Chapter 488: Scarlett's Influence

This request was a little frightening.

Rod had to make it clear that this thing was for refining and synthesizing items, and he demonstrated the function of the 【All-Things Furnace】 on the spot, refining several batches of Slime Swords.

Mainly because he was afraid of hurting her.

Yet this peak Tier-8 scorpion woman remained unmoved.

But then again, this was precisely what she needed.

In Hera's expression, Rod saw seriousness and resolve; she seemed to have a reason she absolutely had to advance to Tier 9.

Rod didn't ask further, and in the end agreed.

Hera was a true woman of action; the moment he agreed, she entered the 【All-Things Furnace】.

Rod was startled too.

He saw the panel display:

【Refining】

【Name: 'Hera'】

Just in case.

After Hera entered the All-Things Furnace, Rod also linked her the 【Far-Speech Chain】.

He chatted with her for a bit, and after confirming her condition was still alright, he finally relaxed.

Today, unusually, he stayed in the Eucalyptus District the whole day.

He gazed at the forest in the night, emanating a faint, gentle glow.

The breeze brushed past, rustling the leaves.

His mood improved quite a bit.

Rod stood in the Eucalyptus District for a while, scratching his head.

He kept feeling a swelling sensation coming from the 【All-Things Furnace】.

"So this is the bloated feeling Tally mentioned? Feels so weird."

The moment he thought of Tally—

Her call came through the 【Far-Speech Chain】.

During the day, she had originally been shouting along with Rod.

But then again, she was a succubus.

You know how it is—lazy by nature; in no time at all she had slunk back into the shadows to slack off.

By noon that day, she had gotten annoyed that Rod was disturbing her sleep, and grumbling, she wandered off idly through the forest.

It wasn't that she disliked Rod's shouting.

What she disliked was Rod shouting another woman's name; hearing it made a certain pure-hearted succubus's heart ache.

Out of sight, out of mind—easier that way.

But now, at this hour—

It was getting late, so she began worrying her master might be lured home by some flirtatious woman, and frantically sent 【Far-Speech Chain】 messages urging Rod to come home.

【Tally: Cute little Tally is already taking a bath (splash splash splashing water sounds) ~~Ahh, I forgot to bring the new spider-silk stockings into the bathroom, I left them on Master's pillow ~~Master, hurry back and help little Tally grab them for me~~

Spider-silk stockings.

Produced by the spider-turned-elf Watching Yuna, the texture was light, delicate and smooth, pure white and flawless.

After further magical processing, they could automatically adjust to the wearer's body temperature—warm in winter, cool in summer.

They looked almost identical to the white silk stockings from his previous life.

Rod had long wanted to experience the feeling of legs in stockings clamping around a bear's waist; hearing Tally's words, his heart flared with heat.

Earlier, Watching Yuna's body hadn't fully recovered yet; only now could she formally produce them.

【Rod: Don't let the bath water get cold, I'll come back and soak together.】

【Tally: Okay~~ I'll scrub Master's back, with my chest~】

"Rod?"

Rod, who was just about to open 【Tree Strider】 to head home, was stopped by a shout from behind.

He turned his head to look.

It was the rabbit-person Ona.

At this hour, unusually, she wasn't wearing her hood.

A pair of red eyes stood out strikingly on her wheat-colored cheeks.

Her snow-white long ears stood erect, the downy fur on the ear tips trembling lightly in the night breeze; her clean, cute pink ear canals had an oddly alluring quality.

"Ona, going out so late?"

"Just got back from the Magic Control Union, bought some magic potions for adjusting sleep and healing wounds. That Scarlett girl—every morning when she wakes up, the first thing she does is fight Miss Emmy; not a single day goes by without her face being messed up, it's gotten to the point where I can't sleep."

She said rather helplessly.

Rod smiled.

Generally speaking, mushroom-folk tend to have milder temperaments.

Someone as combative as the mushroom-folk Scarlett really is rare.

"Also, I noticed she's been secretly cultivating hallucinogenic spores lately. Sigh, the young ones these days are really hard to handle."

"Isn't she in the Abstinence Faction like you?"

The mushroom-folk's Abstinence Faction differs from ordinary humanoid races; for them, abstinence means not inhaling hallucinogenic spores.

"Yeah, that's why it's so troubling. Breaking the precept is indulgence, but afterward it's torment on the soul. Not only that, when she sleeps at night she still sigh—"

"Still what?"

Lady Aona's wheat-colored little round face flushed red.

"She sneaks a touch there in the middle of the night when she's sleeping."

Rod's expression went strange:

"Where?"

Where do mushroom-folk even have a 'there'?

As someone who had personally tasted a mushroom-folk, Rod was the most qualified to say.

Back then, to remove the Flesh-Woven Golden Crown, it had still been Tally who cut open a slit with a knife.

"Eek, that's the place!"

". Are you sure?"

"Seen with my own eyes. I didn't believe it at the time either, so I even used a mental spell to check, and the result was that she was savoring that day with you... ugh, I can't say it out loud."

"No way, does she really feel that way? Isn't it said that mushroom-folk are more like plants than living beings?"

"I don't know either, maybe it's because of your 【Charm Fluid】, Rod... and that child secretly cultivates hallucination spores, perhaps precisely to verify the difference between them."

Lady Aona's upright rabbit ears drooped down a little.

Her little face tensed, and with a hint of pleading she said:

"I don't want her getting addicted to hallucination spores. For mushroom-folk that stuff is way too lethal—you saw what that mushroom-folk king Bien was like too, right, Rod? Scarlett is a child with ideals, she can't become that kind of walking corpse. Rod, please, please help me out."

The two had discussed this matter before.

In short, Lady Aona hoped Rod would have another intimate interaction with Scarlett, to help her thoroughly distinguish the difference between a man and hallucination spores.

In a nutshell, this would be an experimental class.

Lady Aona would be the lecturer, Scarlett the student doing the experiment.

Mm.

It wasn't something that put him at a loss to begin with.

And it was Lady Aona's request on top of that, so refusing was even more out of the question.

"Lady Aona's request, I have to help. Even if you didn't say it, I would. It's just that, you know, for me to bring up something like this seems a bit... ungentlemanly."

"That's great, no time to lose, let's go right now!"

Lady Aona's ears sprang straight up like *biu*, bouncing with excitement.

Rod thought it over. Sure, why not.

Sooner or later he'd have to go; having the time now and getting it done early wasn't bad.

As for Tally—

Let her wait a bit.

Anyway, it's not like a teaching session has to go all the way; symbolically releasing once or twice should be enough to wrap it up.

It wouldn't take much time.

Once that was settled—

The two chatted as they walked.

Along the way, Lady Aona took out a newly bought bowknot hairpin and clipped it onto the white hair beside her ear—very cute.

As a steadfast Boundary-Guard, Lady Aona was unshakable; faced with Rod's heartfelt praise, she took it all as coming from a friend, laughing with pure, innocent joy.

It gave Rod the feeling of throwing a punch into cotton.

As they talked—

The two had already arrived at the mushroom-folk's burrow in the forest.

However—

Just as they drew close to the magic wooden hut inside, and Lady Aona was about to open the door—

Rod's expression suddenly stiffened.

After all, it was a familiar young lady's boudoir; a presentable forest warden would normally restrain his perception at a moment like this.

But even so, his extraordinarily heightened five senses still let him catch first the suppressed, mm-hmm-ee-yah moans.

"Lady Aona, hold on—"

Speaking up to stop her was already too late.

*Crack*—the wooden door swung open.

What came into view was Scarlett curled up in a chair, legs up in the air, facing squarely toward the door.

Lady Aona's smiling face froze.

(End of chapter)