I had no idea how much time passed after that. I somehow managed to calm everyone down and ask them to cooperate.
“So basically, I’d like your help with getting out of this dungeon. Katorina, Saint, you both want some tasty treats, right?”
“Woo-hoo, tasty treats ♥!”
“I’d rather eat Master up instead ♥!”
Katorina’s straightforward answer was so cute. Nanami’s incomprehensible reply was cute… Actually, that was a pretty problematic reaction to have.
“Fiiiine, I guess we’ll help you, Mister ♥. Buuuut didn’t anyone ever tell you? You’re not supposed to wander off with strange older men, duh ♪! Wait, don’t tell me you didn’t know that? Looooser ♥.”
It was strange. I’d be fine being a loser for the rest of my life if the Saint was going to say it like that.
From there, we headed down the hallway, and I endured condescending insults all the while.
True to its appearance, this dungeon was built like a school. When we continued down the hall, the path split off in several directions, either to stairs or forks in the corridor, which was also another tricky element to the place.
Bratty-bitichified Katorina looked at the guide sign stuck to wall and exclaimed in surprise, “Nooo way! This school’s got a heated swimming pool and a sauna ♥! That’s awesome; c’mon let’s go this way ♥.”
“No, stop, stop! They’re mixed-gender facilities!”
There were a few facilities here that were bad news. This heated pool and sauna were an example. Given that the outfits in this dungeon turned see-through from sweating, suffice it to say these facilities complemented them perfectly.
“I don’t know, you’re pretty funny, Mister… Maaaaybe I wouldn’t mind that ♥.”
“What?!”
I couldn’t hide my surprise at the Saint’s words. I—I could have a look? N-no, that wasn’t happening. From the very start, I had decided to keep any damage to the absolute minimum.
As I stood there agonizing, the Saint laughed.
“Pfft. Omigosh, ewwwwww♥! Rinarinaaaa, look ♥! Mister is making such a face right now.”
“No way, you actually believed that ♥?”
“Weeeell, I guess if you really want to see that badly ♥, I could give you a li’l peek ♥,” the Saint said before lifting up her skirt slightly. Every bone in my body wanted to look, but nevertheless, I had to remain a gentleman.
For just an ever so brief moment, a mere millisecond, so short a span of time I wondered if it wasn’t all a dream, I looked at what she revealed, then averted my eyes.
“Y-you shouldn’t debase yourself like that. When you find a more suitable partner one day, you can show him instead.”
The same scumbag who had snuck a peek was now prattling lofty morals. I knew being gifted a peek from someone who, under normal circumstances, would absolutely never do such a thing would have a cataclysmic impact. My heart still tremored, as if it had been struck by an earthquake.
“Maaaster ♥. Hurry up, let’s go. I’m sweaty ♥!”
Nanami had a good point. This was a school in the summertime. I was sweating just standing in the hall.
“Let’s go.”
Despite the trouble along the way, I finally arrived at a specific classroom with the girls in tow.
“What’s the deal with this place?”
When the three entered, they all started acting as they saw fit.
“Hey now, cut it out.”
Of course, no bratty bitch would let this stop them. A bratty bitch ever a bratty bitch was. Their existence was one of freedom. They scavenged through desks, searched through lockers, whatever struck them. This wasn’t harming me at all, so it wasn’t really a problem, but I still needed to stop them…
On a blackboard, the following was written: COOPERATE TOGETHER AND SOLVE THE PUZZLE! Beside it were several questions that I didn’t really understand.
Now, as for how we were supposed to solve this puzzle, that would be by asking the bratty bitches for help. Though I supposed the entire dungeon was set up that way.
When the girls underwent their bratty bitchification, they should have each received a unique ability. At this stage, I needed to discover which girl had gained additional knowledge and have her solve this problem for me.
On another floor, you had to rely on one of the bratty bitches who gained sewing skills to continue on, while another who was good at physical education would have to jump over a vaulting horse or do gymnastics.
But would the three of them readily solve these for me? Nah, no way was that going to happen.
They were all bratty bitches, after all.
“Hey, anyone know the answers to these?”
“Omigooosh ♥. Seriously, Mister, you can’t solve these ♥? What a loser ♥.”
It appeared that Katorina was the one gifted with knowledge. She looked at me with a grin.
“What am I gonna do with you, Mister ♥? You get how this works, right ♥?”
I absolutely didn’t, but I nodded along for the time being.
“If anything happens, you can put the blame all on me, and I’ll take on any punishment you want. So please, I need your help.”
“Oh yeah? So you’re fine with me riding you like a horse and spanking your butt, is that it ♥? Pfft, just imagining it is sooooo funny. ♥”
Wh-what the hell, was that a punishment or a reward?
I couldn’t stop myself from looking down at her lower body—her shapely butt and enhanced thighs. Because of the sweat dripping down her, her clothes were beginning to become see-through. I was in danger.
“If you really insist, then I guesssss I’ll be nice and solve this for you, Mister ♥.
Katorina picked up the chalk and smoothly wrote out the answers. All of them, of course, were correct.
Then, right as we went to leave the classroom—
“…Maybe just for today, I’ll be nice and call you ‘stud’ instead,” Katorina said, putting her hands together behind her back, and tilting her body slightly to peer up at my face.
“Awuh?”
It was so unexpected, I was at a loss for words. My train of thought totally derailed. The echoing of the word “stud” filled my head.
“Uh, for real? Don’t tell me you were, like, excited about that, were you?!! Pffpfft, I get it! You wanna look younger, don’t you, Mister ♥?”
I was pretty sure I looked plenty young enough already, but perhaps the old man smell in my heart was leaking out.
“That’s the face you’re gonna make? Hmmm ♥. What was it again, ‘If anything happens, you can put all the blame on me’? I can’t believe you can say that stuff with a straight face ♥.”
Y’know…that one stung pretty hard.
“I guess you sounded a little cool when you said it, so just for today, ’kay? Stud ♥.”
My heart skipped a beat.
This couldn’t be real. What was happening to me? The pounding in my chest wouldn’t stop. I felt like my heart was about to burst.
That settled it. I was going to make today a national holiday—Bratty Bitch Day. If I was ever put in charge of this country, I would do whatever it took to get it on the calendars, no matter how low my approval rate plummeted.
If I were to die today, the fact that Katorina called me “stud ♥” would reverberate through history.
Bratty bitches forever. No objections. None.
“Omigosh, that serious look of yours is sooo cute, Stud!! I sorta want to keep you as a pet ♥.”
Whoa, wait, you too, Saint Stef?! You were going to call me “stud,” too?!
Also, I sorta wanted her to keep me as her pet, too. I’d do anything to be the pet of a beauty like her anytime. I’d eat my meals on all fours no problem, and I’d pay all my own living expenses, so please, take me as your pet.
“In that case…I’ll call you Studster ♥.”
All right. So yeaah, Nanami was fine sticking with Master. Stop coming up with weird new words.
As the joy of being called “stud” filled me, we exited the room. What was there waiting for us was…
“Omigosh! Doesn’t that water look super cold?”
A cooler filled with bottled water. Except, for some reason, there were only three bottles. There were four people here right now—the three bratty bitches and me.
Of course, the bratty bitches scrambled to each grab one for themselves. Well, I wasn’t going to die in this dungeon or anything, so it didn’t really matter. There were other places I could hydrate, too.