There is Something Wrong with This Game

A012 – Joining a Party

Near a fountain in Rosenheim City Square, Emi and Rena met with Hecate as promised.

But, an unexpected person also mixed in. Kazu, who supposedly in charge of investigate about Black Phantom, for some reason joined with Rena and co.

'Did he find any clue in his investigation?'

Although Hecate confident her little performance was foolproof, but in the end, nobody knows the result. But looking at Kazu's expression, it seemed like he didn't find anything useful.

But again, there are someone who suddenly interrupted her thinking. 

"He~ca~te~chwaaann!"

"Funyuu~"

Shingeki no Oppai!

The soft, supple yet deadly twin mountains, buried Hecate's head once again. However, that was not the end. Unable to hold back her excitement, Rena-cchi swung Hecate's body left and right while her hands continued to hug her tightly.

"Hecate-chan! Hecate-chan! Hecate-chan!"

"Mmmh, mmphh, mmph!!!"

PUK! PUK! PUK!

Hecate who got muffled by Rena-cchi's breasts, could only use her hand to smack Rena-cchi's face. Too bad it was not very effective. It seems Rena-cchi was too engrossed in her cuddling, so much that she couldn't notice the hit.

Fortunately, there are someone who saved her.

Emilia give a light chop to Rena-cchi's head, awakened her from her daydream.

"Rena, that's enough. Don't bully Hecate too much."

"Eeeh? What does bullying mean? This is my expression of love for Hecate-chan!"

Rena-cchi tried to argue, but Kazu interjected.

"But your expression of love seems to be suffocating her."

So he said as he pointed his finger to the suffering loli.

It was then, another smack of Hecate's hand landed on Rena-cchi's face, making her realize what she was doing. She immediately released her hand.

"Puhaaa~"

Having released from evil claw, Hecate stabilized her breath.

When she looked at her Game UI, a small blue bar representing Breath appeared under her MP bar. Due to Rena-cchi, the bar had been reduced by about 20%, now it was slowly recovering.

This Breath bar supposedly appear when Players did an underwater dive in a river or lake.

When the bar emptied, HP will rapidly decline, eventually leading to death. Unexpectedly, this bar appeared not underwater but in the middle of the city.

More specifically, the bar appeared because Rena-cchi's breast!

At the same time, Hecate also received a window in her vision.

; ;

Ethic Code Notification     Player Rena-cchi has been detected sexually harassing you. Would you like to file a report?     Yes No Add to Exception

Rena-cchi had triggered the Ethic Code window with her evil hug!

This code will appear when there is non-consensual snu-snu activity. When this code is violated, the victim can decide whether to flag the violator or not. The flagged violator will receive reduction of Karma.

When Karma points were negative, whether it was Natives or Players, they would be treated as criminals. They would be denied of entry to any Town or City.

Not only that, if both sides were Players, the victim can also filed the violator with real world legal procedure.

Though in this case, just a hug probably legal procedure won't do much.

Of course, Hecate decisively chose to press...  Minimize!

"Ah... I'm really sorry, Hecate-chan! It's just... you're too cute and very hugable, so I..."

Rena-cchi tried to make an excuse, but because of panic, she stuttered.

Nevertheless, Hecate just responded by giving a deadfish stare. A stare with an expression as if she was looking at a dirty insect crawling from the trash can.

Then, she slowly said a word. A single word that sharper than any blade.

"Hentai."     ----STAB!

"Uguu~"

Once again with a slightly louder tone.

"Hentai!"     ----STAB! STAB!

"Uguguu~"

Hecate's word stabbed directly to Rena-cchi's heart. Being called a hentai by a loli causing her to take a great mental damage. Clutching her chest, Rena-cchi slumped to the floor.

Emilia just watched their interaction with a smile.

"Calm down, calm down..."

"Emi-cchiiii~ Hecate-chan hates meeee.... "

With tears running down her nose, Rena-cchi hugged Emilia.

Even though it was her friend, but if someone with a runny nose approached her, she couldn't help but feel disgusted. But for the sake of friendship, she decided to endure.

"Wait, don't cling to me! Don't you have anything to say to Hecate first?"

"I'm sorry... Hecate-chan..."

"Very good. You can properly apologize for your mistake."

So Emilia said as she stroke Rena-cchi's head. Then she looked at Hecate's direction and continued.

"Well, as you can see, Rena has repented on her action. Hecate, please forgive this idiot..."

"Yeah, the fact that Rena was dumb is already known. Please don't mind her action."

Unexpectedly, Kazu also expressed his request to apologize in Rena's behalf.

"No problem. I wasn't angry in the first place."

Hecate responded as she closed her eyes.

Her face did not reveal any expression, but from the tone of her words, Emilia can be assured that she was telling the truth. Looking at her expressionless face, Emilia let out a smile.

'This girl may be awkward to socialize with, and her expression is quite difficult to read. But she's actually very kind(?).'

Hearing Hecate's words, Rena-cchi's expression instantly brightened.

"Hecate-chaaan~! You are truly my best friend!!"

"Yeah."

"As an apology, let me heal you... O, Licht the Spirit of Light! Heed my call and heal this one's injuries! HIGH HEAL!!"

A futile effort because Hecate's HP was still full. But this was just a casual act that had nothing to do with combat. Whether the spell is effective or not, it can set a good atmosphere.

But when she saw the numerical green value above Hecate's head, Rena-cchi's expression became sullen again.

+6580

This amount of healing can be considered about the same or slightly higher as the other High-Priests. However, when compared to the previous her with Healing Wand equipped, it was just mediocre.

She couldn't help but opening her Skill Tree once again.

Rena-cchi's Skill Tree (Lv107) ; <td colspan="20"> <td colspan="5">Total: 253 SP used <td colspan="5">Skill Points: 0;

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1 [Name: Guardian Saint Lv5 Requirement: High-Priest, Divine Protection Lv5 Type: Passive Effect: Increases the caster's healing ability. Current: Healing Factor +75% ]

2 [Name: Open Auditorium Lv10 Requirement: High-Priest, Guardian Saint Lv5 Type: Active/Self MP Costs: 480 Effect: Increases the efficiency of the user's all healing spell by increasing the MP consumption. This skill cannot be used in conjunction with Magnificat. Current: Healing Factor +300%, MP Costs +600% Duration: 5 minutes. ]

3 [Name: Gloria Lv3 Requirement: Priest, Kyrie Eleison Lv2 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 180 Effect: Increase LUK for the user and party members for the skill duration. Current: LUK +30 Duration: 3 minutes. ]

4 [Name: Angelus Lv3 Requirement: Priest, Protection Lv5, Shell Lv5 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 400 Effect: Applies Protection and Shell to the target near of the user. Current: Range 3m ]

5 [Name: Kyrie Eleison Lv3 Requirement: Priest, Angelus Lv3 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 300 Effect: Create a barrier around the target that protects them from physical attacks. Not protecting the target from spell attacks. Current: Barrier: 3000 HP Protects 3 times. ]

6 [Name: Auto-Revive Lv4 Requirement: Priest, Kyrie Eleison Lv3 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 100 Effect: Prevents one from becoming Incapable of Combat once and recover HP by 10% x SkillLv. Current: Restore 40% HP ]

7 [Name: Resurrection Lv1 Requirement: High-Priest, Auto-Revive Lv1 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 100 Effect: Resurrect a target that has been killed less than 3 minutes ago and recover their HP. The amount of restored HP is based on Auto-Revive skill. Current: Restore 40% HP ]

8 [Name: Protection Lv10 Requirement: Cleric, Divine Protection Lv3 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 830 Effect: Increases DEF of the target for the skill duration. Current: DEF +500 Duration: 30 mins ]

9 [Name: Shell Lv10 Requirement: Cleric, Protection Lv1 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 80 Effect: Increases MDEF of the target for the skill duration. Current: MDEF +500 Duration: 30 mins ]

10 [Name: Blessing Lv10 Requirement: Cleric, Protection Lv3, Shell Lv1 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 120 Effect: Increases STR, INT, DEX of a target for the skill duration. Current: STR, INT, DEX +10 Duration: 30 mins ]

11 [Name: Sanctuary Lv5 Requirement: Priest, Blessing Lv5, High Heal Lv1 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 340 Catalyst: 1 Ruby Effect: Bless an area of radius 7m which will restore HP of anyone within the range overtime, as well as increases DEF and MDEF proportionally to the caster's DEF and MDEF. Current: Healing Factor 175% Target's DEF +150% caster's DEF Target's MDEF +150% caster's MDEF Duration: 10 min ]

12 [Name: Safety Wall Lv10 Requirement: Priest, Sanctuary Lv5 Type: Active MP Costs: 40. Catalyst: 1 Ruby. Effect: Create a 1-cell barrier with a magic wall. It protects the one inside from damage. Skill level affects how much damage the barrier can block. Current: Damage block: 10.000 HP ]

13 [Name: Divine Protection Lv5 Requirement: Cleric Type: Passive Effect: DEF and MDEF against enemies with chaotic alignment. Current: DEF/MDEF +5% ]

14 [Name: Regeneration Lv5 Requirement: Cleric, Divine Protection Lv1 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 10 Effect: Restores the HP of a designated target over time every seconds. The amount of HP restored each time depends on the target's natural HP recovery. Current: Healing Factor 125% ]

15 [Name: Area Heal Lv5 Requirement: Priest, Regeneration Lv3, Heal Lv1 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 140 Effect: Cast the skill Heal on the target within the radius area. Skill level increases the range and Healing Factor Current: Healing Factor 175% Range: 5m ]

16 [Name: Rod Mastery Type: Passive Effect: Can equip Rods, Wand, and Staff type weapon. Automatically learned when user became Cleric.]

17 [Name: Heal Lv10 Requirement: Cleric, Regeneration Lv3 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 40 Effect: Restores the HP of a designated target. The amount of HP restored depends on the caster's healing values. Current: Healing Factor 125% ]

18 [Name: Aurora Heal Lv5 Requirement: High-Priest, Area Heal Lv1, High Heal Lv1 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 640 Effect: Cast the skill High Heal on the target within the radius area. Skill level increases the range and Healing Factor Current: Healing Factor 250% Range: 5m ]

19 [Name: Cure Lv5 Requirement: Cleric, Heal Lv3 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 30 Effect: Cures Curse, Paralyze, Silence, Chaos, and Blind to the designated target. ]

20 [Name: High Heal Lv10 Requirement: Priest, Heal Lv10 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 160 Effect: Heals a target for much more than the normal Heal skill. Current: Healing Factor 325% ]

21 [Name: Mace Mastery Type: Passive Effect: Can equip Mace. Automatically learned when user became Cleric.]

22 [Name: Ruach Lv10 Requirement: Cleric, Holy Light Lv1 Type: Active MP Costs: 20 MP Effect: Summons Holy light around the caster to detect hidden enemies. The user can control the light's trajectory within one meter. Current: Can casts 10 simultaneous light. Duration 10 minute ]

23 [Name: Aqua Benedicta Lv10 Requirement: Cleric, Smite Lv1 Type: Active MP Costs: 20 MP Catalyst: 1 Container full of water Effect: Creates Holy Water out of normal water SkillLv and the user's current class affects the quality of the Holy Water. ]

24 [Name: Aspersio Lv10 Requirement: Priest, Aqua Benedicta Lv1 Type: Active Catalyst: 1 Container of Holy Water Effect: Sprinkle Holy Water to increase DEF and MDEF against Dark-property attacks on the body of a target. If sprinkled to a weapon, it temporarily become Holy-property. ]

25 [Name: Impositio Manus Lv10 Requirement: Priest, Aspersio Lv2 Type: Active/Support Effect: Amplifies attack strength of a target for 60 sec. Current: ATK +500 ]

26 [Name: Suffragium Lv10 Requirement: Priest, Impositio Manus Lv3 Type: Active/Support Effect: Reduces casting delay of a target for the skill duration Current: Cast time -25% Duration: 5 minutes ]

27 [Name: Demon Bane Lv10 Requirement: Cleric Type: Passive Effect: Increases the user's ATK and MATK of Light and Holy-attribute attack. Further MATK/ATK increase against Undead and Demon-type enemies. Current: ATK/MATK +10% ATK/MATK to Undead and Demon +10% ]

28 [Name: Holy Light Lv1 Requirement: Cleric, Demon Bane Lv1 Type: Active MP Costs: 20 MP Effect: Summons a Holy light to counter evil. Deals 150% MATK of Holy-attribute damage. ]

29 [Name: Smite Lv1 Requirement: Cleric, Holy Light Lv1 Type: Arts STA Costs: 4 STA Effect: Inflict damage on an enemy with a powerful smash. Deals 50% additional damage to Mutant and Demon-type enemies. Deals 75% additional damage to Undead-type enemies. Also, your physical attack damage is increased by 10% when using Smite. Requires the user to equipped with a Mace. ]

30 [Name: Evil Bane Lv10 Requirement: Priest, Demon Bane Lv3 Type: Passive Effect: Increases the user's ATK and MATK against all Chaotic Alignment enemies. Current: ATK/MATK to Chaotic enemies +25% ]

31 [Name: Smite Evil Lv1 Requirement: Priest, Smite Lv1 Type: Arts STA Costs: 30 STA Effect: Inflict great damage on an enemy with a more powerful smash. Deals 75% additional damage to Mutant, Demon, and Undead-type enemies. Deals 150% additional extra damage to chaotic alignment enemies. Requires the user to equipped with a Mace. ]

32 [Name: Turn Undead Lv10 Requirement: Priest, Evil Bane Lv10, Lex Divina Lv5 Type: Active MP Costs: 200 MP Effect: Inflicts Holy-property magic damage to enemies all around, with a chance of defeating Mutant, Demon or Undead-type enemies instantly. ]

33 [Name: Lex Aeterna Lv1 Requirement: Priest, Demon Bane Lv3 Type: Active/Debuff MP Costs: 20 MP Effect: Gives double damage to a target for one attack. Lex Aeterna is not removed until an attack hits or blocked. ]

34 [Name: Lex Divina Lv5 Requirement: Priest, Lex Aeterna Lv1 Type: Active/Debuff MP Costs: 80 MP Effect: Silence a target by a % chance. The silenced target cannot use any skills until its duration ends. Current: Success Chance: 75% Duration: 1 minute ]

35 [Name: Book Mastery Type: Passive Effect: Can equip Magic Tome. Automatically learned when user became Priest.]

36 [Increase MP Recovery Lv10 Requirement: Priest Type: Passive Effect: Increase the user natural MP regeneration. Current: MP Regen +500 / 10 sec]

37 [Magnificat Lv5 Requirement: Priest, Increase MP Recovery Lv5 Type: Active/Support MP Costs: 80 Effect: Doubles MP recovery of the user and the party member within range for the skill duration. Current: Range 5 meters Duration: 5 minutes. ]

38 [Territory Burst Lv10 Requirement: High-Priest, Magnificat Lv5 Type: Active/Self Effect: Increases the user's support technique Area of Effect for the skill duration. In exchange, MP consumption for all skills is increased byfold. This skill cannot be used in conjunction with Magnificat. Current: Range +1000 meters, MP Costs +500% Duration: 5 minutes. ]

39 [Meditatio Lv10 Requirement: Priest, Increase MP Recovery Lv10 Type: Passive Effect: Increase MP Recovery and maximum MP. Current: MP Regen +50% Max MP +5000 ]

40 [Spiritual Thrift Lv10 Requirement: High-Priest, Meditatio Lv10 Type: Passive Effect: Decrease MP usage for all skills. Current: MP Costs -20% ]

She took another glance, looking at the Healing Factor that affect each of her healing spell. Without her Healing Wand, now her Healing Factor which originally 800+% has been reduced to 125+%.

The difference was so high it was like comparing the sky and the earth.

'Curse you Black Phantom! A scum of the Earth!! Let's see if you can escape from the wrath of Genesis Guild!'

Once again, her hatred towards Black Phantom who caused this to happen, soared again.

Unaware from what inside Rena-cchi's mind right now, the other three still chatting happily. 

"Still... What can I say? Emily... You and Rena looked like a pair of mother and daughter, rather than friends."

"Yeah, I can see that."

Hecate agreed with Kazu's comment.

"What? Is that what it looked like in your eyes?"

 "Yes." | "Yes it is."

Both Hecate and Kazu nodded at the same time, leaving Emilia quite shocked.

Although it was natural for her to act like a big sister towards Rena since her birthday is earlier than Rena, but... a pair of mother and daughter?

"Pfft! No way that's true! There is no way I would have such a big daughter."

"Ahahaha. But even Hecate-chan agreed with me. Don't you think that's enough proof? Right, Hecate...?"

"Perhaps?"

Hecate answered vaguely. After all, she has no interest in Emi and Rena's relationship. It was not her business.

Rather than that...

"By the way, Kazu-kun... Why are you here? What about your investigation job?"

She asked curiously. She wanted to know whether Kazu really got a clue about Black Phantom or not. And just as she had guessed, Kazu answered with a shake of his head.

"Not yet, but I already spread my intel to every corner of Rosenheim Kingdom and just waiting for the result. Until then, I am free. And coincidentally, I heard from Emily and Rena about the party. You don't mind if I tag along?"

"I don't mind... But, can you explain how you planned to catch him?"

"Well, since he(?) dared to auction our equipments in this kingdom, then he must be go to this kingdom Auction Hall to receive his money. And when he does, then he definitely leave some inerasable trace!"

"I see... Good luck."

Hecate nodded with Kazu's explanation.

So, Kazu planned to ambush Black Phantom when he(?) retrieve the money. As for the details...

Anyone in the Auction Hall can view information on the items by touching the bulletin board there. When the item is auctioned successfully, it will first be marked "Sold Out", waiting for the owner to collect the payment. Only after the payment is complete the item will be removed from the list.

It would be very easy to check who took the money the moment the list of items belonged to "???" disappeared.

In that case, she must be careful when withdrawing the money later.

"Now talk about party, where are we going to hunt?"

Kazu asked Hecate.

"I don't know, I'm fine with anywhere except dungeon with water resistance monsters."

As Hecate said that, she looked at Rena-cchi who initiated this party. Noticing the stare, Rena-cchi immediately awakened from her hateful daydream.

'This won't do... I can't let Hecate-chan see this ugly side of mine.

Yosh, Rena-cchi! Today is your fun time with Hecate-chan!'

She desperately chased her bad thoughts away, and let out a cheerful smile.

"Honestly, I haven't decided where to go. But let's see... How about the Mausoleum?"

Hearing the name of the place that Rena-cchi decided on, the other three fell into a thought.

"The Sealed Mausoleum, huh? If I remember right, enemies in that place are either Demon or Undead."

"Ugh, undead... That means, poison will not work... But okay."

"No objection! But, let me access my storage first."

An unanimous agreement. The destination of the party has been decided.

Emilia as the leader, created the party and invited the other three. Hecate walked to the Save-Crystal and took out some items from her storage. And then, she distributed a few items to her newly established party.

"To Emilia, 50 Landmines. And to Kazu, 150 Throwing Knives."

"Thank you." | "Oh, nice! Thanks Hecate-chan!"

Emilia and Kazu thanked Hecate as they received her gift.

Spoiler ; ;

Item Name:	Hecate's Landmine
Type:	Trap
Rarity:
Crafter:	Hecate
Details:	A magic device created by Hecate which causes the magic intake to overload and creates an explosion that affects the area of 2m radius.

; ;

Item Name:	Hecate's Throwing Knife
Type:	Misc - Hidden Weapon
Rarity:
Crafter:	Hecate
Details:	A throwing knife created by Hecate which have a hollow space inside the blade. The hollow space can be filled with any liquid.

 

These items was something Hecate created to grind her Blacksmith skill proficiency. Of course she also can use them without trouble, but they will be used better by people with proper skill related to them.

For example, Emilia who had trap related skill from her Ranger Jobclass, can bring 2 to 4 times more destructive power with the Landmine. The same applied to the Throwing Knives.

'Okay, with this, I suppose their favorability towards me has increased.'

Hecate looked at both of them with satisfied smile.

Rena-cchi, who doesn't got anything, could only complain.

"What about me...?"

"Please be patient, I only have two hands... Okay, here it is. Rena-cchi, 200 Empty Bottles!"

"WAIT... Isn't your treatment to me kinda terrible?"

Emilia shakes her head, disagreed with Rena-cchi.

"What are you saying? From what I can see, Hecate distributed the items according to our skills."

"Skills?"

"Yeah, you can create Holy Water with those bottles, right?"

So Emilia said as her glance pointed at the fountain.

Kazu also expressing his view.

"I agree, it was you who choose an undead dungeon. I can't use poison there, so I have to rely on your Holy Water."

Rena-cchi then looked at Hecate again.

"Go ahead and create a lot of Holy Waters! We are relying on you, Rena!"

For some reason, Rena-cchi wanted to cry.