E-Class Battles

And so, for the next three days, we kept grinding out battles at E-Class.

Knocking out fifty matches in three days meant we'd have to stick to 1-vs-1 battles.

A 2-vs-2 setup would have been more stable, but the more enemies on the field, the more attacks came flying, and the faster our skill counts ran out. There was no other way.

"You're up first, Adelia."

"Nya!"

The quota was ten wins per person.

The opponents looked roughly like this.

"A 1-vs-1 battle…? Value 5800?! Tch… no way I'm letting this one get away!"

"Flame Claw!"

"Nya!"

DOGOH!

"N-No way… a one-shot?!"

Flame Claw, the new top-end skill she'd just learned, was overpowered for E-Class. Way over spec.

… Land it cleanly and it was a near-guaranteed one-shot. Five wins, easy. The other five I'd cover mainly with Mad Slash to clear the quota. Adelia had no defense or evasion skills, so once counterattacks started landing, her HP just kept getting chipped down.

… Somehow, with her HP hanging by a thread and one foot in the grave, we hit ten wins.

"Kanan-san, last battle! I know your skill counts are running low, but…"

"… I know! I'll figure something out. Wind Cutter!"

ZAN! It connected, but barely missed dropping the opponent below half HP.

"Haaaaah!"

ZAN!

The opponent's attack hit her.

Kanan-san's evasion rate was high, and Wind Shield could fully block physical attacks.

… But her firepower was lower than Adelia's, so the turn count kept piling up.

Each individual fight wasn't that hard, but stacking them up made the skill counts more and more nerve-wracking.

Even so, there was no time to head back to the inn for a break.

The shield eventually ran out and her HP got whittled away bit by bit. One more hit and she'd have been done for, but with this, it was over.

"Air Blast!"

Juggling the few skills we had left, keeping HP loss to the absolute minimum, fight after fight after fight… it became a brutally grueling slog, but somehow we pulled through.

We finished out at twenty wins, safe and sound. Of course, it wasn't like opponents lined up politely waiting their turn. We'd been on a Search-and-Battle loop, sprinting around for eight hours straight.

"… Alright, the quota's cleared for now. Let's call it a day."

"Haaaaah… I'm exhausted…"

"Funyaaa… For Goshujin-sama's sake, Adelia would walk through fire and water… but she's tired, nya…"

Both of them, the ones actually doing the fighting, were utterly drained.

But…

"… Hold up. Don't ya think the new kids are getting a little too cocky?"

"Letting you walk away after that would be a black mark on the Eora E-Class Master Team's name…"

"You're gonna learn the hard way."

Geh… with the two of them already squeezed dry to their absolute limit, three more on top was rough.

Running was the only option.

But we couldn't just bolt. If they got us from behind, we wouldn't last.

At minimum, I had to challenge one of them to a Garumon Battle, hold off the out-of-battle battle attacks from the other two for a full minute, win, and then escape. That was the only way out.

"… Tch. Sorry. I let my guard down, getting jumped by guys like these… Overtime. You two ready?"

"… A-As if I, of all people, would whine over barely going past my limit."

Even so, Kanan-san was on the verge of tears.

"Goshujin-sama… I'll need extra rewards tonight, nya."

Adelia, on the brink of tears too…

The two of them wobbled back to their feet.

"Don't underestimate us!"

The three of them lunged.

"Loud and annoying! I'll knock you flat!"

I shouted right back to psych myself up.

Challenging one of them to a Garumon Battle, I put distance between us and the other two.

"Drop dead! Stone Edge!"

"Fire Arrow!"

"Kanan-san, Wind's Blessing! One step forward, two steps right. Then leap sideways to the left!"

"R-Right…!"

Step, step-step, turn!

She moved exactly as told, just as I'd pictured. Slipping into the line of fire between the two of them, she shielded Adelia and chained her dodges.

… Success!

"… Wh-What the hell?! Nothing's landing!"

"Lock her down! Surround her!"

"Y-Yeah!"

"Hurry up! We've only got thirty seconds left!"

The three of them weren't coordinating well. Lucky for us. Two more attacks to dodge and time would be up.

"… Stone Fall!"

"Fire Arrow!"

"Kanan-san, jump back! One more time, back!"

Kanan-san leapt back as told, then leapt again. But one of the bursting stones clipped her and she lost her balance.

"Kanan-san!"

"Aaaah…!"

ZAN!

She finally took an attack head-on and went down. Kanan-san's HP dropped to 0…!

"… Damn, time's up!"

Battle start!

"Adelia, Mad Slash! … Got it? Land every hit as a critical. That's the only way!"

"Nyaaa!"

Adelia dove into her opponent's range, wound up a massive haymaker, and drove it like a corkscrew straight at her opponent's centerline.

"Nyaaaaa!"

ZUGAAAN!

"… What?! That's not the kind of power a low-level Garumon's Mad Slash should put out!"

"Nyaaaa!"

Riding the recoil, she cocked her opposite arm back, built up centrifugal force, and let it fly with maximum power!

ZUGAAAN!

Alright, HP cut in half. Two more!

"Nyaaaaaa!"

Stepping in again, another corkscrew blow that twisted in deep!

For the finisher, a left hook came scything in from outside her field of vision!

ZAN!

"… No way! My Rudy got… one-turn killed?!"

We shaved a full-HP Garumon down in a single turn, dodging the "one more hit and she's out" death state.

YOU WIN!

"Alright, run, Adelia!"

I scooped up the fallen Kanan-san, Adelia scooped me up, and we bolted at full speed without looking back!

We somehow made it back to the town of Eora.

… All that struggle was worth it. We'd even leveled up. A great haul.

"Aaaah… I'm exhausted! No more, I'm dying… I'm dying… So tonight, give me my reward, and make it generous. We worked this hard, after all!"

With that, Kanan-san sprawled out on the bed. Today she'd actually been knocked out of the fight. She was past the limit of exhaustion… and yet she had no intention of sleeping until she got her reward.

"Kanan said something good, nya. Adelia made it through the second half dreaming about Goshujin-sama's reward, too. Now, the reward, the reward, nya!"

With that, Adelia draped herself over Kanan-san.

Kanan-san caught Adelia gently, and the two of them lay together, opening their arms to invite me in.

"O-Okay, okay. You two really did your best today. You worked hard."

I leaned in over the two of them on the bed.

"You two have gotten really close, huh."

"… N-No, we haven't. I would never get chummy with someone like that!"

Kanan-san turned her face away with a "hmph" at my words.

"… Well, Adelia's cute, smells nice, you can rely on her in a fight… I do think she's a good kid, though."

But she softened right away, smiling, and gently held Adelia close.

"Kanan is kind, and she's the best partner, the kind you can trust to have your back, nya! I love her, nya!"

Adelia hugged Kanan-san back without hesitation.

"…! Th-This is exactly why Beastfolk are… it's because you're so simple that you can say things like that so easily…"

"Nya-haha… Kanan doesn't have to say anything, nya. Adelia might be dumb, but there are some things she gets without having to be told, nya."

"Wh-What?! What are you talking about, spit it out!"

"The things you get without being told are the things you don't have to say, nya."

"Geez!"

… How adorable.

Now then, reward time.

First, the usual: grooming. I reached my hands toward both of their heads.

Stroke… stroke… stroke…

Smooth, smooth…

"Haa… ahh, ahh…"

"Funya, ah… hanyaaa…"

The two of them narrowed their eyes in pleasure and let out little gasps. But it seemed they weren't satisfied with just having their heads petted.

They twisted their bodies on purpose, and my hands slid from their heads down to their backs.

I kept stroking, down their backs…

"Haa, ahh, ahhh…"

"Funya, nyaaaaan…"

The two of them swayed blissfully. Their large breasts jiggled…

U-Ugh… I wanted to touch them so badly.

But if I touched them, I wouldn't be able to stop myself, so I endured.

Until the day came when I could do it with both of them…

No, no, that day wasn't going to come anyway.

"Haa, ah, ahh… it feels good, so good… fingers, Naoto's fingers feel so good… more, more, touch every part of me… touch me anywhere, anywhere is okay…!"

"Funyaaa, Goshujin-sama, Goshujin-samaaa… more, more… touch me lots, nya… I'll give you my whole body, Goshujin-sama, nya…!"

"… Kanan-san, Adelia…"

No, seriously, I was at my limit. If Leone-san weren't here, I'd already be done for.

To take my mind off my own urges, I kept stroking their backs, then further down, almost to their butts, then over their hips and around their stomachs, and lower still… down to their thighs.

"Ahh, no more, no more… ah, ahhh…!"

"Funyaaaaa…!"

Twitch, twitch…!

Twitch…!

The two of them spasmed, collapsed limply, and just like that, fell asleep.

… As I'd gone from their backs over their bellies and worked my way down to their thighs, I had a feeling I'd… lingered a little… no, pretty firmly, on their butts.

Plump and soft, and feeling so good…

Hmm. I'd heard breasts were supposed to be a substitute for butts.

If I endured the breasts only to end up groping the butts instead, wasn't that putting the cart before the horse?

In which case, touching the breasts would have been… no, no, there's no way it'd be okay to touch the butts either.

… I had thoroughly committed an act of molestation. If I got yelled at later, I'd just have to apologize…

Well, not that I'd ever actually been yelled at…

I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight without having Leone-san take care of me again.

I decided to head downstairs… Even though I'd supposedly decided that the room upstairs was mine, I didn't think I'd spent a single full night in it. Every night, I ended up holed up in Leone-san's room.

Knock, knock. I rapped on Leone-san's door.

"Fufu, I've been waiting for you."

Leone-san greeted me again today in incredibly sexy, see-through lingerie.

"Sorry, but please, again tonight."

"Fufu, more than welcome."

I stripped off my clothes and lay down on the bed, and Leone-san immediately stripped down too and got on top.

Then, with those wonderful breasts, she softly cradled my erect cock between them.

With her hands, her fingers, her mouth, and again with those breasts… she gave me dizzying waves of pleasure.

"Ah, ahhh… Leone-san…!"

Throb!

After giving the two of them their reward and working myself up to the breaking point, I let her bring me off once first, to take the edge off.

Next, it was my turn on top, and I groped Leone-san's wonderful, large breasts to my heart's content.

"Ahh… it feels… so good…!"

Meltingly soft, packed full and firm, yet when they squeezed my cock, gripping it tight… an indescribable, miraculous sensation.

The greatest breasts. It was precisely because I knew I could grope them to my heart's content later that I could endure not groping Adelia's and Kanan-san's.

Groping them felt great for me, and…

"Haa, haa, ahh… Naoto-saaan…! N-No, no, my breasts, it feels too good, I can't…!"

It seemed Leone-san liked being groped just as much. Her face had melted into bliss, mouth slack, even drooling.

"Leone-san…!"

I was barely thinking about trying to make Leone feel good. I was just kneading away for my own satisfaction, and yet the fact that she was getting that much pleasure out of it…

Made me happy.

I kissed Leone's breasts.

"Aaaaah…!"

Twitch, twitch.

Just from sucking on her nipples, Leone climaxed hard.

… After a short rest, the next round. Leone lay on her back, and I straddled her. Then I slid my erect cock… into her cleavage.

Slide, slide, slide…

I started moving my hips, like a piston.

Plump breasts. Having Leone do the moving in a paizuri felt great, but moving on my own like this felt amazing too.

Violating Leone's breasts… it was just like sex.

"Haa, ahh… Leone's breasts feel so amazing, I-I'm gonna cum again…!"

"Haa, ahh… Naoto-san, Naoto-saaan… my breasts being violated… it feels so good, I'm gonna, gonna cum too…!"

We sped up the rhythm of my hips and her breasts, and…

Spurt, spurt!

Twitch, twitch!

We climaxed together. My semen slipped past Leone's large breasts and rained down on Leone's beautiful face.

"By the way, the ones from your same other world… the Master was Noda-kun, and the girl was Yukishiro-san, wasn't it? … They seem to have adapted to this world quite well."

After we'd finished a round and were lying naked in bed, holding each other in pillow talk, she brought up the subject.

"… Sounds like they've been here three months already… But calling something that horrible 'adapting'…"

"Oh my, did I upset you?"

"N-No, not at all. But, doing that to Yukishiro-san… that bastard Noda…"

I was indignant, but when I thought about it carefully, I was getting Leone-san to do basically the same things to me.

… But Leone-san was a widow, and there was consent. And he wasn't forcing her into it in front of others.

So it wasn't the same… I thought… but…

I wasn't confident…

"It's true that doing it in front of others when she doesn't want to is something of a problem, but… In reality, there's no problem. Forcing your slave to give fellatio is a Master's natural right, and there's basically no Master who wouldn't exercise it. The act itself isn't something anyone has cause to condemn."

"Th-That's… I see… I understand that's this world's common sense. But we come from Earth, and in our world, men and women are equal, and women's human rights should be protected too. It's true that in my country there's a saying, 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do,' and the logic that you should respect the customs of the world you're in makes sense to me, so… I do think it's a difficult issue, though…"

"Fufufu… but I think it's fine. Even if you condemn Noda for it. After all, you care… about Yukishiro-san, don't you? Then there's nothing wrong with wanting to save her. In this world, you're allowed to take Yukishiro-san away from Noda. You should save her using whatever method you think is best."

"… Thank you very much."

Leone-san encouraged me like that.

"That said, don't forget that quite a few of those slaves wholeheartedly desire to serve their masters. For girls like that, respecting the other person's feelings too much would actually be sad, I think."

"… Um, could it be… am I falling short as a master to Adelia…?"

The one Leone was talking about had to be Adelia. As for Kanan-san… she was different. I was sure of that.

"Geez… You're fine the way you are. And I don't think Adelia would want you to put your hands on her alone, leaving Kanan-san aside, either. That girl's completely taken with Kanan-san, after all."

Leone-san smiled at me as she said it.

"… I see…"

I'd brought up Adelia, and the topic had shifted to Kanan-san.

That Kanan-san truly accepted me as her master, and even desired to be touched by me…

Could there really be such a thing?

That arrogant, vicious woman who used to whip her slaves into submission unilaterally.

… But the Kanan-san of now was way livelier and seemed to be having way more fun than back then.

Maybe, just maybe, the way she'd been as a master wasn't what Kanan-san had really wanted either.

… Or rather, ever since the positions had reversed, I'd come to realize Kanan-san was honestly pretty terrible as a master… or rather, as a commander.

If Kanan had been incredibly skillful at giving instructions, and I'd been racking up wins in those slave battles… there's a chance those battles actually might have been kind of fun.

I might even have thought, "Hey, do I have a talent for this?" and gotten into boxing or something.

Conversely, if I'd been bad at giving instructions, Kanan would have built up a ton of stress and wouldn't be this lively now.

Although she would have been beaten and stolen away long before that.

But that also meant that despite not being good at it, she'd been forced into the role just because she was the young lady of the Kazami house.

Maybe, originally, she was the type who actually shone when she was being given instructions, when she was serving someone…

As I started understanding things like that, the lingering resentment I had toward Kanan-san gradually melted away.

… To begin with, she'd already fought dozens of battles under my orders. Way more than the slave battles I used to fight under hers.

Maybe, instead of holding onto that resentment forever, I should look at Kanan-san more honestly…

While I was lost in thought, Leone-san watched over me with a gentle smile.

… She really was just an older sister with plenty of life experience. She'd probably seen right through my hangups.

"Thank you, Leone-san… I'll think about it a bit more."

"… Yes."

I hugged Leone tightly to me.

Her bare breasts pressed softly against my body, and it felt wonderfully comforting.

… Tonight too, it felt like I'd be able to sleep peacefully and carry none of today's fatigue into tomorrow.

And then, by the next evening, I'd safely reached D-Class.

"Hold on… one line?! That whole brutal stretch of life-or-death battles got summed up in a single line?! We weren't 'safe'…! I pushed past my limit even more than yesterday and I'm a wreck…! It was the same twenty straight battles as yesterday, but the opponents were E-Class top-rankers. It was several tiers harder…! And then we got jumped again on top of that, didn't run, and racked up two wins to get the D-Class promotion. There's pushing us hard, and then there's that…!"

Kanan-san was indignant… Though too exhausted to put any real strength behind it.

"Goshujin-sama… Goshujin-sama is kind, and Adelia loves him so, so much, nya. But… sometimes he's a demon, nya… a devil, nya…"

Even Adelia was complaining.

"S-Sorry, you two. I believed the two of you could do it, and ended up pushing you too hard…"

But thanks to that, we'd leveled up…

"I-It wasn't 'too hard'! There's no such thing as 'too much' for me! I'm… this person's master… e-even if it's only on paper… and so I have to get him to a fitting ranking, fast! For that, there's no such thing as 'too much.' … Congratulations on the D-Class promotion. We have to celebrate again… But, tomorrow. Today, well… is my limit…"

Thud.

Kanan-san couldn't seem to make her legs move. Adelia was wobbly too.

I ended up supporting both of them on the way back… This was bad. We still had a way to go to town, and with the two of them this beat up, we couldn't pick up the pace.

Today's fights had truly been on the edge.

Yesterday's skills, the new ones we'd just learned, all of them used up. We'd squeezed out everything we had.

Town was still several minutes off, and we were getting close to ten minutes since the last battle…

… One more attack and we'd be finished. Somehow, we had to stay out of sight…

Just as I was thinking that.

"… Hahaha! I've been waiting for this moment! You're paying me back for yesterday!"

A guy I vaguely recognized popped out in front of us… Ah, the 24-hour battle ban must have just expired.

… Ah, this is… I'm dead.

A flash of despair crossed my mind for a moment.

The situation was… the worst possible. Right now, I was seriously close to dying.

I was at the cliff's edge, weighing whether to abandon Adelia and Kanan-san and make a run for it.

"… Heh."

A dry laugh slipped out without thinking.

But the opponent was alone. So… it wasn't the absolute worst. We could still manage somehow.

"G-Goshujin-sama…"

"N-Naoto…"

The two of them looked anxious. If even a single skill had remained, we could have pulled through.

But bone-dry as we were now, there was nothing we could do. The two of them knew that perfectly well. A hopeless situation.

One hit took one of us down, two hits took both, total wipeout. There was no way to prevent it.

… But that was only if Adelia and Kanan-san fought.

"Adelia, carry Kanan and run for town. I'll be fine."

"Nya?! No, Goshujin-sama…!"

"Naoto, you can't! T-That's…"

The two of them objected to my orders.

"Just go! Trust me! Take care of Kanan… Run!"

"Naoto, no, Naotooo!"

"… Nya, Goshujin-sama, I trust you, nya!"

At my command, Adelia bolted at full speed. Kanan-san's voice echoed away into the distance.

"… Tch, drop dead! Thunder Arrow!"

ZUGAAAN!

HP 16 -> 15

If you lost your Garumon, the Master was exposed to the opponent's attacks one-sidedly.

You wouldn't die until your HP ran out. But the moment it did, those landscape-altering Garumon attacks would slam into me directly.

If that happened, instant death… My life was on the line right now.

But… I wasn't giving up till the end.

"… Hey, over here! Follow me!"

It was a race between my HP running out and me getting back to town.

I ran for my life.

Sprinting harder than I ever had before, I dove into the forest, ducking from tree to tree as I ran.

"Hey, what's wrong?! Over here! Hurry up!"

I called out to him every so often as I went.

"… Tch! Ida! Mikuri! Scout the area!"

… Yes! Just as planned. He'd gotten cautious and slowed his attacks.

… If the opponent had been some single-minded type who just hammered me with attacks no matter what, I'd never have escaped, and I'd have been taken down.

But Adelia and Kanan-san running off had changed things.

In this world's common sense, a Master might abandon a Garumon and run, but a Garumon abandoning her Master and fleeing was absolutely unthinkable.

If you commanded "Fight to the death to protect me," a Garumon would fight to the death.

And yet, the Garumon had vanished. That meant they had to be setting up an ambush… that was how he'd think.

Even if the Master wasn't sharp enough to think it through that far, if I obviously screamed "Over here!" like there was a trap, he'd get the idea. That was my hope. Halfway through, I'd worried I was being too obvious about it…

… And as a result, he fell for it. Reading too much into "there's probably a trap up where he ran," he took a moment to scout the area, attacking only once it looked safe, slowing his attack pace. With this… I'd make it!

Even so, town was still a long way off. Taking attack after attack on the way, I still…

I succeeded in escaping into the town of Eora with HP to spare.

"Goshujin-sama!"

"Naotooo!"

The two who had been waiting at the town gate threw themselves at me.

"H-Hah… ahaha, no problem, no problem. See, HP 3. Not even close to a scrape."

"Nyaaa… I was scared, nya! If you were gone, Goshujin-sama, Adelia would die too, nya!"

"You idiot, idiot! If you go and die on me, I'll never forgive you!"

The two of them clung to me, crying.

… The shakes were starting to hit me, after the fact. One wrong step and I really would have died…

But the reason I'd done it… if losing a Garumon Battle meant losing Adelia and Kanan-san, I'd rather die myself. Apparently, that was how I felt.