Ch.33The Disgustingly Huge Snowball Shot Up by an NPC. (5)

“Jack, you were too intense yesterday…”

“So, did you dislike it? Should I not do it anymore?”

“No! It felt amazing!! Please do it again next time!!”

“Right? Then, let’s keep doing it like yesterday.”

“Yes!!”

We didn’t do it. We didn’t! Back off! You lustful demon!! Shoo!!!

The conversation sounds suspicious. If you felt that way, I’d like to point out that’s an issue with your own thought process.

Let’s recall what happened yesterday.

*

After returning to the city, I immediately dragged her to a restaurant where people were lining up.

A meal costing 5,000 cans per person.

Considering our usual meals cost around 5,000 cans for all of us combined, I took her to this extravagant restaurant. Seeing Rey trying to escape at the sight of the price, I made her sit down, ordered the food, and forced her to eat everything.

‘If you leave even one bite, you’re out of the party.’

Is this threat like a password that moves Rey? While almost sobbing and saying “This is strange…” she still emptied her plate as I recited these words like a spell, and she finished the meal perfectly.

Afterward, I didn’t ask her anything. I originally wanted to ask what she was thinking and why she had proposed such a challenge, but somehow I felt that even if I asked, I wouldn’t be able to give a satisfying answer.

So.

“Let’s go. To the inn.”

“What? But our inn is that way?”

“I know. That’s why I’m saying let’s go there.”

“Eh?! Eeeeh?!!”

Rey followed me obediently even as I grabbed her arm and forcibly pulled her along, making strange gestures.

I immediately got an expensive room for 2,000 cans per night with a bath inside. I pushed her in and spoke.

“Take a bath first.”

“Uh, I, um. Why, Jack…? W-what’s going on…?”

“I said take a bath.”

“Yes!!!”

After confirming that Rey, whose face had turned completely flushed like a fireball, hurriedly went to bathe, I immediately left the room, quickly washed in the public bath, and bought what I needed.

And then.

“Um, what is this?”

“Lie down.”

“What?!”

“I said lie down.”

“Yes!!”

Rey was wearing a robe and thin clothes provided by the expensive inn, her face flushed from the warm bath.

And the aromatherapy candles and large towel I had bought.

Rey’s eyes trembled as if an earthquake had struck, but she did exactly as I told her.

And then.

“Relax.”

“Nngh…!!”

“I said relax, you’ll get hurt.”

“Yes, yesss…♡”

-Crack. Crack.

“Ahhhh~♡”

“Does it feel good?”

“Yesss… it feels so goooood….♥”

“Tell me if it hurts, and try not to tense up.”

“Yesss…♡”

Right. Now you understand? I touched her body, but I didn’t “touch” her. (?)

Using massage techniques from my previous life as a bread sh… I mean, memories from my previous life and stretching techniques my father taught me in this life.

I combined the two to give her a massage as a reward to relieve her fatigue.

“Ahhhh…♡ Jack is strong, but kind… and even good at massages…”

“You’re the same. There are plenty of people stronger than me, and I just learned massage techniques from my father.”

Being kind depends on perspective. You might see me that way, but I don’t think of myself like that.

“I can’t even do that?”

“You’ll soon be stronger than me anyway.”

“…That’s not possible. Watching you fight today, I really felt I couldn’t measure up…”

Well. Right now, due to the level difference and skill gap, it might seem that way.

Even I’m curious how much my Ranger skill boosted my stats to make today’s battle possible.

The opponents were in the mid-300s level.

The boss was even a late-300s champion. But my stats were only around level 150. The effect of the additional stats must have been tremendous.

The reason I thought it was possible was because I knew even the mid-300s orcs were no match for me in battle.

Goblins were small, so I could just overpower them with size and strength, but orcs are different. They’re bigger and stronger than goblins.

But what I felt during the fight was that it was still manageable, though it would have been dangerous before I leveled up.

“No. You’re plenty strong. And you’ll get even stronger.”

“…I don’t think so. Today I was even pushed back by a goblin…”

“Then, I’m not a kind person either.”

“What? Mmm?!♡! Ahhhn…♥ No, wait! Jack is kind! You helped me, and you even lured the raid monster away for others…”

“That’s from your perspective. I don’t think of myself that way. So, doesn’t that mean I’m not kind?”

“…No. From what I’ve seen, you’re definitely a good person.”

“Then, the same goes for you. From what I see, you’ll become much stronger than you are now. I guarantee it.”

“…Okay.”

I thought something seemed off. She probably feels like she’s not being helpful lately.

Makes sense. With a level 300 evolved boss monster, NPCs over level 300, plus the episode’s final boss all together, she would naturally feel relatively weak and unhelpful.

To think she was worried about such things. Whether she’s a troublemaker or a combat NPC, she’s still human after all.

An hour quickly passed as I massaged her back, shoulders, waist, and legs in the quiet space, thinking about various things.

“Phew! There! Done. Rey, how do you feel? Refreshed…?”

“Zzz. Zzz.”

“……”

Rey had fallen asleep defenseless while receiving my massage. Seriously.

What is this grown woman doing? I’m a man too, you know?

I unconsciously swallowed as I looked at her legs and shoulders exposed through the thin robe and clothes, but such thoughts quickly faded.

‘…It’s not strange that she’s exhausted after hunting at level 30 in a level 400 dungeon.’

If she were an NPC in a game, she would have charged in, taken one hit, and crossed the river of no return. But she endured such battles well today.

She even held her own against a level 300 goblin.

Rey, who fell asleep so defenseless in front of a man, yet wanted to go deeper into the dungeon.

Her tone suggesting she was starting to underestimate herself due to her companions’ high levels.

That’s probably why she proposed the challenge to Ragni.

She wants to be more helpful to the party. She wants to be recognized as someone valuable. That desire must have emerged.

“Sigh, what a heavy responsibility.”

I covered the sleeping blonde beauty with a blanket and curled up on the sofa to sleep.

*

“Rey. Now it’s your turn to fight.”

“What? With… with that?!”

“Yes.”

The orc champion I fought yesterday has revived and is blocking the entrance to the next floor.

At my words, Rey’s eyes tremble with anxiety.

“But, I barely defeated one goblin at the entrance earlier?”

“Yes. Yesterday you were just pushed back, but you won just now, right? It’s the same with this one. Try fighting it. I’ll be right behind you.”

“…Gulp.”

What did I say to her? Despite her anxious expression, Rey nodded as if trusting my words and moved forward.

And then.

-Kiiiik!!! King!!!

“Kugh?!!”

Rey’s one-handed sword and the orc’s axe clash violently. In terms of speed, Rey is only slightly inferior.

But in strength, the orc completely dominates.

However, she quickly moves around, using the surrounding space to create openings and gradually inflicting sword wounds on its body.

If this were a level 400 troll, such tactics wouldn’t work at all, but they work on an orc. And then.

[Krrrr!!!!]

“Haaah!!!”

The blood-covered orc and the dirt-covered blonde swordswoman who had been rolling around crossed paths.

When the orc, covered in accumulated wounds from continuous attacks, made a large movement, Rey seized the opening without hesitation.

-Thud!!

“Huff! Huff! Huff!”

“Nice!”

Blood fountains from the orc’s chest where its heart would be, and I sincerely cheered for Rey’s victory.

“I… I did this? Me?”

“I told you. You’d get stronger quickly, definitely faster than me.”

“…This… and, and this is…?”

“Oh, congratulations. You got a skill.”

“A, a skill?! This is a skill?!!”

The faint silver light surrounding her body.

As far as I know, that’s an agility-based attack speed increase skill.

One of the reasons she’s a 1.5-tier dealer. One of those broken skills that maintains an insane normal attack speed.

She unconsciously activated the skill right before delivering the final blow to the orc.

“…My goodness. I… I got a skill?”

“Well, it was inevitable. The monsters here are incredibly strong, and you’ve gained plenty of lev… I mean, experience from defeating them all.”

“…Uwaah!!!”

-Whoosh!!

“Whoa?! Hey, what are you…?!”

“Thank you!! Thank you so much! Jack!!!”

She must have been really worried lately.

Overwhelmed with emotion from manifesting a skill and defeating an incredibly strong orc champion, she throws herself at me with tears in her eyes, expressing her gratitude.

Really, there’s no reason to thank me. It’s all her own achievement, her talent blooming.

“Yeah, yeah. You did well. Come on. Stop crying now.”

“Sniff…!!”

As I pat her head telling her to stop crying, she makes a sniffling sound and slowly pulls away. But she didn’t just wipe her nose on my shoulder, right? Right?

“Alright, I understand you’re moved, but we need to clear the dungeon today, right? Who knows how much money Ragni is making. You don’t want to lose, do you?”

“Yes! I’ll work hard to clear the second floor too!! Sniff!!”

“Good, good. Let’s go.”

I collected the magic stone and headed to the second floor with Rey, who had stopped crying.

[-Job: Given Swordswoman- Level: 168 Name: Rey Sol. Age: 17.]

[Strength: 132]

[Agility: 167]

[Intelligence: 22]

[Luck: 38]

[HP: 1,990]

[MP: 130]

[Skill: Can’t Stand Injustice.]

[!new Skill: Swift Sword.]

[Swift Sword Effect: Gain an additional 0.2x your Agility. (Additional stats from equipment are not applied. Only activates when holding a sword.)]

I was so focused on reading her increased stats and skills that appeared before me that I failed to notice her job had changed.