You Seduced Me First! (4)

If this world truly shared the exact same setting as my novel, things were never going to roll along smoothly. After all, I had never once written a slice-of-life story. I didn’t have any precise plot prepared. I wasn’t familiar with grim tales about the world ending or people dying. The setting itself, however, was built to make incidents easy to trigger. That was the only way the story could move forward.

Take Eve, for example. For some unknown reason, the blackened version of her was supposed to trigger an event that would flip the entire Labyrinth City upside down. Of course I planned to stop that from happening… but the problem was that the possibility overflowed with potential. Similar risk factors lay hidden across the whole continent. The goals of the heretical cult Those Who Swallow the Twilight, the Magic Tower’s experimental disasters, the corruption of the workshop alliance, the secrets of the labyrinth and the goddess, and so on.

It wasn’t that every single one of those events would actually explode. Stories rarely flowed exactly the way their authors intended anyway. I had simply scattered enough bait to be usable in any situation, so that no matter how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the plot developed, it would become an ordeal standing in the protagonist’s way. Ordeals meant growth. Growth meant rewards. The protagonist would stumble into some of the bait I had sown, overcome it, and ultimately seize everything he desired.

…But that same process would become a deadly threat to everyone who wasn’t the protagonist.

Elly was one of the people who would get dragged into it. Being in the supporter position essentially meant having one foot in every major incident. I had no way of knowing which of the events I had planned would actually occur, no idea where the protagonist was or what he was doing right now, and even with me here it didn’t seem like Elly would get entangled with him… Still, one thing was certain: I would need power of some kind to survive everything that was coming.

Well… Elly would protect me, obviously. She had the personality for it, and the ability to back it up. But simply being protected like that didn’t sit right with me. It was the pride of a man carried over from my previous life, and the responsibility of the original author.

Fortunately the conditions to grow stronger were finally in place, so there was no longer any reason to hesitate.

“Elly.”

“Yeah.”

“I know you find pitiful little me cute.”

“It’s not that I find you cute because you’re pitiful… That’s not it. I…”

“It’s fine. Whatever the reason, the important part is that you like me.”

“Yona…”

“But I don’t like things the way they are now. If possible, I want to stand as your equal.”

“Equal?”

“Yes. It means I’ll become stronger than you and reverse-rape you.”

“???”

Elly tilted her head, unable to process what she had just heard. I rose onto my tiptoes and whispered directly into her ear.

“No matter how much guilt you feel or how much of a coward you are about backing out at the critical moment… it doesn’t matter. I’ll pin you down and take you by force. How’s that? Pretty convenient for you, right?”

“W-wait. That’s a little—”

“Next is Lady Rydia.”

“…What?”

“Like you said, I’m a pink-haired guy with a strong sex drive. One of you might not be enough, so I might end up laying hands on her too.”

“Yona, do you even hear what you’re—”

“But the first one will always be you. And the place I return to will always be by your side.”

“……”

“I just wanted to say that.”

Having finished, I let my body drop. Elly, who had been staring blankly, let out a small snort of laughter at my behavior and pulled a magic herb cigarette from her chest pocket.

“…I’m not as patient as you seem to think, Yona.”

“That’s even better, actually?”

“We’ll see if you can say the same thing later.”

With a savage smile befitting a wolf beastman, Elly took out her lighter and lit the cigarette. She was completely back to her usual self… Wait. A lighter?

“Elly. I’ve never seen that lighter before.”

“Ah. I lost the old one recently, so I bought a new one. What do you think? Pretty cool, right?”

“……”

I stared silently at the lighter she proudly held out. It looked far more expensive than her previous one. A pointless sense of deprivation rose in me, so I reached out and touched the tip of the cigarette between her lips.

“Weak Flame.”

Whoosh!

I poured maximum output into the spell, completely smothering the lighter’s flame.

“Wha—?!”

Elly panicked as the cigarette didn’t just light—it began to burn fiercely. I blew on it right in front of her, making a show of it.

“Hoo!”

The transferred fire died, leaving only the ember I had created with my magic. Satisfied, I nodded.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Yeah… wait, what the hell was that just now…”

I let Elly’s dumbfounded words go in one ear and out the other as I headed not outside, but back up to the second floor.

“You’re going back up? Weren’t you going out for some air…?”

“Hmph! I don’t need to anymore!”

Find the lighter? Forget that. Time to roll the gacha.

.

.

.

.

.

“Kya! This is what I’m talking about!”

Two 2-star items. In other words, I had pulled double my investment. Nothing that would help me immediately, but every single one was useful.

“Pawn-shop lighter… service terminated!”

Elly could use her fancy new lighter. I’d be spending that money on gacha instead!

After dancing around like an idiot for a while, I finally examined the gacha results scattered across the bed. The magic herbs and recovery herbs weren’t worth inspecting, so I shoved them straight into my mouth.

“Munch munch…”

The bitter yet refreshing taste of the herbs spread across my tongue. It didn’t taste good, but medicine was never meant to taste good anyway. I kept chewing nonstop while checking the rest of the items.

Magic Herb Pill, Lowest-Grade Recovery Potion, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Low-Grade Antidote Potion, Vibrant Flower Wreath.

The Magic Herb Pill looked familiar. It resembled the elixir created by refining the magic herbs I had commissioned. It wasn’t identical, though—it was clearly higher quality. The pill was larger, glossier, and carried a cooler, cleaner scent.

Well, compared to something an apprentice alchemist whipped up on the cheap, anything would look better. This was just my guess, but the items that came out of the gacha seemed to be of consistently good quality. Normal magic herbs and recovery herbs could easily get bug-eaten if you weren’t careful, yet none of the ones from the gacha showed any such flaws.

Still… no matter how well-made, it was ultimately just an elixir made from magic herbs. It would be among the lowest tier. I had already eaten one before anyway. No need for high expectations—just swallow it along with the herbs.

The Lowest-Grade Recovery Potion needed no inspection. I immediately hooked it onto my belt. The low-grade antidote went in the same spot. They were all emergency medicines for when things went wrong.

…Come to think of it, now that I had an antidote I should try eating some suitable poison next time. I needed to confirm whether Gluttonous Stomach could digest it. If it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠couldn’t, I could just drink the antidote.

Last was the flower wreath. It was pretty, but I had no idea what to do with it. After a moment of thought I hung it on the wall. Normally I would have draped it around Elly’s neck and teased her… but that felt wrong right now.

“Alright. Time to sleep.”

I had to head back into the labyrinth tomorrow, so I needed to adjust my condition. I stuffed the remaining herbs and the pill into my mouth, pulled the blanket over myself, and closed my eyes.

The next morning. After a simple breakfast, I was following Rydia toward Pan Grave Square.

Rydia, who had been sneaking glances at me, finally spoke carefully.

“Yona. Did you reconcile with Senior Elly? It looked like you two were fine again when I saw you earlier.”

“We never fought in the first place. We just had a slight difference of opinion.”

“I see. Well, if you’re on good terms again, that’s a relief.”

Rydia’s shoulders visibly relaxed. I flashed her a grin.

“That’s right, Lady Rydia. You said you’d let me touch when Elly wasn’t around, didn’t you? So it’s fine right now, yes?”

“…Later. There are too many people here.”

Rydia subtly averted her eyes. I narrowed mine into a glare.

“When is later? Inside the dungeon?”

“That’s…”

“You’d say the dungeon is dangerous so no. Once we come out, there are people around like now so no. And at The Elf and the Silver Coin, Elly would see so no, right?”

“……”

Rydia pressed her lips tightly shut, clearly struck where it hurt. Even so, the way her chest—finally freed from the restraint of armor—swayed rhythmically up, down, left, and right with every step was absolutely magnificent. So this was how enormous it truly was once liberated…

My hand unconsciously reached out as if possessed. I caught myself at the last second and smoothly moved it to her head instead, as if that had been my intention all along. Twirling her bangs around my finger, I continued in a casual tone.

“It’s fine. I don’t know why you’re avoiding me or whether it’s really because of Elly… but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I’ve decided not to worry about it anymore.”

“…Is that so?”

Rydia stroked her own chest with an expression that mixed guilt and regret. In front of her, I raised both arms in an obvious appeal of innocence.

“Looking is still okay even if touching isn’t, right?”

“It’s not like it’ll wear out from being looked at, so… whatever.”

“Promise me properly this time!”

I held out my pinky. After a brief hesitation, Rydia hooked hers with mine. I gripped it tightly so she couldn’t escape.

“Whenever and wherever Lady Rydia shows me her breasts! I’m so grateful!”

“…I never said that!”

Heh. The seal had already been stamped. No take-backs.