I Was Nearly Killed by My Fellow A-Rank Party, but Now I Fed a Nine-Tailed Fox Deep in the Dungeon. ~ “My Master, I Shall Never Leave Your Side for All Eternity,” the Legendary Monsters Said While Doting on Me. Before I Knew It, I Had Become the World’s Strongest Lord of the Demon Realm~ - Chapter 13 & 14

Totally Head Over Heels for the Food

The second I pulled out the aburaage—Fokko’s absolute favorite—from the container, Tamamo’s tails started wagging like crazy and she got all hyped up.

“K-Kuon! Quick, gimme that! Do I gotta do tricks!? Paw or something!?”

“Huh!? Nah, just eat it normally, it’s fine.”

“Oh, got it! Okay, ahh~”

Tamamo opened her mouth wide right toward me.

(It’s reacting just like when Fokko used to… Now that she’s in this grown-up lady form though, the visual’s kinda… not great…)

Behind me, the yuki-onna was staring with her nose bleeding. “I can see inside Nine-Tails-sama’s mouth…!”

Yeah, okay, it was definitely a little creepy like Tamamo said.

I used the chopsticks to pop the aburaage into her mouth, and Tamamo started swinging her tails back and forth super fast while chewing with this pure bliss all over her face.

“It’s like paradise just opened up in my mouth…! Kuon’s aburaage is the best in the world!”

“Then here’s some inarizushi too—these ones got pickles and miso soup on the side. Oh, and mochi kinchaku with ponzu dressing—”

“Whoa! It’s an aburaage carnival! Yeah, everything’s way too good! Kuon, you’re a genius!”

This Infinite Storage Pouch keeps stuff exactly how it was when you put it in.

So soups stay hot, shaved ice stays frozen—wait, shaved ice?

“Grr… I wanted Nine-Tails-sama to eat my cooking too… Damn human…”

The yuki-onna was holding the ice bowl and fluffy shaved ice she’d just made, staring at Tamamo eating my food with this super frustrated look.

After she finished everything, Tamamo had this super happy face, so I suggested.

“Wanna do dessert too?”

“Yeah! Hook me up, Kuon!”

“Alright, let’s turn what the yuki-onna made into shaved ice.”

I pulled strawberry syrup and condensed milk out of the Infinite Storage Pouch and drizzled them all over her shaved ice.

“Here ya go—strawberry milk kakigori.”

“Ooh! Looks delicious! Alright, let’s try—”

Tamamo scooped some up with a spoon, popped it in her mouth, and closed her eyes all happy.

“The strawberry and condensed milk combo… perfection! It’s just like me and Kuon!”

“I don’t really get that comparison… but hey, glad you liked it, Tamamo.”

When I glanced over at the yuki-onna, her cheeks went all pink. She quickly looked away like she was trying to hide how happy she was.

“Hmph, don’t get cocky, human! You’re weak—you can only shine at stuff like this!”

“Ahaha… yeah, true. To get Fokko back, I gotta beat super strong guys who even outplayed Tamamo… and here I am, still weak and useless…”

As soon as I said that, Tamamo mumbled while eating her kakigori…

“Hmm… making Kuon stronger, huh… Yeah, that’d probably put my mind at ease more.”

“Tamamo? You say something?”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Just talking to myself.”

I had no idea what that little mumble really meant… but I was gonna find out real soon.

Getting Hassled at the Adventurers’ Guild

When we stepped out of the dungeon, we hit open grassland.

The cold was only inside the dungeon, so a nice warm breeze brushed across my cheeks.

But the sun was already starting to dip low.

I explained to Tamamo and the yuki-onna.

“If we keep walking like this, we should reach the nearest town ‘Saradona’ by night. Zex and the others are probably camping in the dungeon, and Liliana’s gonna be even later.”

“So the shortcuts you showed us really cut the time down a ton, huh.”

“I’m so happy I could be useful to Nine-Tails-sama!”

Tamamo gave the proud-looking yuki-onna a quick glance, then started walking.

“Kuon, you tired? Want me to carry you on my back?”

“N-no, I’m good… thanks though.”

I turned her down since I figured the yuki-onna would hate me even more.

“You! How dare you turn down Nine-Tails-sama’s offer!? Do you even realize how huge of an honor that is!?”

“Man, I’m screwed either way…”

Looks like no matter what I pick, the yuki-onna’s gonna hate me.

We kept heading toward the nearest town ‘Saradona’.

◇◇◇

“We’re here… this is ‘Saradona’.”

We reached the town right around sunset, and I checked out Tamamo and the yuki-onna’s looks.

“If Tamamo hides her tails and fox ears, she looks totally human. And if the yuki-onna stops putting out cold air, she looks just like a regular person too—so we can walk right in.”

“Yeah, I used to hang out in human towns all the time.”

“Tch, pretending to be human is humiliating, but if it’s for Nine-Tails-sama…!”

“Yuki-onna… we should probably give you a name or people might get suspicious.”

“Then ‘Yukime’ is fine. Getting called by humans is annoying, but whatever.”

“Got it. Okay, before we grab an inn, let’s hit the Adventurers’ Guild. I’ve got monster materials from the dungeon where Yukime was in the pouch—we can turn them in and make some cash.”

We pushed open the door to the adventurers’ guild.

The place had a bar built right in, and it was packed with adventurers who’d just finished quests and come back.

“Hmph, noisy and rowdy spot.”

“Really? I kinda like the energy.”

“Yukime, please don’t start any fights…”

While we were talking about that, this rough-looking adventurer in armor came over with a drink in his hand and started messing with us.

“Hey hey hey hey! Kuon, right!? You actually made it back from the dungeon? Where’s Zex, Laon, and Liliana!?”

“Leadas… uh, well…”

I hesitated, trying to figure out how to explain why I came back alone, and Leadas just yelled it out loud.

“So they ditched your ass!? Haha, Zex and them were always cracking up saying you were useless in fights!”

Right after he said that, every adventurer in the guild burst out laughing.

“Kuon’s totally worthless, they’d complain about it every day~”

“Talked about turning that little fox into a fur coat and selling it lol”

“Said they’d use him as a mascot a bit longer then toss him—guess they really did it haha”

I had no idea. Me and Fokko were always stuck doing chores—we never got time or money to hang out at the bar like them.

After they all finished laughing their heads off, the adventurers turned their attention to Tamamo and Yukime standing next to me.

“So what’s this? You get dumped, go crazy spending your severance pay, and now you’ve got two hookers with you?”

“Yo, these chicks are insanely hot though!?”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen beauties like this even at the empire’s top-tier spots.”

“Where the hell did you pick them up…?”

Leadas grinned nasty, shoved me aside, and leaned toward the two of them.

“Hey ladies. Ditch this pathetic weakling adventurer and come hang with us instead, yeah?”

They had no clue the two “beauties” were actually a legendary great youkai and a youkai strong enough to take on three A-rank adventurers at once—and now everyone in the guild was staring at them with curious eyes.