The Protagonist System

With Selene's promise of protection inside the walls of the guild hall, I felt comfortable removing my armor, much to my party's relief. Of course, this also opened the floor to us doing a few other things. My first clue was when Darkness blushed and handed me the large wooden paddle.

“Assume the position.” I declared and she stripped off in record time and knelt on the edge of the bed with her ass in the air.

Megumin was still shy when things like this happened, so she covered her eyes with her hands and only spread her fingers a little bit. Wiz on the other hand, fully embraced the act and crawled onto the bed to shove Darkness' head down into the blankets, eliciting a moan from the crusader.

I was fairly weak without my armor, so I couldn't put a lot of effort into my swing; but, this wasn't really about the actual power used. It was about a fetish and Darkness willingly submitting to someone she loved and putting them in complete control.

The loud smack made Cremea and Fio flinch slightly, despite Darkness moaning loudly. I was a little surprised that the paddle left a red outline on her ass cheek and I looked at it and at my hand that held the paddle.

“This counts as well, considering where we are.” Wiz said and blushed as she glanced down at the bed she and Darkness were on.

Ah, then my skills work to boost me with this too. Good to know. I thought and gave her a warm smile, then swung backwards to smack the other ass cheek and Darkness moaned like a cheap whore. Her sexy sounds turned the others on, because who couldn't get horny when they heard someone enjoying themselves so much?

I didn't stop my casual assault until Darkness cried out with pleasure and her womanhood gushed with the proof she had gotten off on the dominance play. I was also hard as a rock and she begged for me to take her, now that she was ready. So, I mounted her from behind and she yelled out how much she loved me and then kept moaning at the same volume as she had when being spanked.

Now that we had moved on to normal sex... well, normal for us anyway... the others stripped off and joined us on the bed. I sincerely doubted anyone from this world had any clue what to do past sticking it in and going at it. Then again, I had bedded a couple of women and had shown them a few things, so maybe it would spread. Perhaps I had inadvertently started a sexual revolution without realizing it.

I pushed those thoughts out of my head and concentrated on the woman under me and her reactions. I wanted her to know that her trust was not misplaced and made sure she knew how much I cared about her. It must have come across, because Darkness managed to change positions and let me do her missionary style and kissed me passionately.

*

Selene sat in her bedroom and her face was a deep red. Her eyes were locked on the viewing spell as it showed Kazuma's bedroom and she saw things she never thought two people could do in a bed. Then three people in a bed. Then four people. Then five and six people. Oh, my!

She blinked her eyes and couldn't stop her hand as it dove into her soaked underwear that she was a little embarrassed about because they looked so plain when compared to the things Kazuma's party wore under their clothes. It made her wonder where they bought such nice frilly and lacy things and would ask them privately where to obtain some for herself.

*

Erika had camped outside the guest rooms to make sure she was available if the manager's guests needed anything, anything at all, and she wouldn't fail the manager again. She was also horny beyond belief and had to use a towel to stem the flow of her juices.

Thankfully, she had been smart enough to bring a pillow and blanket, so no one could see that she was fully naked under it and constantly played with herself. She didn't once wonder how Kazuma could keep going and going, making each of his women moan with pleasure, because she assumed he was a strong adventurer, despite Lancealot's claim he was weak.

The manager had told her some of his accomplishments and the Eris the man had earned in so short a time. That meant if they did kick him out of the Adventurer's Guild, the people would revolt if they knew they stopped someone that was succeeding in defeating the Demon King's armies by determining he wasn't worthy of being a member. That wouldn't go over well at all!

Erika muffled her moan as she came again and her arms shook. Luckily, her sounds came at the same time as some from the room and there was no danger of her being found out. She just hoped she wasn't too exhausted for her work shift in the morning after staying up so late. With the way she felt right now? It was worth a little lost sleep to feel so good.

*

I woke up in the morning surrounded by happy women and felt better than I had the night before. Did Selene's little magic boost help me more than I thought it did? I hope she didn't screw me over by giving me a single level of power or something. That would be terrible and would ruin my plan to boost my gains by a considerable amount by abusing the XP sharing of my party.

Speaking of my party, I checked each of them and they weren't excessively sore or more tired than usual. I woke them up and kissed them good morning, then we all dressed for the day. I donned my armor and we left the room, noticing a slightly familiar smell in the hallway. Darkness gave me a particular look and blushed, which let me know we had an unexpected audience and she was okay with it.

We went downstairs to the main hall to eat breakfast and were served right away. Either the service was much better than back home or we had been given preferential treatment. I was betting on the latter, since Selene herself had tended to us yesterday.

Once we were done, we were brought to the manager's office by the same girl as yesterday, Erika. She knocked politely on the door and waited to be called in.

“Enter.” Selene's sexy voice ordered.

Erika almost jumped in response and opened the door with a whoosh. “Here are Kazuma and his party, manager.”

“Thank you, Erika. You may return to your normal duties.” Selene said, her voice soft.

“Yes, manager.” Erika said and bowed before she fled.

I watched her disappear down the hallway and looked back at Selene.

“That happens most of the time.” Selene said, not embarrassed at all.

“Is it because of how strong you are or because you're the manager and hold their lives in your hands?” I asked and she gave me that sexy smile.

“Yes.” Selene said and waved us inside. “Unless you are less observant than a snail, I've made my decision on your viability as an adventurer.”

That gave me the opening I needed to ask an important question. “You didn't auto-level me with the magic you performed yesterday, did you?”

Selene looked slightly surprised at the question and then looked guilty.

“Fuck.” I whispered and she flinched, clearly hearing my anger. “Thanks for screwing up our plans for the next week, manager.”

“We need to return the quests we picked yesterday and you need to officially update your card to get the few skill points you have available.” Megumin said. “We're going to be in a lot more danger, too.”

I started to pace the office. “We can't take the bigger quests, since we don't have a big hitter to help finish off anything we come across. Power-levelling me won't work anymore, either.”

“Kazuma, it's all right. We'll figure this out.” Wiz said and grabbed my arm when I passed her.

I stopped walking and tried to not let my frustration show. I turned back to the manager and gave her a searching look. “Can you undo what you did before I update my card?”

Selene shook her head. “Whatever happened to reset you is beyond my abilities. I was just trying to help you stabilize...”

“Shut up!” I shouted and everyone's eyes widened at my reaction. “If you had simply asked, I would have refused your oh so generous offer to ruin everything! Goddess dammit, you don't even realize what you've done!”

“Kazuma...” Darkness started to say.

“No!” I said and she stopped talking. “I'm sorry about snapping at you, Darkness. I'm upset this idiot screwed me over and I can't level up quickly and I absolutely have to level up quickly!”

Selene's face changed to anger and she stood up. “Did you just call me an idiot?”

“I did, because you messed up a goddess given quest to save the world after someone else already did that! I told you all about it, didn't I? DIDN'T I?” I yelled and her face lost the anger. “Now do you realize what you've done? DO YOU?”

Selene looked sad as she sat back down. “I think you are overreacting. It's just a few levels...”

“I lost all the first adventurer bonuses and extra stat points for defeating creatures as a level 1! I lost all the experience compensation for the extra danger! I lost the chance to jump back to my previous power in a single shot instead of crawling level by level that I have to do now because of YOU!”

“Kazuma, calm down. This isn't helping.” Cremea said.

I took several deep breaths and let the situation settle in my mind. “I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do now. I can't even go after any of the lieutenants or generals of the Demon King's army, because I'm so weak and it's going to take weeks I don't have to get stronger instead of days.”

Wiz, Darkness, Megumin, Cremea, and Fio all looked sad at my words.

Selene looked at the others and her eyes went to me. She saw the desperation I tried to hide and she knew I only had a month left to defeat the Demon King, so her help really had screwed me over.

“Perhaps... if you want to risk it... there is an option you can take.” Selene said, her voice reluctant.

“This should be good.” I whispered and everyone heard me with the office so quiet. “Let's hear it.”

“You can power level in the World's Most Dangerous Dungeon.” Selene said.

There was complete silence for several seconds and then everyone shouted and yelled in surprise. All of them except Wiz were arguing about how stupid that was for someone as low level as me to enter such a place.

“I can send a couple of the higher level members of the guild to accompany you...” Selene added.

“You're pawning off your mistake on someone else?” I asked before I could stop myself.

Selene stood again to glare at me and her voice wasn't sexy at all as she spoke. “I have many more responsibilities than babysitting a child throwing a temper tantrum.”

I knew then she was using a skill to sound and act sexy and she wasn't using it now. “Most of my party, including me, aren't ready for a risk like that. I also doubt your high level members would agree to party up and share XP, considering they'll be doing most if not all of the work.”

The look on Selene's face told me I was right. Apparently, my own view about sharing was a novel one, which explained why Darkness, Megumin, Cremea, and Fio had been surprised when I shared XP with them right from the start. By the looks of things, they didn't do that until a party member could pull their own weight.

“Well? Is the offer still on the table?” I asked. “We'll take it if you can find someone with a high enough level and is willing to share.”

Selene had a thoughtful look on her face as she sat back down. Since I didn't have anything else to say, I turned to face Wiz. She had an odd look on her face and she seemed conflicted about something. I didn't ask her what was wrong and took her into a hug instead. She almost melted into my arms and I whispered I was sorry for losing my temper.

All we could do now was hope that a solution could be found. If not, I only had a month left before I would be forcibly removed from this world.

*

Chris inspected the carriage and didn't find anything but an alert ward on it. She easily bypassed it and entered it, only to gasp at the huge expanded space inside. It was a shock for her to see so much room inside a normal carriage and she was an embodied goddess.

What kind of magic could do this? Chris asked herself and searched around. She couldn't see anything giving off enough magic to cause such a lasting effect and it stumped her. When she went to sit down on one of the comfy couches, she heard mutterings from nearby. She shot to her feet and crept pver to the door she heard it from.

“I'm telling you, no one is out there. It's just the carriage creaking.” A male voice said.

“I'd cast a detection spell if my hands weren't tied behind my back.” A female voice responded.

“That would give us away.” A different male voice said.

“It's all a moot point anyway. As soon as they hand us over, we're dead.” A third male voice added.

Chris sighed and realized they were Dust and his party and they were still Kazuma's prisoners. She had thought he handed them over already and wondered why he hadn't. That was when she had the brilliant idea to have them help Kazuma with his quest and opened the locked door. For an accomplished thief, it was easy.

“We're saved!” Dust proclaimed when he saw her. “Untie us! They could be back any second!”

“I need assurances...” Chris started to say.

“I'll give you 1,000 Eris to shut up and cut us free!” Dust cut her off.

Chris sighed at being so easily manipulated and did as he asked. She took the money first from his pouch, though. She wasn't stupid. Her church could do a lot of good with that money.

“Thanks, Chris.” Trevor said as he rubbed his sore arms.

“I'll get Linn.” Dust said and somehow slipped through the small window into the other room without his armor or clothes catching on the rough edges.

In only a minute, both Linn and Dust were back through the hole and with their party.

“Let's get out of here.” Dust said, ordered really, and the group stepped out of the room to stare at the huge space. “Where the hell are we?”

“You're still inside the carriage.” Chris told them.

Dust exchanged looks with the rest of his party and started to smile.

“You can't think what I think you're thinking! Don't be stupid!” Linn almost shouted.

“We are totally stealing this carriage!” Dust exclaimed and his party sighed in defeat.

Chris stood there as the previous prisoners discussed how to find the horses to pull the thing and wondered how everything was going wrong for her. She hadn't even proposed the deal to get them to team up with Kazuma and they were already ruining any chance of it happening.