Chapter 129 (1/2)

Volume 2

Chapter 130

Ch 130 — Perfect Defence Skill

Returning to my room at the inn I hesitantly called out .

“Ermm, are you there, Goddesses-sama?”

“Huh?” A certain Deplorable-Goddess-sama’s reply echoed in my head immediately . “You’re earlier than we expected you know, other-world-guy-kun . ” There was a mental shrug . “Anyway you’re finally being diligent, good for you . Wait a moment as I call everyone over . ”

A few seconds later I heard a babble of voices .

“Other-world-guy-kun, that was quick~ . I’m glad, I’ve got a list of things I want . ” Agni-sama slammed in first .

“Really . Thank you for getting back to us so soon . ” Kishar-sama interjected .

” . . . Food and sweets . ” Ruka-sama got straight to the point as usual .

“Oh, I’ve been waiting for you to turn up again . ” Hephaestus-sama butted in . “Yeah~ The other-world booze you offer to us is the best . Hey War God, let’s figure out what sorta booze to ask for this time!”

“Oh hey, it’s the other-world-guy!” The last voice was Vulcan-sama . “De-fin-ately, Heffy . That other-world booze really hits the spot! Now what do we want?”

It looked like all the Gods and Goddesses were ready to order as I heard Hephaestus-sama and Vulcan-sama starting to discuss what they were wanting from me in the background . I’d leave them to the last, I decided . First of all I had to explain why I had called them to make an offering so soon after the last time .

“As a matter of fact, I’m planning to enter a dungeon tomorrow and I don’t think I can make offerings to you while I’m in there . I don’t want others to see me using my Net Super Skill . ” I wanted to avoid being seen making offerings by other Adventurers, to keep from being found out .

“Well, I can see why you don’t want others to discover your ability . ” Deplorable-Goddess-sama answered . “That Skill is unique, it makes many things from your world available here in this world . Depending on how you use it, you gain huge benefits but you’ve got to be careful too . That’s obvious . ” Hmmm, Deplo- uh, Ninril-sama was surpri- uh, being very understanding of my situation and the dangers I faced, that was very considerate of her-

“And of course it means we Goddesses can enjoy sweet things from your world so you definitely need to keep it a secret from others, you know . ” Ah, Deplorable-sama, your greedy selfishness broke through at the last minute . . .

“That’s for sure . ” Deplorable Goddess #2 Agni-sama agreed . “Thanks to that Skill of yours we can also get our hands on other-world stuff . We don’t want you haveta stop making offerings because you got found out down there . ”

“It’s a Skill we’ve never encountered before, any of us . ” Kishar-sama explained . “Obtaining goods from a different world, it’s unprecedented . ” It was? Well it was listed in my Status as a Unique Skill but I hadn’t really realised that it was something no-one else had ever been able to do, it wasn’t just Unique to me .

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” . . . Other-world food and sweets . ” added Ruka-sama, restating the important thing about my Skill, in her eyes at least .

I can get all sorts of things I was used to having from my own world thanks to this Skill and I really wanted to continue being able to use it but now the Gods and Goddesses have butted in, ah, provided me with their divine blessings thank you very much I have to use this Skill to provide them with regular offerings . Ah well, the protections and magical bonuses they had provided in exchange were useful, sort of .

“Anyway,” I continued with my explanation, “Because I can’t let other Adventurers see me using my Net Super Skill and making offerings to you-” which would be a major problem in itself, I suddenly realised “- I decided to make my offerings here and now before I went into the dungeon . So, what is it you wish me to offer to you this time? Remember, it’s limited to three silver coins worth . ”

“Well, you know, my usual sweets!” Really, this person (goddess) is consistent in her demands at least which made things simple for me . I opened Net Super and chose assorted sweets for Ninril-sama . Lessee, lots of dorayaki, her favourite plus Western and Japanese sweets, puddings and cakes topped off with sweet carbonated drinks to a total of three silver coins . Yosh, one down .

“Next please . ” I really should get a konbini barcode scanner, I thought to myself . Beep!

“It’s Kishar here~ . ” the Goddess’ matronly voice came through eagerly . “That face wash, skin lotion and eye wrinkle cream you sent me last time was truly excellent! The skin lotion especially,” she continued breathlessly, “As you said, adding a little more at night before sleeping really worked wonders on my dry skin . Looking into a mirror in the morning has become a pleasure for me again!”

Is that so? Kishar-sama seemed to be enchanted by looking at her face in the mirror . That reminded me of my elder sister who spent much of her time intently studying her own face in the bathroom mirror at home . She even had a large folding mirror she carried around with her in her purse . Anyway, Kishar-sama had apparently found the beauty products I suggested to her liking .

“So what sort of thing do you wish this time?” I enquired politely .

“I’m happy with what you sent me last time but is there anything, well, better to take care of my face and skin?”

Ah, something *better*? I stifled my initial thought about flighty females who were never satisfied about their appearance .

“Please wait for a moment while I look for something appropriate for you, Kishar-sama . ” I said, opening Net Super’s skin care products catalogue and looking through the items on offer . She said she liked the skin lotion, so how about this one?

“There’s a very high-quality lotion with a rich variety of ingredients to enhance your skin’s beauty but I should warn you it costs three silver coins by itself . ”

“It has a rich variety of ingredients?!” she squealed in a most un-Goddess-like manner . “I absolutely must try it! Yes, offer it to me!” Kishar-sama, there’s such a thing as being too enthusiastic, I said to myself as I selected the expensive skin care lotion in the Net Super . My opinion of Kishar-sama as a distinguished matronly Goddess had taken a bit of a knock from her teen girl reaction .

“What, you’ve used all three silver coins on a single item?” Agni-sama scoffed . “You’re being stupid, Fuhuhu . ”

“Really . You should have asked for various things, you know . ” Deplorable-sama added .

” . . . waste . ” commented Ruka-sama .

“Leave me alone . Beauty is everything . ” Kishar-sama retorted haughtily, dismissing the crude comments by her fellow Goddesses . I didn’t dare tell her that three silver coins was only a start in the skin care business, there were products in the Net Super listings that cost tens of thousands of yen for a small tube or jar of some kinds of lotion . My Beauty Geek older sister had once spent 30,000 yen on a tub of skin cream, saying that she would pay whatever she had to in the pursuit of beauty and never mind the cost .

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“There is no price tag on a beautiful skin . ” my sister had declared grandly when I poked fun at her for being stupid and paying so much . I decided I wouldn’t say anything similar to Kishar-sama, having grown up a little from my younger days and besides if using these sort of cosmetics meant Kishar-sama felt better about herself it wasn’t for me to dissuade her from that belief . Sorry, elder sister of mine, I apologised belatedly and at a great distance, I now understand a little of what you were thinking back then . Right, I thought to myself . Move on .

“Well then, it should be Agni-sama next?”

“Yeah, me next . The same sorta booze like last time . The different kinds of booze meant I didn’t get tired of any of them, they all tasted great . ” So she wanted the same combination I had offered to her as last time? That was easy, but I suggested changing them a bit to prevent her from getting bored .

“Well, I’ll send you the same combination this time, but they will be different brands and from different makers, is that OK?”

“I’ll leave it up to you . ” she agreed . I selected different types of beer, sake, whisky, wine and brandy and put it in the cart, three silver coins worth as usual . Keep going, I wanted to get to sleep soon .

“Next it’s Ruka-sama . ” I announced .

“Food and sweets . ” she replied instantly . That was the same as last time for her too . “Beef bowl was delicious . I want it if you have some . ” Gyuudon, hmmm? Shredded beef in a sweet sauce over rice, simple and delicious . Luckily I had just prepared a large amount of gyuudon for the dungeon expedition tomorrow so that was an easy request to satisfy .

“The grilled meat on sticks was good too . ” Ruka-sama added . Oh, yakitori skewers? I ordered yakitori from the Net Super and added some beef stew and cabbage rolls from my dungeon supplies, completing the three silvers worth of offerings with confectionery and bread as usual .

“Next . . . ” On to the two new deadbeat freeloading Gods who were demanding offerings . I cast a covetous glance at the futon on my bed . I had a long day ahead of me tomorrow, I wanted to get to sleep . . .

“The little ladies are all done then? Right, I’m next, Hephaestus . OK, I’m looking for strong booze like the last lot you offered us . That whisky stuff was great . We added ice like you said and it was real tasty, same with adding water but hey it was good just straight too . Other-world booze really hits the spot . ”

So Hephaestus-sama is looking for whisky? I made a note as the God of War butted in .

“Vulcan here . I’m looking for something different besides whisky . Strong booze, but different . Is that OK, Heffy?”

“For sure . Whisky is really delicious but I wanna try different types of other-world booze too . We can share what we get I’m sure, right, Vulcan?” It looked like these two boozehou- uh, Gods were willing to cooperate to get what they wanted from me . This fact wasn’t missed by the Goddesses who, I had to admit, seemed to be less willing to share their offerings with each other . Speaking of which-

“Oh you two, always willing to conspire when it comes to alcohol, you know . ” Deplorable-Sama #1 interjected .

“That’s true, right?” Agni-sama agreed .

“I wish I could get everything I wanted . ” sighed Kisahar-sama . “You two are being really sneaky about getting the sorts of booze you’re wanting . ”