The Priestess and the Hunter's Provocation (2)
The Priestess and the Hunter's Provocation (2)
#
[Burn it.]
[The Holy Sword unleashes Holy Fire.]
Wasn't that bastard completely insane? Tying women up and raping them? What the hell was that vision showing me?
Anyway, only a fucking idiot who thought like that would go around raping goblins. People had to consent. If you raped someone, what made you any different from a beast?
No, I mean, sure, it wasn't like I had no interest in that kind of tied-up play, but...
The important part was that it was all just pretending. You couldn't actually do it for real.
...Should I ask Reni if she'd let me tie her up next time? Would she even do it? Or maybe...
[The Holy Sword unleashes Holy Fire at maximum output.]
[Hey! Who said you could do that?!]
[The Holy Sword unleashes Holy Fire at maximum output.]
[You aren't listening! Want to get punished?!]
[The Holy Sword detects a foul and sinister aura.]
[The Holy Sword protests that the danger must be eliminated preemptively.]
This damn thing. The moment it got a chance, it went berserk spouting fire on its own and trying to use Divine Power. Fine. Do whatever you want...
I drove the Holy Sword into the corpse, backed away, and settled down to wait. The two of them tilted their heads in confusion.
"Yoo-jin? Are you done? But the Holy Fire still..."
"Let's just sit here and wait a bit. Looks like it's going to take some time."
"Huh?"
"The Holy Sword's spitting fire on its own. I told you that thing was weird, right? Anyway, it's got a nasty personality."
"You two are doing that secret-talk thing again..."
Yuri grumbled under her breath. I chuckled and motioned to her. I should tell her; my mind was already made up.
"I haven't told you about this yet."
"About what?"
"Hm... not sure how to put it. Ever heard of an ego sword? That thing—it's got an ego. You could say it's alive, I guess?"
"What?! Seriously?!"
"Yeah."
"Whoa... that's really incredible..."
She looked up at me with something close to reverence. I hadn't done anything particularly amazing, but having her look at me that way still made me puff up with pride.
"..."
Somehow, Reni had a smug expression too. As if she was the one being praised...
Hm... seeing her like that from the side made me feel all embarrassed myself. Did I look like that too? To hide my embarrassment, I kept explaining.
"You saw it spouting fire in the cavern earlier, right? That was it acting on its own too."
"Huh... isn't it dangerous? If it just acts on its own like that?"
"It's not dangerous. That thing doesn't spout fire at us."
"Huh..."
Yuri looked at the Holy Sword as if utterly fascinated. She stood up and hovered around it. Though I had no idea what was so entertaining to gawk at when it was busy burning up a corpse.
"..."
I was about to say something but stopped myself. She had the expression of a kid who just got a new toy; telling her to cut it out seemed a little mean. And there was no point in pointedly reminding her about the cremation going on at that moment anyway.
"Whoa!"
Suddenly, the Holy Sword unleashed a violent burst of flame. As if showing off... Wait, now that I thought about it, that thing could observe the outside world, right? Was it actually showing off?
"Ack... think I got my hair a little singed..."
Yuri let out a pathetic little sound and came back over.
"But it has an ego? S-so, does it talk too?"
"Yeah."
"Then that time Reni was acting a little out of it... it wasn't because she was.... Hk."
"...Yuri..."
Yuri was flustered, and Reni was watching with cold eyes. Well, it figured. Reni had tried talking to the Holy Sword a few times herself, after all. If someone watched without knowing, it would look pretty strange.
"Th-that's not what I... a-anyway. So if I talk to it, will it understand? Can I talk to it too?"
"No. It can only talk to me."
"That's too bad..."
"And even then, it's not proper conversation. Just short... sentences? That's the only way it talks. Well, it can talk properly when it shows up in my dreams."
"Really? It shows up in dreams too? But it's a sword?"
"Yeah. Funny, right?"
Yuri sat beside me with her mouth hanging open. I'd noticed it while talking about the military last night, but she made a great listener. Her reactions were so big that telling her stories was genuinely satisfying.
"But how does it talk in a dream? Does it grow a mouth or something?"
"No. It just transforms into a person."
"Really? What did it look like?"
Yuri's eyes were sparkling. Beside her, Reni also had an expression of keen interest.
"Just... a girl. Her hair's scarlet, fitting for a fire-spouting sword."
"Huh... is she pretty?"
Yuri's face was full of curiosity.
Was she pretty...? Well, she was. But what good did that do? Touching her wasn't satisfying at all.
Come to think of it, that really was a headache. To apply the buff, I had to touch her while giving her sex education, but touching her wasn't satisfying, and her reactions weren't very good either. Her sensitivity was low, I supposed. Last time, I'd stacked so many skills on her, yet she had barely managed a single shallow climax...
"Huh? So?"
Yuri pushed her face in so close our noses were almost touching and asked. I reflexively opened my mouth and blurted it out.
"Well... she is pretty.... Maybe because it's a dream, though, touching her doesn't really feel..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
I'd screwed up!
"...Yoo-jin?"
"Th-that thing hides all kinds of things even though it's just a sword! It suddenly appeared in my dream and kept stabbing me! The only reason it can communicate like this now is that I barely managed to intimidate it in the dream..."
"Hmm... is that so... you even did it with a sword? And here you said I was your second?"
"I didn't! I said I didn't! How is a person supposed to do it with a sword?!"
"But you said in your dream it's a person? And that she's pretty?"
"Yoo-jin..."
The look in both their eyes was far too cold. They were convinced! They were convinced I'd done it with the sword! They were looking at me like I was a sword-fucker!
I needed another conversation topic. Wh-what should I do?
[The Holy Sword expresses satisfaction.]
[The Holy Sword requests Divine Power replenishment.]
-Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh.
The Holy Fire died out completely.
[A change has occurred in the observation.]
[The probability of ## has decreased to ##.]
[Reward: 1 Golden Ticket]
Forget that! Anyway, good. It had interrupted at exactly the right time.
"Ah. It's, it's done? Let's head out now... Reni?!"
Reni dashed forward and snatched up the Holy Sword before I could say anything. Then, channeling Divine Power into it, she spoke to the Holy Sword.
"Holy Sword. Can you hear me? If you can hear me, just a little bit of Holy Fire..."
The Holy Sword went fwoosh and produced a tiny flame no bigger than a lighter's. Wh-why was that thing being so cooperative? Had it been watching everything while it spat fire? Was it trying to screw me over?!
"Holy Sword. Did Yoo-jin perhaps do anything strange in his dream? If he did, one burst of fire. If he didn't, two..."
[Hey! Hey hey hey hey hey!]
[...]
[Hey! You—you wanted to become human! You remember my promise to make you human, right?! Answer properly! You'd better answer properly!]
[The Holy Sword finds the current situation intriguing.]
[The Holy Sword wonders when this thing called education will begin.]
[The Holy Sword wishes to use Divine Power more autonomously.]
[The Holy Sword wonders when the promise will be fulfilled.]
[The Holy Sword wishes to use Dream Sharing in the near future.]
[The Holy Sword...]
[Alright! Alright already!]
"Holy Sword?"
The Holy Sword puffed out two bursts of fire, fwoosh-fwoosh, and fell silent.
"See, look. Nothing happened, right?"
I puffed out my chest and spoke with righteous confidence, even as cold sweat streamed down my back.
"I-I'm sorry..."
"Hmm..."
Reni seemed willing to let it go, but... I didn't like the look Yuri had been giving me. She looked as though she suspected me of all sorts of things.
I raised my voice for no reason.
"Let's go. There's nothing left to do here."
# # #
On the way back from the dungeon, Yuri suddenly spoke.
"Hey..."
"Yeah?"
"...So the dungeon's over now. There won't be any more dangerous stuff, right?"
"Probably. We wiped them all out, after all..."
"...Then... we're going to West Keep now, right?"
"Yeah."
"Are you leaving... right away?"
"Not sure? I was thinking of heading out within a day or two."
"I see..."
Yuri was unusually hesitant. She clearly had something to say, but she kept circling around it, unable to reveal what she really wanted.
"..."
I stopped walking for a moment. Reni seemed to read the mood too and said nothing.
"Ah, u-um..."
Yuri kept swallowing nervously. I waited for her to speak.
"I-I have a favor to ask..."
Yuri's gaze was fixed on the ground as if she were afraid. Then she glanced up at me, as if asking for help. Seeing those eyes, I gave her a small smile.
Finally, Yuri squeezed her eyes shut and spoke.
"P-please let me join your party. I want to keep traveling with you."
She spoke formally, but not with the distancing tone she'd used before. This was simple politeness for a sincere request.
The moment she finished, her gaze dropped back to the ground. Her fear that I might reject her was painfully obvious.
Yeah. I'd also been vaguely thinking it would probably end up this way. But if she was making an official request, then I should give a clear answer too.
"Reni. I want to let her join."
I sought Reni's opinion. She'd definitely say it was fine, but I still wanted to respect Reni.
"...I think it's a good idea too."
Reni gave a soft smile. At those words, Yuri's face brightened.
"Ah, th-thank you. I-I'll try to be useful... no. I'll definitely make sure I'm helpful."
"Alright."
Hesitantly, Yuri stepped between Reni and me and linked arms with both of us. She stole a glance at Reni to gauge her reaction, but Reni merely wore a slightly troubled smile and didn't refuse.
-Ding!
[A change has occurred in the observation.]
[The probability of ## has decreased to ##.]
[Reward: 1 Golden Ticket]
That could have waited until later instead of ruining the mood.
"Shall we go, then?"
"Yeah."
Yuri's face brightened a little more, and she grinned broadly as she looked back and forth between Reni and me.
She was acting cute.
The way she normally acted, she could have used a brazen tone and said, "You took my virginity, so take responsibility." But when it came down to something like this, she tiptoed around it, gauging our reaction.
"So that means I'm going with you? To West Keep?"
"That's right."
She really needed to hear the confirmation out loud. Delighted for some reason, she let out a strange little giggle.
...
We walked like that for a while, until Yuri suddenly started mumbling something.
"So, then... hm..."
"What?"
"The... um... amp..."
Amp?
"The amplification... I-I get to join in too, right? I can keep receiving it, right?"
"W-well... yes?"
Yuri's face was burning bright red. Her pace had slowed a little too.
I glanced at Reni, but her expression hadn't changed. As if she'd noticed me gauging her reaction, Reni opened her mouth.
"I've said this before, but... you need to use your abilities more proactively, Yoo-jin. You're the Apostle of the Goddess."
"Eh? R-Reni, you're really okay with that...?"
Yuri looked startled by the unexpected answer, while Reni let out a small sigh.
"...It's not that I'm okay with it."
Reni soon wore a smug smile.
"I'm fine. I-I got Yoo-jin's f-firsts. In several ways... and I'll keep getting them from now on too..."
At the very end, as if embarrassed to be saying such things, she turned into a tomato again. Still, to think Reni had become this generous...
"Heh-heh... first times, huh..."
"Yes. First times. In many ways. And from now on, as well."
Yuri was talking to herself, and Reni was answering her, enunciating every word.
Yuri let go of Reni's arm, then came around to my other side and linked arms with me. Reni promptly slid into the spot Yuri had vacated and linked arms with me on that side.
It was the sort of situation one might call having a flower in each hand, yet the atmosphere between them was subtly—no, extremely—uncomfortable...
"..."
This was terrifying. I hadn't even said anything, and it was still terrifying...
...
Yuri suddenly broke the strange silence.
"But, Yoo-jin."
"Yeah?"
Yuri bent forward and looked up at me, her face completely expressionless.
"How did you do it before? Did you two do it every day?"
"Uh... what?"
Why was she curious about that?! I looked at Reni and she was gaping as if she'd never dreamed Yuri would dare to ask something like that. A-at a time like this...
Evasion!
"W-well... I think that's a little personal..."
"Did you do it outside, too?"
"..."
D-did we? Reni had given me a blowjob, but... did that count? Did it count as doing it? No, was it okay to say that here?!
"Heh-heh..."
Yuri looked back and forth between Reni and me, then grinned as if she understood.
"So not everything was a first, then?"
"Uh... huh?"
"So outside... that's a first time with me?"
"..."
"Heh-heh... is that how it is... then in that case..."
Apparently taking my silence as confirmation, Yuri was looking up at me with a beaming, sunny smile.
"Ngh...!"
I heard Reni groan. When I looked over, she was glaring at me with a bright red face.
She was blaming me?!
Ah, n-no, come to think of it, we'd had chances to have outdoor sex! At dawn earlier! And before that in the dungeon!
If we'd done it in the Riverbridge dungeon, outdoor sex would have been a first with you too! You were the one who stopped us then, and now you were blaming me?!
At this point, I couldn't take it anymore either...!
"Sh-should w-we all do it together here before we go? Th-the three of us?"