Part 3
When I was young, when I saw my father enjoying his beer, I asked for some and spat it out immediately. Wonderful childhood memories.
— The young me swore to never drink this thing named beer ever again. But after coming to this different world, I was drinking beer in broad daylight.
I felt I shouldn't do this in my heart, but the laws and common sense in this alternate world were different.
The laws did not stipulate that drinking was prohibited for those who were underage. Even if something happened, the subject would just be asked to deal with the consequences.
I didn't think beer was nice to drink, but after forcing some down, I felt light headed.
Because this felt nice, people started drinking beer.
The 3 of us were drinking in the guild in broad daylight. As we drank, Keith started to complain:
"Sigh– there's nothing to do this season, I am bored out of my mind. Ara, Kazuma can really drink. Here, have another glass!"
Keith filled another glass for me and laughed out loud.
Keith was the type who would laugh wildly when he gets drunk.
"Sigh.. When winter comes, I want to stick close to someone… To be honest, I know how hard it is on Kazuma. But even so, I still envy you this season."
Dust said as he sighed heavily.
They probably had nothing to do during the winter. Other than us, there were many who were in the bar during broad daylight.
For the group known as adventurers, there might be many who wouldn't lose to me as a Hikkikomori.
As I was thinking about that, I asked both of them something that interested me.
"Right, speaking of which, what were the two of you doing there just now?"
That's right, the two of them looked as if they were hesitating while considering whether they should enter shop in the alley.
It made me curious about what that shop was.
Hearing me say that, the two of them exchanged a look, nodded and…
Keith put down the beer in his hand, while making a serious expression.
"Kazuma, I think you can be trusted. What I am about to say is a common secret among the male adventurers in this town; you must absolutely not leak it out. Kazuma, can you promise to never reveal this secret to your female party mates?"
Even though I was taken aback by the heavy atmosphere, I still nodded my head.
Seeing my reaction, Keith nodded as well.
Next, despite the noise in this place, Dust lowered his volume in order to not let the people around us hear:
"Kazuma, there are succubi operating a shop in this town, they specialize in gifting wonderful dreams to others, do you know that?"
"Please tell me more."
— I replied to Dust immediately.
Dust whose face was getting red put down his beer and told me:
"There is a group of succubi living in this town. This type of devil specializes in absorbing the irrepressible lust of humans, which is the energy men use to sustain themselves. Hence, male humans are an absolutely necessary existence for them."
Yes you are right.
I listened to every word of Dust carefully.
"That's why they will absorb our energy, but… the male adventurers in this town have a relationship of mutual assistance. Think about it… We are basically staying in stables right? Hence… there are many things that are hard to vent right? But with so many other adventurers sleeping around us, even if you are in the mood, you can't do 'anything' about it right?"
"Yes, you are right."
I nodded my head furiously.
I didn't feel guilty at all, but a bead of sweat still fell down my cheek.
Really, I didn't feel guilty at all.
"But we can't lay a hand on the female adventurers sleeping near us. If you did that, you will be discovered by the other female adventurers who would gang up on you. Or your target might be hiding a dagger and you would risk getting castrated. Things like that do happen."
As he went on, Dust's face turned pale and shivered.
Keith saw his reaction and said.:
"Your trauma when you made a move on Rin has not yet recovered?"
"Shut, shut up! Like I said… At times like this, the succubus comes to mind. When we are sleeping, they will use the chance to show us a wonderful and exciting dream. We will be refreshed and they can sustain themselves. And they know how to hold back, and won't absorb so much that we become mummies unable to continue adventuring. I have never heard of any adventurers falling into danger because too much of their energy was taken… How about it? Everybody wins right?"
After hearing Dust's words, I nodded my head repeatedly.
How wonderful, this was truly a gift of blessings!
The succubus would have no reason to attack humans, and the adventurers in the stables would be able to vent.
This would indirectly contribute to a drop in sexual crimes.
Speaking of which, the security of this town was very good.
In my imagination, a lot of the adventurers were hot blooded, rough and liked to drink, and would pick a fight over anything.
That was my impression all along, but there were few violent incidents in this town, and crimes were seldom heard of.
If everyone was always in sage mode, there would naturally be less alterations.
Truly wonderful! The workings of this world were so harmonious!
I was really touched. Seeing my reaction, Keith said:
"Actually, I only heard about this shop from others recently. We were planning to visit that shop for the first time today, and then we met Kazuma."
Dust took a large swig of beer.
And them, he said to me:
"And that's the story… how about it? Want to go tog…"
"Please bring me with you."
Part 4
After leaving the guild's pub, we went back to the shop in question nervously.
If it was just me alone, I would definitely not dare to enter that shop.
But I had reliable comrades now.
Just like the need to muster courage to buy porno magazines alone, it's less scary when you go in a group. It was that kind of strange psychology.
A short distance from the main road, we could see a tiny shop in the alley.
At a glance, it looked like a normal restaurant, but…
"Welcome–!"
The one greeting us was an onee-san with a body all men dreamed of.
Ushered by the beautiful onee-san with such a tempting body, we entered the shop and found all the patrons to be men.
There were several other onee-sans with alluring figures moving around inside. To be frank, this was enough for a hard to suppress urge to well up in my chest.
It was a restaurant, but there were no food or drinks on the table of the patrons.
All the customers were staring at a survey form intensely at their table, concentrating hard while writing something down.
After the onee-san led me to an empty seat, she held a menu and smiled at us:
"Dear customers, Is this your first time visiting us?"
The three of us nodded.
The smile of the onee-san became more brilliant.
"… Well then, do you know what kind of shop this is, and who we are?"
We nodded in silence once more.
That onee-san seemed satisfied and laid the menu down on the table and said:
"Please place your orders. It's fine if you don't order anything too… And please fill in the necessary information on the survey form and hand it in to the cashier when paying your bill."
We took the survey forms.
This meant the succubus onee-san would pick the most suitable candidate based on the survey form to service us?
I looked at the survey form…
"May I ask, what is this part about our own status, gender and appearance in our dream…?"
This part seemed really strange.
I could understand the status part, but what was this about gender and appearance…?
"The status part means being a king or hero in the dream. As for gender and appearance, there are occasionally customers who want to experience how it feels like to be a woman; there are some who want to be a young boy and be forced upon by a strong female adventurer."
Are the adventurers in this town right in the head?
But, even these settings could be adjusted.
I see, it's just a dream after all.
Keith timidly raised his hand and asked the onee-san:
"…. Excuse me, for the setting of the target, how detailed could we be?"
"It could be as detailed as you wish. Personality, favourite phrases, appearance, how much she likes you, any features and anybody. It's fine even if you asked for a fictional character."
"Are you serious?"
"I'm serious."
I couldn't help saying, and the onee-san answered immediately.
That means, be it that famous girl, the girl I knew; and, that's right, even my 2D waifu would be fine?
"… Excuse me, but wouldn't we be violating any copyrights?"
"No problem, it's a dream after all."
"I thought so."
The onee-san answered without hesitation, which put me at ease.
It wouldn't cause any problems since it was just a dream.
Dust timidly raised his hand and asked:
"… That means, there are no age restrictions on the targets? No, I'm not thinking about any specific age group, but, how should I put this…"
"None, please choose as you please."
The onee-san answered without a second thought.
I couldn't help asking:
"Is, is that really okay? What about rules…"
"No problem, it's a dream anyway."
"That's true."
There were no problems with just dreaming.
The wet dream service of the succubus was perfect.
The three of us wrote on our survey forms in silence.
Yes, just like the other patrons in the shop.
"Well then, all three honoured customer chose the three hour session. The fee is 5000 Eris each."
So cheap!
I was taking out my wallet and was shocked by the price.
I couldn't tell since I had never patronised them, but compared to the 'specialty' shop in Japan, this was a bargain.
Onee-san probably read my thoughts from my expression and said:
"… To us, we just need enough money to live on in this town as humans. Apart from this, we just need to absorb a little energy from our customers."
She said with a faint smile.
Really, there were no other businesses that could bring happiness to everyone.
I had submitted wholeheartedly to their policy which gifts love and care to all.
Now I had to become a regular and aid them as much as I could.
We started worshipping the succubus onee-san, mumbling:
"Goddess… ah goddess…"
"Don't, don't act like that, how inauspicious! Well then, please leave the address you will be spending tonight at, and what time you plan to sleep. Around that time, the succubus from our shop will go to the side of the sleeping customers, and let the customers see their desired dreams. Please don't drink alcohol if possible. If you get dead drunk or sleep too deeply, even we won't be able to let the customer dream."
After hearing the onee-san's warning, we left the shop.
It was still evening, but we came to a silent consensus to part our ways.
"Well, let's meet again."
"Yeah, will do!"
"See you next time!"
The two of them seemed a bit uneasy and anxious to return.
I felt the same way too.
There was still time before I slept, but I wanted to return early to prepare for bed earlier.
I didn't go anywhere else and went back home straight.