Novice Reincarnator

The face of the elf receptionist lit up the moment he saw me enter the administration building to Goblin Nest. In a complete turn from his behavior two days ago, a friendly smile appeared on his face.

“Welcome, welcome! I was hoping you would come back, little demon.”

“W-What is it?”

The man’s face held a strange intensity as he examined my appearance. It was different from the group of explorers who had gazes like they were licking me from head to toe. This elf’s eyes were much purer, almost like he was admiring me.

“Don’t worry little demon. My lips are sealed. I won’t tell anyone that you were the girl that took a bath with Cecilia Snowlight.”

The elf made a motion of zipping his lips with his fingers as he spoke. My reply was less than elegant.

“Um, what?”

“Oh, didn’t you know? The whole academy is abuzz trying to figure out who was the girl that managed to take a bath with our dear Empress.”

I thought I understood. The three girls that fainted in front of Cecilia must have caught a glimpse of me before they lost consciousness. Since everyone deeply admired the Legendary Archangel, they must have tried to figure out who I was. Still…

“Why are people talking about it?”

As far as the three girls that fainted knew, I was just another girl that took a bath with Cecilia. There was no way they could have known I was a former man.

“Your ignorance astounds me. Cecilia Snowlight lives in her own private mansion off campus. Why would such a person use the public bathing facilities at our academy?”

The elf wagged his finger at me from left to right, as if to signal I had it all wrong. I didn’t have an answer to his question. Cecilia did not seem particularly dirty when she entered.

“Well, that doesn’t really matter.”

“It doesn’t matter!?”

“In truth, the question everyone desperately wants answered is simple. Why didn’t you faint when you encountered Cecilia?”

The elf’s eyes glowed with fanaticism when he asked me that question. Something about his sudden atmosphere shift unnerved me. I tried to dodge the question.

“Isn’t it because we are both girls?”

“Both girls? Ha! Then, is every other person who has seen Cecilia’s naked skin a man?”

It was like I had the rug pulled out from underneath me. I desperately tried to deny my unpleasant premonition.

“What are you talking about?”

“Cecilia has entered the academy’s bathing facility multiple times in the past, but it always ended in tragedy. Every single girl that saw her fainted. Even after they woke up, none of them could remember what Cecilia looked like. All that remained was the knowledge that they had run into her.”

Cold sweat dripped down my back. I hadn’t just seen Cecilia. I had even touched her shoulders. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Cecilia Snowlight was one of the most popular girls in all of the Upper Realm. She had countless people who loved her and wanted to get closer to her, including other girls.

Weren’t all of those admirers going to hunt me down in order to figure out how I stayed conscious while Cecilia was naked?

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I didn’t do anything special.”

“You can’t think of anything special about why you are different?”

“...Ah.”

A dumb sound escaped from my lips from the truly ridiculous idea that popped into my head.

“What is it?”

I caved under the intense pressure of the receptionist.

“I grew up with a friend that also possessed a ridiculous level of charm. Perhaps because of that, I gained some resistance to it?”

Leo and I were both guys, so that charm was never really pointed at me. Even as I spoke up, I knew that there was no way this was the correct answer.

“I see. I see. By building up tolerance to people with weaker charms, one can eventually celebrate Cecilia’s naked form with their own eyes. I have noted that down and I will share it with the We Love Cecilia fanclub.”

“Please don’t.”

I wanted to die from embarrassment. It was no use trying to stop the receptionist. One couldn’t reason with a fanatic.

“Do be sure to get some goblin blood on you while you are in the dungeon. Who knows, perhaps you will run into Cecilia again.”

“Don’t even joke about that!”

Once was enough. I borrowed some rental throwing knives and daggers from the administration building’s armory and entered Goblin Nest. Shortly after entering, White hit me with a greeting and I responded like usual.

The [Throwing Knife] skill made it much easier to kill goblins than last time. If I encountered a lone goblin, then I was able to end the fight before my foe even had a chance to close the distance.

Even if I encountered multiple goblins at once, I was able to keep my distance and dance around the battle, launching attacks with my throwing knives and dwindling my foes little by little until there were none left.

As my level climbed, it got to the point where I didn’t even need to devote my full attention to exploring with how noisy these goblins were. My conversation with the receptionist was the longest conversation I had in quite some time.

I suddenly wanted to talk to someone and thankfully, I had a viewer that was listening.

“Have you heard of the hero, Leah Maxwell?”

 

White: I have

 

“She really is an amazing person. I watched her Catacombs of the Fallen dungeon dive today and I couldn’t believe how far she has come in such a short period of time.”

White didn’t respond, but that was okay. I knew my viewer was a quiet person who didn’t talk much. I was happy just to voice my thoughts to someone.

“Honestly, she is my ideal woman. I want to be her equal, but that sounds really laughable when I say it out loud. Really, what kind of things am I saying while being surrounded by goblins?”

I shut up while I handled the approaching goblins. I wasn’t skilled enough yet to multitask talking to my viewers and battling my foes. When I finished off the last goblin, I noticed White had replied to my words.

 

White: Everyone is born equal. There is no need for you to prove yourself to reach the same level as her.

 

“I’m surprised. White, you say the same things as my best friend.”

Of course, I had no plans to share that the best friend I was talking about was the hero, Leah Maxwell. White surprised me with a question while I was resting.

 

White: What do you think of Cecilia Snowlight?

 

Her words conjured Cecilia’s naked appearance into my mind and I blushed furiously. Praise slipped out of my mouth unbidden.

“Beautiful…”

I came to a start when I realized what I had said. I hastily corrected myself.

“F-Forget I said that. Cecilia Snowlight is a wonderful explorer. Everyone should aspire to become an explorer like her.”

Once the heat faded from my face, I realized that my viewer count had dropped down to 0. White had stopped watching me. What had happened? Was it something I said?

A minute later, the viewer count went back up to one. Relief filled my heart and I immediately began to apologize.

“I’m sorry, White. Did I—”

 

Black: Yo

 

“—Black?”

 

Black: That is my name.

 

I had a new viewer. My mind scrambled to figure out what I was supposed to do in this situation. Right. An introduction certainly wouldn’t be out of place.

“I am a Novice dungeon diver exploring Goblin’s Nest—”

 

Black: I don’t care about that. Tell me, what is your favorite part of Cecilia?

Black: For me, it has to be her breasts.

 

“Eh!?”

Unlike White, this user named Black was very talkative. They didn’t seem to care about my situation at all and advanced the conversation all on their own.

 

Black: Just imagine resting your head on those fine tits.

 

Cecilia’s naked breasts flashed to the front of my mind. They looked very soft and if I wasn’t so nervous at the time, I would definitely have wanted to rest my head on them.

 

Black: Haha, you imagined it.

Black: Pervert.

 

“You are wrong!”

My weak denial didn’t fool anyone. I had actually imagined it after all. I was completely caught up at Black’s pace.

 

Black: As I thought, breasts are a woman’s strongest asset.

 

“No.”

I couldn’t accept that conclusion. I was more than just my breasts. In fact, I hadn’t found a reason to like them. Ah, if only these lumps of fat would completely disappear from my body.

 

Black: No?

Black: Then tell me. What do you think is Cecilia Snowlight’s strongest point?

Black: Don’t lie.

 

I had seen everything from head to toe. Therefore, I considered myself to be a qualified judge. I had nearly fainted from seeing her naked appearance, but after all, only one aspect had nearly devoured my soul.

“Her eyes.”

 

Black: lololol. What a virgin answer.

Black: Thank you for admitting that you are a virgin.

Black: Only a virgin would say that so that they don’t sound like a pervert.

 

“I’m serious. I don’t know how to explain it. Her eyes carry a strong will of determination. It was like they were endlessly deep pools. On the surface, they reflected a brilliant light that hid a deep darkness in their depths. Ah, I don’t even know what I am saying any more.”

 

Black: I’m kind of creeped out right now

Black: Who seriously peers that deeply into another person’s eyes?

Black: Do you perhaps have an eye fetish?

 

Something in me snapped. Why was I even taking this conversation seriously? It was obvious that Black was just trying to get on my nerves. I ended my rest and resumed my search for more goblins.

“I’m normal. Normal.”

 

Black: Then, what feature of her body excites you the most?

 

I had to wonder, was it normal to answer questions like this? Leah hadn’t gotten any questions of this type during her dungeon dive broadcast. I dispatched a wandering goblin with a throwing knife and answered Black’s question absentmindedly.

“I’m a girl, remember? Why are you asking me that type of question?”

 

Black: lololol, did you forget your own stream title or is TS Demon Delivery a lie?

Black: And your gender doesn’t matter.

Black: Tons of girls drool over Cecilia Snowlight.

Black: It would be strange if you didn’t find her attractive.

Black: Ah, perhaps?

Black: You can’t feel any attraction to people and so you take out your lust on your contracted monsters?

Black: Shameless.

 

I left Black alone and the one-sided conversation took an outrageous direction. Somehow, I became a deviant demon that slept with her own contracted monsters. I was stuck with Black as long as I remained in this dungeon.

“You have brought up Cecilia non stop now. Could it be that you are in love with her?”

 

Black: What? No!

Black: Just because she has a nice body doesn’t mean that I like her.

Black: In fact, I hate her.

 

I killed one last goblin and warmth filled my body. Finally, I hit max level. I would be free of Black once I left the dungeon. Changing the topic worked like a charm.

“You seemed awfully keen to lay your head on her breasts for someone who hates her.”

 

Black: It is not like that.

Black: She has a rockin body.

Black: But her personality is the worst.

 

“I’m listening.”

 

Black: She has this holier than thou attitude, like she is better than us.

Black: A moron that doesn’t understand simple human emotions.

Black: She always tries to be right and just, even to people that have wronged her.

Black: What an idiot.

 

Black went on and on about everything she hated about Cecilia. I got the feeling that she truly disliked the Legendary Archangel, but it was odd. For half of the things she mentioned, I couldn’t tell if she was praising Cecilia or dissing her.

I made it back to the entrance of Goblin Nest safely. Black didn’t seem to notice as her rant was continuing even now.

“That is all for today’s delivery.”

 

Black: Wait, you tricked me.

Black: You never answered my question.

Black: What part of Cecilia excites you the most?

 

“Good night, Black.”

My broadcast ended the moment I left the dungeon. The elf receptionist seemed almost disappointed when I came back without any goblin blood on me. He tried to push me into the bathing facilities regardless, but I steadfastly refused.

I made it back to my dorm and collapsed on my bed. The adventures of Ash, the demon girl, had come to an end for good. Tomorrow would welcome a new me. I clicked on the reincarnate button of my status and my vision faded to white.