Chapter 122 - The Pure-Hearted Dog-Eared Girl and the Flower-Selling Transferee
"So, let's hear your story again, shall we?"
One woman sat across the table from three men. The strange arrangement felt like some kind of job interview. Still, that guy Fang… Even for a Werewolf Race member with a superior sense of smell, being able to sniff out a venereal disease seemed beyond the pale. There was no doubt about it. This man was a master of his craft. Be that as it may, I decided to talk with this woman. I'd told Fang and Beers to go on without me and find some company for the night, but they had decided to stay.
"You're a transferee, aren't you?"
The woman shot a question back at me. Seeing that I wasn't going to drink any more beer, she took my mug and started sipping from it.
"No, not me. But I think the friend of the person marrying my dad's friend's kid is a transferee."
"Please, just be honest with me. If you are, tonight's on the house. I'll even throw in a taste of my specialty. It's my signature move!"
"Absolutely not. You've got an STD, don't you?"
"Oh, come on. Your little friend down there is telling a different story."
She probed at my crotch with the tip of her foot. The truth was, I'd been hard for a while now.
"No. I don't want to get sick." It was an agonizing decision.
"In that case, let's use these. Special Skill: Condom Torrent!"
As she said the words, a massive pile of condoms appeared out of thin air and rained down on the table, forming a small mountain. What a magnificent—no, what a ridiculous special skill.
"…What's your name?"
"I'm Shizuka. And you?"
"I'm Mash. The Werewolf Race guy is Fang, and this human here is Beers."
"Nice to meet you!"
She innocently held out her hand, and I moved to shake it, but Fang stopped me. It seemed best not to touch her. What kind of disease did she even have? I had no knowledge in that area.
"Which god summoned you? And where did your partner go?"
"We can talk here, but I'm starting to get a little tingly down there. How about we talk while we have sex? A three-on-one is fine by me."
She was so disarmingly frank that I was almost tempted to take her up on the offer. Fang's expression remained grim, but Beers was already halfway out of his seat.
"Talk. Here!" Fang commanded.
The waitress who had first shown us to the booth brought over more beer. She also cleared away the mountain of condoms, but not before I sneakily swiped a few and tucked them into my storage. I'd have to try one out with Mizuki sometime, just to see what it felt like. I paid three silver coins and, to calm the lust Shizuka had stirred in me, I gave the waitress's breasts a squeeze. Beers joined in, a look of pure bliss on his face. I was sure I wore the exact same expression. Shizuka immediately snatched my new beer and started drinking it.
"My boyfriend's name is Ko-kun, and he got, like, super mad that I was sugar dating. I told him I was doing it before we even started going out, and we got into a huge fight. Next thing I know, we got warped to this weird place, were forced to choose some weird powers, and then bam, here we are."
"The name of the god?"
She shook her head. But it was almost certain she'd been transferred by one of the Five Goddesses.
"So, where'd your partner go?"
"There's this guy? Takemura? Met him, another transferee. We did some partner swapping, and I told my boyfriend that Takemura's dick felt better, and he got mad and ran off somewhere."
What was terrifying was that, as nonsensical as her story was, she kept dropping in keywords that I couldn't help but believe were true.
"And you were okay with that?"
"Of course not! I'm, like, super in love with my boyfriend!"
I was about to say that if she loved him, she should stick to just Ko-kun, but I realized my own situation wasn't much different from hers, so I held my tongue.
"…What's your boyfriend's name?"
"…Dunno? But I called him Ko-kun. He's saved as Ko-kun in my phone, too."
"You can't find him with just that!"
"But Ko-kun is Ko-kun!"
It seemed she truly knew nothing about her boyfriend besides his nickname. Was that even possible? But then I thought about Fam, Mizuki, Maira, Cecily, Aira, and Hyakka, and realized it was much the same. As for Riley, I had no way of even beginning to look for her. The only one who came when I called was Racshell. The connections between us were more fragile than I'd thought. The realization sent a chill down my spine.
"How did you two meet?"
At this rate, I wouldn't even know what he looked like. Getting nowhere, I tried a different line of questioning.
"See, when I was a sophomore in high school, this teacher who was about a decade older than you, Mash, assaulted me. That was my first time, and he took a video and blackmailed me with it. After it happened a bunch of times, I started going to his place on my own."
"Don't tell me he's Ko-kun?"
She shook her head.
"Right around then, Ko-kun confessed that he liked me. But I turned him down because of the whole thing with my teacher."
"…And?"
Was Ko-kun a classmate, or someone else close to her? If so, how could she not even remember his name?
"Then Ko-kun found out about me and the teacher and made a big fuss, and it turned into a huge scandal at school. The teacher got fired, but I kept going over to his place even after that."
"Hey! Where did Ko-kun go in all this?!"
"Even after all that, Ko-kun said he still loved me, so we started dating."
"And Ko-kun knew you were still seeing the teacher?"
"Tee-hee, guess I forgot to mention it," she said, sticking out her tongue.
"Liar!"
I couldn't see a future for Ko-kun's love. And yet, he was the one who had come to this world as her partner.
"From your story, it sounds like Ko-kun went to the same school. How do you not know his name?"
"He was a year below me, and I didn't even know who he was until he confessed…"
"You don't have a picture?"
"It's on my phone, but the battery's dead."
"I can charge it for you. For some reason, if you put a phone in an adventurer's storage, it charges."
I took out my own phone and showed her that the battery was full.
"Really?! In that case, I'll send you the video of me and my teacher. I'm just crying in the first one, but the second and third ones are pretty good. I'm nicely trained by then, so I totally recommend them."
"…"
I was incredibly interested in the videos, so I decided I'd gratefully accept them. They might be good reference material for when I was with Mizuki. Hearing about how they met wasn't getting me any closer to finding Ko-kun, so I decided to steer the conversation back to the transfer.
"Believe it or not, the ones sending transferees to this world are the Fifty Gods. Among them, a group known as the Five Goddesses is in conflict with the others. The Five Goddesses summoned you two. The rest of the gods have told their transferees that if they kill anyone summoned by the Five Goddesses, they'll grant their wish. We need to find your boyfriend, fast."
Ko-kun sounded like a piece of work himself, but he had to be more reasonable than Shizuka.
"I have, like, no idea what you're talking about!"
"Right. Then we're done here. Also, you and your boyfriend will die in ten years in this world. Live life to the fullest."
Shizuka would probably die from an STD long before that. But if that was the life she wanted, there was nothing to be done. I'd been tempted to test the waters with her, just a little, but the fear of disease won out. I stood up from my seat. Fang and Beers rose as well.
"Wh-wait a second. Don't say scary things like that to threaten me."
"Isn't this what you wanted to know?"
"No! What I wanted to do was have some intimate sex while talking about our old world!"
I took out ten silver coins and handed them to her as a sort of parting gift.
"Just wait here a minute."
She disappeared into the back of the establishment, but I ignored her and headed outside. Strangely, my desire to be with a woman had completely vanished. Was that even possible? I was starting to worry about my little friend.
"That was some woman, huh?"
"I've completely lost the mood."
"Really? I'm dying to give it a try."
Beers and Fang were whispering to each other. I had no problem with them sleeping with her, but I didn't want them bringing any diseases back to the caravan. We passed by the spot where the fight had happened earlier. The men who had been knocked out by the dog-eared man had been stripped of their belongings and piled up on the side of the road. Looking more closely, I saw other naked men lying in the corners of the street.
"Fang, Beers, sorry you invited me out, but I'm just not in the mood anymore. I think I'm going to head back to the inn. You two stay and have fun. No, really, I was having a great time until a little while ago. I appreciate you guys thinking of me. Thanks."
Talking with Shizuka had made me miss Fam and the others terribly. A strong sense of guilt washed over me, and my enthusiasm fizzled out. The atmosphere here was fun, and I enjoyed messing around with Fang and Beers, but I couldn't bring myself to do something that felt like betraying Fam, especially.
"No, actually, I've lost my nerve too. I think I'll call it a night," Fang said with a nod in my direction. Beers looked quite disappointed, but in the end, he nodded as well. We decided to stop by the open-air terrace we'd visited first for one last beer before heading back.
"I wonder what that woman's going to do now? Well, she's got a cute face, and maybe it's because she's a transferee, but I feel like she has a similar vibe to Mizuki…" Beers mused. It seemed he still had a lingering attachment to Shizuka. He looked like he might just spend his entire stay in Heilong visiting her.
"Mizuki is no slut!" Fang snapped.
"Fang, you got something you wanna say about my girlfriend?"
"S-sorry."
He chugged his beer as if to hide his blushing face.
"If you're that interested, just go buy her. But if you get sick, we're leaving you behind too."
Just as I said that to Beers, someone snatched my beer from the side.
"'That woman'? Are you talking about me?"
Shizuka gulped down the beer, her throat gurgling. She was wearing a sailor uniform on top. It was a different design from Mizuki's, and it looked well-worn. Was she poor?
"Please throw away what you picked up."
Fam spoke, pinching her nose. She seemed to think it really smelled. I couldn't smell a thing, but maybe the beastkin races could.
The inn we were staying at was in the city on the south bank. The ferry across the river ran even at night. It wasn't on a regular schedule; it just departed whenever enough people who wanted to cross had gathered. There were plenty of people heading back to the city after a night out on Longhorn Trail. We'd used it to get back. In any case, my room at the inn was the designated room for all of Levante. Fang and the others had been assigned individual rooms.
Maira had said she was staying at the church, so there was an extra spot in my room, but I had a feeling I'd get an earful if I brought Shizuka there. So, I decided to get her a separate room. The first floor of this inn was also a dining hall and tavern. Even at this late hour, there were still customers, and just as an innkeeper was arranging a room for her, Fam somehow came downstairs and found us.
And so, me, Fang, Beers, and Shizuka were all marched up to my room and forced to kneel in seiza.
"…What are you doing?"
Mizuki had apparently been asleep. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. There were only the two of them in the room.
"Where did Cecily and Aira go?"
"Hmph!"
When I asked, Fam shot me a glare, so I straightened my back and corrected my posture.
"Cecily went with Aira to Moos's place to learn about magic, but Fam wasn't invited, so she's been mad all day…"
"Hmph!"
"Eek! I'm sorry!"
Fam glared at Mizuki as she tried to explain. Mizuki fell silent. It looked like she was wide awake now, though.
"Master, I was under the impression you three were going out to have fun tonight. Who is this person?"
"Th-that's right. The three of us went across the river and drank some beer."
"Yeah, yeah, and he was gonna buy a bunny-girl there, but I was just too pretty, so he bought me instead!"
Shizuka picked up where I left off, adding a disastrous detail and striking a pose with a sparkle in her eye. A muscle in Fam's cheek began to twitch.
"'Buy'?"
"Isn't it obvious? Mash wanted to have sex, so he bought me for ten silver coins."
Could she not sense Fam's anger? Or was she trying to provoke her? Shizuka answered with cheerful nonchalance.
"Master. You've broken your promise."
"N-no, you're wrong! Fam, f-forgive me! She has an STD! That's why I was going to have Maira examine her tomorrow…"
"So that's what that smell was… In that case, why did you pay ten silver coins?"
"W-wait, please forgive Mash. We're the ones who took him out without telling him everything. He didn't find out the goal was to buy a woman until the last minute. He looked miserable, but we forced him to come along. Mash really didn't want to!"
Beers jumped in to defend me. He was a brave, good man. Fang, on the other hand, had resigned himself to his fate and was staring silently at the floor. He seemed to know that saying anything unnecessary right now would only add fuel to the fire.
"But Mash was the one who picked out the bunny-girl."
Without missing a beat, Shizuka stirred the pot again. She seemed to be enjoying this situation, a smug grin on her face.
"Shizuka, don't make Fam angry."
"The one making her angry is you, Master!"
I kept my head down, glaring at Shizuka from under my brow.
"Then you won't mind if I kick this person out?"
"N-no, wait. She's a transferee. And one summoned by the Five Goddesses. I don't care about her, but she has a boyfriend she broke up with after a fight. I want to make contact with him."
"How mean! Weren't you just happily pinching my nipples?!"
I had no rebuttal for Shizuka. I was just too scared of Fam to look up, so I kept my eyes fixed on the floor.
"Fam, it was a moment of weakness. I'll never go with a prostitute again. Please, forgive me."
"'Again'? 'Never again'?"
"N-no, that was just a slip of the tongue. I've never had any experience like that before. It's the truth."
Now Fang and Beers were looking at me with surprised expressions. This was humiliating; I wished she would just let it go.
"Heeh, so Mash is an armchair expert. I'll take your first time, then. I've already been paid for it, after all!"
"Grk…"
Someone, please shut this woman up. However, it seemed even Fam had realized she was being provoked by her words. She and Shizuka were now shooting sparks at each other, with me caught in the middle. Fam let out a deep sigh.
"Master. For me, things like that are very important. I understand that I can't stop you from falling for someone else. But I don't want you to be with someone you can't share a real connection with. I don't want to believe that my feelings hold the same value as your games."
Fam's words made me hang my head in shame. She was right.
"…Fam, I'm truly sorry."
Fang and Beers were released. They too must have learned not to anger Fam. The two of them returned to their respective rooms. All that remained were me and Shizuka. Our seiza punishment wasn't over. My legs were numb. I shifted my position restlessly. Seeing that things seemed to have calmed down, Mizuki got up and stood next to Fam.
"So, is she really a transferee?"
"Which means you must be Mash's transferee partner, right? I'm Shizuka."
Shizuka answered Mizuki's question with a broad grin.
"I'm Mizuki."
"Are you two father and daughter?" Shizuka asked, her curiosity on full display.
"N-no, we're not," Mizuki said, her face turning red. Why was she blushing at a time like this?
"That's what Takemura said. That your partner is usually someone you're close with. If he's not your dad, is he your sugar daddy?"
""We're not!""
I shouted in unison with Mizuki. Fam was glaring at me. She was still angry. I had no right to speak, so I lowered my gaze to the floor again.
"Mash is my boyfriend," Mizuki mumbled. For some reason, she sounded reluctant to say it.
"Are you, like, being threatened or something?" Shizuka looked completely unconvinced.
"Huh? No, of course not!"
"Hmm. This is a whole department store of doubt."
Despite Mizuki's denial, Shizuka cast suspicion on her with the kind of line a politician from our old world would use.
"Hey, can I test if you're telling the truth?"
A mischievous smile played on Shizuka's lips.
"How?"
"My special skill can tell." Shizuka raised her hand. "Scales of Love!"
At her cry, the room was enveloped in light. It was a radiance similar to when Racshell appeared, but this was not the rainbow hue of the goddess, but a brilliant gold. From within the light, a figure emerged—a man with the head of a dog but the body of a human. He was adorned with glittering golden ornaments and wore a cloth skirt. He was so tall that his head nearly scraped the ceiling.
In his left hand, he held a set of scales.
"What do you think you're doing in here?!"
I tried to stand, but my legs were too numb to move. I could only plant my hands on the floor.
"Just what I said, I'm testing if your love is real. If you really love each other, something interesting will happen. Nihihi."
Shizuka's laughter echoed through the room.
"Come on, Anu-chan, measure the depth of their love!"
The dog-headed man raised the scales. A miasma-like white mist rose from both my body and Mizuki's, drifting toward the pans hanging on either side of the balance. As the white mist settled onto the pans, the scales swayed wildly. Then, as the weight of my mist and Mizuki's proved to be the same, the swaying stopped, and the scales came to a perfect equilibrium. The sight seemed to lull me into a deep slumber, and I found it impossible to stay conscious. The same was happening to Mizuki; she swayed on her feet, and Fam had to catch her to keep her from falling.
Thank you for reading. To those who have liked, bookmarked, and rated this story, your support is a great encouragement.