The Cross of Memories #1
The Cross of Memories #1
Rebecca woke at dawn the next day, but she didn't return to her own room until the sun was riding high.
Because she had been spending the time idly chatting with me.
Before she finally headed back, she glanced at me with a faintly apologetic look.
"I didn't steal too much of your time, did I, Luke?"
"What time?"
"Your magic training time! Your Silver Tier promotion match is coming up soon. And last night, things took a weird turn because of that erotic book."
At her words, I remembered the promotion match I had completely forgotten about throughout the night. I needed to hone my skills for the Silver Tier promotion match. I had to execute the great escape from the Bronze Abyss—a place that might as well be a Dragon Palace.
"You don't have to worry. I just need to start training hard from today."
"That's a relief. I'll be off, then!"
Rebecca waved and left my room. The inn room fell silent the instant she disappeared. Maybe it was because the room was bigger than before? The lonely atmosphere felt a little more pronounced.
"Ahem."
I deliberately cleared my throat and began my magic training. I brought over a basin and practiced my water magic, then read the Mage Hand spellbook in my spare moments. But even while repeating hand seals, I often found myself spacing out.
Because I couldn't get the rear view of Rebecca I had been groping and pounding last night out of my head.
"Begone, worldly desires!"
I slammed my forehead audibly against the floor. I began an act of penance to banish my troubling thoughts. But no matter how many times I knocked my head, the intrusive thoughts wouldn't go away.
If I were a martial artist from a wuxia novel, I would have undoubtedly succumbed to qi deviation.
"To think my girlfriend is a walking mirage of inner demons."
The lingering scent of Rebecca in the room tormented me. The day we finished our first experience, I had been able to get past it cleanly, but maybe the experience of pounding her from behind had been too intense. I just couldn't focus on my magic training at all.
Splash—!
The water in the basin, which I had unintentionally manipulated too strongly, splashed all over the floor.
I sighed as I fetched a rag and wiped up the water.
Should I just jerk off and relieve the pressure? Or should I go pounce on Rebecca right now?
But it didn't seem like either of those would actually quell my libido. Not as long as Rebecca's scent, that distinctive fruity fragrance, lingered in the room.
'I need to air this place out.'
I opened the window of the inn room.
Since things had come to this, a walk seemed like the best idea.
Of course, I wasn't just going for a walk; I planned to visit the Adventurer's Guild. There was something I wanted to ask Wendy about the Silver Tier promotion match. Knowing how promotion matches were conducted seemed like it would be a big help.
The moment I changed into my outdoor clothes and stepped into the hallway, the door across from mine opened and Rebecca walked out. The timing was absurdly perfect. Had I telepathically signaled her from inside the room?
Wearing a loose t-shirt, Rebecca tilted her head at me.
"Where are you going?"
"The Adventurer's Guild. I have something I want to ask Wendy about the promotion match."
Rebecca's hair was all tousled, likely from having slept in. After yawning for a moment, she staggered over, closed her eyes sleepily, and hugged me.
"What are you doing?"
"Hugging you. Hehe."
A surprise tight hug!
But I didn't feel any particular aversion to it. Rebecca and I had fallen asleep embracing each other for quite a long time last night. It seemed she was quite fond of hugging.
However, I couldn't help but be flustered as I looked down at Rebecca, her head buried against me. Because Rebecca's soft, squishy tits were pressing into my body. It would be one thing if she were just pressing against me, but her nipples, clearly protruding through the thin white t-shirt, were poking into me.
"R-Rebecca?"
"Mm?"
"Are you, by any chance, not wearing anything underneath?"
Rebecca opened her eyes with a dazed look for a moment.
"Eep."
Startled, she jumped back and pulled away from me. Then she stepped back, covering her breasts, faintly visible through the t-shirt, with her hands.
I realized in that moment that Rebecca was completely braless.
'Being braless in a thin white t-shirt is a crime, girlfriend!'
I sighed and spoke to Rebecca.
"...Do you normally go around the house without one on?"
"I-I wear one properly when I go outside! I just forgot and walked out because I saw you, that's all."
"Well, that's a relief."
"Ugh."
Bang! Rebecca went back into her room and slammed the door shut. Then, she said in a small voice from behind the door, "Have a safe trip." But even after hearing her parting words, I couldn't leave the inn.
Because my pants were now tented by an erection that had energetically sprung up.
I had to stay still until it subsided.
"Namu Amida Butsu, Gwanseum Bosal."
After suppressing my erection by borrowing the power of Buddhist chants, I departed for the Adventurer's Guild.
*
"You'd like me to tell you about the Silver Tier promotion match?"
"That's right, Wendy."
"What are you curious about?"
"I want to know what kind of quest takes place in the promotion match."
Once I arrived at the Adventurer's Guild, I immediately went to find Wendy, who was sitting at the reception desk. Wendy was buried under a mountain of paperwork, her pen flying furiously. But the moment I asked my question, she stopped writing and her eyes went wide.
Wendy stared at me wordlessly for a while.
Had I asked something strange?
"Luke."
"Yes."
"You mustn't ask about the promotion match quest. That matter is treated as confidential by the Adventurer's Guild. If I told you what the quest is, I'd be disciplined."
"D-Disciplined, you say?"
"It means a magic trick that makes one-third of my salary disappear! The promotion match quest cannot be revealed until the very day the match begins. That's a guild rule. There are quite a few cases of corruption surrounding the quest."
So I wasn't allowed to ask about the quest?
At Wendy's words, I made a sheepish expression. I hadn't known there were such strict rules. I didn't really know much about promotion matches at all.
"Then how about something other than the quest? Could you give me some helpful advice?"
But I couldn't just let this trip be a wasted effort.
When I asked for advice, Wendy thought for a moment before speaking.
"Advice... I don't think any advice I can give would hold much meaning for you, Luke."
"Meaningless?"
"You already have more than enough skill to be promoted to Silver. Haven't you seen other Bronze mages? There's no reason for you to be treated like them."
"I know that."
"What I mean is, your skill is such that you can clear any promotion quest without issue. You could probably handle a troll or two all by yourself."
"Aren't you overestimating me?"
"I'm speaking based on your abilities as recorded in the reports. You can cast offensive magic almost instantly. That alone is qualification enough to challenge the Silver Tier promotion match. You'd have no problem challenging it right this moment."
Wendy didn't seem like she was trying to flatter me.
I couldn't help but feel trust in her calm, matter-of-fact voice.
After all, Wendy had a full ten years of experience working as a receptionist.
Her ability to analyze an adventurer's level was far superior to my own.
"And it might actually be better to challenge the promotion match right away."
"Do you mean I should just go for it?"
"No, that's not what I... Let's end this talk here, Luke!"
Wendy looked at me and gave a bright smile.
But for some reason, at that very moment, her hand began moving busily over a blank piece of paper.
She stealthily slid the paper toward me, a simple sentence written on it.
"......?"
- There is a healer on the roster for the next promotion match.
A written note!
What Wendy had just done was resort to a written note. She was secretly writing down information that couldn't be spoken aloud, just to show me.
I realized in a flash what she was trying to say.
'So I must not miss the next promotion match... because there's a healer on the roster?'
This was incredibly important information.
After all, adventurers of the clergy class were exceedingly rare. Clerics, who could use healing spells and various blessings, could single-handedly lower the difficulty of a quest. Simply having heals available could dramatically raise an adventurer party's survival rate.
"Ohh."
"The weather is so nice today, Luke!"
While making casual conversation, Wendy quickly moved her pen.
Soon, more sentences were added to the blank paper.
- The promotion match starts in 2 weeks.
- Complete quests and fill your achievement points before then.
The moment she finished writing the sentences.
With a deft hand motion, Wendy crumpled the paper into a ball. Then she silently slipped it into her pocket. The paper had vanished from sight, but the secret message Wendy had shown me was now fully contained in my head.
'A promotion match with a healer starts in two weeks? Isn't this all confidential too? If she gets caught, she could get fucked. Not me, but Wendy.'
If the quest contents were confidential, there was ample chance that the roster of adventurers taking the promotion match was confidential as well. Wendy had risked disciplinary action to hand me this sweet piece of information. I couldn't help but be moved.
'Even for my designated receptionist, to look after me to this extent...'
Wendy had always been like this, ever since two years ago.
She was the person who had looked after me like family when I arrived at the Adventurer's Guild completely alone. She introduced me to quests that even an incubus could do, and taught me how to make money by hunting monsters.
She'd pack simple snacks for me when I was going hungry.
Even the crossbow I used before I learned magic was a gift from her.
On the day she gave me that crossbow, I once asked her point-blank.
What was the reason she looked after me so specially?
To that question, I think Wendy answered like this.
- When I see you, Luke, for some reason I just want to take care of you. I feel like if I don't do something, you'll starve to death on the streets. It's pitiful, isn't it?
As expected of a woman with huge boobs, her maternal love seemed to overflow as well.
That was the only reason, and yet, thinking back to the way she'd relentlessly newbie-bashed me for two years—
My poor ass, back when I was a newbie, still tingled at the memory.
"Thank you, Wendy."
"You're welcome. Hurry up and make it big, and pay me back."
Wendy looked at me and gave a bright smile.
Seeing that smile, I found the confidence to challenge the promotion match. It wasn't as if the promotion match ended after one attempt anyway. If I failed, couldn't I just challenge it again?
I had already perfectly filled the achievement points required to challenge the match.
It would all be over once I asked Michelle to submit the report about catching the stalker. I could probably visit her at the theater tomorrow and ask.
The Silver Tier promotion match starting in two weeks.
I resolved to challenge that promotion match.
I had just steeled my resolve and was about to head back to the inn.
Suddenly, Wendy called out to me as I was about to leave the building.
"It's not time for you to leave just yet. There's something more I need to inform you about, Luke."
"Is it related to the promotion match?"
"No. Recently, there was a client looking for you. A client who specifically named you and wants to entrust you with a quest."
A client who named me specifically?
I couldn't help but make a puzzled expression at Wendy's words.
"By name?"
I was a bit surprised, since this was the first time I'd been personally named by a client. Was I finally, slowly, building up a reputation as an adventurer? I had thought being named was something that only happened to Silver Tiered adventurers.
"Who is it? What kind of client?"
My curiosity was piqued, so I wanted to hear about it. Even though it was time to prepare for the promotion match, there was no rule against doing quests. Especially if it was a miscellaneous quest that could be cleared quickly.
But instead of explaining, Wendy pointed behind me.
As if telling me to see for myself.
"She's right over there. The person who named you, Luke."
The client was inside the Adventurer's Guild?
I turned my head with a puzzled look.
I spotted the client who had named me near the guild building's entrance, where Wendy was pointing. Even though the entrance was far away, I found her instantly.
Because the client was also staring intently at me at that very moment.
"Mongma-nim—!!"