Chapter 48
Staring at the windows that had popped up right in front of Dungeon Agales, I found myself lost in thought for a moment. If there had only been one option, it might've been easier, but suddenly having three choices thrown at me made me feel uncharacteristically indecisive.
"Hey, what're you doing?"
"……."
Well, I was never the decisive type to begin with.
For now, I had four magic stones on hand. But I could only pick one. Who knew when I'd get more? I had to choose wisely.
"Ian? What're you thinking about so hard?"
The first option... it said it would let me add a new target for registration. That meant I could add Bella to the contract I already had with Cheong-ah. In other words, I could share my buffs with Bella too.
I had no idea how effective my buffs would be on her, but thinking back to the fight between Cheong-ah and Bella before, it probably wouldn't hurt.
The problem was the side effects...
Bella's fighting style was brutally rough and savage. Missing one arm, she relied entirely on the other, swinging around a massive greatsword that was more like a blunt weapon than a blade. I'd love for her to switch it up, but if she likes it that way, what can I do?
And that greatsword was her second one, as far as I knew. The first one got smashed in her fight with Cheong-ah. When she joined our party, she took some money to buy a new weapon and came back with that club-like monstrosity.
She swings that thing around like some macho tough guy, tanking hits with her body that she could shrug off and counterattacking. If I activated a buff on her... would my body even survive the backlash?
Yeah, putting this one on hold for now.
"Hey, you little shit. I'm calling you. Hey, Cheong-ah. Control your husband. Why's he suddenly spacing out like that?"
"Do I have to? I'm sure Lord Husband has something important on his mind, so just wait quietly."
"No, fuck... At least respond or something? Hey. Ian...! Hey, you bastard! You deaf or what?!"
"……Tch."
"Argh, Ju Cheong-ah. Stop just clicking your tongue and..."
Next, the second option: upgrading the ability. "Upgrading" probably meant strengthening it. It would enhance my current Conductor ability, making the buffs I give Cheong-ah even more efficient.
But how would it upgrade? It'd be great if there was an example, but without one, I hesitated to pick it.
If I had spare magic stones, I could test it out step by step, but sigh...
"Y-You...! Hey, let go! I said let go!"
"No way! Don't disturb Lord Husband!"
"Hey, you...! Where're you grabbing?!"
No choice but to hold off on this one too. If I upgraded and didn't feel any meaningful change, I'd regret wasting the stone—and those things cost a fortune in gold...
I'll do this when I have some leeway.
That left the final option.
Gaining a new Conductor ability...
"No examples for this one either, huh."
"Wha-what...? What're you talking about examples for?"
"Would you let go of my hair first before talking, Bella?"
"You let go of my arm first. It hurts."
Why the hell was this damn Conductor ability so unhelpful?
"Fine, on three we both let go at the same time."
"Deal... Let's do that."
"One, two, three...!"
"Hey, you didn't let go!"
"You didn't either!"
If it was an ability given to me, couldn't it be a little nicer? What, did I ask for some god-tier cheat or something...? No, just... give me a proper explanation, please.
"Sh-shit. Fine. I won't do it anymore, okay?"
"......Alright. I trust you."
Thinking back, even the first time I used it, if it had just told me I needed a magic stone, I could've scrounged one up somehow and activated it. But this fucking Conductor ability only revealed that by pure luck—goblin brains happen to have magic stones—right when I was about to die, letting me contract with Cheong-ah and survive.
It never properly explained anything to me. Even after awakening, the explanations were barely better...
This wasn't nearly enough.
"Kyaa?! Bella, you liar!"
"You actually fell for that?! Obviously it was bullshit, you idiot!"
I was mulling it over when suddenly—thwack—something hit my shoulder, snapping me back to reality.
"Gah...!"
Turning to the side with a yelp, there was Bella with a pouty face, fist clenched.
"What the hell? Why'd you hit me?"
"Oh, Ian, you bastard. Finally looking this way, huh?"
"What's up? What happened?"
"What happened?"
Rubbing my sore shoulder, I asked with a puzzled look, and Bella's eyebrow twitched upward. Cheong-ah approached from behind, grabbed Bella, and suddenly the two were tussling.
"Y-You liar!"
"Ow...! Hey, wait! Sorry, sorry! Ow!"
Cheong-ah yanking Bella's hair with both hands. Bella's back arched toward her, face twisting in shock and pain. She flailed with her one remaining arm, but Cheong-ah showed no mercy, pulling harder.
"Ah, let go already! It hurts!"
......What was this? A catfight? Something like that?
More importantly, why was Cheong-ah covered in mud again? Bella was... well, always muddy, I guess.
I blinked in bewilderment for a second before snapping out of it and stepping in to separate them. These two could do anything in a dungeon.
"Hey, Cheong-ah. Bella. Stop, stop it. Why're you fighting like this? We're still inside the dungeon. I get that you're both strong and feeling cocky, but it's a dungeon. Come on? Separate, Cheong-ah. Quick."
At my intervention, Cheong-ah released Bella's hair first and stepped back. She pointed at Bella with a sulky expression.
"Bella tricked me first, Lord Husband."
"Why'd you do that, Bella?"
When I asked Bella following Cheong-ah's words, she shot me a look of utter disbelief mixed with gloom—a vague, indescribable expression full of grievance—as she stared up at the cave ceiling. Then came her words, laced with a hint of anger.
"Hah... Why'd I do it? Didn't expect you to say 'it's a dungeon' out of all people. Huh? You know it's a dungeon and still zone out like that for ages? Hey, fuck. If we're counting faults, it's yours, asshole."
"Uh... Sorry."
"So what were you thinking about so hard you ignored people calling you?"
"Well, you see..."
I hesitated, wondering if I should explain, but since I'd already told them about the ability, there was no point hiding more. I calmly laid it out.
"Oh, so basically, you can either strengthen the ability, gain a new one, or make it so you can buff me too?"
"Yeah."
I nodded, and Bella spat it out like it was obvious why I'd agonize over that.
"Then what's there to think about?"
"Huh?"
"Go for the new ability. You said strengthening's still iffy, right? And using it on me too. That'd mean kissing you, and nah, that's weird. What kinda kiss between you and me? So new ability it is."
"R-Really...?"
"Yeah. Any effect from your ability bounces back to you anyway, right? You think you could handle me fighting like a maniac?"
"Well, yeah. Got it. New ability it is, then..."
This was a total one-eighty from Bella throwing a fit before entering the dungeon, begging me to buff her too.
As I was about to go with Bella's suggestion and pick new ability, Cheong-ah, who'd been listening quietly, spoke up.
"No, Lord Husband. I think adding a new party member would be best."
"Huh? Cheong-ah, what're you saying?"
"Yeah, hey. Cheong-ah, you wanna watch me kiss your husband or something?"
Cheong-ah didn't really respond to our protests, just gave a faint smile. She crossed her arms below her chest, rested her chin lightly on one hand, and voiced her thoughts.
"Well... but no matter how I think about it, that seems like the best choice?"
"......What do you mean? Explain in detail."
Cheong-ah's explanation went like this:
She agreed we should save strengthening for later when we had the leeway, since we didn't know exactly how it'd work. But she wasn't thrilled about adding a new ability either.
"We don't even know what new ability it'd be, right? In that case, better to pick the surefire option and add Bella as reliable firepower."
"......Hmm."
Cheong-ah took a small step closer. She nestled into my chest and wrapped her arms around my waist.
"Of course, I don't love the idea of Lord Husband kissing some other woman..."
"Cheong-ah."
As I moved to hug her back, she whispered so low only I could hear, in a soft, quiet voice.
"But if Bella becomes one of Lord Husband's women... then she's not some outsider, is she?"