Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Chasing the Ability Thief #03
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Crunch. Crunch.
I sat in the cafeteria next to the school’s main building, steadfastly chewing on black beans.
“More! More! Eat more, Big Brother Geomda!”
“Keep it up, Arthin! When humans shed their hair... pfft... they get really ugly!”
For some reason, she was overreacting wildly. Lin Shaomei, who had bolted out of class before lunch even started, brought over a whole basket of roasted black beans, sat me down, and began force-feeding me.
The unicorn girl found the whole scene hilarious, bursting into laughter now and then while slurping carrot juice and teasing me relentlessly.
“This is all pointless...”
“No way! If we leave it like this and your head goes completely bald again, how am I supposed to face everyone else?!”
Truth be told, it really was all for nothing. In my second regression, I’d tried every supposed hair-growth remedy under the sun, but nothing worked. I always had to keep a wig, helmet, or at least a hat on hand.
“Here, I brought seaweed too. Make sure you eat it.”
The one who sat in the chair across from me, nagging me while I kept munching black beans under Lin Shaomei’s insistence, wasn’t Jorba or Agnes. Ironically, it was Kaiyen—the very guy I’d been trying to meet.
Watching him look at me like a pitiful terminal patient and offer me seaweed, I found him as infuriating as the unicorn girl yapping nonstop beside me. No, the more I thought about it, the clearer it became: you two were the start of my hair loss.
“You’ve been spying on me with spirits, haven’t you? How else would you know to bring seaweed without me saying a word?”
“...It’s not like that. I just happened to see.”
Isn’t that the same as spying? This crazy stalker. Kaiyen’s definitely gunning for that BL tag.
“Last time, you wouldn’t even let me talk to you, but hair loss comes up and suddenly you’re stocking me with seaweed. Thanks a lot, buddy.”
“...That was your fault, not mine.”
No, dating a girl is the problem?
Is this how gay guys think?
I felt like listening any longer would weaken my hair follicles from the stress.
“Big Brother did nothing wrong! Stop stressing him out and get lost!”
Lin Shaomei looked annoyed at Kaiyen’s arrival, and when I furrowed my brow, she hooked her arm through mine and growled at him. The feeling of her ample chest pressing against my arm softened my stress a bit.
Maybe uncomfortable with Lin Shaomei’s attitude, Kaiyen sighed and gave me a pitying look.
“...Sigh, partner. A girl obsessed with that ‘big chest’ gimmick isn’t a good choice. You need someone sharper, more capable...”
“Hey, even if we’re partners, don’t you think it’s rude to say that in front of the girl I’m dating?”
“...I’m saying it because I care about you, partner.”
I’d planned to let it slide, but when he casually crossed the line, I cut him off irritably. I couldn’t tolerate Kaiyen meddling in something even Arthin’s parents wouldn’t touch.
“You here to talk about my love life or hair loss? I’ve got a more important topic.”
“...You’ve changed a bit, partner.”
When I drew a firm line to stop him from overstepping, Kaiyen made a hurt expression with that sculpted face of his. If I were a girl, I might’ve been flustered, legs kicking. Instead, I demonstratively draped my arm around Lin Shaomei’s shoulders.
Of course I’d changed. How much had I suffered catering to your whims? I’m not the same guy who used to act carefully to avoid offending you.
“Fine, let’s switch to a topic you like, partner. What do you want to hear?”
Seeing my resolute attitude, Kaiyen shook his head helplessly and changed the subject. He knew better than anyone that I wouldn’t compromise when I got like this.
“What? Already over? This was getting fun! Ow! That hurts! Why’d you hit me?!”
I gave a knuckle rap to Unicorn’s head for whining without reading the room. She clutched her head, whining, but quieted down when I raised my fist again.
“First off, memory regression. What do you remember about me? Anything else coming back?”
“The question I expected. The most important one.”
Kaiyen nodded, resting his chin on his hand with a smile, and began speaking leisurely.
“I don’t really know.”
“Huh? You don’t know?”
“I don’t, partner. I don’t know how I remember you.”
I hadn’t expected Kaiyen to say he didn’t know. Shouldn’t the protagonist, who always solved crises with weird cheats and genius insights, analyze this perfectly?
“All I know is that my memories of you are crystal clear, and the common trait among those who’ve regained their memories.”
“Common trait? Between you, Agnes, Lin Shaomei, and Violet?”
I had a few hypotheses about common traits myself. But Kaiyen spoke with such certainty that I had to ask back.
“Hmm... You really don’t know, partner? Really?”
For some reason, my reaction amused him. He met my eyes with those sparkling black ones, smiling slyly. Even a guy could call it seductive. For a moment, I worried Lin Shaomei beside me might waver.
“Big Brother, your hand stopped eating the black beans!”
...My worry was unfounded. I turned to Lin Shaomei, and she grabbed a handful of black beans, shoving them into my mouth.
She could’ve fed them one by one more gently.
“Well, if partner doesn’t know, I won’t tell you.”
“Mmph? Why not?!”
“You’ll find out soon enough. Figure it out yourself.”
She watched me chew the beans intently, then huffed and turned away petulantly.
‘Why’s this non-woman keep acting cute? Makes me wanna kill him...?’
The Blood Demon Punch oath swirled in my mind. But I had to calm down. Challenging him now would mean 100% loss for me...
“Fine, it’s not the regression method anyway, just a condition. I’ll figure it out soon. Moving on.”
I didn’t press further and accepted it. Kaiyen glanced at me, pouting. Damn. I wanted to smash his head with Unicorn’s carrot juice bottle.
“There’s a Demon King’s Army minion infiltrated in the academy right now...”
Finally, I explained everything with maximum patience. Someone stole the King of the Plains’ ability, and he chose me to resolve it.
When he learned the strange woman slurping carrot juice was Unicorn, Kaiyen nodded and patted her head. I expected Unicorn to complain, but she just stared blankly. Protagonist buff, huh.
“The villain probably used polymorph to change appearance and stole some of the evil eye and poison mist abilities. We need to find them fast. You listening?”
“Huh? Yeah? I am. Keep going, partner.”
As I calmly explained the villain, I noticed Kaiyen’s expression visibly stiffen. What? A keyword he didn’t like?
“They’re adept at hiding demonic energy, and with the appearance change, I’ll prepare countermeasures. Still, just in case, could you send spirits to search the academy grounds?”
“Ah, yeah. Sure thing, partner.”
Kaiyen nodded unnaturally in agreement, then suddenly shot up when Claire passed by in the distance.
“Claire’s coming, gotta go. Yeah, eat that seaweed. I’ll send a spirit if anything happens.”
He shoved the seaweed he’d brought toward me, then bolted to Claire.
“Why’d he act so weird all of a sudden? Right after hearing about the ability thief.”
“Yeah, maybe he knows the villain?”
Maybe a villain tied to the story’s start. But wouldn’t they appear in the original? Not sure.
“Alright, that annoying parasite brother’s gone, so one more handful and we can head to class!”
“...Can’t I stop now? I’m full? Ow.”
As I made a face saying I was done with black beans, Lin Shaomei plucked a single hair from my head. It came out effortlessly, floating to the table.
“Keep eating. Your hair’s even flimsier than back when Big Brother was holed up in his room.”
I shut up and shoveled in more black beans. Tears welled up from the pathos.
**
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“Look over there, they’re staring at us weird again...!”
“See that glint in his eyes? Really pisses me off.”
In the student dining hall, not far from the cafeteria where Arthin and his group were.
Munch, munch, slurp, crunch!
“Daniel,” who’d been ogling the whispering female students passing by while cramming food into his mouth like he was stuffing a bottomless pit, finally finished what was nearly ten servings’ worth. Satisfied, he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
It had been a month since the ghoul possessed Daniel. To the ghoul, who’d spent his life in the cold, dark northern lands in poverty, the academy was paradise. The near-tropical climate was always warm—no freezing to death—and delicious food overflowed.
Plus, the rumors about Daniel’s family seemed true. His luggage was packed with gold coins, jewels, and fine clothes—far beyond what the silver-coin-living ghoul could dream of. Thanks to that, the ghoul had skipped classes for over a month, indulging solely in eating and drinking to sate his appetite.
“This place is the best. Hogging a heaven like this all to themselves? So unfair.”
Smacking his lips, he rinsed his mouth with a drink, left the dining hall, and felt something stir in his endless desires—not hunger, but another craving.
He’d slept twelve hours a day and spent the rest eating delicious things, so sleep and appetite were satisfied. Which left only one desire stimulating him.
“I want a good woman... Should I grab those chatty girls from earlier, kill ’em, and rape ’em?”
Kidnapping whatever woman caught his eye sounded good, but the ghoul shook his head, rejecting the thought.
The ghoul had foolishly indulged immediate urges before, but after a month of fulfilling his desires freely, new greed emerged. Rather than cheap thrills, he craved higher-class satisfaction—vanity had taken root.
What woman would do? Everywhere he looked, better women than the ragged sluts he’d known his whole life.
His short patience nearly overrode his vanity to pick any, but then he recalled something he’d overheard while eating.
‘There are chaste virgins chosen by a unicorn at the academy, right?’
Even an uneducated bumpkin like him had heard unicorn tales. A virgin chosen by one would be perfect for sating his lust.
‘Senia Reeves, Violet Purplecrow, Agnes Ermengarde, Marianne de Lectour.’
Repeating the names he’d heard, the ghoul recalled the most talked-about among the unicorn-chosen virgins.
‘...Arthin Ludwig.’
The baron’s daughter who’d lived as a boy her whole life, exposed as a virgin by the unicorn.
‘She’s lived as a man, so she won’t know how to be a woman. I’ll teach her a man’s taste while killing her.’
What face would she make? Imagining the noble girl, proud as a man, weeping after losing her virginity to him made the ghoul’s groin swell.
‘Heh heh, perfect. Starting with Arthin Ludwig, I’ll kidnap and enjoy every unicorn-chosen virgin one by one!’
If that made the academy taste even a fraction of his misery, he’d be even happier. The ghoul barely covered his bursting laughter with both hands, hiding his sordid desires as best he could.