I rub my eyes as I sit up, and see I’m on my bed.
“…When did I fall asleep?”
I look around, but don’t see anyone. The bed is cold, but there are signs that someone was here.
Yesterday was… Aira’s turn, right?
My memory is fuzzy… Hm?
Ah, she’s always wearing her maid outfit, but she surprised me with a see-through negligee.
Oh? But what happened after that?
“Fuah…”
I’m sleepy.
My body feels languid, and I’m still tired.
But at the same time, I feel strangely refreshed…?
Yesterday’s trip to the dungeon was half play, and half fighting with the bow.
I’m pretty sure nothing I did was intense enough for me to still be tired. In fact, Aira was the one on the front line, so if anyone should be tired…
I think about that as I head to the living room, still in my pajamas.
I’m greeted by Maki, who is wearing an apron. I see Aira in the back too.
It looks like they’re preparing breakfast. When Maki sees me, she smiles like an angel.
“Good morning, Shouta.”
“Good morning, Maki…”
“Oh? Are you tired?”
“Hm… I don’t know why, but I don’t feel rested.”
Aira is in my peripheral vision, and I see her freeze for a moment.
“Perhaps you were squeezed too much yesterday…”
Aira mumbles something that I can’t really catch. What was that?
I feel like she’s the opposite of me. She’s full of vigor, and her face looks slick…
“Shouta, are you taking a break today?”
“…No, I’m collecting seeds on the first floor. That shouldn’t make me more tired. And if possible, I want to search for those treasure chests too.”
“Understood. Breakfast is almost ready, so wait for a bit, okay?”
“Yes, thanks.”
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
After that, I say good morning to Aki and Ayane after they wake up, and we have breakfast.
And as I get ready to leave…
“You two aren’t coming today?”
“No, we can’t just keep taking days off. But we don’t want to leave you either, so we asked Youko to work in the 810 branch.”
“Feel free to keep exploring. I already handed your lunch to Aira.”
Say Aki and then Maki.
“…”
I see, they aren’t coming…
“Shouta?”
“Geez, what? Are you feeling lonely?”
“Yes…”
““!!””
We were together for three days, so I feel lonely leaving them all of a sudden.
Working alone felt natural until not too long ago. I’ve gotten weaker… Well, at least I have Ayane and Aira, but at this point, I feel like I can’t go back to how I was when I was hunting slime alone.
“Should we pass by the association on our way back?”
“Yes, we’ll be waiting.”
“Be safe out there.”
“Yes…”
I hug both.
“See you later.”
““Take care.””
…Okay.
Let’s switch gears, and really go out there hunting, for the first time in a few days.
◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇
When we get to the first floor, I see the entrance is full of couples, as usual.
“So master, what will you do?”
“Hold on a second.”
I check the map, and see seven green reactions.
There were still six when we came back yesterday, so does it take two days to respawn?
“Let’s check the seven iron stops first. It’s easy to get mixed up, but what I’m looking for might be there.”
I’m being vague because of all the people around us, but they get the message.
Then, Aira picks Ayane up and carries her on her back.
“Understood.”
“Let’s go for it!”
“Yes.”
We start running, and reach the first spot in a few minutes. As expected, there’s a big tree, and I can’t see a treasure chest anywhere around it. I knew it, it’s on top.
“Aira, can you get it?”
“Leave it to me.”
I should be going too, but I’m still not feeling at my best… I don’t want to mess up and fall.
And since I’m thinking I’m feeling this way because Aira did something to me, Aira can’t complain.
I pat Ayane’s head as we wait for two or three minutes, and Aira returns.
“Master, it is another iron treasure chest.”
“Good job. Can you keep it in your bag?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s open them all when we get back.”
We spend the next hour or so collecting them.
There are five iron treasure chests and two wood ones. The iron ones were all on top of big trees, while the wood ones were close to their roots.
However, none of them have the patterns I’m looking for. There really is something to those that makes them different from the ones that show up on my map from the start.
I still haven’t seen any new reactions, even after going around so much. All I see are white and red reactions.
There’s no green anywhere.
“Am I off the mark?”
“Don’t worry darling! Not every day can go well.”
“Thanks Ayane. Yes, things have actually gone too well all this time.”
“What should we do?”
“I’m sure you’re tired too, Aira, so let’s take a break and then start hunting Golden Worms.”
She climbed five of those big trees and ran around the area. She’s not breathing heavily or anything, but I’m sure she’s feeling some exhaustion.
“How about we rest for ten minutes?”
“You work your maids hard, master.”
“Sorry, but isn’t it your fault that I’m tired? I still can’t remember what happened, but still…”
“Well, yes. I did attack you while you slept.”
“…Ah?”
What is with this maid?
“What did you do to me?”
“…Well, first, you held me as if I were a pillow last night. With me so far?”
“…Yes, I vaguely remember it.”
Soft here and there, nice smell, receptive… I feel like I lost my consciousness in a second.
“You fell asleep right away, but it seems you had a lot accumulated after seeing the ladies in their swimsuits for so long. After all, even when you were asleep, ‘that’ made its presence quite clear.”
“Wait wait wait, stop stop.”
I figured it was something like that, but this is getting graphic…!
“Accumulated?”
““…””
How can Ayane be so pushy and yet so dense about that…?
Aira and I exchange a look. She smiles, and whispers in my ear.
“And then, mumble mumble.”
“…!”
“You still had energy, so mumble mumble.”
“…!?”
“But I could not control myself either, so… Mumble mumble mumble.”
“!!?”
I almost faint in agony as Aira tells me what happened.
No wonder I’m tired!!
“But then I stopped. Surely you want to do it with them first, correct?”
“When I’m awake, preferably.”
“Geez, what are you talking about?”
Ayane puffs her cheeks, unable to keep up.
“It’s too early for you, Ayane.”
“Eh… Stop treating me like a child!”
Ayane is cute when she’s mad. I pat her head to soothe her, and Aira opens a map like nothing happened.
“By the way, master.”
“That was a fast turnabout. What…”
“These are the places where we found the treasure chests this time and last time… Do you notice something?”
Aira is showing me eight places with X marks. All of them… Are near walls. They’re not spaced out at regular intervals, but it’s like they’re avoiding something.
“…Is the main one in the center?”
“That is a possibility.”
“Yes, and there was a big tree in the center too. I remember seeing it the last time we hunted Golden Worms.”
It was dark, but I remember it.
“Should we go there?”
“Of course!”
“Let’s go!”
And so, we head to the center of the first floor.
Join my patreon to support me and read ahead.
