30. Review
As I approached, the wary look Son Yu-ju gave me was cute.
Both of them were small, but if Yu-na was like a puppy, Son Yu-ju was like a cat.
They had one thing in common: both were cute.
As I kept staring at her, Son Yu-ju asked warily.
"Wh-why are you looking at me like that!"
"No reason. You still have one spell left, right? You don't need to rest."
"What?!"
Unlike other spellcasters, who kept their low-level spell uses and gained higher-level spell uses each time they leveled up, a Warlock's spell uses were only two, always at the highest level.
For example, as a level 4 Sorcerer, I could use 1st-circle spells four times and 2nd-circle spells three times.
'At level 5, two uses of 3rd-circle spells will be added to that.'
On the other hand, Son Yu-ju, a level 3 Warlock, had only two uses of 2nd-circle spells. At level 5, they would simply change to two uses of 3rd-circle spells.
In exchange, a Warlock could recover all spell uses with a single short rest.
'You could say the total capacity is small, but the recharge is fast.'
So Son Yu-ju seemed worried that she, too, would be subjected to a short rest the way Kwon Chae-a or Choi Da-in had been,
'One 2nd-circle spell was enough for a single battle, so there's no need to rest any further.'
But the way she was on guard before I had even said anything was cute, so I deliberately approached her with a suggestive look.
Apparently realizing she was being teased,
"Kyaaahk!"
Choi Da-in grabbed Son Yu-ju from the side and held her back as she tried to lunge at me.
"Thanks, Choi Da-in."
"Really? Then maybe tonight......"
At those words, Son Yu-ju forgot her anger in Choi Da-in's arms and perked up her ears.
At this rate, isn't she looking forward to it even more than the person involved?
"Yeah? I'll borrow your room tonight, okay, Son Yu-ju?"
"U-use it however you want. I'm going to sleep early!"
Son Yu-ju told a lie that would fool no one, and everyone pretended to believe it.
If that wasn't getting along well, what was?
With Kwon Chae-a looking at our conversation in confusion, we settled the evening's plans.
After that, we set out to find the next monster.
***
Thanks to Kwon Chae-a, finding prey was extremely quick.
A brown bear came charging from outside range and collapsed under spells and arrows, and when we went deeper, we encountered three dire wolves.
They were beasts far larger and fiercer than ordinary wolves. The Challenge Rating of a normal wolf was 1/4, and a dire wolf was 1, a fourfold difference in experience value.
Monsters with a total experience value of 600, which might be slightly dangerous for a three-person level 3 party.
But the three of them were able to take down the dire wolf pack without any notable injuries.
"Do-hyeon! Did you see that?!"
Kwon Chae-a, who had asked me right before the fight whether she really had to participate, was the most excited of all.
"I did well, right?"
Choi Da-in seemed to want some kind of reward. I'd give it to her in the evening.
"It was all thanks to me!"
Son Yu-ju shouted triumphantly, and that wasn't exactly wrong.
Thanks to the Darkness she had cast, the dire wolves' attacks had cut through empty air, while the others' attacks had landed properly.
"The decision to gather together and hide inside the Darkness was excellent."
Unlike other monsters, dire wolves had much faster movement speed. About 60% faster.
Against monsters like that, if the front and rear lines fought separately as they had in previous battles, the back line was likely to be exposed.
"Praise me more!"
I patted Son Yu-ju on the head as she stood there looking proud of herself.
"Wh-who told you to do it that way!"
Son Yu-ju shouted that, then pulled away and smoothed her hair.
Now it was time to deliver the bad news.
"We'd better not come here unless the party's at full strength."
"Why? We won so easily."
When I checked Kwon Chae-a's HP as she said that, it was 22/30.
She hadn't lost any HP fighting the bear, so all of that damage had come from this battle.
'She had no wounds, but she'd taken the damage in HP.'
Dire wolves had a pack tactics feature.
It was a trait that granted advantage on attacks when allies were nearby, but Darkness imposed disadvantage, canceling it out so they could still make normal attacks.
"Check your condition. You didn't get hit, but you're not at full strength, are you?"
"Yeah, I do feel a little off."
Choi Da-in, whose HP had also dropped, agreed.
"Even fighting under the effect of the Darkness spell, you still took a certain amount of loss."
Son Yu-ju had two spell uses left. What if we encountered more monsters after she ran out?
"So we'd better not come here unless we have two spell uses left."
"I see. Do-hyeon's right. Let's be careful from now on."
With that, Kwon Chae-a recited a spell.
"Goodberry."
With those words, ten fresh green berries appeared in Kwon Chae-a's hand.
"Here, let's share them."
Goodberry, a spell usable by Rangers and Druids, restored 1 HP per berry and provided a day's worth of nutrition.
Because Rangers weren't dedicated spellcasters, even at level 4 they could only use 1st-circle spells three times, but Goodberry's recovery amount was excellent.
"I'm fine."
"Still, you can't be the only one not eating, can you?"
Kwon Chae-a insisted that even Son Yu-ju, whose HP hadn't dropped, eat one berry.
Kwon Chae-a ate four and Choi Da-in ate five, so she had given one from her own share.
"Then I suppose we should rest now."
"Yes. That seems best."
The two of them smiled meaningfully at my words.
But,
"So let's move a bit away from this spot. It's too dangerous to spend an hour here."
"Can't we do it like before?"
"Son Yu-ju has to rest too."
At that, the two of them made regretful faces and looked at Son Yu-ju with odd eyes.
"What! I used up all my spells, so I'm right to rest!"
Even knowing that her complaint wasn't about resting but about the way of resting, Son Yu-ju deflected like that.
She seemed to like me quite a bit, so did she hate kissing that much?
***
We finished the day's hunt safely and accompanied the students back to the inn.
I collected the final payment from Kwon Chae-a—the fee for tomorrow—and went into Choi Da-in and Son Yu-ju's room.
As soon as I entered the room, I left Son Yu-ju hiding in the bed alone and ordered Choi Da-in into the cowgirl position.
Her clumsy hip movements improved step by step under my immediate instructions,
Bang!
"Hahng?!"
But from the middle on, she lost control of herself, so in the end I had to move on my own.
"Nnghaht?!"
Creak, bang!
As she climaxed, the seed released inside her brought a wave of calm, and Choi Da-in collapsed on top of me while savoring one more climax.
I laid the collapsed Choi Da-in on the bed, then approached Son Yu-ju, who was pretending to sleep with the blanket pulled up over her head.
When I gently folded the blanket back, Son Yu-ju, her face bright red, was lowering her hand.
When I examined her right hand, it was warm and coated with a sticky liquid.
It was an alibi proving where she had been until just moments ago.
"Son Yu-ju, are you asleep?"
She claimed to be sleeping, yet she was wearing a cloak and a skirt.
The fact that she hadn't even changed into casual clothes showed how frantically she had hidden in the bed.
This must be Son Yu-ju's own way of seducing me, right?
But I had the Incubus Lord perk.
I should have been the one seducing women; being seduced myself would have been embarrassing.
I left a kiss on Son Yu-ju's forehead.
Even though her flinching body was adorable, I absolutely did not covet that fruit.
What I provided was,
"Today, this is your punishment."
I placed my hand where I had left the kiss and pressed down with the tip of my middle finger.
Without lifting my finger from her forehead, I slowly traced down her body.
Nose, lips, chin, neck.
From here, the clothes blocked the way, so I traced over them.
The fingertip crossed the center of her chest, passed her solar plexus to her stomach, crossed her navel to her lower abdomen.
The fingertip reached her skirt, traveled along it, and at its end crossed to the other side.
My finger traveled along the unseen back of the skirt, ending at a woman's intimate place.
When I lightly grazed the bead along that path,
"Mmph,"
Son Yu-ju let out a moan without realizing it.
Meanwhile, the fingertip advanced toward the small hole.
I had entered it once before, but today the hole's condition was different.
It was slicker than last time, showing how much the previous guest had thrashed about.
That place, now a complete mess, I loosened once more with my finger.
I covered weak points she hadn't even known she had with my own touch.
She was already aroused enough, so I only needed to give her a climax.
No, she seemed to have already climaxed several times, so I decided to give her the best climax instead.
And so my fingertip went around prodding every weak point there was,
"Mmng?!"
"Mmph!"
Each time, Son Yu-ju was busy trying to control her own mouth.
Finally, I ran my finger firmly across the weak points of her thoroughly loosened hole one after another.
"Mngah?!"
With one last cry, Son Yu-ju actually lost consciousness.
After punishing such a dishonest woman, I covered her with the blanket and was about to leave when,
"You're not going to touch Yu-ju?"
Choi Da-in, who had come to her senses at some point, asked.
"If she wants it, she'll make her own appeal."
Just as Choi Da-in had requested training from me.
"Yu-ju isn't very honest, you know."
Choi Da-in's expression as she looked down at Son Yu-ju, who had genuinely lost consciousness for a moment, held a hint of bitterness.
"A woman like that coming to me on her own would be all the more special, wouldn't it?"
"You really are mean."
***
The next day, Song Ji-yu's party ran reasonably well.
"Eun-seo! Now!"
"Leave it to me!"
Kwon Eun-seo's fist struck the wolf that was about to close in.
If it had been an ordinary punch, that would have been the end of it, but Kwon Eun-seo was a Monk of the Gaesumun* subclass. The blow she delivered with her bare fist turned directly into impact and shoved the wolf back.
"So-i's doing great!"
Meanwhile, Nam So-i charged into the middle of the wolves with a great axe and rampaged.
Even when a wolf tried to bite her, she swung the axe without a care, like a berserker, clearly showing that she was a Barbarian who had chosen the Berserker subclass.
Jo Su-min, who had been dispirited, also used the Shillelagh spell, swinging her staff as a weapon and striking the wolves hard.
Lastly, Song Ji-yu took command and supported trouble spots with spells.
The four of them, who had overwhelmingly defeated four wolves, looked delighted.
Was it because, even though they didn't like listening to my orders, they had accepted all the feedback I had left?
Despite some lingering clumsiness, they were good enough to pass.
"Not bad."
"If we did well, why not just honestly say we did well?"
Song Ji-yu, saying that, looked confident, as if expecting a perfect score.
"Then, feedback."
"Go ahead."
"Are you only going to fight three times today?"
"Huh?"
"Nam So-i's Rage has a limited number of uses per day. What are you doing using it in an easy fight like this?"
A level 3 Barbarian could use Rage three times per long rest. It was a trump card, like a spellcaster's spells.
If it was a battle you could win without using it, saving it was the right call. Unless you only planned to fight three times a day.
"What if someone gets hurt while we're saving it!"
"Your party has plenty of recovery resources, doesn't it?"
A Druid, a type of priest class, could use Goodberry like a Ranger. Even more of them. Jo Su-min alone guaranteed the party a certain amount of recovery.
On top of that, Song Ji-yu also had recovery spells and could provide additional recovery through a perk.
A party with this many recovery resources could afford to spend HP a bit more aggressively.
Song Ji-yu clicked her tongue as if unwilling to lose, then moved on to the next topic.
"Then tell me what we did well."
"Aside from the resource allocation issue, you all did well."
"Right~?"
Despite what had happened the day before, Song Ji-yu spoke to me in a friendly way.
I truly couldn't understand this sense of distance.
"Then you don't need a rest, right? On to the next battle."
"Ehh, let us rest a little."
"You don't need to rest."
"Maybe for me, but Eun-seo would benefit more from resting, wouldn't she?"
Indeed, a Monk's resource, Focus**, recovered after just a short rest.
"That's exactly what I mean by allocating resources with that in mind."
Spending an hour for one person was a loss. The best approach was for all four of them to evenly expend resources that recovered on a short rest, then recover together.
"It already happened, didn't it? We'll do better next time, so let's rest now."
If she put it that way, I had no right to force her to stop.
"It's your party, so if that's your judgment."
Contrary to my worries, Song Ji-yu's party didn't cause any major incidents.
Put the other way, they didn't take even the slightest risk.
Unlike Kwon Chae-a's party, which had advanced to where the dire wolf pack appeared, they had settled in the area where brown bears appeared.
'I'd have to say Kwon Chae-a's party is the superior one.'
Because the Darkness spell's effect was incredibly powerful.
If anything bothered me, it was how much more dispirited Jo Su-min looked than before, and the oddness of Song Ji-yu's gaze.
'She does look my way.'
But it felt as though she wasn't actually looking at me.
Something on my side, but not me—something Song Ji-yu might care about.
'An item?'
I had three magic items, and two of them stood out.
Cloak of Protection, a cloak granting a bonus to defense and saving throws.
Vicious Longsword, a sword that dealt additional damage.
What if Song Ji-yu was coveting these fine items, whose coloring alone set them apart from ordinary goods?
Certainly, changing her target from me, who couldn't be controlled, to something I possessed was wise. An object had no ego, after all.
'If I stoked that desire, I could lure her into a trap.'
But I decided to save that for later.
First of all, tomorrow was the day we had decided to assault the orc stronghold on the 2nd floor of the underground labyrinth.