Heroine-Saving System: Reborn In A Third-Rate Manga As The Protagonist-Chapter 106: Silkstrike Mink

"Haah! Didn’t your mother teach you how to treat women?" Pale complained as she gripped her head.

She was kneeling on the ground next to the desk with a bump on her head while wearing another maid uniform. It was a different one from the one that she had ripped before... she had apparently come prepared.

"Well unfortunately for me, I didn’t have a mother to teach me." Koya said, which wasn’t wrong... both in his past life and this one there wasn’t the sign of a mother anywhere.

He sat down at the desk and picked up his chopsticks. "Besides, you should calm down. Are the rooms even soundproof?"

"Well the room is." Pale said and pulled herself up to sit properly, watching him as he started in on his ramen.

Her own stomach grumbled immediately after. Hers and Mio’s both... they had been in here for a while before and even after the announcement, they hadn’t eaten anything. "Come on Koya-kun, feed me."

Koya sighed and reluctantly twisted the chopsticks over the ramen, scooping up a good amount and lifting it out of the bowl toward her.

"Here." He offered and the silver-haired woman looked at him with a bit of surprise in her eyes. "What? Why’re you looking at me like that?"

She didn’t reply but she did gobble up the ramen from his chopsticks, attempting to show him some sexy mouth work in the process.

What she ended up doing was spilling saliva everywhere, including on the ground between them.

"I really regret doing this for you." Koya said as she finally swallowed and used her wrist to clean her mouth.

"Thank you for the meal, Koya-kun." Pale said. "Now I wanted to ask... did you really choose that as your Familiar?" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

She was referring to the Cindervix pup rolling on its back on the side of the room, trying to catch its own tail and failing completely every single time it got close.

"Not exactly." Koya looked at his chopsticks and sighed before scooping up another mouthful and putting it in his own mouth which made Pale blush a bit, it was an indirect kiss.

After swallowing, he opened his hand. "Come."

Two separate beams of white light came out and hit the ground, clearing to reveal the Cindervix leader’s cub and the Embermane leader’s cub side by side and Pale blinked.

"I actually got three." Koya said. "Two are for me, and the other one is for one of my sl... students."

He caught himself quickly... There was no way he was saying that out in the open.

"I see." Pale perked up. "This is an excellent way to take advantage of the rules since there’s no rule that says you can’t take multiple."

She tilted her head. "However it will be very costly to take care of all of them but I guess you plan to throw all the costs onto Master. Tsk tsk, you love stressing your wife out."

Koya finished his ramen and then summoned two bowls as well as a bag of grains for the two Cindervix cubs.

For the Embermane Lion cub, he poured out a portion of dried smoked meat... the specific kind the System had flagged as the preferred food of Embermane cubs.

All three of them went at their bowls immediately without any ceremony, the Cindervix cubs side by side and the Embermane cub slightly apart with his mane flickering with a small warm light as it ate.

"If you want more, tell me... Eat as much as you can for now." Koya said and dismissed the food bags back into his inventory before turning back to Pale. "Well, she did say I could rely on her and I won’t refuse help from her."

Pale rolled her eyes.

"So... what can we do now? Should we cuddle or watch an anime together?" Pale suggested with a grin.

In her astral form beside them, Mio attempted to strangle her with both hands around her neck; however her hands passed through completely.

Mio glared at her and Pale didn’t even flinch.

’Come on Mio, I’m building our relationship with him.’ Pale thought toward her. ’Remember... after that blondie, our DNA is compatible to produce strong children with him too. We might as well get it moving.’

"Honestly if we were going to watch anime, I’d like to watch romance anime." Koya said, looking at the empty bowl.

Romance anime was peak, sure it was slow sometimes, but peak though he wasn’t sure this world fully understood what romance was.

"While it’s a bit slow-paced, it’s nice to... Uh, Pale?"

The woman was looking at him like she wanted to devour him whole.

"Koya-kunnnn... now you have to marry me." She said. "Mio doesn’t understand how peak romance is."

Koya had to admit it was genuinely funny to watch her go from the woman who had claimed him out in the open with a sloppy kiss to whatever this was right now, it seemed she was behaving herself on Hakai’s orders which showed even the goddess had been afraid of Hakai.

’I mean, I would be too.’ Koya thought.

They had fucked more over those five days and he had gotten access to more of her skills as a result.

She was capable of raising the souls of enemies she had killed into soldiers made of darkness that obeyed her completely... they retained the abilities they had possessed in life which made them more dangerous the stronger the opponent she killed.

She could also engulf opponents in an orb of concentrated darkness that compressed inward until everything inside it was reduced to ash.

’I’m glad I married her.’

Being on the wrong side of her sounded like pure hell and those were only two of her eight killing spells, all of which were more volatile than that. The thought of fighting her was genuinely uncomfortable.

"Well it depends on which one though." Koya said. "I don’t hate the slowburn for some but if it goes on too long the manga or anime gets boring really quickly. The buildup needs to actually go somewhere."

"Right! Imagine four seasons and they haven’t even kissed yet." She chimed in and both of them winced simultaneously.

That specific type of romance had victims and both of them had apparently been among them at some point.

Before Pale could say anything else, there was a knock on the door.

She released her hold on Mio’s body immediately and Mio’s hair shifted back to black as Koya walked to the door and opened it... It was a noble from Class 2 standing in the hallway with dark green hair.

Koya looked at him for a moment.

"Amagi Koya, yo—"

SLAM.

The young man staggered back and gripped his nose. The door had been shut directly in his face... He stood there for a second and then knocked again.

"Please open up... I have something to tell you." He said from the other side.

Koya begrudgingly opened the door again. The others in the hallway and the living room were looking in their direction now.

"If you’re here to threaten me, you better make your way." Koya said. "I’m really tired of dealing with nobles today."

The young man didn’t reply. Instead he reached into his clothes and briefly flashed an emblem hidden inside. Koya looked at it and sighed.

"Come in." He said.

The young man stepped in and the door closed behind him.

He stood nervously in the middle of the room with his eyes moving briefly across Mio and the three Familiars before settling on the floor.

The Order emblem meant he was one of their grunt-level members... that had a low-ranking so he was probably one of several planted across ALI’s student body without anyone knowing though Koya had never seen this face before.

"Ah, Boss!" He dropped immediately into a bow at Koya’s feet and Mio’s eye twitched. "I came to report something! It’s very important."

"Go on. Be fast with it."

"Ah Boss... Sendou Hiroki from Class 2 plans to get the Familiar in the mountains to attack you and frame you for provoking it." He reported from his bowed position. "He also told several students to spread rumors about you being extremely close with Lady Miyuki and Lady Akari."

"Huh?" Mio blinked.

That kind of plan wouldn’t work at all... The students weren’t that dumb and from Koya’s expression he was thinking the same thing.

"I see. Thank you for telling me." Koya said.

The young man looked up at him expectantly, still holding the bow.

’What? Does he want me to offer him a promotion? Just for that.’ Koya thought.

"You can go now." Koya said.

The young man’s face dropped slightly. He opened the door and ran off then Koya closed it behind him.

"What a dumbass." He said.

It was obviously suspicious for a Class 2 student to be visiting a Class 5 room and it wouldn’t take long for Sendou Hiroki to hear that his informant had reported to Koya.

’Is that really an order member at all?’ Koya thought.

"Koya-kun, would you like me to deal with them?" Mio asked with complete seriousness.

"No need. I’m actually very interested in what they want to do." Koya replied.

One of the Cindervix pups was at his leg, tugging at the fabric. He looked down at the three bowls... they were completely empty, every one had finished their food.

He then poured out more food for all of them, watched them start on it, and dismissed the bags back into his inventory.

"Instead, let’s focus on ourselves. Do you have a Familiar in mind?" He asked Mio.

She looked at the ground for a moment.

"Not exactly. I haven’t even studied the manual yet." She admitted. "But I’m sure I’ll decide on something."

"Well, while you decide... why don’t we go together tomorrow? I have a Familiar I want to try to get so..."

"I’ll follow you to the ends of the world, Koya-kun." She said, looking directly at him. "You just need to say the word."

Koya’s eye twitched. Why was she suddenly that serious about it? Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Bzzt... Student Amagi Koya, return your bowl and utensils to the tray." The B2 bot said from the other side. He opened the door and atop the robot’s flat head was a tray.

He placed the bowl and chopsticks on it and B2 wheeled away immediately without another word, already moving on to the next room down the hall.

Koya looked back at the room and somehow Mio had produced a deck of cards from somewhere while he was at the door and was now shuffling it between both hands with a smile on her face.

"Koya-kun, let’s play a game of cards."

...

The next morning, Koya sat at one of the waiting tables at the tower base while Mio was at the counter purchasing what they needed for the Silkstrike Mink and the familiar she decided on.

The pup was still on his head and the other two were in his soul space however all three of them completely full from breakfast.

The base was busier than the previous morning... the Omni Academy students had added to the usual ALI queue and the line at the counter moved slower for it.

’So I guess the guy wasn’t lying.’ He thought.

Different murmurs were moving through the space around him, circulating mostly between Class 2 and the Omni Academy students. Nobody was being particularly quiet about it either.

"Ne ne... did you hear about Amagi-kun? Apparently he’s been getting really close with Miyuki-chan even though she’s Takeru-sama’s fiancée. Do you think he’s forcing her to spend time with him?"

"Ehh, I don’t know about that... Koya-kun doesn’t seem like that kind of person honestly."

"How would you even know? Men always act like one thing in public and then..."

"But still, don’t you think it’s a bit weird? She’s engaged after all..."

"Sou ne... but who knows, maybe Miyuki-chan herself..."

"Ssshh! Keep your voice down, what if someone hears you..."

He tuned it out completely... while he didn’t think they were foolish enough, he guessed that these people proved him wrong on a consistent basis.

"I’ve gotten everything, Koya-kun. Shall we go?" Mio arrived and he stood up with a breath of relief as they walked out of the tower base together.

"Is the location of any Silkstrike Mink on the guide?" Koya asked. She had bought this year’s guide after all.

"Not exactly... it shows they move around a lot but they tend to stay generally toward the center of the forest." Mio replied, flipping to the relevant page. "There are only 36 Silkstrike Minks on the Isle so they’re a bit closer to extinction than the others and apparently other Familiars avoid them because of the Null Read ability... they can’t properly sense where the Mink is going."

"I see. Let’s find out then." Koya tapped the pup on his head. "Can you ask around if anyone has seen one? It looks like this."

He held the guide open to the image and the pup studied it for a moment, then jumped down from his head and trotted over to a nearby squirrel-type Familiar that was sitting on a low branch.

The two of them began an exchange of sounds with different languages entirely but they clearly understood each other because the squirrel chittered something and pointed with one small paw in a direction before going back to whatever it had been doing.

The pup turned back to Koya and yelped several times in sequence.

"I see." Koya said. "So a Familiar saw one near the flower fields."

Mio checked the guide and found the location though she was intrigued at how he understood that. "It’s on the map. Let’s go."

They walked in that direction. In the distance, a bat was perched on a branch watching them go with half-closed eyes and a tail flicking slowly.

’I invited Koya-kun to my room and he didn’t come.’ Mirei thought.

She had been up the entire night... changed her nightgown several times, cooked a full spread of food, even set up the personal TV in the Mega Bunk and picked a movie.

All of it prepared and none of it used because he never showed up. He had not even left a message, it wasn’t like she was hurt at being turned down but all that effort made her tired. ’And if that’s not bad enough, he’s already out here with another woman.’

As long as it wasn’t the Princess she could manage it but then her instincts made her turn her head to the right and between two trees in the distance, Misora was standing and watching Koya and Mio walk away with a very specific expression on her face.

Misora seemed to sense the look immediately and turned directly to face the bat. Mirei flinched and flew away as fast as her wings would take her.

...

"So that’s a Silkstrike Mink." Koya muttered under his breath.

They were in the flower fields and there it was... sitting among the purple blooms in what looked like a meditative posture.

It had positioned itself at the center of a wide open patch where the flowers thinned out with no cover around it, it seemed that the familiar had chosen the spot deliberately to prevent ambushes.

The Silkstrike Mink was about the size of a large cat, it was lean and long-bodied with silver-white fur covering its body and longer trailing fur hanging from both forearms and behind its legs like wide sleeves.

The trailing sections moved even without wind with the individual strands shifting in small independent movements.

The fur that was supposedly a weapon looked almost decorative from this distance. Its eyes were closed and its breathing was slow.

"Since this kind of Familiar fights its potential masters as a bonding trial, we should be more focused on how to subdue it first." Mio pointed out and produced something from her storage ring. "Koya-kun, I bought a weapon from the counter that can be used for engaging with Familiars on the Isle."

Koya glanced at the sword. It was a well-made structure with decent weight, but the edges were blunt to the point of being almost square... it was practically a rectangular bar with a handle and the weapon was made from the same alloy as the Mega Bunk walls.

He took it regardless.

"Thanks." He said, and stepped out from cover and into the open flower field. The Silkstrike Mink opened one eye and he held the sword properly as he settled his feet.

’This should be an easy fight.’

A burst of silver-white fur shot directly at him... it was faster than he expected for something that had been sitting completely still a second ago and naturally he lifted the sword to parry. The fur connected with the blade and lightning converged across his entire body at once.

The current ran through every point simultaneously from his head to feet with no delay between contact and discharge.

The Silkstrike Mink had begun its attack.