Chapter 27: Not Something You Can Pull Off Easily!

"I seriously thought I was going to be buried alive. I panicked a little there."

I crawled out of the armor attachment container, which had been tipped onto its side with the hatch open, and took a deep breath as sunlight washed over me.

"...When the cave collapsed, I wasn’t sure what would happen, nya, but I figured you’d make it out somehow, nya."

"Erika was with you, after all. Still, if you’re safe, please come out properly next time."

Ririka and Natsumi pressed in on me with slightly angry expressions as I sat on the container and caught my breath.

After the collapse, at Erika’s suggestion, I had rotated the container onto its side, climbed inside, and used the newly added excavation lathe to dig through the caved-in passage and escape back to the surface. The armor itself had been removed during that process.

"You two really aren’t honest, ssu. When the cave collapsed, you went on a rampage saying you were going to rescue her, and it was a nightmare trying to stop you, ssu."

"You looked like you were about to cry, saying you couldn’t abandon an important companion, gob."

"Seeing that got us all teary-eyed too. Ahhh, youth really is a wonderful thing."

"If you’re glad she’s safe, you should just say it honestly, buhi."

"W-What are you saying, nya?! Ririka wasn’t worried at all, nya!"

"Exactly! I just got swept up in the situation a little!"

Under the bright sunlight filtering through the forest, the cat-eared maid and the cross-dressing shota elf were mercilessly teased by goblins, orcs, and succubi, their faces turning bright red.

It was a strange sight, but it didn’t feel bad. A fantasy world like this wasn’t so bad after all.

"Well… yeah. I guess I’m sorry. I kind of ran for it on instinct."

"Since you came back safe, I’ll forgive you, nya. By the way, where’s Erika-nyan?"

"I am always with my master. The armor attachment container can only hold one individual, so I self-destructed the previous body underground. Twelve units have already been manufactured in Einferia, four of which are installed on Frilled Square, so there is no cause for concern."

"Man, you really do whatever you want, huh. If you handled things more efficiently, wouldn’t you avoid dangerous situations like this in the first place?"

"I try, but if it were that easy, I wouldn’t be struggling."

Natsumi might be right, but even I didn’t fully understand the limits of what the space fleet was capable of yet. I would just have to learn as I went.

"Oh, and I found this. From a game perspective, it feels like it should mean something. Any idea what it is?"

I showed Ririka and Natsumi the key that had dropped out of the golem.

"A key to somewhere, nya? I’ve never seen one like it, nya, but keys you get in dungeons usually get used inside the same dungeon, nya. But the important cave already collapsed, nya."

"And there wasn’t any passage that looked like it went deeper, either… Maybe it’s an item meant to be used somewhere else. If you had it appraised, at least you’d learn its name."

"Appraisal, huh. Neither of you has a spell or skill like that?"

"………"

When I asked, Ririka turned her face away without saying a word.

"Well, appraisal magic apparently uses up items and is kind of a hassle… Mage types like Alchemical Magi can do it as a skill, but we don’t really have anyone we could ask, do we?"

"Yeah… no, we don’t."

"When we get to town, let’s ask at an item shop. Depending on the item, it can cost quite a bit of money, and there’s even a chance of failure, so not many people do appraisals in town anyway."

"Sounds good. For now, hold onto it."

I handed the unidentified key to Natsumi, then turned my gaze toward the naked men we had rescued.

It was a horrible sight no matter how many times I looked at it. Would it really be okay to bring them back to the village like this?

"So, the cave’s gone, but what are you all going to do now?"

I asked the red-haired succubus closest to me.

"What about us, ssu? We heard the story from Gomurosa the orc, ssu. If the men in that whatever village are running away from women and just building up frustration, then we’ll stay in that village for now too, ssu."

"If succubi are around, the men won’t get any weird ideas, buhi. Men with excess energy, succubi, and us—everyone gets along nicely with the village women in the end, buhi. Perfect, buhi."

Isn’t that how villages get wiped out?

The words almost slipped out, but honestly, that village was already beyond saving. If things settled the way they settled, so be it. We should get out of there as soon as possible.

We headed back through the forest toward the village in a much larger group than before, accompanied by the men who had regained consciousness and the succubi dressed in body paint that looked almost like nudity.

"Well now… it’s good that the men are back, but we can’t have succubi whose only purpose is wringing them dry staying in the village."

When the village women saw the naked men and half-naked succubi we had brought back, they gasped and grimaced. Some mothers hurried away, covering their children’s eyes. That reaction was only natural.

The village chief refused to allow the succubi to settle in the village.

"That’s awful, miss! That’s discrimination against succubi, ssu! If the village women drain the orcs’ and goblins’ energy, and we drain the men who’d otherwise be left out, it’s killing two birds with one stone—a win-win, ssu! …Ah, but ‘win-win’ kind of sounds lewd, ssu. Like it’d feel really good, ssu."

"That’s exactly the problem. I understand what you’re saying, but I can’t have people in heat all day long in the village."

"It’s natural for living creatures, ssu. Letting that stuff build up isn’t good for the body, ssu."

"Please stop tying everything back to that. There are small children in this village."

They were completely deadlocked.

Even things that sound reasonable in theory can be hard for real people, with real emotions, to accept. In this case, even on a theoretical level, there were plenty of questionable points.

"I get how the village chief feels, nya. At this rate, the village is heading straight toward becoming an R-18 pervert village, nya."

"This is a problem, buhi. We thought it would work out, buhi. Should we look for another village that might accept succubi, buhi?"

"But unlike goblins, succubi don’t seem suited for village work, gob. If this village won’t take them, wouldn’t other villages be difficult too, gob?"

"That’s a problem, ssu! I don’t want to go back deep into an underground labyrinth with no men at this point, ssu. And besides, things are really rough in the underground world right now, ssu!"

"I don’t know… this is all starting to feel kind of stupid to me. Why don’t all you succubi just go open a brothel in some city or something?"

As Natsumi muttered that in a fed-up tone while watching Gomuro and Zaza seriously agonize over coexistence between monsters and humans, the red-haired succubus who had been arguing with the village chief turned back toward him.

"What’s a ‘brothel,’ ssu? We’re not that kind of demon tribe, ssu. Or is it some kind of special play?"

"Huh? No, I mean… it’s a place where men pay money and women let them do, uh… those kinds of things. I wasn’t being serious. I mean, I don’t even know if something like that exists in this supposedly all-ages world to begin with…"

"No, wait. That might actually be a good idea. If you set it up in a place with lots of people, like a city, and drain energy from an unspecified number of men, it wouldn’t harm humans. And the succubi could earn the money they need to live in a human city themselves."

"What are you getting so enthusiastic about, nya? Perverted old men should learn some self-restraint, nya."

"No, no, no—this is amazing, ssu! In a human city, we can drain men’s energy and get paid for it, ssu!? That’s nothing but upsides, ssu! Natsumi-san is a genius, ssu! A savior of sexual desire, ssu! Coming up with something like this isn’t easy at all, ssu! I totally respect you, ssu!"

…Honestly, gathering all the succubi in one place and having them run a brothel might actually be a solid solution.

As the succubus excitedly praised him with sparkling eyes, Natsumi looked like he deeply regretted ever opening his mouth.

"Well, congratulations. That’s your long-awaited knowledge cheat."

"This doesn’t make me happy at all…"

"Alright then, Sapphire-chan, we’re heading out, ssu! We’ll definitely find a place where everyone can open a brothel, so wait with high expectations, ssu!"

"Be careful, Scarlet. You’re so careless… If some strange older man tells you to give him your energy, don’t just follow him without thinking, okay?"

"Leave it to me, ssu! When I take energy, I’ll make sure it’s somewhere crowded so I don’t get kidnapped by bad humans, ssu!"

And so, the next day, we finally set out, heading downstream toward the city by river.

Thanks to Gomuro and Zaza desperately persuading the village chief, the succubi were allowed to stay in the village until they found a place to open a brothel—on the condition that they behaved themselves during the daytime.

Representing the succubi and accompanying us to search for such a place was the red-haired succubus, Scarlet.

"You’ve helped us a lot, gob. Thank you, gob."

"We’ll do our best in this village too, buhi. Stay well, buhi."

We waved back to Zaza the goblin, Gomuro the orc, and several villagers who had come to see us off, then had them push the raft out into the river to begin our journey downstream.

"Alright, boatman, please take us, nya."

"Got it. Leave it to me. The weather’s good today—should have us in Godart City by noon."

As the boatman untied the mooring rope, the raft began to glide forward with the flow of the river.

"Let me reintroduce myself properly, ssu! I’m called Scarlet among my fellow succubi, ssu! I’d love it if you called me Sca-chan, ssu! Looking forward to working with you, ssu!"

"Uh… ‘Sca’ for a succubus is kind of—"

"Got it, nya. Sca-chan, nya. Nice to meet you, nya."

Ignoring me as I hesitated after imagining something unpleasant, Ririka accepted the nickname without a second thought.

Damn it. A middle-aged man inside cat ears—what kind of tastes does she have?

"But even if you are a succubus, isn’t that outfit a bit much for going into a human city?"

Setting aside the question of whether it was okay for a succubus to enter a human city at all, Natsumi raised a very reasonable concern.

Scarlet might act restless and airheaded, but with her dark skin, waist-length crimson hair, and a voluptuous figure befitting a succubus, she was undeniably a bewitching beauty when she stayed quiet.

She had water-buffalo-like horns on her head, bat-like wings at her waist, and a long tail extending from just above her hips—but aside from those features, she looked no different from a human.

She was almost naked, with black, body-paint-like markings barely covering what shouldn’t be seen, but apparently she could make those markings appear or disappear at will.

Would it really be okay for such a sexy woman to walk openly through a city in broad daylight?

Then again, I remembered that in a neighboring country, a royal who dressed even more dangerously walked proudly through her own capital without issue.

"Well… if that princess knight was fine, then maybe it’ll be okay?"

"That’s true. Compared to her, Scarlet-san actually covers more surface area."

"A princess more indecent than a succubus is something to think about, nya."

"There’s a princess dressed more erotically than a succubus, ssu!? Humans are on another level, ssu… It kind of kills my confidence, ssu…"

With us chatting idly and the boatman giving us an awkward, troubled smile, the raft continued downstream.

If Scarlet really stood out too much once we reached the city, we could always have Ririka conjure up some suitable clothes for her.

After drifting down the river for a while, enjoying the peaceful scenery atop the raft, a massive city surrounded by towering walls finally came into view—far larger than we had expected.