"Wait! Wait! That's not what I meant! Let me explain!" I heard myself shouting as I thrust both arms forward in an almost pleading gesture.
Aqua narrowed her eyes at me. Her fist, infused with an immeasurable amount of power (which had formed into a flame of multiple shimmering colors), was already raised in the air, ready to slam into my insolent face.
"You just asked me for sex in exchange for becoming party members!" she protested. "You're the worst! How far can a hikikomori's perversion possibly go?!"
"No, no! That's not it! You misunderstood me."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Aqua asked, her huge blue eyes overflowing with suspicion.
"Let me explain it calmly, okay?"
She simply crossed her arms (at least I had managed to get that threatening fist down!) and stared at me without saying another word. I took it as a sign for me to continue.
I let out a deep sigh and started speaking as clearly as possible.
"First of all, I already told you I'm not a hikikomori," I explained. "And as for the other thing…"
Come on, Kaizer. You've already come this far. What's the worst that could happen? Aside from losing your head, of course.
"…I mean… the sex part…"
"Aha. The sex part," she nodded.
"It's true that I said that… B-But not in exchange for becoming party members! When you put it that way, you make me sound like a terrible person."
Aqua lunged at me and started pounding on my chest.
"AAAAARRRGH! I can't believe you said it again! You are not just terrible but horrible too! Horrible, horrible, horrible! You deserve to be struck by divine lightning right this instant!"
I grabbed Aqua's arms to stop her from hitting me (she actually hit pretty hard) and proceeded to explain the details of our "agreement" while she continued glaring daggers at me.
"Try to see it this way: If we form a party, I'll be the one defeating the monsters on the high-difficulty quests, while all you have to do is heal my wounds if the situation calls for it. Just by doing that, you'd be taking half the reward."
I turned my attention to the quest board, specifically to the high-difficulty section. Aqua did the same.
"The quest to defeat the Lich King, for example, offers a reward of ten million eris. In that case, you'd get five million just for providing support. Which, considering my skills, is actually pretty unlikely to happen."
I was clearly lying through my teeth with that last part. There was no way I wouldn't get hurt if I tackled such a difficult quest alone. But Aqua had no reason or way to know that.
"And that's just taking the Lich King quest as an example. Surely, as we complete more quests, others with even higher rewards will appear. So paying off your debts would only be a matter of time."
As I explained my strategy, I noticed the goddess's expression gradually softening. I even caught a sparkle in her clear blue eyes at the thought of finally getting rid of her debts forever.
However, getting this goddess into bed wasn't going to be an easy task…
"I won't deny that what you're proposing makes some sense. However—" Aqua crossed her arms and looked at me arrogantly, "—that doesn't mean I agree to sleep with you. I'm a goddess! A goddess! The people in this world worship me! I can't just go around sleeping with the first adventurer I meet just to earn a few coins!"
"Well, in that case I guess there's nothing more to talk about. Good luck with your debt! Oh! Now that I think about it, maybe you could make easy money working at the succubus place."
"W-What?" Aqua asked, her face suddenly turning pale.
"You said your debt was a fortune in eris, right?" I brought a hand to my chin and started rubbing it as if I were doing the math. "Yeah… I'm sure that if you work as a succubus in that… prestigious and well-loved establishment by most of the male adventurers in Axel, you'll earn that amount in no time."
Upon hearing that, Aqua simply stood there in front of me, fidgeting with her fingers while nervously glancing around, not knowing what to say or do.
Seeing her like that, I won't deny I felt a little sorry for her.
For that very reason, I decided I would play the villain — but only for today.
Yes, you heard right. Tomorrow morning, I would return to the guild, and if by some chance I ran into her again, I would simply ask her to form a party and that would be it.
After all, my day had been so bad that I wouldn't rule out the possibility that, subconsciously, I had decided to take it out on poor Aqua.
So it was decided! Tomorrow I would look for this self-proclaimed goddess and officially ask her to form a temporary party. No indecent proposals involved.
"Well, see you! Another day you can tell me how it went with your debts and we'll have another beer!"
I turned around and started heading for the exit.
Until suddenly I felt someone tugging at me from behind again.
When I turned — as expected — I saw the goddess standing in front of me, completely defeated.
Poor thing.
"No sex," she said, her voice almost a whisper.
"I heard you the first time."
What did she want? Had she stopped me just to tell me that?
Suddenly her hands gripped my arm tightly. So tightly that I could feel her nails digging into my skin.
She bit her lower lip and, with her gaze fixed on the floor, began to murmur.
"My… ha… nds…"
"Huh?"
"My hands!"
Her voice was barely audible.
"Your hands…?" I repeated.
Only then did the goddess lift her head, and her beautiful blue eyes shone with determination under the guild's lights.
"I'll do it… only with my hands. You'll have to settle for that."
Wait.
Was she really suggesting what I thought she was?
"Alright," I heard myself say. There wasn't much to think about, really.
Aqua continued biting her lip, visibly shaken by the words that had just left her mouth.
"I think…I need another beer," she said.
We returned to the table where we had been sitting earlier. After downing the beer in one long gulp, Aqua slammed the mug down hard on the wooden surface.
TOC!
"Well, now that you've finished your beer, what do you say we get started?"
"EEEEEEEH? Y-You want to do it here?" The goddess's cheeks flushed again as her eyes widened like saucers.
What was wrong with this woman? Did she think I was some kind of exhibitionist or something?
"The guild has rooms for adventurers who don't have anywhere to spend the night. They're not luxurious at all, but for what we're going to use them for, they should be more than enough."
"Hey! I don't know what's going on in that perverted head of yours, but I'm not doing more than I already offered, got it?! So no rooms and no… weird stuff!"
"Oh? Then you'd rather do it here? Well, in that case… give me a second, okay?" I stood up from my seat and reached for my zipper.
Needless to say, this was all just a crude act on my part. There was no way I was going to undress in the middle of the guild, especially when it was packed with people.
However, I have to say it was worth it to see the goddess's reaction. She apparently thought I was serious, because she immediately jumped up from her seat.
"Fine, fine! You're right. M-Maybe we do need a room after all."
We started walking toward the guild reception. Since Aqua was walking ahead, I couldn't help but glance at her ass.
If I'm not mistaken, it was the first time I had seen it from so close.
In fact, when we first met in that empty room after I had died in my original world, she had spent most of the time sitting in that chair. So aside from admiring the undeniable beauty of her features, with that long blue hair and those eyes that looked like sapphires, let's just say I hadn't had many chances to appreciate her… her… well, her other attributes.
And while I already had my suspicions, I have to say that what my eyes were feasting on at that moment was even better.
While the miniskirt of her blue outfit was already suggestive enough, the translucent petticoat connected to the hem left very little to the imagination.
The lower part of her firm, white buttocks peeked out from under the transparent garment with every step the goddess took. It was as if they were challenging me to touch them — to lift her skirt first and finally close my fingers around that soft, delicate skin until I was satisfied.
Suddenly, as if she could read my mind, the goddess glanced over her shoulder and gave me a look that seemed to say:
"What exactly are you staring at, huh?"
By the time we reached the counter, I had no choice but to lean my whole body forward in a desperate attempt to hide how hard I had gotten down there.
"I'd like a room, please," I said to the beautiful receptionist, trying to sound as normal and calm as possible.
True to form, the girl smiled kindly. Once I placed the money on the counter (about 2,000 eris), she handed me a simple bronze key tied to a small rectangular card with the number "2" written on it.
"The rooms are on the second floor," she said, pointing.
I nodded and began walking toward the stairs, assuming Aqua would follow.
But…
"Wait!" she suddenly shrieked.
"Now what?"
"I'm not going up with you so the whole guild can see me!"
"Huh? I don't see what the problem is. It's not like we're doing anything improper."
"Of course we are!" she replied sharply. "Besides, my companions are still here. I don't want them to see me going up the stairs with a stranger."
After saying that, Aqua turned around and began scanning the surroundings.
I followed her gaze and immediately noticed a group of three people standing out in the crowd, who seemed to be looking in our direction: a young man with a green cloak, a blonde woman wearing an ostentatious suit of armor, and finally a young girl with a cloak and a pointed hat.
All three had curious looks on their faces, as if trying to figure out what their companion was doing.
Or rather, what kind of mess their companion had gotten herself into this time.
After confirming that her party members were still seated, Aqua turned her attention back to me.
"Hey, Kaizuro," she whispered, covering her mouth with one hand, "they gave you room number 2, right? You go up first. I'll join you later."
Kaizer. My name is Kaizer.
But instead of correcting her for the fifth or sixth time that night, I simply sighed in resignation and nodded.
"Alright," I said.
She probably wanted to let her companions know she had something to do before returning, or some similar excuse so they wouldn't suspect anything.
Whatever it was, I decided not to overthink it and started climbing the stairs, trusting that the goddess would keep her word.
The second floor of the Adventurer Guild consisted basically of a narrow hallway with four doors on each side, each marked with a number.
The hallway seemed to turn left, so I assumed there were more rooms. However, since I had number 2, I didn't have to walk far. I simply unlocked the door with the bronze key the receptionist had given me and stepped inside.
As expected, while the room wasn't luxurious, it wasn't exactly shabby either. There was a bed with clean white sheets, a desk, a chair, and even a window from which you could see the entire city of Axel, which at that moment seemed to sleep peacefully under the starry sky.
After a quick look around the room, I decided to sit on the edge of the bed and wait for Aqua.
After some time had passed (about fifteen or twenty minutes), I started thinking that maybe the self-proclaimed goddess had gotten cold feet at the last moment and had decided to go back with her companions.
It was at that moment that I heard two light knocks from the other side of the door.
I startled.
It was unbelievable.
How was it possible that something I had said without thinking had escalated to this point?
Was a goddess really about to walk through that door to give me pleasure like I had never experienced before?
As I thought that, a shiver ran down my spine.
I saw no need to lock the door. So I relaxed my shoulders and, hoping my voice wouldn't betray how nervous I was all of sudden, said:
"It's open."
The rustic wooden door creaked slightly as it opened very, very slowly. And a moment later, the figure of the Goddess of Water revealed herself in all her glory.