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Question 1.

If Ellie, Lydia, and Benny are sound asleep, what should one do?

Answer: Let’s all enjoy some sweet sleep together. Messing up each other’s clothes a bit is just a bonus.

Using Lydia’s chest as a pillow, Shadow covered the half-sunken Benny like a blanket from the shadows, and finally, I snuggled up to Ellie’s tail like a dakimakura.

In a short time, I burned up all my Divine Power, Aura, Magic, as well as my Stamina, uprooting a faction of the monster organization on the Fifth Floor.

It was an achievement made with all my power. I wouldn’t have pushed myself that hard even on the Fourth Floor. Naturally, I was bound to be tired.

For some reason, I closed my eyes, taking in the last sight of Sif disappearing, along with the doll of Lif.

I didn’t dream.

***

The boundary between real life and fiction is unexpectedly thin.

Ultimately, people only know what they know and can only accept what they can accept.

This stems from the same root as ordinary people unable to use mind-reading skills and the first-person narrative of a novel that can only read the author’s descriptions.

Well, in reality, unlike novels, getting hit hurts and being stabbed with a knife means you should die. That’s a significant difference, though.

Because of this, the boundary between reality and creations seems faint yet is solid, not easily collapsible.

But what about me?

Have I not possessed this world (if one can call something that merely jots down settings and materials a novel)?

Living in the Pan Continent, I feel like I’m reading a novel or writing one while being a single human being who suffers joy and one day meets death.

In other words, for me, the last division separating reality from fiction comes down to this: If physical phenomena no longer act as a boundary, then my life could be no different from a novel.

For that reason, if there exists a reader observing my every move in a truly lewd manner… surely, some of them have noticed.

While I’ve set up some robust concepts regarding the gods, I learned about the structure of the Fifth Floor, its background, and Sif’s existence, but was entirely unaware of the God of Thieves’ plans.

That is to say, I had no clue about the plan to die as a god and then live out the rest of my life as a human.

However, this isn’t that surprising of a fact, at least among writers.

Originally, characters don’t follow what the author says very well.

You might ask, what nonsense is this? But if you think about it, it’s quite simple.

The author has a plot in mind, and in order to steer the story in that direction, a certain level of coherency must be given.

Whereas truly absurd things happen in reality with no context, if that occurs in a novel, it would be perfect for being criticized!

Thus, it’s essential to weave plausible events to guide the plot in the desired direction…

Yet, this is also a talent.

And most writers aren’t born with the ability to control every situation, and I’m no exception.

Though my love for writing is sincere, just like most things in life, talent and preference are separate.

So what happens? It’s quite simple. The writer stops as they write as they thought.

“Huh? This character shouldn’t act like that! In this current situation, acting this way would be true to this guy/gal!” they think.

If a story is forced to develop from here, despite feeling contrived, it allows moving forward according to the plot.

If you listen to the character’s voice and restructure the plot, you might come up with an unexpected, lively piece, but then even the author doesn’t know what they’ll write next, leaving them scratching their heads.

What to choose is the writer’s freedom. Whether it becomes a 5,700-character backlash or they write for 14 hours a day, as long as they can handle the aftermath.

Could this backstory be why, or does the fact that nothing goes as one wishes also apply in the Pan Continent?

Even in the Pan Continent, where numerous contents have been set up, unexpected events occasionally occur.

For instance, while the God of Thieves was thought to only be mentioned vaguely as the Sif doll, it turns out that he was deceiving everyone, planning to enjoy a second life all by himself, worthy of his divine name and myth.

Or perhaps instead of the protagonist being a greatsword warrior from a reversed gender world, a pickpocket master who learned various skills captured the attention of the God of Thieves upon ascending to the Fifth Floor.

…Or it could be something as ridiculous as Benny’s chest getting bigger.

“God is dead.”

“Why are you looking at my chest while saying that?”

“Ah! What a dreadful reality this is! Something like this shouldn’t exist in reality!”

“So why do you keep looking at my chest while saying that?!”

Upon opening my eyes, I discovered that Benny’s chest had indeed grown while laid across my stomach as a blanket.

I do not know the reason. I can only cry out like the world has collapsed over the soft sensation pressing down on my upper body at this very moment.

“O God! O God! Why have you forsaken me?!”

-Wooong.

Startled, the Goddess Statue radiated Divine Power, as if to say she had never done such a thing.

Seeing that she had regained her vigor, it seems the cooldown of the Sanctuary used to turn the Fifth Floor into a wasteland has returned.

“My chest getting a little bigger is something that the god should sympathize with?!”

“That means Benny is growing up!”

“Right?”

“Growing bigger in the chest… taller… and then getting hair… and then you wouldn’t be interested in someone as young as me anymore!”

“Hair…?! Ah! Why are you emphasizing that so much?! I already have some, just a little bit!”

“What?!”

“Why are you so surprised again? You, Jonah, have it too… Huh? No way?”

“I don’t have any hair or anything!”

“Wait…?!”

In an instant, Benny’s gaze shifted downward. I teased her while tugging on her cheeks as she gulped.

“What do you see beyond the pants? You should either clear your eyes or show me as well; one of those two is necessary, don’t you think?”

“I’m still in band-aids today?”

“And so?”

“…”

“…”

It seemed rather pathetic, watching a pair of prideful sexual harassment geniuses glare at each other. Ellie, who woke up first, started washing her face with cold water and spoke up.

“Stop talking nonsense, both of you. Especially you, Benny. Don’t you realize that Jonah is just teasing you? Your chest is still the same.”

“Ah, no way?! It might have gotten a little bigger, right, Ellie?!”

“Exactly! Exactly! It’s true that Benny’s chest has grown!”

“That’s not growth; it’s the power of gravity!”

“…Huh?”

In response to Ellie’s nonchalant remark, I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

Since I had Benny laid over me like a blanket, naturally, her chest was aimed down towards the ground…

“Phew. It was just an illusion. Thank goodness, Benny! You’re still flat!”

“Gahh!”

“But don’t worry; it’s still bigger than that of the God of Thieves!”

While comforting Benny, who was whining while pinching what little chest she has, Lydia, who was quietly supporting my head with a cushion bigger than mine, finally spoke up.

“So?”

“Yeah?”

“So what is all this about? Why were we sleeping here like this… in this attire and posture?”

In this attire and posture.

To say it more specifically, it means we had all dozed off in a tangled blanket, with our clothes in disarray and sometimes revealing a bit of skin.

“Umm. How should I explain this? Well, this current situation was intended for everyone to get surprised and flustered upon waking up, but I’m a bit disappointed no one was surprised.”

“…If I suddenly lost my memory in a Labyrinth and woke up sleeping in an unfamiliar house, wouldn’t that be the more significant issue?”

“Is that how it is?”

“Yeah. Jonah, you can just take responsibility.”

“…?”

“Isn’t starting with a dagger the norm as the first equipment for kids?”

Lydia’s eyes were swirling in a way that suggested she wasn’t in her right mind.

Nodding in satisfaction, I buried my head deeper into the comforting cushion.

With the feeling of being wrapped up in soft flesh, satisfaction blossomed within me.

In a slightly drowsy state, I released a deep sigh.

“Haah… Ellie, Lydia, Benny. I’ve been through so much. It’s exhausting, really…”

Feeling the gaze fixed upon me, I began to explain everything that had happened so far.

“Ding ding dan ding!”

“Wait… You defeated a faction that holds a significant share on the Fifth Floor in just half a day?”

“…Jonah. It was dangerous.”

“What’s so shocking about that? Didn’t you do something similar on the Fourth Floor? What puzzles me more is that the God of Thieves still left his consciousness intact.”

Ellina, who had seen my real-time destruction of the Fourth Floor only once, and Lydia, who had never seen it, were astounded by the fact that Babylon was turned into a sea of flames.

Benny, who had spent three days rampaging through the Fourth Floor with me, immediately lit up and began asking questions about the God of Thieves.

Listening to the three of them pouring out their thoughts chaotically filled me with some inexplicable relief.

Finally feeling like I had retrieved the three of them, I chuckled to myself and spoke.

“Shall we go crush the remaining factions before we leave?”

“…Other adventurers need to earn their achievements too. Let’s do it reasonably and return quickly. I’ll make something delicious for you all.”

“Okay.”

With Ellie’s smile as she chuckled, our campaign in the Fifth Floor came to an end.

***

A week later, adventurers returning from the Fifth Floor were given the nickname Crazy Psycho Pink.

…Why?

 

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