Chapter 26

26 – The Hero’s Sleeping Friend 2

I then obtained each and every video of his party.

I watched them over and over again and compared them with videos of other parties clearing the same dungeon.

I see, the average person wouldn’t be able to notice any of it. Rather, it would be a problem if people did in fact see it, so he’s using the Black Magic at a level that wouldn’t be obvious.

For example, the attacks.

Let’s say the Paladin Lark repels the enemies with his shield and defeats them by slamming them in the wall.

If Lem lowered their defense by too much, Paladins from other parties might try to defeat enemies in the same way, only to find out that it doesn’t work, which would come off as strange.

Of course, it’s highly unlikely that they’d encounter the exact same situation, the viewers wouldn’t have any way of confirming the exact health values the enemy’s Avatar had, and it was difficult to accurately figure out exactly how much damage the shield bash did, but there was still the off chance that someone would start harboring doubts over what had happened.

After all, here I am carefully analyzing the videos.

That’s why Lem avoided using methods like that.

He prioritizes making Lark seem like an excellent Paladin.

By using status effects like Confusion, Darkness, or Speed Down, the enemy attacks would move slightly slower by half a second or so.

Most viewers wouldn’t notice a difference of half a second, and even if they did, they likely wouldn’t see it as a problem.

Lark is a skilled Adventurer, so he’d be able to take advantage of the half-second delay by sliding the attack off his shield and then throwing them off with it.

The enemies that fight Lark probably often have their attack lowered. Unless there was a tremendous difference in speed, the average onlooker would probably never notice. Even if he defended against an attack that would otherwise blow away others, or even countered against such an attack, the viewers would simply think that Lark is just that good of a Paladin.

Lark always moves according to his own judgment, and it always goes well for him, so it’s unlikely that viewers would think that his success was the result of someone else’s help.

Because they don’t know how flexible and powerful Black Magic is.

Even I was able to pick up on this only after seeing the power of his magic first hand.

I was one of those people that mistakenly believed he was incompetent.

On the other hand, Alba’s Magic Sword’s movements are very flashy and look extremely powerful, but other adventurers have had little success with using the exact same sword, meaning that Alba’s enemies probably had Defense Down cast on them.

I also felt that the trajectory of his blade was guided towards the enemies as well.

That way, Alba could just enjoy himself swinging his Magic Sword everywhere and having it conveniently slicing apart every enemy within its range, to which the viewers would cheer in excitement.

Lily’s incredible accuracy was probably also influenced by Lem’s support.

And then I realized it.

Fenix was probably the only one that knew about Lem’s power.

It wasn’t because Lem was just his best friend.

He knew that Lem was an excellent Black Sorcerer, so that’s why he made a party with him.

Ashamed at my misunderstanding, I continued to watch their clear videos.

I see, the Flame Hero. He truly had the power needed to become the strongest of all humanity.

But I suspected that the reason why his popularity was able to rise so quickly was because of Lem’s support.

Plus, he was the first person to form a contract with the Fire Spirit. The previous person to do so no longer existed.

There was not a single person who knew of the past Fire Spirit’s contract’s strength.

And almost all of Fenix’s attacks within the Dungeons would take the enemies out in one hit.

Of course he’d get popular. Any enemy he touched would pretty much disappear.

I can understand why he’d have so much respect.

But was it really that simple?

Maybe it could be that Lem was using his Black Magic at full power against Fenix’s enemies in order to make his best friend seem like the strongest Hero in the world.

It’s not like anyone else could use the Fire Spirit to try to recreate the events, so there wasn’t any chance of anyone casting suspicion.

I was convinced that Lem was actively thinking about what parts of the broadcast would be edited and used for videos as he made his decisions.

I came to that conclusion after they entered the Demon King Castle and every little second of their activities became completely viewable.

Even when casting Black Magic on large groups of enemies, he’d focus on casting spells like Confusion or Speed Down on enemies that were far away from the party. It was mainly only the area near the party that ultimately got edited into the officially published videos, meaning that anything he did to enemies that didn’t reach the party yet essentially existed「outside the screen」.

The number of enemies, when the enemies would reach the party, what attacks would be used, how would the enemies be defeated.

He factored in all those elements into his calculations, never revealing that he had any part in it whatsoever no matter what, and also made sure to act in a way so that viewers wouldn’t find anything strange if they compared the visuals with clears from other parties.

Due to the necessity of thinking ahead and the constant activation, maintenance, and adjustment of Black Magic he has to do, his physical movements end up very minimal, and to the viewers, he seemed to just be standing there doing nothing.

He went through all that trouble because that’s just how bad it’d be for him if people found about his actual power.

On top of that, he never had the time to relax as he continued to guide his comrades to victory.

I was only able to recognize who he was because I happened to get my clothes ripped and get offered his robe. I would have never associated him with Black Magic.

It didn’t matter how much he was ridiculed.

He simply helped people, helped his comrades, helped his friends, and built his way to victory.

If he’s not a hero, then there’s not a single person in the world that deserves to be called a hero.

So, now knowing that Lem was an incredible Black Sorcerer, I took his advice and left my piece of crap boss, met her Majesty, became a member of the Big Four, and met Lem once again.

After learning that he had been chased out of his party, I was filled with both resentment and hope.

I don’t know why you were hiding your power.

But… I’m sure that us monsters will be able to properly recognize your ability.

No, perhaps I simply just wanted to see you again.

–

Milla’s fangs approached me.

「M-Milla…? You’re scaring me a little.」

「S-Stop teasing me already. Fine then, just the tips, okay? Just let me sink in the tips.」

Milla seemed to be growing out of this control at this point as she sank her fangs in my neck.

「Nom.」

I felt a prick as I felt my skin get penetrated. Her fangs dug into me. It only hurt for a second. She was supposed to be sucking, but it felt like she was injecting something into me.

And it wasn’t just the tips, they’re going completely inside me…!

「Mm…」

There was a toasty feel like I had entered a bath. I was surrounded by warmth as my fatigue melted away.

「*gulp* *gulp* *gulp*…」

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Something was coming out. It must be my blood. But this is bad. This feels, too, good. It must be a feeling instilled by vampires into their prey in order to make sure they don’t fight against the obviously unhealthy activity of having their blood sucked out of their body.

My vision started to flicker.

Yet my hand naturally reached out to her head and stroked it, even going as far as to further press it into my neck.

I was filled with a sense of adoration towards the woman in front of me. I was going crazy.

「I can’t, Lem. If I suck any more, I’m going to…」

She grabbed my hand and drew her face away from my neck.

A string of blood stretched out from between my neck and her fangs.

「Pwah… Oh gosh… it tastes too good… No… There’s… so much Magical Energy… It’s so thick… It’s hard to think this belongs to a human… It’s too amazing, Lem…」

Milla was desperately trying to retain her composure as her face filled with ecstasy.

But I was already at my limit.

「Milla!」

This time I was the one to push her down.

「Kyah!」

Her beautiful blonde hair sprawled out across the bedsheets. Her large chest bounced and jiggled.

Both her eyes and lips appeared wet.

「L-Lem, please listen to me. Vampires grant euphoric sensations to their victims as well as enhancing their emotions. The feelings you are holding towards me are a result of the fluid that secreted from my fangs, it’s all an illusion.」

I don’t care.

Right now, I’m just focused on this beautiful woman in front of me…

「If you want to do it, then I won’t mind. But this kind of thing is best done after getting to know each other well and growing to truly desire each other. I’d prefer to wait until that happens.」

Milla gazed at my eyes.

「But if you can’t hold yourself back, then you can devour my body just like how I devoured your blood. After all, I would have lost it if you hadn’t protected it back then.」

Her body was shaking just like how she was when she was attacked by those drunks two years ago.

A wave of composure washed over me as I returned to my senses.

I desperately tried to hold back the impulses that were trying to destroy my sense of reason.

I was able to withstand the hellish training Master forced on me, controlling my lust shouldn’t be any problem at all!

I don’t know how long it took.

I eventually got off her body and dropped onto the bed alongside her.

「Sorry… Milla.」

「No, I should have told you about it beforehand. I’m sorry for acting so selfish.」

「No, I was the one who said you could suck on me.」

「But that would mean I’d be the only one to get anything out of this.」

Well, I suppose so.

We looked at each other on the bed.

「Should… I give you some space?」

She was close enough that she’d be able to touch me if she stretched out her hand.

「…No, I’d like to stay like this for a little longer, if you wouldn’t mind.」

Milla made a surprised face that naturally turned into a bashful one.

「Are you sure?」

「Since I attacked you, feel free to enact your punishment on me. Oh, but… it’d be bad if I wouldn’t be able to use it anymore.」

「Ufufu, I wouldn’t do that. It’d be just as much of a problem for me if that happened, after all.」

「…Milla.」

「Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.」

I was already trying my hardest to hold myself back.

Afterward, we started chatting about what’s happened in our lives over the past two years.

Milla cherished that experience she had two years ago, became my fan, and got scouted by the Demon King Army.

It was about time for the inn to close.

「By the way, Lem.」

「Yeah?」

「People who sleep next to each other like this without engaging in sexual activities are called sleeping friends, apparently.」

「What’s that supposed to mean?」

「It’s exactly what it sounds like. There isn’t any sex involved, but the relationship is still at least above the level of friends.」

「Oh, really?」

「I should be your sleeping friend.」

「Sounds good.」

I guess we are doing something like that right now.

「Personally, I’d want to change the ‘sleeping’ part to ‘girl’, but I think it’s still a bit too early for me to Job Change into a lover.」

Milla spoke while poking at my chest.

「Feel free to change our relationship once you feel like it’s the right time.」

「So it’s up to me?」

「Men are supposed to be the ones deciding this sort of thing, after all.」

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「I thought you didn’t like having things determined by gender.」

「I don’t, but you are an exception. You’re special. Is that alright with you?」

That was unfair.

I responded with the obvious answer.

「Of course it is.」