Chapter 367: Three people sweat together

(367) Three people sweat together

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

As it was a nice Japanese-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 passed 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, nobles 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.”

Nobles and permission from the royal family …

“Could people apart from nobles 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 accumulate 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 Goddess Libra.”

“The standard seems to be pretty flexible. Moreover, it is the most reassuring for Libra-sama to be in charge of this among all the goddesses.”

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

“That might be true.”

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

“It is a very convenient function.”

The goddesses 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 circumstances.

“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 relationship 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 grassland 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 hit 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 Petite Heal to treat Haru.