CH 110

“I’m sorry. There is a lot for me to explain. Could you read this first? It’s the memo I received with the ‘item’ written on it.

“……a top from a C-rank or higher female adventurer?”

Shirley read what was written down aloud. A top…..in other words, any kind of clothing you would wear on your upper body. So long as it’s from a C-rank or higher adventurer, a jacket, armor, or anything of the like would work. Even a gauntlet should qualify.

There’s nothing weird about it. Shirley stroked her chest in relief knowing that at the very least there wasn’t anything wrong with the people in management, but she quickly then crossed her arms to hide her chest after remembering what was being asked of her.

“So how does that translate to you needing my underwear?”

“No, well I……I only just moved to this town recently, so you are the only high-ranking female adventurer I know.”

Female adventurers are a rarity. Of the hundreds of guilds across the continent……the number of women belonging to each one could usually be counted on one hand. That number would naturally fall even more if you were to only count those who had reached C-rank. It would only be natural then that somebody who just moved to the city wouldn’t know the few other women who belonged to the guild yet.

“If worst comes to worst I could check in the audience…….but if there aren’t any in the red team, I would have to either resort to asking someone on the white team or venture back into the city. Either way, I thought it would be fastest to speak with you and try to figure something out.”

It’s the type of rational judgement you would expect from an adventurer. Rather than hitting up random strangers, Shirley probably would have done the same thing in her position. However by being on the side being asked, she realized that this kind of explanation just wasn’t good enough.

“…….would a hair accessory be okay?”

“I already asked, and apparently accessories don’t count as clothes. Armor is the minimum standard they would be willing to go with.”

“……I could prepare something suitable and just not tell anyone about it.”

“All the judges are church officials who can use 《Sense Lie》 to prevent any form of cheating. By the way, my judge this time is a nun. They probably planned this in advance since women’s clothing is the theme.”

“C-Can’t you see what I’m wearing right now……!? The borrowed items won’t be returned until after the event right? I’m already wearing this revealing outfit that shows off my stomach and shoulders, so if you take away my underwear too…….!”

Shirley is also a runner for this event. As such, they’re going to shake. And the unspoken truth here is, without underwear, the shaking is only going to get more violent. In the absolute worst case scenario, the short hemmed cheerleader outfit could get rolled up. This would be a no questions asked violation of public order and common decency. The school wouldn’t remain silent, and it would be mentally crippling.

The thing that stings here the most is that this whole situation was built off of a mountain of coincidences, and even if you were to say a mistake was made, there wouldn’t be anything to be done about it. The people with management could not have expected this to happen. Despite there being so many adventurers gathered, Shirley’s underwear was the fastest solution, and looking to borrow something from the other adventurers would take an unknown amount of time.

(This, all of this, is all because Canary had to go out of her way and……!)

“W-What? What are you glaring at me for?”

If Shirley had been wearing her usual adventuring gear, she could have easily lent out something light for the race. She wasn’t wearing anything ‘unneeded’ as she was now.

In addition, all the female adventurers who were C-rank or higher that Shirley knew were all part of the white team. It’s only natural that they would refuse if someone from the red team asked to borrow anything. Rather, they wouldn’t be much of an adventurer if they purposefully made their battle even harder.

“As I said, if it is impossible for you Shirley, I can always try hitting up others……but truthfully, it will be difficult for us to win in that case.”

The female adventurer glanced towards the bleachers, the management tent, and the outside white team members who were cheering their runners on. Since it is impossible to know when the other runner would return, taking time to randomly search for their own item would be risky.

(If I say no and we lose here, the hard-fought victory my daughters just earned would go to waste…….!)

The red team lost the first event yet won the second event. It was impossible for Shirley to accept that they would fail to earn a consecutive victory and gain an advantage simply because she was feeling embarrassed. She would not accept her daughters looking downcast because of her.

“Tch, oh no! The white team’s runner is back! I’ll go look elsewhere……!”

“Wait.”

Shame or victory. Shirley carefully weighed her two options, and choosing to forsake the former, she grabbed the female adventurer’s shoulder before she could leave the field. Her face dyed a deep red and with tears in her eyes, she turned her back towards the crowd…….and allowed a jet-black curtain to wrap around her.

《Dark Curtain》 is a spell capable of completely blocking out all light and create an absolute darkness. Inside such a black space where nobody would be able to see without a type of ocular magic like Shirley’s, she reached around her back and unfastened her bra.

“~~~~~~~~~!”

She was a hair’s breadth away from dying of embarrassment. She may have created a space where nobody around her could see anything, but that didn’t change the fact that she was currently taking off her underwear in front of a large crowd.

(Why……I’m already thirty, so why does stuff like this keep…….!)

If there was someone out there with the ability to control fate, Shirley would curse them to death before pulling out her swords and seriously cutting them to death.

But it was all for her daughters’ sake. What is a parent if not someone willing to eliminate all life’s difficulties for their children? Shirley pulled her bra out from underneath her clothes, her bountiful breasts now shaking with renewed freedom as she did. After releasing her spell, she then pressed them against the female adventurer so that no prying eyes from the curious onlookers would be able to see.

“Ready? Promise me……make sure absolutely no one sees……!”

“I-I got it! Thank you……s-so big!? What’s with these!? They’re huge!”

“If you’re ready then hurry up and go…..! We cannot lose after this……!”

Momentarily preoccupied with her surprise over the size of Shirley’s bra, the female adventurer soon sprinted back to the judge while using her arms to hide what she was carrying. At the very least, the gap made between the first set of runners should be filled with this.

“The white team is carrying an ax…….it looks like their item was a magic weapon! As for the white team……I can’t tell what they have borrowed. The runner appears to be hiding the item with their arms.”

“What the hell did she borrow from you?”

“…….I-I refuse to say”

Even Canary was a bit surprised to see Shirley with such a bright red face, her arms crossed in front of her chest with all her might.

“However it is surprising. I did not think you would participate in this event.”

“How so?”

“Because……I did not think you would wish to compete in such a short skirt. If you were to mess up running, somebody would get a look at your panties?”

At that moment, all the blood drained from Shirley’s face. The thought of dedicating this victory to her daughters had so completely filled her mind that she barely spent any extra time thinking about her clothes. If nothing was done, she would be forced to run while worrying about both her chest and skirt.

“…….I’ve been thinking this for a long time now, but you realize you turn stupid as soon as your daughters get involved right?”

“W-What’s with that……!? U-Underwear isn’t something you’re supposed to show off to others to begin with……!?”

“Fwahahahahahaha! You may not understand this what with those aristocratic values so deeply ingrained in your head, but the commoners’ way of thinking has already been changed and molded by the clothing I developed! You have still yet to grasp the purpose and design of show-off underwear!”

As the two continued their discussion, the third runners completed their leg of the race, and the fourth runners were currently heading towards them at a breakneck speed. The difference between the white and red teams was almost negligible at this point. 

It was all down to the final leg of the race……but Shirley wasn’t ready at all. She really wanted the runner to just not come……but it was already impossible for her to escape this situation.

“And so, the red and white batons are finally handed over to the anchors……and they disappeared!? The two final runners have completely vanished…..or not! They are heading to the final judges at a speed that far exceeds that of the previous runners!”

A level of speed that would make someone think a person had vanished. A speed where even sound was left in the dust. Shirley rushed forward so fast that not even video magic would be able to capture her form. When she realized that her only available option was to move fast enough that nobody would be able to record her, she tore apart her muscles and cracked the bones in her legs to run at a speed beyond her limits.

“Ha! This is rather difficult to do! It would be impossible for me to reach these speeds just by running!”

Shirley wouldn’t be able to erase the pressure of Canary matching her tit for tat forever though. The guildmaster had unleashed an explosive gale out her back to propel herself forward at a speed comparative to Shirley’s top speed while using physical enhancement magic……no, she was even faster.

(Slightly……Canary is just a bit faster…….!)

Shirley’s sword was an imitation blade meant to be used for this event. Although she was able to almost instantaneously shred and dismantle any wall as she came upon it, Canary was capable of hollowing out the wall as she approached thus allowing her to pass right through. The time difference required to break through the obstacles was miniscule, but it would inevitably cause the distance between the two to widen. 

“HAHaHaHaHaHa!! You may address the current me as Jet Canary!! Nobody can best me when it comes to linear movement speed!!”

“Bit by bit she……!”

A flash of doubt sprouted from the depths of Shirley’s mind…….until.

“Mama!”

“Good luck Mom…….!”

Receiving her daughters’ cheers, Shirley went even further beyond her limits. Momentarily disappearing from view, she then rematerialized forward next to Canary.

“HAAaaaaH!? You could do such a thing!?”

“So long as I’m not caught by detection magic, I can.”

It was space magic that would normally have violated the rules. A dimensional leap that utilized only the strength of her legs and her own running style. Shirley had just learned the technique then and there, and thanks to that, she was able to receive the note from the judge at the same time as Canary. She then quickly read the contents.

(My item is……a mid-guard adventurer under the age of 20!)

Luckily, Shirley already knew of one person who met that description. He was to her immediate right in the nearest bleacher. Drawing a sharp angle without killing any of her momentum, Shirley powered through straight towards her target.

“Kyle, could you please come with me?”

“Boy, come with me.”

The young boy was shocked……..but at the same time Kyle heard Shirley’s voice in one ear, he heard another voice in the other. Slowly turning his head like an old, rusty wheel, Kyle blankly stared at Canary next to him.

“Just what……do you think you are doing? This boy will be returning with me to the judges.”

“That is what I should be saying. I grabbed his hand first, so I should be given priority here?”

“…….eh? Eh? Um, you two?”

Canary must’ve been given an ‘item’ that Kyle met the criteria for as well. The two women glared at each other while Kyle helplessly sat there unable to grasp the current situation…….until the inevitable tug-of-war began.

“Let go Canary……! Kyle will be coming with me…….!”

“KuHaHaHaHaHa! You must still be half asleep! It has already been decided that this boy will be accompanying me!”

“Wai-!? B-Both of you!? I-It huuuuuuuuuurts!? M-My arms! My arms are being torn off!!”

From one point of view, it was a classic scene of a beautiful woman and a beautiful girl competing against each other over a single lucky man. Reality was unfortunately much more cruel, and the boy’s arms were being used like rope as the two women used all their strength to try and pull him to their side. Instead of envy, all the men nearby were offering the boy their silent prayers.

(Ku…..I can’t break away.)

Her opponent was known as a witch who was capable of manipulating a countless number of spells. It would be disadvantageous to continue on with a tug-of-war as she was. Deciding on that fact, Shirley changed tactics to try and forcibly take Kyle and drag Canary along with him. Unfortunately Canary seemed to have the same idea, and so after using the explosive wind to once again propel herself forward, she ran parallel to Shirley. They would both return to the judges just like that.

“UWAAaaaaaaaa!! S-Somebody save meeeeeeeeeee!!”

“Tch! So in the end you decide to simply imitate me…….! Absolutely abominable! Abominable, you doting parent!”

“Don’t throw around any strange accusations…….. You’re the one copying me……..!”

As the two women exploded forward while maintaining their quarrel, Kyle could only flow in the wind behind them like some pitiful cape caught in the wind. Either not knowing or not caring about the boy’s suffering, the women shouted towards the judges while they were still tens of meters away.

“I have properly brought my ‘item’…….”

“Check my item at once!!”

“《A-Authenticiy・Detection!!》

The judge decided to immediately use magic to check their ‘item’ rather than saying anything else.

“B-Both of you have successfully completed your task――――”

“UWAAaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Hold on!?”

The moment they received word from the judge, Shirley and Canary immediately changed directions without bothering to slow down for anything. They didn’t even waste any time handing over their ‘item’ to the judge, so they continued blasting through to the finish line while still dragging Kyle behind them. Already the remaining obstacles were reduced to rubble, and so it became a race of pure speed between the world’s strongest monsters. Three meters, two meters, one meter, the two continued to single-mindedly run neck and neck next to each other towards the finish line, but right before crossing, their feet became entangled with one another.

(This is bad…….!)

Even though neither of them could afford it, they both blundered. It was already inevitable that they would both fall across the goal as they were, but using the last vestige of reason Shirley still had remaining in her brain, she managed to protect Kyle who had been forcibly dragged this far along by yanking on his arm.

“I-It’s over! Our runners were moving too fast, so I couldn’t see what happened however they have both crossed the finish line! The dust made it impossible to tell who came in first, but…….the ref’s decision is!?”

Shirley and Canary had slid through the dirt and across the finish line. After the dust had settled, there was Kyle, unconscious and sandwiched between Shirley and Canary’s chests. 

It would be a dream for any man to sleep between the chests of two beautiful women with differing charms……however did Kyle faint from happiness or fear? With little to go on besides his rolled back eyes and bloody nose, it was impossible to tell.

“Wh-…….Wh-Wha…….!?”

“Eei! What are you getting embarrassed like a young virgin maiden for!? More importantly, which of us passed the goal first? Although obviously it was me!”

A man’s face was pressed into her chest while she was wearing this light clothing and no underwear. Shirley’s face turned a bright red but had otherwise stopped working, yet Canary completely ignored her in favor of rushing the referee.

It was an exceedingly close battle. In addition to that, the final moment was clouded because of a cloud of dust. Several executives gathered together to discuss the results…….and

“We have our ruling, and it has been decided that our third event will be declared a draw! The points will be cut in half and distributed to the red and white teams evenly!”

A tremendous round of cheering rose up from the spectators. In a certain sense, what had just unfolded was a dramatic finish to a heated contest between the two strongest members of the Adventurer’s Guild (although the contest itself was a bit of a farce). For the people involved however, the results were far from satisfying.

“W-What is thaaaaaaaaaaaat!?”

“All that embarrassment for a simple draw…….a draw……..”

The unprecedented first adventurer event born from a grandmother’s loving heart came to a flashy conclusion, but even more chaos was yet to come.