Lacking Common Sense
"Guards!!!! Seize this woman at once!!!"
Crack—
"Y-You bitch!!! Do you even know who I am!!"
Thud
"Wait!! L-Let's not do this—let's talk it out! With words!! Aaaaagh!!"
CRASH
"I understand! I'll do whatever you want, so stop already!!!"
Thud— thud—
"Guh..! I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.. Please, spare me just this once.."
.
.
.
Ah. That felt good.
From the very start, every time this bastard looked at me with that greasy, calculating stare, something inside me had been boiling over. So when I finally tore into him without a shred of mercy, it was like a cork popping free from my chest.
I looked down. Gorjan was on his knees, begging me for his life.
…Did I go a little too far?
Watching him snivel with tears and snot streaming down his face, wringing both hands together, I felt a faint twinge of guilt. Thinking about it, he hadn't really done anything wrong.
Still, the memory of that face he'd made—like he'd just spotted an easy mark—was enough to convince me that establishing dominance early had been the right call.
I glanced sideways and found Dania staring at me with a faintly flustered expression.
"Hera… this might have been a bit much…"
"Unnie. It's important not to look like a pushover. That guy had 'I'll stab you in the back the second I get the chance' written all over his face."
"Hic.. No.. I never intended to—"
"And did you not feel the way he was looking at us earlier? He was definitely undressing us with his eyes."
"No.. I was just trying to read your expressions.."
"There's this annoying little whining sound next to me. Is there a mosquito around?"
"Hwaaagh!"
I lifted my foot and lightly stamped the floor. Gorjan recoiled in pure terror and scrambled to get away. Dania watched him with a look of pity and let out a sigh.
"If you say so, then I suppose it is…"
After that, everything proceeded without a hitch.
In exchange for the West district's authority, Gorjan agreed to meet every one of our demands, and promised to put the plan into motion starting first thing tomorrow. His only request in return was that we never come back.
Still feeling a little bad, I asked if there was anything I could help him with. He mentioned that monsters had started appearing all over the place lately, and asked if we could take care of them.
Monster hunting? As long as they weren't calamity-class, I could handle as many as he wanted.
See? People really ought to settle things like civilized beings—with conversation.
And so we closed a deal that left both of us thoroughly satisfied: me, and Gorjan, who was so happy he was crying.
With business finished, Dania and I started back home.
"Selling people…"
Dania murmured under her breath, her voice a touch lower than usual, clearly still turning over what we'd just learned.
Earlier, curious about what goods Drax could even trade with other regions, I had asked Gorjan. His answer: people. Not just any people—criminals.
Drax had a reputation as a city where criminals thrived. But it turned out that reputation hadn't grown naturally. It had been deliberately cultivated—a quiet scheme between Drax and the Empire to lure in fugitives fleeing imperial justice.
Every year, countless criminals slipped into Drax. The kings of each district would then abduct them and sell them back to the Empire as slaves. Between the bounties and the slave prices, the profits were enormous. And in a lawless zone like this, a few people vanishing overnight raised no eyebrows at all.
Once transported to the Empire, those criminals had their memories destroyed by magic and were condemned to a lifetime of hard labor.
So there was a whole backstory like that.
In the novel, Drax had barely gotten a line or two in someone's past. I had no idea it maintained a secret relationship with the Empire. Maybe the novel and reality really were different after all.
I pushed the clutter of thoughts out of my head and set about reassuring Dania.
"They're all criminals who committed serious crimes."
Anyone desperate enough to flee the Empire had at least murder on their record. There was no need to feel sorry for people like that.
"Even so… the idea that people can just disappear from the neighborhood we live in, without anyone knowing… it's a little frightening."
Dania said it with a sad little smile. Was she thinking of Lily?
"It's okay, Unnie. He said he'd strengthen security too. And if anything happens, I'm here."
"My, how reassuring."
We chatted quietly the rest of the way, and before we knew it we were standing in front of the house again. Looking up, I saw the sky had already settled into deep darkness.
"It took longer than I thought."
"Lily must have been waiting forever."
"She must have."
Dania answered as she opened the door—and someone came flying into her arms, nestling right into her embrace.
"Unnie! Why are you so late…"
Dania stroked Lily's hair and spoke in a gentle voice.
"I'm sorry… I'll make your favorite dinner to make up for it."
"…Okay."
Once she finished with Dania, Lily whipped her head around and fixed her eyes on me. Under that sharp, piercing stare, I instinctively shrank a little.
"Ah… hey, Lily?"
"…"
"You waited a long time, huh?.. But nothing happened, so you don't need to worry!"
A discreet little message for Lily: nothing had gone on between Dania and me. Whether she understood or not, her expression softened.
"I decided… on my wish."
Wish?
Ah. Right—I'd promised to grant her one wish when we got back. I'd treated it lightly, but clearly Lily hadn't.
"Oh yeah? What's your wish?"
"A bath."
"Huh?"
"Please take a bath with me."
Beside us, Dania's eyes began to tremble violently.
"Shall we go in, Lily?"
I stepped into the bathroom with Lily. And there it was again—my own bare white body. But having already seen it once before, I didn't panic the way I had last time.
"Yes…"
Lily answered, her face flushed bright red. Was it just the heat of the bathroom?
Further inside stood a bathtub roughly large enough for one grown man to lie down and fill it completely.
Just like Lily said.
A moment ago, Dania had practically begged to come in with us.
"No, Unnie. The tub is way too small."
Lily's flat refusal had shut her down. Rejected, Dania had stood there looking utterly devastated, muttering something about asking Gorjan to expand the bathroom first. She must have really wanted to bathe with Lily.
Looking at the tub, though, three people was clearly impossible. Even Lily and I would have to sit practically on top of each other just to fit.
Honestly, it's for the best…
If I'd come in here with Dania, I would have spent the entire time staring at the floor. Could I really have kept my composure in front of that catastrophically destructive body of hers? The second I let my guard down, my eyes would have gone straight to her chest—and that would have been a terrible insult to her.
I shoved the lewd thoughts trying to surface back down and slowly lowered myself into the tub.
"Hyaaaa…"
Hyaa… that feels so good…
The moment the warm water enveloped me, a sound slipped out of me on its own. How long had it been since I'd last taken a real bath?
Even before the transmigration, I hadn't bathed often. Aside from the occasional trip to a jjimjilbang with friends, I'd always preferred quick showers over long soaks. So this—this soft, all-encompassing warmth wrapping around my entire body—felt like it was melting away every scrap of fatigue I'd been carrying.
"You come in too, Lily."
"…"
When I called to her as she hesitated at the edge, Lily moved as if entranced, slowly climbing into the tub and settling herself on top of me. Sitting on my legs brought her shoulders right up in front of my face. I rested my chin on her shoulder and asked,
"Is the water temperature okay?"
"Hyaat?!"
Lily jumped at my voice, her whole body twitching as if something were tickling her.
"What's wrong? Are you uncomfortable?"
"Ah… no!.. Just stay like this for a moment.."
Ah—was it that?
I remembered, as a kid, how climbing into a hot bath used to make my skin prickle and itch until I squirmed around and got used to the temperature. Lily was probably doing the same. Following her request, I stayed still.
Before long she seemed to settle, and began leaning comfortably back against me. To make her even more comfortable, I gently wrapped my arms around her stomach and drew her closer.
"Hehe…"
The soft, enveloping warmth must have felt wonderful. Beneath the flush coloring her cheeks was the smile of a truly happy girl.
A child who smiles this easily…
I thought of the Lily from the novel—the one who wore that hollow, empty expression. Living the same mechanical life over and over, she had looked like someone who only kept breathing because she couldn't die. She'd shown emotion after meeting the protagonist, but most of it had been dark, obsessive attachment. I could barely remember her looking happy.
I hadn't originally planned to interfere with the heroines either. But now that fate had tied me to Lily, I wasn't going to sit back and watch her grow up miserable the way she had in the novel.
In three years, she'd enter the Academy, make new friends, and have all kinds of fun experiences. The thought of her getting along well with Robin soured my mood for a second—but he was a kind, justice-driven character, so he wouldn't neglect her.
Do right by her, Robin. If you ever make Lily cry, I won't let it slide.
Just as I was making that bloodthirsty vow toward the protagonist, I felt Lily shift on top of me. She turned around so we were face to face, and her figure filled my vision naturally. She was looking at me with an unreadable expression—like she wanted something.
The atmosphere began to change.
"Hera Unnie."
"Y-yeah..?"
Lily was staring straight through me, and somehow I couldn't look away from those strange eyes of hers.
"I'm going to kiss you."
Not a request. A declaration.
Something about the mood felt completely different from usual, and I was starting to get flustered. A kiss…? Right now? Well… it wasn't that I didn't want to…
Lily and I had shared plenty of casual physical affection as simple greetings. There was no reason I couldn't do this. Still, the situation left me a little puzzled. But I knew how lonely Lily got, so without a word I closed my eyes and leaned in toward her cheek—
Chup—
"Huh?"
What I felt was far too soft and moist to be a cheek. I opened my eyes and found my lips pressed against Lily's.
"Li.. Lily?!! What is this—"
I jerked back in shock, pushing her away from me. Lily was looking at me with rough, uneven breaths.
"What's wrong, Unnie..?"
"What do you mean what's wrong?! Our l-lips.."
Was she too young to understand? Even after our lips had touched, Lily showed no sign of embarrassment at all.
"Huh? We're both girls… is there something strange about it?"
Now she was looking at me like I was the weird one. Wait—there was nothing strange about it?
Ah… no, wait… even between girls… you don't kiss on the lips, do you?.. Or do you?
My head started spinning.
Having been a man before the transmigration, I didn't know much about physical affection between women. But unlike men, who recoiled at even accidental hand contact, women seemed to share all kinds of casual intimacy without a second thought. Walking down the street, I'd seen plenty of girls linking arms, holding hands, resting their heads on each other's shoulders.
Yeah, but I've never seen them kissing on the lips??
Not knowing where the line of acceptable affection actually was, I found myself seriously considering whether Lily was right—whether a kiss on the lips really was just a normal expression of closeness.
Come to think of it… I think I have seen videos of girls playfully kissing each other…
And this wasn't even Earth. This was the world of The Indomitable Hero. The common sense I knew could simply be wrong here.
"I… is that so?"
"Of course it is? I don't understand why you're so flustered, Unnie."
"I… I see.. Sorry.. Unnie just didn't know."
The moment I admitted I was wrong, Lily smiled softly and leaned in again.
Chup—
Her lips met mine once more.
"Then from now on, please do it on the mouth."
"Y.. yeah.. I will.."
At least I'd learned this now. If I'd kept going in ignorance, I might have ended up in a much more awkward situation later. Embarrassing as it was, some part of me was almost glad it had turned out this way. Feeling my body start to heat up, I climbed out of the bath.
"Weeell then.. Unnie will wash up first and head out. Do you want to stay a little longer, Lily?"
"No."
Lily quietly followed me out of the tub and began walking slowly toward me. With every step she took, an unnameable pressure tightened around my body. When she reached me, she took hold of my wrist.
"Hyeek?"
"I'll wash you, Unnie."
She looked up at me with the eyes of a predator sizing up its prey.