Chapter 6
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Johnson's General Store (2)
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I froze while staring at my status window, and Camella's voice rose a notch as she called out to me.
She's getting impatient.
Creak—
"Why'd you take so long?"
"Oh, I had something to think about for a second. Sorry."
"Hmph, I'll let it slide just this once. Come here."
The warehouse was dimly lit overall, probably because they were too cheap to install glowstones.
"The explosion potions are up on the shelf, so hold on a sec..."
The faint outline of the warehouse aisle was incredibly narrow.
Narrow enough that even one person walking straight had to squeeze through, and two people standing side by side would have to press right up against each other to pass.
Camella was standing in the middle of one such aisle, up on her tiptoes, reaching for the top shelf and rummaging around.
"The explosion potions... there was some extra stock from when Cain bought some last time, so... Argh!"
"Haha. Can't quite reach, huh?"
She let out what she probably thought was a cute grunt of effort, struggling away, but up close, her hand was just swiping at empty air.
"Haa... There used to be a ladder here, but it's gone now. Cain, could you grab it for me?"
"Sure thing?"
I was tall enough to see her flailing miss perfectly, but I played it off casually, and I caught the corner of Camella's mouth twitch up just a bit.
Swish—
"Excuse me."
"...Ah! It's fine... Just in case it's a different potion, I'll watch from below and let you know."
"Alright then."
Rub rub!
"Ngh!"
"Hm? What's up, Camella?"
"N-No... nothing!"
I stepped up behind her and twisted my body sideways, pressing against her like I was embracing her. My cock brushed the outer curve of her ass before settling right into the cleft, and her body jolted.
"Whoa... tighter than I thought."
With our bodies overlapping like that, she relaxed her tiptoes and pushed her hips back.
Squuuish!
"Eek! Y-Yeah... haha..."
In the faint light filtering through the open warehouse door, her red wavy hair cascaded down to her waist. Her lower body had that plump, juicy look of someone who'd quit exercising but still carried it well.
Her trembling voice and hips stirred the urge to just fuck her right there, but without some cheat skill like a hypnosis app, I had to play it cool and test the waters today.
"Lemme see... this one?"
Squuuuish!!!
"Ngh!!!"
Acting casual, I wrapped one arm around her waist, yanked her hips flush against my crotch, and reached up with my other hand to rummage on the shelf.
Clink!
"Camella, is this one...? Oh, nope."
"Y-Yeah... nooo..."
I pressed in tight, my face right by her ear as I whispered, and sweet breaths started spilling from her lips.
The faint scent of her period blood from before we entered was now rising thicker from below.
It had been over ten years since she'd quit exploring, so her soft, cute belly gave just a little under my touch, and the way her ass cheeks enveloped my entire cock made my rod stiffen up fast.
"Hold on, this aisle's ridiculously narrow."
"It is, right...?"
I unwrapped my arm from her waist, slipped my hand into my pants, and adjusted my erection upward so it pressed against my belly.
I tucked the head poking out over the waistband to keep it from drooping forward, securing it firmly.
Then I wrapped her waist again and planted my shaft right back in her ass cleft.
Squuuuuish!!!
"Ngh!!!!"
"Lemme set you up again."
"Y-Yes... eek!!"
Now that she'd finally gauged the thickness and length of my seriously pissed-off bat, her body shuddered hard.
"You okay? Camella?"
"N-No... fineee..."
"Cool, then—here we go!"
"Kyaa!"
Flash!
"Hii!"
Her legs buckled a bit like she might collapse, so I grabbed her waist with both hands and hoisted her up.
There was actually plenty of space, but using the narrow aisle as an excuse, I'd kept our bodies pressed seamlessly together. Holding her waist with my cock still wedged in her cleft, I swept her upward. Her center of gravity shifted forward, and her upper body slipped neatly into the empty middle shelf space, turning her posture even more blatantly provocative.
"Sorry, I just stood you up without thinking... surprised you, huh?"
Squuuuish!
"Ahk! Nooo... keep goinggg..."
As I lifted her, my shaft must've brushed near her perineum—her voice was dripping wet now.
Something hot and soaking seeped from her crotch onto my cock.
I pressed my shaft in, kneading her hips and surrounding flesh as I whispered, and Camella begged me to keep going.
Still, we had to find that potion, so I carefully lowered her to the floor and pulled her upper body out from the shelf.
"If it's too hard, I can do it alone—wanna wait outside?"
"N-No!! It's... fiiiine!!"
Following Camella's directions, I found the explosion potion and helped tidy up the warehouse on the side. About an hour later, we finally emerged.
"J-Just... 1 silver..."
"Huh? Isn't it usually 2?"
"C-Cain's a regular... I'm... giving you a discount. Plus, you helped a ton with the sorting today..."
"Really? Thanks, then."
I handed Camella 1 silver and turned to leave the store, but glanced back to ask her something.
"Oh, I'll be resting another 4 days or so—if you need more help sorting the warehouse, mind if I come by again?"
"T-Tomorrow!!! N-No, the day after!!!"
Her face twisted into that of a bitch properly melted down at my words.
"Got it, see you the day after tomorrow, then."
"Yesss!!"
She was slumped over the counter, upper body propped up—probably exhausted from the hour of warehouse work loosening her legs. Right before leaving the store, I cast Hitomi's Blessing on her.
[Camella]
[Johnson] - 66%
[Cain] - 34%
"Ngh... fuck, my eyes hurt. Can't use it more than twice a day till my mana goes up."
Ting-a-ling—
[Stole bundle of parchment from Johnson: Gained 1 EXP]
Oh, I swiped this to jot down my thoughts back at the dorm later.
She's a married woman whose edges show the second you tease her pent-up frustration, but as a virgin myself, popping my first cherry on a non-virgin felt off.
Worst case, if it doesn't pan out, I'll skip full penetration and soothe her some other way.
"Phew... this second blessing feels complicated too."
Only three samples so far—I need more observation.
Scratch scratch—
"Hm... Sia's blessing..."
I'd seen her explorer card yesterday too... was it like this?
"What a mess."
The relationships in our trio of childhood friend explorers—me, Claude, and Sia—were way more tangled than I'd thought.
We're all 21 this year, born in the same rural village, same age and thick as thieves.
The other village kids were all different ages, so the three of us were always together.
Claude, with his slight delinquent vibe, led the way, and we'd stuck together like that for over ten years until, at 18, he called Sia and me over and declared it.
"We're gonna hit the Labyrinth and become explorers!"
"C-Claude... what about me...?"
"Sia's a bit slow, so maybe not?"
"Whaaat!!!"
Before puberty hit, Sia was a head shorter than us and grew slow—her movements were sluggish, and she had this airheaded side.
Claude doted on her like a little sister, and Sia had been crushing on him hard for ages.
Of course, around the same time, I'd started liking her too.
Right when Sia's chest exploded into growth, some guy in the village—a good ten years older—grabbed them in an incident.
Claude was bedridden with a summer cold even a dog wouldn't catch, so I was the only one who heard her scream late and chased the bastard down. He got a good feel before I smashed his head with a brick and dropped him.
I had to explain myself in front of Sia, our parents, his cracked-skull parents, and the village chief—why I had to grab that brick. We watched him get beaten half to death by his own folks, thinking that was the end.
But after that, Sia only wore loose, baggy clothes that hid her chest.
And she begged her parents, ours, and me—especially not to tell Claude what happened that day.
I mean, I cracked his skull.
Anyway, before coming to Labyrinth City, Claude—who'd never even touched a girl, let alone had sex—figured Sia was just chubby and clumsy, so that's why the baggy clothes.
Later, after we got here and he got the Lust curse, started hitting the brothels with Uncle Hawk, and realized her tits were huge, he still treated her the same. I subtly asked about it once.
"Nah, I've thought of her like a sister for nearly 15 years. Family doesn't do that."
He said it all deflated-like, over drinks with Uncle Hawk after. Good thing Sia went to bed early that night, saying she was tired.
Somehow, after the brick incident, Sia started confiding in me about stuff too embarrassing to tell others—like how Claude went to the brothel and it bummed her out.
From "my period started, what do I do?" and up... fuck.
Anyone else would've bailed on the party right there, but the day Sia hit level 2, she got a curse.
Dependency.
And the target of Sia's Dependency curse wasn't Claude, the one she liked—it was me.
Idiot me ate up the affection she gave me—not romantic, but like doting parental love—and decided to stick with the party.
Claude's level 2 blessing 'Growth' applied to all us party members, speeding our progress.
Thanks to Sia's special stat Luck, we only got one curse each despite folks racking up multiples in a year of Labyrinth runs.
And Claude.
He knows how I feel about Sia, and how she feels about him.
He knows the synergy when we three party up.
So in the end...
I cling to the hope that someday Sia will look my way, even with blessings I don't know how to use past level 2. I endure on her little acts of dependency, keeping the party from derailing.
Sia spoils me rotten since I handle her mental care, all while staring at Claude, wondering when he'll notice.
Claude... well, winning big with his near-family makes it all good, so status quo.
We're all using each other.
"Sigh..."
Now that my past and present lives have merged into one fairy tale, no need to separate them—but my current situation isn't all roses, headaches all around.
Rumble—
Summer thunder after so long—
KABOOOM!!!
—Kyaaaa!!!
It's chaos out there.
I stared at the relationship chart scribbled in Korean on the parchment, then roughly tore it up.
Three, two, one.
BAM BAM BOOM BOOM!!!
"Caaaain... Caaaain... whaaa!!!"
Screeech—
Crash!
"T-Together... scary... whaaa!!!"
I'd pretty much figured out the blessings, didn't wanna play the sucker anymore—and perfect timing.
Camella had me locked in, a bit of a bummer, but time to grope Sia and heal up.