Episode 37
I helped Aselin to her feet.
As I shamelessly fondled Aselin’s ample breasts and walked out of the partitioned restroom, I ran straight into Karen in the hallway.
“Karen? What’s going on?”
Since I had more or less expected this, I spoke first.
“I thought you might need help getting the Thin Wolf out, oppa.”
Karen said it in a fluster.
Ah, so she’d interpreted my going to the restroom that way.
She must have thought I was grunting and struggling to take the Thin Wolf out of my personal storage.
There was no way two people could carry it in the first place, but it was sweet of her to want to help.
Still, the situation had become rather amusing.
Karen had tried to help me, only to witness me having sex with the receptionist, and she looked completely confused about how she was supposed to process what she had seen.
I pressed myself against Aselin and flaunted it for all to see.
“I only had sex with Aselin. Right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s wrong. You have a girlfriend, don’t you, oppa? If you aren’t faithful to her, you’re making her sad.”
Hmm. She was absolutely right.
“I don’t care. As long as I get to enjoy myself.”
I kissed Aselin naturally.
Aselin stuck out her tongue and returned my kiss.
“Oppa!”
“You liked it too, didn’t you, Karen? We did it in that forest…”
Karen’s face suddenly flushed bright red.
“~~! I-I didn’t see anything. I’ll go on ahead.”
Maybe it was because I had reminded her of something she had completely forgotten—or had tried to forget.
Unable to withstand her embarrassment, Karen fled.
“Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”
“No. That was perfect. Aselin, you have work to do now, right?”
I naturally lowered my hand and touched Aselin’s buttocks.
“You mustn’t touch me.”
“All of a sudden?”
“The semen I received so generously for once will leak out. I’m holding it in tight, but…”
If that was the reason, there was nothing I could do.
“Then don’t let it leak until we get home. Got it?”
“Yes♥”
Aselin returned to the reception desk, pretending nothing had happened.
I went to the front of the desk as well, acting as though I had just arrived.
“How may I help you?”
Aselin looked at me with a seductive smile.
It was the smile of a woman keeping a secret shared by only the two of us.
“First, I’d like to cash in these soul stones.”
“Yes, we’ve received five medium-sized soul stones.”
The soul stones I had contained the souls of the hobgoblins Karen and I had hunted together for two days in the Black Forest.
They were filled to the brim, as if proving that hobgoblin souls were much higher quality than orc souls.
“These are high-quality souls. Seventy-two gold coins.”
Tch.
I thought I had collected quite a lot, but surpassing Isti was nowhere near possible.
I received the gold coins and put them in my personal storage.
Adding the coins I had just obtained to what remained after subtracting the cost of preparing for this expedition, I now had a total of 178 gold coins in my possession.
“What’s the reward for completing the emergency mission?”
I hadn’t even spoken particularly loudly, but the guild fell silent.
“Did you hear that?”
“That guy says he completed the emergency mission.”
“Are they saying he killed a Thin Wolf?”
“Was it the skill of the ‘Lone Hunter’?”
“No way. How could he go with the person who issued the emergency mission? …So he really was that skilled.”
Huh? Why was the atmosphere like this?
I was more than a little flustered. Why were people so interested in someone else’s business?
Aselin spoke in a tense voice as well.
“I’ll confirm it. The condition for completing the emergency mission is the defeat of a Thin Wolf.
Can you present proof?”
“Where should I take it out?”
“I-I’ll prepare a place right away!”
After hearing Aselin’s report, the guildmaster came running over at once.
“Congratulations on defeating the Thin Wolf! Did you perhaps do it alone…?”
“Not alone. Karen, come over here!”
I beckoned Karen over.
“Ah, okay!”
Karen came trotting over and stood beside me.
“The two of us did it.”
“Oh! Might we see the Thin Wolf in person?”
“Sure. Should I take it out here?”
It was probably going to make a mess.
When I hesitated, the guildmaster called over the receptionists, had them spread a thin sheet over the floor, and bring over a wide, low-sided rectangular table, which they placed on top of it.
“If you haven’t butchered it yet, please tell us where the cart is. We’ll transport it for you.”
Thin Wolf materials must really be expensive.
The guildmaster was being exceedingly cordial.
But was this really okay? The guild’s operations had ground to a complete halt, yet everyone had gathered around to watch with eager expressions.
Completing an emergency mission must have been a much bigger deal than I’d thought. To them, it seemed almost like a festival.
I had expected to report it as usual, receive my reward, and leave right away.
This had become a little troublesome.
“I’ll bring it myself, so wait here.”
“Oppa, should I help?”
“No, it’s fine.”
I took out the Giant Eight-Colored Clam.
“Ohhh!”
The people around us let out gasps of admiration.
“It’s a dimensional storage device.”
“Amazing! It’s my first time seeing one in person.”
…This was something I did all the time, but right now it felt like I was putting on a magic show.
I carefully set the Giant Eight-Colored Clam, which I was holding in both arms, on the floor, placed my hand on it, and concentrated.
The storeroom where I had left the wolf’s corpse. Found it.
I moved to the storeroom.
Even seeing it again, the Thin Wolf was so large it could have been called a small bear.
I couldn’t believe I had survived being struck by the forepaw of something like this…
It looked to weigh well over 200 kilograms. Carrying it was completely out of the question.
But if I moved together with it, just as I had when I brought it here, then it was possible.
I could use the Giant Eight-Colored Clam’s transfer function.
Just as when I had come here, I could choose the location I would return to, so it was simple.
As I summoned the enormous wolf’s corpse onto the table, I returned to the original world.
“Gasp!”
“Aaaah!”
I had expected it, but when the enormous wolf’s corpse suddenly appeared, the startled people scattered like the ebbing tide.
“What in the world is that?”
“Spatial magic?”
“Amazing! He’s an incredible mage.”
“He actually killed something like that?”
Once they were certain that the Thin Wolf was dead, the people surged back like the incoming tide and began chattering noisily.
The guildmaster seemed so shocked that he couldn’t even close his mouth.
“To preserve the whole thing like this…! Incredible.”
“Is it?”
Well, if I hadn’t had the Eight-Colored Clam’s castle, I would have brought it back in suitably divided pieces.
Anyone who knew the value of a Thin Wolf would have drained its blood somehow and reduced its weight before bringing it back, but I hadn’t gone through any such trouble.
“I’ve already called a professional, so please wait. This is an extraordinary find.”
The guildmaster trembled, unable to contain his excitement.
“Oppa, you killed something like this?”
Karen stared blankly at the wolf as she spoke.
“What are you talking about? You were there too.”
She had even been struck by this thing’s forepaw.
To protect me.
“It happened so quickly that I didn’t realize it would be this imposing.”
Imposing, huh?
It was the perfect expression. I had thought a wolf would be little more than a somewhat large dog, but I had been foolish.
If I could go back to when we entered the forest, I would have prepared much more thoroughly.
The Thin Wolf had been that dangerous an opponent.
If I had faced it head-on in a proper battle, I might have been seriously injured too.
Thanks to those four pieces of trash, I had dealt with it easily.
Soon, the expert the guildmaster had called arrived. He was a bearded man wearing work clothes, and he immediately began running his hands over the Thin Wolf’s body, growing more and more excited.
“Unbelievable! In such excellent condition…!!”
“Hello.”
The man hurriedly turned around, removed his gloves, and held out his hand.
“I should have asked permission first. I’m sorry!”
“It’s all right. I look forward to working with you.”
“My name is Smideun. I process materials on Adventurer Street. May I examine the Thin Wolf in greater detail?”
“Yes.”
The processor circled the table, checking the eyes, fur, teeth, and so on, all the while exclaiming in admiration.
“It’s top-grade quality. Thin Wolves are monsters that live extremely solitary lives, forming no packs and receiving no help from their parents from the time they are young.
That makes it difficult to determine their habitat, but hunting one is even harder.
They are fast, possess tough bodies, and are intelligent, so they have many troublesome traits, such as evading attacks and avoiding carefully prepared traps.”
“Ohhh!”
The spectators applauded and cheered.
…Was I supposed to clap and celebrate along with them?
“It’s also remarkable that you managed to kill such a Thin Wolf through blunt force without inflicting any major wounds.
Just the head alone could fetch 2,100 gold coins!”
2,100 gold coins?
Had I heard him wrong? It was an enormous sum.
“As expected of Sir Dekal. I had my eye on you from the very beginning.”
The guildmaster laughed heartily and said something utterly shameless.
He said I had killed it through blunt force without injuring it, but that had merely been a coincidence.
I had simply thrown my greatest firepower at it, and the Thin Wolf’s hide had been so excellent that it neither burned nor suffered a wound.
While the hypnotized slaves held it down, I had hit the Thin Wolf directly with a Fireball, and it seemed to have died from the impact.
Karen stood beside me, grinning foolishly.
“What’s got you so happy?”
“I was just thinking that it really was a good thing I decided to come with you, Oppa.”
I was reminded of when I first met Karen.
I had only suggested taking on the emergency mission together as an excuse to meet her again, but the party that began with that suggestion had ultimately worked out well. I was happy about it too.
“With skills like yours, you could have found a party anytime. Why did you travel alone?”
I asked quietly, letting my voice blend into the crowd’s chatter as they looked at the Sin Wolf.
“I thought there would be no point in challenging the selection to become a hero candidate unless I did it entirely with my own strength.
So I refused every offer to join a party and grew stronger on my own until now.
I even thought that way until I met you, Oppa. I don’t know why my heart suddenly changed….”
Unexpectedly, it seemed my suggestion had broken through Karen’s stubbornness.
Karen smiled brightly, baring her white teeth.
“I’m glad! Thinking about it now, maybe it was because you were the one, Oppa? I never imagined things would turn out like this, but you must have given me a good feeling!”
She interpreted something that had happened entirely because of my twisted desires in such a pretty and beautiful way that I didn’t know where to put myself.
I had a hard time holding back my laughter.
“Do you… think so too, Oppa?”
“Hm?”
Karen took my hand.
“I….”
Then Karen suddenly let go. Her face took on an expression of dismay, as if she had made a mistake.
“I’m sorry. For saying something strange….”
“Huh?”
She was acting oddly flustered.
Ah, she had become conscious of Isti. She had realized once again that Isti and I were lovers and was putting some distance between us.
How cute. Really.
Karen took a step away from me.
A girl suppressing her regret at having to hold back her feelings for me.
It was a youthful sentiment appropriate for her age, but how alluring had she been when, under the suggestion, she had volunteered to be a toilet?
Besides, Isti would even allow me to have sex with Karen.
“The appraisal is complete. If we begin processing it right away, the hide is worth 4,400 gold, the eyes 1,000 gold, and the teeth 800 gold.”
“Lord Dekal, may we take it with us and process it ourselves?”
The guild master asked politely.
“Of course.”
I did not even ask how the rewards would be divided.
I already had more than enough money, and I had little interest in what happened to the animal’s corpse.
The only thing I cared about now was whether Karen would be chosen as a hero candidate.
“Then we’ll have it transported to my workshop!”
“Ah, before that.”
I might not care, but Karen must have been extremely concerned about it.
I could not hand over the corpse without confirming the matter first.
“Guild Master. The emergency mission was meant to select the next hero candidate, wasn’t it? What happens with that?”
“I apologize for informing you so late. You and your companions, Lord Dekal, have gained the qualifications to become hero candidates. However, it is not yet final.”
“What do you mean, it’s not final?”
“I’ll explain from here.”
A woman’s voice, cold and chillingly calm, rang out.
The woman who parted the crowd and appeared wore a black nun’s habit and a blindfold over her eyes.
I sensed something ominous.
“Darling.”
At some point, Isti had come up beside me and was showing her wariness toward the woman.
Isti seemed to know who the unidentified nun was.
“Greetings. My name is Veil Noah, an examiner from Melbritt.”
The nun who introduced herself as Veil Noah spoke while looking precisely in my direction, despite wearing a blindfold.
Examiner… Hearing that explained the cold, sharp air surrounding Noah.
“Guild Master, may I explain the rest to him?”
“Yes! Since you’ve come in person, Examiner, you’ve saved us the trouble.”