Ep.4 - Oh, So You're Talking Back?
Ep.4 - Oh, So You're Talking Back?
Once again,
a high-class inn nestled in the heart of the Albator Kingdom.
Only this time, Delin was riding on Chichi's back.
"Hheup... eup..."
They were indoors and couldn't zip around on a broomstick, so logically Kaede should have carried Delin. But Chichi refused to hand him over to Kaede. She threw a fit, insisting she would carry him herself—and ultimately seized the chance.
The problem was, Chichi had devoted an immense amount of time to magical training but had little interest in anything like physical exercise. The back and legs bearing Delin's weight swayed rather unsteadily.
"U-Um! Couldn't you just use magic?"
"I can handle this much too... so... don't worry...!"
You could call it stubbornness without cause, but after Kaede had hurled insults at her physical capabilities, Chichi was thoroughly worked up!
She stubbornly carried him all the way to the door of their double room. And this was a high-class inn—there were even servants who could have helped!
"Whew... See? I can do everything after all..."
If nothing else, the fierce psychological warfare between two women whose pride could never be broken had pushed Chichi to give it everything she had.
She looked utterly exhausted from lack of exercise, but she wore an awkward smile as if it were nothing and gently stroked Delin.
"Yeah, well... sure..."
Picking a fight here would only drag things out, so Delin just nodded vaguely and opened the door, stepping into their room.
A fairly spacious and well-kept room.
In fantasy comics, cheap inns crawling with lice and ticks were the norm,
but this place had facilities you'd expect from a proper hotel. Honestly.
"Wow... it's nice. But do we even have the money to stay here?"
The one to answer Delin's question was Kaede, who had slipped in through the open door at some point!
"Of course! I may not look it, but I'm an S-rank adventurer, so my earnings are quite decent. Don't burden yourself with worry—just rest easy!"
She pulled the limping Delin, who had been shuffling along while bracing himself against the wall, into her arms and guided him to the bed.
"Ah, no! There's no need for this..."
Being treated like some kind of princess made Delin feel utterly awkward,
but he had no strength to protest, so what could he do!
"Ahaha! Isn't it a woman's duty to care for a man? Don't be so shy and just accept the goodwill. That is our..."
"Enough—get out! Quickly! Go eat that Hwandan or whatever it is. And don't lay a single hand on Delin until your heat cycle is properly over!"
At Chichi's sharp, piercing voice, Kaede shrugged once, then leaned in and whispered into Delin's ear.
"You've had it rough, traveling with such a prickly woman. But I'll be helping you now, so don't worry too much."
Well, I mean...
Even if you help...
Isn't it just going to be the same bickering we had at the counter earlier...?
"Out, out! Right now!"
"There's no need to worry about Neva or Philmark! I'll always be guarding the vicinity...!"
BANG—!
Chichi finally shoved Kaede out the door and slammed it shut with all her might.
For a moment, some grumbling could be heard from outside, but soon Kaede returned to her own room without further fuss. She seemed to have backed down a step.
"Whew... now it's just the two of us. Don't exchange words with that woman too often. Beastmen are nothing but trouble if you trust them."
"Um... if you put it that way, you're the one who grabbed me and handed me over to other witches..."
"Th-That! That time I had no choice. Okay?"
"What do you mean, no choice? Whatever. Just tell me what we're going to do from now on. I need to know so I can at least prepare myself mentally."
In truth, it wasn't really about mental preparation; Delin was worrying about where to set his Save.
He had already agonized a great deal over Save and Load.
And the conclusion he had reached?
[Keep the Save as far forward as possible, and don't update the Save point often unless absolutely necessary.]
Why?
Because if he carelessly kept shouting Save, he could end up trapped at some truly inescapable, god-awful Save point—so he had to keep a Save as far forward as possible to prepare for the worst!
If he could set multiple Save points in various places, he would just wander around planting Saves here and there,
but since there was only one Save point, he had to set it as far forward as possible to avoid the worst-case scenario!
"Because right now, I didn't even properly know where that place from the dream was... I had to keep moving while extracting as much information about it as I could."
But for now, rather than obtaining that information, the fires at his feet—named Neva and Philmark—needed to be put out first.
So he continued to seriously ponder how to subdue them and finally begin a proper otherworldly adventure.
And since he needed various pieces of information to reach a good conclusion, he was asking Chichi how she planned to hold off those two monsters!
"...Delin."
But perhaps he had been too hasty in trying to extract information?
Instead of telling him the plan, Chichi was walking toward him step by step, her heels clicking!
"Wh-Why?"
Delin was frozen with fear!
The biggest drawback of the Save & Load strategy he employed was that,
since the Save was set quite far forward, he naturally had to [use Load even more cautiously]!
Which meant that getting fucked a few times while out on the road, or having women suddenly get worked up and perform chakjeong on him all day,
or being captured by some thugs and sexually humiliated, or being harassed at a tavern—!
He had to grit his teeth and endure all of that as best he could, lasting as long as possible within a single [Save & Load]!
Otherwise, he would just end up stuck at the previous Save point forever.
To escape this other world, he had to press forward.
Well, anyway!
And so Delin, terrified by Chichi striding toward him, backed away until his back hit the wall.
Peok—!
"Delin. Listen to noona carefully."
Or rather, she had cornered him against the wall.
Chichi slammed her hands against the wall on either side of his shoulders—peok—so he couldn't escape.
In that position, she spoke, her face hovering just inches from his.
"I already apologized. Hmm? How many more times do I have to say I'm sorry? After I sent Arwen off, I've already apologized to you five times. Right?"
"Ah, ah... th-that's right..."
"You remember, when we were walking in the forest. I remember exactly. Five times. First, I said I was sorry to you. Then I said I was really sorry. The third time, I asked you to forgive me. The fourth time, I said I was truly sorry... that I didn't know why I did it, and I apologized again. The last time, I told you I was sincerely reflecting on it."
Yes.
The subtle tension flowing between them had been caused by those multiple apologies—and by Delin's inability to properly let go of his feelings despite them!
"Y-Yeah... it was... like that..."
"But you just talked back again, didn't you? Right? Fine. Here's the sixth apology. I'm sorry."
Was that the attitude of a woman who was truly sorry?
Delin found it absurd, but he couldn't even let out a squeak in the face of her fierce emotional onslaught right in front of him.
The fundamental physical differences between men and women dictated their actions.
Delin trembled, and Chichi kept pressing him relentlessly.
"Delin... you seem to think you can treat noona however you like. But I'm in a situation where I was exiled because of you, right? Hmm? If I wanted to, right here and now..."
Her coldly burning eyes left Delin's terrified gaze for a moment and turned downward.
Those eyes swept over Delin's body...
"..."
That mouth, which had suddenly clamped shut,
conveyed far too much to Delin even without uttering a single word.
"W-Wait... I'm sorry. Yeah... I just, without thinking..."
"..."
No, fuck...!
It was clearly me who got captured, got passed around and devoured, humiliated, and tormented...!
Why did I have to be the one apologizing?
"I'm sorry, really... I won't do it...!"
But there was nothing he could do.
Hadn't there been an era when a husband came home drunk and beat his wife like a dog, yet faced no social sanction whatsoever?
This world had human rights that scraped even lower than that era.
Delin finally came to his senses.
No.
His survival instinct forced him to come to his senses.
For a moment, he had thought of himself as [the one doing the choosing] between the two women who competed over him,
but he was merely [the one being dragged around].
Looking at his body, his appearance, his personality,
hearing his voice, smelling him, feeling his skin!
And after all that, he was in the position of being dragged around like a [possession] by women who ended up wanting him for themselves!
"...Fine. I said I was sorry. I'm regretting it too, you know. Ever since I met you... something..."
Chichi placed a hand over her chest.
Unlike other women, her chest was on the smaller side, but
perhaps because of that, she could reach her heart and feelings all the more quickly...
such a woman.
"Something's a little strange... I don't know why I'm like this, but this is probably..."
A sensation that made her heart swell.
And yet, a tingling, aching sensation somewhere deep within.
"It's love. Yeah... Noona, I think I love you, Delin. Really."
Was it normal to confess love while pressing someone against a wall and glaring at them as if you might kill them...?
"..."
Chichi silently gazed at Delin for a moment.
In her eyes, all sorts of emotions that even she herself could not fully grasp were mingled together.
"...Delin. Don't talk to that beastman anymore. Understand?"
"B-But if we want to escape from Neva or Philmark..."
"...You're talking back to noona."
It was a line he had heard somewhere before, but
this time it wasn't followed by a spanking so sharp it felt like his ass was on fire.
"...Chuu-eut."
A little rough, yet a little tender—
such a deep kiss went on for a long while.
That long, long kiss seemed as though it would last forever, but
"Delin-gun? Aren't you hungry? Let's all have something to eat together..."
It paused for a moment at Kaede's sudden... no-knock entrance, and then
"...Uup, peheut..."
but rather than stopping, upon seeing that wolf, Chichi wrapped her tongue and arms around him even more fiercely, making it clingier and stickier than before.