"Whoa~~ This booze smells incredible. Almost as good as you do~~"
After sniffing the divine wine in Takumi's hand, Kobayashi immediately cried out in surprise.
Tohru nodded right along with her. "Yeah. But honestly, I don't think it smells as good as you. Sniff~ sniff~"
"..."
Seeing the two of them both wearing the same bro, you smell amazing look, Takumi flicked each of them on the forehead.
"Why are you sniffing me? What are you, horny weirdos? The point is the wine. This is my brew, and it's top-shelf stuff!"
Takumi shamelessly bragged about his divine wine. At this point, his brewing skill was miles beyond someone like Soma's.
With his Alchemy Technique, he could now create endless amounts of divine wine from nothing.
And as his knowledge and experience kept growing, the quality of that wine would only keep getting better.
"Mm~ Fine, I'll drink it, so stop hitting me."
Tohru muttered that in a wronged little voice, then opened a magic circle in front of herself.
As her dragon body passed through it, she instantly transformed into a blonde beauty wrapped in a cloak.
Her face was lovely and adorable, with cheeks full of youthful softness.
Her tall, curvy body stood around five foot nine, and while the sinful swell of her chest wasn't as absurdly monstrous as Hachishaku-sama's, it was still a fearsome D-cup powerhouse. Her slim, supple waist and high, round ass carved out a perfect hourglass. Beneath the cloak, smooth, full thighs flashed in and out of sight.
That brief glimpse alone was enough to make a man's blood rush south.
"Hoo~~~ Sure, your dragon form might look like a fat oversized lizard, but all the meat really did end up exactly where it should."
Looking at Tohru in this gorgeous human form, Takumi couldn't help sighing in appreciation.
Tohru puffed out her cheeks, which only made her look cuter.
"I'm a dragon, not a lizard. And I absolutely refuse to accept the fat part!"
As she huffed, a plump dragon tail covered in scales dropped out from under the cloak.
"That was a compliment. In my eyes, Tohru, the way you look now is absolute top-tier."
That faint bit of softness on her body definitely didn't make her some tank.
Takumi loved exactly this kind of build.
The moment she realized he was praising her, all of Tohru's irritation vanished.
A rosy blush spread across her cheeks, and she smiled shyly.
"You were complimenting me? Hehe~ I haven't used this spell very much."
"Enough talk. Drink."
Takumi pulled out some cups, poured two glasses, and handed them to Tohru and Kobayashi.
Kobayashi took a small sip and instantly widened her eyes.
"No way!!! This is so good!!"
"Mmm... yeah. I've seriously never had anything this good."
Tohru's eyes lit up too, and she tossed back the whole glass in one gulp.
Then she started wagging her tail and looked at Takumi like a puppy begging for more food.
With a sweep of his hand, Takumi refilled their cups. "There's more, plenty more. Tonight, I'll drink with you until you're satisfied."
"Yay! Awesome!"
"Hahaha! This is great!"
With Tohru and Kobayashi laughing, the three of them sat together in the dark forest, drinking under the night sky.
As cup after cup of divine wine went down, a drunken flush spread across all three of their faces.
Kobayashi got hit especially hard. At one point, phoenix flames actually ignited on her body.
Her coat, her bra, her panties—everything she was wearing was burned to ash in an instant.
Her pale skin flashed dazzlingly bright in the dark. It really was a programmer's complexion, the kind that came from hiding indoors and never seeing sunlight.
Takumi quickly made her a fresh set of clothes so she wouldn't end up naked in the clearing.
"Mm~~ I'm so happy today. Let me rub on you~"
"..."
"What kind of reaction is that? Are you looking down on me?!"
"No. You're just being way too generous."
With Takumi staring at her speechlessly, Kobayashi started drunkenly acting out, then angrily pointed at Tohru, who was slumped all over Takumi, drunk out of her mind.
"It's not generosity, okay? It's jealousy. Why is her body so damn good while I'm still stuck like this? It's already hard enough for programmers to get a boyfriend, and now I'm probably going to be single forever. You copped a feel on her just now, didn't you? So why didn't you cop a feel on me too?! Boohoohoo~~~ I work this hard, and this is what I get? This world is complete garbage. I don't care, I want in too!!!"
Left with no real choice, Takumi could only grant Kobayashi her wish.
And while Kobayashi was venting all the resentment in her heart, Tohru got fired up too.
"Exactly! That's so true! This world can just go ahead and get destroyed!"
As she shouted that, she lifted her head and spat out a scorching blast of dragon breath.
Then Tohru angrily yelled, "And what's with forcing that creepy lolycon image of threatening villages into handing over girls onto dragons like me?! Those bastards deserve to die a hundred times over!!!"
One by one, the two of them let loose with every pent-up grievance in their hearts.
Takumi, the only one still fully sober, was both enjoying himself and suffering.
The enjoyable part was that one woman and one dragon were both completely at his mercy.
The painful part was that, as the only sober one, he also had to take care of them.
"This divine wine hits way too hard. Even Tohru's totally plastered."
Holding them both up, Takumi found himself caught between bliss and misery.
After a few hours of that, he decided it was enough.
"Time to head home."
Takumi looked up at the night sky, then over at Tohru and Kobayashi.
The moment she heard he was leaving, a lonely look crossed Tohru's face.
"So you're going... I guess that makes sense. I've always been alone."
"Why so gloomy? If you want, you can come stay at my place."
Supporting Kobayashi with one arm, Takumi smiled at Tohru.
That single sentence was like a beam of light breaking into Tohru's life.
After wandering alone for who knew how many years, this was the first time anyone had invited her like that.
A warmth she had never known flowed through her heart.
After a moment of silence, tears welled up in Tohru's eyes.
"I'll go! I want to go with you!"
"Why are you getting so emotional?"
Seeing Tohru so worked up, Takumi reached out and took her hand.
But as they started heading down the mountain, Takumi quickly gestured toward her clothes.
"You can't just wear a cloak. That's way too revealing."
"Huh? Really?"
Tohru didn't seem to care at all. She even spun around, and the cloak flared up, showing off her pale, supple body underneath.
Takumi almost lost it right there, but in the end, he somehow held on.
"Put something else on. Maybe..."
Before he could finish, Kobayashi suddenly jerked upright like someone had hit a switch.
"Maid! A maid outfit would be best!! Listen carefully—maids are..."
Kobayashi went on and on, rambling at full speed about how maids were the greatest thing in the world.
Takumi had nothing to say about that particular fetish.
But Tohru looked thoughtful, a memory surfacing in her mind.
Among the few people she had met in the past who hadn't feared her, there had once been a thief girl.
Back then, that girl had told her that if her life hadn't only left her the choice of being a slave or a thief, she would've wanted to become a maid.
"A maid~ Let's go with that! Takumi, do you know what a maid is like?!"
Tohru looked at Takumi excitedly, eyes sparkling as she asked what exactly a maid was.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.
Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon! [pat reon.com/METARLN]