Chapter 288: Clear on All Sides

"——! Watch out!"

At the cry of the "Gambler," the four piglets immediately went on the defensive.

"Damn it. Additional enemies...!"

The first to charge in was the blue pig—Aizuki Miyako.

As she began searching through the grassy underbrush...,

?? 'Aaah!'

Out from the foliage came a young girl of the wolf race.

She was designed in a way that hilariously parodies typical Japanese kawaii culture—almost entirely humanoid, except for her ears and tail.

Wolf girl: 'C-Can't... I'm about to cry...'

The girl looked up at them with an expression on the verge of tears.

In response, the four piglets each licked their lips.

Yellow pig: 'What should we do with this one? Humiliate her?'

Blue Pig: 'Stab her, stab her, I want to stab her! Kill her and humiliate her!'

White Pig: 'Idiot. That'd be a waste. Humiliate her first, then kill her.'

Red Pig: 'T-this time, I'll finally be able to humiliate a proper woman...'

Wah wah! None of these guys have any ideas except humiliating her!

Isn't there usually at least one decent, honorable option in situations like this?

"What should we do?"

"Of course, we'll have to sacrifice her happiness. We're already at a point where we can't back down."

Yeah.

"But the real question is, who's going to do it? Apparently, doing it together as four people actually lowers happiness. Oddly enough, they're quite well-behaved about this."

Probably because they don't want to see the person they hate naked.

"In this case, it should be... 'Anonymous' who handles it."

"Wait, me?"

"Yeah. That'd be better. You didn't recover much at that brothel earlier, did you?"

"I see."

To be honest, right now I'm just slightly happier than usual—mostly because I've been annoying my allies nonstop.

Still, I can't exactly tell everyone that.

"...Understood."

"Good. It seems watching the event directly lowers our happiness, so we'll stay a bit farther away."

"Got it."

I grab the wolf-girl and pull her into the grassy bushes.

Wolf-girl: "P-please, help me...!"

Fancy-looking three-head-sized figure knocks over the cute character.

Thinking it's another one of those reference videos, I notice there's still another development coming up.

Wolf-girl: "I beg you, please let me go! I'll sell myself! I'll sell information about my comrades!"

Even this one's a scumbag.

For now, I let go of the wolf-girl and extract information from her.

Details are omitted, but my inventory now includes the "Map of the Western Fortress."

Also added is knowledge of the boss enemy residing in the Western Fortress—their weakness (a traumatic experience from drowning in childhood, causing them to faint when exposed to water magic).

With just this information, conquering the Western Fortress should be relatively effortless.

What gives me the greatest advantage is that I'm the only one who knows this information.

...This fight is mine.

I quickly rape the now-useless wolf girl, then strangle her to death before rejoining the others.

Red Boar: "She was still hoping she'd survive right up until the moment she died. Hilarious."

Yellow Boar: "She shook her hips enough—make sure you give the other parts a good grind too."

White Boar: "Even though she's a barbarian trash woman, why did she... go for that piece of garbage?"

Aotō: «…………………………»

"Sorry to keep you waiting~"

"How was it?"

"Her happiness level has nearly fully recovered. Plus, her level has increased too."

"Good. …So, anything else you picked up...?"

"There wasn't anything else. The corpse is right there."

"Did you kill her?"

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

"……No."

Seems like she's trying to gauge the difference in our combat strength.

The scary part about this game is that you can't even tell the combat strength, equipment, or health status of your allies.

"By the way, Mr. Gambler, who exactly will end up with Lady Byakko, who's being held captive at the western fortress?"

"It seems that whoever plays a key role in capturing the fortress will automatically gain ownership of her."

Yes, I've got it!

As I concealed a sinister smile, unseen by others,

"You know what? You definitely got something, didn't you?"

"Huh? No, why would you think that? (playing dumb)"

"...No, it's just... I swear I've seen that expression somewhere before."

"Huh? What are you even talking about? I have no idea at all, seriously?!"

"…………………………………"

▼

The capture of the "Fortress of the West" was completed in under thirty minutes.

Thanks to the shortcut I "accidentally" discovered, we launched a surprise attack from an unguarded path, catching the wolf tribe off guard and managing to steal a kiss from the boss enemy while they were napping.

Of course, I was the MVP. I also ended up acquiring the tsundere-style, golden-haired, lolita girl known as Byakko, who strangely wore modern school uniforms.

Byakko: "I've been watching your every move. I wouldn't mind... offering my devotion to you... (pfft)..."

Yes! Got her hooked!

Chitose's happiness skyrocketed, climbing higher and higher with each "pon-poko-pon-poko" as her level rose rapidly.

Well, sure, her level went up, but since her weapon is just a rubber cup, her attack power remains at rock bottom.

A triumphant fanfare played, and the words "1st STAGE CLEAR!" appeared on screen.

"Hey, um... 'Gambling Master'?"

"What is it?"

"About the penalty game if I win—haven't we decided on that yet?"

"……You're right. We haven't."

"Then, if I win, you have to obey anything I say. What do you think?"

"Anything? ……You mean, absolutely anything?"

"Yes."

"……Fine, I accept."

An announcement sounds through the game, indicating that a full year has passed within its timeline.