Chapter 65
Though I’d only met Iris yesterday, I already felt quite fond of her.
First of all, I liked that she wasn’t the dangerous, sinister protagonist from the original story.
I also liked her excellent character design.
And she was fun to talk to, with her lively way of speaking.
Her sexual tastes were a little crazy, but… that wasn’t exactly a reason to hold it against her.
So I was genuinely sorry.
That I couldn’t grant the request Iris had made of me.
“Reading the room is the thing I’m worst at in the whole world….”
“Don’t lie!!”
I’m serious.
Why on earth wouldn’t she believe me?
Given my track record, wasn’t it obvious that I was bad at reading the room?
I’d never once tried to hide the fact that I was oblivious.
‘I’m sure Iris will understand eventually, once she sees just how bad I am at picking up on things.’
Still, should I at least try?
What exactly did Iris want me to figure out?
I observed her.
Iris was pressing her crotch, rubbing her thighs together as if she needed to pee, and fidgeting restlessly.
“Hmm….”
I watched her, then nodded.
“…I don’t know.”
Sorry. I really don’t.
“I’ve asked twice now, but if it’s really too hard to talk about, you don’t have to tell me.”
Iris blinked.
“…Are you seriously not picking up on it?”
“I told you, I really don’t know.”
Blink.
Blink, blink.
“Damn, this is weird. How could the young master of a prestigious noble family be that oblivious…?”
Tilt.
Tilt, tilt.
“First, lend me your ear. I’ll, um… t-tell you where my star mark is….”
Iris whispered the name of a certain body part into my ear.
One word.
“…Ah.”
“Y-you get it now, right? Why I freaked out so much?”
I understood the moment I heard it.
A place not even a transmigrator could ever see.
A place on her own body that a woman could never see herself, unless she deliberately calculated the angle and held a mirror up to it.
And that was why Iris had been so unusually embarrassed and refused to show it, even compared to the other women who’d shown me their star marks.
The way she’d rubbed her legs as if she needed to pee, and put her hand there…
Even the fact that all of it had been meant to hint at that place.
“Iris.”
I lowered my head and apologized.
“I’m really sorry. Even answering like that must have been incredibly embarrassing for you.”
“…You’re apologizing pretty readily for a young master.”
“If I’ve done something wrong, of course I should apologize.”
Having to ask because of the Fate Quest was my problem.
Even just telling a man she’d only met yesterday her name must have been deeply embarrassing for Iris.
“Phew….”
Iris fanned her face with her hand.
“If you understand, that’s enough. I’ll forgive you.”
Maybe it was because she came from a commoner background.
Iris’s way of talking felt a little different from that of the noble girls around me.
We started walking side by side again, and I asked her.
“…Hey, Iris.”
“What is it?”
“You seem like you’d be good at giving people advice. Could I ask you for some?”
“A-hem. I suppose so?”
【The target is pleased】
<Praise Points: +300(7200→7500)>
‘It feels really strange seeing a number without a multiplier.’
Watching only a few hundred points trickle in made me really want to progress a Bond Quest.
But if it was Iris’s Bond Quest…
‘It starts when I look there….’
I had to do more than look. I had to touch it, too.
Because touching it would let me clear the first Bond Quest and get a ×2 multiplier.
My mind was starting to go hazy.
‘I don’t think I can complete Iris’s star-mark quest without becoming truly special to her…’
Or should I actually prostrate myself and convince her this wasn’t for my personal desires, but something I absolutely had to do for the sake of this world?
Either way, it was a headache-inducing dilemma.
“So, what did you want advice about?”
“Ah… I’ve actually started flirting with Elettra, you know?”
“…Excuse me?”
“It might be hard to believe, but it’s true.”
“N-no, it is hard to believe… but not in that sense. I mean, it’s hard to believe for a different reason… So that’s what you’re worried about?”
“It’s related.”
To be precise…
“Do you think Lucy and I are flirting with each other, too?”
If you became a couple, it would be right to cut things off with other people you were interested in.
But I’d heard it was common to flirt with multiple people at once while you were still more than friends but less than lovers.
I’d only heard about it from other people. I’d never been in a relationship, so I didn’t know much about that sort of thing.
Maybe Lucy and I were already flirting, even if we’d never explicitly said so.
If that was the case, what should I do while flirting with both Elettra and Lucy?
That was the extent of my dilemma.
However.
“………?”
Iris had a baffled expression, like someone who’d witnessed some bizarre natural phenomenon.
If a sheep in a flock suddenly climbed a tree, sprouted wings, turned into a dragon, and flew away, wouldn’t you make that face?
An expression that said, ‘What… is this? What am I looking at…?’
“Iris?”
I slowly waved my hand in front of her face.
“Hmm… hmmmmm….”
“?”
“It’s just… hmm… well… you know.”
Iris looked at me again.
“I’m going crazy… Ah, seriously, why does it have to be… Damn it, your face really is exactly my type… Sigh….”
Then, with a little contempt, a lot of bewilderment, and even more pity.
“Young Master Everchess, if you keep this up, karma is really going to come back and bite you.”
“…?”
“From what you’ve done, I don’t think you’ll die… but you could really get kidnapped and locked up somewhere, or be forced to sign a contract like the one you showed Miss Lucy at breakfast to pressure her… Sigh, ahhhh, seriously….”
“…???”
“…This isn’t an act? You’re seriously this oblivious? No, ah, seriouslyyyyy…!!!!”
Iris put her hands on her head and started trembling.
“Ugggh, ugggh…!!”
“…Are you okay?”
“I’m not okay!”
“Want me to get you something to drink?”
“Don’t be so nice to me! It’s driving me crazy!!! Argh…!!”
Just then, Iris raised a hand as if she were going to smack me on the back.
“Saintess Iris!”
A man who seemed to have been waiting for us waved from in front of the academy’s main gate.
‘Those must be them.’
There were four of them in total.
One was a priest of the Holy Church.
The other three wore full plate armor—specifically, they were holy knights of the Church.
‘Seeing those knights reminds me of Trose. I wonder if he made it back okay?’
I’d run into Trose just yesterday after returning with Elettra.
Wow, the events sure were packed together. The trials of a transmigrator.
‘After I get an ending, I can finally relax a little, right?’
A life without hard work, just lounging in a hammock and taking afternoon naps. That was the dream.
‘But why would an imperial knight come to the academy in the first place? Did he have something to tell us?’
I wondered, but for now, the Temple of Seia came first.
I offered my hand to the priest who’d greeted us.
“Pleased to meet you. I’m Gilliam Everchess.”
I put the manners I’d picked up from watching the noble bastards around me to use.
They say even a dog at a village school can recite poetry after three years—but no one says it can break-dance.
Gilliam, who’d spent time in noble society, had managed to acquire a perfectly decent level of etiquette.
However, the four men from the Church didn’t respond very warmly.
“Ah, yes.”
“….”
“…Hmm.”
“…I’ve heard of your reputation.”
Because…
All four of them were fond of Iris.
‘Saintess Iris….’
‘I was the first to fall for the Saintess….’
‘I—I liked her first…!!’
‘And she’s with some damn noble brat….’
Grind, grind.
The burly men ground their teeth, filling the air with a murderous tension.
Even Iris, who wasn’t the target of their hostility, tensed up, but Gilliam simply marveled.
“All of you are men…!”
“…And?”
“Wow, what a relief. I’ve been spending all my time with women lately, so being around men feels comfortable.”
Should we kill him?
Would the Lord God forgive us if we killed him?
The bishop smiled.
Of course, it was a fake smile.
“Hoho, is that so? Young Master Everchess, you must have a lot of women around you?”
“I was scared to death because of women yesterday and today.”
Elettra and Lucy had each nearly awakened to a dangerous fate, after all.
“Hahaha, are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Pardon?”
“I said it felt rather tragic.”
“Ah, I see. Let’s get going.”
The six of us headed for the valley where we’d held the Hollow Body extermination exercise a few weeks ago. The collapse there had revealed Seia’s temple.
Along the way, I asked Iris about the background of <Astra Radius>—no, about the Church’s doctrine.
“The Seven Gods Church worships seven gods, but only Yustia, the God of Light, still holds a seat among the constellations.”
“What about the other six?”
“They each vanished somewhere and went missing. If we succeed in persuading Lady Seia now… a seat among the constellations will be filled again for the first time in a long while.”
【Main Scenario Quest】
Objective: Restore all seven divine seats (1/7)
Reward: ■■■■■
“Ah-ha.”
So I’d finally encountered it.
The main scenario quest of this world.
‘So, to sum it up…’
I had to meet all the women who possessed Fateful Traits and touch at least all their star marks to complete the Fate Quest.
And by filling all seven divine seats and completing the Main Scenario Quest, I’d meet the conditions for the true ending of this world, right?
And the <Cult of the Abyss> would keep interfering along the way, or even try to attack us outright.
A rope ladder had been set up so we could climb down in front of the temple.
One of the holy knights turned to me and said.
“Young Master Everchess, would you leave clearing this dungeon to us?”
Of course, he wasn’t saying it out of consideration.
“It must be a liiittle scaaary~ for a young master who’s spent all his time buried in books, isn’t it? Hahaha!”
“Hahahaha!!”
It was an openly contemptuous provocation.
Everyone else thought Gilliam would fly into a rage at having his honor insulted.
But the response they actually got was completely different.
“Oh, would you? I’d be grateful.”
“…?”