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Chapter 146: How They’ve Grown
Her motherly care healed my heart while her ballistic breasts disintegrated my reason. Mei-chan made me experience ups and downs in ways more than one, but I was calm now. I’d gone and relieved myself.
We’d hung up the laundry on a rope of blackhair so the both of us were still in gym clothes, that is, Mei-chan was still in her risque fashion of massively revealing cleavage. So she was now covered up with a blanket. I know I’m in sage mode, but my instincts can only stand so much boobies. I was weak to breasts as is, so more of the same situation would only make my reason crumble like a house of cards.
For the above reasons, ‘tis quite unfortunate, but for the sake of world peace, Mei-chan’s chest had been hidden away. Aah, couldn’t I have that bliss for just a little longer… Maybe I can expect more in the future…
“By the way, you hungry?”
“Mm”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say no to that question.
Well, the dungeon wasn’t exactly mountains of food. Fairy walnuts might provide our daily nutrients, but they’re never enough to be full. Everyone was hungry most of the time. But please understand, I’m by no means implying that Mei-chan is a glutton.
“I, still have a few things, let’s cook something up”
“Really!?”
Would I lie to you? Mei-chan and I go way back, right? Rather than cooking for guys, it’d be much more satisfying to serve food to her.
But honestly, we really had used up most of the boar meat in the last supper before vs Reina, so I had just around one serving remaining. Other than meat, I had the herbs that worked surprisingly well as accents, and some bananatatoes, and I guess a bit of edible wild grass and mushrooms.
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For today, let’s go with my specialty, the wild boar stew.
“AH, is, is that really, bacon!?”
When I took out the last piece of wild boar bacon, Mei-chan latched on to it. Not literally of course.
“That’s right”
“Wow, you even have it preserved… Didn’t that take a long time?”
“Nope, I can do it instantly with curse magic”
Oh right, I got Witch’s Cauldron after I’d gotten separated from Mei-chan, so she obviously wouldn’t know. I used this power quite frequently for lifestyle purposes, so let’s get the show started.
“ –– just watch, Witch’s Cauldron ”
I quickly dug a pot hole beside the fountain, and invoked the magic. Witch’s Cauldron manifested in that stew pot sized burrow.
“It’s got quite a bit of power actually, water boils pretty much instantly inside”
“EHH, what-is-THIS?? It’s heating up without any fire! Induction type?”
Probably not that. I was thinking it just heats up with some kind of magic. Even though it’s my own curse, I didn’t really know the logic behind it. It’s kind of, yeah.
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“My cauldron doesn’t just heat, it can also cool, and even make things dry. So just throw in raw meat, and you get instant jerky”
“Wowow, aweshumm… ”
Mei-chan was getting awe-inspired to crazy levels.
However, as a member of the cooking club, her interest in the subject was high to begin with. Witch’s Cauldron was practically the ultimate cookware by which you could create countless cuisines. Unlike me, who was ok just having something to eat, she must be completely ecstatic.
“Also, it can stir on auto, mix like a mixer, and lots more”
“Awesome! It’s so cool, Kotarou-kun!”
“Uhm, wanna try it later?”
“Do I! With this, I can make lots of things!”
Her eyes were sparkling. To be so happy with a Witch’s Cauldron, guess this is where my shaman luck went. Actually, this is the sort of power that should’ve been bestowed on Mei-chan, not me.
Putting down the hot stew, we spoke. About all the things that happened since the separation.
I kinda feel like I spilled the point form when I was crying on her, but now that I was calmly going over the events… Mei-chan started crying as she listened to all my hardships. C’mon, if you cry so emotionally, I feel like crying too.
But if I were to see Mei-chan’s exposed chest again, my libido was sure to bury every other emotion. Raw tiddies in there after all.
Anyway, enough about me. I just got a few new curses, didn’t get much stronger anyway. Rem was dead again for example
I was very curious about what Mei-chan had been doing.
With how she instantly stood by my side and pointed her blade to Souma Yuuto, I could rest assured that no NTR had happened. In the event that she happened to be smitten for his heroic charms already, I would’ve met my DEAD END being cut down right there.
“As for me… I guess, it went well”
I would’ve been mad jelly of them if Mei-chan wasn’t speaking of her experience with the Souma Party in such a sickened tone.
“In the time I spent with them, I realized this… Ahh, no one, none of these people are one bit worried about Kotarou-kun”
She said that with such a stoic tone, that I felt my spine freeze over. She was obviously expressing how much she cared for my safety, how kind she was, but it was like, there was a boundless grudge surrounding her words.
“Technically, they did search for you, right? But, I’m sure, none of them wanted to actually find you. No, they were hoping they wouldn’t”
Well, duh. Thinking from those girls’ perspective, they’d rather not meet me ever again.
After I’d gotten left for dead, Mei-chan was absolutely furious with Asuna, but because of Souma Yuuto’s overwhelming might + Class Reps die hard attempt to calm her down, they’d somehow avoided an instant bloodbath.
Mei-chan knew that she’d need their strength to go deeper into the dungeon in search of me. While from Souma Sakura’s perspective, as long as they didn’t find me, Mei-chan would be friendly. Actually, the bitch would have peace of mind if I’d died somewhere.
“Yeah, whatever. My approval rating among them was at minus already”
“Yes, they just didn’t like you and could only spew pretty words. I, I had to try my best just to keep the anger inside… And uh, I don’t really remember much of what happened”
Holy moly, Mei-chan was dead serious. You didn’t have to get that angry… No, from her point of view, I’d been mercilessly left to die, while the group of criminals were moving on without so much as a hint of guilt. Yeah, I’d get mad too.
“Ah, but I didn’t forget to memorize what skills everyone had”
“I see, that’s good to know”
“Mm, since I wouldn’t know when they’d become enemies, I paid careful attention to their power sets.”
Looks like she was planning to betray from the outset. It was a nightmare situation for them, but a complete and utter joy for me.
“The further we went, the dungeon bosses became stronger too –– ”
I listened as she recounted the Souma party’s dungeon capturing in detail. I got the feeling that their bosses were clearly much stronger than anything I’d come across.
The living armors in the palace zone, the gogma of pyramid castle, and the four armed gogma.
I’d also beaten a gogma to exit the jungle zone, but to think there was one of those super strength monsters with double the arms. I’d be dead meat against something like that. The only one other than the Souma Party who could manage would be, to my knowledge, Tendou-kun.
“Really, good job on beating that”
“It’s because our weapons were getting better along with the bosses. Plus, we could only beat the gogma boss thanks to you”
Eh, me? I can’t think of any way I could’ve helped?
“Well, I kind of used all of it… the Reagent X”
“EHH!? ALL OF IT!?”
I admit I had Mei-chan carry a hefty amount of it, but how did she end up using everything? Yeah I used antidote to adjust it, but it was still shoddy work. I hadn’t determined a safe dosage either.
“Are you really fine!?”
“Yep, I’m really fine”
Yeah, I didn’t see anything wrong with her. She’s awake and focused, and her face didn’t look wasted away either. In fact, it felt like she’d actually gotten prettier. I couldn’t detect a hint of addiction.
“Still, please try not to do things that dangerous”
“Sorry”
I was worried, yes, but Mei-chan was no idiot. It must’ve been absolutely unavoidable in defeating the pyramid castle boss. It had served it’s purpose as an emergency counter-measure.
I should be happy it helped in overcoming a bad end scenario. For better or worse, Reagent X proved its usefulness. I should keep keeping some handy.
“That’s how it went for me. My equipment became better, I learned some battle arts, and got a little stronger I suppose”
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Yeah, no, I listened to your adventures, so it’s no way just a ‘little’ stronger.
“Ah, also, there’s that too, we can use phones now”
“… you what now?”
“I’m saying we can use our phones now”
She repeated with a smile, me still no understand.
“Kotarou-kun, let’s exchange numbers”
Under her refreshing smile, I ended up doing just that. It’s been a big while since I turned this thing on. I’d put it deep in a corner of my bag, but looks like the little guy still had some juice.
Huh. I seriously didn’t want to consider it but, Mei-chan, did she actually think that as long as the phones had power, we could use them as walkie-talkies?
I’m sorry, but phones you see, they aren’t actually connected via radio waves directly, but –– *Ring ring*!!
“EHH!?”
It was ringing. On the screen, I could see the caller’s name, that of the girl I’d just now exchanged numbers with, Futaba Meiko.
“Takanashi-san’s sage magic, apparently she can use it to connect phones with calling and texting only”
“Oh, I see… ”
Curses that Takanashi Kotori, to think she could even into phones. Sage magic is a damn cheat just like I thought. Actually, it’s her Upgrade skill that’s the cheat. So she’s been using the manastones, another common type of crystallized mana you read in fantasy, to delve into actual magic item manufacture.
At this rate, the gap in equipment quality between us and them would continue to widen. On the last face off, Mei-chan was strong enough to oppose them… But what if they had something like a rope, net, something to cause paralysis, some kind of restraining weapon, a magic item. They wouldn’t have had any qualms about disarming Mei-chan with it. Then, they could also use it on me, effectively rendering my Pain Return useless.
Hmm, looks like we’ll need to come up with a way to procure good weapons and items on our end too, and soon. That gogma I fought had good weapons and even a magic stave. We could get our hands on some nice things from monsters like that.
“Oh yeah, Kotarou-kun, I have a present for you”
“Eh! What is it, tell meee”
What can I say, I’m a sucker for surprises. Maybe it’s a sinister looking shaman’s staff she got from a loot box? Or wait, could it be her panties, like Randou-san gave me? Hmm, both those options are practical and useful indeed.
I was thinking stuff that would get me reported if said aloud, but I was excited. What I ended up getting were 2 shiny accessories.
“The necklace is Drop of Life and the ring is called a Guard Ring. They’re both really useful magic items for self-protection, so I was always thinking I want Kotarou-kun to have them”
Guard Ring: A ring that enables you to use the battle art Guard.
Drop of Life: A single drop from the Waters of Life that can heal any wound. It has been crystallized into a small gem and mounted on a necklace.
She’d handed them over like giving someone a good luck charm for safe travels, but upon hearing their effects, I was without a doubt, speechless.
“I c-can’t believe my eyes… These are amazing!”
I couldn’t believe that, after all this time, I finally got my hands on something for defense. As a weak shaman, I wanted a way to guarantee my safety as much as I wanted stronger attacks.
You’ve done it now, Mei-chan. We can strategy a lot better with these!
“Thank you! I feel like we’ll have a much easier time with these handy!”
“I’m glad you like them. Ah, do you want me to put the necklace on you?”
Go right ahead. I’m all for it if it’s a cute girl doing it.
I quickly agreed to her suggestion, which quickly led to hell.
“Alright, stay still for a bit –– ”
As Mei-chan moved her arms around me as if coming into a hug, the blanket covering her loosened, and fell. This blanket, that had sealed the twin monsters for the sake of world peace.
And now, the twins were unleashed. Explosive titties in splendid no-bra jersey. And closing in fast!
These outrageous, live boobies were swinging in front of my eyes. If I directed my head only a mere 10 centimeters forward, my face would find itself buried in that divine valley. Because of their tremendous size, I could imagine my whole face would fit snugly into the white crevice.
I wanna do it, bury myself, motorboat… No, I mustn’t, control, control… The smell, it’s so good… Ahh, my Lord, Ruinhilde-sama, grant me salvation… I can’t, anymore…
“ ––And, there we go”
“HaA!?”
I’d passed out just now. I was practically on heaven’s doorstep. That was bad news, I didn’t want to find myself in the afterlife just yet.
“THH, THANKYOU!”
“Should I put on the ring too?”
“AAA, SORRYY, I PUT IT ON ALREADYY!!”
I could only yell like a buffoon, that was my only means of communication. My sanity had depleted below measurable levels. If she were to do that again, I wouldn’t be surprised if I burst. Truly, YES Oppai NO Touch.
“We have our equipment set, let’s head back in”
“You don’t want to rest up some more?”
“There’s still a chance they’ve been following us, and I also want to make Rem again”
“Oh right, of course”
Yeah, at this point, I think some dungeon diving is in order to avoid my personal constant near death experiences.
Mei-chan, she’s the one person I can wholeheartedly trust. Yet, she was, to me, possibly the sexiest girl imaginable… I’d finally remembered how ‘hard’ it was to be alone with her all the time.
No matter how hard I had it, I couldn’t afford to lose her trust –– I, would embolden my heard, and once again set off on a dungeon adventure with Mei-chan.
“Hey, Kotarou-kun. Actually, there’s something I, have to, ask you about”
Once I’d firmed my resolve, Mei-chan called out to me.
Her look, concentrated in emotion, and her expression, extremely serious.
“Oh, go ahead, what is it?”
What in the world could this important question be? I straightened my posture to listen attentively.
“Well, it’s about the laundry –– care to tell me, who, these panties belong to?”
With a straight face, she presented a pair of leopard print panties.
Ah. RIP in peace.