[LU-EL@LIVESTREAM - GODDESS’S VESSEL]

[Luvira@Goddess: Are you all really sure this is the new quest you want for our dear Livestreamer?]

[Poru@Knight: We’ve already made up our minds, Luvira-sama.]

[Poru@Sage: We want to know.]

[Poru@Beaat: Whatever the cost.]

[Poru@Undead: We won’t be able to live peacefully unless we know the truth.]

[Poru@Astronaut: You’re an undead though.]

[Poru@Ghost: Then we won’t be able to rest in peace.]

[Luvira@Goddess: Fine, enough with the drama anyway.]

***

[ISEKAI LIVESTREAMER SYSTEM]

[Quest 6 - New Heroines]

[Reward - Ring of Protection (x7)]

[Objective 1 - Learn about Mio]

[Objective 2 - Learn about Kanae]

[Objective 3 - Learn about Hanae]

[Objective 4 - Learn about Mio’s two older stepsisters]

***

Thank goddess it wasn’t about Reiji’s rod.

Lu-el sighed in relief, secretly grateful that the scammer goddess didn’t manipulate his loyal viewers into voting for a new quest involving the mystery of how Reiji managed to pass the first stage of the Goddess’s Trial ritual despite his supposedly 3.5-inch erect rod—far from Mio’s 6-inch-or-more preference.

Still, he was surprised by the new quest.

"I thought you would all just go straight to stealing the heroines..." Lu-el whispered, quietly so as not to be heard by Weed and his friends, yet loud enough for his loyal viewers to hear.

[Poru@Ghost: We might be perverts, but we’re all advocates of wholesome R18 smut stories.]

[Poru@Astronaut: We won’t deny a good romance for deserving characters.]

[Poru@Beast: But if any of their prospective lovers are red flags, then that changes everything.]

[Poru@Knight: We’ll fuc’ them with our swords!]

[Poru@Sage: I think that came out wrong—haha!]

[Poru@Undead: To put it simply, they would die.]

"I’m telling you now... at least don’t vote for a quest about killing anyone..." Lu-el whispered again, feeling conflicted about killing anyone who wasn’t exactly a bad guy, just because his loyal viewers believed everything in his livestream was just a game.

"Did you say something?" Weed asked, noticing Lu-el as if he were talking to himself.

"I’m just talking to myself to ease up," Lu-el replied, not wanting to look like a weirdo or deny what everyone else had possibly already noticed, and hoping they hadn’t heard him mention killing anyone.

"You’re probably feeling it, right, Lu-el?"

"If you mean the bracelet’s effect, then yeah—it’s definitely making me feel weird."

With the first purpose of the magic item bracelet complete—sorting out participants who didn’t meet Mio’s preference—its second effect soon took hold: restraining the blessing of intimacy from those who already had a lover or more.

Considering it had already been a week since Lu-el felt his enhanced strength from his continuous intimacy with Kaori, he had grown used to it and now felt sluggish, as if he had become weaker and his body heavier.

Regardless, as Lu-el looked around, he could see some of the remaining five hundred-plus participants who seemed to be feeling worse than him. Some were being supported by their companions because they could no longer stand on their own.

I guess they’ve long since gotten used to their enhanced strength, Lu-el thought, only for his attention to shift back to Weed’s foolishness.

"Want to have a spar before the marathon begins?" Weed said, intimidating Lu-el as he took his stance, ready to draw his twin swords—now missing a pair after Kaori tossed and lost one during the undead incident at Fumoto Village.

Without Lu-el’s enhanced strength, Weed at least gained some confidence that he might be able to best him with swordsmanship alone—until Lu-el easily lifted his battle axe from his back and slammed it into the ground.

"Then let’s go for a few rounds," Lu-el said, before yanking his axe free and pointing it at Weed with his dominant right arm.

"Maybe that will help me get used to my old strength again."

"I don’t think we should waste our energy like that," Weed replied, backing out of his own challenge after getting intimidated, realizing he wouldn’t even be able to carry Lu-el’s battle axe the way he just did—even without enhanced strength.

With Weed’s foolish entertainment coming to an end, their group—along with the remaining 25 young hunters from Daifuku Village, with Lu-el as the 26th extra member—calmly waited for the second stage of the Goddess’s Trial to begin:

A 16-hour marathon covering over 100 miles.

As the head maid had explained, the track would start at the town square, heading southwest from Florescence Town toward the Labyrinth Canyon, until the designated finish line at a small valley village beyond the canyons.

The over five hundred participants were allowed to form smaller groups. After all, the Labyrinth Canyon was a dangerous place where cursed beasts, monsters, undead, and even fellow humans lurked.

Different maps would be distributed randomly to each group since multiple paths crossed the labyrinth canyons.

***

"The goal is to reach Vale Village before the bell rings at midnight," Mio said, giving the closing speech at the end of the opening ceremony for the first stage, followed by the opening of the second stage of the Goddess’s Trial.

"Please come back safely, everyone."

BOOM—!

A flaming arrow spell exploded above the town square, signaling the beginning of the marathon.

Lu-el and Weed’s group followed the rest of the participants in a starting parade along the north-south main road toward the south gate.

But before they could even leave the town, something unusual began happening among the participants.

Half of the five hundred-plus participants soon slowed their pace, then stopped running altogether, awkwardly squirming their legs and groaning in discomfort.

Even a dozen of the young hunters, including Weed, suffered the same condition.

"What’s happening..." Lu-el said as he stopped running, only to cut himself off as he realized the answer upon seeing the bulges under the shorts that Weed and the other young hunters were awkwardly trying to hide while kneeling on the ground.

"It’s that freaking juice!" Lu-el cursed, remembering Sera’s warning about the drink her companions had secretly laced with medicine and distributed among the participants as free refreshments.

They surely wouldn’t be able to run comfortably with a hard erection under their underwear, which led Lu-el to only one possible solution if Weed and the others still wanted to continue the Goddess’s Trial.

"Just take them off," Lu-el said bluntly, loud enough for the other participants suffering from their boner dilemma to hear, leaving them confused.

"HUH?—!"

"Just take them off and run butt-naked if you all want to continue the marathon!"