Chapter 40 – Floor 6.

Ordinary chain mail, thief’s cowhide boots, seeds of unknown identity, a flame potion with an iridescent color that somehow looked like a cocktail…

The items Maria brought were all of lower rarity compared to those the Suspicious Merchant had shown from his display.

However, their prices were incredibly kind—most were just two digits.

Even the most expensive equipment barely exceeded 200 GOLD.

Having the Sad Ghost follow as a reward for the sub-quest meant receiving such consumables at heart-warmingly affordable prices every time you crossed regions.

‘Meanwhile that ground-dwarf succubus charged me 700 for a potion and three scraps of paper.’

Truly the only conscience in this ruthless dungeon without blood or tears…!

That fact was so touching it brought tears to my eyes.

“But I heard you would follow me, yet I never actually felt you following. How did you follow me? Were you constantly circling around?”

I couldn’t help asking the question that suddenly came to mind while considering which of Maria’s items to buy. Honestly, I thought she’d find me somehow since she was a ghost, but if she had been watching my every move, it would be rather unsettling.

‘If that’s true, it means she also saw me using the onaholes…’

Just imagining it made things unbearably awkward.

Plus, if she had overheard all the nonsense I spouted while subjugating Severa and even my plans…

“The path that Hero-nim will take is predetermined. Just as my friend and I did, and as the great adventurers of long ago did as well.”

“My path is predetermined?”

Fortunately, Maria didn’t seem to have discovered what I’d done to Severa, but I heard something quite disconcerting.

“The path you’re taking toward that indescribably terrifying end is both a path that countless heroes have walked before and a bridgehead laid by that end to devour the world. So naturally, if I wait somewhere along that path, I’ll meet you.”

So she’s saying that if she goes ahead and waits, I’ll follow?

Well, Maria already has dungeon experience, and she doesn’t seem to be attacked, so she can probably advance much more easily than I can.

“I see. Oh, give me this and this.”

Seeing no sign of an object to remove curses, I pointed to the chain mail that I would change into on the next floor, and the flame potion that seemed to beckon me.

I hope I don’t have to throw it, but if I encounter such a situation again, I’ll throw it without hesitation.

Environmental protection is something to practice in the real world. Besides, no one would want a jungle teeming with such monsters, so I could say I’m cleaning it up for them.

Come to think of it, shouldn’t I be receiving compensation from every country in this world?

“I’m glad there were items that could help. Could you share some of the great deeds you’ve collected with me, Hero-nim?”

“Ah. Sure, take it.”

I held out my hand as I had with the Suspicious Merchant, but Maria tilted her head as if wondering why I was giving her my hand.

Maria repeatedly stared at my hand, looked at my face, then back at my hand, so I slowly withdrew it, thinking I might have misunderstood.

Thinking about it, since the Suspicious Merchant’s true identity is a succubus, taking GOLD that way probably isn’t normal.

“May I touch you for a moment?”

I nodded at Maria, who politely asked in this awkward situation. How nice it would be if Severa were even half as courteous as Maria.

Maria’s faint hand touched my chest.

A cool sensation touching my skin through the lion head decoration.

I gradually felt something flowing through that point of contact. Is this a soul?

But the flow, clearly different from the Suspicious Merchant’s, was more like an embrace mixed with understanding than a pleasure being wrung out.

“Oh… so that’s how it works.”

There’s no use in investigating every little thing like this anyway.

***

A backpack and holster now fully packed with items purchased from Maria.

With the remaining items to be purchased gradually on the next floor, I would at least never run out of consumables and empty my holster.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Um… Hero-nim? There’s something I’d like to ask.”

I turned my head back at the voice that stopped me as I was about to finish exploring Floor 6.

Maria hesitated as if debating whether to speak or not, and I thought I knew what she wanted to say.

It must be about Severa.

“You want to talk to Severa, right?”

“You knew her name…!”

To be honest, I considered whether I should bring out Severa and show her face.

“I saw the inscription on that angel statue. You two were quite close when you were alive, weren’t you?”

Maria was the one who wrote that inscription, which clearly showed she liked Severa. She seemed to have more than friendly feelings.

It was a setting too PC to include in a low-quality pixel game like D.D., but it was possible.

Maria couldn’t deny it and just hung her head.

“What do you want to talk about? I can relay a message for you.”

“Ah…”

A firm refusal.

Seeing Maria’s disappointed face made me feel slightly guilty, but I had no intention of showing Severa to Maria right now.

Though I didn’t think our relationship was that bad, the relationship between a masturbation tool and its owner isn’t a pretty picture to look at.

It would be difficult to bear seeing someone you liked being violated at will, so the situation was uncomfortable to show unless Severa reached the point of begging for it herself.

Either way, Maria’s heart would be torn, but I didn’t have much choice in the matter.

After all, it was Maria who asked me to stop Severa in the first place.

“But I’ll let you two talk next time. It’s just not possible right now.”

“I see.”

Her deeply disappointed face seemed to relax a bit, and she smiled at me as I was about to turn around again.

‘I’m not sure how to react to this.’

***

“You…”

“Was I being too nosy? Sorry, it’s a typical Korean trait.”

Severa, whom I summoned after walking through the corridor for a while after leaving the clearing where Maria was, seemed to have heard my conversation with Maria, as her mood was different from usual.

She seemed more subdued and calm.

Though she looked somewhat wistful as she glanced in the direction we had come from, Severa shook her head in denial.

“No, I don’t want to meet her like this, now. At least not until I confirm that Maria’s and my thoughts are correct.”

“Those thoughts being… Hmm… that I’m a hero?”

“Whether you’re really the right material to stop that end, or just another eccentric who has appeared again.”

I hope I am the material Severa is talking about. If not, it means I’ll die in this dungeon.

“Well, I’ve decided to believe that I am hero material. Aren’t I pretty capable?”

A crystallization of talent who reached Floor 6 of the dungeon without having learned anything about combat in life. A monster hunter who has slaughtered countless monsters. A collector who has gathered powerful onaholes to fight on his behalf.

And so on and so forth.

With all these titles calling my name, how could I not be hero material?

Didn’t even Severa become an onahole without being able to resist?

I’m not looking to be refuted on this.

Severa was looking at me with an exasperated face, clearly thinking “There he goes again with the nonsense,” so out of spite, I decided to do what she likes.

Smack—!

“Heeek-?!”

Along with her jiggling buttocks, the sparkle of the jewel appeared briefly and then disappeared.

With a sweet cry, Severa jerked her waist, grabbed her buttocks, and slowly backed against the wall.

Surrounded by vines and leaves, Severa took continuous steps backward as if trying to escape through the dense plant wall, her eyes moist with fear.

But her physical movements were in vain, as I didn’t allow her to dematerialize into spirit form.

“Where could you find a master as splendid as me? The more awesome I am, the more likely I am to be hero material, so isn’t that good for you too?”

“B-being used by you as a t-toy like this… Heek! Is not what I… want!”

Seeing her modestly pressing her legs together and subtly rubbing her thighs, the stimulation must have been quite strong.

“Even if I were to assist a hero as a spirit… I don’t want to be treated as a tool for such obscene desires… Ah! Ungh, ahnn…”

I leisurely appreciated the sight of her continuously letting out sweet moans.

It was a reckless thing to do in a corridor where enemies could barge in at any moment, but seeing the FUEL gauge almost depleted to 0, I decided to stop here.

“I didn’t want to go this far either.”

“Bullshit!”

“Well… when someone who enjoys being tormented and has a weak spot in their behind pretends to be so strong, it makes me want to play cute little pranks.”

If she had been obedient, I would have treated her with affection. Isn’t it psychology that if something is fun to torment, you tend to mess with it?

I think anyone with normal, healthy thinking like me would understand.

“You… pervert…!”

“Sigh… I feel the ache of the three-pronged wound carved on your chest…”

As I stroked my chest with a distant, melancholic face, Severa’s face turned bright red, and she seemed to have nothing to say, completely sealing her lips.

“It would be nice if a ghost who’s pretty, kind, thoughtful, and has a plug in her behind came and hugged me…”

Where on earth could such a perfect ghost be found?

Severa gradually turned crimson, almost losing all her paleness, before squeezing her eyes shut and approaching to embrace me.

Although the Lion Knight Armor prevented me from feeling anything more than being wrapped in something, her face, trembling with shame as she hugged me, was cute enough to be satisfying.

Poof–

At that moment, the FUEL gauge reached 0, and Severa returned to her onahole state.

“Hmm. Cute.”

I should do this again next time.