Chapter 125: Runaway, Or…. (2)

Shivering from an ominous déjà vu, after leaving the Fairy and Silver Coin.

The place I headed to, as I told Ellie, was Benny’s workshop.

Eve’s disappearance and the risk of her turning dark are major incidents and personally worrisome, but…

Honestly, there isn’t anything I can do just by worrying.

I don’t have the ability to find Eve, who has hidden herself on purpose. Therefore, I must make her come to me on her own, and I have taken the best possible measures for this.

Now, all that remains is to do my work and wait for Eve to return.

“For that reason, I’ve come to see you, Benny!”

“…You talk about people like they’re homework and expect me to welcome you?!”

“Hey. Homework? It’s not something I’m forcing myself to do, I was planning to come meet you from the beginning.”

“Well. From what I’ve heard, it seems like you’re trying to assign the job to me because that Eve person disappeared.”

“Oh dear. I really dislike sharp kids like Benny.”

“Who’s a kid! Who!”

Even while screeching, Benny, who seemed determined to treat the guest properly, handed over a steaming cup of tea.

The fact that it was in a potion bottle rather than a teacup was a bit concerning, but since it smelled unmistakably like herbal tea, I decided to drink it without any fuss.

Of course, I did briefly wonder if Benny had spiked the herbal tea with something and was secretly recording…

But whatever drug it might be, thanks to my Gluttonous Stomach, I would perfectly digest it, so I quickly concluded it didn’t matter much.

“Wh-what? Is it that bad? Why are you drinking it with that expression?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just that a slightly boring thought crossed my mind.”

I gave a bright smile to reassure Benny and then changed the subject.

“By the way, Benny. How did things go with Shadow that we talked about last time?”

“I don’t know.”

“Sorry?”

“Let me just say, it’s not like before where I wanted to separate from Shadow unconditionally. I’ve realized there’s a lot I don’t know.”

“Like what?”

“Like what kind of relationship I have with Shadow. And what it wants from me.”

With a deep sigh, Benny gazed at Shadow wriggling inside a large glass tube.

No matter how immortal Shadow may be, it doesn’t mean it can’t be damaged.

It had been badly beaten by Hippolyte in the previous battle, so now it was quietly recovering.

Since the moment I entered, its tentacles had been wriggling actively, but Shadow itself seemed to know it wasn’t in good condition and didn’t try to come out of the glass container.

Feeling a bit touched, I tapped on the glass wall and greeted it before asking.

“Could you explain it a bit more specifically?”

“Specifically or not…I have always treated Shadow as a phenomenon. It’s not actually alive, you know.”

Benny said that she dealt with Shadow by finding patterns in its behavior, comparing points of contact with other friends who had become sacrifices, and exploring solid methods of control.

Until now, Shadow had reacted according to simple patterns, appearing more like a beast with remnants of emotions and instincts rather than any existing intellect.

“But Jonah, after listening to you and looking into things again, a lot has changed.”

“Changed? You mean it’s not just that things that were invisible are now visible?”

“Yes. It has changed. I don’t know if it’s because I met you, Jonah, or because we named it Shadow, or if it’s because the connection weakened once due to Morgana’s barrier…but Shadow is different from before. This is certain.”

Benny nodded firmly. She mumbled a few words while biting her small lips.

“And maybe I’ve changed a bit too.”

Benny twirled her toes on the floor, glancing this way.

It seemed more like she found it hard to look at me for a long time rather than trying to steal a glance.

How cute.

I squished Benny’s cheeks with both hands.

“Hey.”

Squeeze, squeeze.

“Wh-what? Stop it!”

Benny resisted fiercely. However, her struggle was limited to below the neck.

Though she didn’t seem to completely hate it, as she quietly offered her face, allowing me to fully enjoy her soft, squishy, unresisting cheeks.

Her cheeks changed shape with my touch, and her lips puckered and relaxed like a duck’s bill, repeatedly.

Laughing at the sight, I opened my mouth.

“Benny, it seems like both you and Shadow have changed in some way, but you’re not sure what it is, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“Then let’s find out slowly from now on. If possible, together with me.”

“Huh?”

Benny blinked slyly but soon nodded seriously with a serious voice.

“Well, Jonah, you seem to have a lot going on too… You don’t plan on telling me, do you?”

“Uh…it’s still true, but what I meant was not to get to know me, but to get to know the future of Benny and Shadow with me?”

“……”

“……”

Benny, thinking she had made a mistake, shut her eyes tightly with an embarrassed expression.

I too awkwardly removed my hand from Benny’s face.

…But when I think about it carefully, it’s true.

Since I transmigrated to the Pan Continent, the deepest conversations I’ve shared were with none other than Benny.

Strictly speaking, they were not my stories, but the stories I wrote…

I can’t deny that they touch on my most essential aspects.

So if. One day I am to be fully understood by someone. Or if a day comes when I lay everything bare.

That person would most likely be Benny.

Vroom-

Suddenly, the statue of the Goddess of Love vibrates wildly inside the robe pocket.

Right, right. There was also the Goddess of Love.

In this case, she already knows almost everything about me, so it’s a bit different.

With a deep sigh, I made a gesture of crossing myself, and only then did the statue calm down.

After confirming this, I poked Benny, who still had her eyes closed and was stomping her feet.

“Eek! Wh-what is it!”

“Oh, I was thinking we should get back to the main topic now.”

“The main topic… Right. You came to ask me to appraise something?”

“That’s right. It’s a Moonlight-infused Crystal….”

I took out the softly glowing Crystal from my robe pocket and handed it to Benny.

“A Moonlight-infused Crystal? I’ve heard of it, but what was it again.”

Benny examines the Crystal I handed over, turning it this way and that. However, finding nothing with the naked eye, she subtly channels her magic through it.

“Hmm. For now, it’s certain that there’s some kind of energy contained inside. Quite a lot of it, and it’s even pure. Just having this might keep you from falling ill.”

“Oh. Can you make an artifact that grants disease immunity?”

“Ugh. It’s not at that incredible level. More than anything, the energy is just clear and clean, which is good for the body. It doesn’t have any sterilizing abilities.”

“If it had sterilizing abilities, it would constantly emit a faint aura of death, which would be detrimental for the body.”

“…That’s a fresh perspective.”

With a chuckle, Benny hands the Crystal back to me and starts rummaging through the shelves.

Unusually, she squats down and begins her search from the bottom shelf, gradually moving upwards one shelf at a time.

But Benny keeps climbing up, unable to find the book she wants.

At some point, she starts tiptoeing, and now, even tiptoeing doesn’t reach it, so she hops up and down, scanning the book titles.

“Hey, don’t you have something like a chair at home, Benny?”

“Nope. Usually, I transform Shadow’s tentacles into a chair and sit on that.”

“……”

Come to think of it, when I first came to the workshop, I also sat on a chair made from Shadow’s transformed tentacles.

So it just does that often as a habit.

Sighing deeply, I tapped Benny on the shoulder.

“Move aside.”

“Huh? What is it all of a sudden? Just so you know, Jonah, you and I are about the same height, right?”

“It’s not that. I’m saying I’ll crouch down so you can climb on top of me and look.”

“…Oh.”

Benny suddenly froze. However, she quickly shook her head in refusal, as if she had thought of something.

“H-how can I step on a boy!”

“Oh, then do you want a piggyback ride? Like I said earlier, it’s hard to balance because we’re about the same height.”

“The problem is that I’m the one being carried, not the one carrying! I’d rather be the stepping stone, so you climb up! I’ll tell you the name of the book!”

“What? …Oh.”

Only then did I understand why Benny was so flustered.

From Earth’s perspective, it would look like a young girl suggesting to step on her to climb up.

Goodness. No matter how small and light I am, that’s something I can’t agree to.

I nodded and opened my mouth.

“Got it. Then, Benny, please get down.”

“Right. This makes sense.”

Nodding proudly, Benny got down on all fours in front of me.

Could it be because of the dress that clings to the body? The line of the back and buttocks is clearly revealed.

It was only after seeing that figure that I realized. In this case, I have to step on and climb over the small girl, don’t I?

But I am the type who doesn’t refuse a request to be stepped on. I decided to start doing that from today.

Suppressing my heart that was pounding with a sense of immorality, I placed one foot on Benny’s waist.

“…W-wait.”

It was only then that Benny, realizing the absurdity of using someone as a stepping stone, tried to say something, but it was already too late.

“Yap!”

I put my full weight on and climbed on top of Benny.

Benny’s small body creaked and wobbled under my weight, but soon regained balance.

Well, despite being a mage, she is a high-level adventurer, so her strength must be considerable.

Just now, it seemed that Benny’s light weight made the center of gravity shift when my own weight was added.

The feeling of trampling on and mounting Benny was.

“Ooh.”

It wasn’t as bad as I thought.

…Will she ask me to do it again later?