The Man-Eater (4)
We spent about ten minutes in a stalemate.
“What the hell happened?” As soon as Tirsi returned to the room, I asked the listless Veronica (pony mode). I liked to think I was pretty quick-witted, but this time I genuinely couldn’t figure out what the problem was.
‘It doesn’t seem like Tirsi is the cause.’
The Bicorns had two curses placed on them. The first was virgin allergy—apparently getting close to someone pure and chaste who had never lost their virginity triggered a rejection reaction in the body. The second was the inability to maintain humanoid true form in front of others. It might be easier to understand as a curse that forced them to change into horse shape whenever people were around. Because of it, even though Veronica’s self-awareness was close to human, she had to live in equine form and couldn’t even chant magic spells.
If I understood correctly, the Bicorns carried this lovely double-curse package, yet earlier it seemed the curse hadn’t been properly lifted?
“I was right here and she returned to human form. Wasn’t the second curse dispelled?”
“......Berkanan.”
⟨ Rune of True Transformation ⟩
Veronica transformed again, as if actions spoke louder than words. It was rune magic carrying true meaning—something a modern otherworlder like me could never activate. The characters floating between her horns reshaped Veronica’s body exactly as they had when the curse was lifted.
I blinked, utterly lost.
“What? It works just fine?”
—Shiver.
Having spoken in her physical voice, Veronica trembled.
Back in her divine form, Veronica shook as though enduring some invisible pain. It looked like a purely physiological reaction—like stepping outside in short sleeves on a freezing day.
No matter how I turned it over, the logic refused to line up. I frowned.
“So what does that mean? If she can stay in divine form even in front of others, isn’t the curse completely gone?”
“You can’t hold divine form because of the virgin allergy? But earlier when Tirsi wasn’t here you still couldn’t endure it. It just looks like the curse wasn’t properly—”
I stopped mid-sentence as realization hit.
Obviously, earlier in this room there had been no Arma-whatever-the-hell with her virgin-and-non-virgin combo stamping “virgin” marks all over the place. Therefore the chance that Tirsi had triggered Veronica’s allergic reaction was zero percent. And it wasn’t as if I had somehow earned an “ada” judgment with only two wives.
By process of elimination, only one person remained. Or rather, one creature.
“……Hey, Veronica. Are you okay while in pony mode?”
Veronica’s face burned scarlet as her whole body shook like someone was tickling her with a feather. She appeared to be taking the curse’s penalty in real time.
‘……Is Veronica herself receiving the curse damage because she’s still a virgin?’
She had been fine in pony mode, so this had to be a side effect of the curse being clumsily half-lifted. They probably hadn’t intended this kind of reaction. It wasn’t exactly a curse of lewdness, after all.
Still, the fact that she could endure it suggested the virgin allergy’s power had weakened somewhat. Or maybe she was powering through with sheer willpower.
At any rate, Veronica crossed her arms elegantly, lifted her chin like a noble, and declared:
“Uh-huh.”
Arms still crossed in a majestic pose, Veronica praised me. Unfortunately her legs were trembling so violently it was painful to watch.
Tirsi kindly pretended not to notice, but I pointed straight at those long, vibrating legs.
“Stop forcing it and go back to pony form. Until we find a way to lift the remaining curse, it’s fine to stay in horse shape, isn’t it?”
“Look, I get it, but—”
Veronica threw a tantrum at my words. More importantly, she was the one having trouble enduring, so why was she taking it out on me?
It must have been obvious I was thinking she was acting like an idiot, because she doubled down.
“That whatever—you know I’ve had similar experiences, right? I get it. But if you want proper treatment, you can’t be embarrassed to talk about sexual stuff like this. Right, Tirsi?”
“Don’t ask me!! That was a medical procedure!!”
At my words, Tirsi—who had glanced at my crotch for about 0.3 seconds—covered her face in shame and shouted. The doctor who had diagnosed my dick during our second meeting had been Tirsi and her friend. She had seen my member copied in explicit 3D-model detail. She must have been remembering that.
Still, for a 21st-century Korean named Kang Buk-ho who had lived in the age of buffet feminism to casually bring up sexual topics with women… the world really was unpredictable.
Feeling strangely moved, I said, “Anyway, you can hold your head high. It’s not like you did anything wrong.”
“R-right!! Chastity isn’t something to be ashamed of!!”
Unable to withstand Tirsi’s oddly empathetic comfort, Veronica protested once more before reverting to pony mode. Her concentration had broken.
Still, the fact that she could return to her original form while focus lasted was a huge step forward.
‘If we just said it outright, the moment Veronica loses her virginity the whole thing would be solved.’
But the person in question obviously knew that, so I deliberately let it pass without mentioning it.
“Let’s go. I figured even if we were discovered we could just wait near the magic circle, but if that ogre bastard stubbornly waits for days on end, we’d be the ones at a disadvantage.”
I spoke my thoughts while preparing. Even if we knew the enemy’s destination, considering food supplies and bathroom breaks, maintaining an ambush for long would be difficult. The ogre probably wasn’t that cautious, but if the bastard lounged at home for a week before showing up, we’d be the ones suffering.
You know how in the 21st century snipers supposedly just piss their pants while lying in wait? I absolutely hated the idea of waiting endlessly for an ogre who might appear at any moment, losing all concentration, then starting the fight.
We’d begin the pursuit while Bigen’s wriggling stone was still active.
Covering her reddened ears, Tirsi said, “Still, the communication method is a problem. Nord, could you ask whether you can connect me to Veronica-ssi via rune magic for telepathy?”
“Ah, sure.”
When I relayed the request, Veronica shook her head.
“Kaunan.”
⟨ Rune of Shared Mind ⟩
The rune flew forward and sank into Tirsi’s body. At first she seemed slightly awkward, then spoke.
“Yes. I can hear you.”
Though her mouth never opened, Tirsi’s words arrived directly in my mind via telepathy. I answered aloud and clicked my tongue.
‘This application is pretty useful too. If only it didn’t eat up mana…’
Using MP every time you spoke made it inefficient as a radio. I could achieve something similar by speaking directly into someone’s head with Ansuz, but the mana leakage made it unsuitable for stealth operations and the fuel cost was terrible. Kaunan didn’t leak mana, but the MP consumption remained a drawback.
Veronica drank the mana potion I handed her and said,
“Got it. Oh, and release the rune on Tirsi later, okay? The chaotic dream parties are more than enough with just you.”
“Dreams?”
“Oh, right. Slipped my mind.”
With that, we headed into the forest of the sacred spring, following the direction indicated by the stone tracker.
In 21st-century TV commercials, forests are always portrayed as peaceful, warm treasures of nature. But once you actually step into one at night, that nonsense vanishes. Seeing a cutting-edge modern car speeding along a paved forest road inspires majesty rather than sophistication. That was exactly how I felt right now.
Tirsi spoke. Since we couldn’t light lanterns for stealth, we were running while relying on the faint glow of the moon.
Veronica, who had claimed to hate quadrupedal movement, ran smoothly as if it had all been a lie. She asked,
‘Keep going straight. The vibration is getting stronger, so we’re close.’
Was it anger at the invasion of her clan’s sanctuary? Her expression was hard to read, but rage colored Veronica’s voice.
It was then.
I sent a mental stop signal to the party.
—Vrrrrrrr.
The stone in my palm vibrated violently. The ogre bastard had to be nearby.
The party began watching their footsteps without needing explanation. As we moved with extreme care, Veronica halted us again.
—Whoosh!
When Veronica swept her horn, the invisible transparent membrane split apart like a zipper.
We entered the sacred forest with tension stretched to the limit. There was almost no difference between inside and outside the barrier—except that the sound of insects had vanished. Still, if only Tirsi and I had come, we would have gotten lost and wandered off. Sanctuaries like this usually cannot be entered without permission.
Yet we were not surprised to find an uninvited intruder already inside.
A clearing with a monolith erected in it—nothing resembling a magic circle! The back of the ogre crouching there was all too familiar.
‘There he is.’
The bastard wore a hood and remained perfectly still, deep in thought. I spotted the leaf Bigen had attached to his back and narrowed my eyes.
“Yeah, that’s the plan. But first I have something to say.”
I spoke to my party members while making seemingly unrelated hand gestures. After seeing the signals, they appeared to understand the explanation.
I moved carefully so the spear wouldn’t strike any branches, advancing until I was roughly three meters away in a perfect position to target the ogre’s back. In two seconds I finished preparing the throw, then hurled the spear with all my strength exactly as the manual instructed—while simultaneously activating Beast Regression.
Ancient Ulster beast-transformation magic surges through every cell. Right arm turns green. Power and defense multiply. Side effect: permanent enlargement remains.
—Shweeeeeeeeeek!!
—Crack.
At that exact moment, the sound of a foot stepping on leaves came from the tree directly behind me. It was so faint that normally I would never have noticed. But I poured mana into my right hand—the one hidden by my throwing stance.
The mana claws I had taken from Tabula sprang out.
“You think I’d fall for that, you moron!!”
I leaped from my position and stabbed upward with the claws. The ogre who had jumped down from the tree aiming to crush my skull twisted his lips into a hideous grin.
“Better senses than I expected.”
—Slice!!
—Thud!!
In mid-air, I collided with the ogre bastard.