Chapter 10: Monsters
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 10: Monsters
Chirp, chirp—.
Birds perched on tree branches sang their beautiful songs.
As my ears were treated to the exquisite harmony, I reached into the basket I’d brought with me.
I took a bite of a cookie that was still warm thanks to magic, despite having been baked before I left, and savored its sweetness.
The chirping birds must have caught the sweet scent, as they flew down from the branches and began to hop closer. I smiled gently, watching them peck at the small crumbs I’d broken off for them.
‘This is nice…’
This outing, my first in a long time, was an indescribable luxury. From the natural sunlight warming my entire body just right, to the cool breeze that swept past to cool me down—it was pure bliss.
That is, it would have been, if not for those things.
‘Wow… Shouldn’t something like that be in a monster movie?’
That was my thought as I looked at the monsters occupying a corner of my vision. They were creatures you’d only expect to see in hell, their faces grotesquely melted.
My teacher had told me they were monsters that had mutated from an overexposure to magic power. That meant that before they’d changed, they were probably cute little animals.
A dog-shaped monster, half of its facial muscles melted away and dragging its own face across the ground, opened its maw wide. The magic power that gathered in its jaws shot out toward my teacher.
Even as she watched the beam fly toward her, my teacher waved her hand nonchalantly. The space around her warped, and the beam of magic that had been aimed at her was sent right back at the monster.
Sizzzle—! The monster’s face melted away, and a gaping hole now decorated its body. Having finished cleaning up the area, my teacher wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and walked back.
“Phew—that was tough.”
“Welcome back, Teacher.”
“Yeah. Ahh, it’s hot. Can you give me some water?”
“Here you go.”
I quickly took a bottle of water from the basket and handed it to her. It was water I had drawn from the lake at dawn today, as cold as ice.
She gulped it down, letting out a soft groan as the frigid water seemed to freeze her insides.
“Puhaah—I think that’s about the last of them, right?”
“Hmm… I think so. You caught thirteen of them.”
“Really? That’s a shame. Yohan, you should have had a go at fighting them.”
“No, I’m good.”
I waved my hands at her in alarm. She wanted me to fight those things? I’d refuse even if she, a great witch, was backing me up.
In the first place, all I could do was enhance my body with magic power—and even that was so pathetic I’d lost to a monster that just climbed trees on the neighborhood hill. What could I possibly do against a monster that shoots beams from its mouth?
I wouldn’t even be able to get close. I’d just get poked to death from a distance. Even that would be a good outcome.
“Still, it’s nice to be out like this for the first time in a while!”
“I agree. Should we come out more often?”
“Hmm… No! I’d rather not.”
“…Teacher, I know it’s not my place to say this, but if you stay cooped up in your room all the time, you’ll get sick.”
“Witches don’t get sick.”
She tilted her head at me as if I’d said something bizarre. Ah, right… She wasn’t just some shut-in who never left her room. She wasn’t even human.
It was only natural, but the idea of her, a non-human, getting sick was absurd. It was as ridiculous as an animal catching AIDS.
“Mmmph—! Anyway, I need to rest for a bit. Yohan? Can you support your teacher’s head?”
Without waiting for permission, Evangeline began to lay her head on my thigh. Feeling her hair tickle my leg, I shifted to make her as comfortable as possible.
A moment later, Evangeline must have been truly tired, because she soon drifted off, breathing softly. Her magnificent chest rose and fell with each breath.
As I was gazing down at her, she shifted uncomfortably in her sleep. Her bare face turned toward me.
‘Gah—!’
The curse will activate. I squeezed my eyes shut and quickly tilted my head up. But her bare face was already replaying over and over in my mind.
Haa, haa—. Her soft breaths brushed against the front of my pants. Her large breasts, which were pressing down on my hand, began to push even more firmly against it.
Her face, her scent, the breath she exhaled, her chest—all of it was turning me on.
‘I’m fucked.’
I cautiously peeked through slitted eyes and saw the prominent bulge in my pants, right in front of her face.
Squeezing my eyes shut again, I sighed internally and started desperately reciting the national anthem in my head. But no matter what I did, this virile body of mine refused to calm down.
‘Seriously, what do I do if she wakes up now?’
If my teacher, sleeping on my lap, were to wake up and see the tent in my pants right before her eyes, realizing that she’d made me excited… what in the world would happen?
I dared to predict it wouldn’t be a happy ending. Hadn’t it already been subtly revealed that she didn’t see me as a sexual object?
If she did, she wouldn’t walk around so defenselessly. The only ones you could be so unguarded around without feeling shame were pets or bugs—beings you considered so beneath you that you didn’t even feel like they were the same species.
And that’s how she was acting. So wasn’t it obvious that she saw me as a pet, or just some human she happened to pick up who had awakened to magic?
And—no one would just let a pet that gets turned on by its owner be. They’d kick it, get it neutered, or in the worst-case scenario, abandon it.
‘Quickly—I have to make it go down, quickly…’
“Mmm… Yohan?”
Perhaps because I had flinched while trying to hide my erection, the sleeping Evangeline slowly opened her eyes.
I felt her gaze brush past the tent in my pants. It’s over. With that thought, I braced myself for the punishment to come.
“…Teacher?”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“Um, don’t you have anything to say…?”
“Hmm… A thigh is less comfortable than I thought. I’ll just go home and sleep.”
For some reason, she saw my erection and just brushed it off as if it were nothing. As if she had no interest whatsoever in… that.
Seeing her reaction, I felt both relief and a sense of disappointment at the same time. Letting out a hollow sigh, I packed the basket and got up.
Then I followed her back to the cabin.
The monsters of this world have many uses.
They didn’t carry magic stones in their bodies like in fantasy stories, but their hides could be used for clothing, their flesh for food, and their corpses could be rendered for oil or used as waterskins.
Humans, who would find a use for even dog droppings on the street, were not about to let these monsters go to waste.
“Haha, thank you as always.”
“Just give me a fair price. It looks like you’re skimming almost half off the top. If you keep this up, I’ll just sell them to the merchants myself.”
“Oh my, you can’t do that. This time, I’ll negotiate well with the merchants and…”
I stared at the village chief, who still wouldn’t say he’d pay more, before turning my back and leaving the village.
In my arms, I carried rare potions and fruits I’d received from the villagers, as well as things like wheat and seasonings that we couldn’t get out here.
These were what I’d received in exchange for the monster carcasses.
‘Teacher is just too nice.’
I knew we could get more than double this amount if we dealt directly with the merchants. But my teacher didn’t. She said we’d always done it this way, so there was no need to break tradition.
Listening to her, she sounded no different from a stubborn old fossil about to celebrate her sixtieth birthday. I paused for a moment when I realized she had actually lived many times longer than that.
‘Right, Teacher is a witch…’
And I knew that the stubbornness of a witch who had lived for hundreds of years wouldn’t be easily broken. I sighed and returned to the cabin.
As soon as I arrived, I put the ingredients and flour in the kitchen and washed my hands in the bathroom. Water gushed from the magically created faucet, washing away the grime from my hands.
After washing off the dirt, I peeled some fruit in the kitchen, arranged it on a plate, and went upstairs. To the place I’d been able to freely visit ever since I started learning magic.
“Teacher? I’m coming in.”
—Come in.
After receiving permission, I opened the door to find my teacher, wearing her usual hood, greeting me. I held up the plate of fruit and gave a small smile.
“I’m back. Have some fruit.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
As I casually approached to set down the plate, I snuck a peek at the book she was reading. It was about curses and how to break them.
I tilted my head, wondering if she was now moving beyond magic to dabble in curses, but I soon lost interest and looked around.
‘What should I read today…’
With that thought, I approached the bookshelf. The magic bookshelf in my teacher’s room. It was a mysterious bookshelf where new books appeared every day.
I had once asked how she made such a thing, and who on earth wrote the books inside—but my teacher had just smiled gently and moved on without a word.
‘Ah, this looks interesting.’
I pulled out a book titled [The Difference Between Spirit Animals and Monsters] and left the room. I went into my room on the first floor, lay down on the bed, and opened the book.
In this place, completely devoid of computers or video games, books were my only form of entertainment. It would have been better if there were history books or novels. Unfortunately, those kinds of books didn’t appear very often.
As I was deep in my reading, I heard a sound. Tap, tap—. Something was knocking on the window.
“…Mr. Fenrir?”
Nod—.
Fenrir was standing outside the window. Even though he was my teacher’s familiar, he always came to me whenever he had business with her. I still didn’t know why…
Putting down the book I was reading, I went outside and realized Fenrir’s expression was not its usual self. Not only that—though a wolf shouldn’t have the ability to sweat, he looked as if he were drenched in it.
“What’s wrong?”
[My daughter. My daughter is hurt.]
“Daughter? Mr. Fenrir, you have a kid?”
[…Is that what’s important right now?]
Fenrir urged me on, seeming to be in a great hurry. This was a matter for my teacher, so I quickly ran upstairs to call for her. Upon hearing that her familiar’s daughter was injured, my teacher quickly got dressed and came outside.
“What’s going on?”
[My daughter is injured. She needs treatment.]
“Healing isn’t my specialty… but well, it’s better than doing nothing. Let’s go.”
She bit her lip as she spoke. Then she turned to me and said.
“Yohan, you stay and watch the house. Don’t go anywhere, alright?”
“Yes, please be careful.”
“…Let’s go, Fenrir.”
My teacher then climbed onto her familiar’s back and disappeared. I stood there watching them go, only to realize something a moment later.
‘Wait, this means I’m free, right…?’
I had time to myself.
For the first time in a very long while.