Chapter 12
Elena came through the guild doors.
At that moment, the adventurers sitting near the entrance were the first to react.
"Oh! There she is!"
"Elena! You were amazing yesterday!"
Whistle!
Someone welcomed her with a whistle.
Elena stopped with a bewildered look on her face.
"Uh... me?"
"That spar was incredible! I saw you break that bastard Darko's nose!"
"It's a shame I lost money, but it was a great show!"
"That damn bastard is completely finished after what happened. He was always asking people if they knew who he was, and it was such a pain! Pfft."
"Good job!"
A large, muscular adventurer gave Elena a hearty slap on the back.
Elena staggered forward.
"Ah, thank you..."
"Have a drink! My treat! If we don't raise a toast at a time like this, when will we ever drink?!"
"I-I'll drink later..."
Elena glanced at me.
She was looking at me for help, but I tilted my glass and drained it.
Thump!
I rose from my seat.
"You lot!"
When I thundered at them, the room fell silent.
I held the money pouch high for everyone watching me to see.
"Thank Elena! I'll buy everyone here a round. Order whatever you want and thank Elena for it!"
Whistle!
A young adventurer who had whistled shouted out.
"Elena! Thanks! Sister Jeina! One more beer over here!"
"Jeina! Beer over here! Bring us beer! Elena! Thanks to you, I'm going to drink my fill today!"
"Our glasses are empty too! We'll drink well to your thanks, Elena! Hah-hah!!"
The adventurers raised their glasses and poured the liquor into their mouths as if they were drinking water.
Liquor spilled across the guild dining hall floor, filling the room with its stench.
Jeina's smiling face flushed and twisted with anger, but as the dining hall's server, she hurried around carrying drinks.
As the guild dining hall grew rowdier, voices congratulating Elena spread through the room.
"Phew."
While the adventurers were absorbed in their drinking, Elena took the seat across from me.
"Did the move go smoothly?"
"...Yes. Thanks to you. Thank you so much for finding me a place to stay."
"I did it because I was worried that your sister being held hostage might interfere with my plans."
I tapped the table with my finger.
"Elena, never forget what happened this time. If I hadn't looked after your little sister, by now she would have been torn to shreds by that bastard's men. You heard that from your little sister herself, right?"
"...."
Elena nodded heavily.
"I helped you so I could turn you into a gullible fool who would take care of me, not because I was doing it for your sake. Keep that in mind."
"I will."
Elena's blue eyes were more vivid than ever.
I could sense her trust in me from the straightforward way she looked at me.
She was so innocent and easily fooled that I could take what she showed me at face value.
'Was the biggest hurdle behind me?'
I had succeeded in winning Elena's heart.
Winning Elena's heart was like having an entire army at my command.
She was a gullible klutz who kept getting raped despite gaining the strongest power because of her innocence, but I could take care of that part.
If I did, the strongest ally in the world would fall into my hands.
"And now we should deal with the things Darko put on hold."
"We're going hunting again starting today, right?"
"That's right."
I pulled a rolled-up parchment from inside my clothes and tossed it to Elena.
Elena unrolled the parchment and looked at the wanted poster drawn inside.
"Orc hunting."
"W-we're hunting orcs?"
Elena's eyes widened.
The orc drawn on the wanted poster looked vicious.
Monsters were hostile life-forms that had been fighting humanity since ancient times, but they were still nothing more than native creatures that interfered with settlement.
Monsters were enemies that interfered with settlement and hunting—nothing more, nothing less.
But orcs were different.
Orcs were monsters that harbored clear hostility toward humans.
And those orcs were our next prey.
"Why are you suddenly telling me to hunt orcs? Even if I did beat a C-rank adventurer... Orcs don't travel alone, do they?"
"That's why I prepared something."
At my gesture, the people I had spoken to beforehand rose from their seats.
Three novice adventurers who had not even touched their drinks stood in front of Elena.
"""Please take care of us!"""
They bowed deeply at the waist.
The novice adventurers joined Elena's party.
Elena stood facing the three party members.
One swordsman, one archer, and one shield bearer.
They were all F-rank rookies, while Elena, the party leader, was still an I-rank newcomer.
A strange party had been formed.
With Elena's skill, she could use them as bait and defeat five D-rank orcs.
But they needed to coordinate first. As Elena was about to head to the guild's backyard, I gave her one piece of advice.
"Elena, don't trust your party members."
"What? Why not?"
Elena's expression stiffened.
"Even though you're the one who assigned them to me, you're telling me not to trust them?"
"Trusting people who can't even pull their own weight is like asking a blind man to lead you. More importantly, you're hated right now."
I stood beside Elena and put an arm around her shoulders.
Her gaze followed mine.
I swept my eyes over the men and women guzzling free drinks in the guild dining hall.
"Do you think those people are congratulating you because they really like you?"
"They're not?"
"If you really think that, then your head is in the clouds. It's hard to believe you're a hunter's daughter. How lucky have you been to survive this long?"
"...."
I pointed out several adventurers.
"Look at that scrawny guy and that fellow with the scraggly beard. They aren't happy at all, even while they're gulping down liquor. Why do you think that is?"
"Because they don't really like drinking?"
"Heh."
What a funny girl.
"They're jealous of your talent. Usually, it doesn't show on people's faces. Those men simply happen to wear it plainly. People like that will seize an opportunity later and try to rape you."
"R-rape..."
"They'll pounce on you."
They were the extras who appeared so often in the game.
The extras all shared the same copy-and-pasted illustrations, but those men were the models for them.
In fact, even without seeing the illustrations, judging by the game's descriptions, everyone here—including me—had sex with Elena.
That was what a pornographic fantasy game with a female protagonist was like.
The heroine had sex with every male character who appeared in the game.
In an adult-game world, perfectly protecting Elena's virginity was extremely difficult.
Fighting while protecting her virginity meant reaching the ending in a one-coin playthrough.
'Even a veteran player would have a hard time with that.'
Of course, even so, I had no intention of letting things turn out that way.
That was why I was taking such good care of her.
"There may be someone in your party who's smiling at you while planning to stab you in the back. Be suspicious of anything they offer you to eat. No—be suspicious of every favor they show you."
"You too, Uncle?"
"Have I ever treated you out of kindness?"
"...."
"And there's no guarantee that someone who pounces on you will have bad intentions, either."
Elena tilted her head in confusion.
This world was an adult game.
I mustn't forget that.
"If one of your party members falls under the effects of an aphrodisiac, what will you do?"
"Uh..."
"Then let it burst."
If the aphrodisiac wasn't neutralized, the penis would burst.
There was a mushroom with that effect.
It scattered aphrodisiac spores that turned men into monsters consumed by lust.
"Is that okay?"
"Adventurers are fundamentally responsible for themselves. If someone gets caught by an aphrodisiac through their own mistake, that's their responsibility. If you think you'll be harmed, cut them down without hesitation."
"...."
Elena was having an identity crisis.
Given her personality, making a cold decision would be difficult.
There was an option to spread your legs if a party member fell under the effects of an aphrodisiac.
The one saving grace was that this development was relegated to an optional choice.
"Uncle, do you want me to remain pure?"
Elena fidgeted with her fingers.
"Who doesn't like purity? And I absolutely hate other people touching what's mine, so you'd better take it that way."
As I said this to Elena, I was also warning the adventurers eavesdropping nearby.
"But if you play the fool and devote yourself completely to me, that might change things."
"Then if I fail, you won't aban—"
"...?"
"...N-no, it's nothing."
Elena turned her back.
"That's all, right? Then I'll go join my party members."
The four rookies went out to the guild's backyard and practiced coordinating with one another.
Before facing the troll, they had to get in sync, or defeat was inevitable.
The orcs were practice opponents before taking on the troll.
'I should get going too.'
I went to attend to my own business.
***
Bordeaux's forge was locked tight.
But the intense heat radiating from inside made sweat bead on my skin.
I knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Bordeaux, it's me."
"You're here!"
Bordeaux flung the door open and greeted me.
He rushed to his workbench, his bloodshot eyes wide, and bared a childlike, toothy grin beneath his beard.
"You arrived at exactly the right time, Eck. This Bordeaux's masterpiece is finished!"
Bordeaux lifted the leather armor spread across the workbench with both hands.
When he raised the breastplate above his head with his short dwarf arms, the glow from the forge behind him stained the leather's surface red.
"Here. This is what you commissioned. Take a good look."
Bordeaux set the armor down on the workbench with a thump.
It was light armor made from ogre leather.
The leather had been cut to cover the torso and shoulders and lay smooth and supple. Its surface had been hammered and treated countless times, making it tough and hard, but it still had a slight spring when I pressed it with my fingertip.
"Processing it before the magic faded was worth it. It's practically been blessed by the Red Moon. Whoever wears this won't be much affected by magic, just like a red monster. And of course, it's tougher than ordinary ogre armor!"
Bordeaux raised his hammer and brought it down on the leather's surface.
Clang!
The leather wasn't even scratched.
"See? It's tougher than steel. But its weight is barely any different from ordinary leather armor. You couldn't find equipment with this kind of defense and this little weight even if you took a bag of gold coins to the market."
Bordeaux showed me the finishing around the armor's edges.
It had been stitched with ogre sinew, and he proudly pressed the fine details with his thick fingers.
Bordeaux pounded his own chest.
"This is A-rank equipment. I guarantee it."
He wasn't exaggerating.
Even with my knowledge of the game, this was unquestionably equivalent to A-rank equipment.
The materials alone would cost gold coins, and the finished product was a luxury item that only a noble could even consider buying.
There was another set in Elena's size, too.
"That one's Elena's. Is the size right?"
"How did you know her size?"
"I can tell at a glance. But the finer details might be off, so have her try it on. Don't tell me you still haven't slept with her?"
"...."
"Good heavens."
Bordeaux pinched the bridge of his nose as if he'd heard something absurd.
"What's with that look? Do you want to die?"
"I only thought it was unexpected."
Bordeaux flinched and grumbled.
Would you have the nerve to provoke the world's strongest person?
The shock of having his virginity taken had already gotten Eck killed.
I had no intention of killing myself.
"The size should roughly fit. Do you like yours?"
"It's usable."
"Heh heh. You can be honest. Isn't it incredible? It's my masterpiece."
I set the light armor down.
"What else?"
"Boy, you're stingy with your praise. I worked hard on this. Is one compliment really so difficult?"
"Yeah, good work."
Grumbling, Bordeaux pulled out arm guards, greaves, leather gloves, and leather boots that he had set beneath the workbench.
They were pieces of armor made from the same ogre leather.
After inspecting every piece, Bordeaux pulled a folded parchment from his back pocket.
"Ah, right. Eck."
Bordeaux's expression changed.
His face was no longer the one that had been excitedly boasting a moment ago.
"This arrived yesterday."
Red wax was affixed to the parchment.
It bore the lord's seal.
It was not a mere errand runner's certificate, but a document containing the lord's actual orders.
I unfolded the parchment.
I read its contents.
The handwriting was neat.
The official document was written in lettering that exuded a noble's dignity, but its contents were simple.
I will purchase all red materials. On the day the Red Moon rises, devote yourself fully to gathering red materials.
And at the end, it said, 'If you need anything, I will provide support.'