Chapter 73: I Don’t Sleep With Just Anyone
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 73: I Don’t Sleep With Just Anyone
“Why have you been avoiding me?”
A private room in the research wing.
Being interrogated in a space where it was just me and the Tower Lord made my limbs tremble and cold sweat pour down my face.
“Th-that’s... I wasn’t avoiding you. I was just a bit busy...”
“Busy? Where were you planning to go?”
“Well...”
I was going home.
A man’s allowed to want to go home, isn’t he?
“All you had to do was come in and show your face for a moment. You tried to run away because you hated even that? You want to buy my scrolls, but you don’t want to see me. You certainly like having things your way.”
“Wait, did that guy Marle rat me out?”
“Marle didn’t say a word. It’s just that once you enter the Magic Tower, I naturally become aware of it.”
“Surveillance...”
She’d been watching me since the moment I stepped inside.
No wonder Marle was giving me those subtle looks. He knew the Tower Lord would drag me back by force if I just left, so he was trying to give me a heads-up.
“A Magic Tower entry pass isn’t something just any random person can get. You have no interest in magecraft, and as a mere Bronze Badge, the only reason you can even set foot in here is because of your contract with me. Correct?”
“That’s right. I have no excuse.”
“Indeed. You shouldn’t make excuses, considering you tried to unilaterally avoid me.”
The Tower Lord stepped closer.
She reached out and brushed some dust off my shoulder with a light tap before speaking again.
“Did that bitch Moira tell you to avoid me?”
“Huh? No. She didn’t say anything like that.”
“Hmm. Then why avoid me? Come to think of it, you’re living with Moira’s daughter, aren’t you? Did that girl Yuria say something?”
“No! Neither Moira nor Yuria said a word.”
“Neither of them mentioned anything about me?”
“Yes. Truly, there was no mention of you at all. They didn’t tell me anything.”
“No mention at all? Are you saying I’m not even worth mentioning?”
“What? Why is your mind jumping to that? Isn’t that just a persecution complex...?”
“What! A persecution complex?!”
“Gah!!”
Whether she was angry or just plain crazy, the Tower Lord hopped onto my lap and pressed herself against me at point-blank range.
“W-what are you doing?! Get off!”
“No. Deal with it. When physical distance closes, the distance between hearts naturally follows. Since you seem to be avoiding me, I’ll just have to close the gap by force.”
“What kind of logic is—?!”
“Since you seem to fear me, I have no choice but to take drastic measures. I shall rewrite your perception of me. From now on, you’ll get turned on just by looking at me.”
“Ugh!”
The Tower Lord shoved her chest toward me.
Does this woman think everything can be solved just by throwing her tits at someone?
‘H-her chest...’
The cleavage looked so warm. It felt like it would be the perfect place to bury my nose. How was I supposed to endure this?
No, she was the one who shoved her racks in my face first. At this point, she was practically begging for it.
‘Get a grip, you idiot. Endure it.’
I strained to pull my head back, desperate to keep her massive breasts from touching my face. If I got buried in those even once, it would be over. I’d end up as nothing more than the Tower Lord’s stud.
“You’re actually resisting this? You know, you could just close your eyes, bury your face in there, and act like a spoiled brat. I wouldn’t mind.”
“No, thank you...”
“Are you rejecting me because I’m older? I don’t have any kids, you know. I’m single. Why is Moira okay but I’m not? Can you not satisfy your lust unless it’s a mother-daughter package deal? Should I go out and make a kid real quick?”
“No! Tower Lord, have you lost your mind?! What kind of ball of inferiority complexes are you? Why do you keep comparing yourself to the Guild Master? Stop it. You’re plenty charming on your own.”
“Then why do you keep rejecting me? Your words and actions don’t match. Are you trying to deceive me? It’s suspicious. Did Moira tell you to play me?”
“Aaargh!”
This woman is a serious case.
Did she get dragged off and beaten by the Guild Master or something? Why is she so obsessed with comparing herself to Moira? There’s nothing more stressful than constantly measuring yourself against others.
“I did it because I was afraid that if I buried my face in your chest, I’d genuinely fall into carnal lust! Happy now?”
“What? Genuinely fall for me? You? Then just fall for me. If you come to me, you can live in luxury for the rest of your life. You can have anything you want. Just come to me. Not anyone else. Me. I’ll cherish you. How about it?”
The Tower Lord was telling me to choose her.
It was tempting, but I wasn’t about to cave so easily. I looked into her eyes to gauge her true feelings.
Only then did I see it clearly.
Looking past the Tower Lord’s massive chest and deep into her pupils, I realized the truth.
She only saw me as a trophy.
She viewed me as a collectible to show off.
My excitement instantly cooled.
I wasn’t fond of physical relationships devoid of affection. At the very least, I’d want my appearance to match her sexual preferences, or for her to want me specifically.
If she was just trying to claim me for bragging rights, then I’d be the one to reject her.
“Let’s stop the jokes here. More importantly, Tower Lord, you aren’t being sincere right now. I can tell by your eyes. If you’re just trying to toy with me... stop. Don’t cross the line.”
“....”
As I stared silently into her eyes, Mabel finally pulled away.
Mabel had been trying to vent her aimless inferiority toward Moira onto me. Naturally, she didn’t love me.
Ever since I gained the Spiritual Eye—or perhaps even before—I’d become able to sense a person’s sincerity to some extent by looking at their eyes.
The way Yuria and Lady Leah looked at me was worlds apart from the way the Tower Lord did. To her, I was just a trophy for bragging rights.
There was no affection, no love.
Well, that was only natural. This was only our second meeting. There was no reason for her to fall in love, and no basis for her to even like me.
She just wanted to spite Moira. The petty desire to say, “I got the man you wanted first.”
She’d shown similar feelings before, but it was especially bad this time. She must have some personal circumstances. Perhaps Mabel actually followed Moira quite passionately—the problem being that those feelings manifested as an inferiority complex rather than admiration.
“Hmm. You’re bolder than I thought.”
“I’m actually quite a coward.”
“I can see why that bitch Moira dotes on you. You don’t fold easily, and you don’t lose your nerve. What are you? Some kind of Eastern noble?”
“What? Where did that come from? I’m a commoner.”
“A mere commoner who talks back while being terrified of me. You insist on speaking your mind. Interesting. I heard rumors that you were a womanizer, but you seem surprisingly restrained.”
“I’ve never been a womanizer! That’s a total lie!”
“I heard you were traveling with two female slaves. You’re living in Yuria’s house. And you’re frequenting the Labyrinth with a party made up entirely of women, aren’t you? And you claim you’re not a libertine? Are you impotent?”
“Wait, what is this? How do you know all that in such detail? Are you stalking me?”
“It’s because that bitch Moira has her eye on you.”
She really was obsessed with Moira.
This woman clearly held some kind of grudge. It seemed she was trying to get under Moira’s skin by messing with me, but since she failed, maybe she’d stop now.
“Well, if you’re not interested in me, then fine. Hmph. You won’t find a woman as good as me anywhere else.”
“Right. I hope you find a good man too, Tower Lord.”
“The problem is that there are no good men. Sigh. It’s not easy.”
Good people are always hard to find. Most people are just... adequate.
“Anyway, I see you’re buying scrolls. Are you heading into the Labyrinth?”
“Yes. I think I’ll be going quite deep.”
“I suppose you’ve been included in the Saintess’s party.”
“How did you know that?”
“It’s obvious if you look at how things are moving.”
It seemed the Tower Lord already knew the Saintess’s party was heading down to the Underground City to subjugate the heretics.
“So you’re going to the Underground City. You remember what I asked of you last time?”
“Yes. You wanted me to gather information if I found any monsters capable of conversation.”
“Correct. I’m glad you remembered.”
Back then, I hadn’t met Olivia yet, so I had no information. But now, I knew exactly what Mabel wanted.
‘Monsters that can talk. The Tower Lord is looking for neutral NPCs.’
According to the information I got from Olivia, there were neutral NPCs in the Underground City who would send you to a Mini Labyrinth if you completed certain quests for them.
‘The Spider’s Den and the Snake’s Nest.’
She said that if I completed quests for Arachne and the Frogman and increased my affinity with them, I could enter those places.
Mabel had likely come across literature related to this somewhere. She was probably asking me to find the locations of Arachne and the Frogman.
The crucial point was that Mabel didn’t even know the keywords ‘Arachne’ or ‘Frogman.’ She only knew them as ‘monsters capable of conversation.’
‘Information superiority. Is there any reason to tell the Tower Lord about the Mini Labyrinths?’
It was better to keep this information to myself. There was no need to share it with the shady Magic Tower.
‘If I handle the trade right, I could make a massive profit.’
If what Mabel wanted was somewhere in the Spider’s Den or the Snake’s Nest, I could just find it myself and sell it to her for a fortune. If I taught her how to fish, it would hurt my own business, so I’d just catch the fish and sell them to her.
Why give away my own gold mine? There was no reason to. I decided not to mention the Mini Labyrinths.
“Come to think of it, we agreed to experiment with your ability as well.”
“Right.”
“Sit here for a moment.”
I sat in the chair, and Mabel slipped a bracelet onto my arm.
“What’s this?”
“How should I describe it... Right, let’s call it a directional stabilizer for ability expansion.”
“That’s a hell of a long name.”
“Let’s shorten it to ‘Ability Fixer.’”
“An Ability Fixer? Aren’t abilities usually fixed once you get them?”
“True. But this is an accessory that fixes the attribute of the next ability you obtain.”
“What? Is that even possible? To make a specific ability manifest?”
“I’m not certain myself. That’s why I’m testing it on you. I’ve designed it to be influenced by the Subspace Pocket you already possess. This significantly increases the chance that your next ability will be of the Space Attribute. What do you think? Understanding spatial magic usually requires innate genius. You’ll be able to bypass that requirement entirely.”
The mere suggestion was incredible.
The Subspace Pocket was already a broken ability. If I could get things like Teleportation, Space Distortion, or Space Severing...
‘As long as my mana capacity allows it, I could become the strongest in the Labyrinth City.’
It wasn’t just theory; I really would be the strongest. I’d heard that mages who study spatial magic often spend their entire lives just to master a single spell.
“If I knew you were going to give me such an amazing bracelet, I would have come sooner.”
“That’s why I told you to come on Wednesday.”
“Ugh. I had things to do last week... I didn’t know you’d give me something this good. I thought ‘experimenting’ meant cutting my skin and drawing blood.”
“Drawing blood? What an archaic research method.”
“But is the effect of this bracelet guaranteed?”
“It’s not guaranteed, which is why I’m experimenting on you. It might completely miss my expectations. That’s why this is still in the experimental phase. If it works, it’s good for you, and it’s good for me because the experiment succeeded. Spatial abilities are hard to come by. If it fails... well, that’s a shame.”
“I see.”
There were only three people in the Labyrinth City who possessed a Subspace Pocket. One had retired, and the other was missing in the Labyrinth.
Practically speaking, I was the only person alive and active with the ability. That was likely why I had become the test subject.
“In any case, that bracelet has no other side effects. I’ve tuned it only to fix the direction of your ability, so just keep wearing it. If it breaks, the experiment is a failure, so be careful.”
“Yes. I’ll be as careful as possible.”
“Good. Then, have a safe trip. Come back alive and tell me the results.”
“Yes. I’ll be back in about a week.”
I said my goodbyes and left the Tower Lord’s private lab.
For having been dragged in, I got out without much trouble. Of course, I got a bit distracted by her chest in the middle, but I made a clean escape.
Still, I ended up with something unexpected. If I could fix the direction of an ability, it meant I could influence what kind of attribute would manifest. Mabel would likely conduct more experiments based on this data.
“Phew. I’m tired.”
Time to go home.
Maybe Yuria is back.
It was the kind of evening where I really wanted to see her.