Straf waits for a couple minutes with his arms crossed, his index finger taps on his other arm in a steady rhythm as he thinks.

《Should I really be just waiting? I feel like a perfect opportunity is about to slip past me…》

Straf abruptly gets up from his table. He storms towards the baths in a hurried step.

《Of course I can't wait! I'm going to miss it, it's going to just go poof and escape me! I can't let my dignity restrain me here! If I am to witness all the shitty tropes, I have to be proactive about it!》

「Ahh! Changed your mind about the baths, huh?」

The bartender grins a little and asks, as he sees Straf zoom past him towards the baths.

「Huh? Yeah I guess whatever.」

Not missing a beat, Straf acknowledges him dismissively and turns the corner. He takes one wide step after another towards one of the doors.

「The moment you've been all waiting for. The cream of the cream. A trope so overdone that even the biggest hacks are aware of it, and are too self-conscious to include it!」

Straf grabs the door handle and grins…

「And just to be clear… I picked this door at random, to ensure I maximize my chances of this boss encounter of a cliche. Here it goes! Kyaa! Pervert! Slap!」

He swings the door open.

「…Can I help you?」

A big, fat man asks, while sitting in a steaming circular tub with a folded towel on his head. He and Straf stare at each other for a few seconds, both slightly slack-jawed. Straf blinks a few times in confusion.

「…No. Sorry for the disturbance.」

「S'alright. Don't sweat it.」

He gently pushes the door shut.

「Well. As I said, it was random, I'll just try another.」

Straf walks up to a nearby door, and grabs its handle. He pulls it open.

「Yeah? What do you want?」

A tall and muscular naked man covered in scars is looking over his shoulder. He stands obliquely and faces away from Straf, sparing him the sight of his noodle, as he's wiping his bulky torso with a towel. He doesn't hide his displeasure at Straf invading his bathroom.

「Nothing. My bad.」

Straf once again slinks out of the threshold and shuts the door. He stares down at nothing in particular, deep in thought as he still holds onto the door's handle.

「What the fuck.」

Straf says, then looks around and picks another door. He walks up, and anxiously stares at it.

《Do I seriously have to go door by door, just to catch a slap and glimpse of her wrapped in steam, or covered by inexplicable beams of light!?》

He reaches for the door handle, the door opens. Straf quickly steps out of the way to not be hit by the door.

「Ah- Straf? What are you doing here? Did you change your mind?」

Straf's eyelid twitches as Cycelia peeks her head out of the room and asks. Her hair was patted dry, but is still noticeably damp.

「No, I was just… Uh…」

《Shit shit shit! Think…》

「You were taking a long time, so I got a little worried.」

Cycelia blushes at his answer. She swings the door open the rest of the way.

「Straf, women here tend to take longer baths… I'm finished now, so if you'd like to-」

「No. I'm good.」

Straf looks away from Cycelia…

《Ah! Did he get self-conscious? That's kind of cute…》

Cycelia covers her smile with a half-closed fist…

《Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I knew it, I shouldn't have waited! This was the trope, and I blew it!》

「…Will you head for your bedroom now?」

Straf asks, looking away still and trying to mask his anger.

「Ah… Yes. I suppose so…」

「Let's go then…」

Straf grits his teeth as he walks ahead of Cycelia in a hurry.

《Ahhh! He's actually shy about getting worried about me! That's too cute!》

Cycelia thinks, sporting a massively upturned smile as she stares at Straf's broad, swaying back. His boot thud heavily on the wooden floor with each step. They walk up the inn's stairs to another hallway full of doors. Straf takes his key out of his pocket and looks for the numbered door.

「There it is… And yours is next to mine.」

「Okay… So… Goodnight, Straf?」

She says as she unlocks her door and holds onto the door handle.

「I will be awake for a little bit longer… If you want to talk.」

Straf unlocks his door and enters without even looking at Cycelia, and closes it behind himself.

「Eh?」

Cycelia is left alone in the hallway. She blinks a few times, trying to process what Straf said. She unfreezes, and enters her room as well.

「What did he…」

She pushes the door shut with her back and leans onto it. She starts breathing heavily, and puts her hands on her reddening cheeks as she looks down.

Ba-dump.

《What did he mean by this!? What kind of talk!? The talk!?》

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She walks up to her bed and sits down on it, her hands still on her face.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

She takes a deep breath, and exhales.

《No. Wait. Wait just a second. He's not from around here. I must be misunderstanding again. He must have meant actual talking. He must have meant that he will literally stay awake for a few more hours, to keep watch over me for my safety. That's it. Yes, that must be it. That's…》

She plops onto her back, with her smile having disappeared off to somewhere, and her expression returning to normal. A little sullen, even.

《That's… Too bad? I sound like a desperate teenage girl, but…》

She looks to the side, and grabs hold of a pillow. She squeezes her face deeply into it.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

《But he's so cool, and handsome! And cute! And he saved my life! And he's so nice to everyone! And he's deeply hurt inside! Ahhh! I just want to hug his face tight into my chest, pat his head and tell him everything will be alright while he cries his life's pain out!》

Cycelia fantasizes as she rolls around in her bed, meanwhile…

…

Straf closes the door behind him. He sighs.

《Ffffuck. I hope she didn't notice how pissed off I was. I don't want to accidentally come off as some sort of desperate virgin pervert… But that's such a waste of opportunity!》

Straf lays down in his double bed, his arms behind his head on the hay-stuffed pillow.

「I guess I should look through what I got…」

Straf opens his [Portable Storage] and starts pulling out the items he collected from the beasts he mercilessly slaughtered with magic.

「…What's this?」

With his eyebrow raised, he pulls out a silver, gem-encrusted chalice. While the gems add some beauty to it, it's not all that visually impressive. Straf focuses on it…

『Detoxifying Goblet』

[Utility] [Alchemical]

『Detoxifying Goblet』 passively collects mana from its suroundings, and destroys all poisonous or toxic substances within. Only affects liquids. Requires mana to function.

Destroyed substances are turned into abiotic water.

Does not destroy substances that are only poisonous at excessive ingestion levels, unless they exceed that level within the goblet's capacity.

Effect rate: 5% volume/1h

「Huh… That is… So useful, yet I can't find a use for it. Barter trash, I guess. Next.」

He throws the chalice back into the hole, and pulls out another item, a magnifying glass.

『Introspective Magnifying Glass』

[Utility]

『Introspective Magnifying Glass』 enables the user to see through own body, to the degree desired by the user.

Magnifies picture as much as desired by the user.

「Yet another item that would be crazy useful in a normal world… But is just worthless when I can see how injured I am exactly, and what's wrong with me with the buffs and debuffs indicators…」

Straf's eyes drift to buffs as he thinks of them…

[Well-fed]

[Beneficial]

Multiplies experience gained. Multiplies natural attribute increases.

Effect factor: 5%

Straf rolls his eyes and throws the magnifying glass back in…

「Wow, whole five percent, huh? Next…」

Straf says with a sneer, then sighs.

…

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

《Ahhh! What do I do!? Do I go to his room? What if it's a test? Mhnhnmnnn…》

Cycelia groans as she squeezes her pillow, laying on her back and thinking about Straf.

A few minutes later…

「Tsk. Man, what a load of trash. I was hoping for at least a cool sword, or armor, or anything.」

Straf thinks out loud as he throws 『Masseur's Comforting Gloves』 into his [Portable Storage], and closes it.

「Ahh! This was meant to calm me down, but it only pissed me off further! This is her fault! Athea!」

《Again? Can't you live on your own for five seconds without my attention? I'm working, leave me alone.》

「I lived years on my own without even knowing you exist, until you killed me! Get your fat ass down here!」

Fwoomp.

Athea appears with her arms crossed in a flash of light, and with a gentle clack of her shoes on the wooden floor. A single gust of wind violently radiates away from her as she does, as if someone opened a window on a very windy day. Her face bears a hint of a scowl.

「…Fat? Is that what you lowered yourself to? Childish insults?」

She asks, unable to hide disdain in her voice.

「It was a compliment.」

Straf says, and scoots to the middle of his bed, then loudly pats the freed side with his hand.

「Get in.」

Athea loses her composure, her eyes widen and she recoils back a step.

「So that's it!? You are a worthless, degenerate pervert after all!?」

She asks Straf in a raised voice, covering herself up with her arms.

「Huuuuh… That's a nice face. Keep that up for a moment.」

Straf says with a smug grin, one of his arms stretched out to the side on the bed.

「Tsk. Have you already forgot your promise?」

Athea clicks her tongue, she forces a more neutral expression back, but it only amounts to it returning back to her scowl, just magnified as she lacks the composure to hide her disgust.

「Oh, I remember. Do you?」

He pats the bed again, grinning even more. Athea looks around the room looking for something… She then sighs, and walks up to the bed.

「You better not try anything funny…」

Athea pulls the back of her dress underneath herself, and sits down on the side of the bed. She then stretches her legs out and puts them on the bed as well, holding onto the front of her dress to ensure she doesn't expose anything too much.

Finally, she slowly lowers her back onto Straf's outstretched, waiting arm. She squeezes her own arms closer and makes herself small, to avoid as much physical contact with Straf as possible, aside from the inevitable from her back and his arm. Inadvertently, her effort to avoid touching Straf lead to her squeezing her breasts together…

She looks away from Straf as a moment of uncomfortable silence begins. Athea decides to break it to recover her divine dignity.

「T-there. Now you can with a straight face tell people, that you were in the bed with a goddess…」

「Hmmmmmm…」

Straf humms as he looks at her laying beside him.