Chapter 43: The Night with Linda

Hoping for that classic "looks dirty but tastes great" scenario, I pulled Stevie by the hand and entered the shop.

"No, stop! Hey, please! Ah, no! I don’t want to!"

If I wrote this down, it would sound like I was sexually harassing Stevie, but in reality, these were the words she cried out as I dragged her into the shop.

"Stevie! If you keep resisting so much, I’ll order you to serve me at night next time!"

"Eh!?"

Stevie froze instantly. She covered her mouth with both hands, eyes wide open in shock. Thanks to that, I was able to drag her inside without further resistance.

However—

"Night service!?"

"Wow, he said night service. Who the hell is that kid?"

"Saying something like that to his servant right in front of the shop, that’s wild!"

"Is that young master into boys?"

"With such a pretty girl, I guess gender doesn’t matter."

Inside the shop, the old man and the middle-aged woman (probably the owners) stared at us with wide eyes. There was a bit of misunderstanding, but correcting them seemed like too much trouble, so I let it be.

---

"Hey, what’s ’night service’?"

Nancy herself didn’t seem to understand and was asking her mother. Meanwhile, Stevie’s face was bright red and she was mumbling incoherently. Was she going to be okay?

---

"What can we eat here?"

I looked around the shop and muttered to myself. The mother replied,

"We only serve the lunch set."

"Then I’ll have two lunch sets."

"Comin’ right up!"

---

We had ordered, so I tried to sit down, but the chairs and tables were filthy. We couldn’t just stand forever, so I said,

"Stevie, let’s sit."

I pointed to a seat. Stevie plopped down obediently. I was surprised and was about to say something when she started muttering to herself:

"Night service...? He said night service...? Eh? What should I do? What do I do now?"

She had completely retreated into her own world. Even if she asked "what do I do?", there was really only one thing to do. Maybe it was better not to bring her back to reality? It would be noisy if I did. I decided to just leave Stevie alone for now.

---

"Here you go! Sorry for the wait!"

Nancy brought out the lunch sets. They looked terrible. There was also a slightly suspicious smell. I nervously took a bite... and it was awful. If I could return it, I would. Taste, sight, smell, and even texture (the feeling when chewing and swallowing) — everything was bad. There wasn’t a single redeeming quality. I guess the only point was that it would fill your stomach? My stomach was already starting to rumble uncomfortably.

Stevie, still not fully back to her senses, was muttering while mechanically stuffing food into her mouth. I tried putting my portion onto her plate, but she ate it without noticing.

---

In the end, Stevie ate almost both portions. Now I could move on to the real reason we came here. Conveniently, there were no other customers in the shop. In fact, no one else had entered since we arrived.

I raised my hand and called out,

"Nancy! Come here for a second."

Nancy walked over with quick, mechanical steps like a wind-up tin toy.

"What is it?"

In the back, her parents were watching us.

"I heard you can use the 『Purify』 spell. I was told by Jones-sensei and Peter."

"Yeah, I can."

"Could you teach me? I’ll give you one large copper coin as payment."

"Eh!? One large copper coin? Really!?"

"Can you do it here?"

"Sure, okay. But...?"

Nancy turned around to look at her parents. When her mother nodded, she said,

"Then I’ll teach you. Give me your hand."

I placed my hand on top of hers. She immediately chanted:

『Purify』

A soft light spread around my hand, and the area around it became clean. *Eh? Only the area around my hand gets cleaned?* My hand became clean, but the rest of me didn’t. Wait, is this really 『Purify 1』? Shouldn’t this be called 『Purify 0.5』? Actually, 0.5 feels too generous. Isn’t this more like 0.2?

---

Although I still had some doubts about the effectiveness of 『Purify』, I had at least been taught the spell.

Nancy looked at me and smiled brightly.

"See? You get it now, right? Now try doing it yourself."

I kept the sarcastic retort "*Can this really be called 『Purify』?*" to myself and chanted:

『Purify』

The right hand I had connected with Nancy’s glowed with a brilliant light — much larger and stronger than Nancy’s, about three times the size. When the light faded, not only was my hand clean, but my entire arm was spotless too. Even Nancy’s hand and the dirt on her neck had been cleaned. Her sleeve was also clean, though the wrinkles remained.

"Wow, big brother, that’s amazing!"

Even Nancy was surprised by the result. I let go of her hand, placed my hand on the table where we had eaten, and chanted again:

『Purify』

About half the table glowed. When the light disappeared, half of the table had changed color. The part near my hand was now a light brown, gradually fading into a gradient, while the area around where Stevie was sitting remained its original dirty black. Incidentally, the dishes I had used were now clean, while Stevie’s remained dirty.

The mother came over, impressed by the effect of 『Purify』 at first, but when she saw that only half the table was cleaned, she said:

"Oh dear, young master. If you’re going to clean it, you might as well do the whole thing."

*Don’t leave cleaning the table to someone else!* I thought, feeling annoyed inside, so I replied:

"Sorry, but I’m out of magic power now. I can’t do any more."

The mother seemed to understand what magic exhaustion meant and said,

"Well, can’t be helped then,"

before wiping the remaining dirty black part of the table with her apron. Her apron was quite dirty too, yet the part she wiped on the table still turned black. *Just how much grime was on that table!?* I kept that thought to myself.

"Stevie, let’s go home."

I took Stevie’s hand and pulled her to her feet. She flashed me a wide grin, but it honestly looked creepy.

"Thank you! That’ll be one large copper coin for the two of you~" the mother called out.

*They’re charging one large copper coin for that awful food!?* No wonder they barely had any customers.

---

Before leaving, I decided to ask something that had been bothering me.

"Nancy, how did you learn magic from Jones-sensei?"

"Well, Jones-sensei comes here every day for lunch. Sometimes we give him leftovers. He said it was thanks and taught me magic."

"That’s right," the mother chimed in. "As you can see, Jones-sensei is very poor. He barely has money for proper meals. He used to eat wild grass from behind the house and nuts from the forest. We felt sorry for him, so we gave him our leftovers. Then at some point, his finances improved and he started coming here to eat regularly."

"He said this child had talent for magic and taught her the spell. But as you saw, it’s not very impressive, ahahaha."

*Yeah, that level really isn’t very useful.* So he was that poor... He probably started earning money by teaching me magic and was finally able to eat proper meals here.

---

I took Stevie’s hand and left the shop.

The back of Stevie’s pants was black. Which meant mine probably was too.

Once we were somewhere out of sight from the shop, I pulled Stevie closer and chanted:

『Purify』

Both of us were enveloped in light, and all the dirt and smell on our clothes disappeared.

But right after that, my body gave out. I couldn’t stay standing. My vision went dark, my strength left me, and I dropped to my knees, then collapsed further, placing my hands on the ground.

"Robby-sama! What’s wrong!?"

Stevie immediately hugged me tightly in concern. *Hmm... I can’t feel any breasts at all from Stevie’s chest?*

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"I’m fine. I think it’s magic exhaustion."

"Magic exhaustion?"

"Yeah. I just learned that spell and used it repeatedly. My magic power ran out. I should recover if I rest for a bit."

"Really? You ran out of magic from just that? That’s strange. The mages I know can use way more than that."

"What are you talking about? I only learned it today for the first time. I’m sure this is normal for beginners."

"Then I’ll carry you. Come on, get on."

Stevie crouched down and turned her back to me. I thought about saying I was fine, but I decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity.

---

Stevie’s back was warm as she carried me.

"Stevie, am I heavy? Sorry about this."

"Not heavy at all. This is part of my duty as your escort," she replied cheerfully.

Right in front of my eyes was the back of Stevie’s neck. She hadn’t trimmed the fine hairs, so soft baby hairs were still there. I didn’t know if no one had told her or if she just didn’t bother shaving them, but I personally found it cute.

I enjoyed the view of Stevie’s neck and nape as we went. I planned to have her put me down before we entered the noble district. It would be bad if someone I knew saw me being carried.

---

When Linda comes for night duty, I eagerly wait for the rear palace to fall completely silent.

Personally, I’d be fine if she came straight into bed as soon as she arrived, but as a maid, she insists on sitting in the chair until the palace quiets down. It’s not that long a wait, so I stay quiet and wait patiently.

During that time, however, Linda always falls asleep in the chair. As usual, she eventually rolls off it. The sight is quite amusing, so I watch silently from the bed without saying a word.

*Ah! She’s about to fall, she’s falling!* Just as I expect, she tumbles over with a *plop*. When she notices I’m watching, she makes an embarrassed face and tries to sit back up properly again.

"Linda, why don’t you just come to bed instead of forcing yourself?"

I invite her while opening the blanket, but she replies with proper etiquette:

"I mustn’t do that."

Even when I beckon her with my hand, she shakes her head.

---

Once not a single sound can be heard from the rear palace hallway, Linda stands up cheerfully and walks over. She stops in front of the bed, begins removing her maid uniform, hangs it neatly on the chair, and slips smoothly into bed wearing only her chemise and pumpkin panties.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

*You wanted to come sooner too!* I thought as I touched her cheek, about to kiss her, when I noticed something.

"Linda, your cheeks feel so soft and plump. Were they always like this?"

She looked delighted and answered,

"You noticed? Yes! Lately people have been saying that. My fellow maids keep telling me my skin looks firmer, or that I look younger~ Ufufu!"

She said this while gently pressing her own cheeks with her hands.

"Really? It’s not my imagination? Your skin really has changed!"

"Yes! Look, my hands used to be rough and dry, but now they’re much smoother. They’re still a bit rough, but it’s a huge improvement compared to before!"

She explained enthusiastically, her excitement overflowing.

"That’s great. But what caused such a big change?"

When I asked, she slapped my shoulder repeatedly and said,

"Oh come on! Robby-sama, you haven’t figured it out? It’s because I’ve been drinking yours! That thick, sticky liquid of yours!!"

"Huh? Thick... you mean my semen?"

"Yes! Exactly!! I can’t tell other people I’m drinking it, but I’m sure that’s the reason! Ever since I started, my health has improved and my skin condition has gotten better too."

"Is that really possible? Maybe it’s just your imagination?"

[A/N: Hey everyone, thank you for reading and supporting this novel so far.

This novel is planned to be long-term, so the pacing will sometimes be slower to properly build the world, characters, relationships, and future conflicts instead of rushing everything. Small details that may seem unimportant now could become relevant much later.

I also want the characters to feel human, they’ll make mistakes, grow gradually, struggle emotionally, and change over time depending on their experiences.

If you enjoy the story, please consider supporting it with Power Stones, reviews, comments, and adding it to your library. It really helps more than you think.]