[Vol. 4 pt. 33]

After fooling around with the three girls some more, Lily had to leave to help out her grandma with some things, Akorya decided to take the opportunity to make herself some lunch, and Meadow wanted to grind more so that she could level up and hang out with us using her avatar in the higher-level zones since that was where we’d be going.

As for me, I decided to hang out in Cani’s restaurant with some pie while I thought about things seeing as how I didn’t exactly have anything else to do.

I had to admit that I was horrible about doing the things that I wanted to do. It didn’t help that I had already fucked the dragon which made me feel like I made some progress toward my goal, and that was more than enough to satisfy me and let me feel like I deserved a break.

Not that I really needed a break from anything in the first place. All I was doing was playing a game, hanging out with my girlfriends, and having sex. I had more than enough videos to upload online for a couple of weeks without having to record new content—all thanks to having a backlog of videos and ideas—which meant that… yeah, life was easy.

But I still felt like taking a break from my “quest.”

Really, as much as I enjoyed the idea of becoming Lust’s Champion or whatever… there were probably better people than me for that out there. I just wanted to have fun. It wasn’t that I was entirely disinterested in the idea, but it felt like it should have probably gone to somebody who was actually more interested in actively pursuing that goal than me… who basically only went after it to get it over with. I had the option to do it, and thus that made me want to do it, but only barely.

It was like being in the mood for apples.

I was rarely in the mood for apples. If I bought apples, I’d typically buy a whole bag of them, eat one, and then lose interest. But because I had a whole bag of apples sitting in the fridge and I didn’t want them to go to waste, I’d force myself to eat them just to get it over with while procrastinating for as long as possible, sometimes until they became a bit questionable to actually eat.

Becoming Lust’s Champion felt the same way. I was hyped for it at first. It sounded cool, exciting, fun, unique—all that stuff. But over time, it turned into a bag of apples sitting in the fridge that I felt obligated to eat just because they were there, not because I actually cared about it.

It just felt like it wouldn’t be right to be the one who gets the option of becoming Lust’s Champion only to not even follow through with it. And if I did become Lust’s Champion, what was that going to be like? What was going to happen or change?

Sophie, Gluttony’s Champion, just… chilled out in the middle of nowhere, basically. All she did was cook and eat. She only really came out of her place if she was invited to as far as I could tell. So, maybe things wouldn’t change too much.

But if they weren’t going to change, what was the point? I didn’t exactly want anything to change, but I also didn’t want to go through all that effort for nothing. And as far as I was aware… Sophie being Gluttony’s Champion basically just meant that she had access to some extra crafting recipes that seemingly nobody else had access to. If that was all I was going to get access to, was it even worth it at all?

I really wasn’t the right person for the role. Somebody more suitable would have been more hyped up about the possibilities and unique opportunity of being the first person to experience being Lust’s Champion.

Why couldn’t I get more excited about it?

The only reason I could think of was… basically, I was already perfectly satisfied with how things were. But didn’t I already come to that conclusion before I forced myself to get it over with?

Maybe that was just what I needed to do. Every time I felt unmotivated to do something, I had to realize again that I was already satisfied with things before I could force myself to actually go and—

“What’s up?” Cani asked, her voice snapping me out of my thoughts. “You’ve been staring at your empty plate for a few minutes now. You find the meaning of life or something in it?”

Admittedly, it was kind of embarrassing being called out like that. I had no idea I was just… spacing out staring at an empty plate. Well, it wasn’t entirely empty. There were a couple of crumbs atop it thanks to the slice of pie that she served me, which I already finished due to it being absolutely delicious. “Yeah. I found out that the meaning of life is pie. Without pie, life is meaningless.”

Cani offered a small smile before opening up her menu so that she could place another slice of pie on my plate. All it took was a single press of a button on her end to instantly teleport a slice of pie to my plate. Thank you, technology. “I figured you’d want another slice,” she said. “But really, is everything alright? I don’t need my landlord quitting on me or anything.”

“Quitting? What makes you think I’d do that?” I got started on the next slice of pie right after asking that.

“Well, it’s just… I used to play another game kind of like this, but without the dicks everywhere, where me and a friend owned a restaurant in a city together. Knew the guy ever since I was a kid. Always played games together. Anyways, he started doing what you’re doing. Instead of actually doing fun stuff in the game, he’d just… log in and then laze around without actually doing anything. He’d sit at a table, eat some food, and then look exactly like you did. Turned out that he just lost interest in games and they weren’t fun to him anymore, so he gave up on them. Stopped logging in entirely soon after that.”

That was a pretty classic story of friendship in online games, unfortunately. “You still friends with him?”

“Not really. It’s not like we ended on a bad note or anything, we just… sort of drifted away. He got busy with real life, even adopted a kid with his wife, while I just… wanted to spend all my free time playing video games. We just went completely separate directions in life. Felt like I was the one always reaching out to him first whenever I saw him online, so I stopped trying to poke him every chance I got… and that was that. He never tried messaging me first. So, that was that. Your expression reminds me of his, so… don’t just leave. I’d have to find a new place to set up shop in. Oh, or you can hand the dungeon over to me. You can leave if you do that.”

I reached over to flick her arm before saying, “I’m not going anywhere. I promise you that I have no interest in stopping playing anytime soon. I was just thinking about… well, what I actually want to do in the game. Obviously, I want to have my dungeon here, and I want to hang out with all of you, but I’m already content. I feel like I just want to keep things how they are. Part of me wants to see the dungeon grow and feature all the ideas I’ve had for it, but I lack the… motivation to actually do all of that. It would be fun to see, but I don’t actually care about getting it done. You know, like with you and your restaurant in here. If I had to run it myself, I would never get around to it no matter how much I might like the idea of it.”

“Huh. Makes sense. Well, I think I know what you need then.”

“Yeah?”

“Yep. You’re a manager. Or… what’s above manager? An executive? I’m not sure, but I’ll go with executive for now. You’re an executive. You need managers working underneath you. You come up with the ideas, and then you provide others with the resources to get them done. You want a restaurant? Then you hire me and let me set up a restaurant. You want a bunch of different, themed dungeon floors with a ton of different monsters? Then you hire somebody who is passionate about interior decorating and monster fucking.”

“But that’s… so… capitalist. Come on, I can’t just… hire other people to do all the work for me while I sit back and enjoy the results without putting in any work myself.”

“Like it or not, but you have a seriously rare resource here. There are plenty of others like me who will happily work for you, basically for free, just for a chance to play around with it seeing as how we’d probably never get an opportunity at any other time in the game.”

That couldn’t have sounded more disgusting to me even if it was true. I absolutely hated the idea of just… sitting at the top giving other people the privilege of working in my dungeon. It wasn’t like I could actually reward their labor in any meaningful way, either. They would basically be getting paid in either exposure or experience, which was absolutely horrible. I didn’t want a dungeon staffed by what were essentially unpaid interns.

But at the same time, it was just a game and, like Cani said, people were more than happy to do something just for the experience. What were games for if not the experiences within them?

“That’s a lot of expressions you’re switching between,” Cani said. “Internally struggling or something?”

“Yeah,” I answered and took another bite of my pie. “You could say that. It just wouldn’t feel right to basically manage a bunch of people, but… I can’t deny that it would probably work best for me. Hire people who are passionate and want to have fun managing the dungeon, and then I support them however I can, but mostly leave them to do their own thing.”

“The way I look at it, it’s only shitty if you don’t give them any creative freedoms. Obviously, they won’t want to do only what you want to do. You have to let them do what they want. That’s why it’s important to find somebody who wants the same things as you. Hire somebody who doesn’t share any of the same ideas and you’ll be disappointed. Hire somebody who is passionate and has the exact same preferences and ideas as you, and it’ll be like you’re the one doing all the work without actually needing to, and they’ll be happy to do it while you sit back and reap the rewards. It’s kind of manipulative and lazy if you think about it, but this is a game. Nobody is being forced or pressured into doing anything they don’t actually want to do.”

I finished my second slice of pie and then grumbled a bit. She had a point. It was probably the best idea there was. Not to mention that I was already basically doing exactly that with both her and Thera. Cani managed the restaurant, while helping out with the front and managing guests, and Thera managed the defenses and security while also helping out with interior decorating every now and then. So, I was already doing exactly what I felt uneasy about, and it was working great. I just needed even more people to help out. Maybe just two more. One person to handle stuff like themed, erotic floors and rooms, special events, and so on, and then another person to handle collecting monsters.

But I couldn’t leave everything to them. I still had to provide in some way that only I could.

And if I thought about something that was seriously unique to me that only I could do… then it was becoming Lust’s Champion… and basically just using that as a marketing point.

Hey! Come and check out our dungeon owned by the game’s only Champion of Lust!

Something like that.

But honestly, I already felt a bit better. Coming up with a plan that involved sharing the responsibilities with others so that I could focus on fewer things made me actually feel more motivated to go and finish up Lust’s questline.

But then there was the question of where was I going to find two others willing to help out with the dungeon who had the same ideals as me?

There were a few people I knew who might be willing to help out, but I wasn’t sure. I’d have to basically set up interviews with them to gauge their interest in roles like that.

For the time being, though, since I had at least one clear goal to focus on, being the futa, I—

“Question,” Cani said, interrupting my train of thought once again.

“Yeah?” I replied.

“You and your girlfriends are kind of in an open relationship, right?”

“Basically.”

“But they never fuck anybody else.”

“And honestly, at this point, I don’t exactly fuck anybody else either. It’s pretty much an open relationship in name only.”

“I see. Well, that means you’re allowed to have sex with actual people, not just NPCs, outside of it, right?”

“Technically.”

“We should have some fun sometime, then.”

I blinked a couple of times before asking, “What brings this up?”

Cani shrugged with both her hands and shoulders. “Do you think I’m not going to ever get horny hearing all the moans in this place? I still have my own needs. And you’re pretty cool, so if I’m going to casually hook up with anybody, I’d rather it be with you.”

“Well, it’s definitely not something I’m opposed to.”

“I have to say, I’d rather you show a bit more excitement about it. I think I’m pretty cute, right? An avatar that attracts men to buy my food should also make them want to fuck me.”

“You’re not wrong. I just—I don’t know. Never really expected you to want to fuck. Plus I figured you had a thing for Thera instead.”

“If… if I could do things with her… I—I would. But… she just… teases me. Plus,” Cani looked me right in my eyes, “she’s set on—wait. Uh… ignore I said that.”

I raised my eyebrow. “She’s set on what?”

“Sh-shush! Anyways! Just… next time you’re horny and your girlfriends aren’t on, just come bend me over one of my tables or something, got it?”

I sighed and smiled. She was pretty cute when flustered. “Got it. Also, since you’re a dog girl, that means I get to tease you by calling you a good girl during it and all that, right?”

“Do… do you really think my avatars would be a dog girl and a wolf girl if I wasn’t into that sort of stuff?”

“Good point. I’ll have to get a collar and leash then.”

A slight blush colored Cani’s cheeks, prompting her to stand up and turn away. While she might have hidden the blush of her cheeks, though, all she really did was expose her wagging tail to me. “Don’t… don’t talk like that unless you’re ready to do it now.”

“Who said I’m not?”

“I—I did! I have to leave in a few minutes for my little brother’s soccer game… and there’s no way I’m only fooling around for a few minutes and then leaving. That would just annoy me, and then I won’t be able to—”

“Won’t be able to stop thinking about being called a good girl while a leash tugs at the collar around your throat, unable to focus on your little brother’s game?”

Cani’s avatar disappeared from existence the second I stopped talking.

Teasing her was fun. I understood why Thera did it.

I was going to have to make it up to her later.

For now, though… it was finally time to actually go and fuck the futa. I had the determination to get it over with for the sake of becoming Lust’s Champion. All I had to do was wait for Lily and Akorya to get back, and then we could go over.