Verification and Reward

The next day. Rokuko's second answer.

"Kehma, how about [The adventurer is actually undead and finished safely since he was already dead from the start]?"

"… And the door doesn't open."

"So you're saying that you changed the answer from what you originally planned it to be, is that it? To make sure, was the answer I gave correct for the first one you assumed the answer to be? Did you just answer saying it was wrong?"

"…"

I stopped myself from responding. Why? Because Rokuko was holding a lie detecting magic tool in her hand.

And Rokuko's answer was exactly what the first answer was.

On top of that, Rokuko's question quietly sealed off lies and evasions alike. Short of pretending I never heard it, there was no dodging this one.

… Rokuko just put me in checkmate.

"… It's correct."

"Yay! I win!"

Dangit, I never thought she'd pull out a lie detector on me.

Without that, I'd planned on switching the answers to things like [The treasure was obtained during the brief period before dying after triggering the trap] or [Even though the adventurer died, they revived] or [The trap was tripped beforehand with a decoy and avoided] or [The corpse fell forward from the trap after dying to it and its hand fell on the treasure, seizing it by chance].

Oh, and I'd also lined up a narrative-trick angle: [The "brutal trap" and the "trap you have to cross to get the treasure" are actually two completely different traps]…

There are so many ways to play out the whole [Brutal Trap] and [Must trip trap to get treasure] setting…

Oh, but Rokuko's first answer, [They obtained the treasure in exchange for their life], already got a [No], so that narrows down what I could actually use, huh? Stuff like exchanging a decoy's life would be affected by that too…

"For you to not trust me to that extent… I feel sorrow as your partner!"

"I trust you, Kehma! I trust that no one but you would go so far to evade the answer."

"Gah, why do you get me so well!?"

"Because we're partners. Fufu."

Rokuko stuck out her chest in pride. I can't believe she managed to hit on the exact one I'd originally had in mind out of all those possible answers… Is this from her reading so much? Or maybe it's a system thing for the bond between a Dungeon Core and their Master? Or maybe it's from Rokuko's own personal effort?

"Still though, you should stop using whether the door opens or not as a [Yes] or [No] judgment on whatever answer gets given. As it is now, if someone asked something like [Did the adventurer safely take the treasure home], the answer is [Yes]. Wouldn't the door end up opening?"

Oh, I guess that's true? That was close. I'll have to improve it.

If I make sure the door doesn't open until the correct answer is given with no hints, even if the point of it is to stall for time, it'd probably get hit with an [Impossible to Clear] judgment from the Dungeon side and stop functioning, so I should install a hint device, too.

… … … I wonder if that [Father] guy personally makes each and every one of those judgments? Or maybe it wouldn't get flagged, since you could find the golem, destroy it, and press the switch to get through? Mmm, fantasy is mysterious. I guess just thinking about it won't do any good though.

"Alright, in exchange for using up an answer, I'll install a device that answers questions with [Yes], [No], or [Irrelevant]. That way, each question they ask buys at least one more day."

"Sounds good to me!"

Ooookay, I have to make and install this stuff right away. Gah, this is annoying… so tired…

—Ah. Rokuko gripped my shoulder, probably from seeing me get right to work.

"Wait, Kehma. You didn't forget about my reward, right?"

"Kuh… you remembered?"

"There's no way I could forget… Alright, I would like you to be my body pillow for one night while you have that succubus ring possessing you. How's that?"

Oi, what's with that torture? Are you trying to kill me? Or maybe you want Haku-san to kill me?

"… You want me to turn into a trap?"

"But it doesn't cost anything, it should fall well within the acceptable range, right? There aren't any downsides."

"I thought you said it was something I wouldn't dislike?"

"I'm the only one who'd see, if you really don't want to do it you can just do the succubus possession part, okay?"

That's the annoying part…

"Also, I said you wouldn't dislike it too much. It's not like it's something that'd hurt, it's just a little embarrassing, so there's no problem with it, right?"

"Gununu… Well, it's just a little cross dressing… alright, after this then."

Right, even if I get used as a hug pillow, now that I think about it, hugging is already permitted, so there shouldn't be an issue as long as I consider it a slightly longer version of that. Rokuko knows about that point, I think… hope… probably?

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

In the evening of that day. I was wearing Neru, the succubus ring, on my finger and was called over to Rokuko's room. Nothing left to do but to get it over with, I guess.

When I entered the room, Rokuko was looking at me and breathing in and out of her nose really, really deeply.

"I was waiting, Kehma! Come on, show me, show me! Show me Succubus Kehma!"

"Alright, hold your horses. As you can see, everything's prepared on my end, but Rokuko… are you prepared?"

"… Am I prepared? Is there something I'm forgetting?"

Rokuko tilted her head to the side.

"Remember the bracelet of strong mind I got in that last Dungeon Battle? Put it on."

"Why?"

"Wouldn't it be bad if you fell under the charm effect when I turn into a succubus? Neru said as much too."

"I want to be charmed by you though?"

Saying that, Rokuko tugged at the hem of my clothes to invite me into the futon, clearly unable to hold back her anticipation. Maybe this whole hug pillow thing is a bad idea?

"… Did you forget how you couldn't see anything around you and just charged in when Niku turned into a succubus? On top of that, Niku herself looked like me to you, right? In other words, you wouldn't be able to see my real succubus form. Are you fine with that?"

"… You have a point. Alright, I'll put on the bracelet."

I let out a sigh of relief. Since this is a super powerful bracelet made by [Father], it should be able to easily fend off a succubus charm effect. If not for that, Rokuko would've stripped me bare and jumped me, turning it into a situation I couldn't possibly pass off as an extended hug, and Haku-san would've ended up killing me.

Once I made certain that Rokuko was wearing the bracelet, I resolved myself.

"Neru, you have permission. Possess me."

"Uuuunderstood!"

I felt a heat shoot into my body from the ring. With a feeling like it shooting through a wide open gate in my body, my heart pounded as I saw my line of sight lower. My eyes met with Rokuko's.

It was similar to like when I used [Super Transformation] to transform into Rokuko. Either way, it looks like the succubus trap version of me is shorter than the actual me.

I felt a heated power flowing through the inside of my body. So this is what it's like to be possessed, huh.

"Fuaaah… this is… wow. Very, very wow… I feel like I could topple a country…—oh, that's a lie, I'd neeeever do that, I can't even move a fiiinger. But this almighty feeling, it's so, sooooo gooooooooood!!"

"Oooh… this is Succubus Kehma…!"

Neru seemed to be tripping out. Rokuko, on the other hand, was unable to look away as she stared at me with eyes wide.

… First off, let's look at my chest. It looks like there should be tiny bulges, but nope, nothing. Now for my groin… yep, still there. No extra holes for me. Seeing that my sex hasn't changed despite my height changing, I feel relieved.

"… So, how is it? I can't tell what I look like to well, but… oh, my voice is higher?"

"So cute! Oh my, I want to dress you up and… oh, want a mirror?"

"Yeah."

With that, Rokuko took out a hand mirror.

My clothes were… a white one piece dress? For a succubus, it was a lot of cloth. The hem was short, though. I had on black knee socks and boots. I was also wearing long white gloves on my rather delicate arms. Straight black hair, as well.

And red succubus eyes—

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

—It was morning.

That's weird, did I black out? I didn't even drink alcohol, what?

I don't know when it happened, but my succubus-ification was gone and I was laying in the [Divine Comforter] and [Divine Blanket] while Rokuko was using me as a hug pillow. Yeah. Seriously, what happened?

I can remember everything up until seeing that beautiful girl… no, boy, I guess?—Either way, up until seeing my transformed appearance in the mirror.

I tried asking the succubus ring Neru about it, but all I got was, "Nothing happened. Nothing happened, so there's nothing to remember. Isn't that good enough?"

Rokuko just said yeah.

"… No, wait, really. Did something happen? Tell me the truth."

"… … …"

"Rokuko."

"… … … I-It's a secret."

There's nothing I can do if it's a secret～… is what I decided to think. Given how strong Rokuko was blushing, I got the feeling it was best if I didn't ask any further than that. I decided that I saw nothing and nothing happened. End of story.

Also, let's take the chance to place a seal on my succubus form. Never again!