My funds went well over 10 million DL thanks to the stone we sold from digging up the stairs, so this kind of expense wouldn't hurt that much. Although, while 10 million may seem like a huge personal gain, considering the cost of the expansion and maintenance of the labyrinth, it was an amount that would easily melt away when used to pay for construction work. I was still far away from buying expensive fresh food from Tundra and saying goodbye to the pumpkin diet. I may have grown fond of living in this rundown cabin after two months, but the constant expenses from repairs and rebuilding were unending. I needed to keep a good amount of savings just in case.
My wallet and head hurt from the mere thought of the price of wood for construction, transportation charges, hiring villagers that could do carpentry work, various employment expenses, and the cost of meals.
Since one stone was typically 802 DL, then the stone we delivered through the box should have given us 100 million DL. I wondered if shipping so much in such a short amount of time had some kind of impact, because after we made it to 10 million in sales, a receipt came out of the pig, along with a message card that read "Payment will be processed after inventory is sold".
We couldn't reasonably expect the stone to keep carrying us all the way, so we had to think of a new method to raise money. And I had almost forgotten due so many things going on, but I was still in my trial period. There was the possibility I would get rejected as well. If that happened, then everything would have been for nothing, even if I started renewing the cabin, so I would have to make do with what we had on hand right now. I was worried about what to do about Ann if that happened, too. I had to discuss it with Karumi-san when the time came.
I ordered the practical herbalism book and put six 100000 DL coins into the piggy bank. I started reading the book as soon as it arrived, and did so all the way until nighttime. The blue light enveloping the ravine after sunset was as magical as ever, but it wasn't really bright enough to read a book. There was a magic light crystal which illuminated about as much as a fluorescent light for sale on Tundra. It consumed Willpower and emitted a bright light, but it was a popular item, so it sold out right way. I wanted one of those, someday.
In the end, I ate more of the sugared pumpkin Ann had made, as well as a tennis ball-sized grape-ish fruit, and we finally retired to bed for the night.
◇
I couldn't really make sense of the events that transpired. The faint and mysterious light of the glowing moss shined into the room from the window, and a beautiful girl laid down on top of me.
The girl looked right at me with her big amber eyes. Eyes filled with uneasiness, or was it expectation...? The complex mix of emotions in her eyes gave off a rather mysterious vibe. Her matching amber locks of long hair were incredibly beautiful as well. My gaze followed the line of her hair and landed on the oversized white shirt she was wearing. My eyes became glued to her exposed skin. It took all of my willpower to not continue further.
She seemed dangerous, yet bewitching. I was overcome with an immoral feeling of corrupting a girl that hadn't yet reached maturity. With her touch, the girl broke me down and made me feel this undeniable attraction to the opposite sex.
Her feminine, frail figure that incited you to restrain; a smile that made you feel a deep, fiery passion, together with the need to protect, numbed my brain and reasoning like sweet, sweet alcohol. So I slowly took my hand to the girl's head, as if it was the most natural thing in the world...
---Wait... What happened? What's going on right now!?
I stopped the hand that was going towards her shoulder mid-way.
---My hand seemed naturally guided to the girl's head, but wasn't there something off about this!?
I was at a loss of what to even think.
---I went to sleep like usual, right!? How many years has it been since I felt this confused?
Let me try to break down what went on. Rather, let us disconnect for a second and think over everything that happened leading up to this. It was a good thing I had trained really hard as a gamer to not lose my cool no matter what. It was a really useful skill...!
---Well, then... I think it'll be okay if I recall about 30 minutes, let's do that:
1) I put the leftover water in a pan and used the embers from dinner to warm it up a little bit before going to sleep like always.
2) I dipped in a cloth and used it to clean Ann's body first, then she went to bed like always.
3) I clean myself a little with the warm water as well.
4) I go and lay down on the bed, and a beautiful, half-naked girl is laying on top of me and hugging me.
5) No good. The skin contact in places I've never felt before is making me lose my mind (We're here right now.)
"........."
That was weird. What kind of event goes off after going to bed for the day? That was way too sudden.
---Umm... What's happening here? Am I having a dirty dream? I'm so confused that I'm literally speechless. Although we're working all the time, Ann's always close to me from the second we wake up until we go to sleep. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I can't process my lust as a man...
I remained silent. But an uneasy expression took over the strangely familiar, beautiful girl in front of me.
"Is... my body... weird? Does it make you feel bad?"
"Huh? Ann?"
"Yes."
I was shocked, but the memory I'd discarded as a mistake jolted back into my mind. I see, this was the Ann I saw when I met her for the first time. Where did the fluffy doggy girl go? I also had the feeling she grew a few centimeters as well.
"No, it's not weird. I think you're pretty cute, but... your body's changed so much,"
"This is my real body. I usually use my kobold form because I can use kobold abilities with it. Auntie told me to stay like that normally."
"I see... so that's what being a half-kobold means."
So her appearance by default was that of a human girls', and she gained a kobold's abilities by changing into that form... How unexpected. Her sitting on top of me, naked, with only a white shirt was wearing away at my self-control. Wasn't that the shirt I gave her so that she could sleep? Since she normally didn't really need pajamas to sleep in her kobold form. I thought of it like a cat or dog feeling safer if they had something that belonged to their owner. Something familiar like a shirt or a towel. That's why I gave her my shirt, but I realized just how much of a destructive weapon it really was. I couldn't tell you what kind of effect this weapon had on me with a clean conscience, though.
"Yeah. My dad was a human and my mom a Kobold, that's why."
So that was what she meant by half-kobold. Could Ann's father be from the Earth? This place had all kinds of races and clans, so it wasn't exactly a place where one would need to be a 'specialized fetish' like in Japan, but it was still doubtful. Kobolds were indeed cute, but the hurdle to take one as a partner, not to mention procreation, seemed quite high.
---No, that's not the problem right now!
"Hngh... She told me it wouldn't be the same, but it really feels way different to hug you while in this form. It's making my heart beat so fast."
I lose myself in her enraptured eyes as she continued to cover my whole body with her embrace. This was bad, really bad.
Men across the world would start counting prime numbers or repeating mantras inside their heads, but in my case, I remembered the battles against hard bosses from a Japanese MMORPG tournament I'd participated in with my old party, to get my mind in order.
I recalled being in a town attack as a bow horsemen. The image of me above a swinging horse, focusing to hit another archer on top of the bell tower, helped relax my mind. I could remember the trajectory of the arrow flying to its target as I shot; the concentration I needed as a bow horseman... Phew, I calmed down a little bit.
"Wait a second, Ann, who told you that?"
"Huh? My auntie."
---JENNYYYYYYY! What are you teaching to your niece!?
"My
face feels hot, and there's a tingling feeling inside my chest. I wonder why..."
---She's close. Too close. Way too close!
"Hyah!"
The abrupt warm feeling in my throat was so sudden it made me moan unexpectedly.
"A-Ann, what are you doing?"
The whole situation made me stutter. I was having a hard time processing all of this.
"(lick) I don't know why, but I feel like licking you. Oh? My heart is beating even harder."
"Ann? Umm... Do you know what you're doing?"
The angels in my heart spoke out in unison...
---"Go for it, lucky dog!"
They said with smiling faces and a thumbs up! I know I want to, but this wasn't right!
"Hm...? We're just being with each other and sleeping together, right?"
Her face was totally red, but she gave me a pure and innocent answer. She didn't understand this situation at all!
"Umm... And then I have to hug you real tight."
Well, I did feel happy in more than one sense when she hugged me so strongly...!
"And, well... Help me take care of this feeling inside of me, please, Aoi," she whispered.
The words she whispered into my ear were like a bomb to my self-control. Wasn't that a little too much!? How was I supposed to take care of it!? I'd like to know! My mind was on the verge of going blank from the situation. Ann's smile, and her desire to entrust herself to me, didn't help in holding it back.
"I-I see... Y-You're probably just tired. S-So just hug me. Let's put the blanket over us and sleep... Okay?"
I put the blanket around the both of us and used the technique that worked whenever she had trouble sleeping because of muscular pain, or missing her family throughout these last two months; I pat her head with everything I had to make her fall asleep...!
"Hmm... I'm sleepy... you... know... I talked with... Auntie... Mmm... She told me I could... become your... If I... did, I... could... stay with you... forever... A... Aoi... I... love you..."
She fell asleep... To be honest, those last words were a far bigger weapon than the direct contact of skin, or her feminine smell creeping its way into my brain. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would burst from my chest. Jenny's trap was really powerful. Terrifying, even... I may have wanted to follow the primal desires of my heart, but my situation as manager here was unstable. If I laid my hands on her as my trial period ended, and I couldn't come back for some reason, I'd end up hurting Ann deeply.
Also, I wanted to thank my brothers that helped me get to the finals of that MMORPG tournament, and for giving me the memories I needed to stay sane just now. I wanted to thank that other archer; remembering the moment both of us tensed the bow with our dominant arm and let the arrow fly at the very same time, and the way he turned the tables by cutting it up with a dagger, then charging at me head on. Your high tension, murderous intent, and passion-packed swords dance were the only things that kept me in check. Were you the angel named conscience? I wanted to boo the other ones that were giving me a thumbs up, with lascivious smiles. I really wanted to know if there were different angels in my heart, and my conscience.
If I was a character in an otome game, I would push me over the limit and just hug the heroine, and fall asleep just like that. But that was impossible, I couldn't do it. It took me a good while to slip out of the bed and the cabin without waking up Ann in the process, and then about 30 minutes to straighten out and calm down my heart.
I couldn't do anything about it, I was a healthy man. There was no way I could sleep hugging Ann as if nothing had happened, after she opened up her heart to me like that, unless you castrated me or something...!
◇
The next day, Ann paid a visit to Jenny's once again.
"Ann, did it go well?"
"Well... We slept together, but it was just like always."
"That's weird. You told him the line I taught you, right?"
"Yes. I turned into my real form, hugged him real hard, and whispered into his ear just like you told me to. But he covered us with a blanket and patted my head. It felt so good I fell asleep."
"Tch... Seems Aoi's one step ahead of us."
Aoi's strategy made the veteran Jenny click her tongue, with a villainous look on her face.
"A-Auntie, your face looks kinda scary."
"Say, Ann. Do you remember Aoi's face last night? Did he look annoyed? Disgusted? Pained? Which one was it?"
"Umm... Yes. He looked surprised at first, then troubled, and he looked pretty pained by the end. Hey, Auntie. He looked like he was in a lot of pain, did I do something bad to him? Will he hate me?"
"Hahahah. It's fine, don't worry. He really loves you, that pained face is all the proof you need."
"R-Really?"
"That's right. When boys can't contain themselves, they do something pretty violent to girls. Well, if you love the person you're doing it with, there's nothing more blissful as a woman."
"Hmm... Is that so? I was really excited, but he seemed to be in so much pain. I feel kinda sorry."
"That's how I know he loves you. Men make that face when they want to treasure the girl they love."
"I-I see. So he does love me."
Although some of Jenny's words were rather skewed, her experience added a lot to her persuasiveness, which makes Ann show a big, sincere smile.
"Well then, what will out next plan be...?"
"Auntie, let's try something not too painful for him, okay!?"
Ann recalled how Aoi looked last night as she mustered up the courage to murmur those words right into his ear.
"Then you'll be doing a sneaking visit tonight."
As a mother trying with all her might to tie Ann and Aoi together, Jenny decided to double-down on her efforts.
"A... Sneaking visit?"
Sadly, the girl that was in no position to stop her Aunt's tyranny, as she knew far too little about her means. If only she knew, she would at least have room for doubt about stopping or not, but alas.
"First of all, keep everything as normal for a while. Oh yeah, make sure you're dressed lightly, or even naked when you sleep together. Since you two will be in the labyrinth of the Great Dark Lord, try to get out of the kobold form as much as possible when together with him. You'll have to try and live with it to get closer to him. Okay?
At this point it would be like a critical hit to Aoi, but Jenny was determined to take this as far as koboldly possible.
"Yes, my heart starts beating really fast when I'm with him in my real form, but I'll do my best."
"It'll be good if you keep it up for about two weeks, okay? He should get used to sleeping together with you naked by then. That's when he gets careless."
"Yes, yes! And then what?"
"Then you do the sneaking visit. If he's determined enough by then, you'll finally become his mistress."
"Huh? Are sneaking visits that awesome?"
"You see, the deed will be done by the time he wakes up."
Jenny's next plan was to overwhelm him with her feminine charm and appeal to the fire of his youth, but it could backfire, causing him to distrust women if it didn't go well.
"Done... deed?"
"It'll be kinda hard to explain without an example..."
The figure of a lone boy came into Jenny's view as she wracked her brain thinking of a way to explain.
"Oooh, well if it isn't our nice neighbor, Boboru. You're right on time."
"Huh? Umm... Good day, Miss Jenny. Wh-Why are you holding my shoulders?"
The youth Jenny was about to assault was a kobold that was about two years younger than Ann... Although strangely enough, he was older than her in kobold years. He was named Boboru, a timid young kobold that lived in one of the neighboring farmhouses.
"I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to teach Ann something. Would you mind becoming my teaching material for a little bit?"
When the young boy saw Jenny's wry smile as she licked her own lips, his instinctive sen
se of preservation kicked in. The fear and the shivers went down his spine beckoning him to run away, but Jenny's grip on his shoulders said otherwise, as she slowly dragged him into the house.
"Eeek! You're kinda scary today, Miss Jenny, I'm scared..."
"There, there, you're a man too, Boboru. It's no big deal, I promise."
"I'm scared! Help! Anyone!"
Boboru's hand stretched out in terror, trying to seek help. He barely reached the outside entrance to the house before the door slammed shut, preventing his shrieks from echoing out to the village. That day, the single boy became...
"Teaching material."
As he climbed one step on the stairs of adulthood, Ann learned one thing about the subtlety of adults with Jenny's practical field trip: the race of kobolds wasn't a particularly strong one within this world. However, the women living here at the border had a level of strength that went above and beyond regular kobolds.
◇
After Ann left for Jenny's house early in the morning, I spent a good while sitting on the chair in front of the cabin, just thinking for a long while. I wondered how long it had been since the last time I did that . Fortunately, Ann left early in the morning. I could still feel her touch from last night even after we woke up and had breakfast together, so it was a bit difficult looking her straight in the eye. I'm glad I had some time to calm down and sort out my feelings.
Just then, someone happened to visit the cabin.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Sara from Milt Village," she bowed.
The girl that introduced herself seemed to be around the same age as Ann.
She had bright blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She wore a seemingly very well-made apron dress, with simple colors that suited her very well. She seemed pretty light-skinned and tidy compared to the other villagers. She was pretty cute in a different way than Ann. It seemed almost otherworldly, like looking at a doll. She had a very lady-like air to her.
"Nice to meet you, I'm the apprentice labyrinth manager. My name's Aoi."
Staring for long was rude. It was common sense for adults to return with a polite greeting when given one.
Strongest Gamer; Let's Play in Another World Volume 1 Page 9
