The Darkness was Comfortable for me

“That was close…” (Hikaru)

I lie on my bed and mutter this alone.

[Girmina Tea: Commonly found in the Ringpill Continent, around the vicinity of the Bornid Volcano. It has the trait of gathering Fire Spirit Energy in its leaves, and when you make it into tea and drink it, your internal Fire Spirits will go wild and you will fall into a frenzied state. It can be used as an aphrodisiac as well if you thin it up. It is an extremely highly priced medicinal plant, and it is rarely cultivated around volcanoes.]

These are the details of the appraised tea and it is to the point of having ‘extremely highly priced’ written on it. She said she bought it in the market, but it shouldn’t have been cheap.

She probably bought it knowing its effect.

Or did she think those were normal fancy tea leaves?

We are earning quite a bit, so we can buy things that are somewhat expensive…

“I will know if I ask her tomorrow, huh. But…that’s hard to ask.” (Hikaru)

‘Did you try making me drink an aphrodisiac?’…there’s no way I can ask her that.

It would turn things awkward no matter the answer…

It probably didn’t work on me because of the Poison Resistance Level 1. Or it might have been the Affection of Spirits.

Whichever the case, if I had been in a frenzied state just like that…I might have…

“…I have to be careful.” (Hikaru)

The Status Board has the viewer count showing in real time.

More than hundreds of millions are watching my actions even now.

Meaning that those numbers were also watching Rifreya approach me while in a frenzy.

“[Darkness Fog].” (Hikaru)

The darkness fills up the room.

The gazes of the viewers don’t reach inside this dense darkness.

(…I might have gotten a bit too used to it.) (Hikaru)

To this world.

To this situation.

It would be a lie to say there hasn’t been a moment when I have forgotten about the viewers.

Within my normal lifestyle, they seriously are just numbers after all.

Because the less time I had on my own, the more things I had to think about.

—Kyakkya.

—Ufufu.

When I perk up my ears inside the darkness, I can hear innocent laughs.

The voices of small Spirits.

I now know those are not the laughs of the viewers.

But it still brings back the emotions of that time.

That time when I barely got out of the forest resurfaces in my head and it binds my body.

About the 2nd Chosen group, about Jeanne, about Rifreya, about the dungeon, about traveling, about my lifestyle.

I decided to live.

I have obtained important things.

…But I am still imprisoned.

That’s why I ended up clashing with Jeanne.

Flailed about by a piece of info that I don’t even know if it is true or not.

…No, if I am to believe Jeanne, it really would be…a lie.

But there’s also a part of me that thinks there’s no reason to make a lie like that.

If I don’t know, I have to act in a way that takes into account not knowing.

But I…

While I was thinking that, the sound of the door being knocked rang, and Rifreya showed her face in my room.

“Hikaru…are you awake? Is it okay to come in?” (Rifreya)

She is making a slightly guilty expression.

“Were you already asleep?” (Rifreya)

The sun has already gone down and the wooden windows are completely closed, so it was pitch dark from just that, but it has become a space with absolutely no light because of my ability.

“No, I am not sleeping.” (Hikaru)

I undo the Darkness Fog.

The light of the candlesticks regained their strength and illuminated the room faintly.

“Sorry for what happened just now. I showed you such a shameful sight…” (Rifreya)

“Yeah…I was surprised. I think you should throw away that tea.” (Hikaru)

“Right… I will do so later.” (Rifreya)

Rifreya answered in that fashion and fidgeted at the door.

Does she want to say something?

“…? What’s the matter?” (Hikaru)

“Aah, no, uhm…aren’t you hungry? We still haven’t had dinner today.” (Rifreya)

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. I am not that hungry, but let’s put something in.” (Hikaru)

Rifreya has a higher Tier than me. Meaning that her energy consumption should be far higher than mine. I don’t get hungry that fast, but this is most likely thanks to the Affection of Spirits.

We could also eat outside, but I would feel bad going out to eat without Jeanne (there’s the chance that Jeanne would come back while we were out too), so we had a light dinner with the things at home.

We were planning on going out on a journey, so we have been cleaning up the house little by little, and we have told the real-estate agency that we are planning on leaving.

Our preparations had progressed a decent degree on that front too.

You could say it is natural that Jeanne would get angry at me saying no now after all of this.

“I gotta apologize to Jeanne.” (Hikaru)

“Right. The more time passes, the more complicated it gets after all.” (Rifreya)

“Yeah…” (Hikaru)

Even if the matter of Nanami was true, I could ask someone trustworthy to protect her. A senior explorer of Rifreya might accept the job, and it could make a difference to ask the guild and leave money for it.

Nanami will be asking for my whereabouts in the guild, and she might keep an eye in front of the dungeon like Rifreya.

There should be no problem if we ask someone that can be trusted. We can learn about the truth from the messages even after we leave on the journey.

Ferdinand said that Nanami might be the Hell Chosen, but…thinking about it logically, that’s impossible.

According to Rifreya, that place is far more dangerous than the forest I barely managed to come back alive from. Even if she brought a machine gun, there’s no way she would survive.

Thinking about it calmly, there’s a lot of ways to deal with this.

If Nanami can manage to arrive here, she must have obtained a decent degree of survival skills, so there would be no need to take her under us immediately.

I spoke with Rifreya in the middle of the meal, and we decided on apologizing to Jeanne and departing as planned.

That’s the method to wrap things up peacefully.

Just thinking about the possibility of Nanami really being in this world…makes my heart hurt, but the reason why I am in this city in the first place is because Jeanne wanted to conquer the dungeon, so it is not like there was much of my will there.

The more I think about it, the more guilt I feel about saying something so selfish.

“…Maybe…she might not come back.” (Hikaru)

“Eh? Who?” (Rifreya)

“Jeanne. She was moving around on her own in the beginning.” (Hikaru)

“There’s no way she would be like that for something of that degree. I think both you and Jeanne-san are overthinking it, you know? Let’s enjoy things a bit more.” (Rifreya)

“Even if you tell me to enjoy it…” (Hikaru)

“It is not like I am telling you to enjoy this situation. Leaving aside Jeanne, I think you are way too abstinent, you know? Even priests these days are playing around more than you.” (Rifreya)

I have told Rifreya about our circumstances without leaving almost anything out.

It might be difficult to properly understand how our lifestyles are being watched, but Rifreya said ‘she didn’t mind it’.

From the very beginning, she has been saying ‘something like that is basically as if it wasn’t there. There’s no need to be bothered by it’. Since then, she hasn’t broken that stance ever.

(…No, Jeanne isn’t bothered by the eyes of the viewers either, huh.) (Hikaru)

Not only Jeanne, even Alex didn’t seem like he was worried about it.

Meaning that, I am the only one who is…abnormal.

It is not like I can immediately not mind it after realizing this though.

“…Anyways, let’s search for Jeanne tomorrow morning. We have to find her and apologize before anything.” (Hikaru)

“Right. She must be staying at an inn somewhere.” (Rifreya)

“I don’t think she would stay at a cheap inn, so we can narrow down the candidates quite a bit.” (Hikaru)

There’s barely any thoughts about protecting your personal information in this world.

It would be a different story if it were royalty or a noble, but if not, you can know about it immediately by just asking the inn.

We might unexpectedly find her pretty easily.

We made our plans for the time being, and after that, we drank normal tea, and decided to go to sleep for the day.

The nights of this world are early.

But the mornings are also early too.

There’s no decent light source -there’s Light Spirit Tools, but the cost to keep them running is high, so I hesitate on using them- so this world has the default lifestyle of going to sleep once it gets dark and waking up soon after the sun goes up.

…Well, I have night vision, so it is not like I would be troubled with acting at night, but that’s a different story. It is true that sleeping early and waking up early is healthier.

It is hard to say whether it is healthy to be diving into the dungeon for the whole day though…

“Good night.” (Hikaru)

I returned to my own room and entered my bed.

Jeanne didn’t come back in the end.

There’s a lot of things I am worried about like the 2nd Chosen group and Nanami, but they are not things I can do anything about right at this moment.

*Knock Knock*

At the time when I was beginning to doze off, the sound of someone knocking the door rang again.

When I looked over there, Rifreya was peeking her head in from an opening of the door.

“…What’s the matter? Did Jeanne come back?” (Hikaru)

“Aah, no, it is not that. I don’t think Jeanne-san will be returning for today, and uhm…if we are going to be leaving for a journey, there won’t be many chances like this where…we two are alone…” (Rifreya)

Rifreya was mumbling as she slowly slid her way into the room with her pajamas.

“Just stay lying there. It is nothing. Nothing…” (Rifreya)

“N-No, there’s no way it is nothing. E-Eh…?” (Hikaru)

“Yes, I will be intruding for a bit, okay…? Ah, please stay lying there. Really, don’t mind me…” (Rifreya)

Rifreya invaded my bed with flowing movements.

My bed is right at the wall, so I am basically in a position where I have lost my escape.

Or more like, this is too strange.

“Isn’t that fine? I simply thought about sleeping together for a bit. Jeanne-san is not here anyways, right? I doubt we will have many chances like this in the future, right?” (Rifreya)

“No no no, don’t just ‘right?’ me. Did you drink that tea again?!” (Hikaru)

“No way, I didn’t… No, I did drink a bit of alcohol, but…anyways, we are living together and all. I will be satisfied with just sleeping together for a bit…probably.” (Rifreya)

“Sleeping together… Are you seriously saying that?” (Hikaru)

“We have slept together within the same blanket inside the dungeon. It is the same as that. There’s no need to be so on guard, you know? Come on, come on, lay down, lay down.” (Rifreya)

She pulled my arm with incredible strength and I was made to lie down.

It is hard to refuse this stuff.

It is not like I don’t understand her feelings. Honestly speaking, I lack so much experience with women that I don’t know how to deal with situations like this.

Even if not, it was a moment when my mental state was a mess.

“Do you…dislike it that much? Sleeping together with me.” (Rifreya)

“No, it is not like I hate it, but as I have said countless times, the viewers—” (Hikaru)

“There’s no such thing as viewers. Jeanne-san was saying that too.” (Rifreya)

“No, they do.” (Hikaru)

“Even if so, there should be no issues with sleeping by your side, right? Now now, close your eyes. Inhale~, exhale~.” (Rifreya)

I think I have gotten used to being together with Rifreya.

But this and that are different issues. It is about sleeping in the same room, on the same bed. There’s no way I wouldn’t be nervous.

Rather, how can Rifreya be so nonchalant about it?

Thinking this, I look at her face.

The candle’s light is serving as backlighting, and her face is bright red. It seems like she is pretty desperate here.

Being way too stubborn here might be bad.

(Well, if it is just sleeping together…) (Hikaru)

I think this world is pretty broadminded on that front.

In cheap inns, there’s even big rooms where you sleep huddled up together. In those cases, there’s no separate ones for men and women.

Rifreya probably has grown in that kind of environment too.

“Only sleeping, okay?” (Hikaru)

“Fufu, of course. I don’t mind it being that for today.” (Rifreya)

Isn’t the role of man and woman reversed here in this type of situation?

The perception in those areas really must be different in an isekai.

I don’t understand their common sense.

“T-Then, good night.” (Hikaru)

“Yes, good night, Hikaru. Is it okay to get a bit closer? It is okay, right? Fufu, uhehe…” (Rifreya)

Rifreya has a strangely high temperature.

I would be lying if I said the soft sensation of her skin wasn’t inciting any strange feelings.

(What do you do in these kinds of situations…? Count prime numbers…? Or maybe sheeps…?) (Hikaru)

No, there’s no way I can sleep like this.