Chapter 367

(367) Three people sweat together

Translator: Tseirp

We returned to Suzuki’s home for now after gathering information .

As it was a nice j.a.panese-style building, it felt more like we were returning to our accommodations than returning home . It was like an inn .

“Welcome back, Ichinojo-sama, Carol-sama . ”

“We’re back, Lana-san . I bought this thinking if it would go well for dinner . ”

I said and pa.s.sed her a bag with ingredients containing rice and such .

“Why thank you very much . With the state the town is in, it was extremely difficult to buy rice so this helps a lot . ”

“Yeah . The market became a battlefield . If Carol wasn’t there, I might not even be able to buy a single grain of rice . ”

It was like a year-end wagon sale at a department store . It was a spectacular scene to see the vegetables brought out from the warehouse sell out before the buyers could finish lining up .

“Also, this is a souvenir for Lana-san . It’s not expensive but please use it if you like it . ”

I said and gave her a hairpin as a thank you for taking care of us .

I had Carol choose one for me .

It wasn’t expensive but I felt that it would look good on Lana-san in her kimono and her long hair .

“ … This is for me?”

Lana-san accepted the hairpin and looked at it fixedly .

Did she like it?

“Manual for when a guest gives me a personal gift – when I was given a bun a year and ten days ago, I was told that I should eat it as a snack and have not received any other order . What should I do –”

Lana-san mumbled to herself .

Lana-san was a instruction manual person after all . So she has not received souvenirs apart from food .

I waited for a while to see what conclusion she would reach .

“Right! This is a wooden hairpin so it doesn’t mean it can’t be eaten! In other words, there won’t be a problem if I eat it as a snack at three o’clock!”

“It’s full of problems!”

That was more problematic than wanting to eat Centaur .

Does this person plan to eat it whenever something unexpected happens?

Does she plan to hide all evidence inside her stomach?

“This is a hairpin that matches a kimono so please treat it as an accessory and part of your uniform . ”

“Ah, to treat it as an accessory . Then I shall record it as an accessory . ”

Lana-san said and hit her fist on her hand .

I was wondering if she felt it was a nuisance that I gave her a hairpin so I used Thought Trace but she was filled with happiness . It looked like she did take a liking to the hairpin .

Although it was possible that she was happy from obtaining the rice as well .

After that, we returned to our room .

Apparently, the room was cleaned as the trash in the trash bin was emptied .

Lana-san was a perfect manual person . Although her inflexibility seemed like a bad trait, looking at it at another angle, it also meant that she won’t cut corners at work .

“Leaving that aside, what was Talwi’s aim?”

“I do not know but looking at the situation, there’s a high possibility that the royal family is involved . ”

“Yeah . It didn’t look like a coincidence that I was taken along by the inspector and ended up fighting Talwi . The inspector seemed to directly report to the royal family too . ”

“There was that but Talwi-san … Talwi tried to kill Ichino-sama, right?”

“Yeah . I used Thought Trace and I felt killing intent . ”

“If you kill another person without a good reason, your job would turn into a criminal job immediately . Despite that, Talwi tried to kill Ichino-sama . Typically people who are obsessed with strength would not do such things . ”

“The up-and-coming adventurer party tried to kill me though?”

“The members of that up-and-coming adventurer party were probably idiots, right?”

“That can’t be … yeah you’re right . ”

I was convinced .

Furthermore, that was after they rampaged in the Dwarf village . Although they didn’t cause enough damage to fall into criminal jobs, there was no doubt that they would be found guilty if put on trial .

There was a high chance that they were fools who chose to acquire criminal jobs since they were going to be found guilty in a trial anyway .

Or there was also the possibility that maybe they were idiots who forgot that they would fall into criminal jobs .

“But Talwi’s killing intent was real . And Talwi is probably not a fool . ”

“Yes, you are correct . Moreover, n.o.bles at a certain job level, with the permission of the royal family, could acquire the skill called Immunity . By using the Immunity skill, she would not fall into a criminal job even if she killed Ichino-sama if she was ordered to do so . ”

n.o.bles and permission from the royal family …

“Could people apart from n.o.bles and royalty do something similar?”

“Yes . There aren’t many of them but they do exist . But it isn’t very possible . ”

“Why?”

“Three jobs have been identified that are allowed to harm others . The Pope, the Hero, and the Demon Lord . ”

“I see . Right, Carol . Since we are on this topic, could you tell me what actions would cause a person to have their jobs turned into criminal jobs?”

In the past, the thugs in the town of Belasra blackmailed Haru and me .

They talked as though they knew how far they could go before they fall into criminal jobs . I didn’t plan to use the knowledge to do evil but instead want to remember it for self-defence .

Although I should have asked a long time ago .

“There is not a clear ‘act’ that will lead to it . Even if you stole somebody’s belongings, you will not fall into a criminal job with one act of thievery . Of course, if you are caught by the guards and undergo a trial, you would be forced to change job to an Attonement-Seeker as part of the due process . On the other hand, there are also examples of people falling into criminal jobs after committing multiple types of crimes that individually would not change a person’s job to a criminal job . ”

“So your job would not switch to a criminal job if it is a one-off misdemeanor but committing it multiple times would change your job …”

It sounded similar to the driving penalty system .

Something like how your driving license would be suspended if you acc.u.mulate above a certain amount of demerits .

“Also, depending on the situation, even killing a person would not cause the murderer to fall into a criminal job . For example, a physician euthanizing a sick patient who is suffering and wishes for death would be seen as a crime by law but will not fall into a criminal job . But if they euthanized a patient who wished to live even though they were enduring the pain, they would fall into a criminal job . Everything is judged by G.o.ddess Libra . ”

“The standard seems to be pretty flexible . Moreover, it is the most rea.s.suring for Libra-sama to be in charge of this among all the G.o.ddesses . ”

“Yes . According to a lawyer, more than 90% of the world’s crimes are prevented because of the G.o.ddess’ judgment . ”

“That might be true . ”

Even if you could commit a crime without anybody’s knowledge, the G.o.ddess would still be watching so you can’t commit the crime .

“It is a very convenient function . ”

The G.o.ddesses are watching .

“Yes . But some do not think that way . ”

So there are such people too .

Well, evil people by nature might look at it that way .

Haru and Suzuki returned after we discussed the topic further .

The two of them dived into the beginner dungeon to hunt monsters for food supply .

There were apparently many monsters that drop vegetables in the beginner dungeon so it gave the image of a farmer going through their harvest as they defeated monsters .

“Haru, welcome back . Did Suzuki do anything weird to you?”

“Goho . ” (TLN: Choking sounds)

It was Suzuki who responded to my words .

The reaction was so excessive that it made me wonder if it was something would have happened in normal circ.u.mstances .

“Wait, Kusunoki-kun . There’s no way I would do anything!”

“Yeah I know . I was just joking . I understand your incompetence the best . ”

I was within the same category but Suzuki’s good-for-nothingness in that aspect was at the level of a protagonist in a shonen manga with harem development .

Despite that, he does seem to be the kind to have lucky moments like when a person stumbles and accidentally kisses a girl .

After a short banter, Suzuki told me that he had a meeting with the deputy mayor and left .

Now then, the three of us were alone .

“Haru, come here for a moment . ”

“Yes . ”

She wagged her tail as she approached my side .

Haru’s sweat tickled my nostrils . I didn’t hate the smell in particular but it would not be good to leave a beauty with sweat on her .

I applied Clean on Haru .

It tidied up her body and clothes at the same time .

“Thank you very much . Um … master . I feel apologetic since master went through the trouble to clean me but . I … um, want to sweat again . The two of us have done it together but if you don’t mind, I would like to include Carol for the three of us to do it together . ”

Three people sweating together … !?

Isn’t that – no, no, wait, wait, it’s still a little too early for that … or not . Haru and I and Carol and I . Each of our relations.h.i.+p have already developed considerably .

Three of us together … doesn’t that mean there’s a possibility for that development?

I just called Suzuki a good-for-nothing just now so I won’t be a man if I backed down now .

“Ichino-sama, Carol … can’t do it . Carol’s body will break . ”

Carol said with rough breathing . I guess it couldn’t be helped since we’ve been running for an hour .

I applied Stamina Heal on her and allowed her to rest .

“Master, I want a little more – please do it a little more intense this time . ”

Haru said with a burning complexion . I felt that she was in better shape than we initially started .

I actually wanted to take a break with Carol but I couldn’t do so since Haru said that .

I sneakily applied Stamina Heal on myself and prepared for the third round .

“All right, I’ll do it a little more intensely . Let me know if it hurts . ”

“I will be okay . It doesn’t hurt when I think of master . ”

Thus Haru and I – started our match .

At a gra.s.sland in My World, we faced each other with wooden swords .

Leaving that aside, Haru should have just told me if she wanted to have sword training with me . She didn’t have to say things in such an easily misunderstood manner .

Well, thinking about it normally, breaking out a sweat would refer to exercise .

I was just having too many dirty thoughts .

I started with 30 minutes of swinging my sword before having a mock battle with Haru and followed by another 30 minutes of swinging my sword .

It felt nostalgic . I did this every day when I first came to this world but I stopped before I knew it .

Haru has been continuing every day since then so I felt a little apologetic .

It had been a long time since we had a mock battle like this .

Currently, my jobs were focused on magic jobs to suppress my attack power . Even then, my total speed was slightly greater than Haru but Haru avoided my attack with a paper-thin difference .

I wasn’t using any skills and I didn’t attack her face but I wasn’t pulling back my strength .

She avoided my thrust by moving left and right and dodged my sweeping attacks by jumping backward .

She would avoid a simple slash diagonally .

None of my attacks. .h.i.t her .

In that case, I changed one of my jobs to the already peaked Swordsman .

My attack speed increased .

Haru’s expression changed slightly .

Normally it would be hard to tell but I could understand when I looked at Haru’s face .

She was impatient and equally joyous .

Haru didn’t only dodge but also added in parrying with her sword .

Not only that but the number of times she couldn’t dodge properly and the attacks that brushed her clothes also increased .

But it didn’t damage the clothes made by the Dark Elf’s secret technique .

“I’ll increase my speed even further . ”

“Yes!”

I switched my third job to Apprentice Swordsman and it happened immediately after that .

My attack struck Haru’s shoulder .

“Guh . ”

“Haru! Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am all right . As expected of master – these clothes would have parried any trivial attacks . ”

“I’ll treat it right now so let me see . ”

“Okay . ”

Haru replied and took off her clothes .

Her shoulder was swollen red . Haru’s skin was white so the red swelling was prominent . It would probably turn into a bruise if left alone .

“Wait, there’s no need to take off all your clothes!?”

“Ah, sorry . I kind of – ”

“No well … yeah . ”

Haru was almost expressionless but I could tell that she was shy .

I was caught with the flow and felt shy too .

“Ichino-sama, Haru-san . Please don’t forget that Carol is still here . ”

Carol, who was still resting, pointed out to us and I chanted Pet.i.te Heal to treat Haru .