I was currently tampering with Claudeâs Magic Lines at three times the usual power output. Claude, who usually managed to hold back her voice, had turned bright red and was sweating. She was putting up with it with tears in her eyes.
She held her pillow with both her hands and tried to hold back her voice by vigorously biting the sheets. But even so her body still ended up moving from time to time which shook the bed.
ăClaude. Donât push yourself too much.ă
ăO-ok-okayâŠă Claude said as a bead sweat appeared on her face and she tried to hide her anguish with a faint smile.
Sheâs struggling quite a bit after all.
And Shirushu on the other hand was just watching all of this with a bright red face.
I had tied her up with a rope so that she wouldnât go wild like before. After all, I first had to get her used to just watching. If we continued doing this she would probably get used to it eventually.
ăAhhhâŠ!!ă
Claude raised her voice while her face was still buried within the pillow. Each time I moved my hands her body would shake.
The stimulus is probably too intense for her. This is precisely why I didnât want to do this.
ăClaude, I think we should stopâŠă
ăI-Iâm f-fine!! Continue un-until the end!ă Claude said but Shirushu on the other hand was reaching her limit.
Looking at her, her face had turned bright red and she was probably already having fever dreams. Steam was even coming off her face.
Is the stimulus too much for her? Guess Iâll have to hold back on handling Shirushuâs Magic Lines for the time being. Still, I want to fulfil Claudeâs wish and Shirushu should also build up her resistance to this. Iâll do this properly until the end today.
Under the watchful eyes of the bound up Shirushu, Claude continued letting out noises throughout the whole night.
â â â
Morning finally came. I went to get breakfast with Milly and Lydia, however it seemed like Claude and Shirushu were still asleep. Milly looked at me with scornful eyes.
ăYou probably did something again Zeph⊠Yesterday the voices reached all the way up to my room.ă
ăThatâs because Claude wouldnât take no for an answerâŠă
ăHmm, she wouldnât take no for an answer huhâŠă Milly said while looking at me with doubtful eyes and slurping her soup.
For christ sake, I really did tell her that it would be too much.
ăAhaha, well itâs fine. After we finish breakfast letâs go do some shopping while we wait for them.ă
ăYouâre right.ă I said while nodding at Lydiaâs suggestion.
In the end both of them didnât wake up in time for breakfast. Noon came and as me and Lydia were looking around the stalls I finally got a call via Telepathy.
ăZeph-kun⊠Good morning. Iâm sorry I oversleptâŠă
ăMorning Claude. How are you feeling?ă
ăT-Thatâs a bit⊠Iâm stillâŠă answered Claude in a voice that was on the verge of vanishing. She was probably remembering scenes from yesterday.
ăIs Shirushu still sleeping?ă
ăYes. After we finished I tried to carry her to the bed but she ended up assaulting me⊠Ah! Why are you laughing?! It was really troublesome!!ă
ăKuku⊠Iâm sorry, Iâm sorry.ă
Without being able to hold myself back I burst out into laughter.
Come to think of it, when Shirushuâs urges manifested before she assaulted Claude and it was quite troublesome to peel her off.
ăSo, are you feeling okay?ă
ăHmm⊠It still hurts a bit, but I think Iâm okay.ă
Judging from her voice she seemed to be doing okay. I had still held back a bit but it seemed like Claudeâs resistance would only improve from here on out.
ăItâs already past noon, so letâs skip out on hunting for today. Take the day off to get a good rest.ă
ăOkay.ă
Claude and Shirushu huh. Itâs great that they get along with one another, but I should try and be more careful next time when I manipulate their Magic Lines. Still I would feel bad if I had to separate the both of them⊠Thatâs right⊠I can just use Sleep Code on Shirushu as soon as she reaches her limit. Guess Iâll test out some things tonight.
ăClaude and Shirushu will rest for today.ă
ăAhaha, last time she couldnât walk for a couple of days after all⊠Well then Zeph-chi and Milly-chan, I guess Iâll have you both accompany me on my shopping today.ă
ăBut my bagâs already full to the brimâŠă
ăWell that also means that now you canât put any unnecessary things inside, isnât that right Milly?ă
ăHmph!ă
ăAhahaâȘă
Lydia patted the head of the sulking Milly and then gave a piece of paper over to us. The names of items and their respective prices were written on the paper.
ăIf you find something for any cheaper than on that list make sure to buy it okay? Iâll give you the money later.ă
ăOkay!ă
ăIâll go with Milly. After all she might end up getting lost in the crowd.ă
ăI-I wonât!!ă
ăOkay, got it. Well then letâs split up.ă
I grabbed Millyâs hand as she was still complaining and waved my hand at Lydia as we proceeded to split up.
The lottery item prices had somewhat dropped compared to yesterday so I was able to buy way more than I had originally thought for a bit cheaper.
Itâs great that Lydia left half her money with us. I guess the experience of re-selling in the past is finally showing.
In the end, we ended up using 30% of the money we got in order to buy items to resell later.
2
Around late-noon we went to grab a bite to eat and talk.
ăThe market prices should probably stabilize now.ă
ăAre you saying that from experience?ă
ăItâs nothing that fancy. Luck plays a huge part in it as well⊠I apologize in advance if it doesnât go according to plan.ă
ăIf we fail then that means weâll just have to gather the money all over again. Iâve entrusted this to you Lydia so I wonât complain no matter what.ă I said while looking at Lydia and smiling, to which she turned a bit red.
ăZeph-chi you really are scary. I wonder what youâll make me do if we failâŠă
ăZeph you mustnât make her do anything strange!ă
I still havenât said anything thoughâŠ
I let out a sight due to the unreasonable treatment and we all headed back to the inn.
Now we just need to wait for the price to rise. Guess weâll have to make money through hunting for now.
ăWeâre hunting tomorrow. Letâs make it rain!ă
ăYeah! It feels like forever since weâve gone hunting!ă
ăWe did stay behind last time.ă said Milly and Lydia while stretching their bodies.
It seemed like they were both raring to go.
ăClaude, Shirushu, are you both okay?ă I asked as I opened the door to their room.
ăS-somehowâŠă
ăSame here, hahahaă Claude and Shirushu answered with bright red faces.
At any rate they seemed to have recovered themselves. And I had the perfect idea for where to hunt.
As long as we use that itâll turn out to be a really profitable place⊠Kukuku. The Moonlight Gauntlets that I got from the Hati Bear the other day. Thereâs a perfect hunting ground for the gloveâs Steal spell.
â â â
South of Prolea at a place where one can reach in an hour with Teleport there was a town⊠or to be more precise there used to be a town. Long ago that town conducted research on arts different from magic. That town was named Tyros.
There, those who couldnât wield magic could go in order to find, learn or even develop various ways of opposing it. One of those ways are automatons.
Automatons were dolls made out of metal that could move if they had their own consciousness. The automaton research had first appeared with the premise of creating toys for children, but then the influential people within the city liked the idea and due to that the research for it improved drastically.
At the start the automatons were mostly used to either carry tea or for weaving purposes. However, as time went on they began to be equipped with heavy weapons and turned into soldiers that patrolled the cityâs wild areas.
The automatons continued improving, reaching a point of high fighting prowess. The influential people in Tyros then tried to mass produce the automatons in order to fortify the city, however the Magician Association got wind of that and destroyed all of the factories and research facilities.
They then captured the researchers and swept the project under the rug. The cityâs only industry, the arts research was forced to shut down and the people left Tyros. As time went on the city eventually turned into a Dungeon. The ruins of the abandoned city, which was now covered in snow, was the destination for our next adventure.
ăThis place feels lonely somehowâŠă
ăItâs originally a place where people used to live. The sight of it now that itâs lost all of its residents really is kind of creepy.ă
ăAhaha, well Zeph-chi told us that there probably wouldnât be any ghosts. Isnât that right Kuro-chan?ă Lydia said as she grabbed on to trembling Claude from behind.
She then moved her head close to Claudeâs ear and whispered a few words to scare her.
ăBut Zeph-chi could have just lied to us⊠There might really be ghosts here, donât you think so?ă
ăHyaa?!ă
Claude was left in complete shock after Lydiaâs scare.
Iâd like it if she didnât do that⊠Claude youâre way too scared as well. Thatâs why Lydia keeps teasing you.
I slightly poked the laughing Lydia.
ă⊠Our hunting ground this time is the abandoned factory situated in the depth of Tyros. All of the monsters that appear here are spawned in that factory and are just subpar versions of the original automatons. There are no spirit type monsters. So you can calm down Claude.ă
Hearing my words Claude let out a sigh of relief. Nevertheless, even though the monsters here werenât of the spirit type they were still hard to deal with in their own way. It was still too early for us to relax.
We walked towards the quiet town of Tyros and headed for the abandoned factory that was situated in the central part.