“Jiii~~”

Okay. I didn’t quite expect something like this, but one way or another it’s happening. I silently took a peek over my shoulder, only for my eyes to meet with the eyes of a black kitsune wearing kimono, who was very respectfully sitting in seiza, aka, on her knees, while watching me.

Not that I would mind usually, after all, most of the time Yuu is very quiet and seems to enjoy watching me as I do whatever it is that I’m doing at the time.

However…

“Jiii~~”

She’s doing that on purpose, isn’t she? It must be. I mean, I always just assumed that the whole ‘Jii~~’ sound when someone stared at someone else in manga was just a way to make the situation a bit sillier or just the usual weird Japanese onomatopoeias. Yet, here I am with a legitimate Japanese girl making that sound while watching me.

Watching me do what you may ask? Well, after having rinsed off the water from Aura’s body and finished sand-polishing Pebblesworth, I took the chance to brush her fur so that it would untangle itself. Which yeah, means that I am right now brushing Aura’s fur.

The same Aura who just melted on my lap not even halfway into the brushing and now has the most peaceful expression I have ever seen her make in all the time we’ve been together. I didn’t really need a translation to understand that she was enjoying this. A lot.

So, if my logicking skill doesn’t fail me… Quick check, one plus three equals… twenty seven. Yeah, seems to be working just fine. Well, my logicking skill says me that if I put two and two together, I can understand that Yuu is actually staring not exactly at me, but at Aura while full of jealousy.

“Jiii~~”

And for whatever reason she was also making that sound which, if I were to be honest, sounds downright adorable. While I’m not sure what happened for her to make the sound, I still couldn’t help but smile awkwardly.

“Yuu…” I called out to the kitsune.

“Jii~- Ah, Yes Shishou?” She said surprised.

“...So I see you came back.” I commented.

“Yes…” She commented before going silent once again, staring intently at the motion of brush against Aura’s fur.

…Yeah, she’s one hundred percent jealous of Aura. Well, I kind of understand, since both of them are fluffy foxes that use ice magic, it’s perfectly normal for them to have some overlap and be jealous of each other. I truly get that.

Now, how does that explain both Crys and Lily also staring at me like that?

I mean, sorry to say it, one of you is in the smoothie faction and the other one I’m still not sure where to fit, but I’m almost sure you don’t fit in the fluffy faction either. So, there isn’t really any reason for the two of you to be jealous, right?

While feeling pressurized by the trio who were staring holes into my back, I finished brushing Aura and very carefully removed her head from my lap so as to not wake her up. I’m not entirely sure whether I succeeded or not seeing how her expression grew a bit less happy, but at least she didn’t seem to wake up.

I was about to turn to the trio and start to complain about how uncomfortable they were making me, but a sudden window appeared before me.

Due to extensive time and care used while brushing your pet, you have unlocked the Petting mastery sub-skill: Brushing

Sub-skill: Brushing [lvl9]

(levels increase with Petting Mastery)

A skill that was too powerful to even exist, sealed under thousands upon thousands lines of code, such power that shouldn’t even exist under normal circumstances in this world has now been unlocked and set free upon the world. I hope you never regret what you have done.

All benefits from petting mastery also apply to brushing actions as a relaxing feeling.

Brushing something causes it’s fluffiness rating to increase by 45%

(How did you even manage to make the game create that kind of status? Seriously!)

Passive

…Huuh.

Wut?

*Please wait for a moment as our main character processes this window.*

“…CRYSSS!”

“It was the mainframe!” She shouted back at me. “Though I agree with her.” She added as a mumble.

“I heard that!” I said bluntly.

“Huh? What?” Lily seemed confused at our exchange, but Yuu quickly told her to not mind it. Good Yuu.

Okay, time for everyone’s favorite: Gon’s skill criticizing corner! Hooray!

Anyway, let’s start with the obvious. How did it even come to this? Like, seriously! I sincerely didn’t see this one coming! Not that I’m complaining though, but why is this even a skill?

Okay. Second point. What with that description? You should save that for when a demon lord gets revived or something! Not when you get a brushing skill! And how will I even regret this skill? Did you see the benefits?

Speaking of which, the benefits. While I’m not entirely sure how the first part of the effect applies, if Aura means anything, it’s seems effective. Okay, after a quick glance at the still almost-melted Aura, I should say it’s VERY effective. On the other hand. Forty five percent more fluffy.

BY THE MIGHT OF BRUSHING! I HAVE THE FLUFFY!

Wanting to test this effect of the skill, I turned back to the still napping Aura and…

…

…

Suddenly, I felt my head being thrown left and right repeatedly as my cheek burnt with a stingy pain.

-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4

-40(1140/1180)

“-er, come back! Teacher!” I was suddenly met with a worried looking Lily whose hand had been slapping me across the cheeks.

“Ah! I think he’s back.” I heard Yuu’s voice calling from somewhere nearby.

“Huh… Hawa…?” I asked confused. “Wh…What happened? I feel like… I went somewhere, then… Heaven?”

“Cygnasdamned you useless master.” Crys said while face-palming and shaking her head. “We thought we had lost you for a moment.”

“Huh?” My mind is blank. All I remember is… Fluffy?

“Blue-tailed-miss was also acting strange.” Rio chirped in with a worried tone.

Blue-tailed-miss? Aura? I blinked confused before looking to the side and my eyes landing upon the blue fox who was laying on the ground besides me with an expression of sheer ecstasy. She probably noticed me, because she raised her head and stared at me for a moment before making a motion of coming closer to me.

Only for her to suddenly be held back by Yuu while Lily pushed me away.

“No. No no no no no. Teacher, you shouldn’t do that again!” Lily said in a panicky tone.

“Huh? Do what?”

“Shishou! You were acting really weird when you were petting Aura earlier.” Yuu said worried. “Aura was also looking like she had gone somewhere far away.”

“Yeah, I think Master was using his skill unconsciously.” Crys added.

I blinked confused. What were they talking about? Think Gon, think!

Okay, I was washing all my pets for some reason. Then, since I was almost done, I started brushing Aura until I got myself a skill… The skill had the effect of making fluffy things fluffier, which made me want to test how it felt, so I began petting Aura and…

Heaven?

No, wrong.

Paradise?

No no no no.

Fluffydise?

Sounds a bit closer, but still no.

All I remember is the fluffiest fluff to ever fluff under all fluffydom that could fluff while fluffing.

Oh my god. That skill is scary. That thing is too scary. Too powerful. Now I see why Cyg was so scared of that. That’s too much power to be entrusted to one single person! That’s pretty much the equivalent of giving a high schooler the key and instructions for a weapon of mass destruction!

I should totally ask Yuu if she wants me to brush her tail later.

“Ah… I see.” I said a bit absent minded as things came back to me. “Yeah… I should probably refrain from that for now.” I nodded, not being entirely sure on my capacity to get a good fluffy resistance roll. “Hmm… Anyway, what was I doing?”

“Hmm, I think you were going to finish polishing Pebblesworth.” Lily said a bit relieved.

“Ah! Me first!” Crys suddenly said while putting herself before me. “You said that you’d polish me later, and you already did the sand polishing with Pebblesworth.”

“Hmm… Sure. I guess it makes sense.” I nodded while trying to recall through my jumbled mess of a head what I had to do. “Okay… Wax and a cloth.” I said while fishing the objects from my inventory and making the preparations. “Doing it piece-by-piece?” I asked her and she nodded.

She separated a piece of her body and floated it to my palm.

“Anyway, if it hurts or anything, just tell me.” I told her and she nodded. After spreading a bit of wax both on the cloth and on Crys. Then, I put myself to work.

“…Uwaaah…” She suddenly let out a strange voice that had me startled. I turned towards her main body in worry. “This... Feels so nice…” She said in a satisfied tone.

“Huuh…”

“If my body wasn’t made of geometrically stabilized particles, I’d have melted by now.” She said as I continued polishing her piece. I smiled awkwardly while going back to my work.

Due to extensive time and care used while polishing your pet, you have unlocked the Petting mastery sub-skill: Polishing

(levels increase with Petting Mastery)

Sub-skill: Polishing [lvl9]

Okay, one wasn’t enough, now you have two of these… Do I even need to say anything? *Sigh*

Anyway, stop reading this and go back to polishing me already!

All benefits from petting mastery also apply to brushing actions as a relaxing feeling.

Polishing something causes it’s Smoothyness rating to increase by 45%

(Please note that this isn’t even supposed to be an actual word, okay?)

Passive

Aaah… Crap.

…

“So, you are saying that you went into an almost trance-like state where you’d pet Aura, Pebblesworth and Crys until either you or them went mad with pleasure?” Hanbei asked me with a kind of failed attempt at an incriminating tone.

“…Aye…” I said, not exactly being able to refute her words.

“Then, when Yuu and Lily went to help you, you accidentally had them cast under the petting skill?” She continued, and the two besides me blushed while looking away.

“Yeah… As I said, the skills had more destructive power than what I expected.” I said awkwardly while eyeing the small crystalline maid who was sitting on my shoulder while humming happily and leaning against my head.

“That’s a pretty bad way of saying that you put your dirty hands upon these two innocent ladies.” Yami said coldly.

“Says the one whose mind and tongue are even more twisted than mine.” I said back at her while staring at her blankly.

For a moment we crossed gazes as she tried to incriminate me and vice-versa, until the slime maid suddenly sighed and shook her head disappointed, only to steal a glance towards the still laughing Hanbei and whispering to me.

“How much for you using that on milady?”

“If she’s fine with it, one stroganoff for lunch.” I replied in the low shady-sounding tone.

“I’ll have to look that up, but deal.” She replied.

“S-Shishou…” Yuu called out in a low tone.

“ANYWAY…” I said out loud before clearing my throat and faking that I was always focused on the matter at hand. “I was told there was a ship waiting for me.”

“Ah. That’s right.” Hanbei took a deep breath to calm herself. “This way. We should be departing in around half an hour if I’m not mistaken.” She said while guiding us towards the pier. “He was busy with loading the cargo yesterday so he couldn’t meet you yesterday.” Hanbei said with serious tone. “That said, I already made a deal with him to take us, so we only need to pay. That said, it’s not a passenger ship, so It’s probably not as good as the airship.”

“Well, not like everything is a walk in the park.” I shrugged.

“Woah!” Crys held on to me at the sudden shoulder movement.

“Sorry.” I told at the pouting crystal elemental, who soon went back to her cheerful mood. “Anyway, who are we supposed to meet?”

“You’ll know when you see him.” Hanbei said with an amused tone.

“I’ll know when I see him?” I said curious before looking towards the pier. “You mean that insanely huge treant towering a few tens of meters above everything?” I asked while pointing at the obviously out of place moving creature that was loading up some massive crates with his bare hands.

“Yep. That’s him.” Hanbei said amused.

“Okay.” I said with a nod.

I guess that means I need a fitting reaction.

HOLY GUACAMOLES! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT? How can a living being be so big? That’s just downright unimaginable! He’s what? Forty meters tall? Probably less. Or more. I don’t know, his scope of size is a bit out of my understandable range. I could barely make up his face amidst what looked like a beardy mass of leaves, as well as a short mass of leaves for hair. While he stood mostly in the nude, I mean, finding clothes that size got to be hard, right? Not that it mattered much since he just looked like a moving tree, I guess? Anyway, he wore a cloak that fell all the way to the back of his knees.

How had I not heard of him again?

Oh well, not like it’s the most illogical thing to have happened to me yet.

Having a very clear landmark to aim for, we quickly made our way towards the towering giant.

Before we even got to halfway there, something caught the giant’s attention, as he stopped what he was doing and crouched down so that his head was at a more reachable height. Wondering what that was about, we soon reached him.

“Hmm?” I frowned while staring at the person the giant was talking to. “I have a feeling I’ve seen that oversized white hair before.” I said while staring at the man.

“Hmm?” Yuu reacted to my words and squinted slightly before making a surprised expression. “Ah. Are those not Arcus and Whisi?” Yuu asked surprised.

“Oh?” It’s true! Recognizing the figure, I widened my eyes and got an amused smirk. “Oh yeah. I do recall them saying something about travelling too.” I said while recalling back to Eldor. “Hmm, I can’t see Elraira or… What’s her name?” Don’t you hate it when the author forgets a character name and puts the blame into you?

“Lila. My name’s Lila.”

“Ah, thank you.” I thanked the girl that appeared to my side. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I shall dig a hole and hide myself out of embarrassment of needing to hear your name from you again.” I said cheerfully before moving away from the main street and crouching in a dark alley where I started drawing figures on the ground.

“Hehe. I know the feeling.” I heard her tell me while gently slapping my back. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I have no right to a social life anymore…” I said depressed.

“No need to worry about something you never had.” Yami added curtly.

“Go to hell.” I barked back at her before turning back to the half-clockwork half-construct. “Anyway, Lila, can we just pretend that what happened was just a momentary memory blank and that I would certainly recall your name before I actually met you?”

“If that means you stop being depressed, then I don’t mind.” Okay, now that this problem has been solved and my social life has been potentially saved from inexist*cough*absolute death, we can go back to a normal talk. “I mean, not that I don’t understand your feelings, but aren’t you taking that a bit too far? It’s common to forget people’s name sometimes.” Lila said, comforting me.

“You have no idea how embarrassed I am of asking people’s name a second time.” I said depressed. “I once spent a whole year talking to an acquaintance without asking him his name because I was sure I had heard it previously!”

“…Waaah…” Hanbei said amused before shaking her head. “Anyway, since you are here, I guess El is also nearby?”

“Ah, yeah.” My half cousing… Quarter cousin? She’s half construct, and a construct is kind of like a golem’s cousin… But so is clockwork… So, is she a half or quarter cousin? Aaah, complex question indeed. “We found this ship that was preparing to sail, but it didn’t have enough room for the three of us, so El went out to search for another one while I restocked on supplies.” She explained.

“I guess she didn’t have much luck, huh?” I said while recalling the news I had about the situation.

“Well, I haven’t met her since we separated, so I can’t really say for sure.” She said before frowning. “Though, from what I heard in town, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Yeah… Guess so.” I nodded awkwardly.

“I take it things have been like this since you arrived then?” She asked me curious.

“That’s right.” Hanbei replied to her. “I was actually lucky to even find someone willing to set sail with the undines this way.”

“And I guess that was Captain Cherrygrove?” She asked while looking at the massive treant.

“Hmm.” Hanbei nodded. “He arrived at the city after the whole ordeal had already started, and said that a time like this was one of the best time to sail since a transporter would be in higher demand.”

“Profit first, huh?” I said amused.

“Hmm.” Lily suddenly got our attention by making a sound as she seemed deep in thought. “Did Hanbei already tell the captain that Argento and I won’t be taking the trip?” She asked the cat-girl, who blinked surprise before stopping to think about it.

“I didn’t… We might actually get a chance at having you boarding with us.” She said with a bright expression.

“Ah… That would be helpful.” Lilly said a bit more cheerful. “I’ll go look for El then.” The half-construct said while making a motion of leaving to search around the pier, but I quickly stopped her.

“Couldn’t Yuu do it faster?” I asked confused.

“Fueee?” The black kitsune made a surprised tone after being suddenly called out. “W-Why me, Shishou?”

“Well… Elrala… Elalai… El is also a martial artist, right?” Names are hard. “Can’t you just go after her presence or something?” I asked curious.

“…S-Shishou…” She said with a look of disbelief. “I… I can’t really do that kind of thing, you know? Presence sensing, that doesn’t really happen, you know…” Huh? “Such a thing…”

“In Gon’s defense…” Hanbei called out to Yuu while I was still confused. “You didn’t really help much when it comes to dealing with martial artist’s misconceptions, you know?”

“R-Really?” Yuu sounded surprised. “S-Still, I do not think I can do something like sensing presences… That’s just a bit…”

“Fumu. Sorry about that. I guess I was a bit too hasty.” I said feeling a bit disappointed. “Well, I reckon it should be faster if we split while looking for her, right? Since we can talk to each other at distance, and the captain should be sailing soonish.”

“Ah. Thank you very much.” Lila said surprised after a moment before bowing slightly.

“Heh, don’t mind it.” I waved it off. “A surprise town search under strict time deadlines is an amusing last task before leaving the continent.”

“I guess it’s something interesting indeed.” Yami said while talking amused. “It shall be a nice test for my ninja ski…”

“As I thought, it was indeed you.” A familiar emotionless voice echoed.

““Cygnasdammit.”” Yami and I cursed together as we turned towards the incoming draconid who was approaching from a side-street. She looked at me confused at our sudden exclamation.

“There goes our moment of fun.” I complained.

“Just when I was getting excited.” Yami agreed with me.

“Huuh…” El looked confused.

“Don’t mind them. They are disappointed they didn’t get to go on a town-wide search looking for you.” Hanbei waved away. But it was my…

“Our…” Yami whispered to me.

Our fun time! Of course we get to be annoyed.

“Well, this does make things easier for us.” Yuu said with an amused tone.

“…Okay?” The draconid said a bit confused, but seemingly decided to not think too much about it anymore. “Anyway, I was nearby when I felt Yuu’s presence, so I thought of greeting… Did I say something strange?”

“Nope.*heh* Wrong. *Heh*” I said while holding back my laughter.

“No… No Muffled… laughter… Here…” Yami agreed with me.

Yuu simply face-palmed while Hanbei averted her eyes.

…

“Wait a second, how did you know what I was thinking about?” I whispered to Yami confused.

“I’m also writing this story from my PoV, and I just started mingling with fourth-wall breaking powers.” She whispered back at me.

“Huh? How does that even work?” I asked confused. “A character is writing a story within a story about a story… Huuh… I think I got a headache.”

“Oh god. Not you too, Yami.” Crys said while hanging her head.