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Volume 1 Chapter 9-1: Rank Up

I felt warmth on my cheek as my eyes slowly opened. I saw an unfamiliar ceiling above me as confusion assaulted my mind…however I soon recalled that I was no longer on Earth. At the same time my experiences over the past few days flew through my mind.

Plains, battle with bandits, meeting Sistina, first meal, contract, arriving in town, bathing area, and…Hotaru-san.

Ahhh…I’ll be living in this world. It’d be nice to live….Live with Hotaru-san and Sistina til I die.

「Good morning Soujirou.」
「Un, good morning Hotaru-san.」

A naked Hotaru-san laid her head on my chest as she greeted me.

My head felt strangely fresh and clear. It felt like something lurking within my chest had been released. I felt light. Like I’d been exorcised. Was losing my virginity truly that much of a landmark? If so then I had built a great pyramid.

「Good morning Master.」
「Un, good morning Sistina.」

Sistina was wearing underwear, but just like Hotaru-san she had placed her head on the opposite side of my chest.

I could feel their warmth and softness on each side of me and I felt as though I had ascended.

However, at this point I knew there was something I must do.

「Hotaru-san…I’m sorry!」

I could feel my face warp full of shame but Hotaru-san just giggle and snickered.

「Why say that this late? We both consented.」
「That may be true, but I wanted to make our first time together something nicer and more…」
「No, for me…that was a good experience. I could feel your everything. It’d be nice if you could give Sistina that same feeling tonight.」

I was taken aback as I looked over at Sistina. She blushed bright red and hid her face, but nodded slightly.

Ku….rather than tonight, right now is fine too!! My sword was already raised and ready for battle.

「Well…I know you’re ready but we should leave it as this Soujirou ja. We need to make preparations to go to the tower tomorrow.」
「Okay…」

I don’t know whether it was because my libido had been sated somewhat or that Hotaru-san had called out at the right moment, but I cooled down pretty quick. Hotaru-san got up from the bed and changed her sheath into her kimono which wrapped around her body. At this point she was a champion of quick changes.

「Since Master looked like you were sleeping so nicely and peacefully…」
「The sun is pretty high up right now. You have to get up quick ja.」

I slept that much? Certainly the sunlight was quite bright when I looked at the window.

「Master, here are your clothes.」

At some point Sistina had gotten dressed and she offered me my clothes neatly folded.

「Thank you.」

If they were going this far to get me ready then I couldn’t escape it. I gave up on lazing about and got out of bed.

I put underwear (with a string tied around it instead of elastic) on top of my newly adult “son”, and put on the rest of my clothes before attaching Sakura to my waist.

Of course I didn’t forget to put on Sistina’s home made ankle weights.

「Thanks for waiting. Let’s set off.」

I took the two of them and left the inn before asking Sistina where she wanted to head first.

「I would like to visit the temple in this town and dispatch the proceeds from selling the carriage.」
「I see. There’s quite a lot of money…will it be okay?」

If we entrusted the money to someone else there was a chance they could run away with it. It was even easier to do in this town without a proper police force or any method of forensic investigation. Even if you offered a reward for their capture or even murdered them, the money would not return to you.

「Fufufu, it’s at times like this that an Acolyte’s 『contract』 shows its worth.」

「Well then will that be acceptable?」
「Indeed Acolyte-sama. I will take responsibility and see this contract fulfilled.」
「Please show proof of contract.」
「Yes」
「All seems to be in order. Well then…『In the name of Acolyte Sistina this contract is enacted. Upon completion of the contract blessings shall be received, upon breaking of the contract punishment shall be given』」
「Well then, I shall leave it to you.」

Upon reaching the temple Sistina had met with the Head Acolyte so that they could contact her home temple and let them know that she had signed a contract as well as to entrust the delivery to others.

The Head Acolyte had accepted this and had asked around the temple for Warrior Priests and merchants who were around if they would accept the contract. As a result two warrior priests and one merchant volunteered for the contract and Sistina reviewed them before choosing one of the warrior priests.

The temple trained Warrior Priests in both priestly duties as well as combat. Once their training reached a certain point they could accept external requests.

Apparently delivery requests like the one we were entrusting were quite popular because it allowed the priests to travel freely and experience combat and different types of danger to train themselves in body and mind.

Since the temple in town wasn’t very large there were only two who volunteered, but at large temples it wouldn’t be strange to see almost all of them volunteer. This request was even better because it was from an Acolyte with a 『contract』 attached.

That was because when entering an Acolyte’s 『contract』, the one who accepted would receive a continuous blessing during the contract duration which would increase the success rate of requests. However, if the contract was broken a penalty would be given.

If the contract was broken it was impossible to avoid the punishment. No matter what you did or where you went it would follow.

The penalties varied based on the content of the contracts, but the heaviest penalty could even result in death.

The destination of this request was in the opposite direction of the sign I had spotted at the start. It was in the direction of the Tower of Zachil and around 10 days away at normal speed.

I paid 1500 mars for 12 days of travel expenses. Then I paid a fee of 20,000 mars as prepayment. The daily fees were in slight excess.

It was a system where you would get paid better if you completed the request more quickly. However, if you took longer you would still receive the normal compensation. In the first place 500 mars was enough to stay at a pretty good inn, so this payment would be more than enough for just food and transport. If he did well enough he’d be able to keep a good amount of the money for himself.

The payment hadn’t come from the sale of the carriage, but instead came from our personal funds. Sistina resisted and said 「That’s not right!」 but Hotaru-san and I ignored that and did so anyways.

It wasn’t as if we had done anything reprehensible, but the result of the matter was that we had stolen Sistina away before she got to the territory. At least I wanted to take a bit of responsibility for that. It was simply self-satisfaction but Hotaru-san had laughed and said 「as it should be」 so I don’t think I was mistaken.

「Thank you very much Soujirou-sama. With this the Lord and Lady’s descendants should receive notice of their fate and the money.」

Sistina said as she bowed and let out a relieved sigh.

I’m sure the child of the dead Lord would be sad and hurt.

They might not be able to easily accept the money either. On the contrary they may resent Sistina as she was the only one to survive. However, I felt like Sistina understood all that.

But even so she wanted to treat the ones left behind properly. She wanted to let them have the chance to face their feelings and to give them the money they needed for sure even a little more if she could.

If possible I hoped that for Sistina and the ones left behind that things turned for the better.