‘Lambert, you bastard, don’t tell me you’ve fallen for Nine Tail’s [Enchantment]?’

Even as I thought this, I was so out of breath that I felt like I might cry.

It was frustrating to be forced into an unwanted skinship under the pressure of another’s strong power, and the reality that all his actions could be justified under the pretext of guiding.

I felt more dejected than when I had failed the civil service exam multiple times.

The only thing I could do now was to guide him to calm him down a bit, as he was addicted to [Enchantment].

I regretted not having the ability to neutralize it.

A hot tear rolled down from my stinging eyes.

‘Please… won’t someone pull this madman off me?’

I could feel Bless, my only ally in this world, moving.

It seemed like the little one, safely hidden in my bosom, was rubbing its head trying to get out of the robe.

‘You can’t come out. You might explode with just one gesture from Lambert.’

I couldn’t ask for help from that small life form. I tightened my robe to prevent it from coming out.

Instead, I decided to solve this myself. I was planning to bite Lambert’s tongue hard.

I’ll think about the consequences later. Right now, I come first.

Just as I was about to strike…

“Ugh!”

Lambert let out a small groan.

As our lips, which had been pressed together for quite some time, parted, Lambert’s body fell downward.

Thud. Lambert, who had collapsed on the floor, seemed to have lost consciousness.

“Huff, huff…”

I caught my breath after the frenzied kiss.

I heard the voice of the person who had knocked Lambert out.

“Is this how you always guide?”

The man’s voice sounded familiar.

He was someone I hadn’t expected to appear here, let alone help me.

His name slipped out between my gasping breaths.

“Be, Benjamin?”

Benjamin, dressed in a black uniform, was holding a rabbit doll in his left arm.

It was both a questionable appearance and a questionable entrance.

“…”

Instead of answering, he just stared at me.

His face, usually the epitome of expressionlessness, looked a bit different than usual.

Benjamin seemed…

“Are you… angry?”

He looked angry.

Benjamin’s stubbornly closed lips opened.

“I wonder.”

“So, did you just help me?”

“Before that, I’d like you to answer what I asked.”

What Benjamin had asked…

“Is this how you always guide?”

He had clearly asked that. As if he didn’t want guiding to be done that way.

Benjamin had never received guidance from me.

Of course, he would know how guiding is generally done.

But he might be seeing a kiss for the first time. He probably thought it was just holding hands, like with Baron.

I looked down at the fallen Lambert.

“…”

When and how did Benjamin approach so silently and knock Lambert out?

“It’s really hard waiting for an answer, Miss Yerena.”

Only then did I manage to answer with difficulty.

“Well… he often does it this way, but today he seems to have gone overboard because he was enchanted by a monster.”

I was absolutely not taking his side.

I was afraid of the consequences. I feared Lambert might get angry if I said something wrong.

“…But why do I feel so displeased?”

What am I supposed to answer if he asks me that?

“Maybe because you saw people kissing in an open space…? I didn’t think you were so conservative, Benjamin!”

…But I was a powerless C-rank guide obligated to answer.

As I responded with a joke, Benjamin’s face grew even more stern.

Damn, that wasn’t the right answer, it seems.

“Being conservative isn’t a bad thing…”

I couldn’t continue speaking. Benjamin spoke first.

“Shall I take you to the center?”

I wondered about this excessive kindness.

At that moment, I recalled how he had once carried me like a sack.

‘Is he planning to fly so fast that I’ll vomit again? Because I gave an answer he didn’t like?’

Is he determined to make me throw up after all?

I waved my hands in refusal.

“Ah, no! It’s fine, I’ll go back on my own. As I always do. Haha.”

“…”

There was no reply. He simply turned his back and leapt into the air.

I looked up at Benjamin, who had already disappeared into a dot.

“Why is my luck so bad today?”

At that moment, Bless, whom I had carefully protected in my bosom, jumped out.

―Kyu kyu kyu!

‘Violence must be eradicated!’… it says.

Bless, perched on top of the fallen Lambert, stomped on him with its tiny trident legs.

It was a kick with zero impact.

“Bless, I think so too. But I’m powerless.”

A weak life with no money.

I eagerly wished for tomorrow to come.

I hoped that tomorrow, Honey Butter Guild would recognize my ability and I’d learn how to make money.

After stomping on Lambert for a while, Bless gently descended to the ground.

―Kyu kyu woo!

‘Follow me!’

As if not waiting for my response, Bless started walking ahead.

I had no choice but to follow the small bird.

Where are you going now?

***

Bless stopped walking about 20 minutes away from where Nine Tail’s gate had been summoned.

And surprisingly, there was…

“…A gate?”

A very small gate existed there.

I couldn’t approach it readily because I had trypophobia.

From a distance, it looked a bit different from the gates I knew.

First of all, the inside of the gate was black.

It was different from the usual gates described as ‘an unquenchable, raging inferno’.

The small gate looked just like outer space.

Like a black hole that might suck you in if you peered inside…

Bless flapped its wings in front of it and kept chirping incessantly.

―Kyu kyu kyu kyu!

“…Everyone, come out?”

The amazing thing happened immediately.

“…!”

Birds that looked like Bless started popping out of the small gate one by one.

So surprised, that I just sat down right there.

I hit my bottom quite hard on the ground, but the shock was so great that I couldn’t even feel the pain.

In the blink of an eye, about ten small, cute white birds that looked like Bless appeared.

The amazing thing was, I could immediately tell which one was Bless among them.

―Kyu woo kyu woo kyu!

‘Line up in single file!’

The birds formed a regular formation in response to Bless’s command.

It was unbelievable even though I was seeing it with my own eyes.

Bless stood at the head of that formation.

It thrust forward its plump belly and shouted proudly.

―Kyu woo kyu kyu. Kyu kyu kyu kyu?

‘Is this enough to be of help to the owner?’

“Ah…”

I covered my mouth.

It was because I was moved.

Eleven birds that might be wiped out with one punch from Lambert… at this moment, they felt so reassuring.

It felt like I had gained an army of thousands.

I carefully hugged Bless and kept kissing its cute beak.

“You’re a lucky charm that rolled in from somewhere. I’m so glad you’re here.”

―Kyu kyu kyu kyu. Kyu kyu.

‘It’s too early to be moved, kuk kuk.’

“What? You mean there’s something even more surprising?”

Bless just chuckled. It was as if it had some kind of secret.

I couldn’t imagine what kind of secret a bird could have, so I laughed awkwardly.

At that moment, I belatedly realized something I had failed to notice in my happiness.

‘The birds that look like Bless… they definitely came out of the gate, right? That means…’

“Bless. You’re not an ordinary bird, but a bird from another world?”

Then Bless’s beak opened slightly.

―Kyu kyu kyu kyu.

‘It’s disappointing that you only realized this now,’ it says.

It was a fact that was hard to believe.

***

It was after walking for about two hours to return to the center.

The sky, which had been cloudless, suddenly filled with dark clouds.

‘Damn. Is it going to rain?’

I quickened my pace even more.

Being abandoned in the forest and being kissed by Lambert was bad enough, getting rained on would be too pitiful.

But it started raining when I was near the center.

It was a cool autumn rain.

I entered the center and shook off my wet hair.

The fortunate thing was that my underwear wasn’t soaked through.

The reason I had to walk to the center was because I was delayed by meeting Bless’s friends, and there were no teleport espers left in the forest.

Just as I was about to go to my room, a center staff member called out to me.