Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 7

by Fujino Omori

  She’s taller than me, at least 170 celch.

  Her black, untied hair reaches all the way down past her hips. Her muscles are one thing, but her coppery skin could truly make most men’s blood run cold.

  An Amazon in dancer’s clothing—and she’s working here.

  “…So sorry, but I’m in a rush. So, well, um…good-bye!”

  Out of all the women I’ve seen today, she is easily one of the most attractive. I can’t breathe, and I’ve got to get away.

  Her allure is so intimidating that I can’t articulate my words at all. My cheeks burning hot enough to start a fire, I manage to squeeze a few more words about following Lord Hermes out of my constricted throat and turn to leave.

  “Hold it.”

  But before I can take another step and start screaming again…

  Her fingers wrap around my elbow.

  “Eh?”

  “You’re a new face.”

  She pulls my body against hers and wraps her other arm around my waist.

  I’m being held—no, pressed—against her. Her eyes lock onto mine.

  “…?!”

  She stares deep into my eyes in the middle of the street.

  I can’t move. Every inch of my body feels like it’s on fire. The muscles in her thighs push against me through my pants, her toned abs press against my shirt, and in some places, we’re skin against skin. Moist lips are just in front of my nose. I’m sure I’d see a tremendous valley of cleavage if I looked down.

  How can my body be generating this much heat but my arms and legs feel cold? I’m freezing and burning at the same time.

  “Nnn?”

  She doesn’t seem the least bit self-conscious. She lifts her left hand off my back and pinches my cheek.

  Forcing my head up, she looks down on me with powerful eyes, lips poised to devour me at any moment.

  Those eyes, it feels like they’re eating me alive…She smiles.

  “Ahhh…Ain’t that a tempting face you’ve got there.”

  She licks her red lips.

  I audibly shiver as a cold chill rushes down my spine.

  “You have a name? Mine’s Aisha.”

  “Eh…Um, well…”

  “How ’bout buying a night with me?”

  She leans in real close to my ear. I can feel her warm breath running down my neck.

  A mixture of fear and embarrassment courses through my veins. I’ll break in half at this rate.

  No, this is bad. How can I get out of here?! My instincts finally kick in and I start to struggle, but…

  —I can’t break away!

  There’s only an arm wrapped around my waist and one around my shoulder. But her grip is too strong.

  A grip strong enough to contain me after I just ranked up to Level 3—that means…

  This woman has Falna like me?

  “Easy there,” says Aisha with a confident laugh as she tightens her arms around me.

  Incredible physical strength and tenacity paired with overwhelming beauty. She’s the physical embodiment of everything Amazons are known for.

  “The crop was pitiful tonight.”

  “Do I smell the blood of a virgin man?”

  “Who’s that, Aisha?”

  Voices from behind me, appearing one after another.

  More figures to the left and right—more Amazons.

  I chance a look in both directions. Just as I feared, more beautiful, scantily clad women are coming this way.

  “Found him right here. Got quite the innocent look in his eyes, don’t he?”

  “Haven’t seen a man like that in ages.”

  “Fu-fu, first time in the Pleasure Quarter?”

  The woman…Aisha probably came out looking for customers when I nearly ran into her. I think these other Amazons are doing the same thing. They surround me before I know what is happening.

  Being Amazons, their clothing is similar to Aisha’s, though some are wearing even less than she. Trapped in Aisha’s embrace, I can see only sun-kissed skin in every direction. Mind racing, I feel like I’m going to pass out.

  Moments later…

  I see one of the Amazons’ shoulders jump.

  “Hey, hang on a minute. This human boy…Isn’t he that Little Rookie?”

  Suddenly, everyone stops moving. A breeze travels through the now silent alleyway.

  “—White hair, red eyes.”

  “The one who defeated Hyacinthus in the War Game…?”

  “The fastest adventurer to ever reach Level Three?”

  I know that people all over Orario watched the War Game through Divine Mirrors. So it should come as no surprise that someone might recognize my face…But still.

  I can hear them whispering among themselves, all their eyes glued onto my head.

  The strongest stare of all is coming from directly above me—Aisha’s.

  —Her aura, it changed.

  Before, she seemed to be having a bit of fun tormenting me. But now her already overwhelming eyes have a different kind of twinkle to them.

  The others, too, they’re looking at me like a piece of fresh meat on a skewer.

  The playful atmosphere of a moment ago is gone…Sweat is pouring off my body like a waterfall.

  This must be how a rabbit feels when it’s surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves.

  But these aren’t just wolves. These are lionesses and tigresses, saliva dripping off their bared fangs. They’re licking their lips, hunger in their eyes.

  “Eeeek…” A pitiful sound escapes my gawking mouth, eyes wide open.

  I-I have to run. A heartbeat later—

  WHOOSH!! All of them come at me at once.

  “About time a strong one came along!”

  “Hey, I’ll show you a good time!”

  “Ignore these weaklings, come with me!”

  A tsunami of Amazons washes over me.

  Shoulders, arms, clothing, hair, legs—their hands grab everything. My body contorts in all directions, pulled by their incessant grasps. None of their dark hands are letting go.

  “Ouch, ow, oww, OW, OWWWWW!!”

  I’m completely helpless as these Amazonian women come agonizingly close to tearing me to pieces.

  There’s no hope of escape anymore. I can’t see anything except for tanned curves and occasional flashes of bright fabric.

  My head starts getting foggy. I can’t even scream as I’m buried under mountains of feminine muscle. Until—shloop.

  Something gives my outstretched arm a strong pull.

  “—I found this one first, he’s my prey. No one else can have him.”

  Aisha pulls me free of the other Amazons’ feeding frenzy and is holding me tightly against her hefty chest.

  “Buohhh! Buohh!” I struggle to catch my breath with nose and mouth pressed deep into her cleavage.

  She’s moving, spinning like a hurricane. The other hands let go, one by one. I chance a look straight up, trying to ignore my predicament. The eyes of a lioness glare down at me, her “fangs” bared in an ominous grin.

  My face is free! I manage to gasp for air by prying myself away from her chest.

  “P-please hear me out! I-I-I’m not here to do anything amorous. Th-the only reason I came this way was to look for my friend. S-s-she’s from my familia! But I got lost, s-s-so please…!”

  I start pleading with her, with them, after putting a little distance between us.

  But it isn’t enough. The Amazon is really fast, and she circles around behind me with ease. Whap! She grabs an item that was still somehow in my hand.

  “Oh, really? Then why are you ready for a long haul, eh?”

  The bottle…The one that was forced on me by a particular deity. The aphrodisiac.

  Lord Hermes…!!!!!!!!!!

  My soul silently screams. For some reason, an image of the god tipping his feathered hat and giving me a thumbs-up appears in my head.

  There’s no way she’ll listen to me now…

  “Drop the act already
. Now, come.”

  “H-hold on a sec. H-hey, wait!”

  She locks my arm into her stranglehold grip and pulls me away.

  The other lions, tigers, and wolves form a pack around us. I’m in the middle of a parade of shiny-eyed Amazons…!

  This is the first time since following Lord Hermes out of the red-light district that I’ve had a chance to look around. This area looks like an oasis in the middle of a desert. The buildings are mostly made of stone, but the roofs and eves are covered in a style of sun-dried bricks. The outsides of some brothels are decorated with high-quality alabaster. As for the working ladies around here, most are wearing something similar to Aisha’s dancer’s clothes. The style is different, but they’re showing off just as much skin.

  “It’s not like that! Please, just listen to me!” My yelling and screaming on the verge of tears do nothing to persuade my captor. I got lucky before, but now I can’t shake loose.

  What’s worse, I can tell from the earlier whirlpool tug-of-war that at least some of the people in our twenty-plus Amazonian entourage are Level 2, or even Level 3.

  I’m so caught up wallowing in my own despair that it takes me a moment to realize we’ve come to a stop in front of an extremely large building.

  Judging from the exterior and amount of scantily clad ladies around it, this is also a brothel—the size of a palace.

  It looks like it came right out of a fairy tale set in some mystical desert. Covered in sheets of pure gold, the design is so heavenly that I wouldn’t be surprised if the architect based it on a heatstroke-induced mirage.

  An emblem comes into view as Aisha pulls me even closer to the circular structure.

  A naked woman’s body hidden by a veil…The symbol of prostitutes.

  This is a familia’s base of operations? Their home?

  Another tug from Aisha and we cross the threshold of a large wooden door.

  “Is…is this a castle…?”

  The inside of the palace sparkles just as much as the outside.

  It bears an uncanny resemblance to the inside of Babel Tower, except that the inside is open like a multilayered doughnut. There are men on all the different levels, arm in arm with their chosen partners for this evening. Couples are disappearing into rooms every second.

  Aisha guides me through the unbelievably wide entrance hall. Expensive-looking vases line the white walls, but my eyes keep getting drawn to the red carpet beneath my feet.

  The atmosphere in here is even more suffocating than the Pleasure Quarter. The mixture of obscene smells makes every nerve in my body shriek with anxiety. I’m surprised I’m still conscious, let alone walking under my own power.

  “Do you seriously know nothing?”

  Aisha looks back at me, her prisoner, with a hint of glee in her eyes.

  “This is our home, Belit Babili.”

  Her grip stays just as tight as she explains.

  “Don’t go thinkin’ it’s just this building, either. This whole area is our island…Lady Ishtar’s territory.”

  Lady…Ishtar?

  I don’t know many gods and goddesses, but I’ve heard that name somewhere before…

  “You girls, down there. Why aren’t you working?”

  A sharp female voice stabs down from far above.

  I look up without even thinking. What I see takes my breath away.

  It’s a beautiful figure who just oozes temptation. Wearing next to nothing at all, her absolutely radiant tan skin is almost blinding even from this distance. She’s decorated her body with a ton of golden trinkets, including a crown, earrings, a necklace, bracelets, anklets, and even some things hanging extravagantly from her breasts. Everything about this lady screams queen.

  Her dark, almost purplish hair hangs down to her waist in several braids.

  She’s looking at us, a long pipe in her left hand.

  —A Goddess of Beauty.

  I know immediately.

  Anyone who sets eyes on one instantly gets filled with incredible desire; their charms are too alluring to resist.

  I’ve met a goddess like that before, the silver-haired Lady Freya. I felt bewitched the moment I saw her. Her beauty wafted into me like the most provocative perfume, overriding all my other senses before I knew what was happening.

  The Amazonian ladies say hello in unison. I clear my throat.

  “Mind explaining that human?”

  Her eyes, glinting like amethyst in the distance, lock onto me. My whole spine trembles under their pressure.

  The other Amazons seem to have noticed that, too, and immediately move to shield me from the deity’s sight.

  “Don’t look at him, Lady Ishtar!”

  “What’re we supposed to do with someone under your spell, eh?”

  They’re protecting me…?

  “And you, keep your eyes down!” Aisha’s warning makes me say, “O-o-okay?” and do exactly that. The hands of the others are back, holding me down. I’m trapped in their whirlpool again, except this time I can hear the voices of the other ladies, young and mature, wafting out of random rooms all the way up to the top floors.

  “Fu-fu…There’s more money to be made tonight. All of you better not waste your time by sucking that one dry.”

  Her nasal laughter cuts through it all as the Amazons pull me in the same direction. It wouldn’t have mattered, anyway; I’m already falling to pieces.

  “Tammuz,” she says in a bored voice, and breaks off eye contact. I risk a glance in her direction and see a rather handsome young man follow Lady Ishtar away from the upper-floor railing.

  So it’s true…This is Ishtar Familia’s home…

  My hair’s a mess, clothing in tatters, but I know for sure.

  They’ve increased their presence and effectiveness in the Dungeon, becoming one of Orario’s best Dungeon-prowling familias in the past few years…at least that’s what I’ve heard.

  I’ve come to a really dangerous place, in more ways than one. I’m a member of a rival familia, deep in enemy territory. All the repercussions start racing through my head as Aisha forcibly leads me deeper into their mansion of a home.

  We pass several more women, ones wearing dresses so sheer that I can see right through them. Aisha calls them over and I look straight at the floor. My captor must be pretty high up in the familia. She exchanges a few words with the women, who are thankfully ignoring me. Next thing I know, they’re gone and I’m being led up to the third floor.

  The stairwell opens to a wide, highly decorated hallway. Two of the Amazons rush ahead and open a pair of double doors right in front of me. Aisha pushes me inside.

  “Uwoah?!”

  Suddenly released from her viselike grip, I’m practically thrown onto a sofa covered with a velvet sheet.

  Plop! Good thing it’s a soft sofa…I quickly sit up and have a look around the dim room.

  There are several of these sofas scattered around the room, but almost no people. The only light is coming from a magic-stone lamp on the low table and a few candles on the wall. There’s a weird smell about this place—high-quality perfume and…

  “That’s musk aromatics.”

  Aisha notices my flaring nostrils and grins as she takes a seat on the sofa across from me.

  The rest of the entourage rushes around the room, grabbing any chairs they can find and sitting in a ring around me.

  I can see another man across the way. He’s standing at a counter across from another woman wearing one of those sheer dresses. She must be serving drinks, or at least some kind of alcohol for sure. All the seating, a bar—this classy room has to be some kind of waiting area.

  “All the rooms are in use at the moment, so we’re goin’ to chill here for the time being.

  “Or we could start right now, if you like?” she adds with that same hungry smirk.

  I don’t have the guts to ask her, “Start what?”

  “I call second.” “Aisha, just let me have a taste!” All their eyes are on me. All the Amazonian w
omen are sitting down, but it feels like they’re circling me. My first impressions of them are feeling more and more real by the moment. I shiver as thin fingers run down my neck from behind, making my heart jump. It takes all the courage I have to try to speak.

  “I’m um…in another familia…Isn’t it kind of bad for me to be here, in your home? So, so you see…”

  “Don’t mean a thing. We bring adventurers up here almost every night.

  “Some more willingly than others,” she adds, not letting me get in another word. So some of the other customers are adventurers. However, no one seems to care at all.

  They’re literally sleeping with the enemy.

  “’Course if you want to have at it, fine by me. In here, in bed, I’ll take you on wherever, whenever.”

  Thud! She puts her leg on the table between us. It really sounds like she wants to fight.

  I’m at a loss for words. They’re completely unarmed and no one’s here to protect them, either. These scantily clad women are much more dangerous than they seem.

  They’re temptresses, but also warriors.

  Many of them were strong enough to leave bruises on my arms and legs with their bare hands. I’m the one who needs a bodyguard, not them.

  “Berbera”—I don’t know where I heard that first, but it’s a fitting name.

  They all have Blessings from Lady Ishtar—seductive adventurers…

  Doing my best to hold my fear at bay, I take a closer look at Aisha.

  She’s everything I imagined an Amazon would be. Overflowing with confidence, she shows no hesitation or weakness and commands a lot of respect. Bold and beautiful, she must be the heart and soul of this group.

  Okay, here goes nothing.

  “Wh-what can I do to convince you to…let me go home?”

  This place is a completely different world, not to mention the home of another familia. To top it all off, my body won’t stop shaking in fear.