Midnight Disturbance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The antique shop owner was a bald Black man with a thick beard braided into eight long dreadlocks. The combination of a shaved head and those lengthy dreadlocks somehow gave him an oddly cephalopod-like vibe despite being human.
“Oh, hohoho! Welcome!”
The owner rose from behind the counter, greeted us with that strange laugh, then sat back down.
“Ryuta, want to make a bet? We each pick one item here, and whoever chooses the more valuable one wins.”
Aris, who had been standing beside me at the entrance watching the owner, turned around and asked with a playful glint in her eye. Hmm. She must have some ability to appraise the true value of objects. That would be incredibly useful for a thief. I wasn’t a detective or anything, but knowing she was part of Phantom Thief Francois naturally led my thoughts in that direction.
“Sure, why not? What are we betting?”
“Hmm… If I win, I get something naughty from you, Ryuta. If you win, I’ll do something naughty for you. Hehet.”
What the hell? No matter who wins, it ends in sex. Not a bad bet at all. Still, winning is always better, so if I picked the item I already had in mind, I should be able to take the victory.
While Aris continued scanning the shop, I focused and examined the items around us.
There are quite a few items here, huh?
As I concentrated, translucent windows began popping up all over. Hmm… Even though so many windows appeared, there weren’t many that were actually useful. For example, that bracelet over there…
Lohalante's Bracelet [Unique Accessory - Cursed]
The ring once worn by Lohalante. Because it was far too large to be considered a ring, humans mistook it for a bracelet. It increases Knowledge by 10 and allows the wearer to learn Lohalante's secret incantations.
However, every time the wearer uses the related knowledge or spells, one finger disappears. Once all fingers are gone, the wearer is devoured and taken to the dimension where Lohalante resides.
Items like this granted incredible power but came with equally terrifying costs. No matter how good the effect, the side effects made them unusable.
Still, the necklace I was planning to buy—thanks to the game knowledge I’d gained—had no side effects and was actually quite decent. It was a one-time use item, but still useful. Especially for Aris.
Rarity: Rare Consumable
Effect: The necklace’s gray pearl is formed from condensed smoke. When thrown, the pearl shatters and fills the area with thick smoke, allowing the user to easily escape.
The necklace itself had a plain, understated look. A thin gold chain with a glossy silver-gray pearl hanging from it. Just as the description said, it was an escape tool. If Aris ever got into trouble during her phantom thief activities, this would give her at least one chance to slip away.
“I’ve picked mine.”
I held out the Necklace of Smoke to Aris. She was still carefully examining the store’s inventory. The fact that she avoided all the high-grade but extremely dangerous items suggested her appraisal ability took side effects and risks into account as well. I’d have to check it later with the relic glasses. I was incredibly curious what kind of trait it was.
“Hmm… I’ll go with this one.”
Aris held out what looked like a brooch with a slightly hesitant expression. It was a bronze brooch shaped like octopus tentacles curled together. Depending on the viewer, it could come across as slightly grotesque.
Rarity: Unique Accessory
Effect: A brooch containing the power of the deep sea. Increases the Abyss stat by 1 and boosts luck while in the ocean.
Oh. It raises a stat and even increases luck under certain conditions. A brooch like this is pretty rare. Looks like Aris won this bet. The Abyss stat increase would bring my stats to Abyss 16, Resistance 16, and Will 17, which was right around the threshold where Abyss side effects usually began. It felt a little uncomfortable, but since my Abyss level wasn’t any higher yet, I probably didn’t need to worry about the side effects for now.
“Aris wins. This one looks way better.”
“How can you even tell, Ryuta? The one you picked looks pretty good too.”
Chatting about the items we’d chosen, Aris and I walked over to the counter. We placed our respective antiques on the counter first. The shop owner looked at them with a slightly surprised expression. His eyes seemed to say, “You actually managed to pick items without side effects?” It felt a little suspicious…?
“How much for the necklace and the brooch?”
“Ohhohot! The necklace is $550, and the brooch… let’s say $800.”
It was more expensive than it looked, but considering their abilities, both were incredibly cheap. I nodded and glanced at Aris.
“Aris won, huh?”
“Yep♥ You’re definitely going to pay up on the bet, right?”
Either way it was going to end in sex. I guess vigorously shaking my hips would count as paying the price for losing. Since I’d already lost the bet, I paid for both items with my card.
“Ohhohot! Use them well!”
Leaving behind the owner’s strangely unsettling laughter, we left the antique shop. Right outside the entrance, I fastened the necklace I’d bought around Aris’s neck.
“If you’re ever in danger, throw the pearl on this necklace. It’ll burst into thick smoke and help you escape.”
“You picked it for me?”
Aris’s large green eyes grew misty with emotion as she accepted the necklace. I’d expected her to ask how I knew about its ability, but instead she simply accepted it with pure, heartfelt gratitude.
After fiddling with the necklace for a while, Aris held out the Deep Sea's Grace brooch. I’d been planning to take it even if I had to force her, since wearing it would give her the Abyss stat and I didn’t know what side effects it might cause. But it seemed she was a little hesitant to give it to me.
“It looks a bit weird, but I’ll give it to you. I think you’ll need it, Ryuta.”
“Thanks. I like it.”
She must have hesitated because of how strange it looked. I smiled and accepted the brooch. Since I didn’t have anywhere to pin it right now, I simply stuck it into the waistband of my jeans. Then I asked Aris about our next destination.
“So where are we going next?”
“The hotel♥ Since I won the bet, I need to collect my prize.”
Huh? Weren’t you supposed to show me around New York? Was the New York tour actually just a hotel tour…? Aris headed straight for the nearest hotel. Giving her that necklace felt like I’d flipped some kind of switch…
Once we arrived at the hotel, Aris picked up the key to the room she’d already reserved and silently pulled me by the hand into the elevator. Wait, when did she make the reservation? She probably booked it yesterday or earlier today because she felt awkward about doing it at home with me around.
So you never planned to show me around New York in the first place? I shot her a slightly suspicious look, but since I’d lost the bet… the loser doesn’t get to complain.
Since we were already at the hotel, I wanted to add a bit of passionate flair. Like in the movies, I started kissing her inside the elevator and kept it going all the way to the room. Aris didn’t seem to mind my passionate kisses at all. In fact, she returned them just as eagerly.
Our kiss was more fervent than sticky. Even after entering the room, we kept our lips locked as we began stripping each other’s clothes. Once Aris was down to just her underwear, I paused the kiss and gently pushed her onto the bed.
Aris sat on the bed and looked up at me with slightly dazed eyes. The way she looked in her elegant white lingerie truly made her seem like a professional model.
Maybe because it had been a while since our last proper date, she seemed to have put a lot of effort into her appearance. I took my time admiring Aris as I removed her remaining panties. Then I climbed onto the bed where she was sitting.
Because I approached her already fully erect, a long, thick shadow from my cock fell across Aris’s pale face. She looked up at my shaft as if in a trance. Being a model, her legs were so long that even sitting down she had to tilt her head almost all the way back to look at it. For some reason, that sight was incredibly arousing.
When my cock passed over her nose, Aris stuck out her tongue and licked the underside of my erection. The combination of my hip movements and her tongue felt incredibly good.
“You like my cock?”
“Mmm, I love it♥”
Aris, who had been talking to me just moments ago, suddenly grabbed my cock as if she couldn’t hold back any longer and began sucking it greedily. In this position, I couldn’t really do much to pleasure her, so I simply enjoyed the blowjob she was giving me.
She must have been practicing with bananas or eggplants, because Aris’s fellatio skills had improved dramatically. After sucking for a while, she pulled my cock out of her mouth, spread her legs while still sitting on the bed. Her white panties were so soaked with love juices that her pussy was clearly visible through the fabric. She got this wet just from sucking me? I could barely hold myself back. I almost wanted to make her wait even longer by going jogging first.
“Ryuta, make me feel good too♥”
“Want to do it together?”
“Yes♥”
We moved into a sixty-nine position, licking each other’s genitals. Aris was on the bottom, me on top. It had been a while since I’d seen Aris’s pussy up close. Though come to think of it, I had encountered half of Aris’s pussy last night.
Thinking about Nae Fitzgerald made me want to thrust straight into Aris’s pussy right away… but I was curious about the difference between mother and daughter, so I held back the urge. There was no need to rush.
It was more important to slowly build up each other’s pleasure. I pulled her panties aside and slowly licked Aris’s pale pink pussy, which had a lighter pigment than most. I moved my tongue like a snail gliding across her folds.
“Haaah! Hngh! It’s been so long, Ryuta’s tongue…! It feels so good♥”
She must have already been in heat, because Aris was reacting intensely. I diligently continued licking her pussy. Or rather, “rubbing her with my tongue” might be a more accurate description.
“Mmmh…! If you keep doing that… hngh! I’m… I’m gonna cum!!”
She came after just a few minutes, squirting with a wet splatter. Why has your pussy gotten so sensitive, Aris? My cock, which had been in her mouth earlier, was now left hanging as she kept moaning without sucking. It was starting to lose a bit of steam. Well, her moans were so erotic that it wasn’t going completely soft.
I pulled my cock away from Aris’s mouth and laid it heavily on top of her pussy. She was still extremely sensitive; even just resting my cock on her made her body twitch. She still had her panties on, so there was a thin layer of fabric between us, but she was producing so much love juice that I could barely feel the cloth at all.
Using her abundant nectar as lubricant, I rubbed my cock against her pussy over her panties. Hmm, this felt pretty good too. Aris must have liked it as well, because she kept begging for more.
“Mmmh♥ Put it in…! Hurry… hngh!”
As expected, stimulating her pussy got an immediate reaction. Smiling at Aris’s continued pleas, I finally pulled her panties down. It was time to compare mother and daughter.