Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Look, this is how Allen uses it!
Time goes back to one minute ago.
When Rudy prepared the bath water, he immediately took off all his clothes, but unlike what he imagined, Sylphy was dragging her feet and didn't even look at him.
"What's wrong? You'll catch a cold if you don't take off your clothes, and you're covered in mud. Are you going to keep wearing them?"
"Huh? Ah."
Sylphy stiffened her body and faced the wall.
"Ah? You can't be unable to take off your clothes by yourself, eh, I really can't do anything about you."
Rudy walked naked to Sylphy's side.
"Come on, raise your hands, I'll help you take them off."
"Hey hey. I—"
"What do you mean, take them off quickly. Do you want me to call Allen over?!"
"Ah? No! No!"
Rudy pulled for a long time, and found that Sylphy didn't give him a chance to take off her clothes, so he sneered.
"If you don't want to take off your shirt, then take off your pants first!"
After saying that, he pulled Sylphy's pants hard. Sylphy pulled her pants back in panic and screamed.
"Ah!!!"
Rudy covered his ears and stepped back a few steps, about to complain, but then he heard hurried footsteps on the stairs. From the sound, he could tell it wasn't Lilia, Paul, or Senis—those three had distinct walking patterns. This was different.
Rudy's eyes lit up.
He immediately rushed to the door and squatted down, ready to spring like a predator. He turned his head and whispered excitedly to Sylphy.
"It seems Sylphy has no experience bathing with boys. I'll take off Allen's pants later, and you'll definitely be able to join us happily."
"Haha, Lord Allen, this time I'll definitely win!"
Thump, thump, thump!
The footsteps were almost at the door.
Rudy saw Sylphy turn her head toward him. He grinned in a wide arc, revealing a lewd smile.
"Sylphy, watch out."
Bang!
The door was kicked open!
Good opportunity!
"This is how Allen uses it!!"
Allen looked at Rudy. Rudy looked up at Allen. Sylphy was facing the wall in the corner.
The three of them froze in strange silence.
But the most shocked wasn't Allen.
It was Rudy.
He looked up, mouth agape, eyes dull.
'How could he be this excited? Could it be… Allen likes a shota? He doesn't like Sylphy, but me?!'
Allen looked down at Rudy, face full of panic. He didn't even have time to care about the strange, socially-dead moment. He grabbed his pants and yanked Rudy up from the floor.
"Hurry! Put on your clothes!!!"
Rudy struggled in fear.
"Ah?! Why are you still wearing clothes, pervert! No! Brother Allen!! Put me down!!!"
Allen angrily dragged Rudy closer, gritting his teeth and whispering something only they could hear.
"Sylphy is a girl!"
"No, Allen? Eh? Eh? Wait, what did you say? Eh?"
Rudy turned to Sylphy, who was squatting in the corner, holding her head. In that moment, he understood.
'Sylphy! It's Sylphy, not Sylph! No wonder her nickname is Rufei! No wonder I always thought she was too pretty! I should've realized sooner! Ahhhhh! She's a girl, and I just stripped naked in front of her!!'
He screamed.
"Clothes, give me my clothes!!!"
"Put them on!"
"There's mud on them!!!"
"You care about mud right now?!"
"Oh right, no! Wait—it's too far! I know! Take off your new pants and give them to me!! You've been seen naked too!"
Allen: ????
"Aren't you seen naked too?!"
"Oh, that's true."
"Then why are you screaming?!"
"Because of you! Why are you so proud?! It's scary!!"
"That's because I've aroused my fighting spirit!"
"You're lying! You didn't look like that when Paul was aroused!"
"How do you know Paul wasn't like that?!"
Lilia, who had rushed over, stood stunned at the end of the corridor.
Behind her, Paul's face was dark and his fists were trembling with rage.
At lunch
Sylphy didn't join them.
Allen and Rudy, both with swollen foreheads, sat silently at the dining table.
It was absurd—two 30-something souls were being scolded by a 24-year-old man. They couldn't be more humiliated.
"Have you had enough fun? If you want to argue, fine, but how did it become a debate about my fighting spirit?! And you even called me by name! I think you're itching to skip sword training again."
"Sorry, Master/Father."
Allen and Rudy said in unison.
"Keep calling me Paul! Got it?!"
"Sorry."
In unison ×2.
Senis squinted at the two with amused eyes. She seemed to enjoy the chaos of their daily lives.
She turned to Sylphy.
"It must be hard making friends with those two."
Sylphy, sitting upright, quickly waved her hands.
"No! No!! They're really nice to me!"
Senis smiled and looked at Paul.
"Okay, dear, let's eat."
Paul glared at Allen and Rudy.
"Alright, you two eat too. And no playing tomorrow! Sword training with me!"
"Okay, Master/Father."
In unison ×3.
Allen and Rudy exchanged glances and sat down.
Allen reached over and grabbed a piece of bread that Sylphy couldn't reach, then silently opened a dialogue with the system.
'Just now, you reminded me Rudy's favorability might reset to zero. So, is there a penalty if it hits zero?'
[No.]
'Will it lower the evaluation?'
[No, evaluations are based on a point system.]
'Then what did you mean by "fend for yourself"?!'
[Because I thought it would be very entertaining. If the host ends up with Rudeus, that would be a "deep-level" participation in Reincarnation Without a Job. I'd love to see that happen.]
'…Fuck.'
While Allen was mentally roasting the system, Rudy snuck glances at both Sylphy and Allen.
'So, Allen already realized Sylphy is a girl. Damn, he made a move so early. Eh? Wait… that means Loki is mine, right?!'
Grinning, Rudy raised both corners of his lips into his classic pervy smile.