Pseudo Resident's Illegal Stay in Another World

→ Samaritan of the Black Rock Mountain (2) ←

It was quite difficult for me to soothe the stubborn and sulky Luna.

I had to plead my innocence by continuously stroking Luna’s back, who was covered with a blanket all the way up to her head and laid in a fetal position that made it impossible for me to see even a single lock of her luscious pink hair.

Stroke— Stroke— Softly—

“I only stopped by briefly because of work. I even received one gold as an advance payment. This is real gold. Luna, do you realize how many things you can do with this?”

“…”

“This one gold coin is enough for us to buy five hundred servings of your favorite pheasant meat. Five hundred pheasants mean a thousand legs. There will also be a thousand wings. Wow!”

“He-hmph.”

“Luna, you just laughed, right? “

“…I-I didn’t laugh! Besides, your hand stopped, Hassan! Keep stroking me properly!”

Whenever my hand was about to pause, even for a moment, Luna would complain from inside the blanket. So, I had no choice but to keep moving my hand nonstop.

Luna’s small body rose in a circular shape under the blanket.

Perhaps because of the thick and rough blanket covering her, I couldn’t feel her usual soft and warm tenderness. A wall the size of a blanket had been formed between Luna and me.

It felt like the gap formed between us was not only on a physical level but also on an emotional one.

We were so close yet so far.

Some might think, wasn’t the barrier just a single blanket?

However, since our relationship had never been strained up till now, this came as quite a bit of a surprise to me. I thought our intimacy was increasing day by day and that we were doing well, but such a cumbersome thing had to happen!

Didn’t numerous couples out there also experience repeated instances of fights and arguments and scenarios where they got upset at each other whenever they didn’t share the same opinions over something?

Among all reasons why a couple fought, there had to be disagreements and misunderstandings that occurred because of circumstances similar to mine. Then, how did they console and attempt reconciliation when something like that happened?

I thought back to the various scenarios from the media and video sources that I’d seen so far.

I tried to remember all the dramas I was forced to watch because my younger sister had more control over the remote than I did. Could the experiences I gathered from the innumerable love stories that I’d grown tired of watching be helpful to me in this situation?

However, as I kept shuttling through those memories, I realized that I hadn’t seen any girl, in all my life, who resembled Luna. And I, too, was not the same as the romantic male leads from those stories.

In the end, it seemed like I needed to develop and employ my own special methods to deal with the upset Luna. A way that only I, Hassan, would be able to employ in such a situation.

If it were Luna, what would she do if I was in such a state?

As I pondered that, something immediately came to mind. So, I bent my fingers like I was about to play the piano and then moved them like a spider to tickle Luna’s back.

Scratch— Scratch—

Twitch— Twitch—

When the edge of my fingers touched her back and sides, tickling her nonstop, Luna lifted her body under the blanket.

“Heehee—”

It seemed like Luna couldn’t help but burst into laughter, no longer able to contain herself.

But soon, she reacted like an angry beast growling after realizing that she had been angry moments before.

“D-Don’t, don’t tickle me! I’m not playing around. I’m really mad…!”

“I’m not the one doing it. It’s a spider.”

“Liar. Hassan, you’re a liar.”

“W-When did I ever lie to you?”

“You said you were going to study but then went to the Venus Temple instead. I purposely sent Paranoy home ahead and stopped by the library, hoping to go home with you.”

I couldn’t believe that Luna thought so highly of me. It was quite touching, but at the same time, her consideration pricked my conscience, making me feel a tingling sensation in my heart.

“That, really, nothing happened at the temple. I went there because of work.”

“Liar…! There’s no way a man comes out of the Venus Temple without doing anything.”

“B-But it’s true. It’s true that nothing happened there!”

Slide—

Perhaps feeling suffocated and hot, Luna pushed aside the blanket and stood up.

Her eyes were swollen as if she had been crying inside the blanket. In an instant, a sudden intense surge of pain shot up to my head, as though it was about to explode at any moment.

Luna was crying!

Just the thought of Luna crying because of me was enough for my mind to go blank. I couldn’t think of anything to fix this terrible situation. Now, I felt I could understand why countless stories and media referred to a woman’s tears as lethal weapons.

It was really a weapon like no other.

It was overwhelmingly powerful, so much so that it became difficult to describe it just as a weapon.

My face began to pale visibly; as though I had been punched right in the jaws. Meanwhile, my heart began to constrict with a deep sense of remorse; as though I had committed a terrible sin. I didn’t know what to do at the moment.

But I had to be resolute right now.

I had a rough idea of what kind of doubts were swirling in Luna’s mind. Whatever it was, the things Luna imagined had not transpired, I had to assure her of that fact.

All I did there was get hugged and attacked by a ridiculously strong woman. And all I saw were some shiny marble floors, flashing some immoral content.

“I swear, nothing happened there.”

Narrowed—

Luna’s swollen eyes narrowed ever so slightly at my words.

Squeak—

She slowly approached me. I was slightly taken aback, wondering what Luna was planning to do. She sniffed me while glancing around my body as I sat there, completely frozen.

“…Are you telling the truth? Nothing happened?”

“Yes, that’s right! I really went there because of work. Look, I even brought back this gold coin.”

I took out the gold I had received from my pocket and showed it to Luna.

Gold.

It was the first time I had earned this piece of gold with my own efforts. It was so precious to me that, if it was the ‘me’ from the past, then I would have treated this piece of metal as my own life. Moreover, I would’ve never let anyone touch it no matter what.

But for Luna, I decided to especially show this valuable coin to her and even placed it in her hand. It was a gesture of trust to show how much I valued her in my mind, but I wasn’t sure if the message I was trying to deliver through my actions came across clearly to her or not.

“Wow, it’s really a gold coin. It has Lord Jupiter’s face engraved on it too.”

Luna looked at the currency I handed her, and her eyes swelled up with excitement. It seemed that Luna, too, couldn’t resist the enchantment of its golden shine.

“…But why are there teeth marks on it?”

“I tried biting it.”

“Oh my goodness, Hassan! What if you bit Lord Jupiter’s face? You might have gotten struck by lightning from the sky!”

“The heck, are you serious?”

I just took the gold and decided to bite it to feel the authenticity of the metal. It felt unfair that such an insignificant action could result in being struck by lightning. I felt a bit unjust about it.

I thought anyone would also do this when they came across a gold coin for the first time.

No, there was no way you would get struck by lightning just because you bit a coin now, would you? I almost fell for Luna’s lies for a moment there, but I quickly regained my wits.

Anyway, Luna came out from under the blanket, gradually releasing the anger that was building up inside her till now. That was the most important thing to me right now.

“You said you received this one gold as a down payment, right? So, you will receive more after the mission is over, right?”

I did explain that to her.

Luna was trembling with excitement, unable to take her eyes off the piece of golden metal, like an elementary school student who received a Yo-Kai Watch as a gift.

“Wow, it’s a real piece of gold. It’s my first time touching one too.”

“Really? Wasn’t this land supposed to be worth three gold coins?’

“The amount only went through in the loan documents, so I never had the opportunity to see the actual gold. Wow, it’s really shiny. Wow. A thousand pheasant legs. Wow!!!”

I couldn’t even count just how many times Luna said “Wow,” but I could understand her feelings. I also felt quite a bit of astonishment still that I now had real gold in my possession.

After examining the gold coin for a while, Luna handed it back to me.

If the upset Luna had forced me by saying, “Give it to me to relieve my anger,” I wondered what I would do. But it seemed like she hadn’t reached that level of absurdity and anger yet.

“Hassan, receiving one gold as a down payment seems unusual. Will it be okay?”

Finally, Luna seemed curious about the details of the mission I had received. Did she finally decide to believe my words that I went to the Venus Temple because of a job?

“They asked for something called the Black Spring Water.”

“Black Spring Water? Did they really say that?”

“Yes.”

“Unless you’re a really seasoned adventurer, you won’t even be able to enter the place containing that. They said there are strange guards surrounding it…”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The next morning.

Luna and I headed towards the entrance gate of the city, carrying a large jar with us to collect the requested spring water.

The jar was large enough to hold about one young child inside quite easily, so it was rather heavy. It would become even heavier once the jar was filled with the spring water.

Still, with my strength stat of nearly 9 points, I should be able to carry it quite easily.

“…Long Live Chaos.”

Ding—

[Stats] Name: Hassan

Level: 19

Strength: 9

Agility: 4

Stamina: 6

Task Points: 282

Blessings: Blessing of Chaos 》Shining Hand 》Night’s Cloak

I saved up the task points just in case this turned out to be a challenging quest. If things didn’t go well, I might have to spend 200 task points to seek help from the gods.

If I didn’t have to use them, I could use them on the totems that I had already made Luna prepare to convert into stats.

While I was contemplating the strategies to deploy during this quest, Luna, carrying a small jar, looked around.

“Hassan, I think we arrived first.”

It was early morning, but the western gate entrance was as bustling as always, with parties preparing for various quests.

Although it was crowded, it wasn’t difficult to spot Marco, who wore a funny-looking cone hat among the crowd.

“There he is.”

Now that I thought about it, Marco’s amusing attire might have been intentionally made to be attention-seeking, just like the singers on stage who would wear unique clothes to attract the crowds.

Anyway.

Marco seemed to recognize me as well and raised his hand to greet me.

“Keuuuuh, you always stand out with your striking appearance. It’s rare to find someone with a peculiar look like you.”

“Damn, I didn’t expect to hear that from you. But more importantly, did you come alone? Where’s Khalidur?”

“He couldn’t come because his leg injury hasn’t healed yet. So, it’s just me.”

“Hello, Big Nose. Long time no see!”

Luna waved her hand to greet Marco, whom she hadn’t seen in a while. Marco, in return, took off his funny-looking cone hat briefly and acknowledged her greeting.

“I was wondering who this person wearing a bone helmet was, it actually turned out to be you. But it’s really been a while, sister. Wearing a helmet makes you quite intimidating. Also, who is this person next to you? Can you introduce us?”

Marco’s gaze eventually settled on the scarlet-hued and short-haired girl behind Luna who was busy looking at the surroundings.

“Well, this is a rare encounter with a nymph. They say that instruments made from nymph’s hair produce a crystal clear sound.”

“H-Hello… I-I am Paranoy.”

“Ah, so you’re the nymph who recently underwent a faith conversion and became a proselyte. I’m a wandering bard called Marco, serving Lord Mercury.”

Befitting someone who roamed the back alleys and the underground, Marco seemed to have a knack for picking up rumors from here and there. So, even without our urging, Paranoy and Marco had already exchanged brief introductions.

“We have to check everything for one last time before the carriage arrives.”

After carefully inspecting the tools and equipment we had brought with us, we boarded the wagon-type carriage as always.

“Well then, let’s depart.”

Neeeiggghhh—

The carriage soon left the west gate and headed toward the wide plains, the black rocky mountain was reported to be located somewhere near that area.

Creak— Creak— Creak—

The wagon-type carriage was uncomfortable to ride in. I was a little nervous that the jar would break when I filled it with spring water on our return trip.

How much more did I need to earn to buy a fancy custom carriage for myself?

“But, brother, I see something I haven’t seen before on you. It’s quite the sturdy-looking armor.”

As the carriage continued to creak and make quiet noises, Marco, sitting opposite me, spoke up.

It seemed like he had only noticed the steel plate armor covering my chest just now. Either that, or he had nothing else to say and just struck up a conversation out of curiosity.

Anyway, his words made me doubly aware of the heavy steel plates pressing against my chest.

I purchased this breastplate during the recuperation period after returning from Pluto’s Labyrinth. It cost a whopping 80 silvers.

I used the initial 40 silvers I had on me and sold the loot we had obtained from the labyrinth exploration, such as the iron swords, and Luna also contributed an additional 20 silvers from her pocket. It had become the third most expensive item that I owned, after the necklace and the club.

I wasn’t sure about its performance, but it should be sturdy enough to at least withstand one or two sudden arrows flying at me. However, it was heavier than I expected, and it would take quite some time to get used to the weight.

“Now that you’re wearing the breastplate, you look quite impressive, like a skilled warrior.”

“Is that so?”

The design was quite rough, but I was somewhat satisfied wearing this steel-plated armor.

Upgrading my equipment felt like nurturing myself, giving me a sense of progress. It also brought a sense of relief, knowing that there was a thick steel plate, acting as a barrier, between me and certain death.

However, I felt genuinely bad for receiving a significant amount of money, around 20 silvers, from Luna.

It was Luna who insisted that I should buy an expensive breastplate, saying, “Hassan, you fight recklessly, so you need to protect yourself well!”

She must have been worried that I would get seriously injured or even die while fighting powerful monsters like the bull monster or Schizo the Black-Armored Greatsword-wielding warrior.

After I earned more money from this mission, I would pay off my debt to Luna and buy greaves and gauntlets made from iron for my arms and legs.

Damn! Hassan, the warrior of steel!

I would undoubtedly appear incredibly powerful.

All those bastards who wandered around the slums would surely run away in fear at the mere clinking sound of my armor.

“Damn! Those shitty bastards are definitely screwed.”

“Hehe, brother, it seems like you are itching to fight already. We’re almost there, and I’m sure we’ll have the opportunity to put our bodies to use soon. I’m also eager to test out my new ability.”

“New ability? What is it?”

“You can look forward to it. Anyway, we’re almost there.”

Marco raised his head and looked towards the distant horizon. Following his gaze, I straightened my back and met the gaze of the dark silhouette far in the distance.

As the carriage continued to creak along the road, we gradually approached the rocky mountain, covered in ominous dark clouds and a deep dark hue, in the distance.