Holy Sword and Polymorph (2)
Holy Sword and Polymorph (2)
#
"Whoa....so squishy...."
"Eeek! H-Holy Sword! Please don't!"
"So this is why he gropes you so much..."
"Huh?! H-how do you know that? No way?! Hyaaah?!"
"This is seriously bizarre. So the sword transformed like this? Whoa?! Why are you licking me?!"
"Doesn't taste like much. So why does he like licking stuff so much?"
"...."
It was utter chaos. The Holy Sword threw a fit about the clothes being ticklish, started spewing strange remarks while trying to grope Reni's breasts, and then latched onto Yuri's fingers and sucked on them this time.
Right. I'd seen that sort of thing before. Newborn animals were supposedly curious about everything in the world. And human babies were the same. They tried to touch anything they could get their hands on and shove it into their mouths, so parents raising them had to tether the babies to something or other.
That was exactly the state the Holy Sword was in. Like a newborn foal, there was no telling where she'd bolt if left alone—and to top it off, she even trembled like a newborn kitten. Every single thing she did was hazardous. Lucky for us, Reni was glued to her, but that one had been muttering unsettling things for a while now.
Suddenly, Ariel tapped me on the shoulder.
"That person... Has the matter of the Ego Sword been settled for now?"
"...You could...say that..."
"Hm. In that case, could you tell me roughly when this amplification might be possible?"
"?!"
At that, the room fell silent as if the earlier uproar had never happened. They'd been pretending not to listen, but they'd clearly been following every word.
That elf. Was she saying this after hearing everything about what amplification entailed? Amplification, sure, but it was a sex act—wasn't she being way too casual about it?!
No. Maybe I was still tainted by a virginal mindset and overthinking it. My Charm had now broken past 60, so if I went outside and hit on anyone at random, a one-night stand might be possible...
"..."
The stares from our girls turned sharp. Honestly, there weren't any women as beautiful and lewd as ours—I'd let my mind wander pointlessly again. But putting the one-night stand aside, I did need to do amplification with these elves...
"So. How soon could it be?"
Ariel's face bore a subtly curious look. Still, this was too much. Wasn't she being way too casual about it? She hadn't struck me as this forward before—why...
Aha. Rebecca. That one had egged her on.
Rebecca's expression was blank, but her slightly flushed face twitched faintly. Had that woman spilled everything that happened during the infiltration?! I had no idea how much she'd told them. She should have kept her mouth shut about unnecessary things.
"Right. Come to think of it, he said he'd do the same for me."
The Holy Sword's muttering echoed oddly loud. Did she have some kind of special ability I didn't know about? How could she make those needless, strife-stirring remarks drill straight into everyone's ears?
Reni asked in a trembling voice.
"H-Holy Sword? What do you mean...that..."
"He said he'd teach me how to make babies. That guy did."
At the Holy Sword's answer, everyone turned to look at me. Their necks swiveled with an almost audible creaking that I felt like I shouldn't be hearing. Their gazes were...menacing!
But the Holy Sword kept muttering, utterly oblivious that she'd dropped a bombshell.
"And he told me to wait...he always just tells me to wait. So...I held back and held back...he never pays any attention to me. Just tells me to sit and watch him do his thing...."
No, dammit! Everything she said was true, but saying it like that was a disaster!
"S-so then, e-e-everything we did...you saw all of it..."
-Thump.
Yuri stared at me in disbelief, and Reni collapsed to the floor, the color drained from her face.
"So? When are you going to teach me what you said you would?"
"...."
Silence filled the room.
#
I rubbed my pinched flank and spoke.
"Uh. Um. As you can see, our situation is a bit...you know. So let's talk about your amplification a little later. And you must have things to prepare too, right? Mentally, or whatever. Besides, it's not like you need it this very second, is it?"
"Hm....still, I would appreciate an answer as soon as possible. Time is somewhat pressing on my end as well."
"Ah. Right."
Niniel. How could I have nearly forgotten her? The reason Ariel wanted amplification was because she and Niniel were bound together in a Shared Fate.
"Anyway. It's already late. Let's sort things out among ourselves first, then coordinate after that."
"...Very well."
Ariel looked genuinely disappointed, but she didn't press further. Just as we were about to disperse, Rebecca suddenly stopped us.
"Please wait a moment."
"What is it?"
"It is a message for you, Yoo-jin."
Rebecca said so and held out a note stamped with the Guild's seal.
"Reni. Here is the necklace I borrowed. It was truly useful. Thank you."
"Ah, no problem."
While I looked over the note, she returned the necklace to Reni. Watching this, Yuri suddenly spoke up.
"How come you're not giving back the clothes?"
"...I beg your pardon?"
"The clothes Yoo-jin loaned you. You still have those."
At Yuri's pointed tone, Rebecca grew flustered—something she rarely ever did.
"Ah, w-well, those, they have not been laundered yet, so I shall return them shortly..."
"Let's leave it at that. We've only been back a day. You can take your time."
"Hmmph...."
Yuri looked Rebecca up and down with obvious displeasure. She seemed to be misunderstanding something. Rebecca probably almost hated me. She only held back because our relationship made it difficult for her to hate me outright.
After I sent the elf master and servant away, we caught hold of the Holy Sword, who kept wobbling and trying to veer off elsewhere, and returned to my room.
...
First, regarding the contents of the note.
"What's it say?"
"The Witch wants to meet. Something about the reward from the last quest, and apparently she has other things she wants to discuss."
That was literally all it said. Was she trying to saddle me with another job?
"Huh....I kinda don't like that woman."
"I-I'm not too keen on her either..."
Certainly, maybe it was because her decadent appearance alone made her look the part of a witch, but I also found her a bit unnerving. Even when she was perfectly still, she gave off the feeling she was about to devour you.
"Wow, this is so cool! It bounces?!"
"Stay still for just a bit....no, forget it."
While we were talking, the Holy Sword was bouncing up and down on the bed. She really was like an actual child. And I was supposed to cast amplification on that thing. I mean, visually she passed, but something felt a bit...
Reni, who had been staring blankly at the Holy Sword's antics, suddenly spoke up.
"...Y-Yoo-jin...s-so then, up until now, the Holy Sword...she saw everything we...we did?"
"..."
I mean, she wasn't wrong, but! She made it sound like I had some kind of exhibitionism fetish!
"She saw, but...it's a bit different..."
"Different how...?"
Yuri chimed in as if she found this absurd. But I was the one who felt wronged. Getting interrogated like this after everything!
"Y-you guys knew all along that she had an ego too! I told you the moment I found out!"
"Th-that's true, but we never imagined she'd be watching like that..."
"I had no choice but to let her. She'd cry and say it felt gross when I put her in my subspace, so I couldn't help it. And she kept her mouth shut when she was a sword, but the moment she gets a human form, she starts complaining. So you're discriminating based on appearance?! Is that right?!"
"..."
The two of them wore slightly dumbfounded expressions. They looked like they wanted to fire back but had no idea what to say. I pressed my momentum.
"Whether it's a person or a sword, if it has an ego, you have to treat it properly. You shouldn't just stuff it into a pitch-black bag just because its form is a sword, and that's that. If you two suddenly felt embarrassed the moment she got a human form, that's straight-up species-ist thinking. Treating someone differently just because their ears are pointy, or they have a tail, or their body's a bit hairier, or they're made of solid metal..."
"...."
The two of them seemed to have trouble making sense of what I was saying. Yeah. I supposed anyone would react that way when faced with a tirade about modern racial discrimination. Because even I, the one talking, wasn't sure what I was babbling about! The important thing was that I had to maintain an attitude that said I was right and you were the people who needed enlightening.
So I kept spewing nonsense I didn't even understand myself...
"...I'm bored."
"Eek!"
With those words, the Holy Sword climbed off the bed and latched onto Reni's back. Yeah. Groping Reni was definitely more fun than bouncing on a bed.
"Enough of that. So, what's this thing we need to talk about among ourselves?"
Brought back to her senses by the Holy Sword, Yuri cut in. Right. It was about time we discussed it.
I started talking about the suspicions I'd been harboring all this time.