[LU-EL@LIVESTREAM - GODDESS’S VESSEL]

"I want you to win the Goddess’s Trial and claim the Duchess’s daughter as your lover."

Poru@Beast: WOAH!!!

Poru@Ghost: Is this some kind of foreshadowing?

Poru@Undead: You mean Kaori is the Duchess’s daughter all along, and she wants him to officially claim her as his lover?

Poru@Astronaut: GAHHH!—SPOILERS!

Poru@Sage: For a ghost and an undead, you two just killed the surprise plot of the game.

Poru@Knight: So Kaori is a runaway young lady refusing to marry some snotty brat noble. But why would she be with Reiji and Sera?

Poru@Beast: You guys are overthinking too much.

Poru@Beast: It only means that Kaori was totally fine with our dude making his harem.

Poru@Beast: And that she wanted him to NETORI the Duchess’s daughter from those snotty brat nobles.

Poru@Beast: Right, Luvira-sama?

Luvira@Goddess: I won’t deny nor confirm anything.

Luvira@Goddess: So why don’t we let our dear Livestreamer figure it out for us?

***

I’m doing it because I want to, not because you said so!

"So you’re the rumored important guests of Lord Daichi," said the young hunter with dark green hair, getting Lu-el’s attention away from his tsundere-like complaints in his mind.

"I’m Weed, by the way," he introduced himself, representing the four other hunters inside their carriage. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"I’m Lu-el," Lu-el replied, keeping his introduction brief and simple.

Their caravan had already departed from Daifuku Hot Spring Village for half a day.

It consisted of a dozen carriages—half carrying different merchandise from the village to be sold at Florescence Town.

The other half carried the young men of the village intending to participate in the Goddess’s Trial.

With each passenger carriage having eight individuals, including the driver and the lookout, a party of three adventurers guarding each merchandise carriage along with its driver, and Daichi and his wives Mikoto and Manami riding a pair of Snow Wolves, their caravan had a total of 75 individuals.

"We’re not that important. We’re just wandering adventurers who happened to be rescued by Lord Daichi and his beautiful wives," Lu-el added, slightly surprised that Daichi was indeed a noble baron.

Weed continued to casually talk to Lu-el, voicing the series of questions the other hunters had in mind and had wanted to ask even before their departure.

Not because they were curious about Lu-el—but rather, about Kaori, who was sitting in the front beside the female Tamer holding the reins of the horse-sized Snow Wolf pulling their carriage.

"Man, you already have a beautiful lover, but you still want to claim the Duchess’s daughter?" Weed said, fishing for a reaction from Kaori.

Kaori, however, just ignored him without even glancing over her shoulder to look inside the carriage, nor checking on Lu-el sitting behind her.

"Are you sure you don’t want to sit this one out?"

Despite Weed’s confident tone, Lu-el—and especially Kaori—didn’t fail to notice that all the young hunters were at least intimidated by Lu-el’s aura.

Yet only Lu-el himself knew that his intimidating aura was nothing but false confidence born from his experience of playing and livestreaming fighting and adventure games.

Fake it till you make it, Lu-el thought.

Or perhaps not everything was a lie.

After all, Lu-el understood that his body had grown physically stronger thanks to the blessing of his intimacy with Kaori.

"Not a chance," Lu-el said with false confidence, maintaining his intimidating presence—not only to retort to their taunting, but also to make them stop ogling Kaori.

"I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t intend to win, after all," he added, reassuring Kaori that he would do everything he could to grant her request—even if she once again refused to explain her reason.

Right then, as Kaori glanced back at Lu-el, delighted by his remark, all the carriages slowly moving downhill through the mountain road suddenly halted their descent.

GRRR—!

All the Snow Wolves pulling the carriages—especially the Alpha and Mystic Snow Wolf that Daichi, Mikoto, and Manami were riding—growled angrily, warning everyone of danger ahead.

"Are those perhaps a different kind of Mystic Beast?" Lu-el asked after stepping out of the carriage and seeing a pack of dark gray wolves led by a three-meter-tall large wolf.

"They were..." Kaori replied, hinting that they were no longer. "Not until they became Cursed."

***

Following Kaori toward the front of the caravan, Lu-el kept half of his attention on the comments of his viewers flashing on the holographic screen at the corner of his vision.

Poru@Undead: DEATH—That terrifying, bloodstained dark gray wolf totally screams death.

Poru@Ghost: And its pack is absolutely not friendly.

Poru@Knight: Kaori said they got Cursed. Can you explain what she meant, Luvira-sama?

Luvira@Goddess: SHEESH—I’ve been doing a lot of explaining this time, and it’s getting me bored.

Poru@Astronaut: Please enlighten us, oh merciful and kind Goddess.

Poru@Sage: Bless us once again with your wisdom, Luvira-sama.

Luvira@Goddess: I guess the kind and generous me doesn’t have a choice.

Poru@Undead: Has this group become some kind of cult while I was gone?

Luvira@Goddess: Stop being rude, or I will smite you!

Don’t you dare smite Undead, you scammer goddess! Lu-el thought, worried about losing one of his few loyal viewers.

Luvira@Goddess: Anyway, Curse is the opposite of Mana, and the power monsters use to cast magic. If a beast dies or gets infected by Curse while fighting monsters, they themselves will become monsters called Cursed Beasts.

Poru@Beast: DAMNIT!—SOB!—Does that mean it’s already too late for those beasts?

***

"Is it already too late to save them, Lady Mikoto?" Lu-el asked, voicing the concern of his viewers—at the same time surprising Daichi, Manami, Kaori, and especially Mikoto with his sudden formality.

"Why are you talking like that?"

"I mean, I just learned that they are actually nobles."

"How ignorant can you be? He was the village chief of a fortress—of course he was a noble!"

"PFFT—HAHAHA!"

Daichi and Manami laughed, interrupting Lu-el and Kaori’s squabbling.

Mikoto, meanwhile, calmed her nerves to answer Lu-el—or rather, to give a proper response in the eyes of Goddess Luvira.

"I’m sorry to say, but it’s already too late to save those Dire Wolves by purifying their Curse."

"... ... ..."

Not only Lu-el, Kaori, Daichi, and Manami were left speechless—everyone around them who heard Mikoto speaking without her usual rude tone and even using polite words was equally stunned.

"PFFT—HAHAHA!"

This time, the hysterical laughter came from Manami alone, delighted to see such a polite reaction from her twin for the first time, knowing she was nervous under the gaze of the Goddess.

"Grrr~!" Mikoto growled angrily—more terrifying than the Snow Wolves—before completely reverting to her usual rude demeanor. "Enough! Deal with those Cursed Beasts already so I can give them a proper burial!"

***

"Everyone! Protect your carriage!" Daichi shouted, warning the young hunters that the caravan had already been surrounded by the pack of Cursed Dire Wolves—not only for their safety, but also because they would be forced to walk the rest of the way if their carriages were damaged beyond repair.

"Manami, if you please," he added, requesting her to launch the initial assault with her offensive spell.

"I’ll leave the large one to you, Daichi, Mikoto," Manami replied as she gathered her Mana while holding her white mage staff with both hands.

The air above the caravan slowly turned into a freezing white mist, the temperature dropping so low that everyone’s breath became visible.

ROAR!!!

As the Cursed Dire Wolves rushed toward the caravan, Manami cast her magic.

"Hailstorm"

Over a hundred ice spears manifested midair and rained down, impaling all the one-meter-tall cursed wolves into the snow-covered ground. Their blackened blood dripped onto the crystal-clear ice spears, staining the snow as they exhaled freezing white mist before dying.

In an instant, all that remained of the pack blocking the road was the three-meter-tall Dire Wolf.

Lu-el grabbed his battle axe, gripping it tightly with both hands and taking his stance, ready to intercept the incoming Cursed Dire Wolf—or so it seemed, knowing that Kaori would stop him, which she immediately did.

"Are you trying to kill yourself, idiot?" Kaori said, looking both mad and worried at Lu-el’s reckless act—unaware that he wasn’t exactly intending to fight, but just to show off.

"There’s no way you, or even I, could win against that Cursed Beast!" she admitted.

"Even so, I will fight if I have to," he said, never missing the chance for another cool one-liner.

"You’ve got guts, kid. But you can leave this one to us adults," Daichi said, cutting short Lu-el’s mock bravery.

Daichi drew the twin daggers sheathed behind his waist before calling the name of the Mystic Snow Wolf.

"Shirayuki."

ROAR—!

The Mystic Snow Wolf cast its magic through its roar, summoning ice spikes that rose from the ground to intercept the Cursed Dire Wolf.

The Cursed Dire Wolf, in return, cast its own magic using the power of Curse instead of Mana.

ROAR!!!

A terrifying roar imbued with Curse resounded across the caravan, shattering the incoming spikes and petrifying those with weak hearts—who were mostly the young hunters.

Even if he wanted to deny it, Lu-el’s legs and hands trembled as well. Still, he gripped his weapon tightly, trying to overcome his fear.

Seeing the Cursed Dire Wolf’s power, Daichi moved to engage.

"Yukari!" he shouted, calling the Alpha Snow Wolf.

Daichi charged together with the Alpha Snow Wolf.

The Cursed Wolf lunged forward, aiming to tear Daichi apart with its bloodstained claws and devour the Alpha Snow Wolf with its fangs.

However, Daichi and the Alpha Snow Wolf had the advantage of higher ground and greater speed.

Daichi severed the Cursed Dire Wolf’s right front leg with consecutive slashes of his twin daggers, while the Alpha Snow Wolf tore its left leg with its fangs, leaving it stumbling forward.

"Mikoto!" Daichi shouted as he glanced back.

"I know," Mikoto muttered, already in stance.

"Twilight"

In a speed Lu-el couldn’t follow—and Kaori could barely see—Mikoto drew her katana imbued with Mana. In a single slash, the Cursed Dire Wolf was cleanly cut in half, both halves collapsing on either side of the road.

Blackened blood drenched the snow-covered ground, marking the end of the fight—or so Lu-el thought.

ROAR!!!

"Now here come the enemies we can fight," Kaori said, drawing her Moonlight Beast Fang and Claw.

"Stay close to me, Lu-el," she added—only to suddenly become flustered when he embraced her from behind.

"Not that close, idiot!"