Joint Quest and Keeping in Check (2)
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"...You did it at the bank?"
"That is correct."
"...Uh... why?"
The atmosphere turned icy. The mood was already taut from the First-Wife War, and now she had dropped a bomb like that? Did this woman have no sense of the room at all?!
-Clack.
Through all of that, Rebecca moved dishes around as if it were nothing. Master and servant both had shameless faces, a matched pair!
Ariel answered with an air of utter indifference.
"There were unavoidable circumstances."
"Unavoidable circumstances, what could possibly...!"
"There was nothing of the sort that you are imagining. I cannot tell you the details, but regardless, I did it because it was necessary. Rather, I would like to ask you something. Are you not pouring excessive emotion into that act?"
"..."
"Does this man's ability activation not use sexual acts as a trigger? In carrying out the Goddess's quest, there will be many occasions to use the Awakened's abilities going forward. Do you intend to expend your mental energy every single time? If you let yourselves be thrown into turmoil at every instance, it will be far too harsh on you."
"..."
Reni's shoulders drooped. That was originally something Reni had said to me first, but she probably hadn't expected it to be turned back on her. Well, her head might understand, but emotions were another matter.
An indescribably complicated feeling washed over me. Part of me felt sorry, part of me felt bad for her, and part of me felt a little wronged.
"If it's necessary, it can't be helped. It can't be helped. It's only natural."
Reni muttered something quietly, then drew a deep breath.
"Hoo-uhp. Haaaah... You are right. I'm sorry, Yoo-jin. I shouldn't be like this when I'm the First Wife."
"Hmm... I don't mind. I already knew about it anyway. As long as you don't neglect me, well... But I am a little curious about what you did at the bank."
"Why is that?"
"Because I just want to know? Why? Did you do something you can't talk about?"
"No, wait a moment."
I cut Yuri off. This was a matter of manners, so I had to address it once.
"I'll be using my abilities a lot going forward, but I'm not sure I should have to tell you about it every time. That doesn't seem like proper etiquette in many ways. How would you feel if I went around telling people about doing this and that with you? Wouldn't it feel bad?"
"..."
"Talking about it would feel bad, and hearing it would feel bad too. We’ve deliberately avoided discussing each other’s sex lives until now, so I don’t think it’s right to ask."
"...Tch."
Yuri lightly kicked my leg under the table. She understood, but emotions were still another matter. Still, in the past she would have jabbed me with her toes, so the mood had softened a lot since yesterday.
"I am all right. But st-staying out without a word is still a bit much. Because I get worried...."
"Uh, yeah. Sorry..."
I had nothing to say about that... I should get into the habit of using the necklace more often.
"The food will get cold."
At Rebecca's words, everyone began eating. She knew how to intervene at exactly the right moment, so why did she always cut me off when she spoke to me?
The food wasn't as luxurious as it had been yesterday morning, but it was still quite substantial. The Holy Sword was the only exception.
The Holy Sword had piled up what looked like snacks in front of herself and was giggling away on her own. Even while we were having a serious conversation over here, she just kept eating snacks without missing a beat.
"What're you eating?"
"..."
This one was so busy crunching away she didn't even answer. It was Rebecca who answered in place of the Holy Sword.
"As the Holy Sword's senses seem to differ from an ordinary person's, I prepared it separately. If you were to eat it, Yoo-jin, you would not taste anything in particular."
"..."
No, who was eating it? This woman was subtly giving me grief. Was she telling me to appreciate that she had prepared it separately?
"Right... You've got it tough."
"It is fine. If it were not for you, Yoo-jin, this sort of thing would not be happening."
"..."
Was that an insult?
It was incredibly ambiguous. Did she mean that thanks to me, her life had become more comfortable, or did she mean that because of me, she was suffering like this? Either interpretation made sense.
But since she was handling all the work of looking after the Holy Sword, I couldn't exactly ask whether she was taking a jab at me!
While I was agonizing like that, Ariel spoke, her mouth still slightly full.
"So, to continue what we were speaking of earlier."
"Yeah?"
"Did you not say it is now the third day? I would like to know when I can receive the next amplification. Will you do it immediately after the meal?"
"..." "..."
"No, no, no. Wait a moment."
Th-this woman had no filter at all. Even with so many people watching, she had come right out with, 'When are we having sex?'
Of course, I welcomed it, but even I had misgivings about living a life that was punctuated by sex like that. The eyes of the girls staring straight at me were scary too, and most of all, I had things to do.
"Am-amplification can come a little later. Even for me, doing it from the morning is a bit much. I was thinking of going to the Guild today."
"Do you have some business at the Guild?"
"There's someone I'm supposed to meet. You know, those idiots who were getting chased by the unicorn the other day."
I gave a brief summary of what had happened with Emily while Ariel was taking care of her business at the bank last time.
"...So it's a kind of joint quest. I'm not going in today right this moment. First, I'll meet them and we'll work out where to go, what we need to do, what we can do. If things go well, they might even introduce me to one of the executives over there, and having connections never hurts."
The Goddess's quest. A task that had to be accomplished in the long term.
But the quest itself was impossibly vague. Kill extraordinary Paraphiliacs? Of course, I had the Dick Radar the Goddess had given me, but the mission was far too difficult to carry out with that alone.
That was why the Witch had told me to raise my level first and make connections in the Guild.
Of course, I did want to meet the Goddess and ask her outright just what the problem was, but—
[User Interface — Activation Stage 80%]
[Avatar Descent — Activation Stage 60%]
I still couldn't use the Holy Sword's skill.
There was something that nagged at me. That activation stage hadn't risen from 60% even as time passed. So then, what was the condition for raising it?
What else could it be? It would probably rise if I killed the various kinds of -fuckers.
Killing the Skeleton Fucker, the Goblin Fucker, and the pedo had brought it to 60%, so by simple arithmetic, catching two more should let me meet the Goddess.
Of course, that was only speculation, but I didn't have enough information to form any other theory.
In any case, I needed to raise my level if I wanted to kill those -fucker bastards, which brought me right back to the beginning...
"So for a while, I'm planning to do guild quests and go into dungeons. What about you all?"
"Ah, w-well, I..."
Yuri nodded, but unexpectedly, Reni looked like she had something to say.
"I-I've already applied to begin the process of learning advanced Holy Magic. But it has quite a few requirements..."
"Requirements?"
"Th-that is..."
Reni said she'd visited the Church yesterday while Yuri was away. She knew too few kinds of Holy Magic, so she'd tried to learn more advanced spells, but—
"F-free priestesses like me need a separate record of achievements. I can't learn it just because I want to... An independent priestess has fewer responsibilities, but our authority is correspondingly limited..."
"A performance record?"
"Volunteer work designated by the Church, or quests, or else..."
"Or else?"
Reni pressed her lips together, then blushed a little.
"D-donations..."
How worldly. Hey, Goddess. Your religion was selling Holy Magic for money. But if that was how it worked, why did they need monasteries?
Seeing my expression turn strange, Reni waved her arms.
"Ah, d-donations aren't necessarily a bad thing. Basically, the Church's main work is volunteer service, and they also run workhouses and orphanages... and the money they make there flows out to various regions. I-I also received help from it..."
"Ah, no. Yeah. Okay."
Reni made her excuses a bit incoherently. It seemed she was a little embarrassed that the Church took money. Well, even in the modern day, churches felt no shame putting up expensive buildings on expensive land. Since here they didn't seem to be indulging in that kind of luxury, it might actually be much better.
"Ah, anyway, so, until the Church's assignment comes down, it's fine. But once the quest is given, after that, I think I'll have to work out the schedule a bit."
"Hm... I see. Got it. Do you have to do that quest alone?"
"That, I'm not really..."
Reni scratched her cheek and explained. It wasn't strictly fixed; they gave you whatever work the Church needed at the time.
Hm.
To gain the authority of holy magic, you had to bear the responsibility of service. If you had no responsibility, you had no authority. If you demanded authority, they saddled you with responsibility.
Hmm. I felt like I was getting a little bit of an idea of the doctrine around here.
"Hmm. Right. I got it for now."
"I shall accompany you as well."
"Huh?"
Ariel said something unexpected.
"Thanks to you, I can use magic, however faintly, and I do not believe my knowledge of alchemy is lacking. I will be of help. And above all..."
Above all?
Ariel paused slightly, as if it were an important point.
"Does the amplification not disappear after three days? A quest may keep us inside a dungeon for days or even weeks. If I cannot receive amplification during that time, I fear something may happen to Niniel."
"Ah, righ...huh?"
Wait. There was something implied in what Ariel said.
"S-so that means we'll have to do the act to apply the buff inside the dungeon...? Really?"
Unlike me, flustered at the unexpected prospect of outdoor sex, Ariel was nonchalant.
"What does the location matter? If we just pitch a tent, there is no chance of others seeing us, is there? We have also tried methods of holding back noise the last time, so it will be no particular problem."
"Doing it inside a dungeon, ah, no! It-t is shamelesss!"
Reni, finally catching on to what conversation was being passed back and forth, shrieked, but Ariel instead landed a counter right back.
"Is there any other method? And did that priestess over there not also develop a problem when her amplification expired last time?"
"!!!!"
Reni's face turned bright red as her mouth opened and closed. Right, actually, more than anyone else, Reni was the problem. When the buff disappeared, Reni literally tried to throw herself at me anywhere!
"Y-you perverts...!"
"Will you not be doing it?"
"...I will! I said I'll do it too! I'll do it!"
Yuri shouted that and glared at me. No, here, the arrow came flying back at me again?!
Naturally, I did my best to put on an expression of immense contrition. Taking the humble route here was the right call. Because the reward was far too sweet!
...
And so, we finished our slightly noisy breakfast, and even had tea after the meal.
As we—no, as I—was about to depart for the Guild, Rebecca caught hold of me.
"Yoo-jin."
"What?"
"The maids' interviews are this afternoon, but it seems you have a schedule today. I had meant to tell you yesterday, but you were out, so there was no opportunity. A shame."
"..."