Chapter 11
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Translator: Xrecker
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: Valendia (11)
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Shasha gave me a sly smile.
"Mmm~ mister~ is that what's bothering you? You're a man after all~."
Of course.
In the first place, a man who isn't bothered by a woman's chest isn't a man.
But I didn't show it openly.
"My eyes just go there because you have it so wide open. So why do you go around with it open like that? I'm sure it draws a lot of male attention."
"Hehe, of course, that's what I'm aiming for~."
"Aiming for?"
"Female merchants like me are very rare. Most of my clients are men, too."
"So?"
"If my opponents are men~."
Tap, tap. Shasha tapped her chest with both hands and gave a playful smile.
"A little service like this helps things go smoothly."
"I see. So it's a technique that uses a man's heart?"
"Yes! That's exactly it! Did it have any effect on you, mister? Are you very bothered by it?"
There would be many more opportunities to meet Shasha in the future.
And there would probably be times when my gaze would unconsciously shift to her chest.
If I were to be caught, it would be very embarrassing, that much was certain.
So, to prepare for such an embarrassing situation, I would lay the groundwork now.
I would go in confidently and shamelessly from the start.
I said, looking at Shasha's chest.
"It certainly draws my attention."
"Oh~ you too, mister? That's surprising~."
"There's no man who dislikes breasts."
"You're really funny, mister. Yesterday, you seemed completely uninterested in women."
"That must have been your misunderstanding."
Now I would say the most shameless thing.
"There's no man whose eyes wouldn't be drawn to a beautiful woman like you revealing her chest."
If I said it this shamelessly, even if I looked at her cleavage next time, Shasha probably wouldn't make a big deal out of it....
[You have pierced through praise resistance.]
'Huh?'
What did I pierce?
"W-well, mister, you're really something~."
Shasha waved her hand, her face slightly flushed.
It didn't seem like she was acting; she looked genuinely embarrassed.
Even though I had acted shamelessly, I hadn't lied.
But piercing praise resistance?
I hadn't consciously used it like last time.
No, but.
'I did think it would be good if my shameless praise worked on Shasha. Was that why?'
As a merchant, Shasha must have handled countless deals.
And in the process, she must have heard all sorts of sweet-talk from many of her clients.
In fact, since Shasha's looks were considerable, she must have been praised by many people as pretty or charming, and she must have brushed off those words each time while making her deals.
So it was obvious that she wouldn't be fazed by any ordinary praise or sweet-talk.
'But to think she even has something like praise resistance?'
Unable to control the twitching of her lips, Shasha stood up from the sofa.
"Even if you say that, I don't have anything special to give you~. Oh, would you like some more cookies?"
"I'll have some."
"Please wait, I'll go get them~."
Shasha briefly left the office.
Shasha, who had shown a playful and not-so-easy merchant side even in the game.
That Shasha couldn't even control her facial expression and was grinning from ear to ear at a single compliment from me.
As if she were a child being praised for the first time.
The new series of the penetrating mouth-jutsu that I had unintentionally discovered.
This...
'I could use this very effectively, couldn't I?'
The ridiculously difficult final boss, the Demon King of Chaos, was too much for me to defeat alone.
So, I had to form a party and, of course, raise not only myself but also my party members to increase our strength.
Since this was reality, there probably wouldn't be a limit to the number of party members, so I could help raise other characters as well, not just the fixed members.
In the first place, since we had to defeat the Demon King of Chaos, who was only mentioned in legends, any faction would gladly join forces.
At that time, if many individuals had high combat power, we would have a chance of winning.
To do that, I first had to build a certain level of friendship with the gacha characters who were the targets of my raising.
Lucadia Fantasm had a variety of characters.
That meant that there were also characters with a variety of personalities, and among them, there were characters who, while not having a terrible personality, were very difficult to get close to.
Characters who went their own way, those who were distrustful of others, troublemakers, and creators with a slightly mad streak.
Even among the characters I wanted as fixed members, there was a stubborn individual and a character who wandered around for their own amusement.
But if I used the Penetration skill like I did with Shasha.
'I'll be able to get close to them more easily and quickly and form a party.'
At the very least, I wouldn't make them have any ill feelings towards me.
While I was happy about the unexpected new application of the Penetration skill, Shasha came back in.
"The cookies are here, mister~."
"Thank you. But you could have just called an employee instead of going yourself."
"Hmm~ I just felt like bringing them myself!"
The day I learned a new method for the penetrating mouth-jutsu.
After leaving Cat's Commerce Guild, I immediately took on a quest.
I already had enough equipment and capital, so I didn't need to take on any more quests or hunt bandits, but I had to test my new equipment, so I chose an opponent tougher than a bandit and went on a quest.
That opponent was the Stone Orc.
An orc with hard, gray skin like stone.
Stab!
-Kuek!
[You have pierced the Stone Orc.]
To put it simply, thanks to the new equipment, my movements were much more agile than usual.
The Stone Orc's movements were slower than a bandit's, but I was able to defeat it much more easily than I had expected.
However, I had a hard time finding a way to check the performance of my weapon or the power of my critical hit damage.
Since I had the Penetration skill, a single thrust was already as good as a critical hit.
It went beyond a critical hit and pierced right through the body, so it was difficult to check if it was being applied properly.
But after fighting the Stone Orc a few more times, a method came to mind.
'Couldn't I just swing my spear at a place I've already wounded?'
A critical hit usually occurred when you aimed for a weak spot or attacked a weakness.
In that case, I just had to create a weakness beforehand.
First, I thrust my spear just enough not to penetrate and made a wound on the Stone Orc's arm.
Then I swung my spear at the wounded area.
Then, surprisingly, the moment I cut the wound, the spear cut through the Stone Orc's skin and muscle with surprising ease.
And when I had finished the swing, the Stone Orc's arm flew off.
Just looking at it, a more gruesome scene unfolded than simply piercing through.
I tried it several more times after that, and the Stone Orc's arm flew off about once every five times.
When it didn't fly off, it was just enough to cut the skin and muscle.
In other words, the arm flying off was a phenomenon that occurred because a critical hit had been triggered.
'So there's no notification sound for a critical hit. No, maybe that's better.'
Penetration, I presumed, was a guaranteed critical hit.
The notification sound that came out every time I penetrated was annoying to hear repeatedly.
If a critical hit sound was added on top of that, it would be even more annoying.
After finishing the equipment check, I took out the Stone Orc's magic stone and put the Stone Orc's corpse in my inventory.
A monster's corpse was treated as a material, so I could put in as many as I wanted.
After that, I returned to Valendia, exchanged the magic stone for cash from Deishee, and then stopped by Shasha's to ask if she also handled monster corpses.
"A monster's corpse? Well, we do have a dismantling department at our guild. But what kind of monster is it? Ah, please don't take it out here! I'll guide you to the dismantling department's warehouse!"
I followed Shasha to the dismantling department's warehouse and took out the Stone Orc's corpse.
"This is it."
When I took out the corpses of the Stone Orcs I had hunted, Shasha's mouth fell open.
"M-mister, this is..."
"What's wrong? Stone Orcs aren't that rare, are they?"
"They're not rare. But to bring them back whole...! Mister, c-could it be that you can put in a monster's corpse no matter how big it is?"
"In my senses, a monster's corpse is treated as a material, unlike a weapon. So I can probably put in as many as I want."
"Gasp! Ahh! Amazing... This is amazing!"
Shasha threw her arms up in the air and jumped up and down.
"What's wrong?"
Her jumping was cute, but what was really going on?
"What do you mean, what's wrong! Your ability is a huge bundle of potential, mister!"
Gold seemed to sparkle in Shasha's shining eyes.
"Right now, it's just a Stone Orc that sells for a decent price... but if it's a case where a large-scale transport team is needed because of its size, or even a monster, you could transport it right away! And since it's a subspace ability, there's no worry about the corpse decomposing!"
Pant, pant, Shasha let out a hot breath.
"A huge monster has a higher chance of yielding rare materials. But even if a dismantling team accompanies the subjugation because it takes time to transport! There's a risk of the precious materials being damaged because they're not in a place with specialized equipment and are constantly exposed to room temperature! But with you, that's also solved!"
"I see. By the way, how do you usually obtain materials from such huge monsters?"
"It's mostly a race against time. They put the desired materials into a subspace ring as quickly as possible. They give up on the parts that have decomposed or gone bad over time."
After that, Shasha would casually look at me with sparkling, gold-flecked eyes every day and ask if I would like a job at the guild.
I continued to moderately refuse Shasha's scout offers, and before I knew it, 10 days had passed.
The day to depart for the academy had arrived.
"Haa, you're really too much, mister. To refuse my offer every day with a single word, even after you said I was cute~ and pretty! It was all a lie in the end, wasn't it?"
Shasha said playfully in front of the Cat's Commerce Guild's carriage, in front of the carriage operated by the guild.
And to these playful words, I always answered shamelessly and confidently.
"We've already made a contract, so there's no need to accept your offer. And it's all true that you're cute and pretty."
[You have pierced through praise resistance.]
"...Hmph! Really~ mister, you're something else! I already know that! Of course, I'm just kidding, just kidding~."
Shasha waved her hand, the corners of her mouth twitching.
Looking at her grinning face, unable to control her expression, it seemed as if she was deliberately continuing the scout offers just to get a compliment from me.
'No, could that really be it?'
Whatever it was, seeing my favorite character happy made me happy too.
"Boss! Mr. Ishihan! We're departing!"
The coachman came out and gave a signal to me and Shasha.
"Then I'll be going.
"Yes, yes~ do well on your academy entrance exam, mister~ Even if you fail, I'll still hire you, so just go take it with a relaxed heart!"
"I have no intention of failing, but thank you for the words. See you again."
"Yes!"
"Giddy-up!"
With a clatter, the carriage began to move.
Thanks to Shasha's arrangements, I departed for the Lucadia Academy in a carriage with cushioned seats that even nobles would use.