[ERO QUEST: Get Handsy!]

  [OBJECTIVE: Find someone to touch their private parts!]

  [REWARD: +500 ERO points]

  "…"

  […]

  "…"

  […]

  "…"

  […]

  "I only need three hundred ERO! Why are you dropping this bomb on me now?! Don't you have an easier quest with fewer points?!"

  [The System warns that if it starts giving in to every complaint, the user may end up getting spoiled]

  "Spoiled with what?! With living a normal life without absurd quests?!"

  [This is the quest available. End of discussion]

  "Why did I read that in my mom's voice… Aaaah! What am I supposed to do now?!"

  Hiromi covered her face with her hands and flopped onto the bed at the inn. She'd fully intended to earn the points she was missing today so she could buy her harem outfit, but the ERO System had just dropped a mission bomb on her.

  "According to Ruby, the next harem admission exam is practically here… Would she let me touch her crotch if I asked? After what she did in the barrel, I feel like she owes me…"

  [The System warns that it would not count. The readers have already gotten a big enough dose of lesbian content for now]

  "You and Ruby never get tired of that 'novel' joke! I've had enough of you for now!"

  Hiromi angrily closed the holographic screen and got up from the bed.

  "No other choice… I'll go to The Tavern tonight and see if there's some man drunk enough to let me touch his… his member… Why does it feel like that might be a crime?" Hiromi tilted her head, thinking. She came from an all-girls school and didn't know much about nightlife. "No, what am I even saying? Men like it when you touch their… their… thing! That's what Shizuka said!"

  Hiromi put her hands on her slim hips and nodded to herself, determined.

  After buying Ruby a few supplies, since she was hiding until the harem admission exam, Hiromi would spend the rest of the day practicing pickup lines in front of the mirror.

  "It won't be like that Bushama guy from the produce stand! This time I'll be a true Casanova woman! I don't really know who Casanova was, but my grandma liked him…"

  ***

  It was the time of day when The Tavern actually lived up to its name. Alcohol flowed across the tables, and toasts were followed by chants and unrestrained laughter.

  "Alright, I need to find someone drunk enough… I feel like I'm exactly the kind of person Ruby told me not to approach at bars…"

  Hiromi didn't take long to spot a lone man drinking on his feet, off to the side of the bar.

  He was older and not attractive at all. But she wasn't here to find love, and the way he slumped against the bar made it clear he was about to pass out on his feet, which made him an ideal target.

  "Why does that sound so awful in my head?" Hiromi let out a resigned sigh. "Whatever, anything to get back to my world…"

  She started walking toward him, mortified, but the fact that she was so close to reaching her first goal gave her strength and made her bolder.

  "Hi… um… handsome! How's your night going?!"

  Hiromi drew closer, hesitant but not backing down, and spoke to the man who was practically leaning on his drink.

  "Handsome? Which part of me is handsome?"

  The man, whose face was even redder than Hiromi's (from the alcohol), didn't even react to the advance of the exotic blue-eyed girl. He simply answered with a question of his own.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "Um… you have really nice eyes!" Hiromi refused to give up. She meant to see this through.

  "…"

  "…"

  "Thanks, my mother used to say the same."

  After a long, awkward pause, caused by the fact that he was more asleep than awake, he accepted the compliment and took another swig from his beer mug.

  "And why is a man with such handsome eyes drinking here all by himself?"

  Clinging to that accepted compliment as if her life depended on it, Hiromi kept pressing forward.

  "I'm drowning my sorrows… Hic…"

  "Oh, I'm sorry… Did something really serious happen?"

  Hiromi started to think her chances of completing the quest tonight were slipping away. No matter how badly she wanted to return to her world, she wasn't going to take advantage of someone who was suffering.

  "No, no one died, hic… but it was horrible, hic… I had a terrible date!"

  "A… terrible… date…?"

  Completing the quest tonight was suddenly back on the table.

  "Yeah, hic… you won't believe it, but I took the most beautiful woman from my favorite bar back to my place that night!"

  "Uh… c-congratulations?"

  "There's nothing to congratulate! Hic!"

  "Wh-what happened?!"

  "We had sex until dawn!"

  "And that's bad? I mean… I also think people should get to know each other better before doing those things, that's true."

  "Get to know each other better?! Hic… You're absolutely right!!"

  "I-I am?"

  "Yes! Hic… If I hadn't been so drunk… hic… and I'd taken the time to get to know her better… I would've realized she was a man in disguise! I only found out in the morning!"

  "A man? W-well… some people are into that… But finding out in the morning… isn't that a bit late?"

  "Hic! That's why he was so insistent on anal sex!"

  "A-anal sex…" Hiromi's ears turned red all the way to the tips. "Well, if… if you did it from behind, and it was dark… and you had alcohol in your system… it's understandable that you didn't notice… You don't have to blame yourself so much…"

  "Ugh… my ass still hurts…"

  "You were the one on the receiving end?!"

  "On top of that, he wants me to meet his parents next week… Hic… I told him I get nervous when things move that fast, hic… but he won't listen…"

  "You're actually dating now too?!"

  But the man didn't say anything else. His last words had already come out half-asleep, and when he finished, he didn't open his eyes again. All Hiromi could hear was his calm breathing.

  "He fell asleep standing up…"

  "…"

  "…"

  "…"

  "Well, I heard the whole story… You could say we're friends now, right? I guess he won't get mad if I touch him a little… forgive me, drunk stranger…" Hiromi looked to both sides before stepping closer to the sleeping man. "And forgive me, the drunk stranger's partner… It'll be just a little, and over the clothes…"

  "Go ahead… go ahead… do whatever you want with my life…"

  Hiromi almost toppled backward from the shock, but the man still had his eyes closed.

  "What was that? Was he talking to me? Does that mean I have permission?"

  "…"

  "I'll take it as a yes… Alright then… if you'll excuse me…"

  ***

  [ERO SYSTEM NOTICE]

  [Content censored by the Alasta Administration]

  [Impact on the plot: None]

  [Would you like to unlock the spicy scenes on Patreon to support the novel?]

  ***

  "…"

  "…"

  Hiromi was left speechless. With half a steak sticking out of her mouth, the same girl as usual stood in front of her. Her extremely long blond hair was worn loose in a cascade down her back except for the side twintails. Her lilac eyes were fixed on a single point.

  "But you're banned from coming in here! What table did you steal that steak from?!"

  She followed the blonde's gaze and realized it was fixed on her own hand, which was rubbing the sleeping drunk man's crotch.

  "No… No! This… this is… a misunderstanding!"

  She tried to explain as she yanked her hand back at lightning speed, but no words came out. Her head felt like it was about to explode from embarrassment. Red up to her ears, she could've sworn steam was coming out of them.

  Slurp!

  "Tsk, tsk, tsk…"

  That "tsk, tsk, tsk", right after she swallowed the rest of the steak in one bite, felt more brutal than ever to Hiromi.

  "Hey! Miss! My coworker recognized you! He said you have a tab to pay!"

  In the distance, they heard a waiter heading their way, and that was the cue for the blonde to take off at an impressive speed. Even though she was a bit shorter than Hiromi, her legs were as long as a model's, and it was safe to say they weren't just for show.

  "Miss?! Wait! Somebody stop that young lady!"

  But despite the waiter's efforts, the dine-and-dash girl wasn't just short and slim, she was also incredibly agile. Before long, her small figure had vanished into The Tavern's crowd.

  "…"

  Hiromi took the chance to move away from the sleeping man as well.

  ***

  It was already quite late in Alasta, but thanks to satellite surveillance cameras, autonomous drone patrols, and the ever-reliable camel guards with their feared pointy spears, the city's streets couldn't have been safer.

  Hiromi walked slowly back to the inn, her eyes fixed on her hand.

  "It still feels kind of warm…"

  Remembering what had happened, she felt the heat wrap around her face all over again. "This is all that adult shop's fault! What if I turn into a pervert? Who's going to want to marry me?"

  That was when she stopped short and gave herself a couple of slaps on the cheeks.

  "Now's not the time to feel depressed!" she exclaimed with renewed energy, and quickened her pace.

  She wasn't sure whether the quest had counted, but she didn't have the strength to deal with it at that moment, so she kept holding back the urge to check.

  But once she was in the quiet of her room, Hiromi opened the holographic screen of her ERO System.

  [+500 ERO points]

  [----------------STATUS--------------]

  [NAME: ------ Shirakiyo Hiromi]

  [ALLURE: ----------------------500]

  [TRAITS: ----Exhibitionist Lv.6]

  [TITLES: ---------------------None]

  [ERO POINTS: --------------2200]

  She let out a sigh as usual, but this time it was one of relief.

  "Looks like I'll be able to go with Ruby to the exam," she said with a smile on her face.

  The smile didn't last long, though, once she remembered what she was getting herself into.

  "Uuuuu… Is this really a good idea?"