Chapter 15

〈 Episode 15 〉Confusion, and the Sixth Quest

[Your physical condition will be restored upon returning to the waiting room.]

[You have received the reward for completing Quest 5.]

[Quest 6 begins in 9D 23H.]

Asha saw the familiar messages, but she was too distracted by other things.

“Lucy! Lucia! Ah, no…”

Asha fell into despair when she was the only one transported without her child. The thought of her barely one-month-old baby being alone with no one to care for her tore at her heart with guilt.

“I have to go back there. Lucy, please… How do I get there? Where is that place?”

Asha had been transported through quests countless times, but she had never known where she was going or what was there. Realizing that she didn’t know where she had been or where she needed to go, Asha shed tears.

“Return! Come back!!”

Asha shouted until her voice was hoarse, trying to return to where she had been, but nothing changed in the waiting room. Unable to think of any way to return, Asha’s legs gave way, and she collapsed to the floor.

“Hic… I shouldn’t have come out. I shouldn’t have left… Why did I think I could go with Lucy?”

Asha, who had simply thought that being with her child would allow them to go together, wanted to kill her past self for thinking so naively. Now, her simple thought would be paid for by her newborn daughter.

They had only been together for a month, but Asha and Lucia had formed a bond that was difficult to explain by the length of time they had spent together.

Even in the face of death and terrible pain, Asha had maintained her will, but being forcibly separated from her daughter, who was a part of her, caused her mind to crumble rapidly. In the empty waiting room, all Asha could do was wallow in self-reproach.

“Are you going to stay naked?”

A blanket was draped over Asha’s shoulders along with the voice. Asha stared blankly at the woman who had suddenly appeared. Her eyes, which had been dull, soon blazed with anger.

“You! It’s you! Why did you bring me here! Why! Why did you make only me come back here…”

Unable to bear the boiling emotions, Asha burst into tears again. Even as she faced Asha’s fury, the black-haired, pale woman maintained a calm demeanor.

“I thought I would be able to meet you before starting this quest. You never wondered why you had to do these things.”

“I was strangled to death as soon as I arrived the first time! The second time, my arm was torn off and I disappeared. I was too busy dealing with what was in front of me! I didn’t know I would suddenly have a child… or that it would be this painful… Lucia, I’m sorry, Lucia… Waaah…”

Asha’s voice cracked as she screamed before breaking down into tears, looking like a madwoman. However, the woman did not scorn her but looked at Asha with pity.

“You were really in danger just now. That’s why I was able to come here. I’m here to help you.”

“I don’t need your help. Can I see Lucia? Can I see Lucia?”

“You will meet your daughter soon. I can show you Lucia for a moment.”

“Show me! What is Lucy doing right now?!”

Asha reacted to the woman’s words and lunged at her, but she passed through the woman’s body like a mirage.

“There are many things I want to say to you, and many things I need to say, but it will be difficult for you to concentrate if I say them now… Let me show you.”

At the woman’s gesture, a small sphere appeared, showing the scenery Asha had been in. Asha saw Lucia trudging through the Labyrinth passage. Her heart broke as she saw her daughter, who had never cried in front of her, sobbing without even wiping away her tears.

“Huhu… What should I do… My daughter. I’m, Mommy is sorry, waaaah…”

Asha couldn’t hold back her sobs and clutched her chest as she cried. It was only after she had cried for a long time and was exhausted that she finally calmed down. When Asha was finally able to listen, the woman began to speak calmly.

“There is still time until the next quest, but you need to learn a lot here. It may be difficult to meet your daughter right away in the 5th quest, but you should be able to meet her by the 7th quest at the latest.”

Asha asked the most important question.

“Will Lucia be safe until then?”

“Your daughter is being protected by a powerful guardian. She is safe. That creature will protect your daughter at all costs.”

Asha realized that the woman was talking about the Tentacle and nodded in agreement. Even Asha didn’t think the Tentacles would let Lucia get hurt. She asked something else.

“Do you decide the quests?”

The woman shook her head at Asha’s question.

“The content of the quests is not my responsibility. I only know the direction of the next quest and the quests that will happen after that.”

Asha, who had calmed down a little, was finally able to look at the woman properly. The woman with wavy black hair was standing in a robe. Asha realized that she was still naked and bought clothes from the store to wear.

“…Sorry. I was out of my mind. I think you know my name, but what should I call you?”

“Please call me Justitia.”

“Okay, Justitia. Okay. What do I have to do next?”

Justitia began to explain what Asha needed to know.

“First of all, you need to learn about the places you will be going and the place where your daughter is. There is a lot to do. Please concentrate.”

Asha, who had a desperate goal to find Lucia, nodded with a determined face.

After that, Asha learned a lot about this world from Justitia. In this world, which consisted of one huge continent and islands to the east, humans were a minority. Only the Kingdom of Bluea and the Kingdom of Artua in the north of the continent were human kingdoms, and the rest were territories of other races or places where it was not known exactly what was there.

Justitia, who told her about some of the other races that ruled the continent, told her that Asha was mainly summoned to the Kingdom of Artua. The place where Asha would be going this time was also the Kingdom of Artua, but since the Labyrinth where Lucia was located was on the border between the Kingdom of Bluea and the Kingdom of Artua, it would be difficult for her to go there this time.

“I hope you will think about clearing this quest as quickly as possible.”

“That’s right… If I can’t go there right now, it’s right to clear it quickly and go find Lucia.”

‘If I can’t solve it quickly…’

Asha agreed with Justitia’s advice. If it was difficult to go during the quest, it made sense to clear it as quickly as possible and find Lucia in the next quest. She was prepared to commit suicide if the quest didn’t work out, so she asked Justitia.

“What do I have to do to bring Lucia here? I don’t want to repeat returning alone like last time.”

“If she is completely subordinate to you, it is possible to move together. Originally, a highly magical contract is required, but you can purchase a contract from the store and use it.”

At her words, Asha immediately went to the store and searched for it. The price of the Subordination Contract was 5,000 Tokens. This was more than double the 2,800 Tokens that Asha had collected through the quests so far.

“Ah…”

Asha felt her vision darken. Justitia asked again when she saw that Asha’s reaction was unusual.

“How much is it?”

“5,000 Tokens… I’m far short. I don’t think I’ll have enough even if I earn it this time. Oh, what should I do? I can’t leave Lucy behind again next time!”

Justitia calmed Asha, who was starting to panic.

“Calm down, Asha. I think I can help you this time.”

“…Huh?”

“I’ll apply a 50% promotion limited to the first purchase.”

Asha blinked at the words that suddenly sounded like they belonged on Earth.

“…What is that? That’s the kind of phrase you’d put on an online shopping mall.”

“It applies to products up to 10,000 Tokens, so the maximum discount is quite a loss, but I think it’s urgent to buy this first. Are you going to buy it?”

“Yes. Apply it.”

Asha immediately purchased the Subordination Contract without hesitation. Her hard-earned balance was empty, but Asha did not regret it. Asha, who had put the purchased contract in her arms, resumed preparing for the quest.

Late at night, Asha woke up from a nightmare in a cold sweat.

“Ugh! Uwaaah!”

She threw up as soon as she got up. Asha, who was panting, clearly realized that she had been bewitched by something in the Tentacle nest.

Spending days being poked in all her holes and becoming a birthing machine… It was a terrible time that made her want to commit suicide, but why did she act like she was the Tentacle’s lover at that time?

Asha was finally able to realize what Sejin had said. Only after coming to the waiting room did she break free from her blind devotion to the Tentacle, and she still felt affection for Lucia and shed tears.

“Hic, thank goodness… Lucia, you are not a lie…”

Asha returned, and a week had passed, and the 6th quest was about to begin.

[Quest 6 begins in 4H.]

“Huh??? Mask? Black clothes?”

Along with the alarm, the items that appeared in the waiting room were dark-colored cloth clothes, a mask, and a 60cm short sword.

“Are they telling me to assassinate someone… Ah, a box.”

Asha, remembering the box she had received at the end of the last quest, took out the box she had received and opened it. Unlike when she received it, the box opened without any resistance. There was underwear in the box.

“No, underwear made of metal… Is this Bikini Armor?”

Asha, who saw the Bikini Armor she had only heard about, realized as soon as she saw it how absurd it was in reality. The armor itself was antique and beautiful with geometric gold patterns on a black background, but if she wore only this, anyone would see her as nothing more than a prostitute.

The fact that her chest, stomach, and thighs were empty from below her chest meant that it was closer to underwear made of metal than armor.

“I’d rather it be leather underwear so I can wear something underneath, but it’s impossible to wear anything underneath this… Ah, there’s also a letter in the box.”

Asha read the letter, which was presumed to be from an old man, under the armor. Asha quickly skipped over the preface, which described in detail how he thought about and made this armor, and read about the armor’s performance.

“My masterpiece can defend the whole body with magic alone… It would be fine if I had enough magic, but if I don’t, there’s nothing more useless than this. Yeah, honey, you must have a lot of magic…”

As expected of a crazy old man, he made the armor thinking only from his own perspective, so it was quite a twisted item. It was a magical armor that could defend the whole body with a small amount of magic, but it was just a pie in the sky for Asha, who only had a fingernail’s worth of magic and didn’t know how to use it. With Asha’s tiny amount of magic, she would only be able to defend against one or two sword strikes before becoming a beehive.

“The design is also a bit…”

She didn’t want to imagine how other people would look at her if she wore this on the battlefield.

“What are you doing, Asha?”

Justitia approached Asha, who was looking at the armor.

“I was checking what I received from the last quest.”

“Shall we take a look…”

Justitia, who had been looking at the armor for a while, frowned slightly.

“…Bad taste. It would have been dozens of times more valuable if it had been jewelry or full body armor instead of armor.”

Asha, remembering what she had suffered from the old man, grumbled.

“It’s hard to expect common sense from someone who creates such crazy places… But that person said that one of the gifts was my Seedbed Constitution skill. Is there anything else here?”

Justitia explained Asha’s skill.

“It’s hard to say that it’s a pleasant skill, but that skill is one of the skills with the highest growth potential among the skills you currently have. If the level increases, you will gain more abilities.”

“I don’t want to have relationships to raise the level of that skill, but I’m not in a position to be picky… But how can I level it up quickly?”

“Various experiences and many experiences will bring about the growth of the skill. The same goes for other skills.”

Asha’s face turned red as she imagined various and many experiences. Justitia, who said those words, also seemed embarrassed, and her face was slightly flushed.

“Thanks for the advice. I have to try everything I can.”

After talking with Justitia, she began to finish preparing for the quest. Asha took off the clothes she was wearing and put on the cloth clothes she had just received for the quest over her underwear. With her hair neatly tied up and wearing a mask, she looked just like a night visitor.

“Ugh… This is a bit clingy.”

Asha’s nipples tickled because of the clothes that clung to her body, but the clothes were impeccable to wear. She finally checked her status window.

[Character Name: Asha]

Strength: 19

Agility: 14

Durability: 18

Stamina: 18

Magic Power: 11

-Weapon Skill LV.4, Intercourse LV.4, Hospitality LV.3, Sprint LV.3, Pain Relief LV.6, Stat Enhancement LV.4, Stealth LV.1, First Aid LV.2, Trade LV.2, Search LV.3, Seedbed Constitution LV.4

Asha, who was worried, bought a smoke bomb from the store with the few Tokens she had left in case of emergency and entered the quest.

[Quest 06: Investigation]

“Investigation? Again, out of the blue…”

Asha was furious at the quest window that was thrown at her this time as well. Justitia also said that she could not tell her the exact details of the quest. Knowing that the quest window would not change even if she complained, Asha stopped complaining and looked around. The place where she was summoned was a deep dawn city alley.

‘Smell of the sea?’

Asha smelled a smell that she had smelled before, but for the first time since the quest started. It would not be good to be caught walking around in such suspicious clothes, so she moved quietly and climbed onto the building.

Asha, who climbed up to a fairly high three-story building, could see the sea spreading out outside the city. She decided to take a look around since she had come up here. This wooden building, which looked like an inn or lodging, had a pretty good view of the surrounding scenery.

‘Justitia said that there would be restrictions unless I completed the quest. Maybe…’

Asha carefully tried to go out of the city towards the Labyrinth from the roof. Suddenly, she felt a thud- and her body stiffened.

“Ugh!”

[You are outside the quest area. Movement is restricted.]

Asha, who saw Justitia’s warning come true, had to return to where she started.

‘I can’t go now, but I’ll definitely come back, Lucia.’

She used her stealth skill and waited on the roof of the building to observe.

[Character Name: Asha]

Strength: 20

Agility: 15

Durability: 16

Stamina: 20

Magic Power: 13

Lewdness: 87

Brainwashing (Tentacle): 13