NOVEL NEXT Chapter 342
Side Story: Weapon Collection – 1
A week after meeting the daughters of the future, I went to find Fetch.
“Ah, hello! Delta-nim!”
Fetch greeted me with a tight look as soon as she saw me, but with her entire hot pink outfit and outrageous exposure from head to toe, it wasn’t like she made a proper entrance.
She still had her chaotic appearance.
“So, what about what I asked for?”
“I’ve gathered more than half of the list. Should I show you?”
That was the main reason I came here. I nodded, and Fetch took the lead as we walked. Our destination was the mansion I had purchased with Aurora’s help a while back.
Even though I had bought it without any use, it practically became Fetch’s home, but since I held the ownership, I didn’t mind who used it.
Better than leaving it empty.
“What have you been up to? I thought you’d stop by often to see how I was doing, but you haven’t come even once, which surprised me a bit.”
“Why, do you want me to come by often? Just say the word. If you want, I can do that.”
Fetch smiled awkwardly instead of answering. For her, it was probably far better to live without seeing my face while getting money regularly.
In any case, I couldn’t visit often either. There were a few women I had to take responsibility for already. Increasing how often I visited would make things much tougher for me… or rather, for Fetch.
“How’s work?”
“Well, it’s not bad. It’s a struggle meeting that gloomy woman every day and all the materials I had to fetch smell dreadful, but at least it’s more stable than when I lived as a wandering merchant. I have a steady income now.”
The gloomy, busty alchemist Linne I encountered back then eventually set up her alchemy workshop again in the capital of the Empire. Fetch was tasked with supplying materials to that workshop as per my plan.
According to Fetch, it was doing incredibly well. She had no customers due to traps designed to nearly kill someone, but it was the only facility of its kind on the entire continent, so the demand was always overflowing.
“Oh, and if this paper turns black, it means the golden key is complete, so please be sure to take Delta-nim with you for a visit.”
Fetch took out a white piece of paper that looked like a business card and waved it around. It seemed to have just come out of her hot pants; maybe that was just my imagination.
After her explanation, Fetch slightly pulled apart the left side of her tights and tucked the paper inside, then let go. The tights clung to her skin, making a slap sound.
“……”
It wasn’t my imagination.
In the suddenly quiet atmosphere, we soon arrived at our destination. A surprisingly spacious garden appeared, hard to believe it had been built in the capital of the Empire.
When Fetch wiggled her fingers at the magical fence, the iron gate began to creak ominously open. It was magic that Minerva had created, reminiscent of a door lock from my world.
I stepped inside through the heavy gate.
“……?”
I saw the outer walls of the mansion had turned completely hot pink.
I stopped walking and squinted my eyes. First off, I wasn’t mistaken. I stepped back outside the main gate. As soon as I did, the mansion reverted to a normally vintage appearance.
I stepped back inside the garden. The house turned hot pink again. It seemed the color changed based on the iron gate in between the walls.
I turned my head. Fetch was desperately trying to avoid my gaze.
“Is this magic?”
“Yes, yes. It’s hidden by magic. I was told I could use or modify it as I liked, so I added a bit of my own taste… hehehe. H-Hopefully, you’re not upset or anything, right?”
I wasn’t angry, just bewildered.
I slowly observed the mansion. It resembled not a house for people to live in, but more like a children’s toy house. There was so much hot pink everywhere it made me question if the graphics were broken.
The fact that she had cast magic to make it look normal outside showed she knew that this appearance wasn’t normal.
As my gaze landed on her, Fetch flinched slightly. Conflicted expressions appeared on her face, as if she was contemplating whether or not to apologize.
“How much did it cost?”
“Uh… quite a bit? Since it was an entire exterior transformation…”
“I see.”
I snapped my fingers. Instantly, the Power of Restoration activated, reverting the mansion to its original state. While I had said to modify it as she wanted, I hadn’t allowed something this insane.
“MY MANSION!!!!!!”
Fetch knelt on the ground, weeping as she looked at the mansion. But I wasn’t done yet. I quickly caught her in a trap with my words.
“‘MY’ mansion?”
“……”
Fetch, who had stopped crying, urgently covered her mouth with her hands and glanced at me for a cue, but it was too late. The water had spilled.
Her hot pink eyes rolled around helplessly.
Honestly, it didn’t really matter to me whether it was hot pink or not since I wouldn’t be living here, but if I didn’t clearly draw the line now, she’d be trying to take advantage later on.
“Consider yourself lucky for getting away with just this. If Kaiquilia or Minerva had come with me and saw this, you’d have to take a 10-year vacation in there.”
“……Hic.”
Realizing the implication of a 10-year break, Fetch gulped.
“I-I’ll guide you immediately!”
She shuddered as if the thought was horrifying and then rushed into the mansion.
As I followed her from behind, I couldn’t help but notice her waistline and the way her butt swayed enticingly to the rhythm of her steps, exposed beneath the hot pink underbust.
Her bottoms hardly covered half of her backside.
‘Was Fetch’s back always this provocative… Ah.’
I realized something felt strange.
“Where did your coat go?”
Now that I thought about it, the coat she’d been wearing since our first meeting was missing. Fetch shrugged nonchalantly.
“I don’t wear it much these days. Back then, my bag was so ridiculously big that not wearing a coat would cause chafing, but these days I don’t need to carry such a bag.”
“Well, if that’s the case, you should’ve just worn proper clothes!”
“This is proper clothing!!”
Fetch, feeling indignant at my comment, turned around with her head held high and adjusted her clothes.
Her hot pink underbust tights barely covered her nipples and didn’t conceal her underbust at all; it was a constant cycle of revealing and hiding her light pink areolae whenever she moved.
The hot pink tights clung to her hips and backside like vacuum-sealed packaging and were short enough to rival Lize’s dolphin shorts.
How could she possibly claim that was proper attire?
“Honesty as a merchant! The belief in only dealing with top-quality goods! This outfit is essentially the symbol of Fetch itself; how can you say this isn’t proper clothing?!”
“Honesty and trust?”
It was a little hard to discuss honesty and beliefs in front of me, given all her questionable actions. This was the first time I’d seen someone with such unconvincing arguments. Truly, Fetch was unashamed.
When I narrowed my eyes and stared, it seemed Fetch felt guilty as she coughed awkwardly. Fortunately, unlike the NPC Fetch from Brightest Darkness 4, she didn’t appear extremely shameless.
After that, Fetch had no more words and walked quietly ahead, stopping in front of a giant door to the underground. The magic circle drawn on the floor scanned both Fetch and me, emitting a blue glow.
Click, the lock released. With a heavy sound, the door began to open wide.
Inside, a multitude of weapons lined the cavernous interior. All of them were weapons, sacred catalysts, and magic wands appearing in Brightest Darkness 4.
As Fetch regained her composure, she shrugged her shoulders.
“Ahem. What do you think of my handiwork?”
Ignoring the pointless self-praise, I looked around. The weapons available in the Empire were displayed alongside a variety of blessed weapons and sacred catalysts only obtainable in the Holy Kingdom.
However, I noticed that weapons obtained by defeating bosses were nowhere to be found. With the Goddess regaining her strength, all the monsters in this world had been erased. According to Eclipse, they were supposed to return to their rightful places.
“There are many things I worked hard to obtain even from the Raphael Holy Kingdom. Did I do well?”
Seeing my satisfaction, Fetch grew even more full of herself and continued speaking with a proud expression.
“Was it tough going to the Holy Kingdom?”
“……”
The proud expression on her face disappeared in an instant. An “uh-oh” feeling washed over her hot pink eyes.
“I even gave you a mark; you mean to tell me it was hard in the Holy Kingdom? Really?”
Given what I was considered in the Holy Kingdom, it wasn’t hard to imagine the treatment Fetch received. She must’ve been revered nearly on the same level as the Popes.
I could bet that it wasn’t hard at all.
“W-Well, um, you see… hehehe.”
“Every time you open your mouth, it’s a lie, huh?”
“Eeeek! I did wrong! I’m sorry! Please forgive me just this once!”
As I lightly waved the weapon in my hand, Fetch cowered, curling into a ball on the floor, trembling. It seemed her devious nature still hadn’t left her; she was always lying whenever she found an opportunity.
‘She wouldn’t lie if it caused me harm.’
If she were cunning, maybe; but she definitely wasn’t stupid, so she knew that if she crossed that line, a second chance wouldn’t come her way.
As Fetch cowered on the floor, trembling, she suddenly jolted as if a different pattern hit her and slowly raised her head.
“Um, Delta-nim.”
“What lie are you planning this time?”
“…It’s not like that. Just, take a look at this.”
Fetch reached inside her tights and pulled out the paper she had received from Linne.
The paper was blackened.
“It looks like the golden key is complete.”
“Welcome! Hehe. You look even more handsome.”
Linne greeted me, her huge chest bouncing dramatically. I felt she might be the biggest among all the women I had met thus far, even exceeding the first Pope.
“I’ve become much prettier than before, too. If you have time—”
“Save the pointless talk; just show me the key that you say is complete.”
While her claim of being prettier wasn’t entirely a lie, the gloomy aura surrounding her was nearly gone, and though her hair was still a bit rough, it wasn’t as greasy as when it had been sticking out.
Although, she still had the dark circles under her eyes.
“Here you go. Ta-da.”
Linne dug around for a while in her cleavage, finally pulling out a key that shone in golden light.
I still didn’t get why Minerva, her daughter, Floretta, and Luna all seemed to pull things out from their cleavage. Don’t they have pockets in their clothes?
As I approached to take the key, Linne tightened her grip.
“Isn’t there something else left to do?”
“W-Well, explanations and… and…”
Linne glanced at Fetch, who was sticking close to me.
—Clang!
At that moment, something strange popped out from the walls and floor. Reflexively, I grabbed one.
‘Restraint Ring?’
It was a restraint ring made of steel.
As I applied a bit of pressure to crush it in my hand and was about to destroy the others, I halted. I noticed that the direction in which the restraint ring extended was slightly off.
“AAAH?!”
The target of the restraint rings was Fetch. One was quickly fastened around each arm, then around each leg in turn. Fetch desperately struggled, but she couldn’t break the steel bonds.
Linne looked at me with a satisfied smile.
“…The real combat test remains.”
“Delta-nim! Help me! I don’t want to die like this!”
“Don’t worry, hehehe. You won’t die. We’re just testing if the key works properly.”
“Why are you trying it on me, you horrible woman!”
“Are you stupid? I can’t try it on Delta or myself, can I?”
It seemed I should have left Fetch outside.