Tensei Skill Shop Chapter 17

Tensei Skill Shop

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 17:

The trade agreement I had with Sano meant that the skills I traded over to him would unlock new additions to his catalog two weeks later. In this case, that meant the ninja skills I managed to grab from Empowered, and the multiple skills I had obtained from Skyrim. The latter just so happened to include the data on absorbing Dragon souls and Dragon Shouts.

I perused through the catalog of skills, examining the new ones that were marked out. Right now, it was just me and him in his office, as the girls declined taking a look in favor of getting settled back in our living space in the shop. 

[Chain Master], [Draconic Soul], [Soul Empowerment], [Skill Trainer], [Growth Potential Boost]-

My hand paused on that last one. Keeping my finger on it, I swiftly scanned the others around it, before confirming that there wasn’t any [Unlock Potential] skill. Rather than being disappointed about that, I focused my attention on the marked skill’s description.

“I see you found that one.” Sano’s voice made me look up.

“It’s from the Key, isn’t it?”

“Correct.”

According to Sano’s explanation, the Skeleton Key had several advantages that enabled it to unlock potential and all sorts of powers within that world, due to the various things supporting its function within that world’s system. For that reason, Sano couldn’t create something that replicated its effects exactly when outside of the system. The most he could do was a skill that could borrow a little of the world’s system to enhance the person the skill was used on. The effect varied depending on several factors, like the general power of the one using it, and the world it was used in.

So, something like a Jumpchain then… “So if I got this one, and use it several times in multiple worlds…”

“Then I might be able to update it to work better,” The god finished.

“I’ll take it.” 

“It’s a good purchase,” He replied blandly even as he placed the skill on the desk for me to take.

“Yep, I’m sure the girls will appreciate it too. Let’s see what else I can get.”

The amount of DP earned from the visit to Air Gear was quite a lot more than initially expected, because the data and skills we collected from that place gave the god a lot more inspiration, making him value it accordingly. Even excluding the talented Gravity Children with their skills for ATs, the normal people in that world had traits like enhanced physical ability for the legs, or the rhythm sense which the tuners of Tool Toul To had, all of which Sano claimed he could adapt to upgrade his own stock of skills. 

It wasn’t just the skills, but the technology involved as well. The complexity of customizing ATs to an individual Stormrider interested him as well. While the mechanics of linking together skill components as part of a larger one wasn’t exactly the same, there were enough similarities that Sano believed he could learn from. The shop mainly dealt in skills with only the general customization to make things work for the holder within that world, but apparently this new discovery represented another possible avenue of income. Supposedly, there were some gods who made their own skills, but wouldn’t mind paying DP if Sano could tune them up even further. 

Since Matsu had collected and collated a lot of the information about working with ATs into something easier to digest, the two of us managed to convince Sano to raise our normal salaries as well. Those added funds would be useful when it came to buying access to other worlds in the future.

Eventually, I decided not to purchase [Skill Trainer] yet, choosing to hold off until we decided on what world we intended to visit next. Olivia’s three overpowered skills were more than enough for our current circumstances.

“You sure? Just to warn you, I might not be around next weekend, because I might be too busy working with the stuff you brought. I’m still working through what you brought me from the Pokemon world.”

I blinked at that bit of info. “Does that mean we can’t go to other worlds during that time?”

“I’m still working on arrangements for revisiting the worlds you visited before,” Sano admitted casually, “But that’s probably right.”

“Well… I think I’m okay with that. It’s been fun spending a long time in other worlds, but I don’t mind staying a while longer in this one.” Especially with the two girls to spend time with.

“Good to hear that. Any other questions?”

I thought for a bit, then shook my head. “No, I think that’s all.”

“Good. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.”

“Alright. Bye, Sano-san.”

When I entered the living area, I found Matsu and Uzume unwinding on the couch, with the latter using her legs to lift Eevee up on down on her ankles while the Pokemon made happy noises at the ride. 

“How was it?” Matsu asked lazily, barely turning her head towards me.

“So-so, I’d say.” 

I filled them in on what they missed, and offered to hit them up with [Growth Potential Boost], which they accepted. It didn’t seem to show any immediate effect, but [Appraisal] indicated that their abilities had gained a minor improvement right away. 

“So it’s an investment-type skill then.” Matsu reached out to pat me comfortingly on the head. “There, there, I know you’re feeling disappointed.”

“Maybe a little,” I admitted. 

“Guess we’ll just have to do something to cheer you up afterwards!”

“And first up for the ‘cheer Rick up’ attempt, is Eevee!” Uzume picked the brown fox off her ankles, adjusting her grip on the Pokemon. “Go, Eevee!”

“Ee~!!!” The brown living missile squealed with joy as she struck my face, proceeding to nuzzle it fervently. “Veeveevee~”

I couldn’t help laughing at this over-the-top version of furry therapy. Even when I hugged the Pokemon to keep her from trying to suffocate me with her fur, she continued to lick at my chin, tickling it with her damp tongue. Uzume and Matsu watched on with smiles on their faces, before deciding to join in for a group hug.

The calendar indicated that there were only two more weeks left until the end of the year, and the weather forecast indicated it was going to be quite cold outside in this world’s Tokyo. When I raised the topic, the general opinion of the group leaned towards just spending most of our time indoors, where it was warm and comfortable. Eevee certainly didn’t look like she minded that, since we would be around to interact with her.

As if on cue, my phone vibrated with a message.

‘Any plans for Christmas?’ My dad asked. ‘Not coming back, right?’

‘Probably just relax’
‘Don’t feel like visiting theme park or anything’ I sent back.

‘Ok. Just give yourself a treat then’
‘Consider this a Christmas and birthday present from me’
‘Send me the bill afterwards’ 

It was the same arrangement we had during the previous holidays I spent in Japan.

‘Thanks’ I sent the reply, and set my phone down.

“Your birthday’s coming soon?” Matsu asked me.

Oh right, she can see the message with her power. “Yes, it’s near the end of the year, actually.”

“Then we have to have a birthday party for you!” 

“I agree!” Uzume spoke up as well.

I opened my mouth, initially planning to say that they didn’t need to, but thought better of it and just nodded. “Alright, a small party with just us.”

After how long we spent in the Air Gear world, skating and soaring through the skies, returning to the shop felt like the moment of rest we so desperately needed, and any mention of ATs or the desire to ride with them had been excluded without any of us needing to discuss it. It was just rest and relaxation. With the usual work shifts included.

As if to reflect things winding down, the days counting down to the new year passed by uneventfully. I served customers during the day, returned to our living space to relax with the girls by either watching some shows or reading manga together, before going to sleep to repeat the cycle the next day. Some nights we even went out for a walk in the brisk cold of the winter, which made the warm drinks we shared in the winter afterwards very welcome.

That’s not to say that things were boring; our gatherings were something like a book club, and it was fun discussing the various fictional worlds we would like to visit, for the experiences we could have there and the skills that we could possibly grab and make use of. Uzume was enjoying the growth of her Pokemon team, and she even made sure to include an Eevee in it, something which made our Eevee enjoy watching her play during the day while the rest of us were at work.

For some reason, the godly customer crowd during this period had an oddly large proportion of gods who wanted to give their reincarnators the peaceful life that they didn’t get in their former ones. People who suffered from overworking at a black company, familial abuse, bullying, and various other unfortunate events, I couldn’t help feeling a bit of pity at hearing the gods who shared the accounts of their selected reincarnators. So despite acting in my job persona, I tried my best to assist them, suggesting not only skills that might help their selected person to thrive, but to heal their mental state. Food preparation, item crafting, creature taming, and so on… 

I also offered a few suggestions as to where to place the human being reincarnated, pointing out certain family traits that might allow the person to break out of the shell that they built around themselves to protect their fragile self.

Not all of them accepted the advice on the latter, but quite a few did for the former, especially when I explained my reasoning.

Compared to those gods who wanted to reincarnate a person just for fun, or to make it up to the victims of their own mistakes, I thought that these ones were much nicer to interact with. 

“The goddess actually agreed with my suggestion to give the person the birthday cake he missed out on,” I was telling Uzume about a particularly memorable interaction, “And apparently his reaction pleased her so much that she contacted Sano to pass on her praise for my idea.”

“So he called you on the phone?”

I nodded. “I had to leave it ringing for a while because it came right in the middle of serving another customer, but luckily that one didn’t mind.”

“More good reviews means better reputation,” She said in agreement.

“Did you learn that from your costume-making business?” 

“Yup, I did. I’ve got quite a few referrals from previous customers, so it’s getting a bit busy.”

“Not stressing yourself out?”

Uzume let out a small laugh and cuddled closer to me. “I’m only taking the ones I feel like doing, and Eevee makes sure I take breaks. And even then, I’m still faster than most people.”

“Not like the guy from the Bisque Doll manga, then.”

“Nope,” She tilted her head up to look me in the eyes, “I’m not going to drink energy drinks and work all through the night on a costume.”

“That only happened in the recent chapters, didn’t it?”

“It’s a good arc.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t.”

“If you did, we would be having problems,” She informed me primly. “Still, I like the most recent chapter better.”

“Which was…” I took a moment to recall it.

“Let me remind you!”

By the time I realized just what the chapter in question was about, Uzume hopped onto my lap, straddling my legs with her arms around my shoulders and our faces very close.

“I love you I love you I love you I love you I love youuu-!” She ended her sentence with an intense kiss as though trying to suck out my soul.

Right, the part where Marin found out that Gojo loves her, and totally spilled her own feelings for him back out in response. Instead of trying to resist the way the male protagonist did, I returned the hug and kiss just as intensely.

“Hey! Don’t try to get ahead without me! Eevee, use Quick Attack!”

“Veeeee~!”

Uzume and I broke away from each other, and the brunette executed a reactive twisting leap, catching Eevee in her hands and absorbing the impact of the Pokemon’s charge. She landed perfectly on her feet, looking totally unruffled by the sudden interruption. 

“You little scamp~” She scolded, but there was no heat in her tone.

“Eevee!” The Pokemon replied cheerfully, her tongue flashing out to lick Uzume’s face.

“How was training today, Matsu?”

The redhead came over and plopped herself down on my right. “She’s definitely improving faster than before.”

It was Matsu’s turn to oversee Eevee’s training today, and their training session had just finished. We also mixed in a bit of skill testing with it, and in this case, it was a test of [Growth Potential Boost], used on Eevee.

“She’s faster, stronger, more agile,” Matsu clarified, “Just about everything has improved, actually.”

“That’s good to hear. No diminishing returns yet?”

“Not that I noticed. Now, how about my reward?”

I played along. “What would you like this servant to do, Mistress Matsu?”

As evidenced by how we behave around each other, my relationship with my Sekireis has gotten even warmer. It wasn’t on the level of banging each other every single night, but we did do it a few times since our return from the Air Gear world. A few times in the living quarters, twice at a love hotel outside, but never in the shop as per our contract with Sano.

And it was never not hot and heavy. Though not to the point of neglecting safe sex.

Eevee definitely noticed what we were up to, and while she was a little curious, she respected our need for privacy. On the other hand, when it was just flirting and petting like this, it was open season for interruption. 

“Oooh yeeeaah~ Just like thaaaat, keep touching meee~”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Uzume tossed Eevee at us, “Tail Whip!”

“Ee! Ee! Vee!” She began batting at us with her tail.

“Hey!”

Despite the name, it wasn’t the actual move with the Normal Type Energy, but just a way for Eevee to play with us. After all, she wasn’t the type to crave battles, so light play suited her just fine. She didn’t mind training with us though.

Sano called on Friday to let me know that he wouldn’t be able to make it to the store that weekend, though our salaries still arrived without any issues. We had the weekend to ourselves, so I took the opportunity to bring both girls out individually on a date in turn, while the other was housesitting with Eevee.

I visited cosplay and clothing stores with Uzume, viewed a few scenic spots where we took photos together, and even had a bit of fun at an arcade before going for some karaoke and dinner. 

As for Matsu, we went to Akihabara where she could tease me about my tastes in hentai and erotic doujinshi, but also for her to purchase some of the electronic stuff they had with her salary. It was calmer, but no less stimulating for me with how tempting she was.

Almost like a Betty and Veronica, except they’re both closer to Betty. I thought as I drifted off to sleep that night.

Though they didn’t actually celebrate Christmas as a religion, when the day arrived, we had a pleasant party with a pre-decorated cake bought from a shop, and they even turned up in Christmas outfits just to get in the mood. Even Eevee had a Christmas hat on, and had fun batting at the white puff on the tip when it fell forward in front of her face. 

We took a lot of pictures, though I refrained from posting them on social media like I usually did. The only one I did was of the food that Uzume made, which was a platter of rather amazing fried chicken.

For presents, I had thought quite a while about what to give them. I didn’t want to just make a skill and give it to them, even though it would have been the easiest thing to do. Being a bit strapped for time, I went with the lousy option of a ‘do anything’ card for both of them, which they accepted with unexpected joy. The look Matsu had on her face made it obvious what she wanted to do with her card, while Uzume was harder to read.

Uzume’s gift to each of us was a nice set of clothes, and I could honestly say that I would be wearing mine quite often in the future. Matsu’s gift was a photo album, containing pictures of us together, with a handwritten wish for the remaining empty pages to be filled in the future. It was something she was able to assemble with her skills, but I could tell that she put a lot of thought into it.

Even Eevee had a gift, in the form of a cute little performance and dance that she learned with Uzume’s help and a video online. We clapped and awarded her with small contest ribbons that Uzume slipped to us, which made the small Pokemon beam happily. 

She still didn’t evolve yet, but I doubted she was going to want to be an Espeon or Umbreon.

Then later that night, I found two more presents in my bed, with fancier wrappings that tempted me with the contents they hid. I took my time in removing those, and thoroughly enjoyed the contents, even if it left me quite exhausted by the time we were done.

If not for the job persona taking over, I would have missed work the next day. Some of the gods definitely noticed, judging by the looks they were giving me. Thankfully, they didn’t ask, and I managed to reach the end of the day without any issues.

Uzume was waiting there as usual when I got back. “Welcome back, Rick. You look tired.”

“I feel tired,” I said simply.

“Sorry, we got carried-” 

“No, don’t apologize,” I interrupted her, my eyes falling on the marks I had left on her neck, “I don’t regret it.”

It was remarkably cute how her face flushed all of a sudden. She quickly covered it up by offering to give me a massage to relieve the tenseness in my muscles. 

I accepted. That was how Matsu found us when she barged in later.

“Uzume-tan, is Rick-tan back- Oooh, are you two continuing from last night?” She sounded quite hopeful.

““We’re not!””

Matsu’s reason for barging in was because she had noted a recent trend in the skills being sold, and a connection to the ones she had been working with, and was hoping to get our input. 

“Now that you mention it,” I looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, “I did notice that there’s been more magic-related skills being sold lately.”

“Exactly!” The redhead said excitedly, “But did you notice anything else about that?”

I let out a hiss of embarrassment. “...sorry, I’m not good at keeping note of stuff like that, I usually leave it all to my job persona.”

“It’s fine,” She waved it off, “It’s easy to miss if you only deal with the outgoing items only, but I can view the records stretching further back, and I noticed that magic-type skills are more popular with the customers.”

“Well, it does make sense,” Uzume remarked as she petted Eevee, who had slipped in without me noticing, “If their selected reincarnators usually come from normal worlds without magic, that would be the sort of skill they would love to have in their new world.”

“True, but what’s so special about it?” I asked Matsu.

“Alright, it’s a long explanation, so be patient with me…”

We already knew that skills had to match the world system they were meant for, so not every skill Sano made could be accepted by every world. More complicated systems could handle weaker skills, but not the other way around. However, what Matsu was able to find out from the past records was that the customers of the shop preferred to purchase skills with more flexibility in what they could do.

Not just something like a new generation smartphone with more apps and functions, but something that they could customize themselves to fit better with their world’s system. I understood why they would want to; in the Hidden Dungeon world, the magic skill [Stone Bullet] only fired the same-sized pebble shots every time, but [Editing] could make it a boulder or shape it into a spike, and that sort of potential was fun and attractive.

“Wait, are you thinking of visiting more magic worlds next to get more material for Sano to work with?” I guessed.

“That’s part of it, yes,” She nodded, “But I was thinking that we should try recruiting someone else who can handle working with magic.”

Matsu’s experience with working with ATs gave her some experience with fiddling around with skill functions, but her personal testing of the ones she worked on before taught her that there was a difference between AT tech and magic. And she could tell she didn’t have the talent to work with the latter. According to her, she was better with the exacting nature of data as compared to the chaotic form of magic.

“That would mean you’re suited for the magic system of the Mahouka series, doesn’t it?” I pointed out, “Couldn’t we just purchase [Magical Talent] or something like that for you?”

“You could, but there’s a reason for that.”

Uzume snorted, crossing her arms and looking away with an air of slight annoyance.

“I don’t wanna!” Matsu proclaimed, making an X with her index fingers.

So Uzume guessed what Matsu was going to say. “Well, I think I can guess why you say that.”

“Oh? What’s your guess then?” She challenged with a teasing smirk.

“It would take more time away from your hobbies.” I stated the same reason I would have given in her place. The reward for doing a good job is more work, as they say.

“As expected of my Ashikabi! You really know me well!”

Even though I couldn’t watch streams and anime, or read manga during my work hours, I still didn’t pass up the chance to keep up with the series I was following when I had the free time. Matsu was similar to me, having gone through a few drama series on her own already. 

“You two…” Uzume said exasperatedly. 

“Vee?” The Pokemon flopped herself onto her back on the Sekirei’s lap, stretching out languidly.

“Three,” She corrected herself.

“Don’t worry, we aren’t going to slack off and leave you with all the work,” I reassured her, “Not that you’ll let us, right?”

Uzume smiled in spite of herself. “Exactly. I can’t have my Ashikabi be a lazy person.”

“But you’d love to have him spend all day in bed with-” 

Matsu’s sentence was cut off by a cushion to the face, thrown by a blushing Uzume.

We spent the next few days looking through several works of fiction during our free time, to choose worlds that had good magic potential, and to select possible candidates for recruitment. The former was easy enough to come up with options for; there were worlds like Harry Potter, Fairy Tail, Black Clover, and many more, all with different types of magic that would be cool to obtain and play around with.

The latter on the other hand, was a tougher one. Apart from being someone talented in magic, the three of us agreed that we wanted someone who wasn’t too crucial to the plot, was willing to leave their world to join us, and most of all, someone with a friendly nature that we could get along with.

Obviously, that narrowed down our range of selection considerably.

Sano returned on Friday, with less than a week to the end of the year, and as usual there were a bunch of new additions to the shop’s catalog, both the ones meant for customers, and the ones that were available for us to purchase.

“Hmmm… quite a lot of active skills this time,” I observed as I flipped through the thick binder.

“Of course it is,” Sano responded to my comment, “The skills you got from that world were generally all like that, so the results of my working with them naturally tend to be the same.”

<What do you think, Rick-tan?> Matsu asked me mentally.

<To be honest, my interest in these isn’t that high. Uzume?>

<Hold on a moment…>

From what I could infer from the descriptions of the new skills, they came with a pool of energy that would refill itself over time, one that would enhance the activated skill to be stronger than it normally should be. Compared to the classic Pokemon moves, these ones had the potential for growth and evolution; use them enough times, experiment with them, and they could develop into something entirely new depending on what you did.

“Could I get this? Please?” Uzume pointed at her chosen option while looking at me.

“Oh, this is interesting… yeah, it definitely fits you. Plus with the AT stuff we got recently…”

“So you spotted it then,” Sano’s voice made us look up at him.

“Specially made for her?” I inquired. Am I that easy to read? I remember him doing this before.

“I was quite inspired by some of the skills you brought back from that last world, and I couldn’t stop myself from seeing what I could do with them.” He brought out a glowing white box and sent it floating over to me. “Take a look.”

[Decompressing… Decompressing Complete.]

I unpacked the skill into its smaller components for Matsu and I to examine, and almost instantly I could spot the Pokemon moves that went into it.

Gust, Drill Peck, Wing Attack, a bunch of Flying-type Moves that uses Flying and Normal energy, combined with some air control and Infinity Atmosphere from Air Gear, with a few general skills mixed in to tie it all together. And while it can be used alone, combining it with a cloth medium like Uzume does with her Sekirei powers would enhance the effectiveness. Oh, there is a part meant to link with the [Sekirei] skill too. This really can be said to be specially made for Uzume.

“How much for it?” I asked, while compressing the skill back up again.

[Compressing… Compression complete.]
[Sylph Raiment created.]

Named after the spirit of wind… nice.

Sano named a price that was still within my budget of DP, and after a quick glance with the two Sekireis, I agreed to it.

Passing the skill over to Uzume, I watched her implant it within herself, and Matsu used some of her shop-granted skills to supervise the integration process.

“How does it feel, Uzume-tan?”

Uzume placed a hand on her chest, between her breasts. “Like I have my Norito permanently on…” 

“And the Norito itself should be even stronger, by my estimation,” Sano added, “Though I would prefer you to not test it in here.”

“Then we should go to a world where we can do so, right?” I tilted my head to the side as I asked him.

…

“The air in this world smells really fresh,” Uzume commented as we walked through the city, “Even if it stinks a little.”

“That’s to be expected in fantasy worlds with low hygiene standards.”

“So where are we going, Rick-tan?” Matsu asked me. “The Labyrinth?”

“Not yet,” I told her, “First, I want to go pick up the skill I left here.”

“You mentioned it before, the protagonist, right?

”Yup. Oh, there he is now.”

The black-haired Asian male was walking down the street ahead of me, but this time he wasn’t alone; he had a companion with him, an orange-haired beastwoman, identifiable by her fluffy ears and tail sticking out from above her butt.

“Don’t react if he tries to use [Appraisal] on you,” I warned the two Sekireis as we gradually drew closer.

“I know. I’ve read the source novels too, remember?” 

Okay… [Stealth] activated, and time to approach. My pace sped up a little, and I reached within range of him enough to strike. Good, she hasn’t noticed me. Maybe it’s because it’s not a combat situation.

[System Analysis extracted!]

The skill slipped out of the boy’s body, and I tucked it away into my storage before backing off slightly and deactivating my concealment skill. It didn’t take long for him to notice my presence.

His expression changed as he recognized me. “Oh, aren’t you…”

“Nice to see you again,” I greeted him, before glancing at the demure woman next to him, “I see you’ve gained a companion since the last time we met.”

“Yeah… I could say the same for you.” He looked at my Sekireis, and his eyes widened slightly. “Um, I thought you were moving on to other places?”

“Just making a stop by Vale. Say, how about we take this talk to this place somewhere else instead of standing here?” I suggested.

“Sure… I don’t mind…” The other party answered cautiously.

At my prompting, he led us to a nearby tavern where we sat in a relatively quiet corner and ordered drinks, before making introductions.

I already knew his name as Kaga Michio, but at least now I heard it from his own mouth. His companion’s name was Roxanne, and she was his slave, as evidenced by the black collar around her neck. From the bright and confident expression she had, it was clear she didn’t have any reservations about being Michio’s slave. 

Looking at her, I could definitely say that she was rather stunning in appearance; her bright orange hair aside, she had a very nice figure, with proportions that even beat my Sekireis’. The leather vest and the long pants she had on did nothing to hide them too. Michio definitely lucked out in having her in his party.

Likewise, I introduced Matsu and Uzume to them, and I could tell his suspicions were getting stronger when he heard their Japanese-style names as compared to the more European-fantasy ones that were common here. 

[Appraisal detected!]

I smiled innocently as he checked my status again, knowing how it would appear to his version of the skill. I didn’t kill that many monsters during my time here, so naturally I didn’t acquire that much EXP to raise my level. Even more so for the two Sekireis, who still registered as [Villager Lv1] under the appraisal, which was something to be suspicious about.

“Did you visit the labyrinth today?” I asked him.

“Actually, we were planning to do so after buying some supplies.”

“What a coincidence, we were thinking about doing that ourselves. Any interest in forming a party together?”

“Ah, sorry… I think I’ll prefer to just do it with Roxanne and me alone for now,” He rejected me.

“Alright, no problem with that.” I looked at the beastwoman, “You have an amazing master, right?”

“Yes,” She nodded with a confident smile. “Master is amazing!”

Michio just laughed nervously. 

I knew why, of course; the few secrets he shared with her so far, like his unique skills of Warp, ability to skip magic chants, the powerful Overwhelming skill from the Hero Job class, his increased growth speed, and other stuff, all of them got the same reaction out of Roxanne, that her master was amazing.

“Say, what’s it like being a slave?” Uzume asked Roxanne, distracting the other girl.

As if in unison, Michio and I both lifted our tankards and took a drink from it, exchanging amused looks over the rims. It was a bit embarrassing hearing her praise her master so much even though it shouldn’t have been that long since he bought her, and I wasn’t the one being talked about.

“So aside from adding Roxanne to your party, this whole time you’ve been visiting the labyrinth regularly?” I changed the subject.

“Yes, we even defeated the first floor boss monster yesterday, the Odd Wood.”

Oh right, the first floor monsters were all Needle Woods, living plants that dropped twigs when defeated, so the first floor boss would be the same, I guess. “Oh, good job. Was it hard?”

“Not at all,” Roxanne answered, “It was very short because Master was amazing.”

“No, no, Roxanne is just as amazing,” Michio said humbly, “She moves really well, none of the monsters can even hit her.”

“No, no, it’s an easy thing that anyone could do. Just dodge the attacks as they come, and they won’t even hit. Anyone could do it.”

If it was that simple, then no one would ever get hit. From the look on Michio’s face, he was having the normal reaction of disbelief to such a statement.

“Hahaha! That’s the thing, not everyone can do that!” Matsu pointed out.

“Really?” 

That innocent reaction of doubt really made it sink in how strong Roxanne’s battle instinct was.

“May I ask what sort of weapons you’re using?” She inquired.

“I have several. Swords, maces, bows… But to be honest, these two aren’t really used to using them, so we’re going to take our time to practice with them.”

“Oh, you have so many? Did you buy them from Quratar?”

“Quratar?” Her master echoed, demonstrating his unfamiliarity with this world.

“Quratar is a place built around a labyrinth, so there are a lot of explorers who visit that place. Because of that, there are many shops as well,” She explained.

“Have you been there before, Roxanne?” Michio asked her.

“Yes! That’s why I know what’s there. Was it where you got your weapons from?” The curious beastwoman directed that last part at me..

“Nope, I got them from a whole bunch of other places. Not that I can recall where each one came from.” Other than the general answer of ‘Ivalice’.

“I see. Well, sorry for ending this early, but we want to buy our stuff and head to the labyrinth today,” Michio said, lowering his emptied drink.

“No, no, thanks for giving us some of your time. We’ll be going there first, so feel free to say hi if you spot us.” 

“Sure, will do.”

Before we left, I beckoned him away from Roxanne for a bit of a personal chat. She didn’t miss that, but his agreement to go along with me kept her from trying to listen in. The two Sekireis likewise stayed back with her.

“What is it?” He asked quietly so as not to be overheard.

“Well, I’m sure you already know that we both have our secrets, but I just want to tell you that I’m willing to share if you are.”

“Right…”

“Also, I wish you a long and happy life with your eventual harem.”

“H-harem!? M-me?”

Instead of responding, I went back over to the girls, and we went our separate ways from the pair. It didn’t take long for us to reach the entrance to the labyrinth, and upon stepping through the black doorway, we appeared in a dimly lit corridor of stone.

“Alright then, shall we get to hunting?”

The girls let out a cheer.

Afterword: Hope everyone has been having a good start to this year. Work has been tough, and I’ve made a few careless mistakes that I’ve been beating myself up for, but hopefully I get the hang of things quickly. Writing this fanfic really does help me with the mood, though sometimes I just don’t have the muse working, and that sucks.

Anyway, thanks for all the support. I’m considering changing the membership to increase for more expensive options, as a way for willing people to donate. Otherwise, it’s still the same $5 all the way. Please let me know in the comments if you all are okay with that.

Also, feel free to throw out possible ideas on who to recruit for the group next. I have a possible candidate in mind already, but I’m also interested to see what suggestions you all have.