Daddy Jackal to the Rescue

Are side quests important?

Yes, definitely. Jackal loved completing side missions to whack away the final bosses. However, straddled with the responsibility for those he has come to care for as short as a month, he cannot indulge in side missions—namely two of them.

1) Indulging the Doggo For a Mysterious Trip in the Woods outside Orario.

2) Finding the materials for the money-grubbing God's Priestess.

Now what are these side missions?

Naza wants to explore the woods outside Orario for some mysterious task but needs a qualified adventurer beside her. As a Level 2 Adventurer, Jackal fits the bill. She has yet to admit the details of this quest but is patient enough to wait until he deals with his current situation. Needless to say, the stack of Bento Boxes works in his favor, and Naaza has taken a liking to another silent dog—Loid.

The second side mission involves Jackal's wish to replace Miach with an actual magical tester. Airmid finally has a preliminary list of materials to start experimenting with. Still, Jackal cannot just use Humble Store to buy the products without playing the part of looking for the materials.

His roomie, Lili, is no fool. In some cases, she has more street-smart than him. She undoubtedly finds Jackal's progress weird with no deity in sight but respects him enough to keep her thoughts just that—introspections.

So, even for Airmid's side quest, he has to deal with Orario's version of cancel culture.

Not to mention, Lili adds another side quest to his list once they leave the Blue Pharmacy after testing new products from Jackal's last dungeon prowl.

"Jackal-sama, should we commission similar uniforms for Anya and Loid once things settle?" She feels Anya stir inside her hoody hanging from the back of her neck as the feline representation of ADHD pet mewls with glimmering emerald pupils.

"Hmm, I don't think the colors will match," Jackal looks at Loid and Anya, "We'll get Ariana's input once things aren't as messy. Maybe she will have another dream."

"Hmm," Lili nods with a smile. "So? What was getting beaten by two girls like?"

Jackal scoffs under his breath. There are no bruises on his body, thanks to Riveria, who did not want to leave a clue. But what angst him more than getting beaten by Tiona and Ais was Riveria's audacity to hand him a small scroll listing several elven spices that can—'make your food suitable for an elven tongue.'

Jackal did not have to say he had something meatier that would suit an elven mouth, but he did, earning another medal of pride in the form of a bruise on his neck where her staff knocked the daylights out of him.

"It was amazing," Jackal grunts sarcastically before tapping Lili's back with slight force. "And don't think I haven't noticed your progress. Maybe you'll be the pallum who wipes the floor with someone like Finn in the future!"

"Maybe I will!" Lili puffs her cheeks, "Some landlords they are! How can they let goons act like that without moving a finger!"

"It's all about the muscle," Jackal shrugs.

"Muscle?"

"Yep." He looks at Lili while flexing his right bicep. "You know what's scarier than a really beefy man? A beefy woman!"

"And that's why you seek an Amazoness?" Lili deadpans, already knowing where he is taking the conversation before stealing the words from his mouth.

"And that's why I seek 'em," he laughs.

"Pervert-sama," she scoffs.

"Is it perverted to find a harem in the city of the Dungeon?"

"Yes!"

*Woof*

*Meaaa*

"You three may have outnumbered me, but you are outmatched," he scoffs as they walk through the empty streets of Daedalus at this time of the morning before reaching [Humble Jackal's.]

But the slight disturbance in Maria's orphanage attracts Jackal and Lili.

The children are usually asleep in the early morning, allowing Maria to train with Asuka as Ouka cleans the rest of the Orphanage. The remaining members of Takemikazuchi Familia repeat their training drills.

So, seeing Rye burst out of the entrance of the orphanage surprises the four wanderers of Orario.

"I hate you!" screams the brown-haired boy as he starts running and finds a hand latching on his head before pulling him up. The boy's feet still kick in the air to run as Maria jogs out with a worried expression before sighing in relief.

The tearful Rye cleans his eyes to curse the heathen stopping him, to match a pair of baleful gold-red pupils.

"No ungrateful little shit is going to hate Maria, got that, Rye?" Jackal punctuates each word with biting harshness as Takemikazuchi and Hermes walk out with the rest of the children. Asfi can be seen from the window of the second floor.

Rye stares at Jackal before his round eyes widen further. His rebellion crushes in its inception, marking the second of many victories for the Free Conqueror—Brotherly Bane of Orphans—as Rye starts crying loudly!

"You stay here one day, and all hell breaks loose?" Jackal turns to look at Hermes, who smiles wryly.

"The devil be my witness," he shrugs, "I did not cause this mess. Children quite like me, after all."

---

"So you think you have what it takes to be an adventurer?" Jackal questions curiously before yawning slightly. He isn't the only one in the spacious living room of the orphanage: Maria and Takemikazuchi sit next to him. Hermes, meanwhile, is outside, touching the grass.

Lili should be training with Ouka now that he has leveled up after helping his Familia out from a trap set for them in the Dungeon because of their association with Jackal—a silver lining, if you may.

"I am!" Rye responds sharply. He is the oldest of the bunch living in the orphanage for nine young years. He raised a ruckus last night since he felt things were weird. After failing in his attempts to get an honest answer from Maria, he decided to 'shrewdly' wait for Takemikazuchi's familia and bombard them with questions until Hitachi Chigusa faltered.

"Chigusa is the one with hair covering her eyes, right?" Jackal looks at Takemikazuchi, not really knowing the timid girl well. "The one with a huge crush on Ouka?"

"You could tell?" Maria glances at Jackal quizzically before emphasizing the point earnestly, "You?"

"Yeah?" Jackal tilts his head with a frown. "Wait, was I the only one who knew of it?"

"Bro Jackal, everyone knew about Hitachi-nee feeling for Stinky Ouka," Rye scoffs in the front.

Takemikazuchi massages his head and remarks with a sigh, "Rye decided to run off once I declined his proposal to join my Familia. Is that an act of a disciplined adventurer?" His obsidian eyes stare at Rye harshly. "Do you understand that you must be a man to delve into the Dungeon and not act like a boy?"

"Then teach me what it means to be a man!" Rye clenches his fist. "I want to help Mama! I want to help Ossian, Fina, Roux, and others! Is that not enough? Hermes-sama is more than willing to accept me if you won't!"

"And I said no!" Maria frowns, snapping back at the boy with a stern expression that dampens his will.

"Will you slap Maria?" Jackal interjects with a chuckle, silencing the remaining duo. He is particularly happy for Rye. The little bugger got him as the most distinguished crystal supplier, Maria as his mother, and Takemikazuchi as 'that' coach who teaches about life better than a father ever can. And seeing Takemikazuchi forming a bond with Rye and other kids to this extent, to go as far as being anxious about letting Rye stay with someone that is a living red flag, is a win in Jackal's book.

So, he repeats.

"Will you slap Maria and Takemikazuchi? Me, Lili, Ouka, Mikoto, Chigusa, Asuka, and the rest?"

"No!" Rye shakes his head.

"If you're that against their decision despite understanding they are doing everything for you, maybe you should just slap them and get done with it."

Maria parts her lips to speak, but a shake of the head from Take's side stops her.

Rye blinks and flounders, "I didn't mean that, Bro—"

"You punk," Jackal shakes his head with a snicker, "You asked what it takes to be a man. That's what it takes. You understand Maria, Take, and I are facing a wee bit of trouble. But what do you do? Run to the God who brought said trouble? The first aspect of being a Man is understanding that actions have consequences. If you run, you can fall and injure yourself. But you don't want to see Maria sad. You want to make her happy. So, you think that being the strongest will probably ease her troubles. Did you think how sad she will be when you get injured?"

Rye lowers his head, but Jackal's following words make his heart clench in horror.

"Imagine if Maria died one day. How would you feel?"

The boy's head whips up, finding Jackal's gaze piercing into his.

"Now I ask you this. Do you have what it takes to be an adventurer? Not an ignorant fighter who finds himself lucky in times of inadequacy without knowing his life is on the line."

Rye's jaw locks up as he doesn't know what to say.

"Are you ready to be a man?" Jackal inquires, reaffirming his own beliefs, too. Luck is a significant factor, but he doesn't want to enter a fatal situation riding on his luck without understanding what's on the line.

Ever.

"Come here." Jackal beckons the boy and pats his head with a smirk. "Once you're ready to be a man, I'll hook you up with a Familia that will let you help out Maria and the rest. But if you have other ambitions, I'll see to it that you enter the Familia that suits you the most."

Tears glisten in his eyes as he turns to look at Maria.

"I'm Sor—"

She grabs his hand and smothers him with the tightest hug imaginable as the boy's sobs start echoing in the spacious room.

"What?" Jackal frowns at the oddly staring Takemikazuchi.

"Nothing. I felt yesterday's events must have you on edge."

Jackal looks past Take to match his gaze with the cooing Maria, who consoles the sobbing Rye.

"I promised to take care of things. I intend to keep that promise. If I'm on edge, who will clean my own mess?"

Rye slowly tears himself out of the bear hug before rubbing the back of his eyes and glaring at Jackal, "Just so you know, I wasn't crying! I was only having some trouble breathing!"

"Oh, I know," Jackal shrugs, winking at the scoffing Maria before chuckling. "Besides, men only get to cry when they are in front of a mirror to see how pathetic they look or with someone who always has their backs. Remember this as the second rule of becoming a man!"

"What? Don't listen to him!" Maria frowns and pats Rye. "You shouldn't hide your emotions."

Rye blinks while looking at the duo before turning to the tie-breaker from Takemikazuchi.

"Well," the swole Deity crosses his arms, "Emotions allow men to tap into unfounded limits of power. But showing the enemy your most volatile emotions is a form of weakness. Don't worry. You will learn well as we train."

Rye nods before jogging out. "I'm going to train with Stinky Ouka!"

Takemikazuchi smiles and nods at Jackal, "You did well."

'Gee, thanks, Dad,' Jackal rolls his eyes as the deity saunters out, leaving Jackal alone with Maria.

"So, I need to confess something." He looks at Maria. "I'm feeling a lot more stressful than expected and could use a hug to stifle my breath, too."

Maria smiles politely, "The best I can offer is the chore of dishwashing."

Jackal nods and stands up, "Oh, well. We tried."

"We did," Maria's smirk looking as devious as Syr's momentarily. The chore witch's influence continues to expand!

Jackal smirks and makes his way out, only to be stopped by her call.

"Jackal."

"Yeah?" he half-turn to look at her.

"Rye and others look up to you. Thank you for being that pillar. Especially today."

He grows silent and calmly nods without saying anything witty or whatnot. His heart wells up under Maria's soulful stare as she presents one of the most beautiful and relieved smiles while tears glimmer in her eyes. "So, keep true to your promise, and look after yourself, too."

'Damn it, where's my hug?' He suppresses the urge to let loose his manly tears and walk away with a soft:

"Damn right."

---

"Jackal-sama, are you sure you don't want to train? I can stay in for a while."

"No, that's fine. I've had enough training for the day," Jackal smiles at the pallum once she walks down to the ground floor, having changed her outfit from her uniform to a training tunic. "Take Anya and Loid with you," he adds, "It's going to be a dull day. Not even chicks from the bordellos came to take their orders of Lust Potions."

"Well, Olal is holed inside the Entertainment District, so it's not surprising," Lili huffs and opens the door to let Loid and Anya out, finding Loki about to knock on the door herself.

The two short stacks look at each other before snorting at once.

"Jackal-sama, a pest crawled in!"

"I can see," Jackal drawls lazily while laying his chin on his crossed hands on the counter. He barely registers the mischievous look in the vermilion-eyed goddess dressed in baggy clothes again before closing his eyes.

"Hmph, some Goddess you are," Lili walks past Loki with a soft hiss as the divine 'lady' tilts her head and widens her perpetually narrowed eyes.

"What's gotten into your cutie? I don't smell any blood on her." Loki saunters in after closing the door, her hands briefly sliding across the lock—Her perfectly timed sentence masking the click of the lock.

"So it's alright when another woman talks about that, but not me?" Jackal grumbled without opening his eyes.

"To be fair, I don't bleed either," Loki shrugs and whistles, "Phew, new products, but not a soul to see 'em!"

Jackal chuckles, "I thought I'd be having a few members from your Familia."

"Was planning to bring every available member to spit on Olal's face, but Finn had ta stop me!" She scowls. "There's no way a mortal's going to get that power—Oooh! What's this? Orc Odor Potion? Hmm, makes ya smell like an Orc and avoid monsters. And this Surprise Cracker?"

"From Imps," replies Jackal as Loki regards a lone dynamite-like stick on display. "It registers and absorbs the magic of the user before exploding at the user's wish. You could use them as mines like Imps remain buried underground to ambush adventurers."

Loki whistles again while he can hear the odd rustling of clothes. But he is too focused on the OIal situation, thinking about how to get the target in his mind to accept his job offer.

"That pendant must be from Hard Armoreds, eh? Like your Lizard Shield. But the armor isn't made of energy blocks and covers the torso in a plate similar to Hard Armoreds. This could be your next Butterfree Era if you lower the price from 87000 to sixty-something."

"Frollets are my next brand item, thanks to your Braver," Jackal chuckles and lets out an exhausted moan.

"He told me," Loki giggles as her gaze travels from the rusty-red circular-scaled pendant to the final item on display.

"Bummer," she huffs as she shakes her head, "Couldn't you have made something better from Silverbacks? And where's the good stuff from Infant Dragons?"

"Silverbacks' silver-haired potion increases the growth of the user's bodily hair and toughens said hair to allow them to block attacks from a fucking Silverback itself! But yeah, losing all your hair after this is a bummer. Some guys will have a hard time regrowing their brows and beards, but it isn't permanent. As for the Infant Core—" he opens his eyes only to have his voice stuck in his throat as he looks at Loki before looking down to see the bundle of her baggy clothes.

He blinks and looks at the door, finding the curtains drawn over the window and the lock doing its thing on the door.

"Yer saying?" Loki smirks, her eyes closing at her rapidly widening grin as she feels his stare on the thin outfit on her body.

"What are you wearing?" Jackal clears his throat as Loki saunters behind the counter. Her hips almost slide out from the short hems of her impeccable robes.

Her vermilion-red hair falls loosely on her neck, nubile neck, and collarbone on full display, as a greyish-brown robe with a feathered pattern drapes her slender body. The shaded colors of the feather ranging from brown to grayish, seem to hold an odd luster that attracts Jackal, giving him a vision of a broad amber sky painted with soft pink clouds as a vast creature soars through them.

He only slips out of the vision once Loki calls out gently.

"It's a divine robe from Tenkai, borrowed from a 'dear' friend of mine. The name's pretty simple—Eagle Feather Robe—but the feathers come from Garuda's descendants."

Loki spins with a snicker, the hems of the robe effortlessly riding up to her waist as her divine cake is laid bare to him.

"Did I miss something?" Jackal stares at the Goddess. "The fuck are you doing?"

Loki wags her brows, "Got anything better to do?"

"It can't be that simple, right?" Jackal blinks, or has he put mating rituals on a pedestal without even realizing it?

"It's that easy, you moron," Loki grins.

Jackal eyes her suspiciously before looking around as if trying to find someone, "I don't believe you. Hermes is a few buildings away, and do you really believe Finn will let you go alone?"

Loki half-shrugs, jumping to sit on the counter, parted knees leaving nothing hidden from Jackal's eyes. But he focuses on her devious grin instead.

"What'd I tell you? No mortal's got a fucking handle on me. Besides, I'm supposed to be eating with a high-profile dicks-for-brain, whose gaze bugged me the wrong way the night of yer party."

"You sound rather arrogant for a slut trying to violate the purity of my store."

"Whose the slut?!"

"That would be you, right?"

"Hah? Tell me, who acted like an escort to scratch my itch in MY room a few days ago?" Loki raises an eyebrow.

"Escorts get paid. I didn't."

"That's how much you sucked!"

Jackal's lips twitch as he grunts, "More like you could barely handle it in your ass!"

"A better explanation is you sucking at it!"

Jackal and Loki lock their gazes.

"There's no fucking way I'm fucking in my store. That's gross."

"It's only gross if we don't swallow," Loki licks her lips, "Or are you gonna wimp out? And here I expected my Svadilfari to have some fun with an actual divine robe."

"Swallow, huh," Jackal's gaze briefly lingers between her thighs before he huffs with a ponderous expression.

"Well, who am I to stop a slut?"

Loki scoffs, "Fine. Fuck you. I'm leaving."

"Fine by me!"

"Yeah, fine!"

"FINE!" They both snap at once as Loki reaches for the door with her clothes in her hands.

"You're going to leave like that?" Jackal raises an eyebrow.

"Jealous?" She shoots back with a smirk.

"For what? The flat ass or tits?"

Loki works her jaws before seething, "Bitch, just say it!"

"I have nothing to say!"

"Yeah, you do!"

"Just fuck off!"

"Fuck you, too!"

Both of them pant softly before growing silent.

"I had fun with Ais and Tiona tonight, with Riveria watching us," Jackal smirks.

"You asshole! They're mine!"

"What're you gonna do about it?"

Loki drops her baggy clothes and walks toward Jackal with a stern and dignified expression.

"Hoh? Am I seeing this right? You're approaching me instead of running away with your tail tucked in your flat back?"

"There's no need to run from a fucking pencil," Loki soon stands in front of Jackal with hands on her hips, her head raised high to match his gaze.

Their expressions soften briefly, their smirks broadening for a second.

"Had enough of foreplay?" Loki purrs.

"What foreplay?" Jackal grunts, his gold-red eyes already marking her in ways she finds exciting to imagine if her erect nipples are an indication of anything.

"Oh, fuck," Jackal suddenly frowns.

"What?"

"I've only got one shipment scheduled today—"

Loki grabs his collars before pulling him into a deep kiss as his eyes widen briefly.

"Then we better be quick. I'm not gonna waste 'Her' colors on you and 'Her' robes on me. Say," she whispers with a twisted smirk. "Want me to tell you who's your pretty little stalker?"

Jackal scoffs before matching her smirk, "Bitch, will you even let me think of anyone else when we get started?"

"Nope~!"

***

Alternate Title: Two Rivalry Side Quests With a Doggo and a Priestess; Naaza and Loid Forming Brotherhood of Resting Bitch Faces; Feline Representation of Waku-Waku ADHD: Anya; Two New Family Members; Early Ruckus; Rye's First Manly Stand; Hermes Is Innocent… Just This Once!; A Slap on the Face; Rules of Manhood; Internal Affirmation; Being Lucky is a Virtue; Only Living Based on Luck Is a Sin; Power Lies in Mentality; A Promise of Career; Maria Coddles Rye; Rye Understanding the Difference Between Maternal and Manly Love; Incoming Children Warriors!; Ouka's Level Up… No Party *Sadge*; Jackal Refrains from Shedding Manly Tears; Maria's Trust; Dealing With a Situation Responsibly; Not Sending Rye a Stupid Path; Sending Lili to the Children Army; Maria Trains, too! Incoming Hard Working Mommy; Maria: The Negotiator; Here is Loki; A Feathered Robe; Divine Ride; New Products; Now THIS is a Booty Visit; Hate Boner Reigns Supreme; Jackal's Dio Moment; The Slut and the Sluttier; Jackal Cares For No Damn Stalker; Sad Freya Noises; Angry Freya Yandere Noises!

***

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