“Are you sure you don’t want to head home for a few minutes?”

  “Yup.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Yea, but are you really sure? Because I don’t mind.”

  I paused, hand on the Adventurer’s Guild’s door and looked to Yua. Her comforting smile was nothing less than beautiful, but I couldn’t help but feel as though she was using it to tease me. Mana, too, for that matter, though her furtive gnces suggested she was more likely waiting to be called on for assistance, as was her duty as my mate.

  However, I was fine.

  “Can we drop it, Yua? Just because the maids showed a bit more skin than they’re used to doesn’t mean I suddenly can’t control my urges.”

  While we did spend the st few minutes getting a copious amount of the maid’s skirt-flipping and panty-fshing thanks to Ene’s self-serving pranks on the them, I was still in complete control. I was not a little boy anymore. Just seeing a woman’s underwear wasn’t going to throw my sanity over the edge, for I was an experienced man.

  “Are you sure,” Yua continued, grabbing my arm. “Because just seeing our panties is usually enough to get you in the mood. And you really shouldn’t be fighting anything when you’re like…”

  I put a finger to her peachy lips to stop her from saying any more. We had no idea who was currently in the guild, but I’ve been here enough times now to have the staffs’ hours memorized. And today, the guild girl that usually worked this hour just so happened to be a buxom rabbit-kin with long floppy ears. Meaning she might have heard us.

  “I’m fine,” I said, hoping she understood the finality in my voice. “I’m not that needy. Now let’s go.”

  “Big Bro,” Mana said, stopping me again. She shifted Lucy in her arms to grab my sleeve and looked up at me with determination furrowing her brow. “I’m here for you. Whenever you need me.”

  “Ugh…”

  Saving us the trouble, a five-man Adventurer group pushed past the door to leave the guild. We politely stepped aside and when the coast was clear, I moved behind the girls and pushed them into the building before the doors closed again - and before they could say any more.

  Yua must have been somewhat confident that nobody was listening, but at least they both knew to keep that sort of talk under wraps in public. Well, the sort of public where others could listen.

  The pce was as lively as ever and, as expected, the guild girl on duty was the rabbit-kin Milly. And equally as expected, the long line extending from her window consisted entirely of men. More importantly, it looked as though she was much too busy dealing with the lecherous gazes of my fellow Adventurers as she processed their quests to have noticed our conversation.

  Meanwhile, the quest board was as busy as it usually was this early in the day. More than ten Adventurers were gathered together, cmoring over quests details and starting small arguments over who grabbed what quest first.

  “Let’s just find us a quest and get going,” I said and Yua started towards the board.

  She used her womanly slenderness to her advantage and slipped into the crowd, disappearing amongst their ranks until her ears popped up over their heads. Seeing this, the crowd parted slightly to give her a respectful amount of breathing room.

  We’d stopped hiding our retionship, so they knew she was spoken for and, apparently, Adventurer’s had a sort of unspoken rule keeping them from going after a fellow Adventurer’s woman and Yua had no problem using this fact to her advantage if it meant getting the upper hand in quest selection.

  Leaving the quest search to her for the moment, I found Mana pinching her nose shut as she gred cute little daggers at the bar on the other side of the guild.

  She’d gotten used to the smell of alcohol thanks to Ene, but that by no means meant she enjoyed it.

  “Wait here, Mana,” I said, pointing to an empty seat. “We won’t be long.”

  “Hmph. Why do humans like that smelly drink so much?”

  Pouting, Mana dropped into the chair and waited for an answer I didn’t have. Lucy, however, wriggled out of her arms and hopped onto the floor. It was her first time at the guild and, as the cat was want to do, she immediately set about observing her new surroundings with all the pomp and circumstance guiding her every step like she were its new owner.

  With a casual light-footed gait, she stepped under a table, almost unconcerned with the booted feet resting beneath it. Thankfully, those feet belonged to two women that were too busy enjoying each other’s company to notice her.

  I snapped my fingers and the cat turned just her head back to me. “Lucy, come back.”

  Lucy stared at me for a moment, her expression bnk as always, then turned and walked further under the table. She stopped again, this time to sniff some food that had been dropped on the floor.

  “What are you doing?” I sighed. “You’re just a familiar. You don’t even need food.”

  Summoned by sorcery, she was something closer to a ghost than a real living thing and she never ate. And yet, the beastly curiosity she had on Earth continued to drive her.

  “Lucy, come back. Now.”

  In response to my stern command that drew the attention of the women, who in turn looked under their table to see what I was looking at, Lucy ignored me completely to lick at the food.

  “Ughh... This cat.”

  “Mmn,” Mana hummed, still holding her nose. “Lucy, come here, please.”

  Lucy stopped again, just in time to see Mana pat her thigh but one single time. Lucy’s ear flicked just as many times before she stepped over the feet of the women and jumped neatly into Mana’s p, where she curled up and let herself be pet without question.

  I rubbed my forehead.

  Yua’s teasing me, Ene’s harassing the maid’s on my supposed behalf and now my own familiar would rather listen to Mana instead of me. What did I do to deserve this?

  Is this because of all those te nights I spent working and couldn’t feed you in time, Lucy? Because that wasn’t my fault!

  Grumbling to myself, I joined the mob by the quest board, only to find Yua pressing a knuckle to her chin as she looked over the various slips. For a brief moment, I hoped she hadn’t found anything and was just looking to see what else we could get, but that same brief moment allowed me to memorize the contents of the quest slips I saw.

  There weren’t many bandit-reted quests set aside for C-ranked Adventurers like us, but there were a few.

  “Anything good?” I asked and Yua’s ears flicked.

  “Hmm… These two would be easiest,” she said, pointing to two different slips. “Those are the ones with the fewest bandits.”

  “Right. Wouldn’t want our first quest to be against an army. How many are we looking at, though?”

  “This one has eight bandits and the other has twelve.”

  “Eight? Seriously?”

  Eight is on the low-end? Sure, the slip says they are all estimated to be around or below level 10, but that’s only an estimate. And C-ranked quests were supposed to be the easiest. Most Adventurers start working once they hit level 10 and they’re already going against people of the same level? We were higher level than that, especially Ene, but that’s still a lot to ask for.

  I read through the quest, but its simplified details didn’t alleviate any of my worries.

  C-Rank Bandit Extermination: It has been brought to the Guild’s attention that the vilge of Villeverdure, located on the Alensir river and near the old Errat Fort, has been repeatedly attacked by a group of bandits. According to the woman who sent the request, there are no less than eight bandits and they are reportedly hiding within the vilge itself. Only four of the bandits are confirmed to be human, and all are estimated to be around level 10 based on observation. A reward of three gold pieces will be given after proof of the bandit’s death has been provided to the guild.

  “This doesn’t give any details about their csses or weapons.”

  Yua shrugged, but shot me a reassuring smile. “If you’re worried about them being like Tillmann’s men, don’t be. Most bandits are just regur people that did something really bad. Or really stupid. That doesn’t mean they know how to fight.”

  “And we Adventurers level by fighting,” I said, looking over the quest slip again. “Almost feels like we’d be picking on the weak, then.”

  “Just remember,” she said, nudging my arm before pulling down the slip in question. “Every single one of these bandits are murderers. They don’t deserve pity.”

  She handed me the easier of the two quests, seemingly without regard for the other details. The reward was fairly handsome, but as usual during quest selection, I had no idea where the target vilge of Villeverdure was and I was sure she didn’t either. Near or far, it didn’t really matter. Teleportation magic made our travel expenses nearly non-existent.

  Thankfully on top of this, the oh-so-well-travelled Ene likely knows how to get there.

  Man, it’s like our family was born to be an adventuring party. One wife likes to punch things, one is a super tough humanoid GPS and the other is… Well, our cute, sharpshooting mascot who is currently being harassed by a bunch of men.

  As Yua and I gathered in line with the other adventurers waiting their turn with the guild girl, I spotted Mana, casually sitting where I left her as she continued petting an oddly obedient Lucy. Only, there were five men standing around her, another Adventuring party.

  I was moments away from thinking that her extraordinary cuteness had cimed another set of victims, but then I recognized them when the group’s leader, a tall red-headed Swordsman in light armor named Emil csped his hands together in prayer, not to his god, but to Mana.

  This group, the Flying Bdes, were well known around these parts, partially because they were good, helpful people, but the majority of what fame they had came from Emil himself, a former noble. That and the fact that they stubbornly refused anyone that wanted to join their party unless they used a bded weapon. For some reason.

  And it seems they’re begging for help, from Mana of all people.

  “Come on, Mana, please reconsider. There’s a quest that’d be perfect for us, but we need someone with more range. An Archer like you would be perfect. The quest is a B-rank, but we’ll protect you and cut you in on the reward.”

  “Mmn… No.”

  “You’ll barely have to do anything,” added another man with dark blue hair. “Just come with us, put a few arrows in some monster bird wings and when they drop, we’ll take care of the rest.”

  “Help us, and we’ll pay you the equivalent of a C-rank quest reward.”

  “Mmn… I don’t wanna.”

  Looking much like a mob boss rejecting the pleas of someone that betrayed the family, Mana turned her chin away from the group. Emil’s face dropped, as did the rest of his party.

  Coincidentally, when I scanned the quest board, I saw the quest he was talking about and understood his desire to tackle it. Apparently, some sort of unnamed flying monsters were terrorizing a rather well-off vilge some ways away. It seems that those living there had pooled their coin together to make the request, because the reward was about twice the usual B-rank fare.

  Unfortunately for them, Archers were somewhat rare amongst Adventurers.

  Seeing them continue to plead their case, though, I beckoned to Mana with a finger, using telekinesis to discreetly tug on her tail. She looked our way and jumped off her seat and, with Lucy dangling in her arms, ran to join us.

  I put an arm around her shoulder and faced Emil.

  “Sorry, guys. She’s with us.”

  A collective groan filled our side of the building, coupled with a giggle from the women at the table beside them.

  Emil, however, stepped up, his gait exuding confidence. With a proud, handsome smile that really screamed I’m former nobility and his shiny, polished armor, he raised a fist to me. I tapped my knuckle against his in a friendly bump.

  “How about this, Alex. We’ll arm-wrestle for it. If I win, you let us borrow Mana and her bow for a few days. But if you win, you can borrow Gatry for whatever quest you’re on.”

  “What? Why me?” compined the blue haired man with a pair of hand axes strapped to his back.

  “Shut it! Help me out here and I’ll raise your cut by ten percent.”

  Emil’s smile radiated confidence, likely assuming we’d value the risk, if anything, to have a chance to pick Gatry’s mind for any advice he could give to a bunch of noobs like us.

  Gatry, opened his mouth to refute his leader’s brazen offer, but stopped himself and started counting on his fingers. Likely trying to work out how much extra coin that ten percent would get him.

  However, we didn’t need any help.

  “No disrespect,” I smiled back. “But we won’t need Gatry’s services. Ene will be going with us.”

  This little tidbit of information promptly drained the color out of every face in Emil’s party. It was as if they’d all seen the grim reaper standing over my shoulder, beckoning them. Especially Gatry, who took a couple shaky steps back.

  Emil himself, though, kept a much more level head.

  “Ene, huh? As in Lady Bellenfort, I presume?” he cleared his throat rather loudly. “I heard the rumors about you two, but I didn’t think she’d picked up adventuring again.”

  I nodded easily. After what happened with the Thief Lilt, I didn’t expect my retionship with Ene to be hidden for long. Word was getting around slower than I expected, but it was still getting around. That aside, since Ene was banned from Amoranth’s guild and since she always opted to stay home whenever we visited, it was understandable that he didn’t know she was helping us out on quests.

  “Yup. She’s going to…” I started, but then Yua stepped in front of me. Puffing up her chest, and with one hand on her hip, she aimed a challenging finger at the Swordsman.

  “I’ll take that bet!”

  “Yua, we don’t need the help,” I said, then adding in a whisper, “It’ll be hard to keep certain things secret with another man around.”

  Namely, my teleportation magic, silent casting and the fact that Ene was now my sve. She may be known to some as my woman, but her being a sve was a secret we desperately needed to keep to avoid trouble.

  “Fine, fine,” Yua conceded, but resharpened her aimed finger on Emil. “Then instead of Gatry, you can buy us lunch if you lose.”

  “Ha! That’s it? Even better. You’re on!”

  At this, Yua and Emil csped each other’s hand and made their way over to an empty table. Emil removed the upper half of his armor to free up some strength, but all Yua did was roll her shoulder with a fierce grin.

  The rest of Emil’s party gathered around them, accompanied by the two women from earlier and a few more Adventurers, all looking for some free entertainment. I, however, sighed where I stood in line.

  “Big Sis just wants to show off her strength,” Mana said disinterestedly.

  “Yea… she does.”

  The two sat across from one another, Emil handed his armor to Gatry, showing off his own well-muscled frame, while Yua leisurely finished up her stretching. Then in unison, they smmed their elbows on the table and locked hands. Finally, with a wave of Gatry’s hand, the battle of strength began. Their small crowd began to cheer as the two’s struggle started off looking evenly matched with neither giving an inch, but it was clear that the majority favored Emil for the winner.

  With a shrug, I pushed Mana forward when the line moved. Emil wasn’t an especially rge man, but in this world, it was hard to judge a person’s strength by their size. After all, even the slender Yua could easily lift me over her head if she wanted, and Emil did have his level 24 Swordsman css and all the strength that came with it to weigh over her. But if she was confident she could handle him, then we’d be better off thinking up what to eat ter.

  At least, that’s what I thought before a thick, heavy arm draped itself around my shoulder. I froze, not because of the power that arm held, but because I never even noticed him approaching. Even Mana flinched when he suddenly spoke.

  “Alex, if either of them break that table, I’m going to have to make both of you pay for it.”

  This man, Cade, was a rge former Adventurer whose body was stacked with muscles that were barely restrained by an opened leather vest. His bald dome shone in the candlelight, but it was not a sign of his age weakening him, for he was the Guildmaster of Amoranth’s Adventurer’s Guild.

  Though his appearance, and his sudden appearance, might make you expect he was some sort of assassin, he actually spent most of his time working as the guild’s bartender.

  “No worries,” I said. “I’m sure Yua will be careful.”

  “We’ll see about that.”

  Looking at the battle happening behind us, I had to admit I was a little worried. Though it didn’t look like either of the two had moved much. Both Yua’s and Emil’s faces were red with strain and slick with sweat. The world itself, or at least the bar, seemed to tremble as they struggled against one another.

  “Anyway,” Cade said, his tone significantly lighter. It was as if he switched back to bartender mode on the spot. “I heard you talking about Lady Bellenfort. Also heard she’s your woman, yea? That’s a lie, right? A little squirt like you, with a dame like her?”

  Sensing the pyfulness in his tone, I didn’t let his remark bother me. Working here meant you had to be able to handle the occasional barb.

  “She’s my wife, actually.”

  “Ha, no way! You managed to tame that beast of a woman? Sure, sure. I’d sooner trade this pce for a single copper than believe that!”

  “It’s true!” Mana chimed angrily. “She’s his mate, just like me!”

  “Mana…”

  “Oh?” Cade ughed. “Is that right?”

  “Yea! I can prove it, too! This morning, I saw him put his manhood in her bu…!”

  Cheeks burning, I cmped a hand over her mouth before she could finish, but the damage was already done.

  “Really?” Cade mused, his grin taking a seedy turn. “If it’s true, then what are they like?”

  “… What do you mean, they?”

  Taken aback by his sudden ck of doubt, I nearly stumbled over myself when he pulled me closer. His voice was low and far too mischievous for an old man like him.

  “Bellenfort’s tits, obviously. What are they like? I tells ya, half the city wants to know. Well, the male half, anyways.”

  Forcing my smile to stay on my lips, I brushed his arm off me.

  “Sir, please don’t speak about my wife like that.”

  “Come on. We’re both men, ain’t we? Then you have to know how curious the rest of us are.”

  A few of the men in the room who were uninterested in the wrestling match tipped their mugs against their lips as they nonchantly leaned back in their chairs to listen.

  With her beauty and knowing that the number of men that once tried for her hand was absurdly high, on top of the way she used to dress before I was unfortunately forced to invent the world’s first bra, I did have to admit I understood their interest.

  Still, my brow twitched at the thought of them ogling her, causing Mana to tug on my sleeve. She looked up to me with her big blue eyes filled with worry. I took a breath to cool myself.

  “Sir… She is my wife.”

  “Hey now, don’t make such a scary face,” he ughed, spping me lightly on the back. “I was only joking. I promise. Hey, how about an ale on the house to make up for it?”

  “… Thanks, but no thanks. We’re about to leave on a quest.”

  Ready to move on, I handed him the slip and, suddenly back to business mode, he looked it over with a curious glint in his eye. He nodded at it, looking almost impressed as he handed it back.

  “’Bout time someone went for that one. It’s been up on the board for over a week now.”

  “Really? Is it harder than it seems?”

  “Probably not,” he said with a dismissive wave. “The only real issue is how far Villeverdure is. Most in your rank haven’t scraped together enough coin to get a cart and horse yet, so traveling that far is difficult.”

  “That won’t be a problem for us,” I said, hoping he took the cim as me willingly exploiting Ene’s coin to cover our travel expenses. “Is there anything else you can tell me about the quest, though?”

  “Yea. Our scouts looked into it already and the bandits don’t look any more dangerous than your average street-tough.”

  “I see… Wait, scouts? The guild has scouts?”

  “Oh, yes. For quests like this that are considered non-urgent, but are cking in detail, the guild sends scouts ahead to assess the situation. You know, estimate enemy numbers, csses, levels and what not. It’s better to collect as much information as we can before deciding how to rank the quest. This way, we don’t send a bunch of weaklings to handle the big jobs.”

  “Good to know.”

  And here I thought they were just throwing new Adventurers against proven killers and hoping they’d come home in one piece.

  “Were the scouts able to get a description of the bandits?”

  “Sorry,” he shrugged. “Their levels are estimated based on the testimony of the quest giver. All that we know is already on the slip. The rest is up to you.”

  With that, Cade spped me on the back again and returned to the bar, where he’d left a small mob of angry drunkards waiting. And those waiting to hear more about Ene quietly returned to their drinks, trying real hard not to look me in the eye as they did. The drinking habits of this world’s people are mildly concerning.

  Returning our attention to the guild window, Mana and I stepped forward as the line moved. And when there was only two more people in front of us, a loud sm and a raucous round of cheers exploded behind us.

  Without needing to know who won since the cheers were mostly feminine, I smirked when I turned to find Yua, standing by the table with her arms raised over her head, cheering her own victory. Meanwhile, Emil was sprawled out on the floor at her feet for some reason, gasping for air as his party members tended to him. Thankfully, the table made it out of the ordeal unmolested.

  The man may be a higher level and he may be more muscur than my girl, and his swordsmanship may have earned him a good few toasts at the bar, but I had to question why he thought he’d be able to overpower a beast-kin so easily.

  “Next.”

  Once it was our turn at the window, and after making sure my csses were arranged the way I had them when I first joined up, I handed Milly the quest slip. She gave it a cursory look over, but nodded easily.

  “Thank you for selecting this one. The poor people of Villeverdure have been waiting so long for help.”

  “Of course,” I said, forcing myself not to notice the generous sway of her chest as she pushed the guild’s Scrying Orb over to me.

  I set my hand on the orb, let my information appear before her and she nodded again. After I pced the annoying downpayment for the quest on the provided silver tray, she signed us up for the quest, all while Mana peered at the exchange curiously. It was a series of events I was used to, so everything went smoothly until Milly stopped me when I tried to leave.

  “Wait, Alex,” she said. She quickly scribbled something on a slip of paper and slid it face-down across the counter.

  “What’s this?”

  Confused, I was about to turn it over when she quickly pced her hand over mine to stop me.

  “Please, don’t. Not here. On that slip is the name of the person who made the request for the guild’s help. Since the bandits you’re seeking aren’t named, you may want to seek this person out for more information on how to find them. However,” she said, her eyes drilling holes in mine. “Under no circumstances can you let anyone else know this name. It could put them at risk of retaliation if word leaked to the bandits.”

  “I’ll be careful,” I said, slipping the note into my item box through my pocket.

  “I should hope so,” Milly nodded. “Because if word reaches us that you let that name slip, to anyone, then your reward for the quest will be forfeited, regardless of if you complete it..”

  “Gotta protect the guild’s clients, I assume?”

  “Exactly. Now, next in line, please.”

  She waved the next person forward and I took it as my cue to leave. I escorted Mana away from the window and read the note from inside my item box menu to be extra discrete. Unfortunately, all that was written on it was the name Lucielle Evans. It said nothing of where to find her, so we were on our own on that front.

  And, without missing a beat the moment I realized this, Mana tugged my sleeve.

  “What’s their name?”

  “Sorry, but you heard her. I can’t tell you.”

  “Ehhh? But I can keep a secret.”

  I stopped and looked at her. The doubt on my face must have been devastating, as her ears immediately fell ft.

  Heaving a small sigh, I pat her head and we rejoined Yua.

  Now that the match was over and the crowd had dispersed, we found her with her hands glowing green on Emil’s chest, healing him. As soon as she was finished, he started pulling his armor back on.

  Yua skipped back over to my side, tail swishing, looking all proud of herself. Emil smirked up at me, the most deference his noble’s dignity would allow him to show in defeat, and tossed me a couple silver pieces. I caught them and offered him a hand up.

  “If you need someone with a bit of range,” I said. “See if you can borrow someone from the Mage’s Guild.”

  “Ha. Those snooty bookworms would ask for far too much coin to make them worth it. We’ll stick around here and see if we can find anyone.”

  I ughed. “You’re probably right. Good luck with that, and on your quest.”

  “And good luck on yours as well. Though with Yua and Lady Bellenfort on your side, I dare say you won’t need luck.”

  We shook hands and, after he bid farewell to my girls, he and his party wandered off to other parts of the guild in search for help.

  And with Yua’s chest swelling and tail swishing with pride, we left the guild.

  “We’re back.”

  By the time we returned to the mansion, Mana had finished her free lunch and was working on stealing bits of mine when she thought I wasn’t looking.

  Due to a shortage in non-descript teleportation spots, we stepped into the mansion’s main hall through the front door, only to find it empty. I wasn’t expecting a quartet of maids to line up in greeting, but I was surprised at how quiet it’d gotten. Where I would have thought we’d return to Ene harassing the maids, the only sound my ears could pick up was the gnawing force Mana was exerting on the pork she’d begged for.

  I was just about to check if Ene and the maids left on a walk or something, when Yua tugged on my arm, ears flicking, and pulled me forward.

  “They’re waiting in the drawing room.”

  I followed her lead and found Ene alone, slouching comfortably on the couch. Mana swiftly dashed inside, taking the seat opposite the blonde, but it was likely my own heavy footfalls that roused Ene.

  Lifting her head, she spotted us and, instead of straightening herself out, she waved.

  “Welcome back. What’d you get?”

  Taking the seat beside her, I handed her some lunch and the quest slip. She read it over, her cobalt gaze looking almost groggy as she forked a bite of meat into her mouth.

  “Where’d the others go?”

  “Hmm? Oh, Mary peeled June off the floor and dragged her back to her room. Wants her to fix her dress, or something.”

  “Or something, yea. What about the other two?”

  “Erika will be back soon, but Sil’s in the library studying… Wait, what?”

  Setting her barely touched food on the table as if she’d already lost her appetite, she turned over the quest slip as if expecting to find more details on the back.

  “Something wrong?”

  She scratched her head. “I wouldn’t exactly say it’s wrong, but st I visited Villeverdure, the pce was a tiny little farming vilge.”

  “Okay? I don’t see how that’s a problem.”

  “It’s a problem because the vilge is tinier than Mana’s tits, but the reward for the quest is three gold pieces.”

  “I’m not small!”

  Mana lunged at the blonde and, without lifting her eyes from the paper, Ene thrust a pork rib into the girl’s mouth before her cheeks could be pinched. Instantly pacified by the delicious meat, Mana plopped down on my p and began to chew. Lucy sniffed the meat pointlessly, then looked to me and, for some reason, she looked offended.

  Ene continued, “The entire vilge would have had to scrape together all their coin for this to avoid ruining themselves.”

  “Sounds like they really need help,” Yua said.

  “Maybe,” Ene shrugged, handing the slip back. “But eight bandits, ay? Not bad for starters.”

  “Is that not a lot?” I asked, looking at Yua, but all I got was a shrug.

  “Not really,” Ene said, smiling as she fed Mana another piece of meat. “Most of the time a request is made to the guild for bandit hunting, it’s because there’s a group of them. The idiots that go solo tend to die real quick, since anyone that finds them out is likely to squeal to the guards. But those that form groups tend to st and cause problems, usually killing anyone that gets in their way. And the bigger the group…”

  “The longer they st.”

  “And the more they kill,” Yua added, before her ears flicked and she took off towards the drawing room door.

  “When it’s your life on the line,” Ene said, waving a piece of meat through the air like a baton. “You either kill or be killed. That much should go without saying, but when the world itself hates you for merely existing, then it’s easy to get desperate to keep your secrets.”

  “…”

  Finding it hard not to draw the obvious parallel between bandits and sves, I hugged Mana to my chest as she nibbled away.

  The door to the room swung open and Erika came back carrying a rge, highly-decorated wooden box with a pair of steel straps binding it.

  “Sorry I’m te,” she said, letting Yua help set the box on the table.

  “What’s this?”

  With a smirk, Ene leaned forward and set her palm on the center of the box’s face, where a lock likely should have been. A runic pattern spread out under her hand and I heard a faint click before the box snapped open.

  “Here we are.”

  Smirking proudly, she turned the box to me and let me have a peek.

  Where I would have expected to see some sort of expensive jewelry she no longer wanted, instead all that was in the box was a set of identical hand-mirrors that looked as though they’d just been polished moments before arriving. Their golden frames were exceedingly well-made, fit for royalty even, but they were just pieces of reflective gss on a fancy frame.

  “What’re these?”

  Weary of breaking them in case Ene was fond of them, I picked one up to examine it, but Erika beat me to the punch before an info box could appear.

  “Master, these are called Two-Way Mirrors.”

  “Two-way mirror?” I repeated, turning the mirror over to see if the backside was transparent. But all there was, was more golden frame. “I take it that that means something else in this world?”

  “This is a pair of very rare magic items I found during my travels,” Ene said, leaning back leisurely. “They might be the only set in the whole of Amoranth.”

  “Really? What do they do?”

  “Take that one and leave the room. I’ll show you.”

  Ene held out a hand, and seemingly on reflex, Erika handed her the second mirror.

  “Um, Okay?”

  Setting Mana down on the couch, I quietly carried my mirror out of the room. Bowing politely, Erika closed the door on me.

  Confused and stuck in the main hall, I studied my reflection in the mirror, then checked its info box for a description when, suddenly, I felt something click in my head, like a small jolt of electricity darted between a pair of unused synapses, connecting them with the sole purpose of telling me to look at the mirror I held.

  Compelled by thoughts I wasn’t sure were my own, and assuming the mirror worked the same as a magic candle, I channeled a little mana into it and my reflection quickly faded. After a moment of the gss reflecting nothing, Ene’s beautiful, smirking face appeared in my hand.

  Then her mouth moved and the words I heard next were undeniably spoken with her voice.

  “See? Pretty interesting, right? No matter how far apart these mirrors are, they can connect to each other.”

  I let slip a short ugh, feeling a little conflicted that I had to get reincarnated into a fantasy world before I was able to have a video chat with a pretty girl, then looked to the drawing room. The door was still closed. I shouldn’t have been able to hear her, but her voice was as clear as a bell.

  “Am I hearing you through the mirror?” I asked, looking for speakers on it.

  “Exactly. So long as your mana doesn’t run out, not only can you hear anything happening around it, but you can also see anything the mirror’s gss is facing. Like so.”

  As I was in the process of taking in the sight of the bookshelves behind her, the image on the gss blurred as though moving quickly. When it came to a stop, what I saw was not another of my girl’s faces, but a blurry field of white. The image took a moment to clear up, but when it did, I noted the tightly-fit shape of fabric wrapped around a set of very feminine curves. Specifically, a set of curves that were supposed to be hidden beneath the bck skirt of a woman who clearly didn’t know what was being done to her.

  The image was so clear that, and the fabric so tight, that I was a little ashamed of myself for noticing at first, but I had to worry if Ene told the maids about my wishes for my girls to shave down there.

  Pinching my eyes shut, I spoke to the mirror, or even just to the empty hall. Either way, I knew the victim would hear me.

  “Erika… look down.”

  “Eh?” came a voice from the mirror. Then… “Ahhh! E-E-Ene! What are you showing him?!”

  “Hahahaha!”

  Cutting the flow of mana to the mirror, I stormed back into the room to find Erika hiding behind Yua, pressing her skirt down with both hands. She pressed harder once she noticed me enter. Yua smiled sympathetically, while Lucy apparently de-spawned herself in the commotion.

  I snatched the mirror out of the ughing Ene’s hand and made the executive decision to put the Casanova points Erika gained earlier into her Luck stat, despite my misgivings.

  “Ene, first off, leave Erika alone. Second, if you had something as powerful as this, why didn’t you say so sooner?”

  “Hoho? Alex, if you’re curious about what I have, why didn’t you ask sooner?”

  “… Anything else you’d like to share? Any other magical artifacts I should know about?”

  “Haha… Nothing you’d be interested in.”

  Yua’s ears flicked, but I didn’t need her senses to smell a lie. Ene looked confident in her refusal, but we leaned in, training our gaze on her. Her smirk cracked a little under the pressure. Mana, betedly deciding to join us, gred at Ene, but her efforts were for not once Ene popped another piece of meat in her mouth.

  “Ene, come on. Even if it’s nothing fshy, tell me what you have.”

  “He won’t take it from you,” Yua added.

  “Haha… it’s really nothing you’d want. Seriously. See, I did find a set of enchanted armor a while back, but I never use it.”

  “Wait, really? Why not?”

  With how rare and expensive enchanted armor was in this world, just owning a set was seen as a sign of a person’s high social status. Even if she wasn’t the sort to care about that, the fact that she just let it gather dust was odd.

  Ene shrugged. “What can I say? The enchantment’s nothing to write home about. And the front digs into my pussy too much,” she said, and Erika covered her face with her hands. “It’s not worth wearing, and I can only assume you wouldn’t want any of us to wear it in public, right?”

  “Er… Right.”

  One of the effects that all wearable enchanted items shared is that they shrank or grew to fit the wearer, no matter their body type. Only, enchanted armor takes it a step further and, when worn by a woman, it shrinks until it’s small enough to look simir to what your typical video game enthusiast might call bikini armor.

  And, if cims of it “digging in too much” was coming from the woman whose underwear drawer was literally filled with nothing but thongs, I had to take her word for it.

  “… What does this armor do, exactly?”

  “Oh, it slowly drains your health and converts it to attack power. Coincidentally, I found it on a bandit. But I think he fell asleep wearing it, because he was already dead when I found him. Easiest guild quest ever.”

  “And why didn’t you sell it?”

  “I tried. Nobody wanted it.”

  “… Fair enough,” I said, handing the second mirror to Erika. “I think it’s about time we leave. Erika, you hold onto that. This way, we can keep in touch.”

  And I can spare your heart the trouble by dropping a warning before teleporting in.

  “O-Okay,” she said, tentatively accepting the mirror. “But I thought Ene wanted you to use this for your quest?”

  Ene shrugged at this, looking indifferent as she scooped Mana into her arms and came over to us.

  “We have other ways of talking to each other over distances,” I said, pointing to Yua’s ears.

  “I-I see… I mean, I understand, Master.”

  “I don’t know how long we’ll be gone, but it seems like we’ll be going pretty far away. So, don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”

  “I-I will, Master. Good luck with your quest.”

  She bowed and I thanked her with a wave before opening a portal back out of the city.