Since the girls were having fun chatting together for the first time in a while, Kazuma and I went outside to spar and I helped refine Kazuma's swordsmanship. After teaching him diligently for a few days, his [Master] ability had already risen to A.
"Somehow, when Cassian teaches, it seems like skills improve quickly. Is it because he explains things easily?"
"Probably because we both use Japanese swords."
"I see."
Kazuma had doubts about why his skills improved faster when I taught him compared to when I didn't, but when I brushed it off, he accepted it.
"Whew~ I'm tired. Let's stop here for today."
"Then, since the girls still seem to be chatting, let's go check out the market. Luna said she wanted to eat something sour, so we need to buy some fruit too."
"Let's do that. For some reason, I feel like I shouldn't get involved with them over there."
Kazuma and I told the girls and went outside to the market. On the way, we saw Dust and Keith of the Taylor party loitering in an alley, so we approached and greeted them.
"Hey~ Dust, Keith! What are you guys doing here?"
"Eek!"
When we acted familiar, Dust and Keith were startled and stared at us as if caught doing something strange.
"What, it's just Cassian and Kazuma. Don't scare us like that."
Kazuma, seeing their reaction, asked with suspicion.
"Aren't you overreacting? Is there something in this alley?"
Then, Dust and Keith took us to a quiet place and explained the reason.
"This is a secret among male adventurers, but do you know about the shop run by succubi that lets you have good dreams?"
Kazuma listened to Dust's story and his expression turned very serious as he started asking for details.
"Tell me more."
In Axel Town, there was a very unique shop operated by succubi that provided euphoric dreams. In exchange for a little vitality from male adventurers, the succubi fulfilled all their desires through dreams. Since it was a win-win situation, it was operated legally.
Because of this, they handled all the sexual desires in the town, so male adventurers hardly harassed female adventurers and even rarely made advances. As a result, Axel Town was somewhat free from sex crimes.
Moreover, since the succubi aimed for vitality, the shop's prices were very low, so even poor adventurers could use it. Thinking about this, I could somewhat understand the feelings of the female adventurers who desperately tried to catch the bouquet at my wedding.
"Oh~ There's such a shop? Why didn't I know until now?"
"It's hard to talk about these things. Besides, you're a rookie adventurer who hasn't been in town long."
"I see. So, are you going now?"
"Hehehe~ Of course."
But I acted cool and said.
"I'll pass. I'm in married life, you see."
"Really? With Luna pregnant, you probably can't enjoy it either, right?"
Honestly, I was curious too. But I was enjoying myself enough with my married life, and due to my various abilities, I couldn't dream from the succubi. I could turn off the abilities, but I didn't want to because I didn't know what dangers might arise during married life.
"Well, a popular guy like Cassian can probably enjoy a lot in reality too. I'm jealous."
Dust and Keith spoke enviously.
"Anyway, have fun. I'm a man too, so I understand these things and will keep it a secret."
"Great! Then let's set off for a new adventure!"
"Woohoo~!!"
So, Keith, Dust, and Kazuma walked into the succubus shop in the alley with wide grins. Indeed, while watching briefly, I saw many men entering that shop in the alley. Seeing this, it seemed most men in town used it frequently.
'Well, when a crisis hits the town, some people step up to protect the succubus shop, so that says it all...'
I ignored it and went to the market, bought fruits and various ingredients, stored them in my inventory, and returned to Kazuma's mansion. Darkness, not seeing Kazuma, asked me.
"Huh? Where's Kazuma??"
"Kazuma said he went to check the guild for any good requests and will be back soon."
"Really? That's unlike Kazuma, being so diligent."
Just then, from outside, we heard the sound of a carriage and a voice saying "Delivery!" So, looking out, workers were unloading a few boxes in front of the door. Darkness and I went out to check, and it was a gift from Darkness's family congratulating us on the move: "Marbling Hongge" crabs.
"Father, really, he didn't have to..."
"What's the harm? It means your parents are thinking of you."
"That's true."
"I'll make it delicious for you."
"Please do."
When we opened the box with Marbling Hongge in the dining room, it was completely different from real crabs. Instead of thin legs like real crabs, it had quite thick legs, with a lot to eat, resembling a king crab.
I checked with [Naked Eye], and for the fresh and problem-free ones, I skillfully peeled the shells to make sashimi, and made the rest steamed and into soup. I thought I could make these with the [Cook Cook Fruit] ability later.
"It's fun to learn about many ingredients by entering various creative works."
I made the dishes and set them on the table prepared in the mansion's living room. Just then, Kazuma returned.
"I'm back. Oh~ What's this?"
When Kazuma was surprised by the dishes laid out in the living room, Aqua explained.
"Kazuma, rejoice. Darkness's family sent these as a thank-you for their daughter usually being in your debt."
We were about to sit down and eat deliciously, but when Luna smelled the fishy scent of Marbling Hongge, she had morning sickness.
"Ugh..."
"Are you okay, Luna?"
"Yes... I'm sorry. With delicious food in front of me..."
Megumin looked at Luna worriedly.
"It must be really tough."
"You'll all go through this too when you meet good men and start families later."
"Huu... I don't want to get pregnant now."
I looked at Kazuma and said with a laugh.
"Hahaha, Kazuma, what do you think?"
At that, Kazuma panicked.
"I told you, Megumin and I aren't at that stage yet."
"The word 'yet' sounds like it will change in the future, doesn't it?"
"Th-that's..."
When Kazuma became embarrassed, Megumin also became embarrassed seeing that. We laughed at their appearance and started eating the crab deliciously, but I made a separate dish with refreshing fruits for Luna.
"Wow~ It's delicious. Thank you for making a separate dish for me."
"Because I'm your husband."
Luna seemed touched by my words. We started eating the Marbling Hongge deliciously again. The Marbling Hongge indeed had thick and tasty meat, not inferior to top-grade king crabs in reality. When asked, Marbling Hongge was a sea crab, so in the kingdom far from the sea, it was a quite high-end ingredient.
Transportation was difficult; to prevent spoilage, a mage was always attached to fill it with ice using magic, and since transportation was by teleport, the price was quite high, making it an expensive ingredient that commoners couldn't eat without a big decision. Since it was quite delicious, I thought I should make a lot with the [Cook Cook Fruit] later.
"Kazuma, Kazuma, light a fire here. I'll teach you how to drink sake deliciously while eating crab from now on."
Aqua brought a small brazier and asked Kazuma to light it. When Kazuma used a low-level spell to light it, Aqua placed a crab shell with innards on the brazier, poured sake into it, and waited a bit for it to boil.
"Is it ready now?"
Aqua took the sake with the crab innards dissolved and warmed inside the shell and started drinking it slowly, savoring it.
"Ah~ So delicious!"
Gulp!
Seeing that, everyone swallowed their saliva and did the same.
"Great! I'll have a drink too... No, I'll pass."
Kazuma warmed sake in the crab shell but didn't drink it. Kazuma had a reason for this; at the succubus shop, he was warned that if he drank too much alcohol on the same day and fell into a deep sleep, it would be hard to dream.
Darkness saw this and asked Kazuma.
"What's wrong, Kazuma? Didn't the crab from our family suit your taste?"
"No, the crab is really delicious. It's just that I drank with someone during the day and can't drink anymore. I'll drink tomorrow."
"Really? Then at least eat a lot of crab."
"Y-yeah."
Kazuma ate some crab and eventually got up and returned to his room. Aqua saw this and wondered.
"Why is Kazuma like this today? He's not even eating much of this delicious crab."
Knowing Kazuma's circumstances, I decided to make an excuse for him.
"He probably ate a lot outside earlier."
"I guess so. Then let's eat a lot in his place!"
As we ate and talked, it got late, so we decided to sleep at the mansion. Since there were many empty rooms in the mansion, it shouldn't be a problem.
Luna and I washed together and went to bed early. Suddenly, we heard Aqua and Chris shouting loudly.
"Guys, a suspicious person has appeared in the mansion!"
Seeing that Luna was still asleep, I left her and went towards the sound. There, I saw a succubus caught in a barrier, Kazuma trying to protect the succubus, and the girls in a standoff.
"Huh? What are you all doing?"
Darkness roughly explained.
"Right now, Kazuma is being manipulated by the succubus!"
Kazuma was desperately sending me a look asking for help.
"Wait, everyone calm down! This succubus is a girl who works in our town. She didn't come here to attack or anything."
"What??"
"She came to deliver something, right?"
When I winked and spoke to the succubus, she quickly caught on to the intention.
"Yes, that's right. I'm a bit late. Sorry."
I roughly took out a gold ring from my inventory and pretended to receive it from the succubus. Aqua argued with me as if she didn't understand.
"But it's a succubus. A dream demon!"
"No matter if they're monsters or demons, there's no need to deal with those who try to live peacefully with humans, right?"
"That's true but..."
I immediately opened the window and sent the succubus off.
"Next time, come earlier."
"Understood. Thank you."
The succubus bowed and left. Then, Kazuma sighed in relief. Seeing that, Darkness got angry at Kazuma.
"Then, about earlier..."
"Ahaha, that was when I was bathing and Darkness suddenly came in and played a prank, or something..."
"What!!! You, Kuzma!!!"
Slap!
"Urk!"
Darkness, with a reddened face, gave Kazuma a sharp slap on the cheek.
The next day, Kazuma's cheek was so swollen from how hard Darkness had slapped him that he was sweeping the yard. When I heard the story from Kazuma, he was so nervous that he couldn't sleep, so while bathing, he dozed off in the tub, and when Darkness came in naked to wash without knowing Kazuma was there, Kazuma thought it was a succubus's dream and mistakenly asked Darkness to scrub his back, leading to this situation. He didn't know the real succubus was caught in Aqua's barrier until the commotion happened.
"Geez... From now on, do it in an empty room at our house or rent an inn. It's hard with Aqua or other girls in the house."
"I should. Anyway, thanks for helping."
From the next day, under the pretext of training, Kazuma diligently used the room at the end of our house. Of course, since it was obvious, he didn't just do that; he really trained by learning swordsmanship from me.
I went to Wiz's shop to buy potions for the first time in a while.
"Welcome. Oh, Cassian, nice to see you."
"Long time no see, Wiz. Do you have any experience potions or skill point potions available?"
"Yes. Luckily, it seems like a lot of failures came out."
Seeing Wiz admit they were failures made me want to make a comment, but I held back. And this time too, I spent a fortune to buy all the potions. Wiz was very happy.
"Whew~ That's a relief. If it weren't for Cassian, I would have been in trouble from this week."
"Huh? The money you earned last time..."
Then, Wiz spoke embarrassedly.
"Well... I bought a large quantity of potions that attract monster hordes, so..."
I was speechless hearing that from Wiz.
"Is there anyone who buys such things?"
"Not yet..."
"..."
I had no idea where this lich got such strange items so well.
"I'll buy a few bottles of that potion too."
"Really? Thank you."
"And by the way, can I learn some skills? Lich skills, I mean."
"Eh? How do you know I'm a lich..."
Wiz seemed quite surprised, but I decided to make an excuse again.
"Ah~ I found out when I helped you up when you collapsed from hunger last time. Don't worry. I have no intention of telling anyone."
"I see. If it's Cassian, I can trust you. Okay."
I learned [(C)Drain Touch], [(B)Teleport], and [(C)King of Undead's Hand] from Wiz. The reason for the low rank was because my job was the basic adventurer, so there was no choice.
[(C)Drain Touch]
Can absorb or give mana to the opponent.
[(B)Teleport]
Can teleport to a location you have marked in advance. (Can also be random)
[(C)King of Undead's Hand]
Inflicts a random status ailment on the opponent.
Among the skills I learned from Wiz, [(C)Drain Touch] was the most important because the merit of being able to give and take mana was significant. Kazuma also uses [Drain Touch] to overcome various difficulties.
After learning the skills, as a token of gratitude, I handed over a [Random Lunchbox].
"What's this?"
"It's a lunchbox. I prepared it thinking you might be hungry again."
"Thank you. I'll eat it well."
I finished my business at Wiz's shop and returned home. That evening, succubi from the succubus shop came to thank me.
"Thank you for saving our junior the other day. It's often that we get caught by female adventurers and get exterminated."
"Succubi must have it tough."
"But since this job allows us to safely obtain vitality, there's no choice."
"I see."
"As a token of gratitude for helping us..."
The succubus handed me a few 50% discount coupons for the succubus shop. I tried to return them since I wouldn't use them, but upon second thought, I could give them as gifts, so I accepted them.