The Protagonist System

112 Dancing Through The Tulips

I chickened out. Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a horrible person for hiding the truth. I just couldn't do it. One look into the sad eyes of Darkness after she saw that all the succubi were gone, completely derailed my entire plan. I still lied my ass off, except it was to tell her that the Head Succubus, her daughters, and her contracted servants, had been brought in front of the Goddess Eris and given their just rewards.

It made her happy to hear that and she sent a quick prayer to her goddess for it. I regretted that I had to leave out the reason it happened, namely the Head Succubus trying to kill me, just because I didn't want to taint their memories. That I hadn't intended for them to die was beside the point and they had all paid for the rash decision of the Head Succubus. Well, I paid for it, too.

I did not explain about receiving a message to hurry up with my mission, mostly because them knowing about the rush wasn't going to matter. It had to be done and I had to work my ass off to try and build my skills back up. With luck, I could find something easy soon to get a bunch of levels and skill points.

After a short rest, I went outside and spent the next two hours making a teleportation circle. It was a pain in the ass, mostly because I had been so used to making the entire thing and not piece by piece like I had when I first started making them. Luckily, the thing activated without trouble and I only felt a little drained when it was finished and connected to the others.

Thank you, armor boosts. I thought and told my party that it was time we moved out. Thanks to Wiz, she activated the enchantments on the horses and they popped up in my system as registered mounts. I didn't bother asking why that hadn't happened before and drove the carriage towards the next rest stop.

The speed was head and shoulders above what it had been and that was when I realized why. I hadn't used the horses for more than trotting and had stayed with the caravan, while now I was using them as actual mounts and at their full potential. I kept a smile on my face the entire time we travelled and we reached the rest stop just before dusk and night had fallen.

I set up a temporary ward line, since I didn't have the power to make a full or permanent one, and we stayed inside the carriage. When I went to have a shower and stripped off my armor, exhaustion settled in again and I felt weak and pathetic. My sigh was pretty loud and Wiz entered and saw me leaning against the tub.

Surprisingly, Wiz didn't ask me what happened and came over to me, gave me a tender kiss on the lips, and she set up the tub for me. I soon found myself bundled up and cuddled in her arms and she whispered sweet nothings in my ear and caressed and petted me like I was a child.

I was way too tired to protest the treatment and let her do whatever she wanted. I ended up enjoying it, as did she, if the blush and happy smile on her face was any indication. She was almost bubbly as she dried the both of us off and then she pretty much carried me into my bedroom. The bed was huge and I wasn't surprised to see Darkness, Megumin, Cremea, and Fio were there waiting for us.

None of them questioned why Wiz was manhandling me and I was placed in the middle of the bed and had all five of them cuddling me. Again, I was too tired to comment about it and embraced them as much as I could with my noodle-like weak arms. I also ignored Megumin's soft giggling when my hands kind of just flopped over her when I tried to hug her.

The warmth they generated was almost heavenly and I drifted off to sleep as I felt several soft kisses on my face, lips, and chest.

*

Goddess Eris sat on her throne and was thoroughly bored. She wasn't sure why she felt that way, however. She had never before imagined she would believe sitting on her throne and watching over her assigned world would become boring. How had it happened? It didn't make sense. She loved her job and had been doing it for thousands of years, she loved her people, and they worshipped her in return.

With a wave of her hand and her talisman's slight glow, a viewing spell was cast and Eris looked through it at her temple in Axel, the starter city for all adventurers. She smiled at them putting the donated money to good use and... her mind stuttered at remembering how she had gained that money.

The viewing window changed without her consent, or so her conscious mind believed. Her unconscious mind wanted to see what it now showed and Eris blushed at the sight of Kazuma in bed with five women. A mix of a smile and a frown was on her face as she saw her friend Darkness was there and was being held so lovingly.

What is this feeling? Eris asked herself as her heart seemed to pound in her chest. The view zoomed in to look at her friend's face for a moment and then shifted again. She stared at the face of the man she had sent back to the world to resume being a hero and that feeling surged again and she blushed as she examined both her feelings and his face. They were both strong and made her heart flutter.

Her thoughts about him not being allowed to exist without her intervention, gave Eris a reason to do what she did next. Her talisman glowed brightly and she closed her eyes as her mortal avatar came into being inside the main temple in the capitol. She opened her eyes and she was Chris once more.

Chris reached up and secured her scarf over her talisman and cast several obscure protection spells to hide it from all detection, especially Kazuma's. With that done, she left the small room that only she could enter and left the temple at a fast run. She went to the attached stable and stole a horse.

The thief didn't feel guilty about it because she was going to return it, eventually anyway, and rode out of the capitol at the horse's best speed. She had a few things to discuss with her friend Darkness about who she spends her time with.

*

I woke up and wallowed in the soft warmth that engulfed me. I gave out liberal kisses and several pleasant hums responded. I still felt weak, so that meant I really had to level up to remove that feeling. Just resting and relaxing wasn't going to let me recover by any significant amount.

“Good morning, Kazuma.” Wiz whispered after our lips met for the second time and she woke up.

“Good morning, beautiful.” I responded and she blushed.

“Kazuma...” Wiz started to say.

“You can't deny it.” I said and motioned to the roof of my room where the Head Succubus had insisted I install a mirror. “Look at that and tell me you don't look beautiful.”

Wiz's blush didn't lessen as she turned her head to look up and she let out a squeak sound.

“You see? You can't deny it.” I said and kissed her cheek.

“You... you're terrible.” Wiz whispered and her face had a bashful look on it.

“I am, especially since I'm currently too weak to avail myself of your bountiful body.” I said.

Wiz looked away from her reflection and looked back at my face. “Kazuma, after you explained what happened to the succubi, you didn't really tell us what happened to you.”

I opened my mouth to lie again, only I couldn't do it. Not completely, anyway. “Unlike what I said before about using up all my energy, it actually cost me all my levels and skill levels to send the succubi to their final judgment.”

Wiz's eyes widened and her mouth opened and closed several times before she let out a very sad sound and pulled me close to her and gave me several kisses. She deepened them and continued to let her passion rule her as her hands caressed me all over.

I tried to reciprocate and she stopped me with a glare, which was honestly cute to see. I didn't tell her that, though. I wasn't that big of an idiot. Instead, I puckered my lips to let her keep kissing me. She immediately lost the glare and let out a little laugh and did so. I soon became hard and Wiz moved down and took me into her mouth.

She had never done anything like that before and had only seen the succubi do it, at least I assumed so, because she copied a few of their techniques. In my current state, I couldn't resist her ministrations at all and I warned her she was too good to last long.

Wiz made an odd sound and I could have sworn I saw small hearts appear in her eyes briefly. She doubled her efforts and I shivered as I had my first orgasm after dying. Did I count as a virgin again after dying and being sent back? Was this my old body or a new one? Eh, it didn't matter. It was Wiz's first time and she was doing it spectacularly.

“Stay hard, please.” Wiz mumbled as she sat up and climbed on top of me.

“There's no worry about that, beautiful.” I said, my erection not waning in the least. Just that little bit had given my sex skill several levels and I was glad I could use my Adventurer card while it was in my inventory. Can you guess where those points were concentrated?

I assigned the available points to let me last longer and Wiz looked happy, then she sat down on me and moaned. Her large breasts swayed as she sat there and let her body adjust to the intrusion, then she started to move and rock her hips. She braced her hands on my chest and the look of love on her face made my heart flutter.

“So... beautiful.” I whispered.

Wiz blushed and laid down on me to softly kiss me as her hips kept moving. It was only enough to piston me in and out of her a few inches at a time and that was all she needed. Her moans were a huge turn on and her kisses let her show me how much she liked that I was letting her be in complete control.

Not surprisingly, it took the both of us a fairly long time before we got off. Also not surprisingly, it was a very strong orgasm that we both had at the same time. Before I could wonder how she had timed it that perfectly, I lost the thought as my load poured out of me and filled her up. It wasn't anywhere near what my 'final load' had been; but, it was still a huge amount because we had been riding the edge for quite a while.

Wiz kept kissing me softly as she rested and enjoyed the small aftershocks. She opened her eyes briefly to stare into mine, gave me a very wicked smile, and then she closed her eyes and continued kissing me. Her hips started to move again and we went at it again, still almost agonizingly slow, and neither of us minded in the least.

After my second load filled her, Wiz slid up and off of me, then she laid down beside me and cuddled into my side. “Is this... what they mean... about bodies being compatible?”

“Most definitely.” I responded.

Wiz beamed a smile at me, gave me another quick kiss, and fell right to sleep.

I held in my chuckle at her exhausting herself after doing all the work and closed my own eyes. We had an hour or so left before we would all normally get up and I figured we didn't have to leave right away anyway. I had a month to handle things and I was sure that would be plenty of time... after I gained some levels.

Until I did, I was kind of stuck with the way I was. I needed to find something that wasn't too challenging to start me off and I hoped for the best.

*

“Look, I'm telling you, this is easy money.” Dust said as he and his party slunk through the woods along the road towards the next rest stop. He was a former Dragon Knight that used to be stationed in the capitol and now lived in Axel to enjoy the easy life of booze and petty crimes. In fact, he spent more time on the cot in the local jail than he did in his own bed.

“You always say that.” Linn said with a sigh. The arm of her favorite green coat hooked yet another stray branch and she growled at it as she gripped it and broke it off. The slight damage to her coat was just one more thing she hated about this mission. Thankfully, her long brown hair and her tanuki tail had survived the journey relatively unscathed and she would only need to wash them thoroughly once.

“It's a new mission and it already has a failure marker.” Taylor said and swung his sword to cut away another branch to help Linn avoid it.

“Thanks.” Linn said with a smile. Her short stature made it a bit easier to look after her.

Taylor nodded back and they kept moving through the woods towards the clearing.

“I think I heard something about that failure.” Keith said, his bow at the ready. They hadn't met any large animals or bandits along the way and it was a little unnerving. How had the place been cleared out? It was always supposed to be dangerous around here while on a trip to the capitol.

“What about it?” Dust asked and slipped between two trees and came to a stop at the edge of the clearing where the rest stop was.

“I'm sure it was Ruffian that said the guy was all armored up and then his head was suddenly on the ground. There was no sign it was going to happen or anything.” Keith told them. “People blinked and the fight was over.”

“Ha! I doubt that. Just drawing a weapon would make some kind of noise.” Trevor responded and showed it by sheathing his sword and then quick-drawing it.

“SHH! Quiet!” Linn said with a wave of her hand and bent down to squat beside her friend and party leader as she looked out over the cleared area. “What does it look like, Dust?”

Dust gave her a cocky smile. “We found the fancy carriage our target owns and it's all by itself.”

The two men slipped beside them on either side and knelt.

“The caravan left them behind?” Linn asked, surprised. “I wonder why?”

“It doesn't matter. Whatever happened has just made our job that much easier.” Dust said and used a finger to sketch out in the dirt what he wanted them to do. “I'll make some noise to draw their attention. We know from their registration at the guild hall that they have that useless crusader that can't attack, a magic user that only has one spell and she can't use it in close quarters, and the two useless members of that idiot's party where he did all the work and used them as a cheering section.”

Linn, Trevor, and Kevin didn't bother refuting his description, mostly because they knew it was true. Both Darkness and Megumin had tried to join their party at different times and had utterly failed during the simplest of missions. Darkness couldn't hit anything at all with her ornamental sword and Megumin had no practical magic at all.

“They're both pretty hot, though.” Dust added and Linn smacked him for it. “Ow! It's the truth! Their loincloths barely cover anything! Your short-shorts cover more than that!”

Linn sighed loudly and smacked him again to cover up her blush, because she just realized Dust had to have checked her out a lot to realize the difference. He always made fun of her smaller chest and she hated that he always teased her over it; and yet, she also liked that he kept stealing glances at her chest at the same time.

“So, we're doing the classic ambush?” Trevor said and looked over the plan Dust had showed them.

“As soon as they leave the carriage, we can deal with them and then collect the massive bounty.” Dust said, eagerly.

“Isn't it only for this Kazuma fellow?” Keith asked as he readied his bow. “Why are we attacking the others?”

“Because we have to go through them to get to him.” Dust said. “My source at the guild hall said he always has his party members claim the credit for completing their missions before he turns in the smaller ones he did himself. It's the best strategy for someone like him without a proper prestige class. Put the more experienced fighters down first and then he will have to face us and we can take him down.”

Linn couldn't find any fault in the plan and nodded. “All right, I'll set up over here on the right. I'll get my main spells prepped and we can go in ten minutes.”

Dust, Trevor, and Keith patted her shoulders and back before she sneaked off through the woods to get to the best place for her spells to work and for their optimum range to reach the carriage.

“What about the horses?” Keith asked. “They're still attached.”

“Collateral damage.” Dust said and drew his sword. “I know we're giving up free money; but, I'll take them out first and it stops the carriage from moving and their party from running off.”

Trevor nodded and moved off to his assigned spot on the other side of the clearing. Keith looked at the plan and motioned towards one of the taller trees, which Dust gave an authoritative nod to. The archer moved off and did his best to climb to a good perching spot to have the best coverage of the whole area. He took out several arrows and set them in easy reach as he stabbed them into the bark of the tree.

Dust smiled as his party followed his instructions without argument and he let that smug feeling that they looked to him as the leader fill him with confidence. He didn't feel bad that he was about to TPK another party, because it happened occasionally. An adventurer pissed off someone important and didn't deal with it, so they get a bounty on their head.

A hundred thousand Eris was a huge payday and no one in their right minds would pass up such an easy task. Also, someone else had scabbed the Fortress sighting task that he had planned to do during the long winter months, mostly because it was easy to find a giant autonomous walking spider thing when there was snow on the ground.

Dust readied his sword as he crawled into the clearing and stayed as low as he could as he approached the carriage. His magic sense skill went off when he crossed an alert barrier and he cursed his stupid luck for failing him right when he didn't need it to. He abandoned stealth and rushed towards the two waiting horses that were going to be his distraction.

He didn't realize how big of a mistake that was until he was right in front of the closest horse and his sword was swinging for its neck for a quick kill. The horse itself was about half a foot taller than a normal horse and had well placed armor plates over key areas that couldn't be seen from far away. His sword bounced off of the thing's neck and then a heavily armored hoof slammed into his chest.

“GAH!” Dust exclaimed as he was thrown backwards and his charge was completely countered. His chest armor also had a distinctive horseshoe shape embedded into its reinforced surface. He wasn't sure how the thing had kicked him so hard with a front hoof, then his eyes widened as both horses lunged for him and easily pulled the carriage behind them.

“DUST!” Linn yelled and she let off her first spell, an overcharged Fireball, and abandoned her prepared position to get closer.

To everyone's shock, the large fireball hit the left horse in the side of the head and it bounced off.

“NNEEEIIIGGGHHHH!” The other horse yelled, clearly angered beyond belief, then he proceeded to trample Dust as far into the ground as possible.

“NOOO!” Linn yelled and ran over, forgetting she still had spells to use at range.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Trevor cursed and also abandoned the strategy to try and save his party's leader and his friend's crush. That she was his crush and was also in danger had nothing to do with it.

Several arrows hit the ground around the horses and Kevin cursed. Whatever enchantments were on the horses, they deflected direct attacks. He couldn't shout loud enough to tell his friends, either. He scrambled down from his perch and thought about what he could do to cause area damage, except he couldn't with his party members right there beside the horses as they tried to get to Dust.

*

“Are we going to sit here and watch the horses beat down an experienced adventuring party?” Wiz asked, genuinely curious. She didn't mind if they did, since the idiots had attacked the innocent horses instead of trying to open the carriage door to get to them. Plus, the couch was really comfortable.

“It's a great show.” Kazuma said and handed her a surprisingly delicious bowl of 'popped corn', whatever that was. “I'm glad I spent the extra time taking care of the horses and adding as much defensive and protection magic as I could.”

“Me, too.” Darkness said and ate some of the popcorn. “Will you be adding those to my new armor?”

Kazuma gave her a searching look that made her blush, then he smiled. “Maybe. You'll have to go into battle and wonder if my magic will protect you or will leave you completely defenseless instead.”

Darkness shivered and enjoyed the implied danger, then she leaned in and kissed him. “Thank you.”

Kazuma put an arm over her shoulder and they all watched out the front window as Dust and his party were easily overwhelmed by a pair of horses defending themselves. The enchantments on the carriage stopped them from feeling the sudden jerks and pulls the horses had to do to keep attacking.

“I'll grab the healing potions when the fight's over and the male horse is satisfied the threat to his mate is dealt with.” Wiz said and snuggled into Kazuma's other side. She didn't mind his much weaker state, because he had become a very cuddly person and she loved that he didn't try to stop her taking full advantage of that.