The Bond That Even Gods Cannot Break

Observing the counter that was serving as time, Sophia subtracted the previous time from the current one and realized that two long hours had passed.

Still lying on the musty bed, the girl began to think about what had happened as she stared at the brown-haired girl sleeping in front of her.

“We... really did that, didn’t we?”

Although in the beginning they were doing what was necessary to fulfill the daily mission, after a certain moment, both only had the desire to satisfy each other as a priority.

Swallowing hard, she remembered how she was calling the name of the girl next to her. As she felt her face heat up, she began to notice things about the girl in front of her that she hadn't noticed before. Melissa's short hair came down in long locks, and even though it covered her face, the way it slid down her thin nose and even how it messed up over her shoulder, looked beautiful.

Sophia never thought she was homosexual. Although she has never shown desire for men, she has never shown it for women.

However, when facing Melissa, her heart seemed to beat stronger for a reason she didn't know.

This can't be right...?

Reaching out her hand to touch Melissa, the girl ended up putting a lot of force into her movement, and the amber eyes opened slightly.

“What are you doing, Snowcurls?”

“Huh?”

The confused response was not due to being discovered trying to touch her.

“Why did you stop calling me by my name, Melissa?”

Sitting down, she stared in bewilderment at the girl, who began to sit down as well.

“I... I will call you that when I feel like it.” Looking away, Melissa continued in a soft tone. “And how long do you plan to keep showing your body like this?”

Although she was angry about the first part of the sentence, upon analyzing the second part, the girl finally realized that she hadn't tidied up her clothes until now.

“Uh... Ah...!”

At record speed, Sophia corrected her condition and arranged her clothes on her body. Deciding to leave the way Melissa called her for another time, she decided to focus on another important matter.

“We need to find a way to wash our clothes and soon”

Turning back around, Melissa questioned Sophia's inquiry for just a second, before noticing the way she was crossing her legs uneasily.

“…”

"Say something!"

The silence in this case was more painful than a sarcastic comment.

Although normally Melissa wouldn't resist teasing the girl, it was completely impossible in this situation.

This... is my fault, isn't it?

With her only free hand on her face, she began to despair about what she was going to do. Melissa's mind raced to find a solution, and her voice finally came out slowly.

“W-We can use the water of the lake and then dry it on the fire.”

When looking at the girl, she noticed how exasperated her look seemed.

“Doing it this way will damage the fabric even more..., but considering that we already dry the clothes on our own bodies, I can't worry about that now.”

Standing up and waiting for Melissa to follow her, she positioned herself next to the small lake.

The brown-haired girl believed Sophia's silence meant she wanted privacy, so she turned away. However, she felt the hands connecting them being slowly pulled away.

"Melissa"

Hearing her name come out of Sophia's mouth seemed strange, not because she disliked it, but because it made her feel her heart react.

“W-What was it?” Still afraid, Melissa turned around and was greeted by Sophia's serious look.

She didn't know why Sophia was so serious. Was the girl angry about what had happened? Melissa almost cursed herself for hoping in her heart that that wasn't the case.

“My pantyhose are fishnet style”

The random phrase made her feel lost.

“Huh?”

Still confused, she just stood frozen when she saw Sophia's skirt falling to the floor.

“The fabric is very… wet. I can’t take it off with just one hand.”

Since Sophia had her back turned, she could see an angle she had never seen before.

A slim waist and round bottom were encased in black, textured pantyhose. At the intersection of the two mounds, a black panty with small gray ruffles was positioned.

Melissa remained frozen, trying to understand the situation, but Sophia just closed her eyes without saying anything else.

The girl felt like she had done this several times in the last few days, but swallowing hard once more brought her trembling body closer to Sophia. Crouching behind Sophia, her eyes were now at the same level as the girl's buttocks. Her gaze scanned the clothes. Needless to say, the girl who wears ankle socks had never even gone near a pantyhose.

“You wear clothes that are too mature for your age, you know?” Melissa murmured, staring at the dark fabric of the underwear that contrasted with her ivory skin.

“I was never able to choose my clothes, whether to sleep or go out; the maid who took care of me took care of that, and my opinion didn't matter. But... one day, I managed to get this from an online store by asking them to deliver it to the school.

Although Melissa didn't want to play at this moment, if she didn't somehow relieve her tension, she would go crazy. However, Melissa did not expect Sophia to respond to her provocation by telling her about herself and, on top of that, something that would be completely disapproved of.

“So you’re a bad girl after all.” With a provocative smile, she replied to the girl.

Even though she had built up some courage, Melissa wanted to be allowed to turn her face away, but what was happening was partially her fault. After stating that they would be together, Melissa could not trample on the trust of the girl, who had given up her shame for the two of them.

“The zipper is in the front, right? Slide it”

“Umu...”

In response to her words, the sound of a zipper being opened occurred in the cave, and with a concentration she had never exercised before, she used her left hand to pull one side of the pantyhose while Sophia would pull the other side.

"Your turn"

"What?"

Before she started, Sophia's voice reached her.

“I told you this before; I don't know anything about you, Melissa. But I want to. Don’t misunderstand; I didn’t talk about myself as some kind of trade; I just want you to understand me, too.”

For the first time, a blue gaze turned to her, and she stared at her intently. Her eyes, which resembled the sky, were teary, and her mouth was tightly closed. However, Sophia continued to stare at the girl, who was in a position that left her completely embarrassed.

With her left hand still gripping Sophia's waist, the brown-haired girl looked away for just a second, before looking back into her blue eyes.

“You wanted to know why I learned how to make fire, right?”

The voice stopped as if she needed to gather her courage, but as if she wanted her story to be known, she soon returned.

“Some nights, the caregivers didn’t bother to turn on the orphanage’s heating. I was the oldest; if I couldn't light the fire with what we had, the little ones would die.” The story was short, and it didn't seem like she wanted to say anything more than that.

The silver-haired girl prided herself on being observant; she had conjectures about Melissa's life based on her behavior. Although something like that was in her deductions, in a place in her heart, she wished it weren't that.

"What's your favorite hobby? Mine, by the way, is paleography."

"I don’t even know what that word means, but if I had to pick something... It’s not exactly a hobby, but I enjoy tasting drinks and experimenting with different combinations."

"But Melissa, you just came of age this year! How long have you been drinking illegally?!"

"I'm not talking about alcohol, you idiot! Did you know? Even something as simple as milk turns creamy if you heat it up, and that completely changes its taste."

"Oh, I’ve studied that phenomenon before. It happens becau—" Before Sophia could start explaining, she felt herself being pulled by Melissa, a frustrated sigh reaching her ears.

"You don’t plan on keeping me in this position any longer, do you?"

"R-Right, my pantyhose..." Sophia gave a small embarrassed smile and spoke softly. "Thanks for telling me about yourself."

It was just a few words, but the amount she knew about Melissa increased tremendously.

"Alright, let’s finish this.”

As Sophia herself had previously pointed out, her fabric seemed to be very close to the skin. An effect similar to pulling a piece of tape off a piece of paper occurred, and the girl winced to avoid complaining about the slight stinging.

When the pantyhose finished sliding over the feet, only a slightly red skin was left.

“You can take care of the rest, right?”

“Y-Yes”

Turning around, Melissa waited for Sophia to finish taking off her pants and cleaning both pieces of clothing in the lake. Afterwards, she put on her skirt again and placed her clothes on the floor near the fire.

Once again sitting on the musty bed, Melissa and Sophia stared at the floating window.

[Daily Mission completed. Do you want to redeem the rewards?]

[Yes] [No]

Apparently, certain system options could only be accessed if both parties agreed. When both girls chose “Yes”, new panels appeared.

[+1 Experience Points to all assigned attributes.]

[Random item box acquired]

As shown, when looking at the statistics, all statuses increased by one digit.

Name: Melissa/Sophia

Race: Human    Level: 3

Class: Hedonistic Ritualist Secondary Class: None

HP: 120/130 Strength: 11 Agility: 11 Resistance: 16 Intelligence: 16 Vitality: 13 Mana: 0/10

 

Staring at the panel, Sophia noticed something.

"Even without the secondary class, we now have a 10 mana points limit," the value that had always been 0 had increased by 10 without any explanation.

"Perhaps it was because one of the other stats increased. My guess would be 'intelligence'," Melissa deduced.

Upon hearing Melissa's words, Sophia nodded. At the moment, the only way for the girls to attack monsters is linked to the secondary class, which depends solely on their mana. Since they couldn't get weapons, they concluded that they should focus on increasing their vitality and intelligence.

Now it was time to deal with the second item. Appearing in the air, a small red box emitted a glow reminiscent of a light show.

"So, this is an item box?" Sophia questioned.

"It seems so." 

Melissa grabbed the floating box with her free hand and studied it. Although it looked like a small wrapped present, there didn't seem to be a conventional way to open it. After staring at it for a few seconds, a small panel appeared.

[Do you want to open the random item box?]

As always, the options appeared. Turning to Sophia and showing her the panel, both girls nodded, and the box glowed before disappearing. Slowly, the bright red light drained away, and Melissa felt something heavy in her hand.

The object had a circular base that appeared to be made of some metal, slightly larger than a palm.Atop it sat a hollow glass cone, approximately 20 centimeters in height. Side branches in the form of attached stars seemed to serve as ornaments, encircling the glass like a serpent from the base to the top. Inside, there was a small blue candle, matching the white color of the entire structure.

With puzzled looks at the small lantern now in Melissa's hand, Sophia remarked.

"It really seems to follow the principle of randomness."

Reaching out to the object, she began to slide her finger over the cold metal.

"It seems to be a lantern with European characteristics, the details are quite refined," Sophia observed.

"But in our situation, its beauty doesn't matter, it's garbage, right?" Melissa questioned.

When she imagined a random item, Melissa was certain that a weapon or equipment would come. However, upon looking at the seemingly useless small object in her hand, she couldn't help but sigh.

"Let's not conclude anything before we carefully analyze it. Even though it looks strange, it came from the system, so it could be important."

Holding the lantern by the top handle, Melissa noticed that it was possible to detach the top part. Removing the metal cap, she had a clear view of the extinguished blue candle inside the lantern and had an idea.

"What are you doing?" Melissa murmured discontentedly as she realized she was being dragged by the girl to the campfire.

"I want to try lighting this," Sophia replied calmly.

Carefully, Sophia picked up a small stick from the campfire and brought the flame made by Melissa to the candle. The moment the orange flame made contact with the wax, the small flame instantly turned blue.

"!?"

The girl's startle wasn't due to the change in the color of the flame, but rather the fact that the previously removed lid was drawn back like a magnet and sealed the lantern again in just one second.

"Are you okay?!"

Pulling the girl who fell to the ground onto her lap, Melissa searched for any wounds on her body.

"I-I'm fine, look at that!"

In front of the lantern with a blue flame, a translucent panel was positioned.

---

[Eternal Flame Lantern]

Rarity: B

The Eternal Flame Lantern accepted the offered flame and devoted itself to its master. Once lit, the flame of the Eternal Flame Lantern will never extinguish. Carrying it with you will allow you to share the Lantern power.

+20 resistance +10 intelligence.

---

The jaws of both girls dropped as they watched the blue glow escaping from the candle.

"Holy shit..."

"Mind your manners!"

Using her hand to pinch the cheeks of the brown-haired girl who still had her in her arms, Sophia continued.

"It seems that the conditions for making the item work were indeed to light the candle."

Noticing the fingers pressing on her mouth, Melissa frowned but didn't complain. Without moving too far from Sophia, the girl carefully held the lantern by the handle, and a change occurred in their stats. Just as indicated, the girls' resistance and intelligence had a bonus of (+20) and (+10) respectively, reaching the numbers 36 and 26.

"Do you feel any different? Try punching me."

"I'm not going to do that, dummy," Sophia retorted to Melissa's request, noticing that now both of their mana values were at 110. "It seems that for every point above 15 in intelligence, we gain 10 mana points."

"Remind me to take some time to teach you how to swear later. For now, let's test whatever this lantern does. Do you want to try this time?"

Nodding in response, Sophia held the lantern in her lap. Similarly to how Melissa had explained, the knowledge of what to do seemed to have been engraved in her brain as if the steps to perform an action formed a logical sequence.

Closing her eyes and turning towards the lake, the girl extended her right hand and took a deep breath. The heat in her chest wasn't of the same nature as when she was with Melissa. The flames in her mind seemed to have desires of their own and only brought destruction. The fear of hurting someone or worse, taking a life, was something she always wanted to avoid thinking about since the moment she stepped into this dungeon. The girl who hesitated to kill insects was being placed in a situation where she needed to dirty her hands.

I won't run from this. If this is what I need to do to keep her alive, I don't mind getting blood on my hands.

The flames resonated in her mind like voices. The concept of mana rooted itself in her soul, and she could feel the heat coming from the lantern seemed to await the orders of its master.

"Yay!"

With her best war cry, she released the condensed energy in her body. Exploding from the palm of her hands, a bolt of blue flame streaked across the lake emitting a sharp buzz, and collided with the cave wall. The blue glow expanded across the rocky wall, and at the point of impact, a burn the size of a ball smoldered amidst the embers.

"Ah... Aaah..." Breathing heavily, the girl heard an impressed whistle from the girl beside her.

"Good job, now that's what I call a deadly spell," Melissa chuckled, studying the status panel and noticing that the attack had consumed 12 mana points.

"T-Thank you."

Getting up, Sophia moved towards her clothes, which were already dry. After dressing again, she turned to Melissa. For the first time, a fierce smile graced her face.

"It's time for us to leave this cave."