Why had things turned out like this?
At which branch of which choice had he picked wrong, for events to arrive at this particular state of affairs?
Long, sensitive ears quivering violently, stubby limbs slowly going stiff and straight, the occasional grinding of teeth thrown in for good measure— Artorias, whose rabbit head was being vigorously rubbed by a pair of soft little hands, could see nothing but a swimming blur, wearing the dazed look of a creature that no longer knew up from down.
As his awareness dimmed, his thoughts drifted back to that decisive moment not long ago.
… Unlike the one-sided help he had received from Adi, what he had struck with this girl called Gojouno Kaguya was something purer and far more pragmatic: a contract of mutual benefit.
Kaguya, an LV3 adventurer, would let him—a monster—go free, and would agree to supply him with a set quantity of magic stones at regular intervals as funding for his growth.
In return, he would assist her Familia against the Evils faction in the days to come.
That request of his about learning [Five Lights] had, admittedly, sent the young lady into fits of laughter at first—she had nearly choked on her own breath.
But once the laughing fit passed and she cooled down, Kaguya offered a compromise nobody saw coming.
The black-haired girl of Far East stock told him flatly that he almost certainly couldn’t grasp the essence of Five Lights on the magical level the way she had.
Even so, she was willing to spare a little time to feed him attacks in live practice built around it.
How much he ended up learning—whether he could reproduce anything of the true Five Lights in real combat—would come down entirely to Artorias’s own aptitude.
In that case, didn’t that make her something like half a teacher to him?
When he put the thought into words, he met with an unexpected refusal.
“Don’t get the wrong idea.
I’m a mere LV3 adventurer.
Where would I get the qualifications to be anyone’s teacher?” At the time the black-haired girl had folded her arms across her chest and spoken in a strictly-business tone.
“If you absolutely must call me something—monster named Artorias.” “Just think of me as a disreputable adventurer who cuts underground deals with monsters.
I’m no master of yours.” “If you want a word for it, [accomplices]—bound only because our interests happen to align right now—fits what’s between us far better.” “So don’t get too friendly.
When the crunch comes, if my Familia’s interests demand it, I might [sacrifice] you without a moment’s hesitation.
Understood?” Cold words, delivered with a perfectly grave face.
But Artorias had spent a stretch of his previous life in an office, and something told him those words weren’t what Kaguya actually felt.
Not tsundere, exactly—more like plain stubbornness talking.
He suspected that in drawing that kind of hard-shelled remark out of her, he had brushed without meaning to against a topic one shouldn’t raise lightly with a girl like Gojouno Kaguya.
Aware of as much, Artorias steered the conversation elsewhere by introducing a portion of his abilities—smoothly, as if it were the natural next step.
He said nothing whatsoever about the Dungeon or the Power of the Beast (over beast) tied to Tia-Mama, offering only a simple demonstration and explanation of the magic [Devourer (monster eater)], which let him consume and change form.
Somewhere in the middle of it, she recognized the weapon he carried, so he went ahead and laid out his connection to Adi as well.
He saw no harm in it.
After all, she belonged to the same just Familia as Ryuu, the elf so closely bound to the protagonist, and she had identified the weapon’s previous owner before he explained anything—which meant she was probably quite close to Adi herself.
And then he watched the expression on Kaguya’s formerly solemn face transform in a heartbeat.
“Hoh hoh.
Adi handed you that equipment of her own accord?
That girl actually gave a monster the gear her big sister once gave her?” “Now that is something~” The way her eyes ran over him, up and down, had plainly switched from serious business to hunting for amusement.
“I see.
I see indeed.” Gojouno Kaguya nodded with the air of someone thoroughly convinced.
“So all this about not wanting to hurt humans—the truth is that the first person you ran into happened to be that hopeless softie, she showed you a scrap of kindness, and now you want even less to make enemies of humankind?” “As reasons go, it’s certainly acceptable.
The first bond ever forged between an adventurer and a monster—one might even call it moving.” “Personally, though, I think another version might land a little closer to the truth.
A rational monster accepts help from a beautiful young adventurer—and falls for his benefactor at first sight.” Artorias’s mighty frame—no, his rabbit frame—shuddered.
What was this woman suddenly going on about???
“In other words, the monster named Artorias was shown the tiniest bit of warmth, and hopelessly fell in love with that guileless little fool Adi.” “My, my.
I already thought you were entertaining enough when you said you wanted to steal [Five Lights] out from under me.
Who knew a monster like you had such a pure, adorable side.” “Love at first sight for the one who helped you—which volume of which heroic saga did you crawl out of, Miss Fairy~” “…That’s just your own idle guesswork.
I never said any such thing myself.” Artorias flatly denied the barbaric, one-hundred-percent-romance-brained deduction—while, without quite noticing, breaking off eye contact with her entirely.
“But isn’t that lovely?
There’s nothing wrong at all with seeking encounters in the Dungeon.” “Grrrgh—Kaguya, you—!” In the end he had been teased within an inch of his life.
Still, thanks to all that clowning around, the taut, adversarial charge in the air had eased considerably.
Artorias assumed that would be where the matter rested.
Who could have guessed that Adi—the very person in question—would actually turn up on this floor, a floor he hadn’t even been operating on.
Ohhh~ The instant he saw Kaguya’s smile deepen at the sight of Adi, Artorias silently made up his mind.
He would not give her a single opening to mock him!
And yet.
When he saw those eyes brimming with expectation, the big hands stretching toward him that he ultimately couldn’t refuse, and the girl’s breathing growing steadily heavier— only then did he realize how catastrophically wrong the silent nod of acceptance had been.
Gojouno Kaguya, the first girl to plant him atop her lovely hair, came from distinguished stock—you could read it in her clothing and in every gesture she made.
Her personality might be vicious and her rabbit-petting technique less than tender, but she was, at the end of the day, a well-bred young lady.
Her handling carried a certain careless whim, yet it also had proper measure and a clear method to it.
She must have spent plenty of time playing with small animals at home before becoming an adventurer, because she knew where to be gentle and where to press.
The energetic girl in front of him now, stars blazing in her eyes, was another matter entirely!
Adi’s approach to petting was zero technique and pure, undiluted emotion.
On top of that, she had presumably never done anything like this before, which left nothing but raw, unfiltered enthusiasm.
The adventurer before him seemed to have no concept whatsoever of knowing when to stop.
“So cute!
Such a soft little body!
Nnngh, how can something this pettable exist in the Dungeon!” “Ah, the ears!
Kaguya-chan, did you see that?
Mister Artorias’s ears just twitched—!” “His tummy’s so soft too.
Let me bury my face in it~” Every single motion ran on the simple, homespun philosophy of “if I rub hard enough, you’re bound to love it.” Being affectionately manhandled under that particular doctrine, Artorias felt his brain being shaken into a smoothie.
And on top of all that— Miss Kaguya, standing off to the side the whole time with her arms folded, wearing the unmistakable expression of someone enjoying a good show, her grin threatening to split all the way to her ears.
Under pressure in both body and spirit, Artorias couldn’t hold out much longer.
His rabbit legs kicked once, and his eyes rolled clean back into his skull.
As his consciousness receded, in those final moments he had already resolved one thing: From this day forward, he would never again be a woman’s plaything.
____ 👻🔥Walnut-chan — Patre*n🔥👻 🔥 New history: DanMachi: