Episode 29
As soon as I closed the door, Isti threw herself into my arms.
“Darling, darling, darling….”
She was being so adorably spoiled, as though she didn’t want to be separated from me.
Since I had spent such a long time at the Eight-Colored Shell Castle, I was reluctant to leave as well.
But I had to go.
“I’ll be back.”
To carry out an emergency mission.
I had no interest in becoming a Hero candidate. My only goal right now was Karen.
“Don’t forget how to summon me with the wind spirit. I’ll go find Dekal faster than the blink of an eye.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll call you right away if things get dangerous. You can wait here nicely, right?”
Isti reached out, gently cupped my chin, and kissed me.
“I’ll wait.”
I left the room after receiving Isti’s send-off.
When I descended the stairs to the first floor, I saw quite a few guests eating.
Huh? Had the Water and Grass Inn always been this crowded? I asked Anais, who was putting away the cleaning tools.
“There are more guests now?”
“Yes! Word spread that the food he makes is delicious…. I think it’s thanks to the guests.
There’s a rumor that guests come looking for the elf party and this inn, so many people have visited out of curiosity.”
As expected of elves.
Just walking around created a promotional effect.
I swept my gaze around the hall and spotted Karen standing with her back against the wall in a corner.
She seemed lost in thought and hadn’t noticed me yet.
Even seeing her again, she had an incredibly lewd body.
If Isti’s beauty drew people’s attention, the looks the guests sent Karen were mostly filthy.
Her breasts were half spilling out of her clothes, her thighs looked ready to burst, yet her waist was slender and her jawline delicate.
Her red hair, reminiscent of Bella’s, was tied back with a yellow ribbon and hung down behind her. Bella had an irresistible charm.
The kind of charm that made you imagine what it would be like to have sex with her.
“You came looking for me?”
I approached Karen and spoke to her.
Let’s review the situation.
Under my suggestion, Karen was supposed to come to this inn on the morning I carried out the emergency mission and ask for my help.
In other words, she had been made to believe that she absolutely needed me.
But from her perspective, she didn’t know whether I would accompany her, so she had to do her best to win me over.
“Do you remember me?”
Karen opened with words that carried the implication that she wanted me to remember her.
“Hmm….”
“We met in the forest. During the monster outbreak.”
“Hmm….”
On the contrary, I wanted to ask her something.
Was there any way to forget after seeing those breasts?
But it wouldn’t be any fun to recognize her so quickly, so I pretended not to know her.
“I feel like I might remember if I heard your name.”
“I didn’t tell you my name back then…. I’m Karen. What about you, oppa?”
“Dekal.”
“I’m aspiring to become a Hero. My goal is to clear this emergency mission and become a Hero candidate.
I took note of your skills, oppa. Would you… come with me?”
Karen gathered her courage and asked.
I gripped the hilt of my sword and pretended to consider it leisurely.
All the while, I pretended to be trying to remember her as I admired her breasts.
Whether she was oblivious or simply didn’t care, she showed no reaction even when I stared openly at her chest.
She probably knew what I was looking at, but living with breasts like those must have made it an everyday occurrence.
“You’re saying I absolutely have to go with you?”
“Yes! Absolutely!”
“…Sigh. What should I do?”
I pretended it was the greatest dilemma of my life.
“…Jeez! Come with me? Okay?”
Whoa! Karen suddenly stepped closer. It was painfully frustrating that her breasts only almost brushed against me.
“I really want oppa to help me!”
Damn, she was no amateur when it came to begging.
I had reached the limit of pretending to agonize over it.
“All right. Let’s go together.”
“Yes!”
Karen happily clenched her fist and held it up in a triumphant gesture.
She had such a cheerful personality that even the person watching her felt affected by it.
“I’m happy to help, but I don’t know much about the emergency mission. Could you explain it while we head to the guild?”
Just then, a rumbling sound came from Karen’s stomach.
“Ah. I… came without eating breakfast.”
“Want me to buy you some meat?”
Karen’s eyes sparkled.
“R-Really?”
“Let’s go.”
“Yay~!”
Ah. My hands were itching. I felt like I was going crazy wanting to touch her.
Completely unaware of anything, Karen walked beside me with a smile on her face.
“The meat is delicious! Can I have more?”
“Sure. Eat as much as you want.”
She had quite an appetite.
“First, we should learn what the other can do. What are you good at, oppa?”
“Me? Fire magic.”
“I’m a swordswoman. Fighting at close range is my specialty. I’ll protect you, and you can use your magic.”
…She fights at close range with those breasts?
I pointed at them with my finger and asked,
“Don’t your breasts get in the way when you fight?”
Karen flinched and quickly covered the exposed part of her chest with her arm.
“You’ve been staring at them intently this whole time. Could you watch where you’re looking? It’s embarrassing.”
“What about it? Can you fight?”
“Trust me. Being a woman isn’t a handicap.”
It was a very direct question, but she didn’t seem to dislike it.
“The emergency mission is to hunt a Sin Wolf in the Black Forest.
It could take several days, so camping equipment is essential.”
“We have to camp, too?”
Huh. I hadn’t known that.
It seemed to be a monster that was harder to find than I’d expected.
“They say it’s as intelligent as a human. That’s why it apparently can’t be hunted under normal circumstances.”
“What’s different about now?”
“A lot of people will be entering the forest to become Hero candidates, so it’ll naturally turn into a large-scale operation.”
“Ah. So that’s how it is.”
“I’m definitely going to become a Hero candidate.”
Karen clenched her fists, her enthusiasm burning brightly.
“What’s so good about becoming a Hero candidate?”
“You’re going to take on an emergency mission without even knowing that?”
“Why? Should I not do it?”
“N-No, no! Please do it! Do it with me!”
It was cute how she reacted with her whole body.
“If you become a Hero candidate, you can join the Hero’s party and fight the Demon King’s army. Isn’t that cool?”
“….”
Not cool at all.
If anything, it sounded like an enormous amount of trouble.
“Those selected as Hero candidates can also attend the Hero Academy in the holy capital!”
“What?”
The word that had just passed by jolted me fully awake.
“The Hero Academy? There’s such a thing?”
“Yes. There’s a school that trains candidates. Only those selected there earn the right to join the Hero’s party.”
“A school….”
If there was a school that could only be entered by completing high-difficulty missions,
didn’t that mean every student gathered there possessed exceptional abilities?
There was also a very high chance that many of them would be as beautiful as Karen.
A school was the best possible place to save people with hypnosis.
Wasn’t it somewhere I couldn’t afford to pass up?
“What’s wrong? Why do you look so serious?”
“There was something I needed to think about.
Returning to the original topic, do you have a plan for hunting the Sin Wolf?”
“Hmm~~. I suppose we have no choice but to enter the forest first.”
She had no plan.
Well, without my suggestion, would Karen have gone alone in the first place?
She had been alone even in the forest where the orcs had appeared in large numbers.
“Ehehe. Actually, this is my first time forming a party with someone…. Do you want to be the leader, oppa?”
“….”
Normally, I would have refused, but I was seriously worried about leaving the leadership to her.
“All right. Then we’ll register the party, receive the mission, and purchase the necessary supplies. That’s the order, right?”
“Yes! Oh, can I keep calling you oppa?”
“Why ask now? It sounds nice, so keep doing it.”
“It sounds nice? Being called oppa? Why?”
“….”
How was I supposed to explain this?
“I have a younger sister back home who’s about your age. You reminded me of her.”
I gave her a careless excuse because it was bothersome.
In truth, I didn’t have a younger sister. Maybe that was why I liked hearing her call me oppa.
In any case, no one would dislike having a girl like Karen follow them around, calling them oppa, oppa.
“Did I look like your younger sister? Hmm~. I see. I’ll think of you like an older brother, too. Dekal oppa!”
Karen smiled, revealing her white teeth.
Her innocence was dazzling. I found myself being drawn in and smiling as well.
I had grown fairly accustomed to showing my face at the Adventurer’s Guild.
The envious and admiring looks I received whenever I brought Isti with me reached their peak when I brought Karen.
I also saw groups shaking their heads or sighing as if to say, “You again?”
I pretended not to notice and headed with Karen toward the mission board.
“The emergency mission. Is this it?”
「Sin Wolf Hunt」
Rank B+
Recommendations
Level 90 or higher, a party of at least four, combat skills, search skills
Special Notes
Extremely dangerous.
Sin Wolves are solitary creatures with exceptional combat ability, so advanced combat skills are required.
This mission is an emergency mission for the 「Selection of the Next Hero Candidates」, and every member of a party that completes it will be granted Hero candidate qualifications.
The spoils obtained while eliminating the target─the Sin Wolf’s hide, teeth, and eyes─may not be taken by individuals and must be reported to the guild.
Hmm. It recommended a level of 90 or higher and at least four people….
So you’re saying a guy who wanders around alone without even forming a group is that dangerous?
Fear began to creep over me.
I could call Isty if things got dangerous, but I wasn’t sure whether the two of us would be all right.
What would Karen think when she saw this?
“Big brother. How do you register a party?”
…Karen wasn’t thinking about it at all, to the point that my hesitation seemed foolish.
“Let’s go to the reception desk. This way.”
“Huh?”
Karen glanced at the line beside us and said,
“This line is longer, so why are we waiting here?”
“Because the receptionist is someone I know, so she’ll treat us well.”
Karen’s eyes sparkled.
“Big brother, you’re an amazing adventurer, aren’t you? You even walk around with an examiner!”
“I left that guy behind. You’re not planning to seduce me and gain an advantage in the examination, are you?”
Karen poked me in the side.
“Do I look like the sort of person who’d do that?”
“Oh, really?”
I casually brushed my hand along Karen’s side and tried to initiate some physical contact.
“Ahaha!”
Karen curled up as though she were ticklish and dodged my hand.
“Stop, stop. You’re such a silly big brother. That tickles. People are looking at us.”
I had also secretly touched her breasts under the pretense of tickling her. That was a nice bonus.
“I’m going to become a hero candidate proudly through my own abilities. I have no intention of using shortcuts.”
Karen’s expression grew quite serious whenever she said things like that.
By the time we had waited in line, it was my turn.
“Ah, Sir Dekal. How may I help you?”
“Acelline, I’d like to register a party and accept an emergency mission.”
“Yes. I’ll help you right away. Are you the leader, Sir Dekal?”
“That’s right. This one’s name is Karen.”
“What would you like to do about the soulstones?”
Hmm. There was nothing to think about.
Since using my personal storage let me keep my hands free, I should take the maximum number of soulstones.
That was… five per person, wasn’t it?
“Karen. Do you have an adventurer’s license?”
“Me? No.”
“Then… I suppose I can’t receive hers. Give me five medium-sized soulstones.”
“Yes, here are five medium-sized soulstones.”
I took the soulstones Acelline handed me and put them in my personal storage.
“The emergency mission is to deal with the Seen Wolf that appears in the Black Forest.
Since the Seen Wolf is a solitary creature, the mission will be considered complete once someone defeats it.
Also, please be aware that you may be punished if you personally take any by-products of the Seen Wolf as spoils.”
“By-products. You mean things like its hide, eyes, or teeth?”
“Yes. They are extremely rare commodities, so adventurers affiliated with the guild are obligated to turn them in.”
So that was how they profited from it?
I had no interest in stinky animal hides, so I didn’t care whether they took them or not.
Besides, there was no one around me who could properly process such things.
“Thanks. I’ll be going.”
“Um, excuse me.”
Acelline fidgeted as though she had something to say.
“Yes?”
“Aren’t you going to… use the restroom today?”
She lowered her eyes and stole glances at me, as though she were embarrassed. It was adorable.
This was Acelline’s way of pestering me to do it with her.
I glanced at Karen and said,
“I have her with me today.”
“Ah….”
Acelline seemed dejected.
“But….”
I moved closer and whispered into Acelline’s ear.
“If you work without panties until I come back, I’ll do whatever you want.”
“….”
Acelline nodded.
Once we had moved away from the reception desk, Karen asked me,
“Big brother. What did you mean at the end? ‘I have her with me’?”
“I meant that since you’re here, I don’t need any other help.”
“Hmm-hmm. I’m glad you recognize my abilities.”
I kept the truth to myself: I was only putting off using other pussies for the time being because I planned to use Karen as my cock sleeve.
“Do we need to go get camping equipment now?”
“Yes! You need to take good care of your own things, big brother. I don’t know much about what men need. Hmm… You absolutely need a change of underwear and some socks.”
“Where’s a good place to buy things? Is there anywhere you’d recommend?”
“You don’t know much about the shops, do you? Come with me. I’ll show you around!”
I followed Karen as she walked briskly ahead.
I realized that there were quite a lot of general stores on a street I had never visited, all selling goods aimed at adventurers.
I had no idea there was a street this crowded with adventurers!
“So a place like this existed. I had no idea.”
“Big brother, this way!”
Karen went ahead excitedly.
I couldn’t help wondering why someone like her had never had a party until now.
“Hey, handsome young man over there. That’s a face I haven’t seen before. Don’t you need a map for adventurers?”
Even amid the chaos of the crowded adventurer district, a tout singled me out and called to me.
If this had been before I explored the Bordeaux Dungeon, I would have needed one, but not anymore.
I raised a hand to decline and continued after Karen.