Chapter 163 - Getting Smarter by Kneading
The moment I left the building, a trap would trigger and a monster would appear before my eyes... I had expected a development like that, but nothing happened.
"...It's bright."
What lay beyond the tunnel was a residential area illuminated by the morning glow.
Utility poles stood in rows, and stray cats and crows scavenged through trash bags by the roadside—a common, everyday scene.
It was beyond disappointing.
However, I had no familiarity with this cityscape.
There wasn't even a guarantee that this was the real world.
Surely this isn't a special space created by Erin, disguised as an ordinary residential area? As I scanned my surroundings, my smartphone's notification sound rang in my pocket.
—There's a signal.
If that's the case, it seems I haven't wandered into some strange space.
Feeling a sense of relief, I pulled my smartphone out of my back pocket.
Peering at the screen, a massive amount of new messages were displayed.
'Please. If you are alive, contact me.'
'It makes me anxious when there isn't even a read receipt; are you in a situation where you cannot even operate your smartphone?'
At this rate, messages from Angelica and Ayako-chan worrying about me were being sent one after another.
Since the signal had only just been restored after several hours, it seemed I was receiving all the accumulated messages at once.
'I'm somehow safe. If you're looking for me, both of you should return to the apartment. I'll head that way immediately.'
After finishing a concise reply, I checked my location information.
My current position is...
"Geh."
To my surprise, I was dozens of kilometers east of where I had encountered Erin. The distance to the apartment was an additional few kilometers.
If I ran at full speed, it wouldn't take much time, but the problem was that I had no idea where the small animal containing Erin's soul might be lurking.
Just passing by an insect containing Erin's essence could result in my intelligence being lowered. If that happened, I'd just be captured again and sent back to square one.
"...This is more troublesome than I thought."
I couldn't just wander around carelessly like this.
It can't be helped. I'll have to borrow the wisdom of a priest, one of the most intellectual professions in this other world.
I sat Philia down on her back and tried to start a conversation: "About the strategy for Erin..."
"You might already know this, but it looks like Erin has fragmented her soul into six hundred different creatures. On top of that, she has an area-of-effect debuff, right? What should I do?"
"...Hero-dono's back, it's so wide and firm..."
"Hey, come back to reality."
It seemed physical contact hadn't been a good idea. Philia held her own face between both hands, basking in the afterglow with dreamy eyes.
"Those pulsating back muscles..."
"Those aren't things you say right in front of the person. Philia... hey, Philia."
I shook her shoulders, urging her to return to this world.
Philia repeatedly muttered to herself for a while about the scent of a male or whatever, but eventually, she made a startled face and said,
"What is it all of a sudden? Your face is too close."
"You've finally returned to your senses. ...I wanted to consult you on how to deal with Erin, but at this rate, it doesn't look like it'll work."
"How rude. No one is as knowledgeable about that girl as I am. I even know several of her weaknesses."
"Oh? Then tell me."
"...First, please move your face away. Since Hero-dono is so handsome, having such close proximity causes my thinking to become disordered."
"O-oh."
Just how much does this woman like me?
Am I really that good-looking? To be honest, I think I fall within the range of an average guy, so why is this girl blushing?
While thinking she had strange tastes, I moved my face away as requested.
"Will your head work now?"
"Of course."
Philia said with a fearless smile.
"You're probably just sitting idly by while Erin's fragmented souls run wild, aren't you?"
"Yeah. Having six hundred fragmented soul targets prepared is basically like facing a massive army."
"...You really should have studied more magic, you."
"What do you mean by that?"
"There are certain rules to fragmented souls. If one transfers their ego into multiple creatures, those bodies must share a commonality. ...For example, it's common to make them 'all flying creatures,' 'all creatures with fur,' or 'all creatures with horns.'"
"Erin fragmented into a Black Cat and a Black Swallowtail, right. The commonality between them is... color?"
"Most likely. I've seen her fragment into a crow before, so I'm certain of it. Erin fragments into black creatures. Just knowing this should make things easier to move, shouldn't it?"
"It'll be a pain if she uses ants or cockroaches. They're so small I might overlook them."
"...Could you please consider a woman's heart for once?"
"A woman's heart?"
"A woman transferring her ego into ants or cockroaches—that's obviously unpleasant. If she were to use insects, I think a beautiful butterfly would be the limit."
"...Is that so?"
"That is how it is."
She stated it definitively.
Since Philia, a woman, was saying it, it must be true.
"Well, anything is fine as long as I can win. ...So, where is the weakness?"
"Since she is transferring her ego into multiple bodies, if you kill them all at once, the pain at the moment of death will be multiplied several times over."
"Your way of thinking is as villainous as ever, you."
"If you were to indiscriminately burn down the city, several animals containing Erin would die, so wouldn't that allow you to win?"
"Please suggest a slightly more peaceful method."
"I am lending my strength to Hero-dono personally; I don't care about this country. Sacrificing a city to win is nothing to me."
What's with this attitude, I thought as I kneaded her right breast.
"Erin is weak to the Light Attribute-desu!"
"Anything else?"
"B-because if the bodies of the fragmented souls are too weak, they won't be able to exert their original power, I don't think there's a risk of her using an area-of-effect debuff in a small animal's body-deshu..."
"I-I see. ...Which means when I was defeated at the port, the main Erin body was properly there as well."
If that's the case, all that's left is to focus on avoiding an accidental encounter with Erin herself.
She can also use Concealment, which makes it troublesome since I can't see her.
"I don't want to encounter Erin until I get back to the apartment, so what should I do?"
"Shouldn't you just use a Sekkuru?"
"...What did you just say?"
"A Sekkuru, a Sekkuru. You're good at it too, aren't you? To keep Erin at a distance, nothing beats a Sekkuru."
A famous person like me, kneading a beautiful white woman's breasts first thing in the morning while being told to repeat "Sekkuru, Sekkuru."
If a passerby saw this, I could die, I thought, breaking into a cold sweat.
"Wait, isn't the Concealment breaking!?"
I scrambled in a panic.
"It's fine since I noticed immediately, but that was seriously dangerous. ...Anyway, what the hell is a Sekkuru?"
"It's short for Sacred Circle."
"Why on earth would you think to abbreviate it as Sekkuru!? Also, does this work on Erin too?"
"Her race is 'mage' users. Regardless of her own personality, the race itself is treated as evil, so she wouldn't be able to enter the circle. It's the same treatment as Vampires or Demon Race."
"...Maybe because we've been comrades for so long, it doesn't click that she's an evil-leaning race. She entered the Sacred Circle I set up without any issues."
"If they are a Party Member, even the most evil race can enter the barrier... Well, since I am of the Human Race and a most holy priestess, I can easily intrude into barriers set by non-Party Members. Unlike Erin, I am a being of goodness."
"...I don't buy that at all."
I reached for the left breast of that self-proclaimed being of goodness, continuing to draw out more information about Erin.