Interlude II: The Die Is Cast
“Now what could this be?” Yumina found something strange as we were searching through the artifacts in Babylon’s Storehouse (with the exception of any dangerous and/or sexual artifacts).
Okay, so while it was indeed strange, I knew exactly what it was with just a cursory glance. It was a cube with its six sides each marked with a different number of stars (?), from one star to six. No matter how you looked at it, it was a die.
It seemed that dice existed in this world, too. Except they weren’t called dice, but “dicen” instead.
And they were used as a divination tool to make decisions with the guidance of the spirits rather than a random number generator for games and the like.
“It’s quite big for a dicen, isn’t it?” Lu muttered after taking a look at the die Yumina was holding. It was indeed quite big. Dice were usually about one or two centimeters wide, even over here. But the one Yumina had was about thirty centimeters wide. It was comically huge as far as dice go.
“Is this perhaps another artifact?”
“I’d assume so, since it’s in the Storehouse and all, but...” Elze and Linze paused their sorting of the weapons and weapon accessories and came over this way. Oh, and if you were wondering, I had already unlocked all the chests.
Yae and Hilde were carrying over the sorted chests, but also paused to send a curious look this way.
“Find any spec sheets?”
“No... not at all. This is all we found.” All of the artifacts stored in the Storehouse were contained in cubic chests. The artifacts, including the blueprints, were all compressed and stored similarly through a technique similar to my [Storage] spell.
Without the spec sheets, we’d have no idea how to use any of the artifacts.
Oh, and by the way, the spec sheets were written in Partheno, which I could inexplicably read. According to Parshe, the inscription magic and translation magic infused within was able to directly transmit the meaning into my brain upon sight... or something like that. Anyway, I was just glad I didn’t have to use [Reading] to read it.
“I guess the easiest way to find out would be to just ask the manager, but... where’d Parshe go, anyway?” Parshe, the manager of the Storehouse, was nowhere to be found. Could’ve sworn she was here a second ago. Elze had just the answer I was looking for.
“Oh, Parshe went to go deliver an artifact to the alchemy lab. She said it’d be useful as a compounding tank or something.” A compounding tank? Like for pharmaceuticals or something? The Storehouse was Babylon’s treasure trove. It was filled with items that’d be useful for other buildings on Babylon, so there’d be no problem redistributing them, but...
“Let’s just hope she doesn’t trip and break it...” That’s the klutz of a manager we’re talking about. Pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who was slightly worried.
“Hey, get back to work everyone! We want to get this over with at some point in time, don’t we?” Leen’s voice came echoing down from the Storehouse loft. Paula was up there with her hands placed angrily on her hips, too.
“If the Library is home to the crystallization of ancient knowledge, then the Storehouse is home to the crystallization of ancient technology.” Leen was quite keen to see all things to be seen, it would seem.
“Since it’s a dicen, it’s meant to be thrown to decide something, right? Lemme see it for a sec, Yumina.”
“Ah, Sue! Wait...!” Before I could stop her, Sue snatched the die from Yumina and tossed it into the air.
Though it may have been a die in shape, it was an artifact made by Doctor Babylon herself. There was no telling what would happen. In fact, I was sure that something would happen! The die bounced off the white floor of the Storehouse before rolling and stopping on one.
“Ngh. That’s bad luck.” Did I mention that dicen were fortune-telling tools in this world? Apparently six meant excellent luck, and one meant bad luck.
Sue furrowed her eyebrows and not a second later, the die started to make a low whistling noise... when suddenly, we all got sucked in towards it. What the hell? “Kyah?”
“W-what’s going on?!”
“My liege?!” Right before my eyes, Yumina, Elze, and Yae got sucked into the “one” star on the top of the die.
One by one, Linze, Lu, Leen, Sue, and Hilde got sucked in like a vacuum cleaner, leaving Paula flailing around frantically before I got sucked into the die as well.
“Dammit! See?! Of course something like this would happen!” I cursed the name of the genius doctor from five millennia ago as my consciousness faded away.
“Oww... ...Where am I?” I woke up in a place that resembled Babylon’s garden. The flowers and the trees were bright and lively. Everyone else was sitting around the lawn. Thank goodness. It looked like everyone was safe. But still, where were we...?
“Touya, look at that.”
“Huh? ...What is that...?” Yumina pointed up to the blue sky dotted with clouds, where Paula’s giant, translucent face peered down at us.
Up above was a faint five-pointed star pattern. Don’t tell me...
“Are we inside the die?” Well, I did see everyone get sucked in, so I had a feeling that was the case.
“Teleportation magic brought us to a reality marble... perhaps. It might be similar to the hangar. Paula?! Can you hear us?” Leen shouted at the giant Paula in the sky. Paula nodded and raised both fists in the air.
“We’re safe! And sorry, but could you head to the alchemy lab and tell Parshe what happened?” Paula nodded again before disappearing. She probably went to go find Parshe. Who knows if we’ll be safe, though... It’s not like she could talk... Well, I’m sure she’ll be able to get the gist across with some charades. I hope.
“Anyway, what exactly could this artifact be, I wonder?”
“An enemy-trapping artifact... perhaps?” Yae and Hilde wondered aloud as they surveyed the area.
We are indeed trapped in here, but... I just remembered what this situation reminded me of. It was like the magic gourd from Journey to the West that the Gold Horn and Silver Horn Kings got sucked into after responding to their names. It was like that, but... We didn’t respond to our names.
How did Wukong escape from the gourd after he got sucked in, again? “Excuse me, Touya... Can we not use your teleportation magic to escape?”
“Oh, right. That.” I couldn’t help but clap my hands after Lu pointed out the obvious.
Why didn’t I think of that...? Wow, how embarrassing. I cleared my throat, activated [Gate] and... nothing happened. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t open a [Gate] right now. In fact, my magic’s just fizzling out.”
“Huh?!” Leen and Linze tried using magic just to make sure, but their magic too fizzled out, unable to activate. Seemed like magic couldn’t be used here. “Nope. Teleportation magic won’t do you any good here.”
“Wh-who’s there?!” The voice came from midair, where a woman appeared, sitting in a chair.
She wore glasses and a white coat as she smoked something like a cigarette. Her eyes looked languid, but a bold smile adorned her face.
“Dr. Babylon...”
“Huh, that’s her?!” Yumina’s eyes popped.
That was her, beyond a shadow of a doubt. She was a perfect match to the 3D model of her that Cesca showed me the first night I became the master of the Garden. Oh, on second thought, this could just be another 3D model...
“Welcome to Babylon World. Allow me to entertain you with some momentary amusement. The rules of this game are quite simple. Just roll the dicen and advance that number of spaces. It’s that simple.” A map demarcated with square spaces from Start to Finish appeared beside Dr. Babylon. And just like the Storehouse spec sheets, the labels on the map appeared to be encoded with translation magic, as I could read them even though they were written in Partheno.
Sure, I could read it, but... umm...
“What is this, Snakes and Ladders...?” Not only did dicen exist five millennia ago, but so did Snakes and Ladders, I guess. Seems it just fell out of fashion these days for some reason. But anyway, that’s not the problem.
“Hunt five goblins?”
“Gather ten stones...”
“Do an impression of a king ape?”
“What might these inscriptions on the spaces mean?” It didn’t seem to click with the others, but I knew exactly what was going on. When you landed on a space, you had to do what was written there! “You have three hours. If you reach the goal within that time limit, I shall return you to where you came from. But even if you don’t reach the goal in three hours, you’ll still be returned to where you came from, so don’t worry.”
“So I guess we’re not trapped here forever.” Linze breathed a sigh of relief. Even if we don’t reach the goal...? Sounds kinda fishy. There’s no way the doctor would make a child’s game mere child’s play.
After I gave her a dubious glare, the 3D model of Dr. Babylon predictably continued to speak.
“But if you lose, I’ll strip you all of your clothes as a penalty. And I do mean all your clothes, including your underwear!”
“Ugh, you’re the worst!!!” Everyone cast their voices in unison, echoing the cast die.
So in other words, if we don’t reach the goal in three hours, we’ll be kicked out of here butt-naked? “What?! Are you sure this person’s really the Dr. Babylon?!”
“I’m afraid so...” I gave the enraged Lu the cold, hard truth. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’d thought the exact same thing. The doctor was the type of whimsical person to follow through on her impulses, no matter how stupid they might be. The fact that she was a genius only made matters worse. She undoubtedly must’ve been a headache to everyone around her.
“Now let the games begin. See you in three hours.” The doctor’s midair 3D model disappeared and a die the same size as the one we got sucked into fell down onto the ground.
And at the same time, the remaining time appeared next to the map and began counting down.
“Wh-what do we do?”
“We do what we gotta do, or we’ll be stripped naked?”
“It wouldn’t be a problem if it were just us, but...” Yae, Elze, and Hilde all shot their glances at me. Well, yeah. I knew exactly what they wanted to say.
“Darling, you’re not thinking of losing on purpose, are you?”
“...No... Of course not...”
“You hesitated just now.”
“You looked away just now.” As soon as I answered Leen’s question, Yumina and Lu immediately shot me down with their double princess glare. Just let it slide, Touya. Just let it slide.
Obviously, I had no intention of hindering everyone else... but I had to admit, I was thinking if we lost, we lost. Even if we got out of there butt naked, I could just use [Mosaic] to cover our bits.
“U-Uhm... time’s ticking away...” Linze snapped everyone’s attention back to the map’s timer. We had already wasted three minutes.
“Not good. We can’t waste time or we’ll be kicked out of here naked.”
“So anyway, we just gotta roll that dicen, right? Go?” Sue tossed the giant die. It bounced two or three times as it rolled. It landed on three.
“Ah, the marks on the map...” The star mark on the starting line began to advance on the map. To show us which space we’re supposed to land on, I guess. And sure enough, the star mark stopped exactly three spaces later.
The next moment, the die disappeared and our surroundings transformed into a forest.
“Hunt five silbirds...?” I read aloud the text written on the space we stopped on, and right on cue, a number of squawking silver-winged birds started flying out from the trees.
“I guess those are silbirds?”
“Are they real?” Yumina dubiously asked as she gazed at the silver birds fluttering about the sky. I thought they were probably 3D models... or some sort of summoning magic, but...
“Anyway, let’s just follow the instructions.” I unsheathed Brunhild in Gun Mode and set my sights on the silver birds fluttering in the air.
I fired two shots. Pew, pew! The first shot missed. The second hit the silbird, but instead of falling to the ground, it unexpectedly just faded away in the air. Even though I shot regular bullets. Not magic bullets, just plain old regular bullets.
“I guess it was just a model after all. Looks like they’re set to disappear when hit.”
“Touya, allow me.” Yumina took out the Colt Army Model 1860 I made for her out from her ring’s [Storage] and set her sights. I had modified the gun’s barrel and grip to make it easier for Yumina to hold, so it looked quite different from the original model.
Yumina pulled the trigger in rapid succession, annihilating three silver birds as they flew. Amazing.
Yumina shot down the last remaining bird with her keen eye as well.
And at the same time, a chime bonged and the giant die reappeared on the ground.
“Looks like we cleared the requirements.”
“Guess that means it wants us to continue.” I nodded at Linze.
Roll the die and do what’s written on the space you land on. Clear the requirements and you can advance. Exactly like Snakes and Ladders. Except we had no opponent, so we had no turns off to relax.
“Who’s gonna roll next?” Sue asked as she picked up the die. I wasn’t sure it mattered who rolled the die, but we decided an order and had Elze roll next.
“What’s written on the next few spaces?”
“Let’s see... Sing a song, Advance two spaces, Laugh for an entire minute, Do a thousand pushups, Talk like a cat, Wear the provided wig... None of these look any good.”
Lu frowned as she read the map. Well, that’s the doctor for you. ‘Advance two spaces.’ leading right to ‘Do a thousand pushups.’ is just plain cruel.
“Well, I’ll give it a roll.” Elze tossed the die with a yelp. The die tumbled on the ground and stopped on six.
“Yay!” Elze did a fist pump. She realized that bigger numbers meant reaching the goal faster. Which was great and all, but...
The map indicator rhythmically advanced spaces one by one.
Once the indicator stopped on the sixth space, our surroundings changed once more. And once again, the die disappeared.
We appeared to be inside a castle’s dressing room this time. Racks of clothes surrounded us on all sides.
The walls on either side were full-length mirrors, and there was a desk in the center of the room. A box with a large hole cut out of the top sat atop it. There was something written on the side of the box facing us.
“The instructions on the space say to ‘wear the designated wigs’... But I don’t see any wigs anywhere.”
“Maybe they’re inside the box? There’s something written on it at least.”
“Let’s see here. ‘Every person must stick their hand into the box and wear whatever they pick out.’ Wait, does that mean we have to, too?” Leen read the words on the box, a hint of incredulity creeping into her voice. She’d expected only the person who’d rolled the die would have to participate, but it seemed this was something we’d all be doing. It appeared we’d be sharing our fates for the duration of this game.
“Well...we might as well do this in dice-rolling order. Elze, you’re first.”
“Huh, me?!” Though the hole was rather wide, we couldn’t see inside the box. There must have been some kind of magical effect placed on it or something to hide its contents.
Elze timidly lowered her hand into the box, grabbed something, and pulled it out.
At first glance, it looked to be a brimless black hat, but...
“This is a wig?”
“Perhaps...something will happen if you put it on?” Elze hesitantly put the hat on at her younger sister’s urging. A second later, her hairstyle was transformed.
I see now. S-So this is how it works. Heh.
“Ahahahahaha! No way! I’m sorry, Elze this is just too good!!!”
“W-What?!” I couldn’t stop laughing. The wig had turned Elze’s hairdo into a crew cut. I had no idea how it had managed to make her long hair disappear, but it had. Illusion magic, perhaps? Bahahaha, I’m laughing too hard to think straight! The others all turned away, doing their best to hide their laughter.
Confused, Elze turned to one of the mirrors to see what she looked like. “Are you serious?!” Elze screamed as she saw her reflection.
She tried to take the cap off her head, but it seemed glued on. I suspected that her hairstyle would remain this way until we rolled the dice again, or until some time passed.
“Jeez! You guys hurry up and pull your wigs out too! Touya, you’re next!”
“Wait, I’m next?!” Urged onward by Elze, I stuck my hand into the box and pulled out a golden cap. This... looks flashy.
“Hurry up and put it on!”
“Alright, alright...” I turned around and put the cap on. When I turned back, everyone burst into laughter. What kind of hairstyle did this wig give me? I looked over at the mirror and saw a blonde, twin tailed me staring back. Are you kidding me...
“Now we match, Darling. Heh.” Leen walked up behind me and patted me on the shoulder. This isn’t the kind of matching I wanted! “Oh whatever! Everyone, hurry up and get your wigs so we can get out of here! Who’s next?!” Trying to hide my embarrassment, I hurried the others onward. Everyone ended up with a ridiculous hairstyle. Linze had ringlet curls, Yumina had an afro, Lu had dreadlocks, Leen had a pompadour, Yae had a mohawk, Hilde had a lion’s mane, and Sue ended up looking half-bald.
Out of all of them, mine might actually have been the least ridiculous. Though I still would have preferred Elze’s crew cut wig. Actually, the hairstyles themselves weren’t ridiculous, it was just that none of them fit. There were some people who could really pull off a pompadour or mohawk.
And Linze’s ringlet curls actually looked kind of good on her. If she had a more domineering personality, they would have fit her perfectly. As it was, they kind of clashed with her quiet demeanor.
Once we all had our wigs on, the dicen fell to the ground again.
Linze picked it up and threw it with all her might. It landed on four. The star mark moved another four spaces forward.
“This one says...‘Everyone say aloud the color of your underwear.’ Wait whaaaaaat?!” Linze screamed hysterically. The girls all looked at each other in shock. I let out a wild cheer inside my heart, but kept my expression perfectly neutral.
“Hey Linze! Why’d you have to land there, of all places?!”
“You’re scaring me, sis! Don’t glare at me with that hairdo!” Linze raised her arms to shield herself from Elze’s menacing stare. The crew cut made her twice as scary.
“We simply have to announce the color of our underwear? Very well, mine is white.” Sue casually announced her underwear’s color. There’s a lot I wanted to say about her nonchalance when it came to underwear, but now wasn’t the time. I figured I might as well use this opportunity to mention mine too.
“I guess I’ll say mine too. My underwear’s black. Alright, next.” Since I was standing next to Sue, I more or less established that we’d go down in line.
Next was Yae, who was standing on my other side. She was looking awfully flustered, which would have been cute if she didn’t have a mohawk.
“Hm?” Mine and Sue’s wigs had vanished. Ah, I get it now. Once we clear the next event, the previous event’s effects vanished.
“So they’ll go away once we say our underwear’s color.”
“I wonder if that means they won’t vanish if we lie about it.” Yae muttered, looking depressed. Had Yae been hoping to get away with a lie? Knowing her, we would have been able to see through it right away.
Normally I’d have said no one would be that cruel, but knowing the doctor she might really do it.
I was wearing black boxers, so my answer certainly hadn’t been a lie. I’d gotten them from Zanac’s shop, and they were a copy of the underwear I’d been wearing when I’d first come to this world.
“M-My underwear also happens to be... wh-wh... ngh... r-red...” Yae’s face went as red as her underwear as she said that. She buried her face in her hands and crouched down.
The mohawk vanished, and was replaced by her usual hairstyle. It seemed answering really did get rid of our wigs.
So her underwear is red, huh? If I recall correctly, Yae’s a fan of loincloths. Which would mean right now she’s wearing a red loincloth.
My musings were interrupted by Leen, who held out something to me with a grin. I believe she was next in line to answer.
“What’re these?”
“Earplugs. I can’t sleep at night without them. Good thing I always keep them on me. I don’t suppose you could put those on for me, Darling?”
“Nice going, Leen!”
“Why did you not bring those out earlier, why did you not?!” Yae accosted Leen, tears in her eyes. Tch, I can’t believe she had countermeasures in place... I reluctantly put in the earplugs. Wow, these really block out sound well. I never would have expected a fantasy world’s earplugs to be so well designed.
I watched as everyone said the color of their underwear, and their hairstyles returned to normal. Tsk...
Hilde was the last to go, and after she’d finished, the die fell to the ground once more.
“It is my turn now, I believe. Hah!” Yae added a hefty spin to the die as she threw it. Almost as if she were venting her frustrations onto the die.
This time the dicen came up on five. Thank goodness, it looks like we’re getting through this pretty fast.
We went through a whole slew of events, including eating very spicy food without water, dancing for a minute straight, and so on. Each of them were the kinds of things you’d get in a punishment game. Finally, we were only a few spaces from the goal. With plenty of time to spare, too. We’ll be able to make it, right? Though I was wondering what was taking Paula so long. She should have been able to get Parshe by now.
“Hah!” Leen threw the dicen, and it landed on four.
The marker moved four spaces forward, and like always our surroundings began to morph.
“Whoa?!”
“It’s the beach?!” A picturesque view spread out before us. Bright white sand, a clear blue sky, and dazzling sapphire waves as far as the eye could see.
“Is this really all an illusion?”
“The sea breeze smells so real...” Sue ran up to the water’s edge and began splashing about in the shallows.
“This must be real. The water feels completely real.”
“Hmm...It even tastes salty. I wonder if space-time magic and barrier magic...and summoning magic would be enough to make a fake sea like this.” Leen squatted down, dipped her finger into the water, and licked it.
There were wave pools and the like back on Earth, so I guess it shouldn’t have been too surprising that magic could replicate an ocean here too. Even I could make waves with water magic.
“This is astounding... Ancient technology really is impressive.” Leen was right, this was still quite impressive. Except all this technology was being used to make a board game...
Oh yeah, what were the instructions for this tile again? I looked at the map and read the instructions aloud.
“Change into the designated clothes? Does that mean...”
“I believe it’s these... Touya.”
“Huh? Oh...” I turned around to see Lu standing next to a clothes rack that had been left lying on the beach. She took one of the outfits and showed it to me.
It was a swimsuit. That’s about as cliched as it gets. There was another clothes rack with men’s’ swimsuits. There was even a changing tent.
“Wait! This swimsuit’s just a few pieces of string!”
“Apparently it adjusts itself to fit whoever’s wearing it. Is this, too, a product of ancient technology?”
“These are all awfully revealing...” The girls gathered around the clothes rack and started looking for swimsuits they liked.
I figured I wouldn’t have to be as picky, since I don’t much care what I’m wearing. But when I started looking through the rack, I realized most of these were rather bizarre.
I’m not even sure how to wear this one... It goes in a V-shape down to my crotch...The doctor sure had some strange tastes. And this is just... a single leaf. Just because a comedy group wore it doesn’t mean I will! There was another one that was completely transparent, and another that resembled a very tight speedo. Finally, I managed to find a normal pair of swim trunks.
I headed toward the changing tent, then stopped. It might be a good idea to see what happens when I get these trunks wet first. After all, knowing the doctor, they might have ended up dissolving in water.
It turned out they were safe, so I went to go change. Inside the tent there was a tiny chest and a small placard next to it that said “Please put your clothes in here once you’ve changed.” Apparently, after a set amount of time, the clothes I was wearing and the clothes in this chest would be swapped. Which meant if I didn’t want to end up naked, I better do as the sign said. I put the clothes in the chest and shut the lid. There was an audible click as the chest locked itself. I am going to get my clothes back later, aren’t I? As I expected, the girls took longer to change. They do realize that if we take too long our time limit’ll be up and we’ll get thrown out naked right?
“Sorry we took so long, Touya.”
“Ah...” Yumina left the tent first. She was wearing a white one-piece suit with a floral design.
Sue came out afterward, clad in a yellow polka-dot one-piece with frills.
Next came Elze and Linze, both wearing standard bikinis. Elze’s was red and Linze’s was blue.
Next came Yae, wearing a purple ensemble with a pareo wrapped around her. As expected, Yae’s bust revealed its true powers when freed from the surly bonds of her sarashi.
Hilde finally came out, though she seemed more than shy. Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d seen Hilde in a swimsuit. She wore a frilly orange bikini. The bottom had a skirt-like design. Hilde wasn’t quite on Yae’s level, but she had some mighty fine assets.
I wondered why they had their swords, though... Then again, I wasn’t one to talk, I’d brought Brunhild with me just in case.
I also looked over to see Lu’s swimsuit for the first time. It was an emerald one-piece with a halterneck.
Finally Leen showed up, clad in a frilly black bikini halterneck. She had a more mature atmosphere about her, but it was offset a bit by her childish body. Much like Hilde, the bottom piece of her suit was skirt-like.
“Sorry it took us so long, there was a lot to choose from in there.”
“Th-There was one outfit that was just three seashells. What was that doctor thinking...?” She was thinking something messed up, Elze.
What?! The girls on the beach went to help Hilde and Yae search for their swimsuits.
Elze and Lu were just fine, though... Did it have something to do with size? Impacts cause wilder shaking when they’re big, so maybe that made it slip to the side and... I looked away from the sea and considered the important things.
After some time, the swimsuits and the clothes in the treasure chest should be exchanged, but we were on a limit here. That damn jellyfish sure was a time waster.
Speaking of that thing, it was the enemy sent after us, so defeating it gave us the dice.
“Well, the next square is the goal, so we’re rising up regardless of what we get.”
“Sorry for the wait!” I turned to the voices coming from the sea and saw Hilde in her complete swimsuit again. Yae, however, was hiding her chest with a purple cloth tied around it. Is that her pareo? So they didn’t find it, huh?
“Let’s hurry, Touya. They’ve been poisoned by the jelly.”
“What?!”
“It’s paralysis poison. Really weak, too, so its effects should go away with time, but we should still reach the goal as soon as possible.” Leen explained the situation while looking at the affected girls, who were all sitting down. According to Yae, it felt like the leg the jelly grabbed had gone numb, and she compared it to a long time sitting in an uncomfortable position, and it didn’t sound the least bit pleasant.
I took the dice, rolled it, and got a one, putting us right on the goal. We had a total of three minutes left, so it was safe to say that we made it.
The piece moved to the goal, which caused the scenery to change. We all felt the switch overwhelm our senses, but the result was perplexing, as it was just another beach.
“Eh?!” I couldn’t help but voice my shock. After all, there was a gate saying “GOAL” about a hundred meters away from the shoreline.
Eh?! Just reaching the goal square wasn’t enough?!
“H-Hey, can you girls run?!”
“Th-That would be a harsh task...” Yae answered with a forced smile. What do I do? Sue, Leen, and Yumina wouldn’t be able to carry the paralyzed girls, meaning that I was the only one who could do it!
“Linze! Take Yumina and the rest and carry Lu to the goal!”
“O-Okay!” Lu was the most petite of the four, so she wouldn’t have been that much of a problem for them.
“I’ll carry the rest! You first, Elze!”
“Eh! Wh-? Me?! Hyah?!” Ignoring her protests, I took her from the side and raised her up in the so-called “princess carry.”
Not a second later, I started running towards the goal.
Khh... Sand isn’t easy to run on, and she’s actually heavier than I tho— I felt a sudden pressure on my skin. Elze’s silent stare hurt me deeply. The feeling of her skin on mine made my heart beat, but I tried my best to ignore it and just run.
Upon reaching the goal, I placed Elze on the sand and dashed back to the other girls.
On my way, I passed by Lu, being carried by the four unparalyzed girls. They did it by holding a limb each, and it didn’t look the least bit pleasant, but there was nothing that could be done about this.
I raised Hilde from her sitting position and carried her on my back. Dashing a hundred meters while princess carrying was really taxing, so I decided to switch to this.
“T-Touya... A-Am I not heavy...?”
“Nooo, not at all. This is nothing... to me...” Despite what I said, my breath was becoming ragged.
Man, I’ve been relying on [Boost] too much recently. I should really work out more...
The poor surface, the blazing sun, and the two mounds pushing against my back tired me both physically and mentally. Her breasts weren’t touching me directly, but there was only a single piece of cloth separating us, meaning that it wasn’t hard for me to feel both their softness and warmth.
Somehow hiding the pounding in my chest, I successfully brought Hilde to the goal.
That left only Yae. Right as the girls finished carrying Lu, I dashed back to Yae, and it was becoming really hard on my lungs and stamina.
I picked up Yae the same way I did Hilde. Her large — clearly bigger than Hilde’s — breasts attacked my back, but the pareo over them was thick enough to make them significantly less powerful than Hilde’s. I can bear this.
“A-Are you all right, Touya-dono?!”
“I... I’m... Fine!” I could barely even talk at this point. Honestly, I was probably at my limit. My legs were shaking, and I felt like I could trip at any moment, but I went too far to fall now, so I mustered my vigor and continued moving forward.
I’m so close...! My leg sank into the sand, making me tilt forward. The goal was just a few steps away, so I decided to jump towards it.
“Hyah?!”
“Bgrh!” Yae’s weight overwhelmed me. As my face became buried in the sand, someone took me by the arm and pulled me in.
Ow ow ow, hot hot hot! Apparently, my leg was still outside the goal. They could’ve been a bit more gentle, though...
“W-We made it...”
“That was close.” Linze’s and Sue’s voices made me look up and see that the countdown was stuck at one second. That was too close for comfort...
“Congratulations on reaching the goal. Unfortunately, you are victorious. I will now send you back to where you were. Feel free to play again whenever you have the chance.” Dr. Babylon’s voice resounded from out of nowhere, and the hot sand beneath my face was replaced with a cold floor. We cleared the game and came back to the Storehouse.
The swimsuits we were wearing were replaced by our original clothing.
“[R-Refresh]...” I cast a stamina-healing spell on myself. Energy re-filled my body, and the lethargy from before vanished like it was never there.
“Oh man...” That was horrible. That pervy doctor had no intention of letting us reach the goal.
“I’m sooo tired... Touya, refresh me too...”
“M-Myself, as well, please.”
“Same...” All the girls were tired, so I didn’t hesitate in complying.
After that, I took the dice on the floor.
“Yeah, we’re sealing this away. This artifact is a menace.” I put it in the Storehouse’s safe box and locked it inside. As I breathed a tired sigh, I suddenly heard hysteric voices from behind me.
“Eh?”
“Wha—?!”
“Heah?!” I turned around and saw the girls touch their own bodies, as if looking for something that’s missing.
Wh-What?
“Wh-Why? Why?!”
“Hey, what’s wrong...?”
“STOOOP! Touya, don’t move from where you are! Stay, boy!”
What am I, a dog?
Still, I did as she told and stood still. What happened?
“...Let me ask you one thing, darling. When we changed to our swimsuits, did you put your clothes in the treasure chest?”
“Eh? Well, I did, yeah.” I answered Leen’s question as honestly as I could.
If I didn’t place my clothes there, I wouldn’t have gotten them back, right?
“And did you put your underwear in the underwear box?”
“What? I don’t remember anything like that.”
“Khhh... There’s the problem. We’ve been tricked.” Leen, her cheeks rosy, clicked her tongue. What does she mean? “Our tent had a chest for clothes and a chest for underwear... And we were wondering why there were two, but...”
“Eh?”
“We didn’t get our underwear back.” Sue told it like it was, and the rest of the girls turned red and hung their heads.
Eh? So they’re all going commando right n—?
“T-Touya, you turn around and count to a hundred! Look at us and I’m punching you!”
“Ah, s-sure!” I quickly turned and heard them all run out of the room. That damn pervy doctor never does anything good, does she? Wait, am I really supposed to count to hundred all by myself? This is making me feel empty.
But wait, what happened to their underwear? Could it be that...?
I looked towards the sealed dice.
...Touya, no. Discard your wicked thoughts. They lead only to ruin.
I began counting unnecessarily loudly.
Once done with that, I got curious about Paula and went to the alchemy tower, where I saw her vigorously gesturing to Flora and Parshe.
“Table? Book? Hmm... I don’t really get it.”
“I think-a she’s talking about windows. Square windows!” She was probably trying to tell them about the dice, but the two were too dense to figure it out.
Hell, she didn’t even have to tell them anything. She could’ve just pulled them over...
I tapped her shoulder to tell her that it’s enough, but for some reason, that just made her irritated and got her to gesture with even more intensity.
Later, I’d heard that Paula was seen doing a heated one-man show, which, in my opinion, showed just how much of a hard-worker she was.
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