would be troublesome, so I struck first.
“I used that two gold to buy materials for a new weapon! There were various circumstances, so I got them cheap, but it still wasn’t cheap.”
“…A new weapon?”
Rydia’s reaction softened the moment she heard I’d bought weapon-making materials—typical equipment enthusiast. I nodded vigorously at her.
“That’s right! I commissioned Eden’s Eve to make it. After that, of course there was no money left.”
“Eve, the shopkeeper… Forget whether she’s trustworthy, she didn’t seem like a particularly skilled artisan.”
“Eve isn’t the artisan. She’s just passing it on to the dwarves in the Forge Union, so that part should be fine!”
“She has connections with the Forge Union…? Those blockheads who make good stuff but never listen to a word you say?”
Rydia looked more surprised about the connections than anything else.
Well, that made sense. The dwarves of this world were the ultimate embodiment of the stubborn artisan stereotype. They crafted excellent items, but refused any compromise during the process. Ask them for a plain steel sword and they might suddenly get inspired and delay delivery by months. Commission a spear and they’d decide a pair of short dual spears suited you better and make those instead. They were completely self-centered. It wasn’t “I’m making something for someone else,” but rather “I made something, and someone else happens to use it.”
Of course, once they accepted payment they never haggled over the price, and the quality always exceeded expectations, so there had never been any major issues so far.
Anyway, that was the Forge Union—doing whatever they wanted in their own little world. Having enough personal connections to make a request there was impressive in itself.
Though for Eve, who had supposedly ruled the shadows of Labyrinth City since before the Union even existed (not that she actually had), it probably wasn’t surprising at all.
I shrugged and spoke casually.
“Eve’s an elf. She’s much older than she looks, so it wouldn’t be strange for her to have all kinds of acquaintances.”
“…True. The wealth elves accumulate over their long lives isn’t just money.”
Obviously, connections were power and money in their own right. No one lived alone in this world, after all. The fact that I was receiving labyrinth lessons from Rydia, had a safe place to sleep thanks to Elly, and could hand over a unicorn horn to Eve without hesitation—all of it was thanks to connections.
“So what materials did Yona commission, and what kind of equipment?”
“Well, about that…”
I grinned and pressed my index finger to my upper lip.
“Shh. It’s a secret until it’s finished. But once it’s done, I’ll show it to you right away, so look forward to it!”
“…Still annoying. At least it’s a relief you used it to strengthen yourself.”
“…Just in case, if I really had used it for gambling, what would you have done?”
“I would’ve smashed up the gambling den.”
“Huh?”
“Or smashed Yona’s arms and legs.”
“……”
Why were the options so violent?
I trembled and made a firm resolution. I absolutely could not let Rydia find out about my gacha ability.
***
Afterward, I picked up the potions made from the mana herb and recovery herb I’d left for refining, drank them on the spot, and finally returned to The Elf and the Silver Coin.
The potions were only slightly more effective than the raw herbs… probably within the margin of error, or maybe due to other ingredients added during refining. From now on, unless I had a specific use for herb-type items, I’d just eat them right away.
Once back, I had dinner with Elly like usual and chatted about this and that. All that remained was to say goodnight at the right moment and head upstairs to rest. Since I was entering the labyrinth tomorrow, an early night made sense. But…
No matter how calm I tried to act, Rydia’s chest was too distracting. If I went to bed like this, I wouldn’t be able to sleep.
So I squeezed my eyes shut and opened my mouth.
“Lady Rydia…! Your new armor looks really pretty!”
“Hm? Oh. Thanks. You recognize quality after all. It’s easier to move in than before, sturdier, and has all kinds of resistances. Even for me, it wasn’t easy to get. I had to get the guild’s help.”
“Heh, hehe… I see. That’s amazing.”
The lower half was proper dress-style armor, but the upper half was basically a bikini. I couldn’t understand how it was supposed to be sturdier, but since this was a fantasy world, maybe it was fine. That wasn’t the important part right now.
“Now that I’m looking at it… Lady Rydia, you have a really big chest.”
“Heh. Right? I know.”
Rydia stood up, placed her hands on her hips, and stretched her torso. A smug smile played on her lips as she struck a pose that emphasized her chest.
After all, in the Pan Continent, complimenting a woman’s chest was treated the same as any ordinary compliment about appearance. Long eyelashes, pretty nails, nice voice, big chest— they all carried the same nuance.
“Ahem, ahem. Lady Rydia, about that…”
I’d often pressed my body against Elly to seduce her. Because this was a gender-reversed world, I’d felt some self-loathing but never shame. But what I was about to do was different. In a reversed world it might not mean much to Rydia, but for me it was something quite embarrassing to say out loud.
Still, I had to do it. How could I let an opportunity like this slip away…!
My heart pounded like it was broken. My body temperature surged like I was feverish. A hint of hesitation and more than that—resolve—made my voice come out pleading.
“Lady Rydia!”
“…Huh? Is something important happening?”
“Please let me touch your chest!”
“……?”
Rydia tilted her head, clearly not understanding what she’d just heard. I shouted again.
“Please let me touch your chest…!”
Elly, who had been listening from the side, dropped the cup in her hand.
Clang.