Ofris got more nervous with each minute he was sitting next to me. In his desperation, he had snatched a stick out of the fire to play with it and, when this didn't work out, had even started to carve symbols and animals into it using a dagger. All of this was accompanied by a faint red on his cheeks and the never-ending noise of jumping and 'uniting' in the background.

He was a gentleman, far more so than I had ever been. After all this time, he still hadn't risked a single glance at the slimy orgies that happened right behind his back, on the grassland that couldn't have been any more peaceful only hours ago. He still knew what was happening, as the voices and sounds left little to the imagination.

I didn't use just one, but five illusions to lure in the slimes. Each of them was alluring them, using ever-changing means, and gathering dozens of them each. There still were some slimes in the underwood surrounding the clearing, which is why I was sitting here next to Ofris, waiting for all of them to be lured in.

After I finished my snack, I would get rid of the slimes, all of them at once, using the little mana I had left. 

“It isn't right to do it this way!” Ofris protested, using the exact same words he had used several times before. “You are a girl! You shouldn't do such things!”
“Just because they look like me?”
“Yes!”
“But they aren't! Who cares what happens to some random illusions?!”
“They aren't random! They look like you! They even have the same-” He went silent.
“They have the same what?!”
“No- nothing.”

Even though I explained it like this, I couldn't help but feel ashamed when I thought about what all those Rikas were doing there. The slimes had no nether regions, nothing that would force a random god to censor it with random rays of sunlight, but that didn't count for the illusions.

Luckily enough, they couldn't play with the Rikas for real, as their bouncy bodies went right through them, unable to ever touch them. Naturally, they still tried, over and over again. Possibly hundreds of them did.

“I guess I should get going for now.”
“Yeah. Before the others return! We can't let them see you like that!”
“... you are right.”

Ofris seeing those illusions was one thing, but I would sink into the ground in shame if Mabel, Sophia or, far worse, that Jack guy would see them. They would probably never again look at me without undressing me before their inner eyes!

“It is not my fault the illusions are like that!”
「It is,」 the vixen retorted.
“How so? I can't change what they do!”
「Of course you can't. It all happens in your subconsciousness!」
“What?!”
「You guessed those Slime-Rikas would work on them, so the illusion summoned-」
“I did that?!”
「Of course you did!」 She replied as if stating the obvious. 「What do you think Illusion would do? Magically read their mind and give birth to their lusty dreams?」
“YES! That's exactly what I thought!”
A mischievous laugh resounded in my mind. 「You silly girl~!」
“I'm not silly!”
「But why would it be an illusion magic if it reads minds? Wouldn't it be a mind magic, then?!」
“That- that's- but why naked slime girls?! Fox girls, even!”
「Dunno? Maybe that is what you thought you could do in order to lure them in, if only you had a slime body~」
“I- I would have done this?”
「Nah~」 She answered, clearly having the time of her life. 「You are waaay~ too innocent to do this! It is only part of you that wants to do this~」
“Parts of me …”
「You are preetty~ pervy, aren't you?」

A vivid image appeared before my inner eye. It showed my illusion magic in its full glory, back then when I was using it for the first time. A nude me was slowly attacking Mabel, trying to conquer her with a dreamy gaze and her alluring body.

An almost painful wave of heat conquering my face. My cheeks were burning as I went beet-red, far more so than Ofris’ ever did. Seeing this obvious sign, he could only stare at me questioningly, which didn't exactly ease my feelings of shame.

“What is it?” He asked after what had felt like an eternity.
“No- nothing! I have to go!”

I didn't turn around again, not even for a single glance, even though Ofris' eyes continued staring at me as if glued to my back. They followed me as I jumped over the grassland, towards the piles of wobbling goo.

It was only when I had burned the first batch of monsters, that I dared to turn around. He was still watching.

“Whyy?!”

⊱————　❈　————⊰

Dozens of green screens were hovering in front of me, completely blocking away Ofris's hopeful expression. I should just close them all and answer his question but I couldn't help browsing through each and every single one of them.

Until now, I hadn't found a single line that wasn't describing the benefits of a newly achieved level up, but all those numbers were treasures in themselves. They were as precious as the messages Mira had sent me that long ago, more precious even than being pet behind the ears like Ofris had done after reading about it in Cilia’s book.

After finishing off all those slimes, I had grown stronger, I just knew it, even though I didn't really feel a difference yet. How could I, when I was just sitting at the campfire now, preparing for the night?

At least I knew I wouldn't suddenly crush water flasks due to my new-found strength, which wasn't exactly to be taken for granted knowing my luck.

“So…” Ofris interrupted my thoughts. “What does it say?”

I hurriedly closed all of the windows, before saying status. A new screen appeared in front of me, far larger than all that had been in its place before.

“Level fifty three!”
“Fifty three?!”
“I'm level fifty three! I am really level fifty three!”
Ofris' face became as pale as chalk. “How did you do that?! You were barely level twenty before!” He suddenly closed in on me before whispering his next question. “Was it that quest she gave you?” He asked while trying his utmost to prevent the others from hearing him. “That goddess?”
"Ye- yes," I heard myself stammer, "it made each slime give me more experience."
“How much more?”
“About five hundred more, so six times as much as normal?”
“So what did the quest do?”
“I don't know how much of a bonus it gives right now. Maybe if I use quest…” 

Just as I thought about it, a new screen appeared in front of me. I didn't even have to use the command for real.

“Cilia probably has one of her bright moments right now…”

 

『Active Quests:

⇒Flags and Slimes
Current bonus: 50 + 450
Remaining time: 17 hours, 38 minutes, 44 seconds.
Progress: 235 Slimes

⇒Use this Chance, Dummy!
Progress: kissed Ofris 0 of 1 times』

 

“Use this Chance... WHAT?! She- why- what is she doing!”

My sudden outburst left Ofris startled and unable to utter as much as a single word. He just stood there, waiting for me to steal his lips like the quest demanded.

“AS IF! NEVER! I won't do this!”
Cilia’s complaint came within a split second. 「But Rika~」
“NO buts!”
「I will reward you!」
“Reward me?! You never rewarded me! You just tricked me again and again!”
「Didn't I give you a bunch of free experience just now? For nothing?」
“You did …”
「And the magic spells. Why would I need to give them to you?」
“You need me to get strong, don't you?!”
「Do you think I want you to save the world or anything?」 She protested. 「I only want you to be happy!」
“You want me to spread your faith!”
「Where did you get that weird idea?」
“You don't?!”
「Sure, I would tootally~ like being famous and all, but what would really change by that?」 

I couldn't even answer her question. She was right, it probably didn't change a thing for her. Cilia had never appeared eager to get back into the minds of the mortals. Maybe she had already given up on that when the foxkin were wiped away so many years ago. And given that she had lost her memory, or at least claimed so, there was nothing she would want to get back to.

“But why me?” I hesitated. “Why would you make me do this?!”
「Because I want you to be happy!」
“Kissing Ofris won't make me happy! Give me Mira! Or Mabel! Even Sahria is fine!”
A long sigh resounded in my mind. 「Girls again?」
“Yes, girls!”
「I don't know what to do with you ...」

Cilia cursed me with two quest-screens, one of them was the worst I could think of, the other one seemed more normal and unambiguous the more I thought about it.

 

『Quest accepted: Use this Chance, Dummy!

Description: Kiss Ofris. Telling Ofris about this quest will make it fail.

Rewards:
⇒Item: Priestess's Robes
⇒Item Set: Vixen's Secrets MK2』

『Quest accepted: Freebie

Description: Use Transformation magic once.

Rewards:
⇒Title: Saintess (Improves mana regeneration per minute by 50%)』

“Fifty percent?!”

I didn't need to be a mathematician to understand how much of a buff this Reward was. Today alone, I had wasted hours trying to replenish my mana and hadn't even got half of it filled back up. With this, I would never have to wait again! I could just summon Foxfire after Foxfire without ever being forced to switch to Fiery Ballet in order to save mana!

“This is the best!”
“What is?!” Ofris asked, even more confused than before.
“She gave me a quest!”
“A quest?” I heard Jack ask from somewhere behind me “What Quest? Who did?”
I couldn't help but replying half-laughing. “It is nothing~ I just want to do a little magic trick~”
Now it was Sophia's voice that reached me. “A magic trick?” She asked. “What kind of magic trick?”
I turned around to her. “I can change!”
“Change?”
“Into a man, into a human girl, into everything!”
“Like an illusion magic?”
“No! It's real! I will do it right now! I will change into a man!” I hurriedly placed my hands on top of my head, imitating two large fox ears. “Kon Kon!” 

The magic worked almost immediately. At first, there was a tingling feeling crawling all over my body, as if tiny lightning bolts were rushing through my veins, then a faint, white mist started fuming from my skin. It surrounded me, grew thicker and thicker until there was nothing left to be seen. There was only white.