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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Diana's Curse
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“A dildo... huh?”
As I mumbled in confusion, the woman waved her hand, her face devoid of expression.
“If you’re too embarrassed to say it, then don’t. It happens. As a woman myself, I understand Diana.”
What on earth was she talking about?
“Ms. Diana and I aren’t involved in that kind of relationship.”
I had no physical relationship with Diana.
Diana? Of course, she's alluring. Is she just alluring? She's unbelievably alluring.
Honestly, I still often recall the time I firmly gripped Diana's breasts.
The sensation of her large breasts, soft, chewy, and squishy, yielding to my touch and wrinkling her grey dress, and the titillating moans that escaped her lips every time I kneaded them, often echoed in my ears.
Diana’s dildo? Honestly, I’d welcome it. If I could, I’d want to be it.
‘But I can’t.’
I need to look to the future. I have the firm goal of finding my sister. Achieving that goal requires physical accomplishment as merely a minimum condition.
If I get swallowed by lust while floundering as a low-level explorer, I'll never progress further.
If, by some remote chance, I were to get involved with Diana...
From morning till night, I’d be stretching with Diana next to me in bed, chatting idly, enjoying delicious meals, running the inn together, going on fun dates occasionally, and making love until we passed out every night, having enough kids to form a soccer team.
That kind of life.
It would certainly be good. It would certainly be happy.
But every night, during my post-nut clarity, I would surely yearn for my sister.
And I would regret it.
Regret not searching harder for my sister back then.
At the very least, I didn't want to regret it when that time came.
A question appeared on the woman's face at my reply.
“Hmm...? Is that so? Considering Diana’s curse, I naturally assumed you took her in to use as a masturbation dildo. I guess I was mistaken.”
This person has absolutely no filter. Anyway.
‘Diana’s curse?’
That was a very intriguing detail.
“Surely not. Do you know about the curse Ms. Diana is under?”
Although I had a Status Window, there was a filtering effect due to the level difference, so I didn't know the specifics of Diana's Blessings and Curses. I only roughly knew the number.
The woman nodded indifferently, then asked me in return.
“You don’t know? What kind of curse Diana is under?”
“No, I don’t.”
Only then did the woman seem to understand. She remained expressionless, but a subtle change was perceptible.
“Indeed. It wouldn’t make sense for a man, let alone a woman, to stay by Diana’s side knowing the curse she carries.”
At this point, I started to wonder.
What kind of curse did Diana have that made her immediately mistake me for a sex dildo? And what was that reaction about?
“Are you... Ms. Diana’s friend?”
“More than a friend... I was a former party member. Until Diana got cursed and retired because of the child.”
The woman before me was none other than Diana’s former party member. Someone who knew Diana from her explorer days!
But damn it, that wasn't what was important right now.
“W-wait a minute. A child? A baby that goes ‘goo-goo ga-ga’?”
“Yes.”
“...Ms. Diana has a child?!”
Diana was a married woman? There was no wedding ring on Diana's hand, or anything of the sort?
However, the immense allure Diana exuded from her entire being far surpassed that of an attractive older woman with a child, so it was strangely understandable.
My head reeled from the immense shock.
“Ah. I seem to have misunderstood something. It’s not a child Diana gave birth to. Diana adopted and raised the daughter of a deceased party member.”
Fortunately, the woman immediately corrected my misunderstanding.
Diana's party member, who had died for some reason.
Diana adopted her party member’s daughter, who had suddenly lost both parents, and raised her as her foster daughter.
‘So, a foster mother and foster daughter relationship, then.’
Indeed, a moment's thought revealed it made no sense.
Just a few months ago, Zirnier Basil had told me Diana was a virgin who hadn’t even held a man’s hand.
‘Phew.’
A sigh of relief escaped me unconsciously.
I wasn’t sure exactly why I felt this way, but a deep sense of relief welled up inside me.
At the same time, Diana seemed even more remarkable.
Even if a party member died, adopting and raising their child was not something one could do with ordinary resolve.
From my perspective, having had two parties disband, it seemed almost impossible.
‘If Diana were my mommy.’
Abandoned by my parents and raised in an orphanage with my sister, I had always fantasized about a parental figure.
If a woman like Diana had become my only mommy and paved the way for me, would I have lived a more proper life?
Of course, it was just a meaningless delusion.
“I haven’t seen her since she was sent to the academy, so I don’t know what their relationship is like now, but anyway. Let’s skip that and get to the main point.”
Diana’s adopted daughter seemed to be at the academy now. Was that why I hadn't seen her while staying at the inn?
I grew more curious about Diana’s backstory, but the woman didn’t seem interested at all.
“Do you not want to receive my teachings?”
And she proposed again.
“I can make you hard, firm, and big.”
My gaze instantly fell on the woman’s body.
‘...Indeed...’
If I let my guard down, I definitely felt like I'd become hard, firm, and big.
But setting that aside, I looked at the woman with a skeptical expression.
Still expressionless. It didn’t seem like she was trying to make a lewd joke.
...No, honestly, I couldn’t tell. Her “You’re a dildo” declaration was too shocking.
“What kind of teachings... are you referring to with ‘those teachings’...?”
So I just asked honestly. Was my mind being clouded by evil due to the continuous shocking remarks and wording?
Somehow, it sounded like she was offering to teach me about sex, which made me utterly confused about what she intended to teach.
“What else would a warrior teach another warrior besides combat? I will teach you how to fight.”
“Why are you suddenly offering to teach me such a thing?”
“Because you sensed me.”
The woman pointed a finger at me.
“Earlier. You got spooked, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t get spooked.”
When I first met the woman’s gaze, I felt something instinctive. But it wasn’t getting spooked.
I was just surprised by the sudden sensation of almost dying.
Rather than getting spooked, ‘twitching slightly’ would be a more accurate description.
“Don’t lie. I saw you flinch and draw your axe.”
“...”
The woman let out a rare chuckle. Her lips, which had been in a perpetually expressionless state, curved up ever so slightly. Seeing her tail swish, she truly seemed to be laughing.
Conversely, my face soured. I had never once in my life been teased for getting spooked by anyone.
This humiliation, I desperately wanted to give her a proper lesson for it someday.
Though at the moment, I couldn't even contemplate it, and even the thought was overwhelming.
“Don’t be ashamed. Rather, you should be proud. It’s quite remarkable that you could even sense my aura at your level.”
I somewhat understood what the woman was saying.
Just as a third-rate swordsman cannot gain enlightenment from observing a Sword Master’s sword path.
If the difference in levels is too overwhelming, one paradoxically doesn’t feel much danger.
‘But I sensed some unknown murderous intent the woman radiated and reacted immediately.’
That must have piqued her interest.
Meow—
A cat’s meow came from somewhere. A black cat had appeared and was now perched on the woman’s shoulder, having climbed her firm body.
*Rustle.*
The woman naturally unfolded the paper the cat was holding, then her face, which had shown a slight smile during our conversation, crumpled. Her black tail, swishing like a whip, slapped the floor.
“Tsk. I have to go. I was going to have a beer.”
Her usual expression tightened even further.
Her face was calm, but I got the feeling of an office worker who had been called back to work because a problem had arisen during their commute home.
Considering the woman’s level, she might not just be an office worker, but an executive.
‘No, she might be even more than that.’
“Disciple. You have talent. Seize opportunities when they arise. Tomorrow morning, find Edelbert Adeline at the Explorer’s Guild. Everyone will know the name.”
“No, I haven’t even said yes yet... but...”
The woman didn’t even listen to the end of my sentence, disappearing instantly at a speed I couldn’t perceive. She was a truly self-centered woman.
Her name was Edelbert. Her surname, Adeline, was the same as Seraph Adeline.
She had a tail but no cat ears, making it impossible to tell if she was a Beastkin or human.
A peculiar powerhouse who declared me her disciple and then left after saying only what she wanted to say.
And a woman who used blunt wording, as if she had no internal filter whatsoever.
“Before I go.”
Such an Edelbert reappeared before me. As if she had forgotten something important to say.
Edelbert pointed a finger at the paper stuck on the door of the Cozy Winter Night inn.
“If you wish to preserve your chastity as a man, I recommend not entering that place for the next three days.”
“Huh?”
But I work here.
The paper had a notice saying the inn would be closed for a week. Looking at the date, it seemed to have been written four days ago. So, three days remained.
Aside from that, Edelbert’s words were quite contradictory.
In this perilous Labyrinth city, to protect one's chastity, shouldn't one *stay* at Diana's inn?
“As I thought, you don’t know. Listen carefully, Disciple.”
Edelbert, looking at my dumbfounded expression, continued in her characteristic emotionless tone.
“Diana, with her curse running wild, is the most dangerous female in this Labyrinth city.”
***
— If you voluntarily choose to live as Diana’s biological dildo for the rest of your life, I won’t stop you.
Edelbert left after saying that.
I thought for a moment about Edelbert’s offer to become her disciple. After making my decision, I returned to reality.
And I looked at the firmly closed Cozy Winter Night inn.
Perhaps because she had unnecessarily scared me, Diana's inn, which always wrapped me in comfort, now felt like the final dungeon where a final boss slumbered.
‘Should I go in, or not?’
I needlessly opened my Status Window to check the new Blessing I had acquired.
After a moment of deliberation, I made my decision.
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