The light vanished from Benny’s eyes.
Her gaze was dark and lifeless, resembling what people commonly call “Rafe’s eyes”… I didn’t know it was really possible.
Especially with the heart pattern in her irises darkened, it gave off a chilling vibe, suggesting corruption.
But if I keep teasing her too much, Benny might run away just like Eve did, so I should start comforting her.
“Ugh.”
I pinched Benny’s nose shut with my thumb and index finger.
“Hey.”
Benny reflexively opened her mouth to breathe. I shoved my hand in between her sharp teeth.
“Urgh?!”
Even though Benny was in a mental breakdown, she couldn’t help but regain focus at this point. Her pupils were still stained black, though.
Trying to avoid my hand being injured by her sharp teeth, Benny opened her jaw as wide as possible.
Chuckling at her appearance, which seemed neither completely corrupted nor not, I brought my hand closer to her teeth.
Squeeze.
Though Benny’s teeth were sharp, they shouldn’t be compared to ordinary fangs.
To put it another way, they were closer to the dull sharpness of a blade.
After all, these teeth were derived from a monster. It was only natural they were dangerous, like weapons.
The moment I applied a bit of pressure, her teeth sank into my skin.
“Ugh?!”
Startled, Benny flailed her arms, trying to back away. I seized her jaw and part of her cheek with my remaining hand, bringing her to a halt.
Then, I tightened my grip even more. Benny’s teeth left deep marks on my skin, puncturing it and drawing blood.
Flick.
“Ugh!”
A slight pain tinged my fingertips. Looking down, I noticed a small wound from Benny’s bite, a trickle of blood flowing from it.
By now, Benny must have tasted the iron tang of her own blood in her mouth, causing her to stiffen.
Only then did I withdraw my hand from her mouth, extending my blood-dripping finger towards her.
“Tada! It’s a toothmark ring.”
“Are you out of your mind?!”
“Out of my mind? I’m completely sane, you know?!”
In fact, after obtaining the 5-star ability of the Avatar of Love, my mental resilience had strengthened, making it harder to lose my mind.
“I did this because you complained about not having a ring! Now it’s your turn, so give me your hand.”
“No, no! I’m bleeding! What should I do about the blood?!”
“I did it on purpose! Thanks to various abilities protecting me, my skin always stays in perfect condition. Just a bite wouldn’t leave a mark, so I had to carve in a wound. It’ll heal pretty quickly, though.”
Shrugging, I took Benny’s trembling hand.
“Don’t worry. I’m just an unusual case; I have no intention of hurting you. I’ll leave a bite mark just enough to not bleed.”
“Uh? Ugh?”
As I opened my mouth wide and stuck out my tongue for emphasis, Benny, who had been furious, froze as if under a stun.
Ah! A sad creature who can’t escape lust!… I’m also the same, I guess.
Chuckling to myself, I bit down on Benny’s ring finger. I licked her finger with my tongue and gently nibbled the first joint with my front teeth.
Just as I said, it was strong enough to leave a mark. But not enough to draw blood or cause pain.
“Phew. That should do it.”
After pulling my finger out of my mouth, I wiped some saliva off on Benny’s clothes and extended my hand again.
Benny, still in a daze, couldn’t take her eyes off the blood dripping from my finger.
“Can’t see well because of the blood; think you can clean it up for me, Benny?”
“Huh? Clean… oh, got it.”
With a resolute expression, Benny nodded. She extended her tongue between her sharp teeth and began to lick away the blood on my fingertips.
Though it was bleeding, the wound wasn’t very deep, so there wasn’t much blood.
But Benny was overly meticulous as she started licking the blood off my fingers.
From the tip of my finger, through the joints, between my fingers, palm, and back of my hand, until finally getting to the wound itself.
Benny was painstakingly thorough. Because of her moisture-enhancing ability, the skin over the wound began to heal quickly.
It felt like her healing speed had increased since being enhanced this time.
Thanks to that, at the moment Benny was licking the wound, the perfectly shaped mark left by her teeth revealed itself.
It looked as if I had gotten a tattoo in the shape of her fangs.
Whispering softly into Benny’s ear, who was staring blankly at it.
“So, what do you think? How does it feel to leave a trace of you on my body?”
“……”
Without saying a word, Benny slowly lifted her head to look at me. Her eyes sparkled brightly, as if lit up.
However, what shone in them wasn’t determination or beliefs, but desire.
Receiving such an explicit and intense gaze for the first time… this feels surprisingly good.
Fundamentally, writers are creatures that thrive on attention.
But living in a world with a face like mine makes it hard to feel special since attention follows me no matter what I do.
Currently, Benny was nearly as intense as Ellie had been when pushed to her limits.
I couldn’t hide the corners of my mouth from rising too much. I opened my mouth.
“Looks like you’re satisfied, Benny. Now, shall we get back to business?”
“……Huh?”
“I’m talking about the artisan. You said you’d introduce me to one that can process the gems.”
“Right.”
The light of reason quickly returned to Benny’s eyes. However, perhaps still lingering on her thoughts, she glanced at my hand and continued.
“If you tell me what kind of item you want to make and what effects you’d like, I’ll relay it to them as precisely as I can.”
“Do we need to go together?”
“…Yeah.”
“If you want to go, I can take you.”
“Ugh! Stop teasing me and just tell me what you want!”
“I’d like two rings that wouldn’t interfere during battle: one focusing on enhancing Wolf Hybrid abilities and the other focused on reducing presence.”
“Battle? Does it have to be rings?”
“Huh?”
“Jonah, your main fighting style relies on delicate skills, doesn’t it? Ellie fights barehanded. A ring might be more of a hindrance.”
“Oh, I see… maybe a necklace would be better?”
“A necklace would get in the way when moving vigorously as well. The best option would be earrings or piercings since they’re fixed to the body… but…”
“Ellie wouldn’t like that, would she?”
“Yeah. She’s all about being a good girl.”
We continued discussing what kind of item to create for quite a while. Being a high-ranking adventurer, Benny had a solid understanding of practical magical devices and proved quite helpful.
In the end, the original plan for rings evolved into a necklace and bracelet but circled back to a necklace.
More specifically, a choker.
“Jonah. Is it really okay with this?”
“Yeah. This way, even intense movements won’t shake it around, and the surface area is larger than a ring, allowing various enchantments to be carved in stably.”
“That’s true, but… well, it seems a bit visually off.”
Benny swallowed… no, she let out a sigh, frowning. But then she shook her head and asked.
“Alright. So this is good enough, right?”
“Yep… oh.”
Suddenly remembering something, I couldn’t help but open my mouth. Benny flinched and twitched her fingers.
“W-What’s wrong? If you need anything, say it now. Once we start making it, it’s hard to change.”
“I do need something. In fact, it’s the most important thing.”
“What is it to warrant such urgency?”
“…I hope it’s free.”
“?”
Benny tilted her head, not understanding.
“This time you earned over 100 gold. Even if you used some for the gems, you should still have plenty left, right? You didn’t buy those gems for 100 gold, did you?”
“Ah, no, not really. However… I had some unexpected expenses. I’m currently broke.”
“Wait, broke like entirely?”
“Not joking. I mean it; I’m completely out of money.”
“…Really?”
“Really-really.”
“……”
Benny squinted her eyes and cautiously spoke.
“Jonah. Be honest with me. Did you get fleeced somewhere?”
“If I had someone like that, I would have dealt with them already.”
“Or did you owe money to dangerous people?”
“I generally don’t get into debt, and I’ve never borrowed money.”
“Then where on earth did you spend over 100 gold?!”
Seeing Benny panting in shock, I put on a solemn smile and pretended to pray.
Just like an innocent priest who had no clue.
“I spent everything on the Goddess of Love.”
“……”
Benny was left speechless, sealing her lips tightly. Since I had splurged on gacha, it wasn’t entirely a lie.
Though Benny seemed to have interpreted my answer as a secret waste of money, she went on a major rant about not wasting money frivolously.
“Sigh. For now, I’ll cover the cost, but pay me back slowly later. You owe quite a bit to Lydia too, right?”
“Did I ever say I loved you, Benny?”
“…Jonah, your love is far too expensive!”
Dodging the rampaging Benny, I returned to the Fairy and Silver Coin.
Feels like I’ve been running away all day. I haven’t done anything wrong, though.
Wooooooo—
The full-doll goddess statue in my pocket shook, as if to say to stop talking nonsense, but it was surely just my imagination.
