Chapter 191: Grand Fountain (4)

Chapter 191: Grand Fountain
(4)

Who
is it?

The
thought that came to mind the moment I saw the woman sprawled out
sleeping on the sofa.

Because
it was someone I’d never seen before.

Where
did the being that should have been here go, and why was this
unfamiliar woman lying in this space?

Even
eating potato chips and reading manga while at it!

‘Wait,
is it even human to begin with?’

From
the outside, it definitely looks human.

The
unkempt hair, the closed eyelids, and the breasts that rise and fall
with each breath.

-Scratch
scratch.

The
woman on the sofa moved around and stuck her hand inside her
sweatshirt to scratch her belly.

It
seemed like there couldn’t be anyone living a more lazy and sluggish
life than this.

Of
course, if you searched the world there might be someone somewhere,
but this wasn’t the place where such a person should be.

“Excuse
me?”

“Uhh…?”

At
the brief question, the woman’s eyes flew open.

-Blink
blink.

The
woman’s eyes captured the image of a man wearing a helmet.

Her
mouth opened immediately, her pupils dilating instantly.

‘…Huh?’

The
moment the woman showed a startled reaction, for some reason my heart
stirred strangely.

‘This
reaction, surely from somewhere…’

A
ticklish, dreamy feeling in my chest.

But
that feeling lasted only very briefly.

“…Oh…?
Hyaaaaaah!”

The
woman’s body reacted violently and the sofa was about to fall
backward in an instant.

My
body moved before my head could understand the situation, and I
grabbed the falling sofa.

Pong-

However,
something unfortunate happened in the process.

Something
covered my field of vision.

Large
and soft, squishy breasts mercilessly pressing against my face.

Since
armor was disabled here, there was no helmet blocking my face,
allowing me to feel that sensation in full.

“Uuuub.”

Hydraulic
pressure so strong it was hard to breathe.

Having
somehow ended up with my face buried in the woman’s breasts, I barely
managed to resist the temptation of that amazing sensation and lifted
my head.

“Huu,
uuuu…!”

The
moment I saw the blushing woman reaching her hand toward me.

Shaaaaaa-

My
vision was dyed with brilliant light.

***

“…you
awake?”

An
unfamiliar voice wrapped around my ears.

“Are
you coming to your senses?”

-Poke.
Poke poke.

Something
was pressing into my cheek.

It
seems to have a strangely matured female scent.

Unlike
that impression, the sound reaching my ears was a voice I’d heard
before.

It
was identical to the woman’s voice I’d just heard.

My
eyes flew open.

“Huh…!”

“Oh,
you’re awake?”

When
I turned my gaze toward where the voice came from, there was someone
who looked exactly like the woman who had been lying on the sofa
earlier, now lying on a bed.

However,
I could instinctively tell that these two beings were completely
separate individuals.

Though
the voice itself was identical, the tone and atmosphere were
completely different.

I
looked around dazedly.

Unlike
the pure white space I’d entered each time I fell into the fountain,
this was a gloomy space filled with nothing but darkness.

Thanks
to the candlelight illuminating the surroundings, I could maintain
minimal visibility, but this place was too dark and eerie.

Unlike
the pure white space that instinctively made my heart swell and warm
feelings spring forth, this was a place full of anxious and negative
energy.

‘It’s
like…the labyrinth.’

And
the woman situated in the middle of such an ominous place moved her
foot with a voice full of interest.

“Heeh…Ooh…”

-Poke.
Poke poke.

I
looked at whatever had been pressing into my cheek since earlier.

A
foot.

It
was the woman’s foot.

I
was lying at the foot of the bed, being treated like a footrest for
the strange woman.

Her
pretty, delicate toes were visible through black stockings pressed
against various parts of my face.

Above
that, a blue sweatshirt and dolphin pants barely containing her
about-to-burst buttocks.

The
stitching of the dolphin pants following the crotch seam was
desperately crying out for help as it struggled to contain the plump
mound of her pussy.

-Press.
Press press.

“So
squishy…”

The
woman who was still poking my cheek with her big toe muttered.

“Excuse
me…”

“Hm?
Ah, sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve touched a living being’s
face.”

When
I looked at her with a dumbfounded expression, she answered like that
and met my eyes.

“So,
who are you? How did you get here? This is a place that can only be
accessed by those who have received grace, that white female cat with
the authority of consciousness ceremony, or those similar to me?
Since the latter two possibilities are out, are you one who received
grace?”

“…Pardon?”

I
didn’t understand a word she was saying.

“Um…
First, who are you…?”

When
I asked back with a puzzled face, the woman’s expression also became
tinged with surprise.

“You,
you don’t know me? This me?”

“Yes.
I’m meeting you for the first time…”

“Hmm…?
Ah. I guess it’s natural you don’t know. Times must have changed.
It’s been quite a while since I was sealed. Hmm…how
troublesome…Huaaaam.”

The
woman who seemed to understand and nod to herself, once again with a
composed expression, nodded her head.

And
after letting out a languid yawn, she revealed her identity.

“I
can’t tell you my true name, but I can tell you what I used to be
called.”

“Ah,
yes…”

Even
if she said that, the probability of me knowing who she is was low.

Just
from her way of speaking, she seemed like an impressive person, but I
didn’t know much about this world’s history.

“I
am the Demon of Sloth.”

“What?”

But
the being she named was one I’d been hearing about often lately.

“The
other demons called me a traitor. Pfft.”

She
chuckled while looking at my reaction, and tilted her head as she
asked.

“I’ve
revealed my identity, now it’s your turn.”

I
encountered an unexpected being in an unexpected place.

***

-Crunch!

The
crispy potato chip snapped cleanly at her lips.

“Ow,
salty. Well, that’s what makes it good though. Ah, want some too,
Balkan?”

We
had briefly exchanged introductions.

She
kept calling me ‘one who received grace’, so I had no choice but to
reveal my name.

“Ah,
yes…”

“What’s
with the formality? Speak casually. Casual.”

I
looked at the woman who handed me potato chips while sprawled on the
bed.

Self-proclaimed
Demon of Sloth.

She
really was…

“Huaaaaaaaaah.”

Extremely
slothful.

The
sight of her scratching her lower belly while yawning languidly.

With
her other hand, she scooped up a handful of potato chips to put in
her mouth, and slowly turned the pages of her manga one by one.

All
these actions took place on the bed.

It
was the first time I’d seen the words beauty and complete bum come
together.

No,
perhaps it wasn’t the first time.

Because
the one I saw in that pure white space had the exact same appearance
as the Demon of Sloth.

“Um,
are you…?”

“……”

“…do
you have two bodies?”

“Huuh?
What are you talking about?”

She
looked at me as if I was speaking nonsense.

She
suddenly threw aside the potato chips and manga she’d been eating
while lying down and raised her body that had been lying there.

The
Demon of Sloth.

Probably
a being similar to Bunny, the Demon of Gluttony trapped in the axe.

Her
impression was very different from what I’d thought.

While
Bunny had been extremely aggressive from the moment she first saw me,
I couldn’t feel any such hostility from the Demon of Sloth before me.

Just
powerlessness and boredom.

Such
emotions pervaded the Demon of Sloth’s eyes, and occasionally when
she looked at me, a tiny bit of interest would settle in those eyes.

“Actually…”

Although
I wondered if it was okay to say this, I briefly told her what had
happened earlier in the pure white space to resolve my doubts.

The
moment the woman’s hand there shone with light, I fell into this
place of darkness.

The
woman sleeping lying on the sofa and the Demon of Sloth who had the
exact same appearance as that woman.

The
Demon of Sloth who had been listening to my words for a moment
chuckled.

“Aha.
So that Earth Mother Goddess’s fragment ended up using my avatar?
Right. She probably wanted to rest too. It’s human nature after all.”

“W-wait.
What did you say? Earth Mother Goddess? Why does that suddenly come
up?”

Earth
Mother Goddess.

Isn’t
that the goddess that the Earth Mother Goddess Order blindly follows?

‘Why
would such a being come from the labyrinth, no, from the fountain?’

Suddenly
I recalled how the followers of the Earth Mother Order regarded the
grand fountain specially.

When
the injured Jubeel leaked breast milk at the grand fountain, the
sight of several priests foaming at the mouth and going berserk
saying she was defiling the sacred grand fountain.

Even
Hitolis, the priest in our party, said the grand fountain was a
special sanctuary that one must visit at least once to become a high
priest.

“Well…
the fountain is a place prepared by the Earth Mother Goddess to more
efficiently imprison demons and bind her fragments to the mortal
world? Didn’t you know?”

I
didn’t know.

No,
how many explorers would even know such knowledge to begin with?

Unless
you were involved with the temple, and even then in a fairly high
position, it would be information you couldn’t know.

“Fragments
of a great being cannot roam the mortal world for long by law. For
that, a ‘catalyst’ that can bind them is needed. The fountain serves
as that catalyst.”

“Uh…then,
that avatar of yours…”

“Normal
fountains only hold the Earth Mother Goddess’s fragments, they don’t
give them freedom. But the fountain on the 15th floor where the peace
treaty was made is different. If you add possession of an avatar on
top of the catalyst, the range of movement becomes much wider. You
don’t understand?”

Seeing
my blank face, she asked again, and I could only nod.

“You
need to study mythology before exploring the labyrinth. There’s
nothing in your head.”

“……”

It
was a humiliating expression but I had no words to refute because I
was far too ignorant about this world.

Though
I occasionally read books and gathered information, the history of
this world was outside my interests.

“To
summarize, you’re saying the Earth Mother Goddess’s fragment is
temporarily borrowing your avatar?”

“That’s
right! You’re not completely braindead after all.”

“By
any chance, habits… like putting hands on the belly while sleeping,
do they become similar to yours?”

“Yeah.
Since it’s my avatar. Behaviors ingrained in the body would be like
that?”

But
I understood the necessary parts.

It
felt like some questions were being answered.

The
reason why Bunny, the Demon of Gluttony, had rushed toward the
fountain from the moment she awakened from that ominous black egg.

Meeting
that person wrapped in light every time I entered the fountain.

‘Moreover,
according to the Demon of Sloth, [the one wrapped in light] is…a
fragment of the Earth Mother Goddess.’

Such
fragments of the Earth Mother Goddess reside in fountains on every
floor that’s a multiple of 5.

An
odd sense of discomfort enveloped my entire body.

When
I asked that person, the Earth Mother Goddess’s fragment I met at the
10th floor fountain.

That
being told me to head toward the depths of the labyrinth.

Saying
that if I did so, I could obtain what I desire most.

-Big
brother!

The
image of my little sister sitting on her hospital bed, always smiling
brightly, flashed through my mind.

My
little sister who always supported me with a smile that gave me
strength just by looking at it.

‘My
little sister is related to such a being?’

Why
is it?

Today
especially, she felt so far away.

-Slap!

I
slapped my cheek to gather my wavering thoughts.

I
didn’t think unnecessary thoughts.

What
I needed to do in this labyrinth was still just one thing.

-Poke
poke.

“Hey.
Balkan.”

Following
the toes poking my thigh, I saw the Demon of Sloth watching me with
her chin propped up in both hands.

“Would
you like to make one request…no, one contract with me?”

“Contract?”

“Yeah.
Since you were able to come here, I think you can probably do it.”

The
demon’s whisper speaking in a sweet voice lingered in my ears.

Come
to think of it, why was the Demon of Sloth here? Is there more
history that I don’t know?

The
moment I harbored such doubts, her lips opened.

“Those
guys running wild in the mortal world saying they’ll resurrect me.
Could you take care of them all?”

Before
I could answer, the Demon of Sloth continued.

“If
you make a contract with me, I’ll give you something that feels so
good…you won’t want to lift a finger for the rest of your life.”