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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation and other products set in the same universe are all owned by Rifujin na Magonote, Shirotaka, Shosetsuka ni Naro, Media Factory, and Studio Bind.

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Chapter 14: To Recruit n' Heal

So, there is a lot to say considering it's been a solid month since we went through that interesting escort mission and Roxy was now part of the party.

After making sure she was given a fresh pair of clothes from Zen's own wardrobe and a towel to dry off her hair, we all waited in the living room to see what she meant when she wanted to join our group. Roxy had been friendly towards us, and I could see her becoming a fitting candidate for the party as Zenith was a magic caster which focused primarily on healing, where the blue-haired girl had a more 'offensive/support' kind of mindset with the magic she was accustomed with. Still, why did she want to join this party and... could she actually join the party to begin with?

Because, one thing was being jobless and being able to land a spot in the Adventurers' Guild through that, another was trying to join a party without a proper certification to the guild. She had one, and that left me... perplexed. To make it clear, Ranoa Magic Academy had a few limitations when it came to teachers, specifically about adventurers: you may not become an adventurer during your tenure as a teacher. You may become a teacher as an adventurer, but the rules clearly stated that it was ill-advised to claim a full-time job as a teacher.

And that's where Roxy provided some insight about her situation. She had been studying and teaching at Ranoa for several years now and she had already been planning to leave and be an adventurer since a few weeks ago. The reason why she wanted to join the guild was tied to her interest to see the world and explore it thoroughly rather than be limited to a single place. She mentioned it was tied to why she left her tribe back in the Demon Continent, and she mentioned she didn't want to visit it just yet. The issue that prevented her from outright doing it before this situation was that this particular expedition had been one that the headmaster had requested her to do before leaving. Some sort of 'cashing in a favor' when it comes to taking her in and giving her the chance to study at the academy. Now that the job was over, and her resignation was finalized, Roxy decided that this situation provided her with a clear understanding of how the guild works.

I was surprised when Geese confessed to having actually answered a few questions about it when the girl asked, and that this may have actually influenced her decision on the matter. Roxy added that she had asked around the guild before we interacted and... I wasn't surprised to learn we were praised by several of the parties there. I guess the way we were handling the rise of rank was somewhat seen as a stable and comfortable one compared to the 'rushed' pace taken by other adventurers. We were taking our time to establish ourselves in the community, focusing more on the monetary circumstance which was eventually going to help once the pace we were going at was going to diminish. Many parties dismantled as soon as one or two members decided to settle in and make a family, mostly because there wasn't an economic chance to handle both a family and the expenses of keeping a party going.

Right now, we could do that and more. Heck, if I so decided to just stop fighting and accept it was time to leave my sword behind I could technically use favors I have in the city to land a job within the city's higher circle. The party had so much passive influence between good deeds, behavior and general economic reach that it was quite simple for me to go to the mayor and lord-protector, have a pleasant chat and mention any interest to help around the city some more because I was retiring. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon, but the option was there and open in case I needed to retire for a reason or another.

Still, Roxy saw the big picture in that regard and found it to be her 'best bet yet'. I didn't expect this to happen- at least, not within the lenses of our newest party member being a girl. To make it clear, I'm not really that intense about keeping up some moral gender quota but... it sure felt weird when there is a clear female majority and two of those were into me. I think it has to do something about the whole 'no harem works' mentality in my head, yet I don't think this is genuinely a harem.

Like, yes, I have a close relationship with both Zenith and Ghislaine, but where the blonde had my full romantic and intimate commitment, Ghislaine was set in a more different situation and I think she was happier with this status quo: Zen and I would be there for her needs driven by biology, but the interactions were quite 'tame' compared to standard romance. I was quite confident she wasn't even into getting too close to either me or Zenith. And we had no reason to push on that, so we were stuck in that curious pseudo-poly relationship which was entrenched into the emotional connection rather than the outright intense aspect of any normal relationship.

Another detail was Elinalise. The Elf had been quite calm about the overall circumstance, and she had welcomed Roxy with open arms. And while that did much to set the foundations for their friendship, Roxy wasn't exactly quick to understand why Eli was out with so many men at times. She didn't ask and tried to make assumptions on what she could see. The Migurdian girl eventually did ask me personally what was up with her, and when I mentioned that she had a magical issue which she could tell her in private, the magician did so. And the Elf was more than happy to correct another confused individual about her behavior. The end result was that Roxy was now more polite towards Elinalise while keeping a degree of annoyance to some of the crass-talking coming from Elinalise. Then again, the older female had taken a liking in teasing the poor Migurdian into being a stuttering mess around her with some graphic narration of her 'adventures'.

It wasn't the sort of behavior she would take around anyone else and yet it would be wrong to say that she was without her own quirks around the other members. With Geese she would be seen banter a lot about making bets, quarreling over some views of things and yet being quite cordial and friendly around each other. Ghislaine and her were pretty much chill when it came to talking about fighting, with Ghislaine quite interested to hear more about Eli's intense battles in the past and how those provided her with an outlet about these memories. Zenith and the elf were the closest possible, sharing several preferences in terms of comfortable clothes, literary genres, and even had some sleepovers from time to time (dragging a slightly sleepy Ghis in these occasions too).

But the one relationship that really made her somewhat behave as genuine and honest as she could manage was around me. I was the one to recruit her and give her a hope that was materializing with each day. Magical research was yielding some interesting efforts to lessen her struggle, with me handling her addiction to sex with as much attention and planning as possible by setting up limitations and defining a number of times she could go out with men. It felt controlling in a sense, but I wasn't doing it for myself. The elf needed someone to act as her crutch in getting back in the right way, to the point where she will eventually be the one deciding if she really wants to engage into intimacy out of personal interest rather than being forced by psychological imposition and magical obligation.

It was a tough task, but one that got some tools to assist her to lessen her libido. Specifically a few medical pills which were meant to 'temporarily weaken one's lust' I managed to retrieve by the potioneer in town. I had those checked first, with Zenith providing me with the local base on how some of the ingredients were called and what their purpose was in their individual selves, Roxy providing me with some understanding of potion-making and I being the one with some chemistry-based knowledge which allowed me to write down something in that regard. I would be lying if I said I was some sort of mad scientist in disguise when it comes to this sort of stuff, but I knew the basis of chemistry when it comes to composing something like this, and with the girls' help, I managed to elaborate a decent report on the pills themselves and... work on something that could be best affordable and better-geared for the task I had in mind for said pills.

The current ones would be ineffective on the basis that they would just be a temporary relief from the wave of lust poor Eli's mind would get riddled with at times, and I wanted something that was less potent but could work on the source of the issue: something that weakened the magical hold the curse had on her body. So, it had to be something that caused a hormonal disruption which made her body think she was pregnant and allow the crystals in her body to stop being active. The process to make those was slightly expensive, but after a week of working onto it, we had fifteen pills, one to take once per month. I made a point to drill in her mind how taking more than that was going to seriously endanger her body as one pill was barely enough with the magical ingredients packed in it to bypass the 'security' protocol within the curse. If that was violated, then the curse was going to intensify for a couple of months, forcing her to be more active than usual. Which was really bad.

Another detail that came out as soon as she started to take the pills was that we could finally retrieve one of the 'main curse' crystals and... we got some good news for Elinalise. The process was tedious as Roxy and Zenith did most of the work while Geese, Ghislaine and I were on standby to help if it was necessary, but the two girls successfully pulled through a 'surgery' by employing delicate spells to retrieve the crystals. It came close to actually causing some internal injuries due to how sharp these crystals were and how tight some of the passages were. Still, we had it, something to study and gain more insight from to solve this curse. And it turns out that the curse had indeed two specific 'permanent deactivation' rules: the first was death, just as everyone had suspected, and the second one made the pills' treatment a must for the elf: if inactive for the time period of 5 years, the curse would stop working forever.

So, in layman's terms, if she went through five uninterrupted years of taking this medication, Elinalise's curse would stop haunting her and she could actively pursue a freer life. The news broke her in a happy way, tears flooding through and her sobbing slightly muffled as she literally clinged on me during that whole day, hugging the others tightly too. Even poor Roxy was subjected to an embrace or two, but her unease at those was tempered by the notion this reaction was driven by a good reason.

And the ensuing week further showed how the pills were working. Elinalise's mind was clearer as her focus in combat had drastically improved from what Ghislaine had noticed during their spars; Her efforts to sleep around had also significantly lessened. I had to give her one of my special seals to prevent any pregnancies since the curse also acted as a semi-effective birth-control spell and, with it no longer active, she didn't have that sort of protection. Therapy was encouraged to further change the focus of her addiction and it became normal for the woman to ask for cuddling. Hugging tightly, sleeping beside each other- anything that was intimate in the platonic way and would slowly shift her physical craving for another's warmth into less sexual approaches.

So, between allowing Roxy to settle in properly in the duties and chores of being an adventurer, helping around the house by giving me some assistance in handling some of the logistics' listing and other stuff which allowed her to grow accustomed to her new surroundings, I also ended up becoming the primacy pillow candidate for Elinalise much to Zenith's... amusement. I think the blonde just found Eli's tame approach somewhat 'adorable' in her standard. And I could see her point to some degree. The elf was never this 'affectionate' and there was something that made it clear she was somewhat 'shy' about this whole thing. Not in a bad way, but rather by how 'difficult' it was for her to start that sort of interaction and be loving that way. She knew how to go beyond it, how to do more than just that, but there was something in just cuddling, hugging, sharing the bed just to sleep and fully clothed that made her feel incredibly self-conscious about her actions. While it was awkward at first, she did grow more confident in the affection and... maybe a bit more than that.

Still, while most of the month was pretty much getting Roxy and Elinalise set to new changes in their lives, the exchange of messages between Ranoa and I about translating parts of the bible had eventually resulted in the findings to be brought before the Church of Millis. And with that, the party was soon invited to have a 'meeting' with a representative of that Church within the next month to further confirm the translation. I could tell from the letter itself this meeting was meant to be formal, but I was certain some tension was going to be there due to the topic.

And I just could tell that it was going to get ugly really fast.

AN

Next time will be the meeting with some familiar characters from that side of the world, and then a lemon (in the proper websites).

Roxy being Roxy in trying to fit in with the rest of the gang... except it isn't as easy or simple as this chapter is painting it as. I will definitely write an Omake about her current situation from her perspective just so that this is further expanded on.

P.S. I now have a discord server! Discord .gg/ceBMM2Zz6c

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