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Volume 9 Chapter 4 Part 4

Because today is the day the apron for Vesta will be ready, I finished the exploration early in order to go and get it.

After receiving the apron from the clothing store in the Imperial City, I return home. From today onward, Vesta will be wearing apron while helping with cooking.

「Vesta, can you make breadcrumbs?」

「Breadcrumbs?」

「If you don’t know how to make them, you can just ask others how to make them.」

「Understood.」

I give instructions to Vesta who has put the apron on. Her chest, covered by apron, looks soft and mellow.

The large bulge on the apron makes it even more alluring. The intense impact softens, creating a soothing ambiance similar to that of the garden of Eden. The fascinating softness and gentle suppleness are showing from her whole body.

However, because it is big, the frills look a little dull. Moderate is the best.

As for the breadcrumbs, since Roxanne has given the nod, it seems to be okay.

After giving instructions, I head to the bathroom to prepare the bath. Midway through it, when I went to recover my MP, the breadcrumbs were ready, and Vesta was helping with cutting vegetables.

「Thank you. Looks like it is done.」

「Yes, I will be done with this one as well.」

It seems she is useful in very many ways.

「Vesta, can you make boiled egg?」

「I would be able to, I think.」

「Then boil one until it hardens, please.」

「Understood.」

I ask more of Vesta.
「Roxanne, can you help me with the Labyrinth as usual?」

「Yes, of course.」

I move to the Labyrinth with Roxanne. When I finished recovering MP, Vesta was boiling the egg.

「Oh, you are doing great. After that, use this boiled water to scald the vegetables.」

She scalds the vegetables lightly, after which, I put the remainder in the bath.

「Master, the boiled egg.」

When I was done preparing the bath, the egg was boiled.

「Thank you. Then squeeze this fellow.」

「Okay.」

I have her squeeze a lemon.

I chop the scalded vegetables finely, mix it with mayonnaise, mashed boiled egg and lemon juice; sprinkle salt and pepper on it. Tartar sauce is ready.

I receive the frying pan from Miria who had already mixed breadcrumbs and a Whole Fish. I add tartar sauce to it.

I should have made Miria cut the fish. It would have been better that way.

「Delicious, desu.」

「This is amazing. It is the first time I ate something like this.」

Miria likes it, unsurprisingly. Vesta seems to have favorable opinion, too. I am glad that they like it so much. Since fried food seems to go well, should I go with pork cutlet tomorrow?

After the meal, everyone enters the bathroom. I first wash the four of them with soap. Time-wise, it’s inefficient to wash the bodies of the four of them, but I don’t feel like waiving my rights.

Isn’t it my enjoyment once every ten days the most important thing here? Yes, I shouldn’t confuse means with purpose. I don’t wash their bodies in order to live, I live in order to wash their bodies!

This moment is the joy of my life. This moment is my life itself!
I took plenty of time and cleaned their bodies thoroughly. I have no shred of regret in my life about this. After having my body washed by all of them in return, we enter the bath.

It gets slightly cramped when everyone enters, but there is no problem with that

「Even though the temperature of hot water has gone down a bit, it is still good.」

「Yes, it is very comfortable.」

Roxanne sticks close to me since the bath is cramped. I can touch her smooth skin while in hot water. There is no problem with that. No problem at all.

「Miria, are you feeling comfortable, too?」

「Yes, desu.」

Miria, as usual, is floating near my feet. Vesta also soaks in hot water, lying close by. Since she is as big as she is, she naturally has a big presence even in the bathroom.

Huh? What is that thing floating? I had a feeling that something was floating, but I shouldn’t be worried about it. What I should be worried about though, is Sherry who is sitting across from me.

Everything should be taken in moderation. Moderate is the best there is.

I have them wear the aprons again after the bath. This time, it’s the second, silk apron which I had tailored for them. When Vesta wears it, the contrast looks similar to that between the top and the foot of a mountain. Her open range defense line tempts me in.

Th-This is a trap. It is a trap to capture me, just like hunters do to the birds when they apply birdlime to the trees.

However, even if you know it is a trap, sometimes in life there are situations where you know that you simply have to go.

When is a good time to go? Now is a good time to go.

I slide my hand in from the unprotected gap. The apron is supposed to be used exactly like this. My hand is caught between the smooth, silky, satin cloth and Vesta’s smooth, moist skin. My fingers lightly catch soft balls of meat. Soft and mellow. I bury my fingers in without using any resistance. Inside is rich and soft matter.

My hands are being buried between love and luxury. From between my fingers, flesh overflows. While I was having pleasurable time from the soft feeling in my hands, the flesh was gently overflowing from between my fingers.

Wonderful. Earlier, I said moderate is the best. That was a lie.

Going to the edge is life. Going to the edge is pleasure. You don’t die twice or thrice, you die once (by Sei Shonagon). Even though I discovered a truth of life, I went exploring normally the next day.

As for 「Increase Critical Rate」, I will probably stop after increasing it once. If I’m going to have any extra Bonus Points, then I am going to use them to test out the variety of things I want to try out.

Thanks to petrifaction and critical hits, the battles became easier. Especially thanks to petrifaction. If it procs, the battle is like half done already. Still, I must not drop my guard.

When the group of monsters, which originally has only a few of them, loses one additional monster because of petrification, it greatly affects their ability to fight, and that can heavily affect the battles, tipping their scales even more in our favor than ever before. Adding critical hits into the mix will be like having lowly infantrymen fight an Ogre with an iron club.

Roxanne, Miria and the others are coordinating well. Once Miria takes care of her monster, she moves to help the others out. However, petrifaction does not proc as often as I would have liked it to. Its proc rate is even less than the critical rate of my magic attacks after activating 「Increase Critical Rate」.

There is still some hope for when Miria reaches Warrior Lv.30 and acquires Assassin, but before then, that’s what we have to deal with. Both of them depend on luck, and that is the only problem.

When five monsters, which is the maximum number of monsters per group on this floor, appear, what will happen if neither petrifaction nor critical hits proc?

While it may not be problem here on the twentieth floor, if I depend on petrifaction or critical hits after we’re going to move past the twentieth floor, I may be in a pinch if they don’t proc.

With that thought, I remove 「Increase Critical Rate 5%」. Since it uses Bonus Points, it means that 「Increase Critical Rate」 cannot be in use all the time if I want to use other Skills. I can afford to increase it further, but it will be better for the gap to be smaller when I remove it.

「Master, there is a message from Mr. Luke. He seems to have successfully acquired a Kobold Skill Crystal.」

「Kobold Skill Crystal, you say? In that case, going tomorrow should probably be fine.」

When we returned home after the exploration in the evening, there was a note from Luke the Broker stuck to our door.

For next fusion, maybe I should wait before I acquire another Goat Skill Crystal? Then again, the sooner his bid succeeds, the better. It is not like battles are getting particularly harder, though.

Since I will not be able to use the Kobold Skill Crystal immediately, I will go get it tomorrow morning.