Episode 20
Episode 20
When a live service game has a long lifespan, several problems arise.
Setting conflicts, power inflation, lack of content, and so on. Numerous issues crop up, and countless patches are implemented to resolve them.
And it's common for strategies to change because of these patches.
I wanted to insert these changed strategies in the middle, but it was impossible.
'I think they said the book couldn't be modified for the sake of realism.'
I had turned it into an item to sell in the game, but it couldn't be edited.
It was possible to cross things out and write notes, but there were so many patch notes that the content became messy. To prevent that, I ended up writing the additional content separately at the back.
This included not just patch notes, but also events and added endgame content.
The main ones are the Dragonkin, the Cult of the End, Ancient Ruins, and the Imperial Rebellion.
Though, since the game was practically dying by then, only a tiny minority enjoyed them.
"Hmm..."
I wasn't completely sure if the information was accurate, but I actually felt more confident.
Because I realized that the information I knew so far wasn't wrong; it had just changed because someone had gotten ahead of me.
That meant there were still places where my information could be useful.
"First of all, what exactly do you want to know, and why?"
"Well, the Hero is trapped in ice right now and can't do anything. Even if that weren't the case, Haim said he hopes you'll help me."
"Ah, so that's why you manhandled someone who agreed to help you like that?"
"That happened because you got turned on, so it's not my fault."
"Your tastes and ideology seem a bit dangerous."
Touching someone without permission and blaming the guy who got turned on? This guy is a complete lunatic.
Besides, my physique is lacking in many ways.
In short, he's 100% dangerous.
After thinking for a moment, I asked Aron.
"But what does helping me have to do with knowing this missing information? I wasn't even paying attention to this info."
"Because if we don't stop those things, the world will be in danger?"
"Well, it's not exactly wrong..."
Thinking about it, Aron wasn't wrong.
Because Aron monopolized all the opportunities, the Hero was much weaker than expected. He has to defeat the Demon King, but if he can't even beat a piece of scrap metal, there's no hope.
'Or is the balance just weird because it was patched in a game-like way?'
Since Antikythera appeared later than the Demon King, its in-game difficulty is actually higher.
It's just that in the story setting, the Demon King is overwhelmingly stronger.
"Then, in exchange for me giving you information, you help me out a bit too."
"Ah, don't tell me you're going to say 'let's not have sex'?"
"If I asked you to do that, would you do it?"
Aron thought for a moment and then muttered.
"That's a bit..."
"I wasn't expecting it anyway. Just let me come with you when you go to resolve the information I give you from now on. I need something."
"Alright, I can do that much. And honestly, you enjoyed it too."
"What are you talking about? There's no way I enjoyed it."
As I recalled the time he touched me before, a tight sensation gripped my lower abdomen.
A pleasant heat and tightness made me rub my thighs together.
Feeling unnecessarily embarrassed, I continued in a small voice.
"...I'm just telling you because we need to save Unni and Ivy."
"Yeah, if you just suffer a little and we save everyone, it's good for both of us. So, what's the information?"
"Meeting the Dragonkin, exploring Ancient Ruins, eliminating the Cult of the End, stopping the Imperial Rebellion. These four are the biggest. The rest are things we can do along the way."
"So they're things we have to do by moving around directly. Is there an order for what needs to be done first?"
I immediately spread my fingers.
My slender middle and index fingers extended from my small hand.
"First, what we can do now is help the Dragonkin and go to the Ancient Ruins."
"What about the others?"
"One is the Cult of the End. We can't find them until they appear, so there's nothing we can do about them now. The last one is the Imperial Rebellion, but that hasn't happened yet either."
"Then shall we go to the nearest Ancient Ruins first?"
I quickly grabbed Aron's wrist as he started to get up.
I shook my head vigorously side to side.
"N-no, let's rest a bit today and then go."
Even as I said that, my legs were trembling. The climax I felt for the first time, feeling it dozens of times, had made my legs feel strange.
I thought I had recovered, but I didn't realize the aftereffects would still remain.
Even a slight movement made my strength drain away, and I couldn't move.
"Let's eat, rest a little, and go once I remember the details more clearly. It's not like going a day or two earlier will make everything work out anyway."
Aron's gaze turned toward me.
His pupils moved slowly.
From the hand holding my arm, his eyes moved to the arm braced on the table, and finally to my trembling legs. He scanned me in order to assess my condition.
He nodded as if convinced and walked to the kitchen.
"Then let's eat first. You haven't eaten for about three days."
"Three days? And you just grabbed someone like that and forced them to climax? Do you want to try being tied up and climaxed after starving for three days?"
"Starving for three days is nothing."
Even Karen Unni couldn't last three days.
Besides, Aura Users have a high basal metabolic rate, so they need to eat a lot of food.
"This is really ridiculous."
I let out a deep sigh and took a spoonful of the soup Aron handed me, putting it in my mouth.
The warm soup, vegetables and meat chewed in my mouth.
The soup was rich, and the vegetables were ordinary. But the meat was unlike any I'd ever had before—chewy and meltingly tender inside.
Perhaps it was special meat, because the moment I chewed and swallowed a bite, vitality surged through my body.
"What kind of meat is this? The flavor is incredibly unique."
"That? Dragon Meat. A wild dragon invaded the elf village today, so I went to deal with it. That's the meat I got from it."
The hand that had been busily shoveling food into my mouth stopped.
Dragon Meat.
The meat that's called a miracle if you eat it even once in your life was piled right in front of me.
"All of this is Dragon Meat?"
"Yeah, there's plenty left in the warehouse anyway, so eat as much as you want. And you need to eat a lot of it. You're a beastkin, after all."
"What does being a beastkin have to do with Dragon Meat?"
"To be precise, it's not just dragon, but Magical Beast meat you need to eat. Beastkin deliberately eat Magical Beast meat when they're young to undergo proper growth."
"Does the mana in the meat get absorbed into the body or something?"
Aron nodded lightly.
"They store the mana from the Magical Beast meat in their bodies and use it as nutrients necessary for growth. Beastkin can only grow properly after going through that process."
Hearing that, I stretched out my arms for a moment and looked at them.
Extremely cute arms and small hands, even for an adult woman. Perhaps this was because I, a Quarter, lacked the necessary nutrients.
I scooped a large spoonful of meat and put it in my mouth. I need to grow up quickly.
"Ah, but don't eat too much."
"Why? Are there side effects?"
"No, it's just that I like you small and cute. If your breasts get bigger for no reason, I might feel a bit... cooled off, I guess. That's the feeling."
"...Why are your tastes really like that?"
I frowned and glared at Aron, then let out a deep sigh.
"My tastes are whatever. Do you know any beastkin around? I want to learn a bit about beastkin. I'm a Quarter, so I don't know anything."
"There's a beastkin I know in the Forest of Temptation? Her name is Ryeong, I'll take you to her."
"Really? And by the way, did you engrave this on my stomach? It looks incredibly lewd."
I lifted my top slightly to show the Pattern engraved on my lower abdomen.
It was clearly a butterfly shape, but it was positioned right above the most beautifully protruding mons pubis. Because of that, looking at it reminded me of a vulva from a work of fiction.
Aron looked at it for a moment, then let out a deep sigh.
"An elf engraved that. After we finish everything we need to see, let's go together to the one who engraved it."
"An elf? Can a human go to where the elves live and even talk to them? The elves outside still haven't even revealed the location of their kingdom."
"The elves or beastkin living here were all saved by me, so they don't mind. They'll actually be happy."
"Really? Then I'll ask for your help."
I let go of the top I was holding.
The fabric slowly descended, brushing softly against my lower abdomen as it covered it.
It was a Pattern I had no reason to show anyone, but both its location and design seemed far too intentional.
Some perverted intention of the elf who engraved this.
"Then let's finish eating first and start moving tomorrow. I feel like I'll really collapse if I don't eat now."
"Alright, do whatever you're comfortable with."
My mood improved unnecessarily at Aron's attitude of granting all my requests.
Unaware of my raised lips, I continued my meal.
*
Sitting on the bed resting, I watched Aron come in.
Just seeing Aron's large frame entering through the door made my slender body look even smaller.
Because of that, the bed was quite spacious.
'Just because the bed is big doesn't mean it's okay to sleep together.'
No matter how wide the bed is, I don't want to be with a perverted bastard. It's quite bothersome since I don't know when I might be assaulted again.
Hugging the pillow tightly to my chest, I gave Aron a sidelong glance.
"You're not seriously planning to sleep together, are you? Seriously? You want to sleep in the same bed as me?"
Aron, who was about to sit on the bed, looked at me.
He took a deep, dissatisfied breath and exhaled.
"I'm not going to touch you anyway. I'll just sleep quietly and get up, so can you stop being so wary?"
"...Are you sure? You're not going to assault me again while I'm sleeping, right?"
"We have to have sex every day starting tomorrow anyway, so there's no reason to do it today."
My face flushed red at the word 'sex'.
Starting tomorrow, I had to handle Aron's sexual desires as promised. The thought that I had to do it spread a strange heat through my body rather than disgust.
'Have I really become a pervert too?'
I looked at Aron standing in front of me for a moment, then quickly turned my head away.
"Fine. Then get in bed quickly and sleep. You're just annoying my eyes standing there with your big frame."
"First this, then that... It's really not easy."
Ignoring Aron's words, I curled up in the corner of the bed and quietly breathed in and out.
Because he was lying next to me, his Scent reached me.
My body reacted on its own to that Scent and began taking the measures it needed. I inhaled the Scent, my body twitched, and I tried to move closer to Aron.
All my senses focused on smell, as if I were trapped by Aron's Scent.
After waiting like that for a while, I confirmed that Aron's breathing had become even and asked.
"Aron... asleep?"
I asked cautiously.
When no answer came even after waiting a bit, I turned my body to face him and moved closer to his chest.
I carefully buried my face in his chest.
Sniff. Sniff sniff.
"Scent is good... When I smell just Aron's Scent, it feels like even the worries in my head disappear."
Mia tightly gripped his clothes with both hands and buried her face in his chest for a long time, inhaling his Scent.
Not even knowing what that act meant.
Mia didn't even realize that Aron was awake.
Aron just smiled as he watched Mia.
'She seems more my type than I thought. Starting tomorrow, instead of just having sex right away, I should start with the Engraving.'
Aron, who had slightly changed his plans upon seeing Mia's behavior.