Ch.102Responsibility Without Pleasure (2)

The momentary unease in a corner of my heart about being scammed quickly faded.

“Grrrr.”

“Hmm, though the fur is a bit dry, it’s still so fluffy…”

My lingering discomfort was washed away as I stroked Luna’s fluffy fur.

It was thanks to the relief of withdrawal symptoms that had been slowly building up since I couldn’t touch anything fluffy recently because Kitsune had been feeling shy.

‘Besides, Kitsune should have just forbidden touching her tail… but she even stopped Kirara…’

If the withdrawal symptoms had lasted any longer, I might have bound both Kitsune and Kirara with a True Word and stroked them all day.

[That’s all well and good, but how long are you going to keep stroking?]

[Wouldn’t you pass her to me soon?]

“Ahem, then let’s stop stroking and talk about future growth plans.”

Lumia, who had been waiting for her turn, seemed a bit angry at my words, but we didn’t really have much time, so it couldn’t be helped.

[You say that after you’ve had your fill of stroking.]

‘I’ll hand her over to you this evening. Please bear with me just this once.’

[Fine, fine. I’ll be patient for you since I’m prettier anyway.]

The words “How can you be prettier when we share the same body…” rose to my throat, but I managed to hold them back with superhuman patience.

She wouldn’t really get angry at such a comment, but I had already made some mistakes.

‘I shouldn’t give her anything to use against me.’

Right now, it was just about giving up control for one night, but if I slipped up more, who knows what else I’d have to give.

Of course, Lumia wouldn’t do anything strange when she took control of the body, but not resting when you should leads to accumulated fatigue.

As I was thinking this, Luna, who had been eating her delayed meal in my arms, signaled that she was finished.

“Grrrr~”

“Looks like you enjoyed it. Then shall we check your unique magic first?”

I put Luna down from my arms and signaled her to use her unique magic.

I needed to know her basic abilities if I was going to properly raise her.

Luna seemed to understand my intention and immediately took a stance, gathering magical power.

Then.

“Chu-byu-chu-byu!!”

With a peculiar cry, Luna’s body began to glow brightly, and her size increased by about 1.5 times.

“Setting aside the unusual cry… this seems to be a body strengthening type. A simple yet powerful ability.”

“Woof!”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s a good ability. It would have been fine if it was just specialized for combat, but this is actually a high-tier ability.”

Luna, understanding my words as praise, stood on her hind legs and raised both front paws high in the air, clearly pleased.

[But how do you plan to raise her?]

[Unlike us or the Hero, Luna doesn’t have a status window, so simple hunting might be difficult.]

‘There’s a very simple method for that.’

In fact, the method for raising summons was so simple that any spirit master or other type of tamer could do it.

[What could it possibly be?]

‘A lot of magical power and elixirs.’

After answering Lumia’s curiosity, I activated Heavenly Ascension Technique for the first time in a while, converting it to natural power suitable for the tamer class.

At the same time, the magical power I had been accumulating began to flow into Luna’s body.

“Grr?”

“How is it? You feel energized, right? Your vessel isn’t big enough to use it all yet, but that’s enough for now.”

Luna, receiving my magical power, grew even larger, perhaps due to the enhanced body strengthening, reaching twice her original size.

[Gasp, Luna got even bigger. If she gets too big, that’s not good…]

[No, if she gets bigger, we could completely bury ourselves in her…]

‘Stop making such a fuss, it’s distracting. You don’t have to relay every thought to me when I can think normally on my own.’

[Well, if there’s no one to react to my fuss, there’s no reason to make a fuss.]

I responded calmly to Lumia’s commotion, as if I had anticipated the change.

At the same time, I was utterly despairing at the reality that I couldn’t close my ears to the conversations happening inside my head.

‘Hmm, she didn’t grow as much as I thought. Maybe it’s not simply about increasing size.’

Rune Bears’ magic was unique to each individual.

Even abilities that seemed similar on the surface differed in their details.

‘Because of this, there used to be broadcasts where they’d catch dozens of Rune Bears to do ability gacha…’

Since I didn’t often raise tamers, I first learned about the variety of Rune Bear magic by watching those broadcasts.

‘Come to think of it, that broadcaster… no, I should stop thinking about this…’

An unpleasant assumption crossed my mind, but I shook my head, hoping that assumption wasn’t correct.

Even if it was a highly probable assumption.

“Well, now that we roughly know the effect of the unique magic, please deactivate it.”

“Grr.”

At my words, Luna quickly shrank back to her original size and stood beside me.

Standing next to me, she quietly looked up at me as if asking what to do next.

Since there was nothing to hide, I talked about my next plan.

“Next, I’m thinking of getting physical enhancement elixirs. Simple, right?”

“Grr?”

[What kind of elixirs are you talking about?]

[With the encirclement, it’s hard to go far. How will you get them?]

Lumia and Luna synchronized their opinions, suggesting that it was far from simple.

Seeing them agree made me wonder if they could actually communicate with each other.

‘Maybe they even conspired together on that scam contract earlier…’

Of course, I knew better than anyone that wasn’t possible.

“Don’t you remember the veteran player I found earlier? I know the locations of elixirs that exist in this area.”

[Wow~ As expected of a veteran, that’s impressive.]

“Of course… that’s assuming they haven’t been looted by others yet.”

I couldn’t be confident that these were known only to me, unlike Vulcan’s identity or the blacksmith.

“Still, non-material types aren’t very popular. They’re not that famous, so the probability they’ve already been looted is low.”

[So basically, we’ll have to check to know for sure.]

“That’s right.”

I responded plainly to Lumia’s words, and she urged me to get moving.

[Then let’s move quickly before all the nutritional snacks for our Luna disappear.]

“This isn’t a race. Going faster now won’t change anything…”

[This is all about a mother’s heart wanting to provide more for her daughter.]

As always, I let Lumia’s words go in one ear and out the other as I began walking with Luna.

Yes, I had no idea that getting there quickly would actually be the right choice.

* * *

After walking for some time, probably long enough for two Black Mages to be pulverized under Luna’s front paws, we arrived at the location of the first elixir.

“This is where the elixir is. Judging by the intact rock, fortunately, it hasn’t been looted yet.”

[Wow~ Stairs hidden behind a rock, how classic!]

That’s right.

The first elixir was located in a romantic treasure vault created by a spirit master long ago.

Of course, since it was a place to store just this one elixir, calling it a treasure vault was a bit of a stretch.

[But why would someone store an elixir meant to be consumed instead of drinking it?]

“Well, the elixir here is for physical enhancement. It’s not something that spirit masters or spirits can easily consume, unlike Luna.”

In a situation where it was too precious to eat and too precious to simply give away, the spirit master came up with a romantic notion.

The romance of a space full of wonders hidden behind a rock.

‘That spirit master was probably 99% an adventurer.’

As I was sharing this TMI about the place while descending, I heard rustling sounds from ahead.

Just as I was wondering if a mole had dug its way in, the end of the stairs appeared.

And in front of those stairs, three Black Mages were waiting, on high alert.

“Who goes there..!”

“???”

The door was definitely well-sealed with a rock, so how did these Black Mages get in?

In this confusing situation, I noticed a hole behind the Black Mages.

I also saw their dirt-stained clothes and the shovels they were pointing at me defensively.

“No way… even for Black Mages, did you magic users actually dig your way in here with shovels?”

“S-Silence! Identify yourself!”

“No… forget identification, where did you sell your undead minions that you had to dig in yourself?”

“W-Well… we haven’t learned that far yet…”

“…?”

For a brief moment, I stopped thinking.