The City and the Adventurers' Guild (1)

#

"...Di-did you have a fun, a fun time last night...?"

Watching Yuri grin, Reni whispered to me in a voice gone ice-cold.

Fun? Well, physically it was fun, sure. But that girl's mental attacks made it impossible for me to keep my head on straight! And this priestess didn't even get that!

"J-just how much... just how much did you do last night...!"

Reni couldn't bring herself to finish. Anger and... jealousy! I swung my arm around Reni's shoulders, pulled her in, and whispered fast.

"Last time, didn't I promise to do it ten times with you in the same amount of time?"

"Ngh..."

"Twenty! I'll do it twenty times!"

"Nngh... t-twenty times... I, I can't do that..."

"..."

Reni shivered as if she was terrified. But she so obviously couldn't control the corners of her mouth twitching. Why did this priestess always pretend it wasn't the case? Not that I didn't get a kick out of winning her over precisely because of it.

Reni kept blushing and fidgeting like that, then suddenly, as if she'd just remembered something, she spoke to Yuri.

"Y-Yuri. I-I'll do the massage..."

"Nope. I’m always the one receiving it, right? Today, I’ll give you one. I’ve picked up a thing or two, so it’ll feel great, okay?"

Yuri fired back immediately. The words came out so smoothly that her whole attitude practically screamed she'd been waiting for this exact moment.

"I-I'm fine, really..."

"But you gave me one in the carriage last time. Let's take turns. That's fair, right?"

Reni. That was what happened when she kept trying the same approach on Yuri. But I couldn't do anything about the desperate, pleading look Reni shot me.

Yuri had a look on her face that said it'd be boring if I butted in here. And honestly, I was a little curious. What would it look like, the two of them getting all sticky and entangled? I barely managed to hide the drool about to leak out as I glanced back at Reni.

"Wouldn't it be fine?"

The expression of despair on Reni's face was like a puppy that'd just been abandoned. What was with making that kind of face over something like this? I'd felt it before, but Reni was way too dramatic. And then came Reni's scream.

"Aagh! It hurts, it hurts!"

"I told you, it feels great if you just hold out a little bit?"

"Ahhn! S-stop, stop it! Yoo-jin! Help, help me! Kyaaah!"

"Here, I'll hold your hand!"

"Yah!"

-Pinch, pinch.

I'd tried to hold her hand, but Reni pinched the back of mine like she was gonna vent all her shoulder pain into it. Judging by how much feeling was behind it, I figured there was some betrayed anger mixed in too.

Anyway, the situation was seriously bizarre. Reni was lying on her stomach. Yuri had climbed on top of her and was kneading her shoulders. And I was getting the back of my hand mauled by Reni.

This was just like some obstetrics-and-gynecology...

"Ah... no... stop... stooop... nngh..."

...

Reni ended up completely sprawled out like that. And me... I ended up a little turned on. My dick.

"So mean... sooo meaan..."

"S-sorry..."

I had no choice but to apologize as I took the hand of Reni, who lay limp in front of me.

Yuri was wearing a smug look as if she'd pulled something off. Was she the type who never forgot a grudge? Kinda scary...

Yuri stretched her arms way out as if it felt great. She shoved them toward me like she was showing off her soft, smooth armpits and asked about the next step.

"So. What are we doing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠first when we get to West Keep?"

"Dunno."

I sorted out my thoughts while keeping Yuri's armpits in one corner of my vision.

The events in the original... I mean, I couldn't know every single thing that was going to happen in the future. Like the slime dungeon last time, I couldn't know every incident that was only mentioned in passing and skipped over, or ended as nothing more than a hint. Still, I did know a few major events.

"First... we have to wait."

"Wait?"

"Yeah. A bunch of things are gonna happen from now on, but moving right now won't do any good. Let's get registered as adventurers in West Keep, get ourselves settled in, and then make our move."

After this, the stuff that would happen in the hot-spring city up north, or the events down south in the village by the sea, and so on. Things like the ice spirit's attack or a wave of sea monsters were coming, but if we headed out now, we'd just be coming back empty-handed.

And in between all that, things happening in the external dungeons. I couldn't keep tabs on all of those either.

Getting a foothold in the city first, making money while working on the Great Labyrinth, gathering intel on the outside dungeons, and getting us ready for what was in store—that much should've been enough.

I told the two of them only that much.

"Reni. You listening?"

"Eh, ehh..."

Reni was lying flat and twitching. Her sex appeal was in full, ripe bloom.

"Huhhh... anyway. Yoo-jin, you know what the Great Labyrinth looks like?"

"Nope. Don't know."

How could I? In the original, the hero's party dealt with the wave in the mountain range, and just as they set off after the revelation that some being in the Great Labyrinth was behind everything, the story was about to get to the smut—and then went on indefinite hiatus.

The nuance was that there was some kind of... root-of-all-evil type being in the Great Labyrinth. I wouldn't need to deal with that guy myself, but at the very least, if I got some intel and sent it up through church or guild channels, they'd dispatch the hero bastards. I just had to stay one step back and watch.

At the news that I didn't know anything about the Great Labyrinth, Yuri's eyes sparkled. She was thinking of this as a chance to flex her pride as a wiki-addict, right? Even though all she ever did was bark up the wrong tree.

"Heh-heh... you were gonna head there when you don't even know what it looks like? So, about the Great Labyrinth, let me tell you."

She tilted her chin up and gave me a look like she was looking down on me. If ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she'd had glasses on, she'd have been the perfect wiki-junkie...

"...What's with that face?"

"Nah. Nothing. So what's the Great Labyrinth like?"

"The Great Labyrinth is... really big!"

"..."

"Hey! You just thought I was stupid, didn't you?! Don't look at me like that!"

"Ah... aah... I-I'll, I'll..."

"Ah, Reni, you rest!"

"Ahngh?! Euh-hngh?!"

Had she jammed a pressure point on Reni's shoulder or something? A couple of twists of Yuri's fingers and Reni collapsed right away. It seemed like learning that move would be useful.

"Where are you looking?"

"N-no, nowhere. I'm listening."

Yuri inspected my crotch with a sharp gaze, then continued her explanation in obvious displeasure.

"They call the Great Labyrinth a labyrinth, but honestly, it doesn't actually have that much to do with a labyrinth or a dungeon."

"What do you mean?"

"They call it that because the entrance looks sort of like a dungeon. The inside’s so huge you could call it a whole other world. I’m telling you, it even has a sky, okay?"

"...It's got a sky?"

It was that huge? That was a new piece of intel. I'd figured it was just a slightly deeper dungeon at best.

"Yeah. If we're being exact, you'd have to call it a ceiling, but still. Anyway, the ceiling's high enough that there are clouds, and the place is so vast you absolutely can't tell it's inside a mountain range."

"I see... so how vast is it?"

"I dunno either."

"..."

"Hey! You were thinking I'm stupid again, right?! It's not that I don't know—nobody knows!"

"I-is that so..."

Yuri's explanation that followed was pretty complicated.

The dungeon interior was so massive you could practically say it was connected to a new world. But it definitely wasn't a new world, because—

"It's bright in there even though there's no sun."

"Really?"

"Yeah. A faint light comes out of the ceiling, so it's fairly bright. But even so, the light vanishes like nighttime after a while, you know? Isn't that freaky?"

"Huh..."

According to Yuri's explanation, it seemed like light appeared as if it were artificial lighting, then disappeared after a period of time. Apparently that'd been uncovered by wizards who'd used flight magic to ascend all the way to the top of the ceiling.

"That's not all. There are upper and lower levels too. A colossal spiral staircase that goes up to the upper levels connects all the way to the top of the ceiling. And deep inside, I heard there are passages that lead down to the lower levels."

"Hmm... what's at the end?"

"No clue. Hey, you were just about to reflexively blow me off again, weren't you?"

"Stop reading my mind..."

-Thwack!

"Agh! Fine! I wasn't blowing you off!"

"Hmph... It's not because people are stupid that they don't explore all the way to the end."

Yuri went on with her explanation. The Great Labyrinth had a few points you could consider a central area, she said, and the farther you got from those points, the more the environment changed.

Strictly speaking, ‘central area’ wasn't an accurate term. Any point on Earth's surface could be called the center of the world, and the same applied to the Great Labyrinth. It was merely a convenient label.

Anyway, once you got far from those points, the environmental shifts happened fast, she said. To put it in extreme terms, a space that was desert up until yesterday could transform into jungle overnight.

Or else an entirely artificial maze-type dungeon would appear, or some colossal mansion would pop up out of nowhere, or a monster habitat would materialize, and so on.

"That's not all. The further out you go toward the fringes... the weirder the monsters get."

"Monsters are weird to begin with, though? They don't even eat to survive."

"No, that's not what I mean. The monsters that appear near the central area are kinda... how do I put it, normal?"

"Normal how?"

"The goblins and slimes we defeated last time. And, I dunno... skeletons, orcs, kobolds, gnolls... they all have set forms, right?"

"...Right?"

"But on the fringes... all of those come out mixed together. Upper body's an orc but lower body's a kraken, or... left half's a kobold but right half's a human-shaped skeleton, or... I heard you get things so hideous just looking at them makes you sick."

"You mean they don't have a set form?"

"Yeah! Exactly! The monsters that come out are all jumbled together so they don't have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠any set form. The environment's weird too. So people don't really bother exploring toward the outer edges. It's creepy and dangerous."

"Huh..."

Doing my own exploring there would be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a bigger headache than I thought. I'd need to think about this issue a little more.

"But you know more than I expected. You went there last time?"

"Nope? I read it in a book?"

"..."

It'd sounded seriously convincing so I'd listened along, but as expected, she hadn't experienced any of it firsthand. She'd said she stayed in West Keep for a few weeks—so what the hell had she been doing?

"...Ah, aah..."

Reni flailed her hands in the air as if she was asking to be pulled up, so I sat her upright. Reni shot me a slight glare, like she was feeling resentful. Geez, and now she was blaming me again?!

Yuri kept grinning while Reni glared at me. Sweating coldly, I had no choice but to pretend not to notice.

#

"Ah, I think we're about to get there soon."

At Yuri's words, I peered outside and the city's enormous defensive wall came into view.

"So where are we staying tonight? You know a place?"

"I do, but..."

Yuri's face scrunched up. Then, unlike before, she checked for my reaction while she blushed.

"Wh-what are we doing tonight?"

"What do you mean, what are we doing?"

"Th-the amplification tonight..."

Oh, come on. So that was what this was about.

"Obviously the three of us together... agh!"

-Thwack, thwack!

"That is depraved!"

Depraved?! This priestess was spouting nonsense again... She'd learned that word from Yuri, so wasn't she overusing it a little too much? She hadn't said stuff like that when it was just the two of us, but ever since she'd met Yuri, she'd been way too conscious of her.

...Wait, was she just not into the threesome thing? At Reni's words, Yuri shrank back alongside her for once.

"I-I'm kinda not okay with that either..."

"You don't like it either?"

"No, it's not that I hate it... but from what I've seen, when we do it together, you get a little too... rough..."

"I-is that so..."

Right. When I went hardcore with Reni, there was a tendency for things to end up that way with Yuri too. Still, that girl was hilarious—she acted all brazen and flirty all day, but at night she got scared.

"So what do we do? Take turns?"

"..." "..."

At that, Reni and Yuri each checked the other's reaction. No—it wasn't just checking reactions; at the ends of their gazes, I could've sworn sp-sparks were flying.

"Y-Yuri had her turn last night, so today it's my turn."

"But Reni. The night before last, you two did it without me, right? You thought nobody would notice?"

"...!"

"And you did it the morning before last too, didn't you?"

"Nngh..."

Yuri was seriously amazing. Under Yuri's repeated jabs, Reni couldn't pull herself together.

"A-and, in front of the dungeon too, right?"

"...!!!!!!"

At Yuri's final revelation, Reni's face went bone-white as she whipped around at me. No, I didn't say a single word!!!!! Was it my fault she had sharp instincts?!

"I-I didn't! We didn't do that!"

You did! The blowjob! Did the blowjob not count by Reni's standards?! Was she gonna insist it wasn't the case if it wasn't the main event?! But I couldn't bring myself to open my mouth. If I jumped in here, it'd turn into chaos.

"Hmmmm... really?"

"We, we didn't do the real thing! We didn't do the real thing!"

...If you stare down at the floor and talk like that, anyone can tell it was a lie! I mean, "didn't do the real thing"... so technically it wasn't a lie?

"Hmmmm..."

As if she couldn't endure Yuri's dubious gaze any longer, Reni suddenly called out to me.

"Y-Yoo-jin!"

"Uh, yeah?"

Reni suddenly came up to me and clutched my hand tight.

"L-last time..."

Last time what? As if she'd never imagined she'd have to say this much out loud, Reni squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.

"L-last time! Y-you promised! A week! You promised to do it for a week!!!! In front of the dungeon! For a week!!!!"

"Ghk."

"A-a week..."

With those words, Reni turned into a tomato and lost the power of speech. Reni... I never thought she'd pull that card out...

"Y-Yuri, sorry, but could you give Reni today? I-I'll treat you right tomorrow."

Yuri bit her lip and glared at me. It was just one day's difference—was she really that mad about it?!

"Just you wait..."

The path of the harem was long and arduous...