1.99 Lucky Player

Haru was masturbating while watching something on the erotic channel. Hina was doing the same, using her fingers with great skill. It wasn’t simple masturbation, there was technique, something passed down from generation to generation in the Tachiban family, a strange family that always received support classes.

The phone rang. Haru answered, but he didn’t lower the television’s volume, and the loud moans could be heard by Mio.

"You need to find someone, this isn’t normal. But that’s not what I want to talk about, I need you, the guild is going to hold an event and more adventurers will be coming, we need to win a monster-killing tournament."

Haru accepted. The tournament was simple, everyone would be sent to the same floor, a large monster event would begin, and the team that killed the most monsters within one hour would win. But there was one problem, with several groups around they couldn’t simply keep masturbating on the spot, so Haru’s area damage was compromised. However, he had the shotgun, which, although he hadn’t been able to test it properly, still dealt double damage and a little area damage, but at the cost of two shells at a time.

Mio wanted to hunt more monsters so they could get more crystals for the shells. They went to the slime floor, which had the best cost-benefit ratio.

"Kaede saw you yesterday," Mio said.

"Who is she?"

"You forgot?"

"Yes."

"She’s the receptionist, I thought you knew her name."

He did, he just didn’t remember it.

"Where did she see me?"

"Going into another guild, and my father already knows about it. Can I ask what you were doing there?"

"I didn’t do anything wrong, I was just lost, saw the guild, and thought I’d test my upgraded pistol there."

"Wait, you had the pistol my father lent you modified?"

"I’m sorry about that, I’ll even buy the pistol, I just forgot it was something I’d borrowed."

"Alright, I’ll accept your apology and wait for the money, you should talk to my father about it. Still, out of all the guilds, why go to that one?"

"I didn’t know what kind of guild it was, that place is strange and only has people who do strange things, to a level that borders on being illegal," Haru said, shivering as he remembered what he had seen inside the dungeon.

"Yeah, that place is really strange, and it’s best never to go back, don’t even tell people you went there, or they’ll think you’re into that kind of thing. Which isn’t hard for them to believe," she said, laughing.

"What happens there?" Hina asked, unable to hold back her curiosity any longer.

"They have sex with monsters. Besides that, the receptionist and the other employee will have sex if you pay. The owner of that place is a complete, and I mean complete, pervert."

"You really shouldn’t tell anyone, people won’t believe you went there by mistake or for any other reason. You don’t have a very good reputation."

Haru shot a slime and then looked at Hina.

"What do you mean?"

"It’s just that you have a reputation for being a pervert. When I joined, the women told me to stay away from you because of my clothes, even Kaede told me that. They talked about the way you look at women’s bodies. Your reputation is unbelievably bad."

Haru felt terrible. It was true, he really was like that, he just hadn’t known that everyone in the guild knew about that behavior, and that explained many things that had already happened to him. Like when he tried talking to people and was completely ignored, especially by women, or the way Kaede treated him.

He felt bad about it, but not bad enough to want to change.

He killed a few more slimes.

He stayed quiet the whole way to the second floor. Hina tried to start a few conversations, but he didn’t seem to want to talk. She knew what she had said wasn’t something pleasant to hear, but sooner or later he needed to know. It was better for him to hear it from her than from someone else, at least that was what she thought.

Mio started walking ahead, and her butt swaying with every movement slowly made Haru become what he had always been again, trash.

Mio didn’t like the way he looked at her. Even though she knew he wouldn’t take advantage of the situation, at least not much, it still caused her a little discomfort. She knew he was a good person, but he didn’t help himself. He was the reason everyone considered him a strange man that women should avoid.

"This event came out of nowhere. I’ve never seen any event here before, at least not one this big."

"It’s a way my father found to make more money. He found some weapons while exploring the deeper floors, and he’ll give the weapons to whoever wins. It doesn’t matter what class they are, they’ll receive some legendary weapon and a sum of gold coins, and all their crystals will be bought as well, so no one will leave empty-handed."

"He’s selling them to the Himura, isn’t he?" Hina asked.

"Exactly. We’re using someone Himura doesn’t know is connected to my family. We’re selling some crystals to him and to the energy company. About one month, that’s how long the energy company should keep operating without any problems. Himura is collecting even more crystals, so we’re selling them because he’s paying more. That way we’ll pay off the entire debt in a few days and be able to cause the financial damage Haru mentioned."

"That makes sense, but at the same time I wonder, how much money are they willing to spend to start a war or take control of the city?"

"I don’t think it’s about taking control," Haru said. "Something like that would be very bad even for the Himura. Think about how many other companies there are in the city. There are companies much richer than the Himura, and even other members of the four families own businesses here. Causing a power outage and then trying to take control might work at first, but little by little the influence of powerful people could create disorder and shake this entire balance of power."

"So you’re suggesting this is nothing more than someone wanting a war?"

"Yes. Control wouldn’t work for very long, so thinking about war is more plausible. Think about the military uses of crystals. They’re used to create powerful weapons and even improve weapons that are already good. So if one of the families has a lot of crystals, they can use them on their weapons and gain certain advantages. Even if we think about using them to control the city, there are a few possibilities.

The first involves a crisis and one family providing the solution. The whole city loses power, and the Himura family delivers all the crystals, bringing everything back to normal. However, that wouldn’t produce any real gain, only more influence that might not lead to anything.

The second hypothesis involves them charging extremely high prices to make more money than they spent. That’s a possibility, but the family’s image could be tarnished, especially among those who know what they did. Little by little, the family would come to be seen as traitors, and even bigger problems would arise.

The third option involves using the crystals as leverage for something. They offer the crystals, but demand something besides money, like submission.

The last possibility involves only military use. Having fewer families controlling the country would make many things possible for the remaining families."

"You’re suggesting they’re receiving help?"

"I don’t know, but this is all just speculation on my part," Haru said as he lost focus and looked at a woman who walked past him. The woman’s butt gave him goosebumps. She walked faster, and he quickened his pace. The movements of that butt squeezed by her pants made his penis hard, and everything he had just said was completely forgotten.

"What makes you think something like that?" Mio asked, trying to bring him back to his senses.

"My father. He always worked for one of the four families. I always watched and listened to those people talking, and little by little I came to understand what they were really like."