Gacha Addict in a Matriarchal World

Chapter 98: Self ? Study

After giving the shadow monster the name Shadow, I returned to the Fairy and Silver Coin.

Bursting through the door, arms wide open.

“I’m back! Ellie’s cute fiancé, Jonah!”

A voice echoed loudly throughout the entire shop. There was a moment of silence in the noisy tavern, but as their gazes turned towards me, they quickly resumed their chatter as if nothing had happened.

Of course, some laughed heartily as if amused, or whispered to the person next to them as if wondering what was going on…but that was it.

It’s not that I have some hypnotic ability that makes people not find anything strange no matter what I do. It’s just that everyone has gotten used to it.

Sometimes people would hit on me…but most of them would straighten up after experiencing Ellie’s possessive punches.

Now, it seems like the rumor has spread, and they pretend not to see even if they do.

…Since they’re said to pretend not to see even if they do, I’m a bit curious about the extent of what’s allowed.

Arriving at the counter, I resisted the temptation of the unguarded backsides of the female adventurers and the wallets hanging nearby.

Ellie let out a deep sigh and lightly tapped the top of my head.

Thunk.

“Ouch!”

“I told you not to yell every time you come in.”

“Waaah. I’m baby Jonah. My memory is bad.”

“Oh, but you remember saying you’d be independent when you turn twenty, right?”

“Wasn’t the promise to do naughty things when I turn twenty?!”

Thunk.

“Ow!”

“We never made such a promise! I said if your feelings hadn’t changed by then, I’d consider it seriously!”

“Aww. I trust Ellie. You’re definitely planning to get me really drunk as soon as I turn twenty and then do this and that, like in those red books! Like in those red books…!”

“…Ha! Do you think I’ll be flustered by this pattern again?”

“Indeed. Your tastes have changed recently, so you hid those kinds deep in the storage, right? What was the last thing you bought… ‘For Sale. Fallen Noble. Never Used’. The comic version, wasn’t it? Seems like you liked the novel I gave you!”

“…Grr!”

Ellie bit her lip in frustration. Seeing her face turning red as if about to explode, it was clear she was embarrassed by the accurate jab.

As I chuckled and sat in front of her, Lydia, who was sipping beer with a sausage snack beside her, waved her hand.

“You’re a bit late.”

“You’re still here? I thought you’d leave first since it took so long.”

“Senior Ellie said she’d give me free beer and snacks if I told her how Jonah, you fought on the second floor. So I kept telling her and kept drinking.”

“Really? So, what did you talk about?”

“In the end, a compliment. It’s true that the second floor is relatively easy. But it’s impossible to move like on the first floor.”

“Why? The difficulty as a Labyrinth is similar.”

“Yes. But the monsters’ specs have changed. And it’s hard to surprise them since they usually detect you first.”

It’s true that the difficulty as a Labyrinth is similar, but the monsters have become overall stronger, and adventurers rely on their sight, whereas monsters distinguish enemies by hearing and smell, making it hard to perform at one’s best until getting used to it.

“For me, it was rather a good match.”

“Right. So, never let your guard down.”

Lydia nods faintly with a smile.

That’s correct. No matter how much I can minimize my presence with Sound-Eating Footsteps, it’s a fact that if I get hit even once by a kobold by mistake, it would result in serious injury.

“Should we get some armor?”

“Not yet. The Iron Wolf’s hide is similar to iron. As long as you watch out for the golems and the Floor Guardians on the second floor, the worst you’ll get is a fracture.”

“…Fractures are scary though.”

“Just don’t get hit. You haven’t so far.”

“……”

Lydia’s treatment of me somehow feels a bit careless.

It might be trust, but why does it hurt my feelings?

As I pouted and grumbled, Ellie placed a plate with some warm pasta and a few pieces of meat in front of me.

“You’re hungry, right? Benny doesn’t eat well, so you probably haven’t had a proper meal at her place. Eat and get some rest.”

“Come to think of it, she only had snacks, no proper meals. The cream pie was really good though…”

As I said that while mixing the sauce, Ellie’s expression turned peculiar.

“Cream pie…”

“Oh my. Ellie, what are you thinking about right now? You had a naughty thought, didn’t you? Right? Look at this. Miss Lydia! Ellie just had a naughty thought!”

“…Jonah. Don’t act like a child. Ellie is a grown adult. She might just be frustrated.”

“I’m a child, though?”

“Then there’s nothing we can do.”

Lydia nodded and tried to bring the sausage to her mouth with a fork. But perhaps she didn’t stab it deep enough. The sausage slipped and got stuck between her cleavage.

“…It’s hot.”

Lydia furrowed her brow slightly. She lifted her chest with her hand instead of the sausage and bent her head down.

Then she pulled out the sausage from between her breasts and ate it.

Feeling my gaze, Lydia confidently made a V-sign with her fingers.

“V.”

“……”

Could it be that she just took it out and ate it directly, without touching it, after receiving it with her chest? Even though it was hot and covered in oil?

While I was dumbfounded. Lydia started wiping her chest casually with a tissue. Not just the top part, but even between her breasts to clean the inside.

Gulp.

I swallowed unconsciously. But unfortunately, this didn’t last long.

“Jonah.”

“Yikes!”

Ellie was looking down at me with an expressionless face. …Judging by her oddly heavy breathing, she seemed half angry and half excited.

“What kind of experiment did you do at Benny’s workshop? It wasn’t dangerous, was it?”

“Oh, it’s nothing like that. What we did today was about Shadow…I mean, figuring out why the shadow monster likes me…”

Sweating profusely, I explained to Ellie what had happened today.

Tentacles, cream pie, favorability, Shadow, moist Benny Chip cookies….

“I also brought back a magic book to read on my own. It’s not difficult, just a book with basic spells similar to Weak Flames.”

I pulled out a rather thin book from my chest and waved it lightly.

Though it only contained basic magic and no great spells, it was knowledge that the Magic Tower half-monopolized, so it was priced at 1 gold.

So Benny, rather than giving it away, lent it to me instead.

What a pity…

If it had been given outright, I could have quickly learned the magic and sold it to spin the gacha.

Ellie’s expression, listening to my story, gradually softened.

“What? I was a bit worried, but you did well.”

“What were you worried about… Ah! Did you think I might have an affair with Benny?”

“No. If it were Lydia, maybe, but there’s no need to worry about Benny, so that’s fine. You’ll just hold hands.”

“…This is making me angry in its own way.”

When I puffed my cheeks up and expressed my dissatisfaction without hiding it, Ellie gave a wry smile and spoke.

“I told you I heard Benny’s situation, right?”

“That’s right?”

“Benny is mindful of that too. Always careful, just in case another trait awakens.”

“Ah.”

What Benny received was the eyes of a succubus.

Because of that, Benny was forever stuck in a girl’s body, and as if as compensation, gained magical abilities.

Even though Shadow was present, it wasn’t easy for an experiment subject who had never learned proper resistance methods to blow away a branch of The One Who Devours the Twilight.

But Benny knows the fate of a human consumed by the power of the monster…or more precisely, the power of the God of Madness within it.

The body cannot endure and twists to death, or they go completely mad and become another monster.

It’s been fine so far, but there’s no guarantee it will remain so. The assimilation with Shadow is getting worse.

“Alright. I’ll tease Benny just moderately.”

“…Isn’t there an option not to tease?”

“It’s my way of showing affection, so I can’t help it. And honestly, you kind of like it too, don’t you, Ellie?”

“……”

Laughing at Ellie, who kept her mouth tightly shut, I stood up.

Handing over the empty pasta plate, I waved one hand towards Ellie and patted Lydia’s back with the other, then spoke.

“Well, I’m heading up! I’m tired and want to read this!”

Ellie lifted the corners of her mouth into a slight smile as she tapped the basic magic book.

“Kids should have been asleep a long time ago. Hurry and go. Lydia, you should get up too.”

“Eh. No. Ellie, you have plenty of rooms. Let me sleep here today. Give me more beer too. The next snack should be chopped steak.”

“Do you know how many bottles you drank alone?! Get up quickly, you brat!”

Leaving the bickering Ellie and Lydia behind, I went up to my room.

No matter how basic the magic is, it would be too much to master it just by reading it briefly before bed. But understanding the content should be possible.

First, read it, and later, chew over it while practicing.

Honestly, gacha is a gamble. It’s true that you can hit the jackpot if you’re lucky…but isn’t the fun of fantasy in learning magic through hard work?

With high expectations, I opened the book. And then.

“…What the heck is this?”

I can read the writing. I could only read the writing.

I can’t understand what it’s saying at all. Why are there so many pedantic modifiers?

Even if I try to cut away the fluff and read only the content, it says something about the heart’s circle, but I don’t have a circle to begin with.

I know that magic is gathered around the heart, and I can move it, but that’s it.

After pondering for a long time while looking down at the book, I nodded.

“Should I spin the gacha?”

This is more suitable for me…