Chapter 172: Blackbeard's Love Cabin
[Kriemhild has joined your team.]
[Your 'love triangle' team was questioned by other contestants and the organizers, but Finn firmly refuted all objections, keeping your team qualified to compete.]
"...That's great, kouhai, you've got yourself a girlfriend now,"
Yu Ji pushed up her glasses, speaking with no expression.
"Don't act like this has nothing to do with you. Who do you think I made this sacrifice for!" Eikou protested heatedly.
"Is that so, is that so? Because of me, you confessed to a beautiful, alluring, already-married woman—what a loss for you." Yu Ji narrowed her lovely crimson eyes. "Just like a harem light-novel protagonist, arms full of women while pretending to be oh-so troubled. A blissful kind of annoyance."
"What harem protagonist hugs only married women... Ahem, and besides, you've never let me hug you at all!"
Eikou shook his head and said,
"Enough. At this point there's nothing to be conflicted about. As long as we win the Holy Grail War, what's wrong with falling into the path of cuckolding? Married women, someone else's lover—whatever. I've already resolved to become a 'blond guy' experienced with countless women, playing around with them, umu!"
But Kriemhild quietly moved closer to him and firmly wrapped her arm around his.
Feeling the soft warmth of her body, he froze, his face burning red as he tried to pull away.
Yu Ji thought to herself: Even an elementary school boy might be more manly than you. Pretending to be some blond guy—how embarrassing!
"Sit up straight, lift your head. Acting so timid—does that look like a man?" Kriemhild scolded him. "Although our relationship is confined to this singularity, I won't lower my standards for you. Let's start with your name. Change it to something easier to call in German."
"Why don't you just call me Siegfried already!"
But Kriemhild ignored Eikou's complaint. Her beautiful gray-blue eyes turned toward Yu Ji."And you—you're his real teammate in this Holy Grail War, aren't you? I have no objection to you… hmm, but maybe you should withdraw from the competition. With me here, that's enough."
"Oh, is that so?" Yu Ji replied flatly.
"What do you mean 'is that so'? This is the Holy Grail War! The more teammates we have, the stronger we are. You people really have no sense of competition!" Eikou shot back without thinking.
Wait a second...
Suddenly, he remembered something important.
He looked around but saw no sign of Medb or Brynhildr.
Weren't they supposed to be summoned in sequence? Where had those two gone?
Most likely they'd been transported to other board-map areas. In a singularity, Servants summoned by the Holy Grail often get separated.
It was fine if they weren't here—one Kriemhild was troublesome enough. Add those two and it would be even heavier trouble.
[Kriemhild has joined your team; the other two Servants' whereabouts are unknown.]
[A new round begins.]
[Other players scramble to explore this shopping-mall center, gaining useful Craft Essences or Magecraft resources, while some unluckily lose a few items.]
[Very soon it's the turn of your Mochizuki team.]
[Your teammate, Assassin Yu Ji, please perform a Luck check.]
[Result: E, great success.]
A die fell, the roll was 6, allowing movement of six spaces.
Eikou raised his brow in slight surprise—he thought to himself, great, even Luck E sometimes gets a turn of fortune.
The three of them were moved to a square on the second floor of the shopping mall.
[You stop at a shop square.]
[This shop is named "Love Cabin of Blackbeard".]
[Because you rolled a great success, this shop is currently on sale; you can obtain items in the shop at very favorable prices.]
"Quick, see if there's any Holy Grail shards..."
Eikou held 43,000 QP in his hand and craned his neck to look into the display case.
But he was startled when the shop owner Blackbeard suddenly popped his head out of the shop window.
"Oh ho, here comes a one-eyed-looking handsome guy and two beauties! Hey, hey, you with the bangs covering one eye, I advise you to change your hairstyle quickly, or people might mistake you for a hentai protagonist."
"I don't understand what you're talking about... this surely isn't something one says upon first meeting, right?"
Owner Blackbeard chuckled: "Hehe, then I'll just say it straight—'welcome to the shop'. There's a promotion today, come take a look, customers!"
"Owner, do you have any Holy Grail Shards here?"
"Haha, whether we do or not—you can just look and see for yourself."
"Let me see..."
Eikou crossed his arms and scanned the shop, his face involuntarily flushing.
"『Dangerous Beast』, 『Halloween Princess』, 『Royal Icing』... why are they all adult Craft Essences! Can you give me anything related to the Holy Grail War, is there anything else?"
"What? Aren't these Craft Essences perfect for two beautiful ladies dressed like that? Then the only treasure I can take out is the shop's prized item, 『Trick or Treatment』!"
"Isn't that Nightingale's sexy Halloween nurse cosplay? Why did you take this out, what are you planning to inject into them, sir?"
Eikou thought to himself that this shop was basically a suspicious adult store, selling nothing related to the Holy Grail War!
"There's no other way, my friend... our shop only has these kinds of things, but if you spend a certain amount you can also receive a free three-person super large waterbed combo and 『Volumen hydrargyrum』!"
Blackbeard introduced that earnestly.
Why is a waterbed bundled with Volumen hydrargyrum—this makes no sense. What are people here planning to use Volumen hydrargyrum for, what on earth do they intend to do on the waterbed? Go apologize to director Kayneth, Reines and Trimmau immediately!
"Also, if you spend over 30,000 QP in total, you can receive the shop's commemorative Craft Essence —— 『Jewel Sword』!"
Blackbeard continued his enthusiastic advertisement.
"...Why, after selling a pile of adult Craft Essences, is the final commemorative gift so ordinary?"
Until Blackbeard took out that small egg-shaped stone.
"...."
Suddenly, Eikou seemed to understand something.
What the hell kind of perverted game is this—jewel magecraft that Zelretch invented wasn't meant to be used like this!
The most maddening part was that he understood it at a glance...
He blushed, grabbed Blackbeard by the collar, wanting to yank him out of the shop window.
"You perverts—go apologize to Zelretch right now!"