After the challenge, a shelter

We had a bit of a rest, because killing this hobgoblin was harder than expected. This was especially true for Junichi, who had to keep hitting it with his dagger as if he were digging into a rock with it. We were completely silent, perhaps because of tiredness or embarrassment.

"I'm glad you were able to defeat the goblin, and thanks to your skill, Lover Share, you were able to help me fulfil my challenge."

I wanted to start a conversation, as this silence was getting a bit awkward.

"Uh, no problem. I did what seemed natural to me."

It was a rather arrogant answer, coming from someone who had barely killed the hobgoblin. I acknowledge his efforts in killing it, but he shouldn't be so full of himself now. So I decided to test him a little and tease him.

"Oh dear! It seemed natural to you, but you weren't able to do it at first. And that's saying something, coming from the one who clung to me, shaking and mumbling, when we first came here".

Okay, maybe I went too far, I got carried away and started saying things I shouldn't have.

"Oi, I told you to stop that thing. Just don't remember it, it was something momentary."

When he answered, Junichi had a terrible look on his face, it was crystal clear that he was much more exhausted than I was. His eyes were half closed, he closed them and slept for a few moments.

His body couldn't stand upright because of all the aching muscles. And he wasn't willing to fight back against what I was saying. For a moment, just a small moment, I thought I'd like to help him a little. As I did so, my character report appeared before me.

Something in it stood out incredibly, as if it were marked. A skill, that was my solution. But what kind of solution was it? I know I wanted to help him, but I hadn't considered the name of the skill:

Laps nap Lv. 1

Ah, it was exactly what I expected, there was no mistaking it. It had only one meaning, he would have slept on my lap. Since I didn't know when the next challenge might come, I decided to use this skill anyway. I needed Junichi to be rested in order to fight properly when the time came.

"I know you're tired, everything about you is letting out that worn-out aura."

Clap

"So, the kind and good-hearted Akari-sama will give you some help. I have a skill called Laps nap, and as you can imagine, all you have to do is rest on my laps."

I put up a front, it was an overwhelmingly embarrassing act, just letting a man rest on my lap, why would I do that for someone I barely knew. But there was nothing I could do about it. It was the same with kissing and the other skills, so I waited for his answer.

...

Which didn't even come. I don't know if he was too tired to answer or just didn't want to rest. Nevertheless, I needed him to rest, so after waiting a few more seconds I forced him to. I sat down in a good position and then, with one hand on his arm and the other on his head, I gently but firmly placed him on my lap.

It was even more uncomfortable than asking him, but I had to deal with it. This was all for our future survival. Junichi tried to resist me, but he was too tired, so I was able to pull him easily.

The look on his face showed his conflicting feelings about all this, but in no time he was sleeping soundly, like a cute baby at his mother's side.

But now I couldn't really feel like a mother, it was so embarrassing, I didn't see this man as a child, I saw him more like a person of the opposite sex. I was also aware of his good looks. When I had these thoughts, I blushed completely, my whole face was red, like a strawberry.

Hick

I made a strange noise, but it wasn't me. Junichi began to cling to me, his arms clinging to my back, but his face was so peaceful. I felt somehow good, every now and then he didn't have that stern look on his face, he was just real.

But when I thought about it, why did sleeping on my lap make him so relaxed? Well, I had to answer that question, one was that he was a pervert, but having got to know him a bit I'd rather rule that out.

The other was that maybe he hadn't slept peacefully for a long time and now he felt safe with me. My lips twisted slightly to form a small smile. Unconsciously, I smiled at him.

ShlakShlak

I slapped my face with both hands, what was I thinking? He held on even tighter now, so there was no way around it. I noticed his long blue hair, which matched his deep blue eyes perfectly. He always had that sombre look because of that hair, but it was more beautiful and softer than women's hair.

That's when I realised that the hair hadn't just grown without any sense, it was a haircut. My feminine instinct told me that I should have tied up the hair. I took one of the rubber bands I had with me and tied up his hair.

Woah

The difference was absurd. He could now be the best looking man I'd seen in a long time. Now his face wasn't covered and I could see his long eyelashes. His red lips were like a cherry, I just wanted to eat them. I touched them with my thumb and at the same moment Junichi gave a sign that he was waking up.

I quickly removed my thumb, pretending not to know what I was doing.

The time seemed to be endless, but apparently only a few minutes had passed.

"Good morning, great Akari-sama."

As soon as he woke up, he tried to annoy me. Not only did I lend him my laps to rest, but he also made fun of me.

"But thanks to me, you feel much better now, don't you?"

He gave me a slight smile that made my heart skip a beat. Then he returned to his usual posture.

"Ah, okok, as you say, my lady."

This was a bit disappointing, he had just agreed to avoid the subject. But why was I disappointed? No, it's impossible it was like that, it was just an impression.

[Challenge: A Safe Place

You have faced many challenges now, and you deserve some rest.

You need to find a place and make it your home base, your shelter, your 'checkpoint'.

Clearance condition: create a shelter (0/1)

Failure: ???

Reward: ???]

This was something new, and fortunately a distraction from my previous strange thoughts. A shelter, eh?

Basically, it was a way to get to a safe area instead of continuing to live with our guard up, always on the lookout for danger.

"That's good, we can get a nice place to rest, I don't see why not. Just let's hurry to get the best spot."

"Agreed."

I replied in a distant tone, not thinking much about him. I was completely out of my mind, just following him mindlessly.

Finding the perfect place wasn't easy, we had to find a place with a shelter that could protect us from monsters and give us any kind of safety. Now, for a shelter, we needed a place that was close, we could take a place and then build a rudimentary house there. For monsters, it was difficult, this rudimentary structure wouldn't be enough to keep the monsters away.

However, if we wanted to create a safe place, we could have done that in our own place.

"Ne, have you thought about this challenge or are you just wandering around aimlessly?"

"I've given it a lot of thought, that's why I'm walking around looking for a suitable place."

"Oh, so you have some idea of what the reward of the challenge might be, or what the consequences of the challenge will be?"

"Hm... well, you could say I haven't given it much thought. So would the good-hearted Akari-sama please explain it to this humble follower of hers?"

"Well, now the great Akari-sama will enlighten you. It's possible that this challenge is to give us a safe place, meaning that we'll have a kind of safe zone, like the ones you find in games, where no monster can enter. Because no matter how you look at it, we can't build a safe place to protect ourselves from monsters without our technology from Earth. Finally, we have to think outside the box to see the goal of these challenges, this is an uninhabited planet, and since we are basically wanderers living like this, we need to have a base to fully face this "GAME"."

...

Junichi remained completely silent at my explanation.