Chapter 26: 26. De Facto Marriage
A general store tucked away in a secluded alley somewhere in the Eastern Continent.
"Ugh... not a soul in sight... Should I start closing up?"
Han had inherited the shop in place of her elderly mother, whose back had begun to ache.
She stared up at the pitch-black night sky and let out a long, heavy sigh.
A shop no bigger than a rat’s tail, in a terrible location.
It was the kind of place where customers couldn’t possibly come.
As always, she sat before the counter and stared blankly at the door.
Should she close? Or not? Would it be all right to shut early for once?
Han rose from her seat, only to shake her head instead of closing the door.
"Tch. If nothing’s selling, I should at least work hard..."
Not that she had ever bothered to mop the floor, but you needed customers around before you could summon up any energy.
"I even brought in all these goods from the west... Tch! They’ll all rot away before I sell them—!"
Han’s mouth snapped shut just as she was about to vent her irritation at the door.
Because...
Creeeak.
"Hello..."
The body of the man who stepped through the door...
"...Slurp!"
"Are you open?"
"Y-yes! Of course we are!"
The broad-shouldered, solidly built man gestured outside the shop.
"She says they’re open."
"R-right..."
The woman who came in at his gesture had an absolutely incredible figure even beneath her cloak.
Wow... Do you need a body like that to keep a man like him around?
The faint outline of the man’s jaw beneath his gauze veil set Han’s imagination running wild.
If she just laid him down and swallowed him whole, then...
"Do you happen to have condoms?"
"W-what? Y-yes, we do!"
Han, who had been entertaining lewd fantasies at the sight of the Adam’s apple he had failed to conceal, quickly got to her feet.
As Han naturally rummaged through the box where the condoms were stored, her imagination went into overdrive.
Wow, hearing a man say “condoms” is so fucking hot...
Han glanced at the man and held out a small paper box.
"Is this... what you mean?"
The lips beneath the veil curled as he nodded.
"Yes, please give me five of those."
"A-ah, baby... that many?"
"We go through them fast anyway, so we might as well stock up."
Judging by the look of him, the man apparently had an enormous sex drive.
What a fucking slut... Fuck, I’m jealous. I want a sexy man like that too... Haa... I’d call him baby and just...
Swallowing the curse that threatened to spill from her lips out of jealousy, Han took out five boxes and handed them to the man.
"That’ll be five silver coins."
The man smoothly paid five silver coins from inside his clothes and greeted her.
"Here you go. Take care!"
After cheerfully saying goodbye, the man casually draped a hand over the woman’s shoulder. The woman wrapped an arm around his waist, and the two walked out.
"...That’s tonight’s material."
Han swiftly shut the shop door and let her imagination run wild all night long.
**
♥♥♥
"Haa... haa..."
"Hoo..."
Throb!
Twitch... gulp...♥
♥♥♥
"Huff... huff... baby... this... this is just us helping each other... all right?"
I held my Master, who kept spouting nonsense, in my arms and stroked her.
"Of course, Master. I’ve felt firsthand just how terrifying a heart demon can be. This is all to soothe it."
Over the past few days, Master and I had practically become a de facto married couple.
It wouldn’t change anything to enjoy everything and then declare it didn’t count, but I wanted Master to feel even a little more at ease.
As I stroked her hair and back, Master’s tail wagged wildly, flinging away the blanket that covered us.
In the slightly chilly air, Master burrowed deeper into my embrace.
"Hehe...♥ That’s right... This is because of the heart demon! Hehehe!♥"
Wag wag wag wag.
Ah... the heart demon was coming for her again.
I opened a fresh box of condoms.
"Baby... you said only five times a day... mm?♥ Ahh!♥"
♥♥♥
For the first time in a while, I went out into the yard with Master while she was actually wearing clothes.
Master, whose inner qi had not fully recovered yet, chose a sparring match instead of practicing Thousand-Pound Drop.
Clack! Clack! Whoosh! Swish!
"Hehe, you’ve improved so much already. There truly is nothing like real combat..."
Master blocked my all-out strikes with ridiculous ease.
She looked slow. How was she doing it?
When Master thrust her sword toward my waist, I stepped deeply inside to create an opening, but...
Tap.
Her sword was already touching my head.
I looked at Master in utter bewilderment, and she smiled as though she were having fun.
"Hehe, you look as though you’ve seen a ghost."
"...I have no idea how you did that. Did you accelerate in an instant?"
Master shook her head and assumed a stance.
"Your sword forms are finally settling into your body... Good! I’ll teach you. Try blocking this attack."
Master’s sword descended from above, slowly and heavily.
The instant I raised my sword horizontally to block it...
Tap.
Her sword was touching my shoulder.
"...Wow."
"What did you think of that sword just now?"
I couldn’t exactly say, I thought it was like a goblin’s magic club, so I simply told her my impression.
"It looked slow, but it also looked heavy. How can that be? For a sword to feel heavy, it has to build up speed..."
"No, no. It only looked heavy; it wasn’t actually heavy. The swords never even made contact, did they?"
Come to think of it, she was right. Why had I thought that slow movement looked heavy?
Master gave a knowing smile.
"Your eyes are starting to grow accustomed to your opponent’s attacks. Now that you can see the sword, watch the wrist."
It was the same attack as before. Since it would only touch my body anyway, I stared intently at her wrist.
Perhaps because she intended to demonstrate it, the attack came even slower than before.
Just before the slowly descending wrist reached my shoulder, it bent slightly.
Tap.
"...Your wrist bent slightly."
Master smiled and swayed her tail.
"That’s right! This time, watch the elbow."
This time, her elbow bent slightly and the wooden sword touched my shoulder. Then next...
"Next is the shoulder...?"
"Exactly! I knew that with your aptitude, you’d grasp the theory at once."
This time, her shoulder tilted slightly as the attack landed. Next came her knee, waist, chest...
"If you close the distance one piece at a time in an instant like this..."
Master’s sword touched my shoulder in the blink of an eye.
Whoosh! Tap...
"I shortened the distance by about a hand and a half. It feels much faster than you’d expect, doesn’t it?"
"Yes..."
"Every tiny muscle in the body contains intent. That is why you must watch the movements of the entire body."
Master closed her eyes and took a slight step back.
"Now, attack me."
I attacked Master, who had her sword held out, with a thrust.
Whoooosh!
Clack!
"Wow..."
With her eyes still closed, Master blocked my attack with the tip of her sword.
As I stood entranced by that insane feat of skill, Master curled her lips into a grin.
"The stronger your opponent becomes, the harder it will be to rely on sight alone. There will be feints mixed in, and their movements will grow faster. Reading all of that is instinct. Predicted information gathered by every sense—sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste. If you sharpen that..."
Master took several children’s books from her subspace and tossed them into the air.
She closed her eyes and swung her sword a few times...
Clack, clack, clack, clack!
The children’s books stacked neatly atop the wooden sword.
"Woooow..."
"That is how prediction becomes possible."
That was cool as hell...
Master raised her nose proudly, swaying her tail as she spoke.
"You need to read this before you can imbue your sword with subtle principles! You used subtle principles instinctively, sweetie! Hehe... Ah! You can even mix qi into your senses to read them, you know? Once you’re used to it, you can live even with your senses shut off. Even if the sword’s path wavers, if you aim in a perfectly straight line only at the place you must cut... W-why are you looking at me like that...?"
"Master, you’re so cool..."
"We already did it twice this morning... hm?"
"Morning training is over anyway. Just once before we eat..."
"D-don’t rub that against me... Seriously...♥"
♥♥♥
"Haa... haa... To master qi-sense... real combat is what matters... When are you entering the next labyrinth?"
Ah, right.
I remembered something that my brain, clouded by lust lately, had completely forgotten.
"Master, something happened recently..."
I told Master, who was lying down and savoring the afterglow, what had happened so far.
Master’s ears perked straight up, and she abruptly raised her upper body.
"Hm? Since the first day? Hm? A young lady of House Velatus? Wait... the twenty-fifth?!"
On the twenty-fifth, the labyrinth’s layout and location through the tenth floor began changing on a monthly cycle.
The period was at the end of every month—the thirtieth and thirty-first. February, which only had twenty-eight days, was especially dangerous in that regard.
A week before the labyrinth reset began, the monsters grew stronger, and powerful bosses started appearing on the tenth floor.
At midnight on the thirty-first, the labyrinth closed, and on the first day of each month, it reset.
No matter how strong someone was, their survival rate was zero percent... Master clasped her chin and sank into thought.
"The twenty-fifth... But a ducal house... Hm..."
I asked Master.
"Do you know what kind of family they are, Master?"
"They are dukes of the Hesperia Empire. Their rank is below only one person and above ten thousand, and their role is... overseeing the labyrinth expedition force."
The expedition force consisted of people sponsored by various members of the upper class, who pushed onward to see the end of the labyrinth.
They were not people who earned enough for a few days and lived day to day. They were a gathering of individuals with a genuine chance of reaching the hundredth floor.
As I fell into thought, Master placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Refuse them. I will find some way to resolve it..."
It seemed a path to joining the expedition force had opened up, but Master did not look pleased.
"No matter what, it is too dangerous. If there is even a ten percent chance that you might die, I do not want to send you."
The labyrinth expedition force was surely tied to a major main story in the original game.
That was how the game review had explained it, after all...
If I’d known this would happen, I should have looked into it more before starting. I had begun far too hastily.
But there was no point regretting it now. Action was the only answer.
I took Master’s hand and smiled faintly.
"I’ll be back."
"Sweetie..."
"Don’t worry. I can’t die when I have you, Master."
At my words, Master’s tail swayed.
"...You have already made up your mind. It is written so plainly on your face—how will you survive such a harsh world like that?"
"Should I practice acting with my expressions?"
"No. Just the way you are is... nice."
Because Master smiled beautifully as she stroked my cheek...
Throb.
"...L-let’s use just one more... one last time?"
Master, get over here!
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