When I Maxed Out the Zero-Star Saintess, a Yandere Confinement Life with Overwhelming Love Began - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“…Hey, Master. Are we still walking?”

It’s been two hours since we passed through the gate that separates the city from the farming villages.

Out on the road that cuts through the untamed wilderness, a very hungry elf named Aira finally voices her complaint. In her left hand she clutches the skewer of grilled meat I gave her as an advance on today’s reward.

“I thought we’d gone pretty far from town… I heard the saintess’s power has grown so much that the monster-repelling barrier now covers a huge area. That’s probably why we haven’t seen anything.”

“…I see.”

Aira takes another bite of meat, then suddenly blinks as if she’s spotted something.

“Hey, Master. You okay?”

“What about?”

“Your neck’s all red and swollen.”

She points curiously at the “demon ward” on my neck.

To her it probably just looks like a bruise, but to me it feels like Celesfia’s obsession has taken physical form and glued itself to my skin.

“…Yeah, this is… kinda like a really strong ‘curse.’ Don’t worry about it.”

“Hmm. The bugs in the Grand Cathedral are scary, huh.”

“Hey, Aira.”

“Yeah?”

“You’ve… probably already figured out why this mark is here, right?”

I tap the spot with my fingertips. Aira grins wide and nods. “Pretty much.” The moment she flashes that honest smile at me, I feel my face heat up for some reason.

To hide it, I turn and look back at the distant walls of the capital. Today I got special permission to leave under the excuse of “testing level cap removal.”

Sizzle, my bodyguard and watcher, is hiding inside my shadow.

Since Celesfia is stuck with official duties and couldn’t come, the trip has been nothing but peaceful.

“So… what we’re doing is ‘holding hands,’ right?”

Aira finishes the last piece of meat, then licks the grease off her shiny fingers. I glance around for a river to wash her hands, but there’s no water in sight.

“Y…yeah. Last time with Celesfia she got way too strong and it spiraled out of control. So this time I want to take it step by step and find the exact method.”

My ability, “Strengthening Through Contact (Limiter Release),” has stages.

My theory is that the amount and depth of contact changes the output. Aira has already cleared stage one—1-stack.

Today the main goal is to discover the condition for 2-stack.

“…I don’t really get it, but if my belly gets full, I’m in.”

Aira casually holds out her right hand. I take the small, dirty, greasy hand in mine.

“…Here we go.”

The moment I focus, the familiar glowing text runs across my vision.

『Contact Confirmed』
『Target: Aira (PlayableCharacterID:308)』
『Contact Depth: Level 1 (HandShake) ——』

Nothing changes. Repeated contact at the same level doesn’t increase stacks. That’s why Celesfia clinging to me all the time never raised it further.

“Hm… nothing’s happening.”

“Yeah… well, this is just the starting point.”

Right then, Sizzle pokes only her upper body out of my shadow and deadpans, “Hug! Hug!”

“If we jump straight to hugging the whole experiment is pointless! We’re looking for something between hand-holding and hugging!”

“Mh… I’m not very familiar with that sort of thing between men and women… but I did bring notes…”

What she pulls out is not notes—it’s a book. The title: His Highness the Dragon King’s Overprotective Doting.

“That is absolutely not notes! If I follow that I’ll end up doing cringey prince moves!”

Sizzle ignores me and flips through the pages.

“According to this… I see, I see… a kiss! Come now! Exchange a long, sweet kiss!”

“Celesfia will murder all three of us!”

“Hm… my life is precious, so let’s not.”

Sizzle puts a hand to her chin and seriously ponders. Is this girl actually kind of an airhead?

“Well, I did think of something myself. Aira, link arms with me.”

“…Huh?”

“Like this—cross them together.”

When Sizzle and I demonstrate, Aira’s cheeks turn pink.

“…It’s embarrass— I mean, it’s embarrassing.”

“That little slip just now was way too cute.”

“Ah… yeah—ow…”

As Sizzle and I stare at her with melting eyes, the hickey on my neck starts throbbing again.

It must have detected my heart waver.

I clear my throat and stand beside Aira.

She glances up at me shyly, then looks down and links her arm with mine.

“Status change?”

Aira shakes her head. The level cap is still 60.

“…Nope.”

“Not this either…”

“Something between holding hands and hugging, right?”

“Right.”

“Something that makes me happier than holding hands but less happy than a hug… what could it be? Barbecue?”

“That’s way too you-centered!”

“No, it has to be the ‘ahhn’ feeding scene. You gently blow on a steaming piece of meat from the pot and feed it to her. That’s it.”

“Sizzle, stop stuffing your fetishes into the experiment!”

We have no real deadline, so we just mess around and waste time until the ground suddenly shakes violently.

『GUOOOOOOOOOH!!!』

With a thunderous roar, a gigantic shadow bursts from the forest beside the road.

An orc. Not a normal one—a mutated General Orc with steel-like muscles all over its body. Estimated level around 50. Sizzle could instant-kill it, but it’s a bit heavy for Aira right now.

“Sizzle, mind taking care of it?”

“Understood.”

For once Sizzle gives a proper maid-like bow and turns toward the orc.

But before she can move, Aira steps forward. “Leave it to me,” she says quietly and readies her bow.

Compressed magical light gathers at her fingertips. The orc raises its club and charges right up to us.

“…Hah!”

Aira releases the string she had pulled to its limit. Her arm sways beautifully with the recoil, like a graceful performance.

The arrow flies straight and punches clean through the orc’s head.

“…Target eliminated.”

Aira turns back to me with a proud little smile, trotting over. Then she lowers her head just enough to show the top of it.

“My hair hasn’t fallen out—guh!”

She punches me in the stomach.

“Not that. Pat my head.”

“Are you a dog…?”

“…I’m a noble elf. Not a dog.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.”

I do as I’m told and stroke her hair. Aira lets out a happy “kuun” from her throat.

“You literally just acted like a dog—”

At that exact moment, the familiar text flashes in the corner of my vision.

『Contact Confirmed』
『Target: Aira (PlayableCharacterID:308)』
『Contact Depth: Level 2 (HeadPat)』
『Debug Mode Activated. Rewriting Status Coefficients』
『Lv.60 → Lv.70』

“…Oh. The level cap went up. Pat me more?”

“Doing the same thing again won’t work…”

“…My body feels really light now.”

Aira has officially reached 2-stack. If I remember right, in the original game 2-stack was the practical breakpoint for using Aira comfortably.

In other words, her terrible fuel efficiency is finally getting better.

Aira happily hops in place. I hadn’t expected that motion—her chest bounces wildly and I can’t help staring.

“Guooh…”

Right then the hickey starts hurting again.

“The saintess’s curse is terrifying.”

“For real…”

“Hey, Master.”

Aira fidgets and looks up at me.

“What?”

“Um… thank you. I feel like a completely different person from a minute ago. My body’s so light I could go anywhere.”

She runs over with a huge smile, then latches onto my neck right next to Celesfia’s mark and sucks hard.

“Nchu… pwaa. Marked you♪ Hehe. I could go anywhere now, but I’ll stay right here. So don’t worry, okay?”

“That’s literally the biggest source of worry right now… Did it take?”

“Perfectly.”

“We’re so dead…”

If Celesfia sees this, it’s guaranteed carnage. I clutch my head. Sizzle watches the whole scene with a huge grin.

“Y-you’re not gonna do it too, right, Sizzle!? Right!?”

Sizzle flashes a wicked smile, as if she’s enjoying the chaos, raises one finger—the universal sign for “I’ll call in this favor later”—presses it to her lips, and slowly sinks back into my shadow with a “zuzuzu…”