S-Class Rank 23 Zeiros, Mercenary Jakes

"Oooooh… wh-what are you doing, Jakes!

"You call yourself my proxy! Don't mess with me!

"I'm not paying you!"

"… Regrettable. My power was insufficient…

"Since I could not fulfill the work, payment is unneeded… Farewell."

"Damn it… daaammn it! Shaina, Shaina was supposed to be mine! She was supposed to become miiine… uooooooh!"

Zeiros was bitterly crushed.

… So I'd stumbled onto a quarrel.

"You raised your concerns beforehand, and Zeiros pushed you to do it anyway. I don't think you have to return the money…"

When I, unable to just stand by, spoke up,

"… Akai Naoto."

Jakes replied too.

"That the beauteous King of the Dead serveth thee…

"Before the protection of death, my angels are powerless.

"I am ashamed to have shown such an unworthy fight."

Jakes's manner of speech was strange, but he seemed like a decent person.

"No, you just had a bad matchup… It's an interesting trait."

"… Hmph. Guzaphan was passed down to me from my forefathers' generation — the ultimate Fallen Angel.

"Her true worth is not such as this…

"But if her true worth cannot be brought out, then there it ends. A total defeat…"

He seemed downcast.

Well, with a lopsided composition, if you were completely outdone in attribute, there was nothing to be done.

No choice but to give up, I'd think. Especially for a mercenary.

… Aha, so since his lineup absolutely couldn't include anything other than angels, he did mercenary work with the freedom to refuse jobs when needed, maybe.

"Angel types are advantaged against monsters, so wouldn't it have been better to specialize in anti-monster work?

"I know it's none of my business, but…"

"… Luna… my light… I too… wished to bathe in that light, to bask in that glory… an endless dream…"

He wanted to meet Luna.

In that case…

"Luna."

I called her over.

"Oooh… my… angel…! Shining light… glory… oh, Luna…!"

Jakes's face had turned bright red, and he was reduced to incoherent stammering.

"… Ah, Jakes-san. Thank you always for your support."

… She knew him.

Well, apparently he was a top-tier member of her fan club. They'd probably run into each other at concerts and so on.

Having Luna smile at him…

"I have no regrets in my life…"

Jakes was choked up with tears of emotion.

That was all it took?

Jakes seemed like a fairly interesting person.

"Um, in cases like anti-monster battles, if it's all right, I might want to commission you for work…

"If you don't mind, could you give me your contact info?"

"… Very well."

Pi!

He held out a card-shaped name card.

"From the twilight I come… Shouldst thou desire my power, call upon my name.

"My power, I shall wield for the sake of my angels…!"

… Translated into ordinary Japanese, that'd be at that time, I look forward to working with you.

I'd made a connection with mercenary Jakes.

Well, when we did the next assault op, it might be worth calling him.

This time had ended in a disappointing result, but he was stronger than any A-Class Master besides Eve.

… Now then, that's about it for the feud with Zeiros? I'd go above Zeiros, and if Shaina also stayed above Fergus this way… he'd basically have no way to be directly involved with us anymore.

Though there was a high chance he'd keep interfering in council, as usual.

… Before that, I'd tried approaching him once, in case there was any room for relationship improvement. Well, if it couldn't be helped, fine. From now on we'd just have to stay in confrontation mode.

"… You! Akai Naoto! What have you come for. To laugh at me!"

He greeted me in a combative tone.

"No, I have no such intention."

… I mean, who would approach someone just to deliberately laugh in their face? Who would do something so mean-spirited…

Plenty of people, probably. Zeiros himself looked like he would.

It was because he thought that way that he assumed others would do it to him.

Well, if I lost, at that point I'd become Eclair's slave. There was nothing to laugh about there.

"I get that you don't like me, but…

"As fellow lower-tier S-Class Masters, can we really not improve our relationship at all?"

I tried, for form's sake, to reach out.

"… Does that mean Ursula-sama would order me to do so with her?"

Zeiros lifted his face as if he'd just glimpsed a ray of hope.

"That's not happening."

"Don't get my hopes up just to dash them! You low-born!"

He flew into a rage.

… No good. There was no room to bridge the gap.

"It seems to be the rule of this world not to comment on others' tastes, but…

"What do this world's nobles think of the taste of getting plowed by futanari Garumon…"

I slipped that out.

"What do you mean, what do they think! For futanari Garumon, who are likenesses of the gods, to deign to plow our buttholes is the highest honor and blessing for a noble! Pleasure is, at most, a secondary, incidental effect! Don't lump us in with you low-borns!"

… Like I'd stepped on a tiger's tail, he flew into a rage.

"To have a futanari Garumon's holy cock inserted into one's butthole — that grand honor, that ecstasy! It is, indeed, a sacred ceremony of becoming one with the gods! Pleasure is by no means the sole goal! It is a high-minded and sacred predilection suited only to noble-bloods such as I! Th-that someone low-born like you should taste it… un-unforgivable! I shall not forgive iiiit!"

He flew into a rage again, violently…

I got that he was a slightly funny guy, but actually conversing with him was exhausting.

"Um… I don't have the taste of being plowed in the rear, though…"

I tried saying that.

"… Wh… at…?"

Zeiros froze.

"… Preposterous…! Wh-without enjoying the futanari Garumon's! Without enjoying a futanari Garumon's holy cock in one's butthole, what is there to enjoy in life! I don't understand! Preposterous! To be this much of a fool! Oh, gods! Why have the gods given such a fool the privilege of Ursula-sama…!"

Zeiros looked up to the heavens.

"No, tastes vary by person, surely…"

"Nay, impossible! To taste a futanari Garumon's holy cock in one's butthole is the supreme pleasure and blessing of life!

"It is the highest pleasure, and the path to reaching the gods, and the climax thereby tasted is the deepest and most sacred climax in this world!

"The pleasure of receiving a futanari Garumon's semen in one's butthole is the gods' blessing, the very glory of reaching the gods…!

"Aah… a futanari Garumon's holy cock… Ursula-sama's holy cock, Shaina's holy cock…!"

Zeiros was in ecstasy.

I was deeply regretting having spoken to this guy.

No, tastes vary by person! No point repeating it!

When I saw a Garumon with nice fur, I too sometimes wanted to ask isn't it about shaving time, why don't you shave?

But I held back.

Because pushing your own tastes onto others is bad.

But subjected to this hot-blooded sermon…

I was pulling back. Well, in a sense, I admit it was a bit funny.

But honestly it was gross. If it were a cute girl like Shaina I could enjoy imagining it, but being made to imagine it with this guy was torture.

I was desperately trying not to think about it.

"… Well, may blessings be upon you. Farewell."

… I shouldn't speak to him anymore…

"I won't give up! Without fail… without fail! I shall build a futanari-cock harem of Ursula-sama and Shaina!

"That I got 23rd place is a divine revelation that says I should! I absolutely… shall not give uuup…!"

… I no longer wanted any involvement with Zeiros, but he was clearly fully intent on staying involved.

It was a drag, but…

For now, if Shaina squeezed a billion out of him and he got a little disheartened, that'd do.

"… Oh, Naoto～"

Just then, Shaina arrived.

"… Uoh, o, oooh…! G-gu, must get away…!"

Zeiros hurriedly distanced himself. When the system had decreed an approach ban on you, you had to flee when the other party approached.

In other words, Shaina approaching Zeiros was a fairly nice form of harassment.

Well, I figured she didn't need to mind it at all.

Zeiros took plenty of distance but stopped at the borderline edge where he could just barely see me and Shaina and hear our conversation.

Shaina seemed unaware of Zeiros's presence.

"What's up, Shaina, what is it?"

"Ah, mm, Zeiros transferred me a billion, but… please, you take all of it, Naoto.

"Or rather, pay it to Melvis-san."

"No, no, that's too much, mercenary fees aren't that high.

"It's income you earned as an S-Class Master, Shaina, so you should properly use it yourself, Shaina.

"I'll take a reasonable mercenary amount…"

"Nuh-uh, in that case, after all, Naoto, you take all of it. Being able to have Melvis-san fight for me, that was all thanks to you, Naoto…

"… Or rather, just being money from Zeiros, somehow it's icky."

"… In that case."

I smiled and accepted the billion from Shaina. I'd pay Melvis a reasonable amount later.

I'd repay Shaina with something too.

"I'll say this in person later too, but really, thank you for lending us Melvis-san.

"She was really strong～. As for that Jakes guy, if I'd been the one fighting him, it probably wouldn't have gone so easy.

"That she crushed him that thoroughly was because it was Melvis-san, I think. Especially Ia! That girl's amazing!"

"Mm, yeah, that collapsed Jakes's whole strategy.

"… Well, a certain someone informed me ahead of time that Jakes was coming, so we could deal with it."

Really, Zeiros, c'mon…

"But, in the end, it's thanks to you, Naoto. If you hadn't proposed bringing in a mercenary, I… maybe by now…

"Ah, no no, let's stop thinking weird thoughts!

"… More importantly, I want to think about having sex with Naoto."

"Ahaha… that goes for me too.

"… Once today's tournament is over, we'll be able to take it easy a little, so when that happens…"

"Mm! Let's have lots and lots of sex, okay. Ehehe…"

Shaina laughed cutely.

I hugged her and gave her a kiss.

"Now, I'd better get going."

"Ah, mm, sorry for holding you up. Do your best… I'm cheering for you. Goes without saying."

"Ahaha… yeah, I'd better answer those cheers, then."

And Shaina headed for the spectator seats.

… Round 2, my match, was about to begin. I had to head for the arena.

Giri-giri-giri…

… Zeiros was off in the distance, weeping tears of blood and gritting his teeth like he'd shatter them, which was a bit concerning, but…

Well, in this world there were people who just don't get along…

Especially between men who'd loved the same woman; I figured there's no choice but to kill each other.

With Zeiros, I just couldn't seem to become friends after all.

"Daaamn it! Shaina Fervey, getting along so closely with him… f-forgive me not! Wretched! Envious!

"Damn, damn it! Lose, just lose!"

Curses unbecoming of a glorious S-Class Master spewed from Zeiros.

… I decided not to mind it any further…

I returned to the arena.