Chapter 645: Guwon, the Devoted Man
Chapter 645: Guwon, the Devoted Man
“You know how Alicia feels?!”
“What?! Our clan is trying to get their hooks into you?!”
Realizing something was off about what we were saying, Kanna and I spoke again at the same time, blurting out completely contradictory statements.
Only then did we realize there had been some kind of colossal misunderstanding between us.
And at that very moment, Kanna’s face began to turn deathly pale.
I’m so dead.
Her expression—no, her entire body—seemed to be muttering those words. She looked quite pitiful, but I wasn’t in a position to worry about Kanna right now.
“…Hey. Let’s sort this out. I’ll go first. Okay?”
“…S-Sure, whatever.”
Hearing Kanna’s soulless reply, I slowly organized my thoughts.
First, I’d start by explaining how I came to this misunderstanding.
I might seem like a thoughtless idiot who just jokes around all the time, but I’m actually a pretty logical guy.
My conclusion that the Arachne Clan was targeting me was the result of perfectly sound reasoning.
It all started with the quest.
That’s when the Arachne Clan realized that with me around, they could easily obtain any monster’s penis. They began to covet my ability.
Normally, to get a monster’s penis, you have to arouse it one way or another. Right. Just like those female adventurers I saw once, who subdued a monster and then stimulated its genitals.
But the stronger the monster, the less time you have for that sort of thing.
For the Arachne Clan, who stand at the forefront of Dungeon conquest, my ability must have been incredibly appealing.
Still, that part didn’t bother me much.
After that quest, our clans entered a cooperative relationship. If they wanted another penis, they could have just sent me a request.
The problem came after that.
Alicia took these three, the clan’s most promising prospects, and trained them from the upper floors all the way down to this level.
Even if she was officially in charge of training, Alicia was still an executive of the Arachne Clan.
Her real job probably wasn’t babysitting rookie adventurers, but helping established, mid-level adventurers descend to even lower floors.
Alicia once told me herself that she mainly operated on the 5th floor, so this assumption was almost certainly correct.
Most of the other executives focused on exploring the 6th floor. The fact that she alone was active on the 5th floor must have meant something along those lines.
To be honest, that’s another reason why I wasn’t convinced by what Serena said when we met before.
Serena claimed Alicia’s role was to train rookies and that since they had grown enough, Alicia was no longer in charge of their education. But that couldn’t be right.
Considering Alicia’s position and her usual area of activity, she would have intended to train them until they were ready for the 5th floor.
That’s why, even though Serena’s words seemed logical at a glance, I wasn’t convinced.
Of course, Kanna’s reaction at the time was what turned my suspicion into certainty.
In any case, the fact that Alicia was personally training these girls, who were still the greenest of greenhorns, was a testament to how high the Arachne Clan’s expectations were for them.
And Alicia worked them day and night, without a single day off, doing her absolute best to raise them.
But despite all that, they couldn’t surpass our party.
No, forget surpassing us; the best they could do was barely keep up.
Every time Alicia met me, she’d ask how far down we’d gone, which made it obvious she was conscious of our progress.
And yet, this trio couldn’t catch up to us.
What’s more, unlike them, our party wasn’t even grinding the Dungeon that hard. Whenever we came back up, we’d take a full week off to relax and take things at a leisurely pace.
Through this, Alicia—no, the Arachne Clan—realized my true value.
The ability to easily obtain monster penises is just a tiny fraction of what I can do.
The real value of my power lies in my infinite stamina, which allows me to drastically accelerate the growth of my party members.
For the Arachne Clan, whose goal is to conquer the deepest floors, it was an ability they had to get their hands on, no matter what.
Perhaps if someone else had this power, they wouldn’t have resorted to such methods to tie me to their clan.
After all, this is a world where adventurers have a pretty open sex life. They might have just sought my cooperation.
But I don’t have sex with anyone other than my girls.
Of course, Felicia is an exception, but she’s the exception that proves the rule.
Having seen that I wouldn’t fall for temptation when we went on the quest together, the Arachne Clan must have already figured out my disposition. They decided not to just ask for my cooperation, but to pull me into their clan entirely.
Even if the method was seduction.
And the first one to try was Alicia, who was closest to me and had plenty of opportunities to be alone with me.
See? Incredibly logical, isn’t it?
The entire sequence of events and the cause-and-effect relationship all fit together perfectly. It’s so logical you can’t find a single flaw, right?
With my brilliant mind, I figured out the whole scheme and spewed that harsh nonsense to make them stop trying to seduce me.
Though, I admit my choice of words might have been a little more extreme than I intended.
But what was I supposed to do? I never thought you three would try to seduce me, too.
At most, I expected the executives to make a move.
And now you’re telling me that was all a misunderstanding?
“W-Well, since we’ve been found out, I have no choice! Dammit! So you knew all along!”
After hearing my entire explanation, Kanna shot up from her seat, shouting in a strangely excited voice.
She then completely threw off the towel that was barely covering her body, joining Serena and Amy in total nudity. Breathing heavily, she approached me.
“S-Since it’s come to this… you’ll have to keep the promise you made before! Have a 4P with us! And become the Arachne Clan’s breeding stud…!”
“No. A second ago, you said Alicia likes me.”
“W-When did I! When did I say that! When did I say she likes you! I just said you should know Instructor Alicia’s feelings…! Dammit! You bastard! You tricked me!”
No, anyone can see you just exposed yourself.
And if you know you’ve been caught in a lie, cover yourself up instead of letting your chest jiggle like that.
For someone with her personality, she’s surprisingly well-endowed.
Normally, I would have been incredibly flustered, but Kanna’s panic had the opposite effect, allowing me to calmly assess the situation.
The phrase “Alicia’s feelings” was weighing heavily on my mind, but first, I should apologize as I originally intended.
If the Arachne Clan targeting me was just my misunderstanding, then I absolutely couldn’t afford to ruin our relationship with them now.
“Anyway, because of that misunderstanding, I said those awful things to you last time. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I think you, and everyone in your clan, are all beautiful.”
“Well, if you said things you didn’t mean because of a misunderstanding and even apologized, I’m not going to stay angry. I’m not that petty of a woman.”
When I bowed my head and apologized, Kanna replied in an awkward voice.
Her personality is really great at times like these.
“I understand as well. I accept your apology.”
“Mhm… But I don’t feel like accepting the apology just like that. My feelings were quite hurt, you know.”
Serena also readily accepted my apology, but unexpectedly, Amy didn’t let it go so easily.
“Saint. So what you’re saying is, you’d like us not to spread the word about what you said, right?”
Amy came closer to me, a mischievous smile on her face.
No, seriously, put on some clothes.
Besides, a priestess trying to blackmail the Saint?
Maybe I should use my title as the Saint to blackmail her right back.
No, this is a girl who breaks the rule about not letting others see her acts without batting an eye. That wouldn’t work on her.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to go talk to Instructor Alicia right now. Oh, and while you’re at it, please smooth over Kanna’s little slip-up.”
But contrary to my worries, Amy’s request was surprisingly normal.
Even though it was an accident born from a misunderstanding, Alicia’s feelings had been exposed.
So she wanted me to go and have a proper conversation with Alicia.
I could even feel her consideration in the way she didn’t just demand I accept Alicia’s feelings, but simply asked me to talk to her.
She was leaving the decision of whether to accept Alicia’s feelings or not up to me.
When all is said and done, she really is a priestess.
“Amyyyy!”
As a bonus, Kanna rushed over to Amy, and they hugged each other tightly, rubbing their bodies together.
Hey. Two grown women hugging and rubbing against each other naked like that is a big thank you very much!
“Ahem. Is that all?”
“Yes. Anything more would be greedy. And as a priestess, I can’t blackmail the Saint.”
“So you’re firm on that point, huh?”
“What do you mean, ‘that point’? For your information, my faith is…”
“What happened to the priestess’s code of conduct? You once asked me for a 4P…”
“Shh! Shh! It’s a secret from everyone else, okay?”
As I muttered that, Amy put a finger to her lips, pleading with me to keep it a secret.
Huh? Haven’t our positions been completely reversed?
“Hmph. If you want me to keep it a secret…”
“Aah! Saint, you’re so cheap!”
“Well, enough joking around. So, does Alicia really like me?”
Honestly, I wanted to just keep bantering and brush the whole thing aside.
That’s how completely unexpected the news of Alicia liking me was.
My head was starting to hurt.
“Yeah. She’s totally head over heels for you.”
Having been saved from her predicament by Amy, Kanna finally plopped down on the bed with a look of relief, crossing her legs in a relaxed posture.
No, you’re naked, so that pose…! Sigh. Whatever.
“But… why?”
“I’d like to know that myself! Thanks to you, we had to go through hell trying to catch up to you…”
“…Wait a minute. So the reason Alicia was training you was simply to catch up to me? So she could be on the same floor as me and find an excuse to adventure together?”
“How can you be smart enough to figure that out but not notice until now?”
“The fact that we knew you, Guwon, was also part of the reason.”
“…Is that so. I feel kind of bad. No, but still. It’d be weird to notice! There’s no reason for her to like me in the first place!”
“That’s what I’m saying! What’s so great about a guy like this! Sure, his face is pretty handsome, but…”
“Hey. It’s not just my face that’s handsome. My size and technique are top-notch, you know? Once you get a taste, you won’t be able to get away either…”
“Then drop your pants and let us have a taste.”
“Never mind. Pretend I didn’t say that.”
You there. Serena. Amy. Stop letting your eyes sparkle like that.
Honestly, these girls. Just as you’d expect from the Arachne Clan.
“I see. So Alicia… me. That Alicia…”
Somehow, knowing that made me feel like the puzzle pieces were falling into place in a different way.
Come to think of it, she did once say we should party up if we ran into each other in the Dungeon.
Was that just her way of saying she wanted to be with me?
No, this is confusing! The misunderstanding I had also fit so perfectly!
Besides, that girl Alicia is the type to throw a punch when she gets angry!
How was I supposed to notice!
“Hah. Anyway, I get it. So, where is Alicia now?”
“Probably drinking herself stupid at the clan house again? She’s been like that ever since you rejected her after she came onto you naked, right up until we came down to the Dungeon.”
“…I see. Then I’m going. And once again, I’m sorry for what I said.”
“Yeah. You have to talk to our instructor properly. You have to! You must!”
“Alright. I’ll make sure not to cause you any more trouble.”
Having finally apologized and cleared up the misunderstanding, I left the trio’s room.
A conversation with Alicia…
Amy said I should go talk to her now, so it’s probably best to go right away, right?
I told my girls that this might take a while, but it looks like it’s going to take even longer than I thought.
I asked the innkeeper to pass a message to my party for me if they arrived at lunchtime, then used the town’s teleport gate to go up.
My destination was, of course, the Arachne Clan House.