༺ Second Moon (1) ༻
Hi-oong—
A strange sound came out of the spider’s tiny mouth.
How should I even begin to describe it? It was a sound that was similar to the sound of the wind escaping from a balloon through a small hole or a small animal calling for its mother.
Whatever it was, the sound that this spider made was indeed quite strange and funny.
Was Luna also surprised by the unexpected sound?
“K-Kong Kong, is that the sound you just made? Do it again!”
Grrrrrgggg—!
When Luna shook the spider she held in her palm, it jumped down and scurried over to the first floor with an attitude that seemed to be saying that it was immensely annoyed.
It must have returned to its home— the jar.
I had looked down at the spider as a gross-looking animal till now, but it turned out to be a very clever little creature. Anyways, fuck! I shouldn’t miss this opportunity since I had gotten help, unexpectedly so, from an animal!
“See, we really did nothing here.”
“T-This is strange…”
However, Luna still couldn’t let go of her suspicion and sniffled and twitched her nose, trying to smell things out inside the room.
Oh, right! Luna still had her specialty— sniffing out scents.
Ssk—
She lifted the blanket, covering me from head to toe, and sniffed around my neck and sides.
“Hmm…”
Then Luna stopped sniffing as if she was deeply pondering something.
“W-What’s wrong?”
“The smell is everywhere, I can’t really tell for sure… we need to air this place out.”
And after uttering those words, she headed for the window and opened it wide with her hands.
Suddenly, a cool breeze blew in from the outside, cooling down my face, which had heated up from the surprise and excitement I had been feeling due to this situation. I felt relieved but was still not entirely at ease.
“Seriously, nothing happened here. Didn’t you already see it yourself when Kong Kong howled?”
“Well, it did, but…”
“Luna, I know that it’s hard to trust anyone in this town of Sodomora, but we at least need to trust ourselves as we are a team— members of the same party, right?
“You’re right. Y-Yeah, I guess I was just being too sensitive. Sorry, Hassan.”
Somehow, the words that had been delivered to her with quite a bit of a struggle on my part, had managed to move Luna’s heart, and she even apologized to me, unexpected as that may be. It was only then that I could breathe a sigh of relief.
Fucking hell! Perhaps it was better for me to not do something like cheating on Luna. The guilt I felt just from lying to her was enough to make me feel like the blood in my body was drying up.
“I’m sorry for misunderstanding you, Hassan. D-Do you dislike me now…?”
Luna apologized once again; as though she was truly sorry for misunderstanding me as I did nothing wrong.
And then, glancing at me, who was lying down on the ground, she looked unsure about what to do. The look she gave at that moment seemed very pitiful and sad.
I felt a tremendous sense of guilt wash over me at that sight.
“Uh, about that… I understand that something like that can happen sometimes”
I wondered if I could say something cool and comforting to make Luna’s uneasiness go away, but I couldn’t think of anything in particular.
So I decided to redirect the conversation to Luna, who still seemed to be feeling hesitant about something.
“Anyway, where did you go? It seemed to have taken you a while to return.”
“Oh! Hassan, I brought something good for you! Wait a moment!”
Thump— Thump—
Luna rushed down to the first floor and quickly returned with something chubby that was squirming in her hand. At a glance, it looked like the fingers of a fat dude.
“W-What’s that?”
“This here? It’s a loach—”
“No, it’s better for me not to know what that is. But why is that—?”
Squirm— Squirm—
It looked really grotesque.
Because I had a memory of raiding a beehive with my father and eating a few larvae, I think I knew how that thing would taste. Uh, to express the taste of those things I ate… they had something like a popping texture that started to roll around in your mouth once you chewed on it… They truly had an awful and disgusting taste.
“This is really good for severe muscle pain!”
“I see…”
“A-And, it’s really good for men, too. Anyway, Hassan, I worked so hard to dig it up from the park grounds to give it to you. Come on, try it.”
She dug it up from the park grounds to give it to me?
When I looked at Luna more clearly, I noticed that she was covered in dirt, and her skin seemed to have gotten sunburned. It was evident that she had gone through some hardship not long ago.
Holy fuck! While Luna was suffering out there, under the sun, my schlong got hard from touching another woman’s feet that wasn’t Luna’s. All of this was really the fault of this damned dastardly dick of mine.
“Ah—”
So, I promptly opened my mouth.
“W-Why are you opening your mouth like that?”
“You said you brought that thing to give it to me, right? Come on, just put it inside my mouth. Ah—”
“B-But…”
“Hurry up. I need to get well soon so that we can go out for a walk and get some food together.”
“B-But…”
Luna hesitated as she looked at the grotesque organisms in her hand. Why did she want to back out at this point? Of course, I just want to repay the kindness she was showing to me in any way I can.
Also, I could think of this as a punishment for myself to atone for my sins.
“Come on, hurry up. My jaws are starting to hurt already.”
“Uh… O-Okay.”
Luna finally placed three or four of those plump things inside my mouth. I closed my mouth, chewed, and swallowed them, feeling like I was about to die from doing something like this.
I had been eating this kind of caterpillar since I followed my father around the mountain and became Elfriede’s slave. The taste was usually terrible, but it was high in proteins, which was good for the body.
However, at that moment, something popped, and the taste of popping and tingling became very strong, so I was momentarily surprised. What was this, a bug with a carbonated taste?
I thought it would be terrible, but it was unexpectedly really tasty.
“A-Are you okay, Hassan?”
Gulp—
As I swallowed all the bugs inside my mouth, Luna observed my reaction carefully.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“I-It has a strong poison, so you’re supposed to neutralize it before eating it… Y-You should have felt it in your mouth right away.”
“Poison?”
The mention of poison suddenly gave me chills all over. Damn it! No wonder I felt something popping in my mouth like that…
However, despite Luna’s fears, I didn’t feel any noticeable changes in my body.
“It’s okay.”
“Last time, you were also stung by wasps, but it went away quickly. Maybe you’re immune to poisons, Hassan! Then we can use all the other venomous insects to make an elixir for you! You’ll get better really soon! Just wait!”
Luna was about to go downstairs, thinking that she had made a huge discovery just now. At this rate, I might be forced to drink the bitter and horrible-tasting green juice-like concoctions she would prepare for me forever!!!
“Oh, m-my body is suddenly feeling stronger!”
I shouted and got up abruptly as if I was surprised by the sudden changes in my body. Luna, who was about to go downstairs, stopped in her tracks and then her eyes suddenly widened as she looked at me.
“Hassan! How did you get up?”
“Wow, Luna. I can move my body now!”
“Oh my, it looks like my elixir worked!”
“Surely!”
Since my body was already healed, Luna probably would not make an elixir or catch insects for me! I am indeed very smart.
“Hassan must be the type that responds well to elixirs! I’ll make it for you every morning from now on!”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hippolyte had left after saying she would come back with her wallet but she had not shown up even after a long time had passed. Soon, the evening fell as we waited for her in the hut.
“Maybe she ran away because she didn’t want to give me 3 silvers…”
Still waiting for Hippolyte, Luna looked on nervously, as if she had seen the ominous figure of a silver-tier warrior somewhere.
As for me, I just nodded in agreement and spoke, “I guess so.”
It seemed that empathizing with women was quite important or so I have heard.
Uh, I wondered if she would like it more if I showed excessive sympathy…
“Hippolyte is really a bad woman. Breaking other people’s things and running away, she is truly trash.”
“No, Hassan. You don’t have to speak so harshly about her. There might be a reason behind her behavior. She’s a skilled adventurer, so she might have had something come up.”
What!? I didn’t expect to hear such a reply coming out of her mouth.
“I-Is that so? Luna, you’re much more broad-minded than I expected.”
“Anyway, here… it’s done! Hassan, catch this! Moai!”
Luna, who was carving wood while waiting for Hippolyte to come, suddenly gave me a small wooden statue in the shape of a Korean Moai statue.
As always, the shape and structure were very crude, so you could only vaguely see that it had a human form. Still, compared to Somnia’s ominous totems that I had seen before, this was quite charming to the eyes.
Also, this piece of wood that looked like a clumsy prehistoric artifact played a significant role in my growth.
Ding—
Words appeared before my eyes, along with the usual sound effect.
As always, it meant using 100 task points to increase a specific stat by one. My current task points exceeded 400 already.
Luna also said that she had accumulated a considerable amount of Karma or something from our fight with Somnia, so she told me that she could afford to make three or four totems for me.
If I converted all these into ability points, my level would increase by at least four points.
So, my current level, level 12, would become level 16, right?
Wow, damn! It felt like just the other day, I was struggling at the single-digit level, but now, after I had become an adventurer, I had broken through to the two-digit barrier and was even about to reach level 20!
If things continued on like this, it seemed like becoming a gold-tier adventurer was not just a dream anymore!
Of course, having high ability points didn’t solve everything. However, despite everything, there was a certain joy in feeling like I was steadily growing as I leveled up fast.
It felt like I had been putting in real effort into my growth.
Believing in my luck, I pressed the button that would let me increase my strength stat.
With a Ding sound, my strength point increased by one.
Fucking hell! I failed…!
So I used the next totem and pressed the strength button once again. Ding. My strength point still only increased by one point again.
“Damn it!”
What were the chances of failing twice in a row with a 40% probability? It was a complicated calculation. Therefore, it was hard for me to calculate it in my head. Still, wasn’t it an extremely unlikely probability for me to fail twice in a row?
As I was frowning and screaming in anger, Luna, who was carving the wooden figures again, suddenly raised her shoulders as if she were startled.
“Why, why? You don’t like the Moai…?”
“Oh, no. Um, Luna. Pick one out of 1, 2, and 3.”
“Again? Hassan, sometimes you talk about really strange things.”
“Well, I have a bit of a situation here…”
“A situation?”
“Um… nevermind.”
No matter how much Luna insisted, I didn’t feel like talking about my strange ability with her.
I didn’t really like talking about myself to others, to begin with, and I wanted to avoid unnecessary controversy and misunderstandings.
“Don’t think too much, just pick one.”
“I’ll choose 3 then!”
Number 3? Is it stamina?
I chose stamina as Luna said.
Ding—
Then, after that usual sound, only one point went up again.
“Fucking damn it…!”
“Why, why again…?”
Luna trembled as she looked at me with shaky eyes. It seemed like she got scared because the anger that had come out of me, when the gacha roll had failed, was simply too intense.
“Luna, choose one more for the last time!”
“T-Then 3 again…”
Do I have to press on stamina again?
I was a little hesitant to do that.
Since it was the last one, should I follow my choice again? Or, should I press the stamina stat following Luna’s words, who had let me hit the jackpot last time?
In the end, feeling that I should follow Luna’s words again, I pressed the stamina stat button.
Ding—
Ding—
As two sounds simultaneously rang out, my stamina stats increased by two times!
“Long lives Chaos.”
Suppressing the joy in my heart, I shouted the ridiculous incantation to check my stats.
Name: Hassan
Level: 12 → 17
Strength: 5 → 7
Agility: 4
Stamina: 3 → 6
Task Points: 22
Blessings: Blessing of Chaos 》Shining Hand 》Night’s Cloak
“Holy shit!”
“Why, why!?”
My overall stats had reached 17 points! Although there were several failures, I was overjoyed beyond measure by the single instant of success that I was able to achieve!
So, like before, I hugged Luna’s waist tightly from behind and spun her around in the air. Her waist was always so slender that I could easily hold it within my arms.
Whirrr— Whirrr—
“Luna, you’re really the goddess of luck!”
“M-Me, a goddess!? Hassan, you shouldn’t say such disrespectful words!”
While I was holding Luna’s body and spinning it body around like a merry-go-round for some time…
“S-Stop it! I feel dizzy! Ugh!”
Luna groaned as if she was suddenly feeling intense pain. I was so surprised when I heard her sudden shout that I immediately put her down on the ground.
“W-Why, what’s wrong?”
“My stomach hurts a little—”
She frowned and crouched down as if she was in great pain. Did I accidentally press on some wrong acupressure points when hugging her tightly?
While I was worrying about that, Luna straightened her back and sat down on the ground, trying to look as if nothing had happened to her.
“Huft, it’s nothing, really. Maybe it’s almost that… the time of the month. Uhhh…”
“Time of the month?”
What does she mean by that?
When I wondered what that meant, I soon remembered that women have a week-long period of being sensitive and uncomfortable every month. So, Luna called her period “time of the month,” huh?
Anyway, a woman’s period, or “time of the month,” could be quite problematic for them.
During that time, my younger sister would be in agony and suffer for a whole week.
Like a bear that had been disturbed during hibernation, she raged around and acted like a vicious buffoon. And I was the one who had to watch the damage done by her from the sides.
Damn it! Just thinking about that incident almost made me shudder.
It was to the extent that… even though I didn’t know who my sister’s future boyfriend would be, I knew I needed to treat him really well so that he wouldn’t return her to us ever again.
Forget about my younger sister from my previous world, even Elfriede, who really liked to whip me around, became even more vicious during her menstrual week. It was so unbearable that I almost cried just thinking about it.
I wondered if Luna’s hidden destructive personality would also emerge during this period of time.
Maybe Luna would start exhibiting hidden traits that I would not even be able to imagine during her “time of the month.”
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