Now then. I haven’t yet given the culprit her punishment for triggering the monster house.
In that mansion’s spacious living room, I sat back on the sofa.
Tina stood in front of me. Or rather, I’ve told her to stand there.
“If this was an ordinary party, your reward would have been reduced. Do you get that?”
“Uu… Y-yes…”
Tina fidgeted with her hands.
“B-but, Dylan-san… I-If I don’t get any reward for tonight, I won’t be able to rent a place to sleep…!”
“I thought that might be the case. So I suppose you can make up for it by working your body a little…”
As I replied with a sigh, Tio held her hands over her chest.
“N-no way, Dylan-san!? You’re after my body!? Kuh… I-it can’t be helped then. If it’s Dylan-san, maybe it won’t be so bad…”
“Wait wait wait wait.”
Stop taking off your armour with such an embarrassed face. Or rather, why aren’t you hesitating at all? Hesitate at least a little.
“A girl shouldn’t expose herself casually like that before getting married.”
“You’re saying something like that even though you’re a playboy!?”
“Hey, my job was a jester, I’ll have you know. That whole ‘playboy’ thing is all just because of rumours.”
“Is that so!”
“Seriously, don’t give me a shock like that… Jeez. What I meant by working your body was cleaning, just cleaning.”
Tina seemed lost for words.
“Cleaning?”
“Yeah. It’s been three years since I’ve used this mansion, after all. The place is covered in dust. I asked them to clean it every once in a while, but it’s still in a bit of a state.”
Still sitting on the sofa, I craned my neck and looked around the living room.
It’s not as if a white cat had become black overnight, but there’s still a bit of cleaning that needs to be done.
“So, you want me to clean. What will you do, Dylan-san?”
“I’ve already decided my job. I’ll supervise you.”
Tina pointed to my hands.
“Whilst drinking a cup of tea?”
“Yeah.”
Tina then pointed at the table.
“And eating gelato?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“That’s not faaaaair!!”
Tina moaned.
It seems like she’s already forgotten, but this is meant to be her punishment.
“Then, I guess I’ll just reduce your reward?”
“Uu…. Please don’t do that. I got it. I’ll clean.”
Weighing her options, Tina agreed.
“Please watch! I’m actually really good at cleaning, you know!”
“Wow, how surprising.”
“When I was 5 years old I worked at a noble’s mansion until I turned 13! Since my parents were so poor, they sent me there so they had one less mouth to feed!”
“…Is that so?”
I couldn’t really say much if she speaks about a heavy past like that so cheerfully.
That reminds me, has she actually told her folks about what she’s doing now?
“You’ve sure had it rough…”
“Yep! But the master of the house and all the servants were really nice people! Although around when I was thirteen I hit my growth spurt and everyone started looking at me really strangely, so it became kind of awkward to stay there, so I left! So I tried to go back to my parent’s house, but there was no one there, so I decided that I’d travel to Babel to become an adventurer to make ends meet! Five years of struggling! But I finally made it to level 10!”
“I see… When you’re finished, do you want to have some gelato with me?”
“Yes, please!”
“There are plenty of rooms here, so you can use whichever one you want.”
“Huh, you’re going to let me stay here!?”
“The places around here aren’t cheap. You’ve only made it to the third floor, right?”
“How do you know that I’ve never made it past the third floor!?”
“You told me.”
“No way! I said that!? But that’s amazing that you actually remembered what I said!”
“A jester always remembers the lines.”
“Jesters are amazing!”
I wonder if that habit of praising even the tiniest things comes from her time working as a servant.
“…Dylan-san is a nice guy after all.”
Tina whispered that happily as she looked at her feet.
Then, I showed something to that girl.
“Oh, by the way, I’ll have you wear this.”
“What is that thing? String?”
The Cloth of the Dancer, it’s a curs- COUGH COUGH. It’s a magical item.
It’s basically just a bra and some loincloth.
In addition, I added a maid apron and a headdress.
“WHAT IS THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!??”
“Put this one as you clean up.”
“Isn’t this just bits of string!?”
“Don’t be so rude. There are a few pieces of cloth as well.”
“Yeah, only a few though!”
“Don’t worry. Because of the cur- magic, it’ll stick to you. I won’t see anything, I swear.”
“Cur… You were about to say curse, weren’t you!? A curse!”
“Did I say that?”
“Didn’t you just say ‘A girl shouldn’t expose herself casually like that before getting married’ about five minutes ago!!”
“That’s just the kind of thing a playboy would say.”
“Didn’t you say that you were only called a playboy because of false rumours!!”
“That was then, this is now.”
“You’re not a good person after alllllll!!!!”
“Now now, I have my reasons.”
I tried to calm Tina down.
“When you wear this, you can temporarily become a jester.”
“Jester? You mean changing jobs?”
“Only when you wear this.”
“Do I need to change jobs when I clean up?”
“It’ll make things easier.”
“Ehhh…?”
Tina’s eyes are full of suspicion.
Yeah, that’s good. Those are the kind of eyes that a jester should have.
But, what I said was true.
“You’re pretty agile Tina, but when you’re wearing that I think you’ll be surprised by how light on your feet you’ll be as a jester.”
“But, it’s just cleaning, right…?”
“How long do you think it’s going to take you to clean this house alone?”
“Umm, when it’s this big… At least a whole day…”
It’s already evening.
“Umm, this cleaning, why don’t I do it tomorrow?”
“Just so you know, if I really gave it my all, I could get this place spotless in an hour.”
“Seriously!?”
“I’d use some magic tricks. They’re really convenient. I’d summon some spirits, divide them up and have them clean. I’d do a one-man waltz whilst wiping and a salsa whilst sweeping, singing a ballad all the while.”
“Amazing!”
“So, here. If you just think of it like you’ve become a dancer, it’s not so bad, right?”
“Uuu… Well, if you put it that way Dylan-san… If Dylan-san really wants to see my body so badly he’d go to these lengths…”
This again?
“There’s a big advantage in this for Tina as well, you know?”
I don’t really want to see Tina’s bare body.
No, seriously. I don’t actually want to worship that chest of hers. For real.
“Advantage…?”
If you just try it, you’d understand… Is what I want to say, but I can’t.
If a person doesn’t know what they’re striving for, it’s hard for efforts to bear fruit.
They’d be constantly wondering why they’re even doing it in the first place.
If the person themselves doesn’t get it, the effort will just be wasted.
An effort with thought and understanding will blossom into results, but a blind effort will lead to nothing.
So, I told her.
“Tina, I want you to remember the ‘feeling of being a jester’ by wearing this.”
“Being a jester…?”
“This is just my take on it, but my ‘dancing’ and the ‘dance of battle’ are pretty similar. There are lots of similarities, like maintaining your balance, knowing where to step and even methods of moving and standing still.”
Hmm hmm, Tina nods.
I keep going.
“Tina, you play the role of an agility based tank, so it will be a big advantage if you can learn how a jester dances as well. In addition――”
“In addition, what?”
“If you understand how a jester moves better, we can deepen our understanding as a party as well.”
“As a… party…”
Tina muttered the phrase.
“I see!!”
She beamed at me.
“Dylan-san, you really sound like a sage!”
I laughed.
“Well, I am the Great Sage, after all.”
“Yeah! Great Sage-sama!”
“Now hurry up and get cleaning.”
“Okaaay! I’ll just change my clothes!”
She dashed out of the room, then after I heard the sound of clattering weapons and armour from next door, she emerged back into the living room.
Well, not really, she just poked her head around the door. She hid her body.
“Uuu, do I really have to…”
“Don’t get shy. You’re a jester now.”
“A jester…!”
It seemed like a switch was flicked on inside of Tina.
And just like that,
“Taa daaaaa♪! Ha!? My body just moved on it’s own!”
Tina jumped out with that sound and started dancing.
Her boobs, waist and hips were all in plain view.
Everything was swinging.
Everything was bouncing.
I began to feel a bit remorseful for my sins.
As Tina’s face turned beet red.
“I-I-I-I-I-I-I’m not embarrassed at all!!!”
She shouted so completely unconvincingly. Well, at least she’s still got her spirit.
“But, um, can’t I just wear a normal maid uniform on top of this?”
“I don’t think you can.”
I took out a regular maid outfit from the closet and went to give it to Tina, but she froze when she tried to reach out her hand.
“Eh, huh, my body won’t move!?”
“Even if I put it on you by force, it would be useless.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’d repel the clothes.”
“Repel the clothes!?”
“Yeah, like with a riiiiip, see?”
“Riiiip, huh!?
“It’d tear it all up.”
“Has that happened to you before?”
Wrong.
“Anyways, this thing bears a cur- COUGH COUGH. A magic that activates when you wear it.”
“Um, this curse, you can lift it can’t you…?”
“Yeah, I can. It’s not a curse though.”
“You’re so stubborn…”
“I’ll take the lead, okay? ――Let’s go♪”
I took a broom and took a step.
From where my foot touched the ground a little star popped out and a sound played. It’s like I stepped on a piano key.
I took a few more steps and every time I did notes began to play, forming into a melody.
The half naked shortstack behind me got into the swing of things thanks to the clothing and started to follow my rhythm.
“Tatataーn♪ Tatataーn♪ Ta~n♪”
Eventually, she managed to keep in time with me and we started keeping step together. It became a dance and eventually the jester skill activated――The Subliminal Dance.
“Ah! Aha! Amazing, this is amazing! I-I’m really dancing!”
“Ooh, not bad!”
“My body is so light! It’s like I’m a feather! Ahh, I see, I can move so much better this way!”
She really caught on quick.
“That’s it, keep it up. Nice, you’ve got a good sense of rhythm.”
“Yeah! Dylan-san!”
Tina kept dancing, piano notes playing from under her steps, she swept and mopped through the entire room.
If she’s already this good, I can just let Tina do as she likes.
I sat back down on the sofa and ate the gelato that was almost beginning to melt.
Four hours later.
Tina had made the entire mansion sparkling clean.
“I’m done, Dylan-saaan! Wh, uwaaah!?”
She was careless right at the end and tripped over her own feet, diving chest first right into me.
Or rather, right into my face.
As my face was buried beneath Tina’s tits, I wondered to myself ‘Just like dancing and magic tricks, I wonder if the jester’s lucky perv condition also persists after a job change?’
Ah, what softness.
The next day.
“Um, Dylan-san…”
“What’s up?”
“…I went up two levels.”
“Oooh, great! I guess it was worth it then.”
“Uuuu～～～～I’m not really sure about this, but thank you very much!! But, please forget everything about yesterday!!”
Tina was all flustered.
Her breasts swung from side to side as she panicked.
As much as I’d like to, I don’t think I can promise that.