There’s nothing as sweet and honey-like as a nap on a day off.
Of course, due to the nature of self-employment, even on a day off, there was a mountain of work piling up.
Such leisure is rare, so I indulged in sweet dreams for a while.
It seems that the visual stimuli were too strong.
In my dreams, Lumi appeared and kept saying, “Chuin, let’s do that,” with a joyous tone.
Hehe. It’s a dream after all.
I got to touch her tail openly and bury my face in her chest, having a very happy time.
But somehow, I felt a suffocating sensation.
No, not in the dream, but in reality, I just couldn’t breathe…!
“Umm…?”
“Chuin, are you awake?”
Before I knew it, Lumi’s face had snuggled into my blanket.
“Eek.”
The destructive power hidden in her innocent smile momentarily took my breath away.
And then, an overwhelming wave of guilt rushed in.
However, my friend, who couldn’t be deterred by guilt, said.
“Lumi? Could you back off a bit…?”
“Uh-huh, Chuin. Today, it’s Lumi’s turn! Let’s stay like this a bit longer!”
As she said that, Lumi’s face moved a little closer, and as I closed my eyes from dizziness,
Lick.
She licked my cheek with her tongue.
“I’ve been curious about this for a while, why do you specifically lick my cheek, Lumi?”
I asked, with a sense of relaxation and a slight hint of disappointment in my heart.
Lumi sniffed the air and then didn’t answer my question, sporting a refreshing smile on her lips.
“From today, it’s three times a day!”
Leaving behind words I couldn’t comprehend, whether by mistake or intentionally, she rubbed her thigh against my lower body and then got up.
“Elise is looking for you?”
Then she exited, shaking her tail and leaving my cheeks flushed.
While my thoroughly angry friend got a moment to calm down,
“Tynia? Come out?”
“Eek.”
I called upon the benefactor, or rather the culprit, who was able to maintain my sanity even in such a captivating situation.
Only then did Tynia slide out from the creaky wardrobe.
“…Why were you hiding there?”
“Well, I was hiding to surprise you when you woke up…”
Where do you see a 100-year-old?
You’re just a 10-year-old kid.
Sighing deeply, I patted Tynia’s head and looked out the dimming window.
It seemed napping longer was a bad idea.
“Master? Have you come to see your humble servant?”
Elise, who was stirring a pot in the alchemy workshop today as well, greeted me with a warm smile that made my heart flutter unnecessarily.
Normally, I would have been distracted by that sway, thinking, oh my, oh my, but today, I was already at my capacity for staring.
Having seen it enough in reality and in dreams, my heart was as still as a mirror.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Elise’s chest, which shaped itself into soft curves like finely crafted pottery, and I compared it, artistically, to Lumi’s curves that could be unlocked with a single button.
“I have both good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?”
Get a grip.
I came here to talk about work…!
“Let’s go with the good news?”
“Surprisingly, the talisman really does have skin beautifying effects!”
“Oh…!”
This was a pleasantly surprising piece of information I heard.
It was about time there were limits to earning profits just from the experience point cocktails.
If I could develop new products, my wallet would also have some breathing room.
Then I wouldn’t have to worry about the wallet losing money just because I took a day off like today, and Ari wouldn’t be borrowing my soft punch-revolver claiming it was a massager.
“Well, what’s the bad news?”
“The ingredients are special, and since I’m still inexperienced in alchemy, it might be a little difficult to replicate it exactly.”
“What are the ingredients?”
“Hmm.”
Elise’s eyes narrowed.
“Are you really that curious?”
What kind of reaction is that?
But the d*e was cast, so I nodded.
“If it’s such dense magical power even among the demon race, it must definitely be the saliva of the demon of sloth, Neb.”
“……?”
“It’s saliva. Spit, boooyah──”
As I made a foolish expression, Elise immediately stuck her tongue out.
“Wh-why would something like that go into alchemy…?”
Common sense was crumbling!
“So to create that product, we’d have to make her, just like me, your captive? Hoohoo.”
“…I see.”
Since I’ve already gathered three, I might as well gather them all and just have a demon party.
Because in the upper floors, there were regions where multiple parties had to operate simultaneously.
“Then what about that hypnosis? What about the cat lovers pouring in?”
“Hmm, that’s the effect of the demon race’s magical power. In Celestia, it has no actual effect.”
Then, in hushed tones, she revealed to me the secret information that she had already experimented on Ha-Rong.
With a light slap on the head, she made her allies pay the price for being used as lab rats.
“There must be a huge totem somewhere in the dense forest releasing magic. Destroying that will restore the spirits of the beastmen.”
Turning my gaze away from Elise, who looked like she enjoyed getting patted, I decided to conduct a surprise inspection after a while.
I touched each potion bottle, which had multiplied tremendously, to check the tooltips myself.
A drop that turns one into a beast.
A sleeping potion that even if you get drained of energy when you fall asleep, you won’t notice…?
“…You’re still making things like this?”
“It’s my hobby.”
“Seized.”
I confiscated a variety of illicit substances that seemed usable for all kinds of nefarious purposes.
Having already reached level 3 in alchemy, she was still making things like this, so her level wasn’t increasing quickly…
The next day.
“So this is what three times a day means…?”
“Woof!”
As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw Lumi flapping her tail by my side, and behind her, the day’s turn, Yo-hena, was blushing and covering her cheeks.
“Th-there’s really something strange about this.”
“Woof!”
“Yeah…”
I felt like if I told her to stop, she might feel hurt and sulk, so I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
With my cheeks damp, I refreshingly completed the morning routine.
And for lunch.
It was time to return to the main job, climbing the tower.
“Tynia! I really want to try!”
“Hehe, it’s nice to remain in the alchemy workshop too, you know? There’s still a lot to research.”
I didn’t know how it would go, but to include the story character Renatel in the deck, I had to free up a spot in the party.
It was a bit of a shame to lose Tynia, who was responsible for area control, but since she was a reserve member, I could swap cards as needed.
Lumi, Renatel, Saha, Yo-hena, Ari.
3 damage dealers, 1 healer.
No magical dealer.
Tynia as a backup member.
I threw myself towards the entrance leading to the 17th floor.
In the murky memories, I recalled the storyline of the 17th floor.
To summarize, it was about Renatel’s struggle for the unification of the Ranging tribe!
Of course, history had changed.
“Ugh, cowardly bastards…!”
The Ranging friends I faced dropped their weapons with a clatter, giving up their hostility.
The reason?
It was because of the presence of the prospective hero, Enya, walking alongside Lumi with an utterly pale face.
“Release the queen!”
“……”
The Ranging tribe members, who still held their loyalty, murmured, while Enya, completely subdued both physically and mentally, only hung her head.
When did she become so docile?
Did she get trained separately?
There shouldn’t have been time for that.
Questions erupted in my mind like fireworks, but.
It wasn’t easy to ask Lumi about it.
I couldn’t just go, “Lumi, did you beat Enya in the back?”
Sometimes it was wise to let things slide and move on.
Swoosh.
“Ugh.”
Now, a blindfold had been placed over my eyes so naturally.
“Gyaah!”
“Let go, let go! You cruel girls!”
“You even took off my panties… sniff, I’m ruined!”
My absurdly loyal friends all had talismans stuck somewhere on their bodies.
They couldn’t just leave the talismans alone.
“Gyaahah, this is fun!”
Ari, who swapped places with Tynia, was flying around, fully enjoying the fairy’s perspective.
Humans and beastmen had almost no resistance to the hypnotic effect of the talismans, so Tynia, as the only demon agent, was busy working hard!
Zzap!
“Gyaah!”
Schiick!
“Ugh…!”
“It’s done!”
When Tynia’s lively meow resonated, that was also the moment my vision returned.
I squinted at the sudden bright light, trying to peep around as much as I could, but.
The evidence of the forced undressing was completely annihilated.
Those thoroughly meticulous thief heroes.
Since we had become villains anyway, while hard at work in the hostage situation, we reached Region 8 before we knew it.
Close by was the stronghold city of the Ranging tribe, which in modern terms could be called the capital, “Red Hood.”
According to Renatel, it was named to honor the ancestors of the Ranging tribe.
And what blocked our way as we marched towards Red Hood was.
“Stop!”
A horde of Ranging soldiers surged forth.
Sending a glance to Lumi, she immediately pushed Enya’s body forward!
“Woof!”
“Hah.”
Then in a single short sentence, she condensed the meaning of “Surrender, or I’ll bite your queen’s throat!”
In reality, Lumi’s face was close to Enya’s neck, and usually, this would make everybody surrender…
“Hmph! The prophecy has already been given. That girl is no queen at all, do as you wish! Eat her or cut her tail!”
But they didn’t back down.
“Wha-what…!”
Enya’s pupils shook.
“While I’m alive with my eyes wide open, who dares!”
Forgetting her identity as a hostage, she boldly shouted after pushing Lumi away.
At this point, it was believable to say she had Stockholm syndrome.
Caught in this unexpected revolutionary situation, I just watched cautiously.
The representative of the Ranging combat force moved forward a step.
“……d*mn kitty…!”
A strange-looking beastman I had never seen before, and
Another Ranging tribe member I also had never seen before.
“Meow, you’re the betrayer who has forsaken Lord Neb’s blessing.”
“God Meow said so! How dare one with no qualifications claim to be our queen and trample upon the holy land of the Ranging tribe!”
“Uwoooh!”
“Uwoooh!”
Watching them rally with great enthusiasm,
“I guess it looks like we’ll have to fight. Let’s get ready for battle.”
I whispered to the heroes.
Then I gently pulled the mentally shattered Enya over.
Although she hadn’t been officially registered as a hero yet,
I had seen how badly Renatel had been beaten last time.
“Here, drink.”
“…What is this?”
What else could it be, but an experience point potion?
It was a bit lacking to hit level 50, but.
