Endurance Is Common Sense for Elves
After emerging onto the surface from the dungeon, I waved at Elly and Rydia with a sly smile as if nothing had happened, then turned around. For some reason, Lemon and Apple stood ramrod straight at attention, brimming with energy. What was this? Were they begging for a belly smack?
I gave their stomachs a couple of playful taps with my fist. In response, they twisted their bodies and let out strange noises.
“Aaang! Not there, sir....”
“Yona-nem is so lewd, sir....”
“No, it’s literally just your belly?”
“Didn’t you consider that it might not be the belly, sir?”
“It’s covered by clothes. It could be even lower than what Yona-nem is imagining....”
“Bullshit.”
With a flutter of fabric, I snorted at Apple’s nonsense and lifted the hems of both their clothes at once. As expected, all that met my eyes were smooth, white bellies without a trace of fat. They lacked Elly’s toned muscle or Rydia’s firm resilience—just thin and delicate. Of course, that didn’t mean I went easy on them.
“Take that!”
Slap! Slap!
Yona’s belly smack! The effect was tremendous….
“Kyaaah?!”
“Hiiit!”
Maybe they hadn’t expected a direct hit on their bare skin. They curled up with high-pitched shrieks. In a matriarchal world like this, such a reaction was rare in Pangrave, where female exposure was generally tolerated.
Well, thinking about it the other way around, if a woman suddenly lifted my shirt and slapped my stomach, even I would probably make a similar sound… or maybe not. Yeah, I’d just let out a startled “Whoa!” or “Ugh!” Not those sharp, coquettish moans.
“Hmm. What’s with those lewd sounds? Don’t tell me you actually enjoyed getting hit?”
“N-no, sir! What are you even saying, sir!”
“What kind of thing is that to say in public, sir…!”
They shrieked while covering their stomachs. Did they not realize their reaction was drawing every eye around us? I chuckled and gave their butts a light smack.
Pow!
“Hiyang!”
“W-why again….”
It sounded like a complaint, but their voices carried a strange hint of excitement. They didn’t entirely dislike it. Well, in this world, a man slapping a woman’s rear could pass as a joke. Besides, with my childlike appearance, anyone having weird thoughts would be the strange one.
…Though Lemon and Apple did seem a bit odd.
“Hee… hi. Hehe.”
“Even if it’s washing feet, the powerful one… hehe.”
They giggled vacantly while staring into space. I’d seen them tied up every time in the dungeon, so I’d suspected as much… but they definitely had unusual tastes.
I let out a deep sigh and took the lead.
“Sigh… That’s enough. Hurry up and follow. We need to get to Eden.”
“Ah! You can’t go alone, sir!”
“We will protect you, sir.”
“?”
I froze, wondering if I’d heard them right.
“Protect?”
“That’s right, sir!”
“You can’t get hurt, Yona-nem, sir!”
“You two?”
“W-what’s the problem, sir?”
“Please tell us so we can correct it, sir.”
“Me?”
“…Ah.”
“That’s too much, sir….”
Only then did reality hit them, and their shoulders slumped. The reason was simple. I was stronger than the two of them combined…!
“Do you understand the difference in power now?”
“…….”
“…….”
I shrugged and slowed my pace a little, walking beside them as I continued.
“I roughly get what you’re thinking. You’ve owed me your lives twice already, so you probably want to do something about it… but don’t bother with anything unnecessary. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
“Ah. Now that you mention it….”
“Shh. Be quiet, Lemon.”
Lemon seemed to realize something and started to mutter, but Apple cut her off. Well, it probably wasn’t anything important.
“Last time I received the payment for your lives from Miss Eve instead, but she took all my spare cash then. This time, unless we rob a store or something, there’s no way around it.”
“T-that’s right, sir!”
“If we’re not careful the boss will go bankrupt, sir!”
“…No. Are you trying to leech off Miss Eve to the point of driving her into bankruptcy? Aren’t you ashamed as grown adults?”
Lemon and Apple rolled their eyes and clamped their mouths shut. Well, they were novice adventurers who had only just quit their thug lives and started trying to live earnestly by diving into the dungeon. How much could you really expect from them?
“It’s fine. I wasn’t planning to ask for money this time anyway. Just protect one thing for me.”
“Say the word, sir.”
“We will definitely keep it, sir!”
“It’s nothing much. Just keep everything that happened today a secret.”
“Everything….”
“How far does that go, sir?”
“Literally everything. Who caught you, how we rescued you, the enemies we fought today, the outcome—everything.”
After thinking for a moment, Lemon and Apple nodded in unison.
“Understood, sir. We swear it.”
“We will keep what happened today a secret even if we die—even from the boss, sir.”
“Good attitude. But it’s fine to tell Miss Eve as an exception.”
“Eh. Why, sir?”
“As expected, with the boss….”
Lemon blinked stupidly while Apple grinned with a meaningful expression. I didn’t know exactly what they were imagining, but it was clearly the wrong answer.
“What do you mean, idiots? Do you remember the promise I made with Miss Eve last time?”
“Um… showing the dagger every time we meet, sir?”
“It was to prove whether it was Ada or not, sir!”
“Both of you are wrong, you idiots! Is that all that’s in your heads?!”
Bam!
I smacked both of their heads at the same time. It didn’t feel like I’d hit them that hard, but the sound echoed unusually loudly.
“Ughk.”
“Kek.”
The twin elves must have been quite shocked; they clutched their foreheads and groaned.
“Uh… uhh?”
This wasn’t what I’d intended. I looked down at my hand in confusion. As expected, my arms were slender and delicate-looking, with skin so white it seemed to have never seen sunlight. The soft texture without a single callus was all that greeted me. In other words, nothing appeared to have changed. If I had to point out a difference from before….
“Aha?”
It had to be the dungeon’s growth reward. This time, instead of a bunch of random monsters, I had defeated the floor guardian alone. On top of that, I had killed Sina—a mentor-level member of Those Who Swallow the Twilight—with my own hands. Pure combat experience, the achievement of being the first to summon the floor guardian, and the boss solo-kill achievement. All of it must have been converted into growth value. And with the Basileus authority I had obtained this time amplifying the growth rate, it was no wonder my physical abilities had risen dramatically without me even noticing.
“…Did it hurt a lot? My strength control is a bit off right now. Sorry.”
“It’s okay now, sir.”
“Instead of the head, you can hit our butts whenever the thought occurs to you, sir.”
“What?”
“…Actually, Apple seems the most dangerous, so I’m running away, sir!”
“Hehehe. Do you think you’re any different, Lemon? We both know you’ll be the first to join in when the chance comes, sir.”
Lemon panicked while Apple no longer bothered hiding her tastes. Seeing them act like their usual selves made a sigh of relief escape me.
“Haah… You seem fine, so that’s good enough. Let’s hurry and go.”
“G-go with us, sir!”
“We don’t like being left behind, sir!”
With the two of them scrambling after me, I headed for Eden.
Jingle.
The clear sound of a bell rang as I opened the door and stepped inside. Items were displayed in chaotic disarray without any sense of unity. The scent of grass wafted from potted plants placed here and there, and from the small back room emerged a suspiciously narrow-eyed elf—no, a suspicious old monster—holding a blood-dripping dagger to greet us.
“Oh my? I thought a precious guest had finally arrived after so long, but it’s Yona. Nice to see you. What brings you here today? It’s not that Lemon and Apple did something wrong, is it?”
Even now, the dagger kept dripping dark red blood as if it had just been pulled from a corpse, and a few drops had splattered onto her ever-smiling merchant’s face. It bothered me to no end… but it was probably nothing. I forced a smile and shook my head. Lemon and Apple frantically shook their heads as well.
“Of course not. We came because we have good news to share.”
“I-it’s a secret, sir! Please spare our lives, sir!”
“Stupid Lemon! In a situation like this you should just say everything’s fine, sir! Do you want to become the boss’s next hunting target, sir?!”
Eve was being slandered as naturally as breathing. I carefully changed the subject while asking her a question.
“Miss Eve. What exactly is that dagger? The constant dripping blood is a little scary….”
“It’s nothing. A good child came in, so I was simply trimming it a little.”
“A good child, you say…?”
“Why, a mandragora, of course?”
“…….”
She spoke as casually as if she had just whipped up a quick sacrifice, and it turned out to be a mandragora. Since their sap was red, that explained the stains. Well, this was typical for Eve, so it shouldn’t have been surprising, but I still felt a little deflated.
I chuckled and naturally sank into the sofa.
“Miss Eve. I have an important matter to discuss. Do you have a moment?”
“If it’s something Yona says is important, I’ll make the time even if I don’t have any.”
Um. As always, I casually ignored the broken brain translator. Instead, I manifested Basileus using the holy power I had recovered—about as much as an otter’s tears.
Basileus
A crude ash-wood crown rests upon my head, radiating a soft green glow.
Clang!
Eve, realizing whose authority it was, snapped her narrowed eyes wide open and dropped the dagger. Then, in a trembling voice, she stammered.
“I-I never thought it would really be a proposal…!”
The 1st-floor guardian actually existed! (X)
The World Tree’s authority at this point! (X)
“?”
Something feels off about this?