{Jinma}

Despite my worries, it looked like Noire was able to complete her mission and we escaped the castle with my [Portal] without issue. I took us right back into Noire’s room at Palocaesy where we left off. Noire seemed quite exhausted the moment we found a chance to relax, and despite my heightened physical endurance, I was feeling the same mentally. I made sure to put up [Soundproof] in her room so we can speak in private, though. While Noire tried to get her energy back, I decided to report to Sue about our success, so I contacted her with [Telepathy].

I reported.

Sue exclaimed in a fluster, she took quite a bit to answer, too,

I asked.

I was a bit surprised to hear Sue respond like that. It sounded like she, herself, didn’t know whether she was involved.

I asked.

she said.

Sue exclaimed, having an idea of what I was making,

I nodded lightly,

With my plans confirmed, I cut the telepathic connection and turned back to Noire, who was sitting on her coffin that was closed, “So, have you regained enough strength to tell me what happened?”

She nodded firmly with a relieved smile, “I must admit that I was rather nervous, but it turned out very well. She said she’ll get with the general and set up a plan to search Rowling’s residence immediately. I should have a message sent to this cottage informing me of the updates by the time we get done with our dungeon crawl.”

“That’s excellent news. Are there any repercussions? Like a penalty for breaching your oath?” I asked.

Noire looked down wistfully, “We aren’t in trouble, Her Highness said she’ll overlook my breaching the oath. When I asked her about my Father, though, since he seemed to have neglected his duties as a minister, he could face some kind of penalty. He may have to be confronted for his involvement in all this and prove his loyalty to Her Highness and the kingdom.”

Guess it's not easy being a noble. I'm involved with a few of them already, but I should be careful of not falling into their way of living should I decide to stop adventuring. Still, it sounds like Noire's dad isn't a bad guy. I want to help him out a little, if I can.

"On the bright side, though, Her Highness expressed great interest in meeting you when I mentioned you," Noire said, lightening up a little, "She even said she'll reserve time to meet you, and the three of us, plus Mei, could have tea together once this whole fiasco's over. Isn't that grand?!"

"... Y-Yeah, definitely grand," I answered, a little anxious. I already know how much she wants to meet me, though.

Noire didn't seem to notice my anxiety as she stood up, took my hands and brought us to where I hugged her from behind. My arms wrapped around her waist, the weight of her soft, generous breasts rested on me comfortably. She led the swaying of our hips as if we were in a slow dance.

Noire sighed in content, "It's been a hectic ride, but I can almost feel Rowling's downfall at my fingertips. Once we get him out of the picture, we can put most of our focus onto each other and go all out."

"... You know, we could have a 'rendezvous' here and there while going down the dungeon tomorrow," I suggested.

Noire spun to face me before wrapping her arms around my neck, pulling us close and pressing into each other. She stared longingly at me with her amethyst eyes half-lidded. Our hips still swayed in a dance, with a throbbing bulge in my crotch pressed right onto the entrance through her dress.

"A moment of passion while danger awaits all around us? So bold and daring. I might get a little wild from the excitement, myself," Noire cooed before growling like a cat in heat.

"Careful, kitten, I might have to get forceful if you get too excited," I teased.

"Nyaan," she meowed in a moaning tone, as if saying 'Then take this pussy by force', before we got into a heated kiss.

Nyra exclaimed.

Noire pulled back and looked into my eyes again, now with a slightly serious air, "I'll definitely consider it when a chance arises, but we still have to be careful. Since Rowling might have some idea that we're resisting, he could already be taking measures to take control of the situation. Her Highness said that much, too."

"Actually, now that you mention it …"

I decided it was best that Noire knew ahead of time. I told her how I ran into Krigeran, along with my party's sightings of the other disciples and a Werewolf Pack settling outside of town.

"Hmm, that's the majority of the group. Rowling must know we're onto something if he called over that much reinforcements," Noire deduced.

"I suspect Konjiro had something to do with relaying information to Rowling," I said, "I'm actually having his wife, Yukino, over to see if she can spill what they're plotting."

"Is that so? How are you planning on doing that?" Noire asked with a raised brow.

From what I had planned, I didn't want to hide much from Noire, if I could, but I still feel guilty for bringing it up. "Well … I was planning on seducing her, then use Nyra's memory trick to see what she's hiding while her guard is down," I said, "Is that … a problem for you?"

"Ooooh, how scandalous!" she exclaimed in excitement while clapping her hands, much to my surprise, "To be fair, I had a feeling the two of them were up to no good, so anything that could run their social lives down in the mud would be both beneficial and entertaining to me."

Damn, this woman's brutal.

"So, you don't have a problem with me sleeping with someone outside my harem?" I asked.

"Dearie, you'd be surprised how much gossip surrounding infidelity goes around among noble circles," Noire explained, "Some of that's true, and others are blatant lies just to make the targeted person look bad. At the end of the day, they're baseless rumors, but if it involves corrupted nobles, I'd be more than happy to watch their downfall. Having you being the cause of that is icing on the cake. I'd say unless you have ill intentions, I don't really care who you sleep with as long as you stay cautious and give me enough attention as a female. Oh, and I'd love to hear the juicy details of when you confront Yukino."

"Huh …" I was glad Noire isn't too bothered about me seducing other women, but her reasons left me with mixed feelings.

"Still, while it would be pleasing to see Yukino’s reputation rock under the rumors of her infidelity, it would be nice if we had hard evidence of it to really nail her coffin closed," Noire said while looking to the side in thought.

“I think we should be able to get something like that,” I said, I could always have one of the girls use my phone to record the action right there. That ought to be damning enough evidence.

“Ooooh? Do tell,” Noire said, her interest clear in her tone.

I put a finger on my lips, “I’ll surprise you when I report what I found afterward. Anyway, I gotta get going as dinner will be ready soon at the inn.”

“Oh, you tease!” she exclaimed before giving a light punch on my chest.

“Don’t worry, you’ll like the way I'll tell the tale,” I assured, Sophisticated as she is, I’m sure she’ll be very interested in the smartphone’s functions once I show her the recording.

Nyra commented.

“Can I at least get one last kiss before you go? It’s going to be quite lonely without you here tonight,” Noire said before looking up at me with pleading puppy dog eyes. Their attack power on my heart was on par with Ren’s, surprisingly enough.

“Well I can’t turn something like that down when you ask that way.”

Finally, with one last savory kiss and a promise to see her in the morning, I bid Noire off before I left the building with [Portal], hopping into an alleyway closest to one of the shops I had seen today. I dashed inside and basically cleaned out their whole stock of ceramic cups that were perfect for keeping pudding inside. I also bought a ton of disposable spoons. After that, I used [Portal] again to get back to the inn. Kalline, Tyvera, and Kenaka greeted me when I came back, reserving a few tables for us to feast on. It looked like I still had some time before dinner was ready. Perfect, if I make it quick, I should be able to get the pudding started the same time we get to eating.

I got to the inn’s kitchen and greeted the cooks, Ume, Ren, Erizora, and Sue, along with Mametama who was standing watch. I could already see a ton of food was ready to be served to the table. Off to the side was milk, egg, sugar, and the necessary kitchenware I needed to prepare pudding. I rolled up my sleeves and cast [Clean] on myself to prepare for cooking, Yosh, let’s do this thing.

I’m not sure if it was the [Cooking] skill that was helping me, but I was preparing the pudding at speeds unimaginable to professional chefs. Even when I used some [Fire Magic] to help me out, making the caramel sauce took a shorter time to prepare than I expected. It only took me a couple minutes in Earth’s time to prepare a bunch of pudding cups in pans of water before I put them in the oven to bake. I set a timer on my phone to let me know when they were ready to be refrigerated, keeping the difference of this world’s time in mind, of course.

Ren had told me both Ume and Sue also cooked at that same amazing speed I was doing with the pudding. It was expected of Ume with her [Legendary Housewife] ability providing it, but it seemed Sue also had her [Cooking] skill up to max level, as well, which was pretty surprising to me considering her possible identity as a royal or noble. Since meals prepared with this skill at higher levels could potentially raise stats, I imagine nobles and royalty would have personal chefs worry about the cooking. That would leave them more time to focus on training their battle prowess. So why would Sue need to learn the [Cooking] skill, much less maxing it out?

Nyra asked, reading my thoughts.

I answered.