7.
To think the deepening demonic energy was already affecting even Lina.
Ha... I was so sorry my chest felt like it would burst.
She had been chosen as my sworn guardian, and we had shared the arduous pilgrimage journey together.
Through countless fierce battles, Lina had been wounded and bled countless times.
But now, for my sake, she had to spread her legs for other men, and for that purpose, her body had begun to grow increasingly lewd.
Perhaps...
Even 'her lewd disposition, so strongly inclined toward masochism'...
The bitter thought crossed my mind—was that not, too, the fault of the demonic energy that had been slowly progressing?
"Haa, haa..."
Before I knew it, from her body, faint but nonetheless,
the scent of a female in heat had begun to waft up alluringly.
The cruel truth that she was gradually turning into a wanton bitch.
The moment it was confirmed by the High Priest's own lips—the man she had followed like her own grandfather—
the masochistic instincts sleeping deep within Lina's heart were being tickled with a strange, perverse thrill.
The price for saving the world...
Why did it have to return as such a wretched and lewd curse?
But even so, we decided to be grateful.
That we could avoid the worst ending—
my soul being extinguished and turning into the Demon King—
we decided to simply be grateful for that fact.
Since we had to perform the first 'Netorase Ritual' within a few days,
we hurried our steps toward our hometown of Greenfell Village in heavy silence.
Tap, tap-tap—.
"........."
On the galloping horse, Lina silently held me tight.
With each progression of my delusions, my condition was rapidly worsening.
The encroachment of my right eye had already completed, and even my left eye was beginning to stain red.
My twisted desire to make Lina be ravished by another man surged uncontrollably.
And as if answering that sinister wave...
Lina's body was visibly transforming into that of a wanton female.
"Uuggh... ugh... guk!!"
Every vibration transmitted as the horse galloped stimulated her pussy, which had become strangely sensitive.
Her pussy pressed against the saddle was already thoroughly soaked, thick love juices drenching her underwear.
"Haa, hahuk..."
She was biting her lip tightly so I wouldn't notice, but she couldn't completely block the sweet, sticky moans leaking through her ragged breaths.
I was endlessly sorry toward her.
Yet at the same time, seized by an irrepressible sense of depravity, I was dripping thick pre-cum.
And so we quietly returned home.
To our precious nest, the Luna Inn.
"........."
Some kind of inexplicable, awkward silence pressed down heavily upon us.
Lina and I—we were already being swallowed deep into uncontrollable desire.
Should I consider it fortunate, at least?
Could it be that the Goddess truly allowed this lewd transformation of her body to lighten the burden Lina carried, even a little...
Now even my left eye was being encroached and turning red.
The more my condition worsened, the more Lina's body ripened with unprecedented lewdness.
"Ha... I'm upset. My body has become one that can't even ride a horse anymore."
Lina sighed softly, fidgeting with her damp, soaked underwear.
For a moment, her shoulders slumped limply.
But...
We were not the kind of people to be broken by a trial of merely this degree.
The four-year pilgrimage journey that had taken us to the brink of life and death
had left us with strong-willed hearts capable of rising again by relying on each other in any despair.
"Louis, you perverted Demon King... take this...!!"
As if to blow away the gloomy atmosphere in one breath, Lina rushed at me like a shot.
Then, pulling my face into her embrace, she put me in a headlock and began to torment me.
"You sly, perverted Louis. Because of you, I've become perverted Lina too...!"
Ha...
Truly, she was a fierce child who had been stronger than me since childhood.
Back then, it just hurt, so I hated it...
Hehehe...
But now, I didn't dislike it.
Jiggle, jiggle.
Squish, squish.
Bounce, bounce.
When Lina—who had grown a huge pair of tits—put me in a headlock, I could enjoy a certain kind of delight.
Moreover...
From her body, which had gone into heat while riding the horse, a strange female pheromone was flowing out.
Every time she grabbed my head and shook it,
the dizzying, strange scent of a female seeped out from between her armpits.
"How's that... hurts, doesn't it? Hurry up and beg the merciful Lina to spare your life."
"Haa♥... sniff sniff. Hehehe."
"Wh-what the...!!??"
Far from being in pain from her attack,
Lina, discovering me grinning like a pervert, recoiled in shock and pulled away from me.
"You... you perverted Louis...!! What's with that creepy expression...!!"
"N-no... it's just that I love you so much, Lina."
"Wh-what are you saying...! A pervert like you dares to...!"
As if to hide her embarrassment, Lina launched a 'skull-smacking' attack this time.
Smack—.
"Ow, that hurts...!"
"Hmph. Now the corporal punishment finally has some effect."
Sticking her tongue out at me spitefully as I clutched my head, Lina headed for the bathroom.
"Bleh...! I'm going to wash up."
"Wait, let's go together...!!"
"N-no! I'm washing alone."
Before I could even finish speaking, she slipped into the bathroom and firmly locked the door.
Normally, Lina would throw a fit, asking me to wash her body.
She said it made her feel like a Princess or something.
But today, she avoided me, saying she would wash alone.
Probably...
Her damp, soaked underwear.
And her wanton, heated pussy—she seemed embarrassed about those.
'Ha... Lina, I'm sorry.'
My chest ached with endless sorrow, yet my lower abdomen throbbed with uncontrollable heat.
Lina, turning lewd because of me.
And the image of her degrading further in the future.
I simply could not stop imagining Lina being lewdly ruined.
I simply could not resist the desires dredged up by the demonic energy.
But fortunately...
My desires were not about killing someone, stealing, or ruling the world.
If we could just carry out the Netorase play well...
If we could walk that razor's edge and control it well...
Perhaps, even within this tragedy, we could reach a happy ending.
For that, I had to carefully choose the first man.
Someone Lina could open her heart to with the least burden and greatest ease.
'Right... I should ask Tony.'
Since childhood, the three of us had always been together like the Three Musketeers.
Lina, who was the same age as me.
And Tony, who was two years older.
Until Lina and I departed on our pilgrimage journey, we had always been inseparable.
He was now making a name for himself as a fairly renowned swordsman in the kingdom, and he had also been Lina's former sword instructor.
Of course, after Lina received the Goddess's blessing, Lina had become far stronger.
Tony was one of the finest swordsmen in the kingdom,
and at the same time, one of the finest playboys in the kingdom.
Without ever marrying,
a free spirit who wandered about shaking the hearts of countless women.
Well, he was someone comfortable for Lina too, and with his tall, handsome appearance and skilled way with women, he was adept.
Above all, he genuinely cherished us—he was certainly someone we could trust.
'Good, then shall I ask Lina?'
And then...
A long while passed.
'Why isn't she coming out? Surely nothing happened?'
Worried, I slowly approached the bathroom.
The moment I reached out my hand to knock—
But...
At the strange moans flowing through the crack in the door, I froze stiff as if turned to ice.
"Hahuk, haa, haang...♥"
Squelch, squelch.
"Uuggh...♥♥ Guk!!
Ha, it feels good...
Why does it throb like this..."
Pfffft, pffft, pffft...
"Lewd water keeps coming out endlessly. Haa, haang...♥"
Tsu-eup, tsu-eup, tsuuuup.
"Ha-eup... haa... ha-ung... h-heup...♡"
Squelch, squelch.
Twitch, twitch.
"Nn... heup...♡
Ha... have I really become a pervert too?
Is Louis aching like me too?
Seized by desires that can't be resolved?
My poor Louis, what am I going to do with you...
Haa, haang♥"
"Hoo-eut—♡ Hoo-eut—♡
Ah~♡ Aang~♡ I'm coming again~~♡"
Like that, for a long while, Lina was relieving her surging lust by herself.
I was entranced by her moans.
Like Odysseus who lost his mind to the Sirens' temptation, I stood there frozen, utterly spellbound.
'If Lina knew I'd been listening all along in front of here, she'd be so mortified.'
Haa, haa.
I have to pretend I didn't notice.
Clutching desperately at the thread of reason, I somehow dragged my uncooperative legs back to the sofa and collapsed into it.
And only after another long while...
Lina, flushed red, finally opened the bathroom door and came out.
"Sorry, did I take too long washing? Hehe."
She smiled awkwardly at me.
She was the Lina who had just come from a fiercely agonizing battle against her own burning lust.
I wrapped her in my arms—she who had endured so much.
"Ha... my Lina is so pretty."
"Hmph, what are you saying. Stating the obvious..."
Even though she had just washed,
from her soft skin, along with the fragrant scent of soap, a faint female pheromone was blooming.
No matter how much she washed, from her body that had begun to go into heat, a strange scent kept seeping out endlessly.
It was as if the demonic energy inside me had placed a curse on Lina's body, making her emit a lewd fragrance that enticed men.
Right now, the twisted desire inside me was running wild like a train with broken brakes,
and under the influence of that sinister wave, Lina's body was heated to its very limit as well.
At this moment, Lina was no different from someone who had been injected with pig heat-inducing drugs to undergo training to become a sex slave.
'Didn't the High Priest say it? If my desires are resolved, her sexual urges will subside too.'
I could no longer leave her abandoned in the painful nightmare of heat.
I firmly resolved to put this plan into action tonight, right away.
"Lina......"
"Why...?"
"Ha... I-it's, well."
"Wh-what are you stalling for. Like an idiot."
Lina, her cheeks dyed bright red, avoided my eyes.
She seemed to have guessed what I was about to bring up.
Having already begun to heat up, she too was trembling with a strange excitement—a mix of fear and a subtle thrill.
"Looking at how my left eye is being encroached now, I think we really do need to hurry."
"........."
"Someone trustworthy, someone you can be comfortable with... how about Tony?"
".........!!??"
Lina stared blankly into the air with a face gone crimson.
The fact that she didn't jump up in anger or refuse—this silence could surely be interpreted as a positive sign.
Now that I thought about it, there had been a peculiar tension between the two of them.
Having been a late bloomer, I hadn't recognized Lina as the opposite sex even up until we left on the pilgrimage journey.
But between Tony, two years my senior, and Lina, who had hit puberty early, things hadn't looked as comfortable as they used to.
Of course, in those innocent days, I had never noticed those subtle changes at all.
If we hadn't been chosen, and had simply grown up normally in the village...
If Lina and I had never been bound soul to soul...
If we had never shared the pilgrimage journey that took us to the brink of death...
Perhaps Lina's husband right now would have been Tony.
At that thought, my trousers bulged to their limit.
I barely managed to calm it down and spoke to Lina in a low voice.
"Then I'll invite Tony to dinner tonight. And we'll ask him honestly. Is that okay?"
".....Wh-what... do whatever you want."
She was so adorable that I inadvertently burst out laughing.
"Pfft...."
The sight of Lina—always a tomboy—acting coy and demure like a bashful maiden was something I had never seen in my entire life.
I found myself falling for this Lina as if spellbound.
"Louis, you idiot...! Why are you staring at me so creepily."
"Pfft. I think I've fallen even more in love with you, Lina."
"Wh-what are you saying. Because of you, I've become a pervert too now..."
"The old Lina was also lovely, but now I love her even more."
"Hmph. Idiot Louis."
With a prim expression and a face dyed red, Lina allowed me to embrace her once more.
The fragrant scent of her body soothed my heart.
And simultaneously,
the subtly wafting, dizzying pheromone from Lina was making my cock grow.
"Wait a moment... Louis, you..."
"Hahaha. My soul and my cock both love Lina too much."
"Ha... you've really reached the point of saying perverted things without any shame. Let noona treat you again. Come here, Louis."
"Hik... I-I... I'm going to go see Tony...!"
Fleeing from Lina, who was about to administer shock therapy to my head, I hastily left the house.
With guilt, remorse, and a strange fluttering excitement, my heart felt like it was about to burst.