Chapter 299: Quest Preparation
Chapter 299: Quest Preparation
“What are you so scared of? It’s dead, so don’t worry! This is why newbies are such a pain…”
As I cautiously approached the ogre’s corpse, Alicia must have thought I was frightened, because she slapped me on the back and spoke cheerfully.
“I’m not scared.”
“Yeah, yeah. You little punk. Got some pride, do you?”
Alicia wrapped an arm around my head, pulling me into a headlock, and ruffled my hair messily with her other hand.
What’s with her all of a sudden?
I mean, she’s always been like this, but I don’t think she was acting this way during yesterday’s battle.
Ah, right. Because of what happened yesterday.
Is this her way of trying to comfort me?
Alicia, Alicia. I think I finally understand why a woman with your looks and skills has never had a boyfriend.
“Hey. Are you really scared? Why’d you get so quiet all of a sudden?”
It seemed she really was worried. Seeing me quiet, Alicia’s voice held a hint of concern.
“No. It’s just… Stay strong, Alicia.”
“What? What’s that supposed to mean all of a sudden?”
“Someday, you’ll find someone who’s right for you.”
“You little shit, I’ve had enough of you! Where the hell did that come from?!”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
I just shook my head, slipped out of her headlock, and walked toward the ogre’s corpse.
“Hey, you bastard! Where are you running off to!”
Hmph. I can hear the voice of a loser who’s never had a boyfriend.
Alicia chased after me relentlessly, demanding to know what bullshit I was spouting, but I just gave her a pitying look and thoroughly avoided answering.
Miriel was already retrieving the magic stone from the ogre’s corpse.
With a body this large, retrieving the magic stone was pretty heavy labor.
It wasn’t even like the magic stone itself got that much bigger.
To think you have to dig a magic stone smaller than a fist out of a body that size.
Diana had told me that from the 4th floor onward, the magic stones from monsters turn black and shrink in size.
As the color changes, the purity of the mana they contain increases, so even though they get smaller, their total mana content is higher.
The magic stones from 3rd-floor monsters were already the size of two fists; if they just kept getting bigger with the amount of mana they held, the magic stone from something like an ogre might be over a meter in diameter.
It was a good thing for adventurers.
Come to think of it, do these women know skills like Butchering?
The Adventurer job was something you got just by registering at the Guild, but I’d never heard anything about the Guild teaching adventurer skills.
I’d also never seen anyone else use Analyze, another adventurer skill I’d learned.
Even Diana couldn’t see someone’s exact level, so I was probably the only person in this world who’d learned Analyze.
In that case, wasn’t it possible that no one else had learned the other adventurer skill, Butchering, either?
I’ll have to ask Diana about it later.
But regardless of my concerns, Miriel expertly carved her way toward the magic stone’s location with her sword.
It surely wasn’t her first or second time hunting an ogre; she would know where the magic stone was.
And then, finally, the ogre’s body began to vanish in an instant, as if it were decaying.
Alright, what happened?
I turned my eyes to where the ogre’s lower body had been.
Lying there was a massive, dark-red pillar.
“Aaaaaargh! My eyes!”
The women of Arachne must have gotten used to me reacting like this whenever I saw a monster’s penis, because they didn’t even glance my way and started talking amongst themselves.
I feel so lonely. I miss my girls.
“…It’s big.”
“It really is. I don’t think something like that would fit inside me.”
“Indeed. Same here.”
What are these women talking about?! Of course it won’t fit! Were you actually thinking of trying to put that thing in?!
“…This is a problem.”
What is?! What’s the problem?! Is it really a problem that it won’t fit inside you?! That’s normal! Wouldn’t it be a problem if it did fit?!
“Hmm… Ah, right! Guwon!”
Alicia suddenly slapped my shoulder.
“What?!”
“You can put that thing in and carry it around, can’t you?!”
Wh-what is she saying?! Is she crazy?!
Just because I teased her a little earlier, isn’t a joke like that going too far?!
“Why are you making that face? It won’t fit for you either? I heard from Kanna that you can put things into your spatial pouch just by touching them.”
“Huh? Ah, the spatial pouch? Oh, ooh! Is that what you were talking about?!”
“Then what did you think we were talking about?!”
“Huh? Ah, hahaha! Nothing! Nothing at all! Anyway, why? Weren’t you guys going to hold onto the items and then settle up at the end? You have spatial pouches, don’t you?”
“None of the pouches we have are big enough to fit that in. Even with a spatial pouch, you can’t store something that’s too big to fit through the opening.”
I see. So that’s what all that talk about it not fitting inside them was about.
And here I was, terrified that these women not only devoured men but had some weird kinks, too.
“So, can you put it in?”
“…Well, I can, but…”
“But what?”
“I don’t want to touch that thing.”
“What kind of childish crap is that?”
“No, think about it logically. Would you want to touch another woman’s genitals?”
“……”
For some reason, Alicia averted her gaze.
“…You’ve touched one before, haven’t you? That’s it. Since no man would have you, you finally turned your attention to women…” “Th-that’s not it, you bastard!”
“R-right. Of course. I understand.”
“Y-you little shit! I told you it’s not like that!”
“Right. I said I understand.”
“That’s not the face of someone who understands!”
What a noisy lesbian.
I ignored Alicia and walked over to the ogre’s penis.
“Guwon. I’m sorry, but could I ask you to do this?”
Miriel must have overheard my conversation with Alicia, because she looked at me with a serious expression.
“S-sure.”
Ever since last night, I’d found it strangely difficult to deal with Miriel.
She didn’t seem to have noticed yet, but my Saint’s Wave had only barely worked on the ogre. It was a really close call.
If she finds out, I’m definitely getting raped tonight.
Besides, Miriel had said she didn’t need to level up anymore.
In other words, that meant she had reached the level cap.
Level 250. Just how many men did she have to sacrifice to reach that level?
Miriel might just be the scariest one in the Arachne Clan.
Especially since she seemed to have very little interest in the act of sex itself.
“What are you doing?”
“Wait, just a second.”
As I stood motionless in front of the ogre’s penis, Miriel tilted her head.
Damn it. I guess I have no choice but to touch it. I really don’t want to touch this thing.
I thought I’d built up a decent tolerance from touching monster penises until now, but something this big felt different.
“Hah!”
Just then, Alicia grabbed my hand and shoved it right onto the ogre’s penis.
“Aaaaaargh! What are you doing?!”
“Hurry up. How long are you going to drag this out?! Everyone’s waiting for you.”
Damn it. She’s right. She’s right, but it’s still infuriating.
That girl. She was definitely getting revenge for me teasing her earlier.
But arguing any further would only prolong the time I had to touch the ogre’s penis.
With no other choice, I quickly stored the ogre penis in my inventory.
“Ugh. I feel so… tainted.”
“Making such a fuss over touching it for a second.”
“Damn it! If it’s come to this! I’ll purify myself with breasts!”
I reached for Alicia’s chest.
It was hard. Of course it was. She was wearing armor.
“What are you doing? Pfft. What’s this? You talk big, but did you miss the one who took your virginity? Want me to take off my armor and let you touch them for a bit?”
Damn it. Right. This is who she is.
I really hate the Arachne Clan. None of these women know the meaning of shame.
“Damn it! It’s not like that! I just wanted to touch some breasts, I didn’t care whose!”
“Oh my, then should I let you touch mine?”
“No. On second thought, I was foolish. To think I would try to touch a lady’s bosom so carelessly. As a gentleman, I could never do such a thing.”
“You don’t have to hold back.”
Besides, with someone else jumping in from the side, I was forced to cool my head immediately.
They were certainly a pair of large, attractive breasts, and since she was in a full-body leotard, they’d feel amazing to touch, but if I touched those, I’d definitely be pounced on.
“That aside, your skill really does work now. How did you manage that in a single day?”
Miriel approached me with an impressed look on her face.
“W-well, I’m an outsider. I’ve got a trick or two that people from this world don’t know. Anyway, now you know that I don’t need to sleep with you, right?”
I put on my best bluff.
“I see. I’ll be counting on you in the future.”
There’s no turning back now.
Starting tonight, I’ll have sex with Silvia all night, every night, and raise my level as much as possible before we reach the Layer Boss.
Come to think of it, none of them have mentioned my appearance at all.
I raised my Charm to 95, so shouldn’t there be some kind of reaction?
I glanced at Silvia, who was standing next to me.
Perhaps because of the commotion I’d just made about breasts, she was looking down at her own chest, looking a little dejected.
No, Silvia.
I only reached for Alicia’s chest to mess with her, not because her breasts are big.
“Silvia.”
“Y-ye-yeees?!”
I cupped Silvia’s face with both hands and bent down to meet her gaze.
I moved in so close that our faces were only about ten centimeters apart and stared intently into her eyes.
As Silvia looked at my face, her pupils trembled violently from side to side.
Hmm. I can’t tell.
She always reacts like this, so I can’t distinguish whether she’s reacting to my more handsome face or if this is just how she is.
I guess I have no choice but to ask her directly.
“Have you noticed anything different about me?”
“D-d-different, you ask?”
“Yeah.”
“W-well, that is…”
Silvia hesitated, looking flustered. I guess she really can’t tell.
Since stats are relative, maybe people with much higher levels than me can’t easily perceive the difference.
“By any chance, have I gotten more handsome?”
“S-Sir Guwon, you’ve always been handsome!”
Or maybe it’s just that in Silvia’s eyes, I always look my best.
I really can’t tell.
In any case, after collecting the rest of the ogre’s items, we returned to our campsite.
Matilda, who hadn’t come to the battle site, was waiting there.
“Where has everyone been… Oh my. Your fa-face is a little…?”
“Huh?! My face is what?!”
As I shoved my face toward her, Matilda blushed and said in a breathy voice.
“I-it’s just, you’ve gotten more handsome…”
Aargh! I got too excited and lit the fuse on the bomb!
I couldn’t help it! As a man, being told you’re handsome always feels good!
“My Saint skills got stronger, so I changed a bit! What, did you fall for me? No way, right? You’re not the kind of easy woman who’d fall for trash like me just because of my looks, right?!”
“O-of course not! What do you take me for!”
Phew. Did I barely get through that?
Yes. Thank goodness. It’s still standing.
“So it wasn’t just my imagination. I thought something seemed different.”
“Oh my, my little cutie. What did you do?”
“Ah, yes. The power of the Saint’s skills is related to one’s appearance.”
It seemed the women of Arachne had noticed after all.
They should have just said something if I looked a little different. I was getting all worked up over nothing.
No, on second thought, maybe this is normal.
I guess I wouldn’t just praise another man’s woman for looking prettier than usual, either. That’s basically hitting on her.
And imagine if she was the woman of someone important. That’s a direct challenge to their authority.
Since they all knew I was Diana’s man, it must have been difficult for them to say anything.
“I did think you looked extra tasty… I mean, cute today.”
…Then again, maybe they just didn’t mention it for no reason at all.
As I thought, everyone in this clan is a pain to deal with.