Black Flame Dragon's Incarnation and Goblin (1)
Black Flame Dragon's Incarnation and Goblin (1)
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"Hey, you. You there. Black hair. Yeah, you."
Following the voice, I found a warrior clad head to toe in jet-black armor. A greatsword as tall as they were hung from their back, and they called to me in a slightly androgynous voice. Their face was hidden by a helmet, but yellow eyes shone clearly through it.
Yet their silhouette was strangely soft.
"I sense peculiar karma from you. Where do you hail from?"
The black-armored warrior said that, grabbed the hem of my clothes, and suddenly leaned their head closer.
"Wh—hey! What do you think you're doing..."
"Strange. A scent I've never... karma. I've never encountered anything like it. Yes, this is... the scent of sin, karma. Yes. The sin of lust. What exactly are you?"
"What do you mean, grabbing someone and just—who are you?!"
"Heh. If you ask who I am, I am the Bla—"
"Ail. That's quite enough."
Two large female adventurers had appeared behind the black-armored warrior without making a sound. Each seized one of their arms, and together they dragged the warrior away.
"Ail. Haven't we told you not to approach people so threateningly?"
"No, you don’t understand! I caught a scent from this one I’ve never smelled before! I’m certain they aren’t from around here! My nose is reliable, I tell you!"
"Yes, yes, let's discuss the details back at the office. If you cause an incident this time, we can't just let it slide either."
"I-I haven't even done anything yeeet!!!"
And so, the black-armored warrior who had been striking a pose was carried away.
I shook my head and asked Lize, who was doing the same.
"What was that about?"
"Ah. That person... is a little difficult to explain. Would it help if I told you they wrote Incarnation of the Black Flame Dragon as their class name?"
...Ah. I remembered now.
Back when Yuri first wrote down her class as Ranger and said you could put down anything for a class name, that was the example she gave. Incarnation of the Black Flame Dragon. But it wasn't a joke, it was real!
Lize rubbed her brow as she spoke.
"Their skill is undeniable, but they have some... friction with the others. Ah, please forget I said that. It would not be appropriate for the Guild to interfere in personal relationships."
"...I see. Understood."
In other words, they were a socially inept chuunibyou. The fact that they were competent only made it worse.
"Then I'll stop by again on my way back."
"Yes. Please be careful."
I left the tired-looking Lize behind and headed toward the dungeon entrance.
....
When had that chuunibyou caught up with me? More importantly, why the hell were they following me?
# # #
"So, you can really learn it?"
Ariel's laboratory.
Yuri confirmed again what Ariel had said that morning. Reni was away looking after the Holy Sword, which made this a rare opportunity to monopolize Yoo-jin, but something else weighed more heavily on her mind.
Analyzing and copying Yoo-jin's ability.
She was certain her grandfather had mentioned something like that in passing once, but was it actually possible?
"With sufficient time and resources, yes."
"...Right."
If it required time and resources, then it surely meant that. Experiencing Yoo-jin's amplification with her body.
It was unpleasant, but there was no helping it. Yuri had no justification to stop him. If someone needed help and that was the only way, she had no choice but to accept it. Yuri herself had benefited from his unconditional goodwill, so she could hardly try to restrain him now.
Still, the thought of him embracing another woman felt like a knot of displeasure settling in her chest.
If this elf could learn it and spread it, however.
In that case, maybe she could reduce the chances of him being used like a public commodity in the future.
If that happened, then she could... she couldn't in good conscience make him hers alone, but at least she could share him with just Reni.
Ariel took a sip of tea and continued.
"What I said only means it's theoretically possible. You don't appear to be a wizard, and I don't think a complete novice could reproduce it. You may think I'm going back on my word, but it can't be helped."
"It's fine. What I want isn't anything that grand."
"What do you mean?"
"What I want to know is... I mean..."
Yuri found herself at a loss for words when she actually tried to explain.
When she lay with him, he definitely did something to her body. Yuri, whose senses were relatively keen, knew it for certain. The moment his hands touched her, strength drained from her body, and a pleasure she could never obtain on her own bloomed forth.
The pleasure itself was undeniably good, but she did not enjoy being reduced to a wreck. He had a habit of going too far. He never listened when she told him to stop, ignored her refusals, and this time had even declared that he'd get her pregnant...!
The talk of pregnancy was probably a threat born of his excessive obsession. Yuri didn't find his obsession entirely unpleasant, but
she couldn't just keep taking it lying down. She had arranged this meeting because she wanted to pay him back for what he'd done, if possible.
But to understand what had happened, she first had to explain what she'd been subjected to.
Yuri found herself in a predicament.
"Uh... w-well, so... that... can we find out about that?"
"About what?"
"I-I mean... besides the amplification, it feels like something else is happening to me..."
"I'm having trouble understanding. I'd appreciate it if you could be a little more precise."
"Ugh...."
...
"So, to summarize, you want to know what abilities he's using besides amplification."
"Y-yeah... that's right..."
"Hmm...."
Yuri fanned her face with one hand. No matter how indirectly she phrased it, telling someone else what happened at night was unbearably embarrassing. Ariel, however, didn't seem bothered in the slightest.
"Are you perhaps a complete layperson regarding mana? Or have you ever channeled it, even once?"
"Uh... I don't know about magic. But I learned enhancement at a training hall. They said it was the absolute basics... and they said my mana potential itself is high."
"I see..."
Though she hadn't known it herself before going to the training hall, Yuri's mana sensitivity and total reserves far exceeded those of ordinary people. Unbeknownst to her, she seemed to have been influenced by her grandfather's bloodline.
Grandfather, huh.
When they met, her grandfather was affectionate and cared for her in his own way, but looking back, he was hard to call a family man.
No, objectively speaking, it was fair to say he had almost never taken care of his family. She'd even heard, though she'd never met them, that he had grandchildren like her in other places too.
Perhaps that was only natural for a man who wandered the world. But she couldn't blame him, and even if she did, it would have been useless. Her grandfather's top priority was always his duty to serve as a hero.
To Yuri, that was exactly what a Hero was: righteous and selfless, but at the cost of neglecting the people closest to him.
But Yoo-jin's personality was different from her grandfather's. He was selfless, but his targets were limited, and he had no interest whatsoever in serving the world...
At first, she thought he was disqualified as a hero and felt a bit disappointed, but now, she liked this version of him much more.
But that was one thing. Making her a complete mess every time they spent the night together was a different issue entirely. First, she'd gather evidence of everything he did, piece by piece, and then one day she'd render him utterly helpless and then do whatever she wanted to him...
Yuri felt a slight shiver run through her body.
"...Are you listening?"
"Uh, huh? Y-yeah... I, I heard you. I was listening."
Yuri snapped out of her reverie at Ariel's call.
"...Wait! Why are you undressing?!"
"It seems you weren't listening. What you want is to know what he's doing to you, isn't it?"
"Th...that's right?"
"Discovering that is relatively simple. I can simply use Detect Magic. Of course, since you're not a wizard, you won't know exactly what phenomenon is occurring, but you'll at least be able to tell whether magic is being used. It's an extremely degraded form of Detect Magic, but that should be sufficient, shouldn't it?"
Yuri mulled it over for a moment. True, she hadn't expected to be able to copy his ability in the short term when she wasn't even a wizard. What Ariel described was enough.
"That's plenty, but what does undressing have to do with..."
"Weren't you the one who said you wanted to learn it quickly? The flow of mana is easiest to feel while naked."
"Uhh, huh?!"
Paying no mind to Yuri's bewilderment, Ariel continued shedding her clothes.
"Or are you perhaps interested in acts between women? My apologies, but I don't wish to go that far. I don't have those inclinations."
"N-no. I'm not really into that kind of thing either...!"
"Is that so? Then let's be quick about it. Despite appearances, I'm rather busy myself."
Yuri disliked this situation immensely, but as the one who had brought it up, she couldn't back down.
"F-fine. If I have to. I don't have that kind of hobby either. So this is nothing."
"I see. Then undress and come this way."
"Ugh..."
....
"Eep?! I-is this really working?!"
"Are you not sensing the flow of mana? Let me try once more, then..."
"N-no! I feel it! Where are you touching?!"