[40] UPGRADE
Tea.. wonderful tea..
Right. Let’s forget I saw anything. I didn’t see her white panties, nor did I see blood. I didn’t see her in clothes soaking wet, her wet hair glimmering with dew and her bewildered expression. Yes.
I saw nothing.
Now to drink tea.
I brought the cup to my lips.. then stopped.
We have milk in the fridge, right?
I placed the cup back down on the coaster.
I took a peek at Liliath who sat across me— to find that she was doing the same.
Gulp.
She averted my gaze by looking into her own cup. She bobbed the tea bag up and down.
Earl grey tea.
And she looked so cute being flustered.. but I’m sure I could say the same for myself— not that I’m cute in any way.
I took out the carton of milk from the fridge and brought it to the kitchen table. There I sat down again— Liliath staring at the milk in wonder.
She’s inquisitive... but doesn’t really ask about it.
“Do you want some milk to add to the tea?”
“Adding milk to tea?”
“Yeah.”
To demonstrate, I added milk to my own drink. The rich brown colour turned a beautiful opaque peach.
“I think I would like to try,” Liliath said after witnessing the transformation.
“Here.”
“Thank you. How much should I add?”
“Based on your intuition.”
“I see..”
Liliath spoke as if nodding.
She took the milk carton and tilted it sideways— milk flowed out and mixed with her tea.
She had me pass her the carton cap before she sealed the milk back into its packaging.
She struggled with the twisting mechanisms but got it right after a few attempts. Seeing her try like that is cute.
Hm.. what is it that I’m forgetting here? I feel like there’s something I should do at this sort of time.
Liliath took a taste, I did the same.
“It certainly has an otherworldly taste. It’s surprising how these simple things that I could’ve done in the past but never thought to could bring out so much variety to life,” She commented.
“Well. You get to experience them in my world now.”
“I prefer normal tea. But this is refreshing once in a while.”
“I guess so.”
We sat there, just drinking tea.
Nothing to talk about, just there, present in the moment. Me and Liliath.
This is kinda relaxing.
“Um.. Noel.”
“Yes?”
“You saw it right?”
“Saw it?”
Saw what? Hnnnnnggg...
I already drove the image of her white panties into oblivion though?
“Then how did you know?”
“Know what?”
I saw nothing... I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t see it.. Hnnng... what should I do.. hnngg.
Liliath, noticing the dissonance, her face becoming progressively redder.
Ah, crap. I know what’s coming.. she’s going to curl up into a ball soon if I don’t do something...
What should I say? Do I just confess that I saw her panties? I think saying that would become the perfect invitation for a slap. I wished the quest board had a quest like that.. no, I take back my words.
Quest board...
THAT’S IT!
“It’s a guess on my part.. I kinda saw it on my phone.. the quest board.”
“I-is that so?”
No.. I absolutely saw it with my own two eyes.
===
Quests: Introductions:
Learn about her favorite food. 20P
...
Quests: Gaining trust:
===Help Liliath deal with her period. 50P
...
===
Ah.. I should really get rid of that quest already.. It's impossible to find Liliath’s favorite food.
“I see. So that’s what this word means..” Liliath spoke in a far away tone. “But that still doesn’t explain how you knew it would happen today..”
“It’s a guess?” I lied through my teeth.
“Liar,” She noticed.
“...”
“You saw it, you definitely saw it!”
“Fine. I admit. I saw it, got a problem with that?” I didn’t know why but I could feel myself smirking at her.. oh no. I’m getting infected by the little devil— my sister— not good, I’ma becoming a devil myself.
Liliath trembled.. and then crawled up into a ball.
Ah great...
“Cute..”
“D-did you say anything?” Liliath asked in a wary tone with her head still buried between her knees.
“You’re cute Liliath.”
She replied after a moment of silence, “I-I know you did it for the sake of p-points. But, I won’t take that as a compliment..”
Ah, yeah. I know. I totally said that ‘only’ for the sake of this cute Liliath.
What.. I’m I turning into a sadist? Teasing Liliath like this?
“Sorry.”
It’s an odd sensation every time I see Liliath curl up into a ball. I’m sure it’s a habit she picked up back during her slave days— I hope it isn’t a sign that tells me that I’m hurting her..
She shook her head, then looked up at me with a bitter smile.
“Did you feel anything when y-you saw it?”
“N-no.. nothing particularly?”
She buried her head back between her knees.. I could almost see the steam coming out of her head.
“It’s fine to let you see— r-right. There’s no such taboo in this world c-correct?”
FINE TO LET ME SEE?!
Um.. sorry Liliath, I’m not getting you, pardon me could you repeat that?
“Can you clarify? Though I don’t think there is a taboo like what you said, but it’s still inappropriate for me to see..”
“I-it is as you said.. so there is no such taboo?”
Honestly.. I wonder what she means... is there an ulterior motive to this? I hope so— not.
“I don’t think I know the taboo you’re talking about though? To begin with, it’s just nature running its course right?”
Liliath didn’t sound convinced.
She returned to her uncurled state. Taking a sip of the milk tea, she then placed the cup down and gave me a meaningful smile.
Uh.. that’s just scary.. what is that supposed to mean? Did I do something? Oh yes, I did something.. I saw her panties.. no I saw nothing.. I saw nothing..
“Um. Liliath, have you found out your favorite food yet?”
Liliath thought for a moment before giving me a negative.
I should just dump this quest. It’s better to switch it out for something achievable. Like helping her deal with her period.
Hm?
===
Quests will be refreshed daily. Quests that have been completed will be prioritized, else the user can select up to 1 quest per category to remove. (removed quests will be refreshed the next day)
Max quest for each category: 1 (Upgradable) (20/20)
Confirm upgrade?
[Yes/No]
[41]
“Hey Liliath, look,”
“We reached it.”
“Yeah. You do the honors.”
“Shouldn’t you do it?”
“I don’t think it matters.”
“Then I suppose..”
Tap.
===
Current Points: 385
Quests: Passion:
Kiss Liliath. 30P
Make Love. 200P
...
Quests: Commitment:
Be there for Liliath when she feels uneasy. 20P
Wash Liliath's clothing. 20P
...
Quests: Intimacy:
Learn about her favorite food. 20P
Learn basic rune drawings from Liliath. 15P
...
Quests will be refreshed daily. Quests that have been completed will be prioritized, else the user can select up to 1 quest per category to remove. (removed quests will be refreshed the next day)
Max quest for each category: 2 (Upgradable) (1/100)
===
Oh.. my.. god..
I’m I seeing things correctly?
200 points?
200 FRAKING POINTS?!
Alright. Moving on. I suppose the categories have been renamed. And instead of 4, there are 3. But there can be 6 tasks ongoing at any one time.
That’s surprisingly good. I have a feeling the quests now onwards would provide more points.
Hm.. the only thing I find kinda off are the categories. It's based on the concept of the triangle of love.. or something. Passion, intimacy and commitment.. I’ve read about it somewhere.
Hnnngg...
I wonder how Liliath is faring—
I turned my head to look.
She curled up into a ball in her seat—again..
Great..
I know 200 points is a lot but honestly.. it’s suicidal. I have no intentions of doing such a thing so I’ll remove that quest.. as for kissing Liliath...
Thinking how the tasks are chosen based on category, I do think there would be other easier quests for the passion category. So I suppose I’ll retain the ‘kissing Liliath’ quests. You never know what could happen—
‘You got mail!’
I opened it in place of the paralyzed Liliath.
===
Dear user,
Congratulations on achieving level 2 for Liliath’s route. Here are 200 points to commend on your achievements thus far.
One more thing. Recite: ‘Status window open’, there is a special treat for the two of you.
May your relationship together continue to blossom.
Regards,
UNKNOWN.
===
I know 200 free points is nice and al’ but..
The fuck did I just see?
Liliath’s route?
Tis is za datin’ simulotoe?
WHAT IN THE FUCK.
NO FUCK.. W-UT..
I don’t even know how I should react to this.
...
I should take this opportunity to delete the mail while I’m at it.. Liliath can’t see this. Absolutely not.. I’m not some playboy here about to ruin her life.. or so I think..
Ah seriously? I can’t delete the mail? Does it remain stuck in the log forever? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
I can only hope Liliath never gets the chance to read this.. perhaps she might not even understand what ‘Liliath’s route’ means. THIS ISN’T A REVERSE OTOME ALRIGHT?!
Which basically just means I shouldn’t at any point in time roll the gacha.
But I really, really, seriously, obsessively want to pull another gacha though.. I wonder who else I could get..
NO FUCK OFF. NOEL, LISTEN TO ME. NEVER EVER PULL ANOTHER GACHA FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE.
I nodded to my own inner monologue.
For now.
“Status window open.”
===
Special Quest:
Hold a conversation with Liliath about Super Glue. 60P
RULES: Liliath cannot find out about the specifics of the task. If found out, the quest will be terminated. Special Quests cannot be removed and will be refreshed weekly. Special Quests completed before the week ends will only be refreshed the following week.
===
A blue-ish panel appeared before me and before I could retort, Liliath spoke.
“A status window?”
“Hm? You can see this?”
“But I can’t understand the words..?”
Ah. I see. That’s convenient, then I wouldn’t need to be afraid of accidentally having Liliath find out. Though it’s surprising to see a corporeal status screen in real life, gets my isekai-blood pumping. I wonder if other people can see this too?
The points awarded for the completion of the special quest is.. very generous— if only it wasn’t super glue.
“Status window open.”
Eh? What?
Liliath showed a surprised expression at the appearance of her own status window, also in blue. And also, I can’t understand the contents written..
But judging from her reaction..
“N-Noel.. d-did you acquire s-something weird?”
“No..”
Is talking about super glue weird? I mean.. my sister could do it so..
Wait. I should take this opportunity to test something.
“Hey Liliath. Let’s experiment with this a bit. You can’t tell me what quest you got right?”
Liliath shook her head in denial.
I don’t know If that’s supposed to be a yes or no..
“I want to test how far I expose information before the quest is terminated.”
Liliath thought for a moment before speaking, “Good idea.”
“Alright. I’ll start with this. My quest has something to do with something you bought in the library the other day.”
To be honest, I didn’t think my mom would be so excited when she found out the item that caught Liliath’s eye was a pack of super glue— she bought it right away.
“The gum?”
I check the status window— still not disqualified.
“Super glue.”
“Super glue..” Liliath muttered as if trying to memorize it..
“Any guesses?”
“Could it be to utilize Super Glue?”
“Nope, keep going.”
“Has it not been considered disqualified?”
“Not yet, keep going.”
“To smear the gum on my face?” Liliath grimaced.
“Nope, keep going.”
“No.. could it.. to do that?” Liliath took distance from me.
“Nope, you’re growing colder, keep going,” wow, I didn’t think Liliath would think that far... or could it be that her quests had something related to that?
Be at peace.. no vulgar thoughts..
“Er.. c-could you just tell?”
“Nope, keep going.”
“...”
“...”
“Hints?”
“What we’re doing now.”
Liliath furrowed her eyebrow. I don’t if it was just me but I saw a vein on her forehead for a moment— must be just me
“A riddle?”
“Nope, keep going.”
Liliath appeared in front of me all of a sudden and grabbed me by the collar, pulling me up from my seat.
I merely blinked— no, I was frozen. She teleported?!
Four horns appeared on her head, eyes burning in crimson as she glared at me.
I was just about to open my mouth to say something when:
‘Noel’s Special Quest Completed.’
Such a mechanical chime rang in my head— or our heads. I saw Liliath react to it too.
Wow. I’m surprised that playing this guessing game was akin to holding a conversation about super glue. That’s like free money, thank you system.
My legs are jelly. I’m surprised she had the strength to hold me up with a single arm— ah, she’s a demon so go figure..
Ah shit. What am I doing— she’s mad, right?
Her eyes dilated and she looked at me with a hazy gaze.
After which a certain realization hit her, she quickly put me down and retreated a few steps.
“S-sorry!”
“I- I think it was my fault..”
“B-but you did it for the sake of the points so I should have tolerated your actions,” Liliath didn’t dare to look at me.
Honestly. I was the asshole here. I pretty much repeated ‘Nope, keep going,’ since I thought it was fun.
Though I may have almost met my doom there, I think it was an eye opener— Liliath could kill me if she wanted.. like really easily.
“It’s alright to get mad you know?” I said with a smile. Her scared expression literally blew my fear away. And if anything, it didn’t seem like Liliath used bloodlust on me just now— so I didn’t pee my pants— fortunately.
“I should’ve maintained my composure.. Noel, what quest was that?”
“To hold a conversation about super glue,” I said in a matter of a fact kinda tone.
“...”
“Sorry.”
“Noel~”
Ok. Shit.. that’s scary. Liliath.. your smile... your smile..
[42]
“Y-yes?”
“You will do your best to help complete my share as compensation right?” Liliath’s show a dazzling smile. I couldn’t avert my eyes let alone move a finger.
Is this bloodlust? I can’t move.. there’s like something pressing me.. I could feel a cold sweat trickle down my forehead.
I opened my mouth but could form no words.
Liliath then pouted.
The bloodlust was lifted and I could breathe again.
“Remember what you gave me permission to do. Don’t put the blame on me the next time this happens.” Her horns scattered into glowing particles that dispersed into the air.
“Y-yeah..”
Scary..
It’s fine for Liliath to get angry but.. please tone down on the bloodlust? Please?
..
Pretty please?
I wanted to tell her that but my fear got the better of me.. I’ll shut up for now.
“In regards to what I mentioned earlier. You will cooperate with me to complete my special quest. Is that a deal?”
“Yes. I’ll do my best,” I took deep breaths to calm myself.
Liliath gritted her teeth, “It’s a d-difficult one but I believe we can manage it. 100 points would be granted after completion.”
Difficult one huh? Something perverted? No. Perhaps not. I doubt she'll do ‘that’ with me for the sake of 200 points. So this must be something within moral boundaries.
As if that even exists.. damn quests.
“Thank you Liliath.”
“Hm? In regards to?”
“Your cooperation. It helped a lot.”
“T-That...” Liliath didn’t complete her sentence. But she did show a conflicted expression.. I wonder what that was about.
===
Noel. Be careful.
Did I not warn you?
A part of me understood that I was merely cooperating for my own sake, to complete my goal. Another part of me wanted to protect him, I had no intentions of betraying anyone.
However..
Noel was reading a peculiar book. It seemed to be something philosophical, ‘Thinking fast, thinking slow’, so was the title. Was there a difference between the two? I personally do agree that it may be the case. If the chance arises, I should ask permission to read said book.
As for myself, I was reading the final volume of the ‘manga’— I believe that was what Novelle-sama corrected me in replacement of the word ‘opus’— that manga Diana-sama introduced to me when I first arrived. Volume 17.
It was sentimental to think that this was the end..
Of course, I made sure to hide it behind another book to prevent Noel from seeing it.
Not good. What have I become?
To be enjoying a taboo object freely?
Could this be how it feels when those people who frequented harlots would say: ‘I can’t help it’?
O’ how many times have I asked for forgiveness.. I’ve been thinking that nothing would happen.. there wasn’t a divine retribution if I came into contact with such a wonderful— Er, I mean dirty story.
I flipped to the next page.
Reading the scene of the two beings.. one being an elf the other being a half-demon doing..
Tied to the bed with..
I can’t help it.
I imagined the onomatopoeia.
Uh.. no.. I can’t.. I shouldn’t..
I tore my eyes away from the page with all my strength.
Noel’s focus remained on his book.
I can’t help but imagine all the lewd stuff going through in his mind.. Novelle-sama did say Noel had read many variations of what I’m currently reading for the first time.
Moreover.. he did see my..
I cannot underestimate him.
My thoughts have gone astray..
Thought said. I am no longer a princess. The responsibilities that I once had— the fate I was bound to— I was relieved of it all yet..
I was incomplete.
I closed the book.
I shall read the final part later in the evening, in Novelle-sama’s room where it is the safest.
I heard the mechanical sound reverberated through the building— citing the return of Diana-sama.
Noel reacted and rushed to the direction of the place where the ‘car’ arrived. I followed behind.
“Welcome back father,” I heard Noel say.
“Yo, I’m back, Noel. How’s your girl?”
“...”
I peeked over the door.
“Ah, there you are, nice to meet you Liliath,” Dylan-sama said with a smile— or smirk? He resembled Novelle-sama. He had a bag strapped to his back.
Noel helped him carry the bag.
“Welcome back, Diana, Novelle. I’m honors to be able to meet you D-Dylan,” I bowed.
I still find it difficult to mention the other party's name without the use of honorifics. I knew this was something I had to become comfortable with. I have to properly ground my identity as a person that now lives in this world.
“Big sister!” Novelle-sama showed a pleasant smile on her face.
“We’re back,” Diana-sama was giggling.
“Hah! A princess! I knew it. Right? Liliath, you’re an ex-princess right? Right?!”
“Uh..”
I didn’t understand why Dylan-sama was looking at me with those eyes— it was scary.
“Yes, Liliath is a princess and seriously, chill,” Noel replied in my stead.
“I get it, I get it. Sorry Liliath,” he laughed, “A nice reverse isekai.. Noel, I hope you build a harem.”
Noel spoke not, only glaring at his own father— who averted his gaze.
Noel with multiple wives? W-why could I see myself standing there with him? That’s not right...
B-But that path would be better than the one in which I betray Noel.. t-that’s all?!
Anything besides betraying Noel..
Everyone entered. Dylan-sama went to wash up. He had apparently been out on a long journey and came back. I wondered where he went? To pay visits to other nobles? To build connections?
All I knew was that I was teased again with the phrase: mechanical divine dragon.
That’s so unfair Novelle-sama... I still lack understanding of this world, I should be given a grace period at least..
Diana-sama was kind enough to teach me how I should manage my ‘period’ at times like these. Novelle-sama had no issues with lending me a helping hand..
“I’ve booked a place at Prune’s restaurant, so that’s where we’ll go for dinner,” Dylan said.
I supposed that would be the same restaurant we visited a few days ago? I wondered how the beastkin, Prune was doing. Dylan-sama wanted to pay a visit after a while.. could it be because of that?
Ah. I can take this chance to complete the special quest..
I can do it.. I need merely but to act.
===
Special Quest:
Feed Noel with a spoon you used. 100P
RULES: Noel cannot find out about the specifics of the task. If found out, the quest will be terminated. Special Quests cannot be removed and will be refreshed weekly. Special Quests completed before the week ends will only be refreshed the following week.
===
I don’t understand why these tasks were all related to Noel.. not that I hate it.. I kind of.. look forward to it in fact..
That’s a rather embarrassing confession..
I’m worried that Noel may find out what my intention is before I manage to execute it. The moment Noel comes up with a fitting assumption to what my special quest is— it would be terminated that instant.
It’s just a feeling.. I have to take precautions..
Then..
I’ll need assistance.
