"Ugh... nnngh..."
Smith had spent the whole night drinking with Loki Familia—of course, Loki Familia had paid for the alcohol—and had fallen asleep sprawled out on a table in the hall. As he slept there, an unidentified shadow slowly approached him.
The figure was wrapped in a loose-looking robe, perhaps to keep anyone else from recognizing them. Worried that even the tiniest sound might give them away, the shadow crept toward Smith at an agonizingly slow pace, little by little.
The shadow reached the sleeping Smith, who was lying there alone. A hand slipped out from the sleeve of the robe. It was a woman's hand, with healthy-looking brown skin, so there was a very high chance she was an Amazoness.
Apparently worried about waking him, she slowly tugged down the blanket that had been loosely draped over Smith's stomach. It seemed to have ridden up while he tossed in his sleep, exposing a very healthy-looking six-pack.
"...gulp"
The slender brown hand trembled faintly, as if hesitating even now, but stubbornly kept going, reaching for his pants.
"Haa... haa... haa... haa...!"
"Nn... why's it so col—"
When Smith opened his eyes, the first things he saw were his own upper body with his stomach completely exposed, an assailant with a hand thrust between his legs, and someone panting roughly while trying to undo his belt.
The question was, in this situation, what acti—
"Holy fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! Your son's getting raped! Mom, heeeelp meeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
Was there any time to think? Of course not. First, you call for help!
Thud!
Smith started by kicking the shadow in front of him with all his might. The assailant must have been light, because she went flying easily, and in the process her robe was torn away as well.
What was revealed beneath it was a very short Amazoness with practically no chest to speak of: Kalusa.
"Urk! Yes, that impact, just like I thought! Husband, give me your childreeeen!"
"This fucking insane Amazoness is trying to rape a blacksmith! Somebody save meeeeeee!"
"Shut it! What the hell's going on?!"
"Mom! This Amazoness is trying to rape me! Save me!"
Boom!
With a single punch from Mother Mia, Kalusa was smashed straight into the floor.
She had endured a full-power kick from a Level 4, but apparently she couldn't take a punch from a Level 6. She blacked out on the spot.
"Huff... haa... haa... fuck... that was scary... ngh..."
"You've lived in Orario for ten years and you still haven't learned not to mess carelessly with Amazonesses?"
"No, Mom, I don't even remember seeing her before. Seriously, I don't remember a damn thing!"
"You think an Amazoness would mistake the man she picked out for a husband? You must've pinned her down somehow, one way or another."
"No... this is so unfair..."
After some time passed, the other employees came rushing downstairs because of the noise I'd made. Once they tied the Amazoness up with rope, she finally came to her senses.
"Ugh... huh...? Husband... where...?"
"Hey. First, let's hear why you tried to ra— ahem, rape my son."
"...Mother?"
"Who said you could call me Mother?!"
"Mother, please give me your son! I'll make him happy for the rest of his life!"
"No, first of all, who the hell are you? Have we even met before?"
"Husband, that's so cruel!"
"I'm telling you, I don't remember anything at all!"
"That's so cruel... after you took my first time that day...!"
"...? What? Wait a second. What the he—"
"Kaguya, make him kneel."
"...Disgusting. Why don't you kneel on your own?"
"No, no, no! She's not even my type to begin with!"
"That hot pain carved into my lower abdomen that day... I still remember it, Husband...! That shock was so intense my lower belly rang and throbbed and I nearly wet myself... Please, this time give me your child...!"
"It wasn't me! Gah?!"
"I raised my child wrong... to think I brought up trash like this..."
"No, agh! Hey! Aaagh! Ghk! No! I'm! Aagh! not... aaagh! That hit bone, hit bone!"
"Die, enemy of women, nya!"
After a group beating from four Level 4s and one Level 5, what remained there was a blacksmith who had been beaten so thoroughly he was grotesquely swollen all over...
"So, you spent the night with my son, and since that bastard wouldn't take responsibility or give you a child, you came to collect it yourself... is that it?"
"...? No?"
"...? Then what the hell were all those things you just said supposed to mean?"
"Well..."
.
.
.
.
Blah blah
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.
.
.
And then this and that
.
.
.
.
Then one thing led to another
.
.
.
.
And then that happened too
.
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.
.
As the story went on, the expressions on Mother Mia and the people who had joined the Smith-beating party gradually got worse and worse. And when it came out that she'd been drinking since last night and pretending to be drunk so she could lie in wait and get Smith's child today...
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"I... told you... it wasn't me... urgh..."
"...Somebody bring a potion."
"...Yes."
Fuck...
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.
.
"Ow, ow, ow... you could've at least given me a good potion. Why am I getting a regular potion?"
"Why would our tavern ever need High Potions?"
"Ah, I think my bone's cracked... ow..."
"...I'll give you money later, so go buy one yourself."
"Yes, yes~"
More importantly, is that Bell kid still not awake?
"I'll go check on the little guy from last night."
"Go ahead. I'll interrogate this one some more."
"Husband? Husband! Forget everything else, just give me that child! Husband!"
I can't hear anything~ I can't hear anything~
Hmm... that Bell kid probably won't change that much. All I did was stop him from running out and squeeze some compensation money out of them.
Creak
"Hey~ you awake?"
"Yes?! Ah, yes! I'm awakeee! Ack!"
"Easy, easy. Calm down a little..."
"Yes..."
"I don't know how much you remember, but yesterday you couldn't stand your story becoming a joke, so you tried to run outside, got stopped by my lariat, and blacked out. Then you got a lap pillow from Aiz..."
"What did you say?! A lap pillow from Miss Aiz?!"
"Ah, shit! Quiet!"
"Yes..."
"You were getting that lap pillow, and since there was nowhere else to send you, I had you sleep in my room at the Hostess of Fertility."
"Ah, yes, thank you... and about running out without paying, I'm sorry... yesterday my head was just too... confused..."
"You don't need to thank me, and you don't need to apologize. If I were you, I think I would've run out too."
"Yes... Ah, first, here's the money for yesterday's meal!"
...As expected of the "protagonist." He's got the basics down.
"...Good job."
"Yes... ?"
"That little action just now—more than anything else, the small act of paying for the meal you almost ran off without paying for yesterday—earned you a very large sum of money."
As I said that, I handed him the money pouch I'd gotten from Mother Mia.
"Um... what is this?"
"An unofficial apology payment from Loki Familia. It's 50,000 valis, so for a rookie adventurer like you, it should be a huge amount."
"..."
"I know what you're thinking. You're wondering whether it's really right to take money as compensation for being laughed at and mocked... whether you're not basically selling yourself for money."
"...Yes."
"Don't say such pampered crap. The life of an adventurer is fighting for your life in the Dungeon with a broken dagger because you don't even have a mere thirty valis to spare."
"...But, but!"
"If it pisses you off, if it makes you angry, if it feels unfair... then get stronger. Become such a monstrous bastard that money like this feels like pocket change, rake in absurd amounts of it, and become the strongest adventurer—someone who can grab idiots who get turned into laughingstocks like you and pull them forward."
"Can I... become that...?"
"Who knows? I wouldn't know. But if you pick someone you admire and stubbornly keep walking that one road toward them... won't you reach that goal someday? Who's the one you admire?"
"...Miss Aiz. I want to become an adventurer like Aiz Wallenstein—strong, beautiful, and able to save people in danger!"
"Then move forward. No matter how filthy the money feels, use it as a stepping stone and take even one step toward your goal."
"Yes...! Thank you!"
"My name is Smith, a Level 4 battle smith of Hephaestus Familia and its vice-captain, Talos [The Giant Soldier of Lemnos]. Boy, what's your name?"
"Y-yes, sir! My name is Bell Cranel! I'm the first member and captain of Hestia Familia! I'll become the greatest adventurer!"
"Yeah. That's enough."
And so, the whirlpool of fate began to move forward along a slightly different path than at the start—another road entirely.
Meanwhile, on the first floor...
"Mother, please hire me here so I can seduce your son!"
"Why would I?"
"I'll work for only three-quarters of what the others are paid."
"Welcome aboard, daughter. Seduce him with all you've got."