Episode 21

When I woke up the next day and opened my eyes, Aron was right in front of me.

He was so close that I could even feel his body heat and heartbeat.

He was naturally holding me, and I froze at the sight of myself nestled in his embrace. My thoughts began to race as I tried to grasp the situation.

'Why am I in his arms? Did Aron pull me in?'

With that suspicion, I urgently assessed my position.

I had been curled up in the corner of the bed when I fell asleep, but now Aron was the one sleeping at the edge of the bed. So that meant I had moved closer to him.

Once I realized that, my face instantly grew hot.

Just then, I heard a soft chuckle.

I slowly lifted my head with a creaking sound, as if it were broken.

"...Were you already awake?"

When I raised my head slightly, I saw Aron smiling playfully.

He nodded lightly with a satisfied smile.

"You slept so well in my arms? At this rate, I might fall off."

"Hey! Aren't you going to let go?!"

I immediately jumped out of his embrace.

Like a startled cat, I broke free in an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instant and glared at Aron. I stared at him as if I were about to scratch him any moment, then quietly asked.

"I didn't do anything, right?"

"Nothing much. Pushing me to the edge of the bed, sniffing my scent, muttering my name—that's nothing, right?"

Clearly a teasing tone.

At his provoking words, my embarrassment turned into anger. Since both were hot emotions, the change didn't take long.

I immediately used aura and charged at Aron.

"Hey! I'm going to kill you!"

Even with aura, I was caught by Aron's hand.

My resistance was helplessly blocked. With Aron holding me with his long arms, I had no way to hit him.

I was also much weaker, so I could only flail helplessly while held in his grasp.

"Eek! Let go! It's not like it would hurt even if you got hit!"

"At your level, it does hurt? It's just not that painful. More importantly, where do you want to go first? To see the elf, or to see the beastkin?"

"Hmph. Let's go to the beastkin first."

To learn about my body, I needed to meet the beastkin first.

Especially about the scent—I definitely had to ask.

Lately, whenever I'm near this bastard, I feel like I'm going crazy because of the scent.

"Let go! I'm getting down!"

When I slapped his hand, Aron released me.

Freed, I landed lightly on the bed and confidently held out my hand.

"Give it to me. From morning."

"You should be the one doing it. You said you'd handle the housework while staying here."

"What am I supposed to do? Instead of housework, I'm handling your sexual desires as you want. So you should serve me devotedly."

Aron looked at me as if he found it absurd.

Honestly, I know it's unreasonable. But how can I help not wanting to cook for this damn bastard?

I held my head high and added.

"And I don't know how to handle things like dragon meat. So show me how today. Also, tell me where the spices are."

He looked at me with a displeased expression, but eventually, Aron was the first to raise the white flag.

"Alright. Then follow me. I'll show you where the meat and food are."

*

After finishing the meal, we moved immediately.

The distance was quite far, and only Aron could navigate the Forest of Temptation without getting lost, so I ended up in his embrace.

Of course, it wasn't by choice.

I asked to be carried on his back, but Aron politely refused.

'Did he say I might fall because the speed is too fast?'

The reason was that my physical strength couldn't handle the speed.

We argued, but in the end, I couldn't win against his strength, so I was in his arms. It's the posture commonly called a princess carry.

Only after being carried like this did I realize why he held me like this.

"It's really fast."

The surrounding scenery stretched out as it passed by.

I'm feeling the same sensation I had when riding a roller coaster in my previous life.

"Well, our physical abilities are different from the start."

"If you fought that scrap metal, who would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠win? No matter what, is it impossible to defeat an ancient weapon alone?"

"Hmm, well, I won on the bed at least."

"Huh?"

I was taken aback by the sudden answer.

Does winning against that hidden boss on the bed mean they did it?

I'm not misunderstanding, am I?

When I stared at him for a moment, Aron felt my gaze and looked at me.

"What. She's pretty. Honestly, if she's pretty, it's fine, right?"

"No, well, that's..."

I admit she's good-looking.

Since the game had such high freedom, there were quite a few players who successfully romanced Antikythera by raising her affection.

But her whole body is a weapon—can you really focus at night?

"Aren't you scared? What if you put it in and she suddenly cuts it off?"

"She overloads and instead of cutting it, she seems to enjoy it."

"The machine enjoys it?"

"Her way of talking is annoying, but she feels it too. Like... extreme continuous climax. Overload. Cooling initiated. Cooling failed. Repeated climax. She says things like that."

"...I'm really quite shocked."

Should I say Aron is crazy, or the developer who implemented that during creation is crazy? What's certain is that neither is normal.

"It's not bad, though, right?"

"Well... that's true. I'm just amazed that there's someone who gets turned on by a machine. Then, among beastkin, you don't do it with actual animals, right?"

"I do with beastkin? With ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠actual animals, no matter what, that's a bit much."

For a moment, I imagined not a beastkin with just ears and a tail, but a real one. The kind covered in fur with a beast-like appearance.

The kind commonly called furries rather than beastkin came to mind.

"Do you like things covered in fur by any chance?"

"Suddenly?"

"No, your tastes are suspicious in various ways... I wondered if you also like beastkin that are closer to animals."

"No matter what, that's a bit no. They don't look human-like."

"It's not nice to make discriminatory remarks about a species just because they don't match your taste."

Aron looked at me at the sudden discriminatory remark.

"No, listen. It's bad to talk like that just because they're different from humans. You're fucking a machine, but you discriminate against beastkin, who are living beings? Does that make sense?"

"No, that's not what I meant..."

"Then what did you mean? Are you discriminating against beastkin based on appearance? In this era, there are laws against discrimination and movements to prohibit discrimination?"

I cut off Aron, who was stammering to explain.

"Moreover, discriminating based on appearance is even worse. Each species has different tastes and finds different things beautiful—you shouldn't judge based on human standards."

"You're having fun now."

Ah, caught.

"That can't be. I'm being completely serious."

"Then take your hand away."

At Aron's words, I removed the hand covering my mouth.

Of course, the corners of my mouth were raised high.

"...Was it obvious?"

Even when I tried to make a serious expression, the corners of my mouth twitched.

It was so enjoyable to torment the bastard who tormented me in any way possible.

"Your voice was laughing from the start—how could it not be obvious?"

"But you weren't bored, right? And we've arrived at the village while talking. That's it, right?"

Houses were visible among the dense trees.

They were large tents made of leather, which beastkin primarily build and live in. Compared to my previous life, they looked very similar to Mongolia's traditional ger houses.

"Just by looking at that, can you tell if it's good or bad?"

"Why? It's just a normal house."

"This is why inexperienced people... Never mind. What can I talk about with someone who didn't even go to the military in another world?"

"You didn't go either."

I lamented Aron, who freeloaded on national defense duties in this medieval era, and got down from his embrace.

The moment I landed, beastkin swarmed from all directions.

"Aron! So you came to marry me?"

"We did it last time, but no baby came! Let's make a baby with me!"

"Who is this woman? A new beastkin?"

All the beastkin who swarmed were female.

The males only glared at Aron from in front of the tents, not daring to approach readily.

'Since he's overwhelmingly strong, it shows extremely like this.'

For beastkin, who follow survival of the fittest, strength is attractiveness.

Even though they're not as wild as before, where they would take everything and kill, it still remains in their instincts.

Of course, individuals have preferences, so being strong ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doesn't mean you can have all women. But maybe it's because Aron is abnormally strong.

'If being strong meant having them all, beastkin would be an NTR kingdom.'

Depending on the animal type, such things might be considered normal.

Conversely, there are cases where strength isn't attractive.

"By the way, how long are you going to keep that up?"

Watching Aron flirt with the women, I started to get a little angry.

He brought me here and isn't even introducing anyone.

What does he expect me to do?

"Aren't you going to move?"

Irritation surged, and I emitted aura.

The beastkin, whose instinct is to recognize stronger opponents, instantly moved away from Aron.

I approached Aron and glared at him.

"If you want to play, take me to that Ryeong person and then play. What's the point of bringing me here and then abandoning me?"

"They'll be here soon. They probably sensed my energy too?"

"Ah, is that it?"

I saw dust rising from the forest.

I also felt a massive power approaching from the same direction. No matter how I looked at it, it was much stronger than me.

"So who exactly is this Ryeong person?"

"I guess you could say they're my comrade. A friend I adventured with in the past."

"But they're trying to kill you?"

Blue flames rose in the distance.

If that fell here, it could burn to death all the beastkin in the vicinity.

"This is just a light greeting."

A small dot was visible in front of the blue flames.

"Hey! You son of a bitch! I told you not to mess with the kids!"

Along with a sharp voice, blue flames flew toward Aron.

Aron wrapped light around his hand.

"Ayy... This isn't my fault. The kids approached first."

When he swung his light-wrapped hand, the blue flames flickered and disappeared. They evaporated as if they were never there to begin with.

Following that, a fox appeared and swung a fist at Aron. It was a slow punch that looked playful.

Boom!

An explosive sound occurred with that slow punch.

'Didn't they not use anything? There was no mana.'

Unlike my surprise, the surroundings were all calm. Their reactions suggested this was an everyday occurrence.

A black-haired fox with yellow eyes glared at Aron.

"I told you not to mess with the kids, right? Why do you keep touching other women? After the kids taste you, they don't see other men as men anymore."

"Is that my fault? What can I do about the beastkin instinct being like that?"

"That's why I told you not to come here. If you must come, I said to come to my house...!"

"I came today for a reason, so cut me some slack."

"A reason? You, a reason? You're just here to taste some beastkin after a long time, aren't you?"

Aron turned his head and looked at me.

Following his gaze, the fox, presumed to be Ryeong, looked at me.

"Oh, you brought an interesting child?"

She lightly released Aron's fist and approached me.

She circled around me, looking as if she were examining a curious toy, then smiled.

"Are you Aron's new female?"

"No!"

"Then just a breeding partner?"

"That's not it either!"

Ryeong shrugged her shoulders as if she couldn't understand.

"By the way, Aron's taste is unique. Do you like beastkin who aren't even in their mature form yet?"

At those words, everyone's sharp gazes turned toward Aron.

Aron also seemed unexpected and spoke dumbfoundedly.

"Huh?"