Manly Man Trait) Qi Blockage and Such Heal in a Year
Manly Man Trait) Qi Blockage and Such Heal in a Year
-Balance is total garbage lol;; Don't play this game, guys, it's trash—you can't clear it without paying money;;
It was an auto-battler mobile game I played whenever I was bored. Maybe it was my fault for leaving a 0.5-star rage review because the mid-boss, the 'Northern Grand Duchess,' was way too overpowered.
When I woke up, I, Ryu Si-u, had possessed a character inside that game world. And not just anyone—I was the youngest son of the Northern Grand Duchess I'd gleefully cursed out.
How did I know I'd been isekaied into the game?
[Name: Yunes von Nordkirchen]
[Status: Strength 0.5/10 | Agility 1/10 | Intelligence 4/10 | Luck 8/10 | Magic Power 5/10 | Divine Power 0/10]
[Current Condition: Nine Yin Severed Meridians (九陰絶脈), Debilitated]
The moment I opened my eyes, a familiar UI was floating right in front of me. There was no way I wouldn't recognize it.
Once I grasped that I was inside the game, the memories of 'Yunes von Nordkirchen' came flooding into my head.
Name: 'Yunes von Nordkirchen.' Nickname, Yune. The precious youngest son of the Northern Grand Ducal House. Eight years old this year. He'd always been frail, but recently he'd collapsed from an unknown illness and was now groaning in bed.
"Ngh, nnnngh...."
"...Yunes von Nordkirchen. You fragile thing."
I let out a groan under the sudden torrent of information, and a familiar voice reached my ears.
The voice of the Northern Grand Duchess, 'Erengard von Nordkirchen.' Even without Yune's memories, it was a voice I'd grown sick of hearing through countless boss challenges in the game.
I lifted my heavy eyelids and saw her looking down at me. Her expression was so cold I almost couldn't believe she was gazing at the child she'd carried in her own womb.
But thanks to the years I'd spent tiptoeing around my orphanage, I could tell the emotion flickering in her eyes wasn't irritation, annoyance, or anything negative. If anything... she must be worried about me.
'...Wait, Mom?'
That was when I realized I was instinctively thinking of her as my mother.
Ryu Si-u had been an orphan cast adrift, someone who never even knew his parents. But Yune had a family.
...And I was both Ryu Si-u and Yune at once. I had a family now.
Once I truly understood that I was both Ryu Si-u and Yune, I looked up at her and grinned broadly.
"...Don't worry, Mom. I'll get better real soon."
"...!? Y-Yunes?"
The moment I told her not to worry, her icy expression cracked.
Right, most of her children—including Yune—tended to shrink away from her. Even while groaning in his sickbed, I'd flinched because I was scared of her. I hadn't called her Mom either—I'd stiffly addressed her as the Head of House.
But now that I'd awakened Ryu Si-u's memories, there was no reason for me to be afraid of her. Even if her outer appearance was a little cold, I could feel the warm love she had for me underneath.
So I looked straight at her and laid the cuteness on thick.
"So, please, can I ask just one favor? Okay?"
* * * * * *
One day later.
"Huh. So this is the treasured youngest son of House Nordkirchen? He's tiny."
"Mercenary, watch your tongue. I won't expect aristocratic etiquette, but at least show the courtesy you're capable of."
"You pay me, I'll be perfectly courteous. That's what mercenaries do."
The woman looking down at me while I drenched the sheets in cold sweat was Flare. ...In the game, she was a chibi two-heads-tall character, but seeing her in person, she was a total bombshell. Even though the horns on her head looked a little sharper than I'd expected.
Given the angle, I had a clear view of her underboob and thighs, but that wasn't the important part right now.
The important part was that she could cure the disease I was suffering from—the Nine Yin Severed Meridians.
The Nine Yin Severed Meridians was a powerful status ailment that would eventually freeze me to death if time kept passing like this...
But it was also one of the game's hidden elements. If you placed a fire-element character right next to a character with Nine Yin Severed Meridians, the rate at which the disease worsened would drastically drop. Something about fire-element mana canceling out ice-attribute mana, or whatever.
Flare, in particular, was of the Dragonfolk with red dragon blood in her veins, a character who got a massive fire-element bonus. Not only could she slow the deterioration of Nine Yin Severed Meridians—her stats were actually good enough to reverse the disease's progression.
In other words, just by sticking close to her, I could cure my Nine Yin Severed Meridians.
Swallowing the thought that this woman was basically a walking cold remedy, I greeted her.
"Ahem. Pleasure to meet you, Flare."
"Pleasure to meet you. I heard you put out a direct request for me. Am I that famous? I haven't been here very long."
"Well, that's... *cough*."
I broke off with a violent coughing fit. The emotion in Flare's eyes shifted from curiosity to pity in an instant.
"Your health looks pretty poor. Poor thing."
"You wench! How dare a mere mercenary speak to the young master that way!"
The moment she called me a 'poor thing,' the head butler next to me raised her sharp voice and set her hand on the waistband of her maid uniform.
...Yeah. The head butler, in a maid uniform.
In this world, men were physically weaker and smaller than women. Their social standing was inevitably lower too. From Ryu Si-u's perspective, you could call it a 'reverse world.'
Because of that, it was standard here for men in suits to be maids, and women in maid outfits to work as butlers. The head butler standing there was wearing what looked to me like an apron dress but what this world called formal wear.
It was definitely better than men wearing maid outfits... but knowing that didn't make the dizzy confusion go away.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the sudden vertigo.
'I skipped the story so I never knew any of this backstory. No wonder there were so many female characters among the melee units. I thought it was just some pervy game that stripped women for no reason.'
I'd gotten lost in thought looking at the head butler, but her shrill voice was starting to grate on my ears, so I began to wave her off.
"Head butler, stop. It's fine. Anyway, Flare. I asked for you specifically because I want to form a long-term contract."
"A long-term contract...?"
"Yeah. Term, one year. The scope of the request includes escort duties, medical cooperation, and supplementary magic tutoring."
"Medical? I'm a mage who works with the fire element, you know. Wouldn't it be better to visit the Temple for that?"
"Even if I went to the Temple, I can't be healed. It's more of a constitution thing than a disease. Anyway, will you accept?"
"It sounds comfortable and nice, but I'll decide after I hear the price."
True to her profession, Flare checked what the pay was before anything else. Well, wasn't that only natural?
I cast a glance at the butler, and she stepped over to Flare and held out a single sheet of paper. The Magic Contract I'd secured by clinging and wheedling Mom.
And after Flare checked the amount written on it,
"From this day forward, you are my master!! Woof woof!!!"
"Okay."
We concluded a very satisfactory contract.
* * * * * *
Flare was an adventurer and mercenary who'd been working her tail off to earn the money for a recently released magic tome. She'd never been in a better mood.
'Just what I'd expect from the Nordkirchen Grand Ducal House! They're giving me enough money to buy ten magic tomes just for looking after one pipsqueak. I really hit the jackpot this time!'
The reason for her good mood was, naturally, the sweetheart contract she'd just signed.
The sum was so huge that if this were a deal with any other nobles, she'd be worrying about them turning on her once her job was done. But right now, she had no such worry. Because they'd even gone so far as to sign a Magic Contract.
A Magic Contract was an artifact that compelled both parties to follow through on the agreement made using it. To the extent that they'd used one, she could safely say there was zero chance she'd be stiffed.
Not only that, but even the job itself suited her perfectly. It boiled down to looking after one adorable little kid? No combat deployment, and all within the Nordkirchen Grand Duchy?
It was too easy. She had no idea why a job as sweet as honey had landed in her lap.
'Right. There was that one odd clause. Medical cooperation. Though it did specify that I could break the contract and refuse if I really hated it....'
"So, what exactly does this 'medical' part involve? Lord Yunes von Nordkirchen?"
"You can just call me Young Master Yune. If you keep saying my full name, people will say we're padding the word count for free."
"...What?"
"I just figured, if this were a novel, don't you think the readers would think that? Anyway. There's nothing too much you need to do for the medical stuff either."
After that, Yune started explaining the situation to Flare.
Yune calmly laid out the disease he was suffering from, this 'Nine Yin Severed Meridians,' and the fact that he needed her—a fire-element mage with the blood of a red dragon—to cure it.
He then patted the bed beside him.
"Alright, lie down."
"...Sorry? Here, where you were lying just a moment ago, Young Master Yune?"
"What, is it dirty? Should I call the head butler to change the sheets?"
"No. Well, if Young Master Yune doesn't mind, then I don't either."
'Is he not self-conscious because he's still a kid? He doesn't care if a commoner—and a woman at that—lies in his bed? Won't I get killed if someone finds out about this?'
Yune insisted that she lie down on the bed. It was the bed of an aristocratic boy, young as he might be, but the boy telling her to lie in it didn't show the slightest hesitation.
Wondering if this was really okay, she did as she was told and lay down. Immediately, a sweet scent began to tickle her nose.
'Is it because he's a noble, or because he's a boy? His sweat smells incredibly sweet. Almost like jasmine. My sweat is all sticky and rank... Huh?'
-Plop.
"...Young Master Yune!?"
Yune's body plopped right down on top of her as she lay there drowning in the bed's scent. His skin pressed against her largely exposed skin—she naturally ran hot.
He even laid his head right on her chest like it was a fluffy pillow.
She panicked and felt flustered at the thought of an unrelated boy using that embarrassing part of her as a pillow. There was also a strange excitement that came from having a man climb on top of her.
But,
'Huh. His body is incredibly chilly....'
She quickly realized that his body temperature was abnormally low. To her, it felt almost like a block of ice.
While she was still in shock, Yune clung to her tightly. As if her warmth was something he desperately needed.
Whether her body heat really was helping with the Nine Yin Severed Meridians, Yune's trembling gradually stilled.
"So warm... it's really... helping......."
Yune gave a goofy smile. But before he could finish his sentence, his drooping eyes quietly closed.
Soon, he was snoring softly, sound asleep.
Looking down at him as he subconsciously turned over even in sleep to bask in her warmth, Flare unconsciously began humming a lullaby. A lullaby unique to the Dragonfolk, one her parents had sung to her long ago when she was a baby.
-♪♬♪...
Was it thanks to her sweet humming? Yune's expression grew much more peaceful as he slept. Watching him, Flare gave a wry little smile.
'...He's really like a baby. How cute.'
* * * * * *
After that, Flare's year flew by in the blink of an eye.
Every time they pressed skin to skin, Yune's complexion grew better and better. Before long, he'd grown so healthy you couldn't find a trace of his sickliness. Just like any other kid his age.
And during that one year, Yune had grown somewhat...
"Mark of a Manly Man! Curing Nine Yin Severed Meridians in a Year!!"
"Young Master Yune. Are you on about that manly man stuff again? When you're this small and adorable."
"Silence, you! I'm telling you, I'm an adult and a man among men, a real man!"
'Honestly, he wasn't like this when we first met....'
...He'd grown more than a little strange.