Chapter 55: The 6th floor (7)

Chapter 55: The 6th floor
(7)

When
I was a kid, there were a few things that lit up my relatively
passive childhood and made me jump at them.

For
example, a cool, delicious popsicle after volunteering at the
orphanage, or a favor from my sister or the stamps of approval from
my teachers.

Each
time I received a praise stamp on the back of my hand, whether it was
a flower, butterfly, star, or palm, a strange feeling of pride filled
my heart.

It’s
no exaggeration to say that I am the person I am today, with a clean
and clear moral spirit, thanks to those experiences.

As
you can see, the praise stamp was originally meant to be a small
stamp on the back of the hand⋯
but I don’t have a stamp right now.

‘Then,
what am I supposed to do with the praise stamp?’

As
I pondered, I heard a grunt next to me.

I
turned my head to see Ellie still clinging to my arm. She shuffled
her feet and stared at the inn.

Her
face was tense. She was nervous to see her adoptive mother after so
long.

“Hey.
It’s them.”

“Wow.
I’m so fucking jealous that she’s so much younger than me.”

“Arms
crossed at an inn in broad daylight, haha. Life.”

But
judging from the comments made by passersby, that wasn’t the only
reason.

Ellie’s
ears perked up and her paws pricked up from the ears to the back of
her head whenever she picked up on what people were saying.

Of
course, from a third party’s point of view, we looked like a couple
trying to copulate in broad daylight at an inn.

I
didn’t want to be misunderstood anymore.

“Shall
we go in?”

“Oh,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! Let’s go in!”

Ellie
swallowed hard and took a step forward.

She
wanted to lead the way, so she walked a little faster.

She
pushed the door open.

Ding-ding-ding-ding.

The
door wouldn’t open.

“Huh?
Why won’t it open?”

Normally,
Diana didn’t lock the doors of the inn even when the curse was
raging, she only locked her own door.

Even
if the inn’s doors aren’t always wide open, they’re not chained shut.

It
was Diana’s way of making sure that those who were out in the cold
could always come in and have a hot bowl of soup.

The
door of such an inn was now closed as tightly as a castle wall.

Just
as I was feeling this way, the door opened from the inside.

“Hmm?
You?”

The
first thing that caught my eye was the pure white armor.

The
armor was similar to the armored knight from the goblin lair, and the
muffled voice was strangely familiar.

The
one who had appeared after the battle between Idelbert and Diana.

‘The
head of the Royal Knights?’

Why
is she here?

“Ellie
Ordia? You’ve grown a lot since I last saw you. I heard you were
recommended to be a Royal Mage.”

“Uh,
who are you⋯?”

“Heh.
You were too young to remember me. Never mind, just think of me as an
old lady passing by.”

Ellie
looked at the head of the royal knights with a blush.

They
had seemed to have a connection when she had spoken to Diana the
other day, and she even knew about Ellie as a child.

“But
the man next to you…”

The
knight gaze fell on me, and I immediately felt a tremendous amount of
pressure.

“Huh!”

It
was a similar yet different sensation to that of wearing a
gravity-controlling artifact.

Whereas
the artifact directly burdened my physical body, now it felt like my
soul was being crushed.

I
stood as stiffly as I could, as unfazed as possible by the sudden
turn of events.

Surprisingly,
I didn’t sense any particular malice in the knight’s behavior.

‘No
one in high places would be so brazen as to make a fool of me, so
this is a test.’

As
if I hadn’t been wrong, the pressure immediately dissipated.

“Ho-ho,
you made it through this, most of them don’t last a minute.”

No
wonder my heart was pounding and cold sweat was pouring down like in
some hardcore manga— it felt like a technique straight out of a
supreme ruler’s playbook, pressing down on people.

I
replied with a rather nonchalant face, feeling unnecessarily
vindictive.

“It’s
easy.”

“Hehe!
You’re pretty bold for a guy! Yeah, I know. A man should have that
much guts!”

I
wonder if it worked, because the knight smirked and looked back and
forth between me and Ellie.

Then,
with a hint of amusement in her voice, she asked.

“Are
you, by any chance, Ellie’s boyfriend?”

Immediately,
a furious response erupted.

“Uh,
uh, well, that’s not quite right, is it?!”

“What
did you just say⋯?”

Ellie,
ears flapping and blushing at the sudden boyfriend declaration, and
Diana, who had rushed over from a table in the back of the store.

“Bar,
Balkan⋯Ellie?”

“I’m
back, Diana.”

“Hey,
foster mom. Oh, it’s been a while⋯”

Ellie
reflexively tensed up as soon as she saw Diana.

-Ko-o-ok-.

She
hugged my arms even tighter and I could feel her soft breasts being
crushed by my strong arms.

“⋯er?”

Diana’s
mouth dropped open as she looked at me and Ellie with our arms around
each other.

She
was so startled that even her softly closed eyes were half-open.

Her
normally nonchalant and relaxed face gradually cracked.

“Hehe,
this is a funny situation.”

The
knight watched us like an elderly woman watching a soap opera.

***

An
awkward air hung over the table after the knight left the inn, as if
being chased away by Diana and we explained the situation properly.

“⋯⋯”

“⋯⋯”

Diana
closed her eyes again and looked back and forth between Ellie and me.

Ellie
continued to fiddle with the cup of water Diana handed her and stared
at me.

With
both women’s eyes on me, I sat stiffly in my seat.

“⋯⋯”

“⋯⋯”

Despite
their mother-daughter relationship, the conversation between the two
women didn’t seem to be going well.

Diana
was unsure how to approach Ellie, and Ellie was in the midst of a
fierce battle with her own inferiority complex.

“Diana,
do you happen to have any soup? I’ve been thinking about your soup
since I’ve been in the labyrinth for so long.”

I
interjected.

I
actually missed Diana’s cooking, and I wanted to make something of a
topic.

“Uh,
yeah. Sure. Sure. ⋯Would
you like a bowl,
too?”

“⋯Ah,
yeah, yeah. Me too.”

They
dramatically exchanged a single word.

It
was a small step, but relationships are built on small steps.

Diana
brought the warm soup, wafting with smoke.

The
subtle scent of garlic tickled my nostrils. It was a simple soup,
neither too watery nor too thick, just as it should be.

I
stuck an iron straw through the tiny slit in the mouth of the helmet
and sucked the soup down.

It
was gross, but I had no choice. It’s weird to go to my room and say,
“I’m going to get some soup,” and then come back.

‘Wearing
a helmet all the time makes my life so uncomfortable.’

This
is a thought I’ve always had, but in this situation, it became more
dramatic.

Suddenly,
I remembered the image of Zirnier with her mask on, drinking all the
drinks and eating all the food.

“Come
to think of it, she asked me to come to her workshop.

I’ll
have to ask him about that mask when I get a chance.

“⋯Ellie,
how’s the soup?”

“Ah,
yes. It’s delicious⋯⋯⋯
It reminds me a bit of the old days⋯”

“⋯Hoo-hoo.
I’m glad to hear
that⋯I’m
so glad.”

With
something in their mouths, the conversation started to move forward.

It
started with the flavor of the soup, and then it turned to catching
up.

Diana
tried to talk to Ellie very cautiously, and Ellie seemed to sense
this and began to answer her hesitantly and awkwardly.

It’s
not like their relationship was a rock and a hard place to begin
with.

It’s
just like a parent dealing with a daughter who has reached puberty
and has been away for a long time.

It
was just a lack of communication between a child who felt inferior to
her parents and craved affection and attention from others.

All
they needed was a little bit of connection.

‘I
just wanted to provide that.’

Conversation
is the most basic way for people to communicate.

It’s
how we clear up misunderstandings, heal each other’s wounds, and
more.

Any
relationship can be rebuilt if you’re willing to talk to each other.

I
quietly slipped away from the table as they began to talk without my
interruption.

It
would be nice to have some mother-daughter time.

Hopefully,
they can get back to their old ways.

⋯Five
minutes after I went up to my room, Ellie came to my room.

“Aren’t
you going to give me a praise stamp⋯?”

***

“⋯Thank
you, foster mom.”

Diana
smirked at Ellie, who ducked her head.

Despite
being the child of a dead party member, Diana had raised Ellie as if
she were her own daughter.

Even
if her foster daughter, whom she had raised with love and care, had
gradually changed after entering the Academy, Diana had chalked it up
to her new surroundings and society.

By
the time she realized something was wrong, the relationship between
her and Ellie had grown apart.

‘To
Balkan, I can only say thank you so much⋯’

However,
Balkan’s intervention made up for three years of miscommunication.

Although
it will take a long time to get back to the way things were before.

For
now, I’m happy with the distance, because I never thought I’d be able
to talk to Ellie again like this until a few days ago.

“Uh,
I should probably get going, my free period is almost over.”

“Ah⋯
I see. Do you
need anything? Anything I can get you⋯”

“No,
it’s okay! I can’t just keep relying on others forever.”

Waving
her hands in the air as if to say that she really didn’t mind, Ellie
looked at Diana with an awkward but genuine smile.

“⋯Oh,
it’s been ⋯good
to see you after all these years, ⋯foster
mom.”

“Me
too. ⋯I
hope you’ll visit often in the future.”

Diana
cautiously approached Ellie and hugged her precious daughter tightly.

“I’ve
missed you. Ellie.”

“⋯Me
too.”

Ellie
was unfamiliar with her adoptive mother’s embrace, but she didn’t
hate it. Carefully, Ellie wrapped her hands around Diana’s waist.

They
hugged for a moment, then pulled apart again.

“⋯Ah,
right. I’m going to go check on Mr. Balkan.”

Ellie
said and hurried upstairs.

‘⋯Mr.
Balkan?’

Diana
questioned herself since Balkan shouldn’t be old enough to be
addressed like that.

‘Does
Ellie know Balkan’s bare face, by any chance?’

Diana
had never seen Balkan’s bare face beneath his helm, but the morbid
way he covered it up suggested something was going on.

Rumors
have started to trickle in recently, claiming he has a massive scar
and is unimaginably ugly.

Diana
wasn’t the kind of person to believe unfounded rumors so easily.

Even
if the rumors were true, it wouldn’t change the way she treated
Balkan.

He
always said she had given so much, but now she had received so much
from him.

‘⋯A
little bit, I’m curious.’

Apart
from that, she was curious. As a former explorer, she had an intense
need to satisfy her curiosity.

Diana
cautiously ascended to the second floor. Just off the hallway was
Balkan’s room.

Whenever
she passed Balkan’s room, she was often overcome by an unknown
impulse.

So
during the curse rampage, she had m*sturbated in Balkan’s room for
days on end without realizing it. It was an embarrassing memory.

“You
want me to do that, that, that, there, Ellie. Are you out of your
mind?”

“I’m
sorry, I guess you can’t do it⋯?
I’m so sorry⋯Please
don’t hate me⋯!”

“⋯⋯No,
you don’t need to apologize so much⋯”

A
normal person wouldn’t be able to hear this clearly, but Diana’s
heightened senses made it possible.

“⋯?”

Diana
silently shook her head at the sound and movement coming from inside
Balkan’s room.

Her
mind’s eye automatically envisioned the scene in the room.

Balkan,
sitting on the bed, sighing and furrowing his brow, and Ellie,
standing next to him, bowing her head in apology and embarrassment.

“Sigh.
This is the last time, Ellie. Don’t do this again next time. And
don’t ask other guys to do it either. You’ll end up in jail if the
guards catch you.”

“Uh,
if it’s not Mr. Balkan, I’m not going to be⋯”

“Don’t
talk shit. Okay?”

“⋯Yes⋯”

After
a conversation full of questions, Ellie made her way to Balkan’s bed.

She
lay down on her stomach on top of Balkan’s thighs.

Her
soft breasts pressed against the side of his thighs, her butt high in
the air, an embarrassing position.

Diana’s
face lit up as she took in everything in the room in a blur.

‘Gee,
what the hell!’

-Are
you, by any chance, Ellie’s boyfriend?

She
remembered the knight words to Ellie and Balkan. It was something
Diana hadn’t paid much attention to until now.

At
the same time, she remembered the way they were holding each other’s
arms affectionately, and the way Ellie’s eyes often followed Balkan
as they talked.

This,
too, was something Diana had been forcibly ignoring.

“⋯Ease
up, Ellie. It hurts more if you push.”

“Um,
that’s… it’s not working out as I planned… Just please… do it
quickly…”

-Gulp.

She
heard Balkan swallow hard.

“⋯Yes,
I will.”

Snap!

“⋯Hmph!”

Balkan
slapped Ellie’s ass. No, it was more like a swat. As proof, Ellie let
out a sweet moan.

“Mmm,
sorry. Did that hurt?”

“Oh,
no⋯
it actually felt good⋯
oh, no, it was fine⋯
so spank me a little harder⋯
give me a pat on the back⋯”

“⋯⋯”

Hearing
that, Balkan raised his hand once again.

Aaaaah!

“Heeeeeeeee!”

Ellie’s
big, round elf butt jiggled like a spoonful of pudding.

She
couldn’t see the color, but it must have been red. Like a palm print.

Diana
covered her mouth, which was gaping open to let out a stupid moan.

There
was no common sense understanding of what was happening in that room
right now.

But
there was something else that was even more incomprehensible.

“Hmm…
♡”

Why
does he body still get aroused in situations like this?

In
a blur of darkness, a pink womb symbol began to appear on Diana’s
lower belly. She could feel the dampness of her panties soaking
through.

Diana
sat down in the hallway, leaning her ear towards Balkan’s room.

Listening
to her daughter’s moans and the sound of flesh against flesh from
inside the room, she carefully moved her fingers.