76. Hey, just think of it as giving pocket money to your grandson
76. Hey, just think of it as giving pocket money to your grandson
And so, my three-way... 2.4? 2.3-way living arrangement began.
[Ye...♥ Mo...♥ Eugh!♥ Ugh!!♥]
[Gooood!!!♥ Goooaaah!♥!!]
I pounded away relentlessly, fully determined to turn the two of them into a two-shift rotation.
I made a quick visit to the Temple in the middle.
['Adhesive Tongue' it is. You caught a Frog, huh?)
... Ha.
The result from checking the essence at the Temple was a completely useless skill.
But with this, it was confirmed for sure.
'The ones that come out are Mimic essences.'
Even if we assume every essence comes out from the Gacha.
Out of all those essences, why the hell did a Frog's Adhesive Tongue pop up? Overlapping with Mimic?
That day, I got home and swallowed the rest of the essences.
-Ding!
[LV.2 Uitae]
A shame, but you can't fill up on the first drink.
I'd left the Mimic corpses to Master for buyback, so it was about time to head to the Guild.
I wrapped a cloth over my face and covered Master-nim with her blanket.
"Be back soon. Mwah!"
".........♥"
-Pffft! Squeak♥
"Love you too."
Morning Training is tough, huh.
Whatever...
In the Guild Master's office, with the lights off.
"The goods... are they prepared?"
"Yeees... but is it really okay for us to do this, Master? We won't get fired?"
"Shh! Shh!!! What if someone hears! And I'm the Master—who's gonna fire me!"
"It's a public institution, so there's plenty of places that could hassle us..."
"Shhhhh!!!"
Silvia and Meidel were whispering like scheming villains conspiring together.
What the hell were these two proper office workers doing, anyway?
"Hup! She didn't say much about it... More importantly, why do you have so many Mimic corpses stockpiled?"
"... It's a thing."
Silvia had snuck the Mimic corpses meant for delivery to the Magic Tower and stashed them neatly in her Subspace.
The amount was a whopping third—10 of them. Way below the monthly average delivery quota.
Ryu-o had looted a ton of Mimics too, so the total was even less than usual.
"Urgh..."
It might raise suspicions if it kept up, but since it was the first month of sneaking, it'd be fine.
And she'd already taken measures.
Silvia had tweaked the ledger... just a tiny bit, and wiped a few records clean.
Her accomplice Meidel sighed and turned on the room light.
-Click!
"Ha... Master, you're falling..."
"Falling? Investment! In! Ves! Tment!"
"To Ryu-o-ssi?"
Silvia pursed her lips and stared at Meidel.
"You... h-how, how do you... kn-know... ah, wha... ahh?"
"Sigh..."
Meidel shook her head gently and spoke.
"Well, you've been doing all these things you've never done before ever since meeting Ryu-o-ssi. So I figured this was another request from him too..."
Why doesn't Meidel stutter only at times like this?
Not the point right now.
"Meidel... what are we?"
"A poor employee trembling under the boss's power harassment, forced to cover up the fraud and..."
"We're colleagues! No! Best friends!!"
"Master... friends don't drag you into crimes~"
Meidel. Crime? What crime? This is just an investment in our Guild's boundless growth and the hero of the future.
Think about it—building this good rapport now means there'll definitely be favors to ask later.
Ryu-o-nim's gonna become nobility, you know? Zero downside, pure profit.
That's what Silvia wanted to say as she yelled.
"Shut up and cough it up!!!"
"Waaah! What kinda friend is this!!!"
"Oh yeah? Get out! Just get the hell..."
-Knock knock
""Eek!!!""
The two clamped their mouths shut at the same time.
Meidel calmed her startled chest and spoke.
"Who is it~"
-It's me. Jang Ryu-o.
"Ryu-o-nim~♥"
In an instant, Meidel's face turned into that of an adventurer who'd cracked open a goblin's skull.
"...?"
If Silvia saw it, she'd have smacked her head for that expression.
Luckily, with the guest here, Meidel composed herself and exhaled.
"Phew..."
This time, she absolutely wouldn't freak out at the sight of his face.
Silvia opened the door...
-Creeeak~
"You're here? Oh?"
"Hello, Master."
Thanks to Ryu-o wearing the face cloth, there was no shock.
Silvia nodded knowingly, as if she understood something.
"Ah, I got word from the Duchy. You're going around covering your face."
"Yeah, planning to do that for a while."
Silvia smiled bitterly and nodded.
"Good call. Ah, Ryu-o-ssi... I got 'that thing' ready just in time."
"As expected... thank you, Master."
"Hehe, no biggie."
Meidel tactfully slipped out to prepare tea.
"Ryu-o-nim~ Do you have a preferred tea~?"
"Ah, no need for tea. I'll be heading out soon..."
""Ah...""
Silvia shot a slight glare at the disappointed Meidel.
Meidel dodged the gaze and bolted outside.
"Then, I'll be out..."
"Take care."
Now it was just Silvia and Ryu-o left alone.
When someone's deeply in love, it shows—no matter the gender.
Silvia's ears were red as she fidgeted restlessly.
Crossing her legs then uncrossing, dangling her shoe off her toe.
Fussing over how she looked to this man, stealing glances.
After running her hand through her hair a few times, Silvia pulled out a Mimic corpse from her Subspace.
"Ah, Ryu-o-ssi. The Mimic corpses you requested."
"Thanks, Master. What's the price like?"
She wanted to give them free, but had to patch the side stuff.
She'd swapped the ledger's buyback entries with easy-to-get externals.
"Total 40 gold coins, Ryu-o-ssi. Might go up even more next month. Supply's a bit short."
"Got it."
Silvia took the 40 gold coins without checking and shoved them into her Subspace.
"No need to verify?"
"Hehe, no worries. It's Ryu-o-ssi, after all!"
"... Ha, thanks, Master."
Silvia beamed at Ryu-o's smiling mouth under the cloth.
"Hehe...♥"
"Gulp...! I-I'll be going now!"
"Huh? Al-already?"
Ryu-o yelled, fist clenched tight.
"Nothing much to see here!!!"
Silvia was hurt.
Pretty badly.
"Ah... yeah, let me see you out."
"No need! I'm off!"
Silvia reached out to the Ryu-o who finished business and bolted.
"Ah..."
Sadly, no way it would reach.
Super... insanely hurt Silvia.
Dark clouds gathered over her head.
If only she could cry from sadness, but no.
Just empty. Like all her efforts meant nothing.
"... Ha."
Couldn't they at least chat a bit?
She got the word from the Duchy, but wanted to hear it direct.
That he's safe, no need to worry.
"What the hell am I doing...?"
She thought it was love without expecting payback...
Silvia's mind filled with naughty thoughts.
What if she'd found Ryu-o drugged first?
"Slurp..."
Silvia, already having lewd fantasies every night, had no more hang-ups.
-Squelch♥
"Fantasies... haht... are free♥ Ha, haha♥ Hngg♥"
And so, Silvia regressed to full-blown puberty.
How long ago was it, really?
"Whew... that was close, damn."
Seeing the unusually moist Master today, I nearly lost it.
What is it? Her gaze was so sticky and humid.
Sitting across the sofa, and her scent was hitting me.
Power building up—I was going nuts.
It was fine when I came in, so why?
"Run it off..."
Best way to calm down is tensing the thighs.
-Swoosh~
I practiced Uitae and Hardening while running.
Matched my foot color to the roof tiles climbing up.
Like stepping only on white pedestrian crossings.
For wall-climbing, thinned the Hardening on my soles more.
Leveled-up Uitae changed faster now.
Bound to be useful sometime.
Thinking other stuff like this, the tension below eased bit by bit.
"Phew, good, keep it like this..."
Then it flared up again thinking about it.
Gonna kill her for real.
Ran for a good while and suddenly, I was at the Magic Tower.
-Thud!
"...? Ahem! Welcome to the Azure Magic Tower. Do you have a reservation?"
To the knight startled by my sudden appearance, I flashed the Magic Tower Lord's seal.
"Here."
"!! You may enter."
Free pass, no ID check.
I pressed down my face cloth and nodded.
"Thanks for your work."
-Crackle. Ah, Tower Lord-nim. Someone with the seal has arrived.
I side-eyed the knight reporting to the Magic Tower Lord.
That thing... is he on a call right now? Walkie-talkie? Portable?
Gotta snag one of those.
Reason I can be this shameless...
-Whirr...
"Screeeeech!!"
-Eek! What the—
-What's up? Why's she like that?
-Dunno... did she order materials or something?
I grinned at the Magic Tower Lord sprinting over panting.
Fainted from it, so she must crave my talent.
I smiled brightly and replied.
"Hello, Grandma!"
"Hey! Hello there! First... let's head up! So much to talk about. Thanks... for coming, really..."
Her... eyes were rolling back?
"No problem, Grandma. Shall we go up?"
The Magic Tower Lord and I exchanged simple greetings.
Heard the rumors. You did great. Looking healthy.
Seemed worried, but couldn't hide her anticipation.
-Hehe...
"So, here to learn magic today?"
I took off the face cloth and said brightly.
"Nope! Came to check if Grandma's okay. Glad you look safe."
"..............."
"Grandma?"
"... Huh?"
I half-stood and said.
"Oh dear, you alright? I'll call someone—hang on. You still look rough."
"No! I'm fine! Healthy as can be."
The Magic Tower Lord shoved my shoulders to force me seated.
Back in my seat, she sipped tea with trembling hands.
-Tremble tremble...
"L-Learning... ha... magic... you don't wanna?"
"Magic would be nice to learn."
"Then why!"
"Busy."
The Magic Tower Lord clutched her head and wobbled.
"Ah..."
"Suddenly tons of stuff to handle. Contacts everywhere..."
The Magic Tower Lord shot up like she'd seen the light.
"Familiars can deliver letters with magic too!"
Hm... that walkie-talkie thing?
I composed myself and said.
"Wow, really? Any magic to hide your body?"
Grandma bit her lip a few times, glancing around.
Just us two, but super cautious.
"Well... there is, but hard to teach..."
"Ah, I see? No need to make time then..."
"Need it... right now?"
I sighed and said.
"Ha... truth is, it's not just me hiding. About 4 people need to hide together."
"4... 4 people...? What for..."
"Ah, sorry Grandma. Only my 'Master-nim's know this."
"Master... one more wouldn't hurt..."
To the Magic Tower Lord mumbling like hypnotized, I said.
"If that issue doesn't get solved soon, no time for magic. Thanks for thinking of me."
Doesn't really matter. Master hides me fine with the Banshee's Cloak...
But borrowing vs. fully owning are different, right?
Yes. What I'm after is...
"A way... there's a way!"
"Hiding magic?"
"Gulp... easier than that, would you learn...?"
I stood, bowed at the waist.
"Please take care of me from now on. Grandma."
"... You knew?"
"Yes."
"......... Ha, got played."
"Huh? What was that, Master-nim?"
"......"
Sorry. Can't afford to be picky right now.
Hey, think of it as pocket money for your grandson.
Not for the utterly ruined granddaughter.