Chapter 17 - Reflection, and the High School Girl
The next morning—no, it must have been well past noon already. I had been properly tucked into bed.
As I sat up, Fam noticed and rushed over.
"Master, you wouldn't wake up at all… I…"
Her eyes were brimming with tears.
"Sorry. Using 'Goddess Summon' drains all my mana."
"That, and the thing with Lady Racshell… you should have told me beforehand."
Fam was a little angry.
"Right, Racshell's panties…"
"I'm wearing them now."
She said it like a comedian, her face blushing.
"I see. Good."
I pulled Fam close and kissed her.
"Nothing about this is good, and your timing is weird."
"I'm hungry. Have you eaten, Fam?"
"No, I was too worried, so I stayed by your side. But I did get some bread."
Fam fetched the bread from the table. We sat on the bed and ate together.
"Master, we need to talk."
Her formal, low tone filled me with a sense of dread.
"Wh-what is it?"
"Please tell me all the women you're interested in right now."
"Ugh, well, that's a bit sudden…"
"If you don't answer me, I will sit on the floor, cut my stomach open in a cross, and lay my organs out on the floor."
"Seriously? Seppuku? Is it that big of a deal?"
"Yes. You may think I'm a troublesome person, but what happened last night was too shocking. My entire sense of values feels like it's about to collapse. I don't know how to process it."
"Alright… I'll be honest. Please, don't laugh."
"I won't laugh."
"I told you before that in my previous world, I was the type that women disliked. So… I end up liking any woman who talks to me…"
I felt like she would see through any lie. As I spoke honestly, my words somehow shifted into polite speech by the end.
"…"
A long silence followed.
"I don't understand how women could dislike you, Master."
"No, take a good look. I'm disgusting, right?"
"I don't think so at all. This is just my opinion, but I'm sure there are others who feel the same way I do. So if what you're saying is true, I think there must be another reason. Like your personality. Or maybe you're always staring at chests with a lecherous look on your face."
"Urk… But Fam, imagine if we hadn't met like this. What if I had just gone to your village as a regular traveler? If we passed each other on the road, you wouldn't have spoken to me. In other words, I'm getting filtered out before you even get to my personality or my chest-staring."
"That is certainly true."
"Wait, you of all people were supposed to deny that. That really hurt!"
"I-I'm sorry! But, but, oh, right! That's because my father told me not to follow strangers!"
Even though she was mad at me, she was still trying to defend me, however forcefully.
"You're right. Maybe it was an exaggeration to say that everyone disliked me."
"So there were some who saw you for who you are, Master."
Fam looked somewhat relieved.
"Yeah. My little sister has a daughter. That niece of mine was incredibly attached to me every time we met. The last time I saw her was two years ago, when she was seven."
If I saw her now, she'd probably be in her rebellious phase and hate me.
"Ah, Master… normally, one doesn't count their niece… ah, no, that's not right, your niece is a fine young girl. I understand now that what you're saying is true."
I gave an example to disprove that I was hated by all women, and somehow it ended up confirming it. Fam fell silent, thinking about something. It was a long silence.
"Ah, it seems we've gotten a little sidetracked. Let's get back on topic."
I was free. That was a tense few moments.
"Me, Mizuki-san, Lady Racshell, Maira-san, and the girl at the guild reception. Are we all on the same level?"
Fam's sharp intuition was so terrifying it made me shudder. She was pretending to line them up as equals, but the order she listed them in perfectly matched my own internal ranking. Not that I'd consciously thought about it. Fam was number one. That was unshakable. Next, I had felt it was Racshell, who accepted my lust, but no, it was Mizuki after all. She was an annoying brat, but I actually liked her personality type. The high-school-girl brand was a big factor too. It was also frightening how she'd accurately listed the guild receptionist even though we'd barely spoken to her.
"Wait, Fam, you're different. You're special. …But, I do want to do lewd things with the other girls too."
"…"
Another long silence fell. Finally, Fam let out a sigh.
"After all, you and I are completely different, Master. But… I will accept it. Just remember this: the only one allowed inside me is you. Not even another woman is permitted."
Under Fam's intense pressure, all I could do was nod. Had I been forgiven?
"…Doing lewd things to Lady Racshell was a little fun, though."
We came to the dungeon again today. It was already past noon. Just a quick look.
When we entered the shrine, there were, as expected, a few parties inside. I heard some people even meet up here and form temporary parties to delve into the dungeon. The idea of going into a dungeon with strangers felt incredibly unsettling. I couldn't do it. Fortunately, people would want to party up with strong members, so no one was likely to approach us.
Just as I was thinking that, I spotted Mizuki. The other members of Wind Blade weren't with her. She seemed to be alone.
"Alone? Where are the others?"
After my conversation with Fam at the inn, I couldn't help but be conscious of her. And as always, she had a very sexy body. I wanted to stare, but I avoided it to keep from attracting Fam's attention.
"They're probably in the dungeon, I think."
"Is that so?" The conversation didn't seem to be going anywhere, so I just nodded.
"What are your plans for today?"
"As you can see, we're going into the dungeon too. But we're just scouting it out and plan to come back soon."
"…Hey, can I come with you?"
I looked at Fam. I wanted to ask what she thought, but she gave no reply. In fact, it seemed like she was observing me to see what I would do. But I was worried about Mizuki. Not in a pervy way. There was a shadow on her face, something dark about her. She might just be homesick, but I had a feeling she was dealing with some kind of problem.
"Right now, Fam and I are training to coordinate our attacks to defeat enemies. You'd just be watching, and we're only going to the second floor. I should also mention this: we're weak."
"That's fine. I'll come along."
"Is that okay?" I checked with Fam.
"I am a slave, so I will simply follow." She touched the light-blue armband. So, Mizuki joined our party. Mizuki seemed a bit down. And Fam was absolutely terrifying.
When we stood on the black circle, numbers floated up: "1, 2, 39, 40, 41." You could go to any floor a party member had visited before. If there were no adventurers in the party, you were forced to start at floor 1. I chose the second floor, and we appeared where we had last ended up yesterday. I took the map of the second floor out of my storage. Fam snatched it away as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Should we aim for the Area Guardian's room?"
"Yeah, let's do that. But jumping straight into a boss fight is scary. If we don't run into any monsters on the way, let's wander around and find some."
Fam nodded and started walking. Mizuki and I walked shoulder-to-shoulder behind her.
"You've been to the 41st floor?"
"Yeah, but it wasn't because of my own strength."
I couldn't imagine Mizuki being able to handle that, no matter how low-level she was. It just meant her party was that skilled. Mizuki's Super Save skill might have also been a factor.
Fam stopped and drew her sword. Mizuki and I followed her lead. Mizuki was equipped with a shield and a one-handed sword. There was a serpent about two meters long. A Serpent. Just like with wolves, there were both monster and animal types, but the monster type was clearly larger. I moved up to walk beside Fam, and we split to the left and right to surround it. Mizuki hung back, observing.
Fam swung her sword as a feint. While the Serpent's attention was on her, I swung my katana from behind and lopped off its head. The Serpent vanished, leaving behind its snake skin.
"Easy enough. But they're poisonous, so be careful."
At this rate, the second floor shouldn't be a problem either.
"Where did you get that Japanese sword?" Mizuki asked.
"Oh, you remember Aidan? The dwarf guy."
"Yeah."
Mizuki nodded. I had forgotten, but she has a good memory.
"Aidan's an alchemist. This is something he made, he gave it to me."
"He gave it to you?"
"Yeah."
"Huh. So you're actually capable of communicating with people."
"Shut up. Don't underestimate a working adult."
Mizuki was right, I was a bottom-tier member of society with no communication skills, but I protested anyway.
"It's a really good sword. It has an enchantment that seems to increase its sharpness when you infuse it with mana. Her knife seems to be the same."
"You can tell?"
It all made sense now. The reason the sharpness changed was because I was unconsciously infusing the sword with mana. It wasn't because I was swinging it according to proper form. I was glad I hadn't gone around bragging about my sword skills to anyone.
"I changed my job to Swordsman. I have a weapon appraisal skill."
"Racshell is crying right now!" Fam's shoulders twitched. I trembled. There were even verbal landmines now?
"? She's not the type of person to get that worked up. Reed was an adventurer, so it was better for the party's composition if I chose a different job."
I had been scared of Fam, but Mizuki seemed to have misunderstood.
"Do you know where Aidan-san lives?"
"Fam, do you remember?"
"I believe it was in the dwarf settlement to the north. You should be able to find out by going to the Blacksmith's Guild."
As expected of Fam. For the record, I had no idea.
"Your name is Fam, right? We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Yamase Mizuki. Just call me Mizuki."
"Yes, it's a pleasure to meet you."
After bowing her head politely, she turned to me with a puzzled look.
"Master, I've always thought 'Mash' was a strange name. Please tell me your real name."
What was so strange about Mash? I didn't get it. Was it a weird name in this world?
"If you stop calling me 'Master,' I'll tell you in secret later."
"Ugh… let me think about it."
Was it really something she had to think so hard about?
"Hey, tell me too!"
"Nope. I'm not telling you, Mizuki."
"Hmph, I bet it's something like your name is one letter off from someone famous and you got made fun of for it!"
It was a mystery why women had such good intuition.
After a few more battles, we arrived in front of the Area Guardian's room. Just like on the first floor, there was a large door. Fam had memorized the map, so we'd proceeded without getting lost.
"Shall we beat it and head back to the inn?"
"Yes," Fam replied.
"Hey, can I join the fight too?"
Mizuki hadn't participated in any battles so far. It would probably just be surrounding and hitting it, so there shouldn't be a problem. I nodded and opened the door.
As we entered the room, the door shut behind us. We waited for the boss to appear, but nothing happened.
"?"
I glanced at Fam and Mizuki. Mizuki looked just as confused.
"Master, the ceiling."
I looked up and saw countless black, writhing things clinging to the ceiling. They began to free-fall, raining down on us.
"GYAAAAAAH, SNAKES!"
It was a hellish scene of screaming and chaos. A chill ran down my spine, and my whole body broke out in goosebumps. I swung my katana frantically. Fam and Mizuki were doing the same. There was no coordination to speak of. Fortunately, the monsters vanished when defeated. I didn't want to imagine a scene of their corpses piling up.
About ten minutes later, the battle, which had left us utterly exhausted, was over, and the door at the far end opened.
"I never want to come to this floor again."
"…Yeah," I replied to Fam, who was breathing heavily. Among the large pile of leftover snake skins, two magic seeds lay on the ground. I gave one to Mizuki.
"You'll get a better price if you take it to a trading company instead of the guild. If you don't have any connections, I can introduce you to the Mateo Trading Company."
"'Introduce you to the company'…"
I had just said it normally, but Mizuki branded me as an old man. Fam was quietly snickering. I leaned in and whispered a terrible pun about the word 'company' into Fam's ear.
After that, we proceeded to the third floor and then returned to the shrine.
"Can I go with you again tomorrow?"
Mizuki asked.
"Hm? You can, but what about Wind Blade?"
"It's… complicated. I'll tell you later. What time are you going?"
At that question, I could tell Fam visibly tensed up. I had a feeling she would get angry if I said in the afternoon.
"Let's go in the morning. Is that okay with you, Fam?"
"Yes." She gave a small nod.
"Alright. See you tomorrow, then?"
Like a proper high school girl, Mizuki waved goodbye. Well, she was a high school girl. I felt a sweet and sour pang of nostalgia for the youth I had experienced long ago. No, wait, that time a girl in my class waved, she was waving at the guy behind me. We decided to head back to the inn as well.
Thank you for reading. To those who have bookmarked and rated this story, thank you very much. It encourages me. I'll do my best. Thank you for pointing out the typos. It's a real help. Thank you for posting your thoughts as well.