CHAPTER 35

Oh my God! What have I gotten myself into? I thought as I ran through the forest away from the cottage we built. It was nighttime, and I was running from the scariest monster in all the dimensions. After running for almost thirty minutes, I stopped beneath a tree to rest. I looked around, expecting the monster to jump out at any moment. But I forgot one important fact: I was in a forest.

A pair of red eyes appeared atop the tree I was under. They stared at me unblinkingly. I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry. The creature, whatever it was, started to move slowly down the tree toward me. I was frozen with terror. It was within arm's reach now. I could feel its breath on my face.

Then, I heard a voice: "Master, it's late now. You need to go to bed." It was Sophie.

I opened my eyes and found myself in the same room where I'd fallen asleep. Sophie sat on the edge of the bed, watching me.

"You were having a nightmare," she said. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head in disbelief. The memory of those intense red eyes, gazing at me without a blink, was still haunting my thoughts. Nightmare my ass! This situation nearly inflicted me with trauma. What kind of predicament have I gotten myself into? What sort of AI forces someone to fall asleep? I am the master of my own body and mind. No woman, regardless of her race, shall exert control over me. You hear me?

After that, I was forced to eat vegetables, which proved to be extremely difficult with Jenna standing by the side and laughing at me, calling me a henpecked husband.

Today, we set out again for the nearest town with a dungeon. We needed to make money, but we could have used a portal and skipped the entire forest scenario. However, using portals cost money, which we were currently lacking. So we had Jenna transform and fly us through the forest, which was shorter than using the road.

After hours of flying, we eventually reached the next town. We got directions from the residents and made our way to the Adventurer's Guild. Unlike the ones in isekai novels, this one was modern, filled with high tech machines. The receptionist who attended to us was a cat girl. Come to think of it, I should probably create a beast girl avatar sometime.

After registering, we went to the mission board (or mission screen, as it was here). After scrolling through the different quests, we found one that was suitable for E-rank adventurers. It turns out only D-rank and above could enter the dungeon. Apparently, there were a bunch of goblins and orcs who had created a village not far from the town and had been terrorizing the farmers. We printed the mission pass and submitted it to the receptionist, who updated the mission status as taken and handed the pass back to us.

As we left the guild, we noticed some unwanted followers following us from a distance. The mission pass was also used as proof that the person who took the mission was the one who completed it. Some adventurers who had completed missions were attacked by other adventurers and had their mission passes stolen.

I think the guild did this on purpose. With the level of technology they had, they should have been able to create a mission pass with biometric security, or at least list the party that accepted the mission. I couldn't shake the feeling that this was an intentional choice.

As we got to the goblin village, I had Anya destroy it at once. Stunned by the display of power, our 'faithful followers' turned tail and fled. We got back to the guild and updated the status as completed. The receptionist smiled at me.

"As expected of a fragment," she said and winked.

My eyes widened. Could it be...

WHACK! WHACK!!

"You couldn't be thinking what I think you're thinking, right?" Lena, the vampire said smiling wickedly

"Men shouldn't stare at women with such expressions," Sophie said.

"Oh, come on!, can a guy not fantasize in peace"