The Hero Became a Succubus, and the Only Way to Level is to… What?! - Chapter 12 – Arenade, the Fallen Demigoddess

Jamminrabbit

Not one day had passed since arriving in Orturic and people already had their eyes on Kanae. Through no fault of his own either. Well, if an explosion went off anywhere in the city, they were bound to attract attention. Now the guards had their number.

“I have some money, but I know nothing about this place. Any idea where we can stay?” Kanae almost regretted asking the one who had become homeless.

“You got money? Oh, thank the Su— actually, screw the Supreme One. Thank the Many! I was living there until recently. They have subsidized living arrangements, provided you’re actively doing quests,” Arenade explained.

An adventurer’s hall. They might be able to find Edina there. It would be nice to party up with her, too.

Kanae squinted at her with a shaming gaze. “You said no one would take you into their party, but couldn’t you have done quests on your own?”

“As if I would demean myself to the lowly work of peasants.” She folded her arms and scoffed.

“Gee. It’s not very hard to see how you got into your living situation, isn’t it?” He sighed.

Great. Kanae had with him a useless and spoiled former demigoddess that was level 1. Somehow, he suspected using her as a sexual energy bank might leave a bad taste in his mouth. Or worse, rubbed off her laziness on him.

The sun was setting over the expansive forests of Turic.

“Okay, let’s get to the adventurer’s guild. I’d love to sleep on a bed for once,” Kanae wearily remarked, pulling out his pouch of gold to check how much he had.

Not even one step forward and someone bumped into them. The gold was gone.

Kanae and Arenade stared at his now empty hands, then glanced behind them to see a hooded man taking off in a hurry.

“That bastard stole our dough!” Arenade shouted.

“What do you mean our— er, I guess it isn’t exactly mine either, but whatever!”

They were hot on his trail, but couldn’t close the distance with so many people in the way.

“Kanae, do something! You got some spells on you, don’t you?” Arenade asked, quickly running out of breath and falling behind.

“Uhhh…” Kanae double-checked his skill list while holding onto the hood to keep it from coming off.

Charm wasn’t going to work. The man was too far. The only spell Kanae could think of using was Turn Horny.

“How about this? Turn Horny!” He quietly incanted the spell under his breath only for someone else to get in the line of sight.

“Ahh~” The innocent bystander popped a boner and fell to the ground.

“What the?!” Arenade hopped over the aroused passerby, puzzled by what happened.

Kanae made sure to aim carefully this time. “Nh… Turn Horny!”

“K-Kyaah~”

Unfortunately, a woman carrying a bag of fruits came between them and possibly actually came herself.

“Turn Horny! Turn Horny! Turn Horny!” He proceeded to chuck the spell in a desperate attempt to hit his target, leaving a trail of sexually stimulated victims in their wake.

They rounded a corner where there were less people and Kanae finally landed a hit.

“Oh, gods… Me goolies are throbbin’!” The thief fell to the ground, twitching with pleasure.

“Gimme back that money, you hairy ape.” Arenade snatched the coin pouch back and spat in the man’s face.

“Ahh~ One more time, please…”

“Ew…” She grimaced and decided against giving him what he wanted, then returned to Kanae with the gold. “That’s one way to use your spell I guess.”

The two of them peeked out from the corner to see the road littered with people masturbating. Others who couldn’t fight the temptation started banging each other. Disgusted and mildly aroused guards raced down the street to stop them.

“W-We should probably take the long way around,” Kanae suggested.

“Good idea…” Arenade agreed.

Upon finally reaching the adventurer’s hall, a cozy place that had an extended floor which served as a tavern, they were welcomed by a warm hearth and chatty patrons that filled every table. The notice board had people crowding around it and plucking off papers to bring to a reception area.

Unfortunately, Edina was nowhere to be seen.

They walked to the reception counter where several young women were checking adventurers into rooms or signing off notices brought to them.

“Next in line, please!” A human woman whose black hair was tied to a bun and wore thick-rimmed glasses waved to them. Her demeanor soured when she laid eyes on Arenade. “Oh, it’s you.”

The demigoddess hung behind Kanae, ashamed to show herself anymore than she already has.

“D-Don’t worry about her. She’s with me now. I have gold and plan to start doing quests tomorrow,” Kanae explained.

That was enough to placate the office worker.

“Good, because we aren’t a homeless shelter. People have to earn their living here. Expecting free living arrangements without putting in any effort is shameful and a punch in the face to active adventurers,” Sara said, wounding Arenade’s pride with each statement.

“Gusu…” Arenade wept from behind.

“If the hall has rooms with a private bath, I’d like one of those please,” Kanae said.

“We actually do! A single room with two beds and one bath is currently vacant. First I’d like to see your character sheet.” The receptionist looked at his wrist expectantly.

Her request gave him pause.

“Hey… You have a plan for this, right? Maybe we shack up at an inn somewhere in town instead?” Arenade whispered.

“I got this,” Kanae replied confidently and noted the lack of a sigil on her wrist. He revealed his character sheet, then casted charm on Sara before she could react. “Is that good enough?”

“Everything seems to be in order. Please enjoy your stay!” Sara smiled and handed them the key.

As soon as they got into their room, Kanae breathed a sigh of relief. The charm worked. They even got to stay for free, which should help until the two of them got their finances in order by doing quests.

“A bath! Me first!” Arenade yelled, bursting into the bathroom.

The large marble tub was managed by something that looked like magic crystals embedded into the side of it. One was red and the other was blue. As the tub filled with water, the filthy demigoddess pressed the red crystal which brought it to a steaming temperature.

“I don’t mind you gazing upon my holy body, but you better keep those degenerate thoughts to yourself!” Arenade fumed, then let out a blissful sigh as she submerged her entire body into the waters.

Come to think of it, Kanae hadn’t taken a bath in some time either.

“I’m coming in, too, whether you like it or not.” Kanae took his cloak and clothing off to join her.

Heat from the warm waters soaked into his bones, washing both the grime and tension away.

“For being a guy once, I expected you to react a little more lecherously. Shouldn’t you be going ‘kyaa’ or bug-eyed at my knockers?” Arenade sucked in a deep breath to make her chest appear bigger than they already were.

This woman… First she tells me not to think perverted thoughts, then expects me to stare…

Arenade’s haughtiness knew no bounds, and they had only just met.

“You may have the sex appeal of a hostess, but you also have the personality of a weed that thinks too highly of itself. It’s hard to get turned on by you with that in mind,” Kanae taunted.

“You little…!” Arenade grabbed both his horns, pouting with displeasure.

“S-Stop! The water’s going to spill!”

After they had washed up and were getting ready for bed, Kanae noticed Arenade was checking on her character sheet. Tomorrow they were going to start doing quests, it would be good to learn how exactly this world’s system worked. He was particularly confused about the way stats functioned.

“You were a demigoddess, so you definitely know a lot more about me. Maybe you can explain to me how stats work?” Kanae asked.

Arenade stood up, feeling excessively proud of herself now that he needs her wisdom. “Very well! Only because I am a benevolent and kind demigoddess, I will be happy to teach you. Your stats have nothing to do with you as an individual. High INT doesn’t make you smarter for the same reason a low INT doesn’t make you dumb. Stats denote the potency of spells and skills related to your class and race.”

Which would mean the enchanted bracelet raising Kanae’s INT stat from A to S caused a jump in his abilities’ potency. He couldn’t have known at the time, but that probably enabled him to take control of Redmane’s entire crew with a stronger charm spell.

“So our stats won’t rise as we level up? It almost feels pointless to reach new heights then,” Kanae said.

“You have to level up to gain more spells and skills. Why settle on a sword when you can have an armory, right? When it comes to your stats— pretty much. The only times they can go up and down is from spells, enchanted equipment, elixirs, or special circumstances like curses and blessings,” Arenade explained.

This was an interesting world, to say the least. Someone who was much higher level wasn’t necessarily stronger than Kanae at his current level of 10, but they did have a greater advantage due to possessing more spells and experience fighting in general.

“Alright, Arenade. I need to use you as a test dummy,” Kanae pulled off the enchanted bracelet, reducing his INT stat from S to A.

“Hey, wait a minute—!” Arenade froze the moment Kanae charmed her. “Nngh… How dare you… cast such a spell on me…”

Despite Arenade being level 1, she was somewhat able to mentally resist his charm spell. Kanae took a seat on a chair and beckoned her over, which she did so obediently. Physically, however, was another story.

“Y-You scoundrel! Dirty succubus! Unbind me from your charm this instant!” Arenade glared.

“Start massaging my feet and put some strength in it,” Kanae ordered.

The fallen demigoddess began to do just that, kneading her knuckles and pressing her fingers to the sole of his feet.

“Ahh~ This is great. I should just charm my way to the top.” He smiled.

“I hate you so much! I hate you so much!” Arenade repeated like a mantra.

That was the effect of INT stat at A. Time to see how obedient Arenade could be when it was at S. He slipped on the bracelet to raise his INT, then casted the charm spell on her again. She straightened her back and more diligently massaged his feet.

“Hmm. Act like a cat girl for me,” Kanae ordered again.

“Nya, nya! How do you like the massage, nya?” Arenade asked with a beaming smile.

The fact that it came out of Arenade’s mouth disgusted him. He took the bracelet off, thus reducing the potency of the charm spell.

“I… I can’t believe you made me meow at you like that… I’ve never been so humiliated in my life!” Arenade pouted, on the verge of tears.

It seemed that even though Arenade was charmed, she was still aware of her actions. As long as he didn’t prematurely end the spell, anyone charmed should remain so. Hopefully.

“According to the Supreme One, me being a succubus is your fault to begin with. Now that I’m like this, you can bet your elven ass I’m going to make the best use of my class one way or another.” Kanae leaned back to enjoy the massage.

However, Arenade started ugly crying and turned his blissful moment on its head. “I don’t want to be enslaved by a succubus! Waaaaaahhhh!”

“Fine, calm down! I wasn’t seriously going to keep you charmed forever.” When snapped his fingers to break the spell, the first thing she did was stop massaging him and hid in bed.

Much later, in the middle of the night, Kanae started tossing and turning in his sleep. It wasn’t because he was horny. The extended sexual encounter with Renya filled him up plenty. Until now, there had always been someone within arm’s reach. He began to feel a void open in his chest, reminiscent of when he had lived alone back in Japan.

To Kanae’s surprise, he was craving physical comfort of the non-sexual kind. Too bad the only person here is her.

Sighing, he casted charm on Arenade. She snapped awake with a start, climbing into his bed.

“W-What’s going on? I thought you promised not to make a meal out of me today!” Arenade glared defiantly.

“Just shut up and stay still,” Kanae said, scooting closer to feel her body heat.

“What’s this?” Arenade flashed a smug grin that reeked of triumph, having seemingly caught on to him. “You were unhappy and alone in your world after all.”

“Yeah, so what? I didn’t like living with my parents, my friends moved away, and I wasn’t in a relationship.” He turned his back on her and squeezed his eyes shut, then willed the spell to break. “Charm’s broken. You can go back to your bed.”

Being close in proximity, enough to feel someone’s warmth should be enough. Instead of leaving, he heard Arenade utter a sigh. A shift in movement was followed by her wrapping both arms around him.

“Look, you put a roof over my head. As thanks, spooning is all you’re getting from me tonight, bub. Enjoy it while it lasts,” Arenade said, unbeknownst to her that it made Kanae happier than she believed.

The embrace was a reminder that, despite being in a foreign world, Kanae wasn’t alone. With that in mind, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

Jamminrabbit