Bonus Short Stories

Little Michiru Wants To Be An Adventurer

Suilla and Michiru were holding a family meeting in the church. The topic of discussion was Michiru’s desire to be an adventurer.

“Listen well, Michiru. You say you want to be an adventurer, but it’s a life filled with hardships. No child should suffer what adventurers suffer through.”

“Sister! I have a question!”

“Yes, Michiru?”

“Niku is a kid too, but she’s the strongest adventurer in town!”

“She’s an exception.”

Michiru pursed her lips in a pout.

“...And furthermore,” continued Suilla, “We are Succubi. You would run the risk of exposing your identity by becoming an adventurer.”

“Sister! I have a question!”

“Yes, Michiru?”

“You and the others are registered as adventurers so you can go in the dungeon, right?”

“Yes, but that was at the town chief’s instructions.”

Michiru pursed her lips in a pout again. Thus, the family meeting ended with Michiru still unsatisfied.

“And that’s why she won’t let me be an adventurer. What do you think I should do, Rei?” Michiru was talking to Rei in the church. Since Rei often worked there due to her status as High Priestess of Beddhism, she was fairly close with Michiru and the other Succubi.

“...If she’s turning you down because you’re a child, why not become an adult?”

“An adult... What do I need to do to be an adult?” Despite their power within dreams, it was enormously difficult for a Succubus to change their form in the physical world. Michiru pressed up to Rei, seeking a method to turn into an adult.

“I can see your chest. Maybe an adult would be embarrassed about that and try to hide it.”

“I-I’m showing it on purpose! It’s called seduction!”

“Well, I suppose that’s normal for a Succubus, but I think you just didn’t notice it.” An exposed chest scored big points with lolicons, for sure, but only an adult would really think about it in that frame of mind. “For now, why not try to stop being picky with food, and avoid sweet things for a bit?”

“...I don’t wanna eat any Goblins.”

“Nobody said you had to. I’m thinking more like onions and tomatoes.”

“But neither of those are rod shaped! I don’t wanna eat them!”

But you would if they were rod shaped? thought Rei as she contemplated what kinds of food a Succubus might like. “What about... ball-shaped food, then?”

“Mmm, maybe if they’re about this small... Mini tomatoes could work.”

Mini tomatoes are fine...? Why does size matter? thought Rei, lowering her eyes. It surely came down to personal preference. Suilla and the other adult Succubi ate normal onions without issue, after all.

“You know, I really think being an adult’s just about having big boobs!”

“I see. Suilla and the others certainly are buxom.”

“I hear drinking milk makes them bigger! Please breastfeed me.”

“Mine don’t produce milk!”

Michiru clicked her tongue. “They’re this big and they don’t make any milk? Squeeze squeeze.”

“Please do not squeeze them without asking, Michiru.”

“Leona said they get bigger if you squeeze them! Help me out and let me squeeze them!”

“I believe she meant to squeeze your own, not others... nnn, hey! Y-You’re getting squeezing too tight! Too much!”

“Gehehe, these are nice, sooo niiiice.”

Rei tried to knock Michiru back, but she had zero attack power. She was completely helpless and could do nothing as a child thoroughly groped her chest. Michiru only quit after she was satisfied.

“...Give those to me!”

“H-Haah, haaah... Th-That’s not even possible...!”

“Tchhh.” Michiru was tiny, but she was still a Succubus. Rei was already exhausted from dealing with her, in more ways than one. “I’ll go get the town chief to squeeze mine, then!”

“...There’s nothing there for him to squeeze.”

“Failed already! Grrr...”

Why is she growling? Rei readjusted her clothes which Michiru had disheveled.

“Well, anyway. I know what I have to do! I need to become an adult lady!”

“...Good luck. I’m not helping.”

“By the way, there’s something I want you to help me with!”

I just said I wasn’t helping, thought Rei with a sigh. “And what might that be?”

“Tell me about all your adult experiences! Don’t worry, your secrets will be safe with me!”

...Adult experiences. Rei averted her gaze.

“...Rei?”

“W-Well, I haven’t had any adult experiences myself, so...” It was easy to forget, but Rei was a dungeon monster. She was summoned about a year ago at the earliest. Since dungeon monsters were born from DP, she might actually have had less life experience than Michiru overall.

“.........”

“Er, I mean. I was an adult from the day I was born, so...?”

“Okay! I’ll try to think of something else! I don’t need to be an adult to be an adventurer! Bye!” Michiru ran off, waving good bye to Rei.

“...This feels kinda frustrating!” Rei, left on her own, decided to try and live a little more.

Neruneh’s Magic Training

“Okaaay, Masteeer, have at iiiiit.”

“Roger.”

Neruneh took the Recorder Golem from Keima after he recorded a magical chant on it. To learn a spell without a scroll, you had to beat the proper incantation into your head and memorize the exact effects of the spell. Neruneh could eventually grow from an Apprentice Witch to a full on Witch by learning enough magic. The fastest route to becoming a Witch would be learning a large number of spells, but Neruneh was being trained by Keima, and he specialized in thoroughly mastering a small set of particular spells. Neruneh had determined that she would become a stronger Witch one day by following in his footsteps. A true Witch was a master of magic, not a jack of all trades.

The chant she was being taught was {Fireball}, but this was unlike the normal {Fireball} chant, this one would send out fifteen balls of fire at once. She had seen Keima doing that very thing herself.

“Heheheeeh. I bet a normal Apprentice Wiiitch would never think that magic is thiiiis flexible.”

“Well, most spellcasters actually can’t change spells like this, so they wouldn’t really be wrong.” Only those who knew the language of magic like Keima could modify spell incantations at will. Keima could modify spells without even needing to chant anything at all. That was something that one learning magic would immediately declare impossible. But in any case, the incantation was recorded on the Golem.

“Can I try listening to iiit?”

“Do whatever you want, I recorded it for you. Just, uhhh, don’t let any humans outside our circle catch you.”

“Yaaay!” With Keima’s permission, she immediately held up the Recorder Golem to her ear and played the recording.

“■■■■■■■■■, ■■■■■■—{Fireball}.”

“Aaaah... So goooood! There are words I’ve never ever heard before this chaaaant!”

The magic language. Despite being called a language, it hardly seemed to be consistent or structured at all. Every chant sounded like white noise containing no words whatsoever. When comparing a chant Keima modified to the original, it was almost impossible to tell what was the same and what was different. No matter how many chants she listened to, it all sounded the same. But Keima assured her he heard it as words, so there was likely a consistent structure that Neruneh and other magical scientists just couldn’t fathom. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to modify the spells.

“Haaah, haaah... It’s nothing like the fourteen balls of fire chaaant... It’s actually more like the four balls of fire chant, kindaaa...? This just gave me more questiooons...”

“I’m just changing the number in the middle of it. Are they really that different?”

“Uh-huuuuh.” Neruneh hit the play button again, listening to the recorded incantation repeatedly. She was experiencing pure bliss over learning more about magic. Which compelled Keima to ask a question.

“By the way, Neruneh, how good are you at magic?”

“Whaaat?” The question confused her. Naturally, she had memorized each of the spells Keima had taught her up until that point. She could use them all, and it was hard to believe Keima didn’t know that.

“I mean, like, as an Apprentice Witch. How are you compared to an average Apprentice Witch? Do you have more mana, or...?”

“Aaah... I don’t really know what the average Apprentice Witch is liiike... But weeell, I’m probably up theeere.” Neruneh had ceased to be normal when she began taking lessons from Keima, who was not normal himself. After all, a normal Apprentice Witch couldn’t cast fourteen fireballs at once. She was being paid DP for her work and using it to buy as many mana potions as she wanted, which was boosting her total mana up at a rapid pace. Being able to listen to as many chants as she wanted to through the Recorder Golems helped too.

She wasn’t just knowledgeable about spells, though. She had a breadth of knowledge related to magic circles as well, thanks to the research materials brought to her by Wataru and the local blacksmith Kantara. Considering all the spells she knew—and not just variations of one spell, either—it would probably be safe to say that she was already strong enough to call herself a Witch.

“Or at least, I think sooo.”

“I see. Maybe I should buy some more magic skill scrolls for you, then.”

“Aaah... About thaaat. According to the newest magical research Wataru’s told me about, magic is actually stronger when you work hard and learn it yourself instead of using a scroooll.”

“Huh? Well, yeah, I guess that makes sense.” Why wouldn’t homemade food taste better than frozen food, thought Keima with a shrug.

“It seems like memorizing it yourself deepens your understanding of the speeell. And that’s probably why you’re so strong too, Masteeeer. Soooo, I want to keep learning spells from youuu, I thiiink.”

Keima nodded and thought about magic. “Alright, guess I’ll teach you {Summon Gargoyle} next. A spell that summons ten Gargoyles at once should be pretty useful. They’ll be a nice wall if it comes to that.”

“I probably don’t have enough mana for thaaat.”

In any case, one spell at a time. Neruneh went ahead and learned the fifteen fireball spell first.

Succubus Keima’s Little Sister Photo Shoot

It all happened when he went to Core 219 to ask for help.

“Say ‘Please, big brother’ in that beautiful form of yours. As cute as possible, if you will.” Keima wanted to turn her down. He wanted to just turn around and walk out on the spot. But this was one favor that he absolutely needed, no matter what. With a bitter grimace, Keima nodded.

And so, a photo session began under Core 219’s direction. Keima begrudgingly let his ring Succubus Kosaki possess him again, turning into a femboy with clothes that showed a lot of skin—his back, his armpits, and so on.

“Mmm. Truly, you are adorable in this form. You should never leave it, if you ask me.”

“Well I’m not, so shut it. Let’s get this over with... Please, big brother.”

“No! Do it once more, with feeling! I have never heard such a deadpan line before!” A loud cracking sound resounded right next to Keima’s face.

“G-Gyah?!” It was the sonic boom of Core 219’s rose vine whip snapping the air. Yes, literally the explosion that occurred when something surpassed the speed of sound. The whip didn’t hit him directly, but the sound and pressure was enough to send Keima shaking.

“What’s wrong, Keima?! You were more of a little sister the last time we met!”

“Wh-When was that?!”

“When you threatened me with the weed killer, of course.” Core 219 was very much meticulous when it came to acting, and she could resist Keima’s Succubus charms. In other words, she would never be satisfied if he just half-assed it and tried to make his charm do all the work.

“Now, once more!” Core 219 cracked her whip again, licking the side of Keima’s ear with it. Tears welled in his eyes. Perhaps when in Succubus form his tear ducts loosened up.

“Yes, those are the eyes! The beautiful wet eyes of a tearful young beauty! This is the stuff!”

“G-Gah! I just gotta do it, right?! Alright! You better keep your promise!”

“Hah. Have I ever broken a promise before?”

“I barely know you, that doesn’t mean anything to me!”

“Ahaha, I suppose that means you want to spend even more time with me, hm?”

“Big brother, please...”

“Yeees, yes! Good, Keima! Now give a smile!”

“T-Teehee!”

“Hrm, your lips are twitching a bit, but that’s little sister-like, so I will forgive it.”

Thirty minutes passed since the acting lessons began. Keima’s talent grew, and Core 219 swung her whip less often.

“Are they twitching that much...? I mean, I can feel it, but.”

“They are. Take a look.” Core 219 showed the monitor she was looking at. On it was Keima from Core 219’s perspective. This was the first time he was seeing his Succubus form from this angle. He had looked at himself in a mirror before, though.

“Wha?! Are you filming this?!”

“Of course I am. Or are you saying that you live your life without being consciously aware of those watching you?”

“Most people aren’t!” So he said, but the Core in front of him was far from most people. She was the kind of person who would play background music for dramatic effect and make flowers sprout wherever she walked.

“Hah! You should hone your focus, Keima. Feel the eyes on you more and hone your beauty. This marvelous form of yours has potential, and if you dedicate yourself it would not be unreasonable for you to one day be the star of the imperial capital’s theater scene. Humans wouldn’t be able to resist your Succubus charms at all. Follow me, and I will make you shine.”

“Hell no!”

(whip crack) “Bzrt! Tone! Be cuter!”

“Don’t wanna!”

“Yes, that’s it! Be sweeter! More delicate!”

“Th-That’s just embarrassing!”

“Embarrassment is important. Cherish those feelings of yours. Nooow, time for you to pose. Lay on your side.” Core 219 laid out a sheet on top of soft grass, and Succubus Keima got onto it.

“Mm, yes, I will use this as a reference for later. Now, please continue.”

“W-Wait, are you still filming this?”

“Is it wrong to preserve something beautiful forever? There is no need for you to be embarrassed, I am not filming your naked form or anything of the like. You are beautiful as you are. Oh no, I’m bleeding from the nose.” Despite likely being a plant-type Core, her nose was red. Maybe that was due to her human morph.

“...Brother, pweaaaase...?”

“Perfect! Very well! Your brother will grant your request, dear!”

Then, not too long after Core 219 approved of Keima’s acting.

“By the way, I can see your cute flat chest.”

“Kyaaah?! G-Geez, you pervert!” Keima hid his chest. Reminder: his chest.

“Hahaha, forgive me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must be off to grant your wish...!” Core 219 wiped away her nosebleed while acting cool. Reminder: her nosebleed.

“...Nffmmm... Nmmm, M-Masteeeer.... Nnnfff...” Niku, who had been resting in the corner, was overwhelmed by Succubus Keima’s seductive presence. She furtively wiggled in the corner, doing something.

Sergeant Kinue and the Silky Squad

Silkies were surprisingly harsh when it came to hierarchies. They maintained an iron stratification of status, with the patriarch at the top—in this case, Keima—wielding absolute power. The Silkies in the inn embodied this concept. Allow me to introduce you to how they trained.

The scene is the hallway of the employee dorm attached to the Dancing Doll Inn. There stood the Silkies.

“You must only speak when spoken to. Consult the head maid, me, before speaking to a customer. Do you understand, maggots?”

“Ma’am yes ma’am!”

Kinue was the head maid, whereas Hanna, Nicole, and Pio were trainees. Kinue nodded and continued.

“If you dirty sows survive my training, you will each become a maid. Furniture that exists to keep the house orderly and clean. But until that day, you are pukes. You have less worth than an old rag.” Kinue walked in front of the three lined-up Silkies, her shoes clacking against the wooden floor. “You may hate me for being this harsh. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am harsh, but fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down upon Vampires, Apprentice Witches, or humans. Here, you are all equally worthless!” Kinue turned to glare at all three of them. “My orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved inn. Do you maggots understand that?!”

“Ma’am yes ma’am!” They all saluted at once. Their organization was perfect. Which allowed for Kinue to soften her razor-sharp expression and let out a small sigh.

“...Hanna. Is this really necessary?”

“Ma’am yes ma’am! It’s necessary!”

“I would rather train you all in a more relaxed fashion, Nicole.”

“Ma’am no ma’am! A firm hierarchy is the Silky way!”

“I’ve never heard of that before? Have you, Pio?”

“Ma’am, it’s all about the fun.”

What’s fun about this? And yes, the harsh training was requested by the three young Silkies. From her perspective, Kinue was more their older sister than their head maid. They had asked her to train them, and then handed her a script to read from.

Indeed, everything prior to now had been scripted. Basically a play with everyone acting. An iron hierarchy? That didn’t exist. Kinue was technically their boss, but everyone shared the same door. At most, Keima and Rokuko’s orders were absolute, but everything else was as lax as could be.

“Still, where did you three get this script?”

“Master and Ichika wrote it for us!”

It seemed that he had referenced a military story from his original home. Perhaps I should advise him that this kind of philosophy is actually destructive, thought Kinue while looking at the script.

“You know, I would rather not say embarrassing lines like this.”

“Wha? Which lines...? Aaah, these are definitely a bit too dirty for you. I would expect nothing less from lines picked by Instructor Ichika.”

“Oh well. I guess we’ll have to cut them all and skip straight to the ending...”

“Wait. I actually want her to say them now. Be brave, brave!”

Excluding that last person, they all agreed to cut most of the training scenes and insulting rants out of the script, thereby skipping straight to the end. It happened smoothly, like they were sweeping away the dirty lines.

Kinue marched back and forth in front of the three Silkies. The sharp sound of her footsteps actually had a gentle tone to them.

“...Today, you graduate from being maggots. You are now true Silkies, bound by the bonds of maidhood. Until the day you die and return to DP, you will be the Silkies Sisters no matter where you might work.”

“Ma’am yes ma’am!”

Though really, you’ve been the Silkies from the start, regardless of any training, thought Kinue as she continued. “Most of your work will be cleaning. Some of you will assist in cooking. But there is one thing you must never forget. Silkies are house fairies. We exist for the house. But we are fairies. In short—We can do chores for the rest of time!”

“Ma’am yes ma’aaaam!”

Kinue couldn’t help but tilt her head in confusion at how emotional the three Silkies were getting. All the training scenes had been skipped, so their actual training would be coming up later. Well, maybe this would encourage them to take their training more seriously, at least?

“Oh, wait, you two. There’s another scene after this, and it’s actually us killing our sergeant.”

“Wha?!”

“Hmmm? You three, killing me?” Kinue glanced at the script and saw that there was indeed a recruit who killed the sergeant and then himself. Was this script really based on real life military instruction? It was a bit serious for playacting.

“...Let’s cut that part too!” said the three Silkies in unison.

“Haaah. Well, anyway. Let’s begin your training soon. I’ll teach you how to cook.”

“Okaaay.”

By the way, there was another scene after where they all went to fight in the dungeon after saying the line “Whoever runs away is a Goblin! Whoever doesn’t run away is a well-trained Goblin!”, but they were all so satisfied they didn’t bother.

Isam’s Tricks: Cooking Edition

“Keima, duel me with food and free Ichika if I win!”

Isam came shouting at me once I left the church after mass. Another duel, huh? I’m mainly impressed he waited outside the church until mass ended. He’s kinda like a loyal dog or something... But anyway.

“Are you an idiot? Why have a duel with food of all things?” I asked, and Isam snorted with a sneer.

“Heh. Think about it. Ichika loves good food, right? Which means...”

Isam placed a plate piled with food in front of Ichika. It was food more delicious than anything she had ever eaten before. It was like a mountain of the world’s greatest delicacies, and Ichika was stuffing her face with it all.

“SOOOOO GOOOOOOOD!” The food was so delicious that Ichika unlocked the {Reaction} skill. Light beamed from her eyes and mouth as she shoveled it down her throat. The plate was soon empty, licked clean to a shine.

“That was the best food I’ve like, ever had! I was friggin’ born to eat this stuff! I’ll do anything if I get to keep on eating all this!”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll keep making all this amazing food for you to eat, now and forever. So, Ichika, become my woman!”

“’Kay! I love you!”

There appeared Keima. He took a bite of Isam’s incredible food. “This is... Ngh, it’s so tasty! I had no idea you had this kind of cooking genius hidden inside of you. I’m impressed. Ichika—No, Sorin is yours...!”

“And that’s what’ll happen, for sure.” And... It actually did. Partly, kinda.

“Wow, you really captured Ichika there. She totally would do that.”

“Right?! And that’s why we gotta duel with food. We meet at noon tomorrow! Just sit and wait... I’ll be back!”

“I dunno... Hey, hold on!” Isam walked off before I could reply. I hadn’t agreed yet, but as always he was ignoring stuff like what I would get if I won. Well, that’s fine. I kinda feel like we’re bros now that I know he has a smell fetish. I’ll be nice and play along sometimes.

“So basically, Ichika, there’s gonna be a cooking duel tomorrow. I’m sure you don’t mind being the judge.” Yeah, I ultimately decided to go through with it.

“Whaaa?! Dude, that sounds like the bomb! Heck yeah, time to make some money! Time for the return of Bookmaker Ichika!”

“Aaah, hold on, hold on. I’m gonna have someone fight in my place.”

“Wha? You’re not gonna cook yourself?”

“I mean, how could I not have Kinue do the cooking?”

“...Ah. Yeah, this match’s dead in the water. No point in even trying to gamble.” Ichika walked back on the spot. Yeah, good call. Isam has even less of a chance of winning than he did when fighting me.

“Also, I don’t really want to make it a big thing this time. Try not to cause too much of a stir.

“Awww. Why not? Tch, and this was my chance to wear that sweet-ass dress again.”

“You want to wear it that much?”

“I mean, dude, I am a girl. Sometimes I just wanna kick back in a hella nice dress. Which do you like better, Master, me in this outfit or me in the dress?”

That was kind of a difficult question. “...I mean, you’re Ichika no matter what you’re wearing. The person wearing the dress is more important to me than the dress.”

“Uh, do you mean that in a good way or a bad way?”

“No comment.”

“You better tell meeee! Or I’ll cook up a knuckle sandwich for ya!”

“Are you forgetting that you’re a slave again? Not that I mind, but...”

“Weeeell... Sometimes it’s easy to forget, y’know?” I think only you would forget that, Ichika.

And so, tomorrow came. Isam strutted up to the inn’s cafeteria.

“I’m here! Time to duel, Keima!”

“Hold up. We’re busy right now with the lunch rush. Come back later,” I told him while munching on lunch at the counter.

“...Looks like you’re just eating lunch to me. You’ve got a lotta nerve considering our duel’s coming up!”

“Yeah, it’s not me that’s busy. Kinue’s gonna represent me and she’s busy at work.”

“Wha?! Th-That’s not fair! I didn’t say you could let anyone take your place!”

“Alright then, can you cook? Good enough to impress Ichika, that is.”

“...Fine, I’ll accept it. But I’m gonna go get a chef of my own!”

Not surprising. I had asked Ichika ahead of time, and apparently the most Isam could cook was meat on a skewer above fire. Or at least, that was all he could do when they were in a party together. Ichika and Mimiko always took care of cooking duty themselves. Dunno why he would challenge anyone to a food duel with that in mind, but whatever.

Eventually, Isam came back.

“Welcome back.”

“Sorry, looks like I’m gonna need some extra time too. Mimiko’s in the middle of work.”

“Yeah, I know. She’s working as receptionist today. Here, sit and have some fried rice, totally on me.”

“Sure, thanks.” Isam sat next to me. A plate of fried rice was put in front of him within the span of a second. “That was... fast.”

“Chef Kinue is the pride and joy of our inn. Her skill lets her cook that fast. But anyway, have a bite. It’s pretty good.”

“Alright.” Isam scooped up some fried rice and took a bite.

“...Actually, did I lose this duel the second I let you use a representative? You’re gonna have her fight in your place, right? I can already tell she’s insanely good.”

“Sure, but I’m the one who taught Kinue how to cook. Didn’t feel like cooking for myself every day.”

“Say... what...?”

I hadn’t lied. I did teach her the recipes. (I never said I cooked the recipes myself.)

“Between you and me, I was the head chef of this inn before I hired Kinue.”

“Say... what...?!”

I hadn’t lied. Since I bought all the food with DP, I was basically the head chef. (I never said I cooked the food myself.)

“Anyway, I’m hyped for this duel. What’ll you give me if I win? Maybe I’ll make you bark like a dog for a bit.”

“...Ngh! You were plotting this the whole time!”

“Nah, you ran headfirst into this wall yourself. I just didn’t stop you.”

The cooking duel was canceled. As an aside, Ichika beat the crap out of Isam for getting her hopes up and leaving her hungry, but that honestly wasn’t my fault.