Chapter 81

With her cheeks dyed as red as apples, Carrot looked up at me, and in her eyes, I saw myself, frozen in a smile. The wind blew through the forest, gently caressing her purple hair along with the trees, and as my reflection in her eyes was obscured by her hair, I was freed from my paralysis, and my brain, as if reflecting on its previous inaction, began to spin at full speed.

A kiss?

Is a kiss that thing?

Is it a fish from the Suzuki family, subfamily Suzuki, genus Kiss?

Is it the turn of the DT hero?

No way! This reaction makes me feel like I’m the DT.

I’ve graduated from being the DT, yeah.

So, I’ll respond like an adult—

Seeing Carrot close her eyes gently and pucker her lips, I slammed my head against the tree.

"Master Ichi!?"

Carrot exclaimed in surprise.

Hehe, my vision turned red. Blood is seeping into my eyes.

But thanks to that, my head is clear now.

"Heal"

I cast a healing spell on my head to seal the wound.

Yeah, thinking calmly about it—Carrot is actually really cute.

But, think about it.

I have Haru.

I’ve gone pretty far with Haru, and we could even say we are deeply in love.

Making a move on Carrot here would be what they call cheating.

"Master Ichi… Is it really not possible?"

Carrot said, her eyes welling up with tears.

A sense of guilt welled up inside me.

"I’ve already talked to Haru."

"Really? Haru gave permission?"

"Yes. In the White Wolf tribe, polygamy is the norm for strong males. In a way, the number of a husband’s wives is a status symbol."

"But I thought Haru might be the jealous type."

When she was bullying Marina, a strange switch flipped in her when she thought Marina was making me happier than she was.

"Women in the White Wolf tribe rank themselves. I’ve declared that I’m below Haru, so I don’t think she’ll be jealous of me. But if I overstep, she might get jealous."

What is that… a cultural difference?

"Haru said that you would definitely be gentle with me. I’m fine being below Haru. Please—"

"Ah… I feel bad about Haru."

"That’s why Haru—"

I covered Carrot’s mouth with my finger.

"I thought it was wrong for me to kiss anyone other than Haru, but one part of that is my responsibility as a man, and nine parts is because I really care about Haru."

"Yes, Master Ichi cares about Haru—"

"Yeah, Haru is the most important person to me in the world. More important than my own life. In comparison, Carrot—"

I bent down a little,

"Carrot is also the most important person to me. More important than my own life. I might be overestimating myself, but I value you and Haru as much as you value me. Since Haru values ranking, I feel bad about it."

I said this, looked at Carrot, and pressed my lips to hers.

Carrot was surprised but surrendered to me.

I enjoyed the soft, sweet sensation for a moment.

After that—well, that’s it, really.

The rest will have to wait until Carrot turns eighteen.

***

And there was one thing I had completely forgotten.

"Can we consider the match a win for us?"

"Yeah, we lost badly."

By the time I remembered, it was already too late. While we were catching 10 birds, Haru and Marina had caught about 120 birds.

Marina’s face was pale even under her mask, which means they must have done really well.

"Wow, I didn’t expect such a big difference."

Incidentally, the level-ups during the hunt were as follows:

[Ichi’s level has increased]

[Apprentice Spearman Skill: Two-Stage Thrust acquired]

[Magic Swordsman Skill: Enchantment Magic has upgraded to Enchantment Magic II]

[Artist Skill: Portrait Drawing acquired]

[Artist Skill: Woodcarving acquired]

[Recipe acquired]

Portrait Drawing is a skill that improves your ability to draw portraits.

Woodcarving is a skill that allows you to create various things from wood.

It’s a rather peculiar skill to acquire.

Carrot also said she had leveled up as a gatherer.

The reward for the two of them will be when we return to town, so for now, we put all 120 birds into the item bag.

Although we slacked off a bit, we still managed to get a decent amount, even if we didn’t reach our goal of 200 kilograms.

Also, we gathered plenty of fruit.

As we emerged from the forest, the sun was tilting low in the west.

It will be night soon.

Let’s get back to town as quickly as possible.

Just as I thought that,

"Huh? I sense a monster—"

Looking up, I saw two birds flying.

They’re pretty big, so it would be lucky if I could take them down.

"Mini Stone!"

I threw a stone.

The stone hit the bird flying above and brought down the one flying below.

Truly, one stone, two birds.

…It was a coincidence, though.

"Master Ichi, as expected."

"No, I couldn’t even see the birds."

The birds fell to the ground and died,

[Ichi’s level has increased]

[Unemployed Skill: Hikikomori acquired]

…Looking at the name of the skill I learned when I reached level 80 as an unemployed person,

"Huh?"

I couldn’t help but exclaim.