“Uweeee….”
A strange groan escapes my mouth. At the same time, my knees buckle, and my body collapses.
Of course! I had been running non-stop, wielding my dagger to preserve my agility, the only thing that surpasses the King of Thorns.
Plus, I had exhausted all the magic I recovered by drinking a potion, leading to magical exhaustion.
Just exhaustion + magical exhaustion = whimper sob.
That simple formula comes to mind just before I bury my head into the ground.
Poof.
“…Good job.”
Out of nowhere, Ellie arrives, pulling me into an embrace with her remaining arm.
The softness specific to femininity is clearly transmitted through her skin. However, there is resilient muscle packed tightly within, offering a strange sense of stability.
Ellie’s scent wafts in a beat late, a blend of the fragrance of her flesh, the smell of her ears and tails, with a hint of cigarette. Just as I recognize the familiar aroma, the tension finally eases.
At the same time, the accumulated fatigue comes rushing in.
“Ah. We’re in big trouble, Ellie.”
“What’s wrong? You’re not saying something else is going to jump out at us here, right?”
“That’s not it… I’m so drained I can’t even wiggle a finger!”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do. You’ve gotten surprisingly strong, but you were still a bit too early for Jonah.”
“If it goes on like this, I won’t be able to resist anything you do to me, Ellie…!”
“What?”
“Ahh~ This is a disaster. To be thrown to a wolf like you, unprotected. At this rate, I’m definitely going to be eaten!”
“No, I’m not going to eat you!”
“O wolf lady, if you’re going to eat me, could you please make it quick and painless?”
“…….”
Seeing Ellie at a loss for words, I barely managed to lift the corners of my mouth as I chuckled.
Finally, Ellie let out a small laugh and sighed.
“Jonah, seriously… do you want to act like that even in this situation?”
“But Ellie was making a scary face! It was as if it was my fault you got hurt!”
“That’s….”
Ellie’s eyes droop, her ears flop down, and her tail loses strength, drooping to the ground.
“Still, don’t make that kind of face, okay? After all, not only did we stop the One Who Devours the Twilight’s plan, but we also captured one of the high-ranking members, and I even fought the Guardian of the First Floor one-on-one and won! It’s a happy day, right? You should smile!”
“…Yeah, I guess you’re right. It is a happy day.”
With a faint smile, Ellie effortlessly lifts me onto her back.
I can feel her touch clearly, as if her body-hugging jumpsuit leaves nothing to the imagination.
As I bury my head into Ellie’s nape, secretly sniffing her, she adjusts her hold on me and says,
“I’ll take you to the surface like this. Just relax and rest.”
“Is that okay? Since we caught the One Who Devours the Twilight, and also summoned the Guardian of the First Floor for the first time, I imagine I have a lot to report to the guild….”
“Yeah, I’m sure you do. But the guild isn’t populated with maniacs who would keep injured members trapped for testimony. More than anything, I’ll be right there, keeping my eyes wide open, so how could they?”
“Oh, right. Now that you mention it… what exactly is your identity, Ellie? I knew you were a retired high-ranking adventurer, but you’re way too strong for that.”
I had only sketched out some important appeal points and personality traits about Ellie, without considering how strong she really was or what she had done in her younger days.
It makes sense since settings that don’t directly relate to the story become a burden for the author the more installments are produced.
Indeed, the depth of a character increases as the lore builds up, but the downside is, the episodes that can be used become limited.
That’s why I try to keep the setting as loose as possible. I leave anything extra empty except for what’s absolutely necessary.
In Ellie’s case, her backstory as a current adventurer is such, and in Eve’s case, it would be her story from when she was a queen.
Anyway, the important part is that Ellie is an adventurer who has never even touched a man, and Eve is a historically significant maiden.
The rest is just fluff.
…I started to feel that it wasn’t just coincidence that I pulled a Unicorn Horn from the gacha. Could it be that it was intentional?
While I seriously considered the theory of the Goddess of Love being behind it, Lydia, who had been hesitating instead of Ellie, stepped in.
“Hero Ellie. That was a famous name up until five years ago.”
“H-Hero?”
Lydia nods calmly at my overly surprised reaction to the grand title, continuing on.
“You know that any high-ranking adventurer typically has to learn either Aura or Magic, right?”
“Of course. Both are versatile and quite effective.”
Both Aura and Magic are things that ‘anyone’ can learn. Of course, the speed at which you learn and where you hit walls depend on talent, but anyone can learn them nonetheless.
Typically, at this point, it’s perceived as a power given only to a chosen few… but that’s not always the case with adventurers.
As long as they can somehow come back alive, there exist labyrinths that forcibly grant growth and elevate their ranks based on their achievements.
Lacking talent and unable to accumulate Aura anymore? That’s fine! The labyrinth will just shower you with Aura!
Lacking mana sensitivity and therefore unable to master high-ranking Magic? That’s also fine! Keep blasting Magic like crazy in the labyrinth and one day it will reward you with increased sensitivity!
The rewards from the labyrinth are practically miracles. Just look at me; I didn’t gain a ton of muscle, yet I’ve gotten much stronger than before.
So if you want to reach a higher level as an adventurer, you need to learn Aura and Magic.
It doesn’t make sense to walk around without carrying a weapon that everyone else does.
“But Ellie-senpai pulled that off.”
“Yeah?”
“Ellie-senpai was… let’s just say, lacking in talent, beyond the average level of despair.”
“???”
I briefly cock my head in disbelief, but eventually get it after Lydia continues.
“She could sense Aura and Magic, but couldn’t accumulate either in her body.”
“Really.”
“She even had the worst luck and never received Aura or Mana as rewards from the labyrinth, despite having a significant amount of time as an adventurer.”
“…….”
Really? So Ellie got zero lucky draws for talent or labyrinth rewards?
Feeling a bit sorry, I rubbed my face against Ellie’s nape, and her skin began to warm slightly. I guess she liked it.
“But despite not having Aura and Magic, Ellie-senpai is amazing. With no special abilities whatsoever, you faced strong opponents purely with courage and triumphed. That’s why you earned the title Hero.”
“Uh… wait a second. You mean to say she didn’t even have a divine power?”
“Yep. She’s just made it this far with her pure beastman physique.”
“…….”
If I’d known this, I would’ve just seasoned things a bit and told Ellie to finish the job.
Then at least, I could have received the powers of the World Tree.
Feeling a pang of guilt, I gently nibbled at Ellie’s nape, recalling the sight of her fighting.
The ground buckling with a single foot stomp. Trees splintering from the sheer force, and even the lightning-enhanced projectiles bouncing off her body.
The most basic form of reward. An increase in physical abilities. She must have accumulated solely that to reach a level higher than anyone else.
Muscles possessing the strength of a giant. Durability tougher than most metals. Combined with the keen senses unique to beastfolk.
At this point, Ellie’s very body is like a divine power unto itself.
As my thoughts reached that level, a sudden question popped into my head. I pulled my mouth from her drooled-on nape and asked.
“Uh, hold on. How on earth did Ellie lose her arm then?”
For someone as strong as Ellie, what kind of being would be able to sever her arm?
The now-red-faced Ellie wiped her drool-marked shoulder with the sleeve of her suit and replied.
“Well… no matter how strong I am, if I get hit by a dragon’s breath, my arm would fly off.”
“Dragon’s breath?!”
“The Guardian of the Sixth Floor is a crazy dragon. Plus, it was rampaging because of the One Who Devours the Twilight.”
“…….”
A crazy dragon that’s also rampaging? Well, I can’t argue with that.
I hadn’t incorporated any settings about dragons, but it wouldn’t be strange for one to exist in a fantasy world.
At the Sixth Floor, isn’t that where the Beast God sleeps? I didn’t put thought into which monster or guardian would appear, but from the view of the dragon being the pinnacle of beasts, it makes sense in a way.
It goes without saying that it had gone mad since it had been monsterized.
Just as I nodded slowly, a wave of fatigue began to weigh my eyelids down.
As I watched Karen gather evidence with Lemon and Apple a little distance away, I felt myself drifting off.
“Oh.”
Now that I think about it, I had that.
I took out a Goddess Statue from the Subspace Ring and unfolded the Mini Sanctuary before quickly putting it back again.
As much as I might be, showing the soft, chewy, no-resistance, warm Mini Goddess of Love in front of others felt a little embarrassing.
A rapidly rising vitality. I couldn’t sense it yet due to my exhaustion, but my physical abilities must surely have increased.
I had been too entranced by the atmosphere, and since I hadn’t thought about it right after obtaining it, I couldn’t use it during the battle with the King of Thorns… but isn’t it still good that I remembered it now?
As I nibbled and sucked on Ellie’s nape with renewed clarity, the attention around me began to gather.
“The Hero next to the Saint… huh. Quite the iconic pairing.”
Lydia clapped her hands in satisfaction.
