Lulumon’s undead didn’t fear death and felt no pain. Once they charged into the wolf pack, each one turned into a killing machine, dragging a storm of blood and gore in their wake.

But a speed-based shadow wolf pack wasn’t that easy to deal with. After losing a few wolves, the hundred-strong pack shifted into a more tactical assault. Using their speed advantage, they quickly wiped out Lulumon’s low-ranked skeleton warriors.

On the other side, the Starmoon Adventure Group’s results were much better. They’d already taken down over thirty shadow wolves.

Shadow wolves weren’t the type to fight to the last. Once half their number were gone, the pack started to waver. Even beasts got scared facing death. After leaving behind another dozen or so corpses, the shadow wolves tucked their tails and ran.

“Awooo—!” A mournful howl echoed from far away. What Bexia couldn’t see was that, on the mountaintop in the distant darkness, a massive black shape lay silently, surrounded on all sides by pairs of ghostly green eyes.

“Everyone alright?” Xing watched the retreating wolves, put away her longbow, and looked back at the others.

“We’re fine. Something this small could never stump sis and me!” Hanatori grabbed onto her elder sister.

“Yeah! Yeah! Just a minor problem.” Tsubame hugged her little sister back. This pair of sisters was really…

No one else in the party was hurt either. At worst, Hess and Blue, who’d held the front line, had a few extra splashes of shadow wolf blood on them. In terms of stamina and mana, they could’ve kept fighting for a long while yet.

“You two okay as well?” Even though Bexia and Lulumon had been under their protection and the party was unharmed—meaning there was no way the two of them were injured—Xing still asked.

“We’re fine.” Bexia nodded slightly.

Driving off the shadow wolf pack left the whole area reeking of blood. The adventurers had no choice but to pick another spot to camp. Because of that, dinner was delayed by nearly an hour. After that, they didn’t talk much. It was just a simple employment relationship—finish the job, take the reward, and that was that.

When it came time to rest, though, Bexia ran into a problem. Neither he nor Lulumon had brought a tent. Thinking about it, that made sense. She’d slept with Ophelia the previous night and hadn’t had time to prepare anything. Or maybe Ophelia had wanted Bexia to handle that part, but Bexia himself hadn’t prepared either.

Fortunately, the Starmoon team had brought four tents, one extra as a spare. When they heard the two of them hadn’t brought any, and then noticed Bexia’s brand-new black iron adventurer badge, several members of the Starmoon Adventure Group gave him the kind of look you’d reserve for a clueless newbie.

Heading out on a quest without even packing a tent?

With only one tent left, Lulumon had no choice but to squeeze in with Bexia. The other tents were already full, and this spare existed only because they needed someone on night watch; otherwise there wouldn’t have been a single extra.

“Lulumon, you sleep. I’ll take the watch tonight.”

“But it feels really bad if you don’t sleep. Bexia-nii, you’re not going to sleep at all?”

“If you’re worried about me, it’s really fine.”

“That doesn’t feel right, though.” Bexia scratched his cheek, a bit embarrassed, even as something in his chest stirred restlessly.

“Lulumon’s fine.” She stubbornly tugged Bexia inside to sleep with her. In the end, he really couldn’t win. Lulumon’s insistence wore him down.

The tent was built for two, sized for adults. With Lulumon’s petite body, there was plenty of space left over, so the two of them inside didn’t feel cramped.

Bexia told himself he was just going to sleep peacefully. He didn’t expect Lulumon to refuse to behave. Of course, it wasn’t on purpose. Once she fell asleep she turned into an octopus, wrapping herself all around him.

She’d only taken off the cloak she wore outside, but she didn’t have much on underneath. Just a very loose silver-white mage robe and a little leather skirt. Her soft white legs didn’t stay put either; one draped itself over Bexia’s thigh as she almost sprawled her whole body on top of him.

The next morning, when they woke up, Lulumon’s morning grump was strong. She sat up, dazed, blinking as she looked around blankly. Her eyelids drooped again and again like she might fall right back asleep. A faint trail of drool still clung to the corner of her mouth, the end of it attached to the chest of the poor soul under her.

At that moment, this careless little loli looked way too suggestive. Her cheeks were slightly flushed. The loose robe was about to slip right off her shoulders, exposing the soft pink of her skin and just a hint of the small swell on her chest. It stopped right there, perfectly, a teasing glimpse that was neither fully hidden nor truly revealed.

“Lulumon, wake up,” Bexia whispered to the girl on top of him.

“Mmn~ mmn~…”

Lulumon let out a strange little sound, raised a hand to rub her eyes. Just when Bexia thought she was finally waking up, her hand dropped after only two rubs. Her body swayed, her eyes closed, and she tilted straight toward him.

“……”

Softness pressed against his face. A light, sweet scent wrapped around him. Even through her clothes, he could still feel the tiny bump that had landed right on his lips, while his nose ended up in “zero distance” contact with the faintly shaped curve of her chest.

If some pervy old man were here, he’d probably think he’d ascended to heaven. But Bexia wasn’t the kind of creep who’d lay hands on a loli. He did like her, but it was a pure fondness for something beautiful, not a twisted desire.

“Hey, hey, wake up, Lulumon.” Bexia propped her up, planning to grab her by the robe and set her upright. He didn’t expect the buttons on her loose mage robe to suddenly pop. His hands were right on either side of the robe, so with one pull, the whole thing opened up, like he’d just ripped it off on purpose.

Lulumon’s small, delicate body was suddenly laid bare before his eyes.

“P-pervert!” A sharp scream made Bexia’s face darken. Xing, drawn by the noise, shouted, then bolted out of the tent. She didn’t even give him a chance to explain. This was a misunderstanding waiting to hit one hundred percent.

“Uwaaa~!” Lulumon was still completely out of it, rubbing her sleepy eyes, her tender body exposed to the cool air without any sense of shame. When she seemed to notice Bexia, she gave him a sweet smile, then—

“Bexia-nii!”

She threw herself at him, practically bare from the waist up. Her little leather skirt slipped halfway down with the motion, revealing the small panties underneath, as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her small chest right into his face.

“Didn’t think you were that kind of guy!” Xing, who’d rushed back over thanks to her sister’s scream, lifted the tent flap just in time to see this scene. Her whole face went black, then flushed bright red. She yanked the flap back down and ran off again.

At this point, no amount of explanation in the world was going to make this look innocent.