Chapter 164
Chapter 164
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 164
Chapter Title: New Business
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The group of men, whom I thought had turned away, swiveled their heads back toward me.
"Excuse me, you're that Hassan from Samaria, right? Could you sign something for me?"
"Sign?"
"Yeah, right here on my axe. Just scratch your name into it with some metal. I heard you disbanded the Thieves' Guild. That shit blew my mind."
"Ah."
Adventurers always keep their ears open to rumors and hearsay by nature.
They have to stay sensitive to what jobs pay well and which ones to steer clear of.
So these guys seemed to know about me taking down the Thieves' Guild Hydra. Soon enough, they each chimed in with a word or two directed my way.
"You still Bronze Tier? Someday you won't have to slum it in a place like this western street, huh?"
"You're headed for the east gate district where only the rich live before long!"
"Before that, sign my weapon as a souvenir... Share some of that warrior's blessing, heh heh."
These adventurers looked pretty skilled, and they didn't seem much older than me. Having guys like that praise me made my chest tingle and my heart swell.
It felt hotter in my face than the booze I'd drunk.
So I pretended to be nonchalant and scratched marks into their axes and blades.
Scraaatch, scraaatch.
I put some real effort into carving "Hassan" into them, and the men grinned ear to ear, thrilled.
"Gonna brag about this back at the shitty tavern."
"Staying at this tavern is how we got to meet a Samaritan."
"Just the signature makes me feel fucking stronger. Like my weapon got enchanted."
The men chattered excitedly as if getting my signature was some huge deal, then finally left.
They'd apologized a few more times for hitting on my companion Luna earlier, which softened my brief annoyance quite a bit.
I couldn't believe they were so hyped over my crude signature.
But if I'd gotten one from a pro gamer or YouTuber I liked, I'd have been over the moon too. So I just shrugged it off.
Guess I'm really a celebrity now.
I'd wondered before what it must feel like for famous idols, YouTubers, athletes, or pro gamers. Now that I was getting that treatment, it felt surreal—I couldn't quite believe it.
What a weird life.
I pulled myself together and sat back at the table. Luna, who had been resting her chin on her elbow and watching me, spoke up.
"Hassan, you've been getting a lot of people acting like they know you lately."
"Yeah. Guess I'm getting famous."
"But I knew it'd turn out like this. I've got a great eye for materials. From the first time I saw you, my head was buzzing like crazy!"
"...Really?"
Her words embarrassed me so much that I sipped my empty glass to hide my face.
I thought about ordering another round, but both Luna and I had drunk enough that one more might black us out, so I just smacked my lips instead.
"Hassan, you're really gonna hit Gold Tier!"
Luna raised both hands high, cheering like it was her own achievement. Would I have gotten this strong without her?
If I couldn't level up using Luna's totem, what would I be doing right now?
That thought made me curious.
Why can I level up with Luna's totem, anyway?
Was our meeting fate or something?
The booze was making my thoughts spiral into sentimentality. Nothing but "fate" sounded convincing.
And that felt more romantic, too.
That's why I couldn't understand why Luna—daughter of a god like Nox—was slumming it in a dingy tavern, sipping cheap beer.
A baron's daughter, the lowest rung of the nobility's five ranks, lives like royalty in this world.
So why was Luna, daughter of the colossal Nox, wandering a poor, nomadic life?
I wondered.
But there was no one to ask, which was frustrating.
What if someday her background tore us apart?
Like if she had to leave me for some political marriage to a god, like she'd mentioned before. Could I handle that?
Becoming a Gold Tier hero wouldn't magically solve problems like that, would it?
So I asked myself inwardly.
Luna.
What are you, exactly?
* * *
Luna was so drunk she could barely walk. I had to carry her piggyback to the cabin.
My strength had really grown, and she wasn't heavy anyway, so it wasn't tough.
Clunk.
Unlocking and entering the cabin, I saw the first-floor living room littered with unsorted potion ingredients. Then came the clinking sounds, followed by rainbow-colored legs emerging from a jar.
Woof woof.
"Yeah, I'm back."
Hiiing...!
After all these ordeals, my courage had toughened up. I could now talk to that spider without shaking.
Though talking to a spider might mean my sanity had frayed more than my nerves.
Anyway, I gently laid the sleeping Luna on the deer hide upstairs. Paranoya was already asleep up there somehow.
Since that one night she crashed here, this little nymph treated the place like her own home.
I let her because she was getting ground down day and night as Luna's potion-making assistant.
It felt like a grad student slaving in a professor's lab.
"Sleep next to Paranoya."
As I tucked a blanket over Luna,
Luna, who'd passed out cold, suddenly stirred, blinking sleepily and sitting up.
"Sh... I gotta wash up before bed...!"
True to her love of cleanliness, she couldn't sleep feeling grubby.
Up close like this, she looked spotless despite rolling in dirt collecting bugs and digging herbs. Her skin was pale and flawless.
She always smelled faintly of mint, never wrinkling my nose.
Why? Genetics? Goddess's daughter perks?
As I pondered, Luna staggered up and headed back downstairs to the bathroom.
Rustle, rustle came the sound of her undressing. My dick throbbed hard.
Living together, with a cute girl showering right now.
Tension and excitement surged.
Creak, creak, splash-.
"Ugh, it's cold...."
The faucet squeaked, cold water pouring. Imagining naked Luna getting wet made me want to peek.
But as if reading my mind, she called out first.
"Hassan, no peeking-!"
"Don't worry."
She sometimes preempted me like she could read my thoughts. It was uncanny.
They say couples start thinking alike. Maybe that's it?
Creak, creak.
Lost in such thoughts, I heard the faucet shut off. Then rustle-rustle as fabric brushed skin.
Creeeak.
The makeshift wooden bathroom door swung slowly open.
"You wash too, Hassan! Having a bathroom at home is nice, right?"
"Definitely. Makes earning money worth it."
"Later, we'll make a yard for herbs, build our own kiln. Buy up all these warehouses around here... expand the land...."
Even after bathing, still woozy from sleep and booze, Luna rambled as she climbed upstairs.
I went in, scrubbed clean.
No hot water—just icy cold—but with summer heat and booze fever, it felt perfect.
Head cleared, body refreshed, I stepped out happily. Luna was snoring softly under the blanket with Paranoya.
A shame, but time for me to head downstairs and crash.
Sliip.
But her bare legs sticking out, slim calves and soft-looking thighs caught my eye.
Throb, throb.
Just that hardened my lower half. Blood rushed like I was a hormonal middle-schooler again.
Luna didn't like uninvited touches.
But she was deep asleep. A light rub might be okay? She sleeps like the dead—even if carried, she wouldn't wake.
Sliide.
I slowly reached for sleeping Luna's thigh.
Heart pounding like I was doing something evil, electricity tingling from my waist up my back, neck, to scalp.
Sliide, sliide.
Her thigh—soft, yielding flesh.
Firm, toned like Hippolyte's was great, but this plush softness was divine too. Pillowing on this would feel amazing.
Sliip, sliip.
Silky skin clinging to my hand.
She was a fortress to other men, but someday this softness would be mine. Our official first night—excitement soared.
I'd fly with bliss.
Hah, gotta get strong, hit Gold Tier fast. Solid goal now, fueling my drive.
Sliip, sliip.
I stroked her thigh and calf like a starving man.
Long day walking from Mars Guild to Venus Temple—her calf muscles and soft soles seemed swollen. Must've been rough. Looks like someone else's legs.
"Hnngh...."
A feminine moan, like in pain.
Luna reacting to a leg touch in sleep? Did she wake?
Heart skipping,
Rustle.
Something rose in the dark.
"My legs... feel weird...."
It was the crimson bob-haired nymph Paranoya. She'd been snoring beside Luna but now rubbed her eyes, awake.
What the—?
I panicked.
Then I realized, as the blanket shifted: the thigh I'd touched was Paranoya's, not Luna's.
Legs overlapped outside the blanket in the dark—easy mix-up.
Her eyes widened meeting mine. Shit, I sensed doom.
"H-Hassan—mmph!"
Spotting my hand on her leg, she gaped to scream. Fearing Luna waking, I clamped her mouth.
"Mmph-!"
"Hey, misunderstanding. Shh, quiet.... Got it?"
But I'd covered nose and mouth in panic. She thrashed, suffocating.
Sorry, I released. She gasped, "Haaah-." The ditch water nymph.
"...Hassan, wh-why my body...?"
How to explain? Thought it was Luna's leg, but it was yours. Would that fly? Even I knew it sounded lame.
Touching pure Luna's leg was weird too. Best excuse?
Pondering, trembling Paranoya spoke first.
"I knew you looked at me lewdly before...."
"No, when did I ever leer?"
Unfair. Paranoya's petite build wasn't my type.
Her youthful face triggered my morals' brakes too.
"We little nymphs can sense it.... Your gaze on me wasn't innocent...."
Paranoya had her own delusional world.
Naming my moves like finishers, freaking over "shadow hands."
Her paranoia was in full swing.
Anyway, clear the misunderstanding. Noisy here risks waking Luna. I grabbed Paranoya, took her downstairs.
"H-Huhh...."
The ditch water nymph shivered like it'd seen disaster.
"Wh-where are you taking me...?"
"Sit here."
I sat her on a first-floor chair, calmly explained.
"First, listen. It's a misunderstanding. I was massaging you."
"...Massage?"
"Yeah."
"Why massage me while sleeping...?"
Good point. Why massage sleeping Paranoya? Brainstorming,
"You've been working hard lately. It was a reward."
"Working...? Reward...?"
Paranoya's a bit naive. Easy to fool with smooth talk?
"Yeah, reward. You've been active. Underground, big help against those undead things. And after that...."
Racking brain for her feats. Drunk and flustered—only drawing the magic circle downstairs came up.
She barely did shit?
As I struggled, Paranoya added,
"R-right? Without me, you'd all be dead to those mechanical birds...!"
Mechanical birds? Then I recalled the ruthless murder drones from Venus Temple quest. She'd caused disarray, helped.
"Yeah, Paranoya. Couldn't without you. So reward for your efforts."
Shit, spewing bullshit. Felt like my own worst enemy. I'm a dog. Even Paranoya wouldn't buy this.
"Why is... you touching me... a reward...?"
Nope, not fooled. Smarter than thought. Upgraded her in my mind half a star.
Then she added,
"Hassan, you're really that amazing...? Blessing me by touch...?"
Not as dumb as I thought.
Like a gap in enemy defense. Time for the penetrating shot.
"Uh, well, yeah. I'm kinda amazing, but not really."
"R-really a god's son...? I vaguely thought you descended for fun...."
"God's son?"
"Black hair, huge build, Tartarus-black eyes. Pluto's son...?"
Me, Pluto's kid? Never saw that coming.
Better than her tattling to Luna: "He groped my thigh while I slept."
But Pluto of all gods? I hate that prick.
"Well, uh...."
"At the brazier fortune, you extinguished it.... Pure hell and death magic.... No Pluto devotee I've seen is that favored...!"
Brazier? Recalled: night before headless Minotaur, superstitious sand-on-fire ritual.
Too much sand snuffed it.
Paranoya misinterpreted. Yeah, her attitude shifted after.
"Hassan, are you... the archduke of hell descending to bring hell here...? Am I right...? Right...?"
From panicked to interrogator.
Couldn't follow her ramble.
Paranoya's an idiot. No choice—lean into it.
"Yeah, uh. Pluto's son. Here to bring hell to this land."