"Mona, how far am I from fulfilling the condition to lift the Curse of Sloth?"
The day after returning, as soon as he woke up, Yuuji decided to start working toward his current goal.
[Master, the description says you need 3 Rare Rank or higher energy or agility boosting abilities to lift the curse.
The only one that currently meets the requirements is Lightning Absorption, because although you have some abilities that increase agility, they do so indirectly, such as Wind Flight or No Friction.
The same goes for energy, you have abilities and physiques that naturally increase your energy, but none that are specifically focused on it.]
"I see, looks like it'll take me a while to lift the curse" Yuuji nodded in understanding.
[However, Master, it really isn't such a severe debuff. Besides, the way to lift it perfectly aligns with your current goal of obtaining more abilities and becoming stronger.
I suggest simply doing all kinds of extreme or unusual activities to gain variety rather than quality.]
"Yeah, I thought the same thing, the problem is..."
[Repetition, right? With the memories of both your lives, I can understand why you don't like doing anything, Master. But I think it's something you need to overcome.]
"Ha." Yuuji laughed upon hearing that. "If it were as easy as wanting to do it and having it happen, I would've done it a long time ago. Do you think I enjoy being bored most of the time?"
[I didn't mean that, Master.]
"I know" Yuuji sighed.
"Yuuji."
While Yuuji was talking with Mona, another voice sounded beside him.
"Yami, what are you doing here?"
"I think I'm in a fictional story."
"What?"
Barely awake, Yuuji shot upright upon hearing her declaration, instantly waking up completely.
Seeing his confusion, Yami told him everything that had happened over the previous two days at the hotel, along with the story of both Eme and Yui.
"Yui resolved a misunderstanding with her mother that allowed her to help Eme resolve a misunderstanding with her father, and I saw the whole thing. It seems very suspicious, I think the writer wants me to reconcile with my creator" Yami said with absolute seriousness that didn't match what she was saying.
"...Pffft."
After a few seconds, Yuuji understood everything and couldn't help laughing.
"Don't laugh" Yami said, embarrassed.
"Haha, sorry, I thought you were being serious, but it turns out you're just embarrassed to admit you miss your creator."
"I don't miss her. I just saw others and thought maybe I misunderstood her too."
"Yeah, that's the same thing" Yuuji said with a smile. "But if you want to see Tearju, what about my...our parents?"
"Can't I have three parents?" Yami asked, tilting her head in confusion. "I already asked them, and they said they're fine with it."
'Just as expected from my parents' Yuuji sighed inwardly.
"Speaking of that, I never understood why you agreed to become their daughter. It's not that I mind or anything, but it happened so quickly and naturally that it surprised me."
"Being with Yuuji is comforting, so I thought his parents were probably good people too. I was right" Yami explained as if it made perfect sense.
"Comforting, that's quite a word..."
Yuuji was about to point out how strange that was when he remembered something, and Mona, knowing what he wanted to see, immediately projected it in front of him.
[Master Taming
You are a true master tamer. You can turn even the most ferocious bloodthirsty manic beast into a living room pet. You are a master at also training familiars to gain their obedience and loyalty. This can also apply to people to a lesser extent.]
[I think the fact that she isn't entirely a person, and that her mind is so simple, made it far more effective.]
'Damn it, how bad is this?'
[It isn't actually that bad. Yami was categorized not as a pet but as a familiar, so it only influenced her to feel a sense of safety and familiarity toward you. Starting from that foundation, everything else is completely natural.
Even so, I'll disable the passive effect so it won't happen again.]
'Thanks' Yuuji immediately replied. 'Then it's not that bad. Perfect.. i think.'
"Alright, I can help you get in touch with Tearju" Yuuji nodded before adding somewhat embarrassed, "Rather, I can ask Lala to do it."
...
"Welcome!"
As soon as Yuuji entered the hotel, he was greeted by a little green girl.
"You're..."
"I'm Eme!" the little girl greeted cheerfully.
"Eme, huh? I thought you left yesterday."
"I asked my father if I could come work here. I asked him myself instead of having Yui do it!" she said proudly, although if Yuuji weren't essentially the owner of the place and hadn't already heard what had happened earlier, he probably wouldn't have understood what on earth the little receptionist was talking about.
"That's great, good for you. I came to see Lala, do you know where she is?"
"Ni hao!"
Before Eme could answer, Lala appeared in front of Yuuji wearing a red qipao with golden floral patterns that accentuated her figure incredibly well.
"What do you think?" she asked with a smile while extending her right arm.
Yuuji smiled, pulled her toward him by the arm, wrapped an arm around her waist, and kissed her.
"You somehow managed to look even more beautiful than you always do" Yuuji said once they separated.
"Hehe." Lala laughed happily. "That's a good compliment."
"I got it from a story I read recently" Yuuji admitted.
"Sir, sir, are you the owner?" Eme asked, looking at the current situation.
"That's right, little one. You passed the test" Yuuji nodded.
"It was a test? What if I hadn't passed?"
"If you hadn't passed..." Yuuji said, crouching down to her level, "you would've been fired."
"No way!" Eme exclaimed in panic.
"Because that's not true," Lala corrected, scolding Yuuji. "Yuuji, don't tease Eme. Don't worry, Eme, Yuuji would've never fired you. He wouldn't allow it."
Lala calmed Eme before turning back toward Yuuji.
"Yuuji, now tell me why you're here."
Lala pulled Yuuji away from the reception desk. Only as they walked away did Yuuji notice there were actually more people there.
"First, tell me about the hotel's current situation."
"Well, yesterday I arrived and found a rather complicated diplomatic situation, but fortunately the Emerald King is a good person and let it slide" Lala explained, assuming Yuuji already knew the rest since he had recognized Eme. "Besides, although the Yuuji family already sent people to take care of everything, Yui and Run said they wanted to keep working here, Yui because she's interested in learning more about beings from outside Earth, and Run because she became her friend."
"So thanks to this, Yui became close friends with two alien princesses, huh? She seems to have a talent for attracting oddities."
"Yuuji, I'm not sure 'oddities' is a compliment" Lala complained with a little pout before simply laughing and moving on to the next topic. "And Eme came back today saying Yui promised she could work with her, so of course I let her."
"You do know child labor is illegal on Earth, right?"
"It's illegal in the Emerald Kingdom too" Lala smiled mischievously before dismissing it. "Don't worry, she only does what Yui and Run tell her to do. She doesn't actually do any heavy work, even though she's stronger than anyone else in the hotel."
'I just hope there's no Galactic Twitter where they can complain about this' Yuuji thought.
"Alright, leaving the hotel aside. There's something I want to ask you."
"Yuuji wants something from me? Of course, you can ask me for almost anything" Lala nodded confidently.
"It's actually not for me, it's for Yami. Can you contact the Golden Inventor and tell her Yami wants to see her?"
"The Golden Inventor? The greatest scientist in the entire galaxy?" Lala said in surprise. "Why would Yami want to see her? Wait! Could it be..."
"The Golden Inventor is Yami's creator" Yuuji nodded, knowing she would've figured it out sooner or later anyway.
"Of course, I'll do it. The Golden Inventor is one of my idols. To think she created the most dangerous artificial lifeform in the galaxy, just as expected of her."
"Unfortunately, Tearju wasn't Yami's only creator."
"Unfortunately?" Lala asked.
"You'll understand later" Yuuji simply said.
'Speaking of that, Darkness Yami is a problem. She was programmed by the scientists who continued developing Yami after betraying Tearju to activate once Yami feels peace in her heart.
And considering that in the original story she was able to defeat Zastin, it isn't an exaggeration to classify her as number two in the entire galaxy.'
[Master, just like they calmed her down in the original story, wouldn't it be possible to calm her down here as well?]
'I'm not sure. In the original story they simply did something that caused Yami's original personality to react so strongly that she was able to take control of the body from Darkness Yami. I'm not sure I can do something similar.
Besides, it's always better to prevent a problem from the start than solve it after it happens. The best option would be to obtain some ability capable of calming her.'
"Yuuji, it's done. I sent her a message, and she replied immediately" Lala said excitedly, eager to meet her idol as well. "It looks like she really does care about Yami."
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)