Party Breaker (Not Really) (3)
Ten silver a day. It was an incredibly suspicious offer. Especially when it came from a mage who commanded grotesque shadow monsters, and the job details were vague to boot. But do you know why high-paying part-time scams exist? Because there are always people willing to take the bait. Just like me right now.
“What should I do first?” I asked with a capitalist smile. Beni took a half-step back, her expression cracking.
“What’s with that weird smile all of a sudden?”
“Nothing. I was just asking what you’d like me to do for you, Beni.”
“What you’d like to do for me…?!”
Her eyes grew hazy for a moment, as if she were imagining something. Then she turned her head slightly and shot me a sideways glance.
“You… you really mean you’ll do anything?”
“Goodness, Beni. What on earth are you thinking? I was only talking about the job!”
“Huh? …What?! Ah, no, that’s not it! It’s definitely not what you’re thinking, you lewd pink!”
Beni’s face flushed red as she shouted. Tears began welling up in her eyes.
“Huh? Are you crying, Beni?”
“I-I’m not crying?!”
She seemed to cry easily, just like when she first mistook me for a rattlesnake. Still, in this matriarchal world, showing tears must have been especially embarrassing for her. Beni rubbed her face furiously until her skin turned red, then spoke clearly.
“I wasn’t crying.”
“I never said you were.”
I understood how she felt. She didn’t want to show weakness. More precisely, she couldn’t afford to. In this world, women weren’t the ones being protected—they were the protectors. Crying was no different from revealing a weakness.
…On the other hand, to someone like me who still had memories of Earth, a crying girl—even one with a childlike appearance like Beni—stirred up a lot of guilt.
I carefully reached out and brought my hand to her eyes.
“Just a moment. Stay still, Beni.”
“Eep!”
Beni flinched at the touch of my fingers, but she stayed obediently still. I smiled at her and closed my eyes, focusing.
An Authority was a complete power in itself. As long as you had enough mental strength, you could use it freely. That was why adventurers were obsessed with them. Who would refuse the chance to work miracles with minimal effort?
But Authorities were miracles from the gods. Whether the god was already dead or the Goddess of Love who still lived, they all drew from divine power. Naturally, investing divine power into an Authority made it stronger and more versatile—just like how Basileus originally accelerated my growth, but when infused with divine power, it could rapidly grow and manipulate plants.
The Authority I’d recently obtained, Moist Skin, was no exception. It was a beauty Authority that kept your skin perfectly moisturized at all times. It might seem trivial at first glance, but its underlying principle was quite advanced. It maintained the most ideal skin condition no matter the circumstances. The same logic applied to how the fragrant scent of my body disappeared when I needed to hide—it adjusted my body odor to the most ideal state for the situation.
I hadn’t tested it yet, but wounds on my skin should heal at a dramatically accelerated rate as well. After all, flawless, smooth skin was the ideal.
It wasn’t called a divine Authority for nothing.
And right now, I was pouring divine power into Moist Skin to temporarily apply its effects to someone else.
A warm sensation resonated deep within my body in response to my will. I drew it out and concentrated it into my fingertips.
When I opened my eyes, my fingers were glowing with a soft light. The swollen skin began to subside wherever my fingers touched.
“Ch-Chiyu? So Elly was telling the truth.”
“When did you learn divine arts…?”
Beni’s voice was flustered as she touched her eyelids, while Elly paused mid-shake of her shaker, looking dumbfounded. I just shrugged at them.
“It’s not healing divine arts. It’s an application of an Authority. It can only treat wounds on the skin, so don’t expect too much.”
At best, it was a substitute for the lowest-grade potion. Of course, that was when applied to others. If limited to myself, it might reach the level of a low-grade potion.
…Either way, it wasn’t particularly impressive.
Maybe because it was my first time trying it, my concentration wavered and I felt a bit tired. I buried my head on the counter and turned just enough to look at Beni.
“So? What exactly is this job you want me to do?”
“Huh? Oh, right. When you touched my shadow earlier, it didn’t attack you. It actually seemed to like it, didn’t it?”
“It did. It had a surprisingly cute side… By the way, from what you’re saying, it sounds like you’re not directly controlling it.”
“I wish I could. I’m just asking it to listen to me.”
“It’s a good kid.”
Despite its terrifying appearance, it had a gentle personality. I tilted my head and reached out. Immediately, all sorts of appendages swarmed toward me. I stroked the eyeballs, poked the horns, and scratched the tentacles. The creature trembled as if it enjoyed the attention.
Watching this, Beni shook her head with a reluctant expression.
“Gentle, my ass. That thing’s got a nasty temper. If it were anyone else, one of their arms would’ve been ripped off by now.”
“Oh. It’s a set with Elly!”
“…Sorry to say this to someone I just met, but are you insane?”
“Beni’s not exactly sane either, so we’re even, right?”
“I am sane! …For now.”
Beni huffed, then let out a deep sigh. She opened her mouth wide, revealing her sharp shark-like teeth, and continued.
“See this? Ever since this was implanted into my shadow, it’s been slowly eroding my body. If this keeps up, I’ll turn into a complete monster and become part of it.”
“…Don’t tell me each of these parts used to be a person?”
“Yeah. This horn was Marek, the teeth were Melonia, the carapace was Frey, and the eye was Zamit. I wasn’t close with the others, so I don’t remember their names, but they were probably all people. Maybe when I’m fully assimilated, I’ll grow one more eye? A heart-shaped one, at that.”
Beni laughed self-deprecatingly. I glanced at Elly to see if she was joking, but she was looking at Beni with a pitying gaze.
Good grief. She was serious?
Feeling somewhat solemn, I nodded. Beni met my eyes directly. Her gaze was filled with strong will—but that will was clearly born of desperation.
“I’m researching ways to separate this thing from me. If that’s impossible, I at least want to slow down the erosion.”
“Aha. So you want me to help with that experiment?”
“Exactly. Like I said earlier, this thing doesn’t obey my commands so much as it listens to my requests. That means it sometimes ignores me…”
“Which limits what experiments you can run, I take it.”
“Yeah. The moment I try to check something properly, it either hides in the shadows or tries to bite me. It doesn’t bite hard, though.”
“Alright. I understand the reason, and I know what you want from me. You want me to sweet-talk it into participating in the experiment, right? But would it be okay if I added one condition?”
“What is it? Is the pay not enough? I wasn’t planning on making you do anything too difficult, so paying more than this feels excessive.”
“No, I’m satisfied with the compensation. The issue is the time I’ll be spending.”
“Huh?”
Beni blinked her violet, heart-shaped eyes. I gave her an awkward smile.
“I have my own circumstances. I need to reach the third floor. There are things I need to find there. Well, there’s no guarantee I’ll find them, but I should at least try what I can, right?”
“I see. You’re saying that if helping with my experiment takes up too much time and slows down your growth, that would be a problem? Even ten silver isn’t enough to make up for it?”
“Yes. Of course, if you triple the current pay, I’d be willing to help you all day.”
Maybe thirty silver really was too much. Beni frowned and began thinking it over. Still, I couldn’t back down on this. If I wanted to replace dungeon grinding with gacha, I needed at least this much.
Beni, who had been grumbling like a platypus whose tail had been stepped on in its sleep, let out a long sigh.
“I can’t raise the pay. I need money for the experiments. But if your goal is getting stronger, maybe I can help with that?”
“How?”
“First, I’ll go into the dungeon with you and look after you in various ways.”
“But Rydia already does that for me…”
“Hmm. It’ll be different.”
When I grumbled in disappointment, Beni puffed out her flat, unshakeable chest with a deliberately arrogant attitude.
“I heard you can use magic to some extent? I’ll teach you the basics. If you practice in the dungeon, you’ll improve quickly.”
“…That’s an appealing offer. Then let’s go back to the first question. What should I do first?”
“Right…”
Beni nodded, her expression serious.
“First, could you take off your clothes?”
“?”
You said this wasn’t going to be anything perverted.