Racial Traits
“…So, is grafting mana onto a computer really that hard?”
“Beats me. I’m a high-school dropout, so I barely know what ‘digital’ even means.”
“That so? Hmm…”
“If you’re going to graft mana onto something, wouldn’t everyday life be a better place to start? Cooking, for instance — there’s got to be plenty of uses.”
We’d already been talking for a full half hour.
The cheesecake we’d ordered was long gone, and we were each working our way through a second cup of coffee.
“But can you even use magic in the first place? I’ve never seen anyone cast a spell — never even read an article about it.”
“I’m a succubus by birth. Of course I can use magic. Still, everyone keeps it to themselves. The police told us not to, after all.”
“Hmm.”
After circling through one topic after another, the conversation had landed on magic — and more specifically, on how magic might be integrated into this world.
It was a genuinely fun discussion.
Unfortunately, I was a high-school dropout and she had only been in this world a few weeks, so no particularly brilliant ideas had come of it.
“…It’s getting late.”
I leaned back against the chair and muttered the observation as I glanced at the clock.
8:44 p.m.
I was unmistakably late.
“A little lateness is fine.”
“Still, making a kid late for school… as an adult, that doesn’t sit right with me.”
“A kid. Hehe…”
A delighted little laugh floated across the table.
I turned my head and found Ella covering her mouth, snickering.
“What?”
“How old do I look to you?”
I tilted my head at the follow-up question.
How old did she look…?
She didn’t look as young as an actual student, but still…
“Twenty-two? Twenty-three? Around there.”
“A perfectly reasonable guess. But I’m afraid I’m a succubus.”
A seductive smile curved her lips as she licked a drop of coffee from them with the tip of her tongue.
That kind of expression on such an innocent-looking face packed a punch — though it didn’t do much for me personally.
“For reference, a succubus’s maximum lifespan is, well… if you eat well and live well in an environment like this one, about this long?”
“…Forty?”
Ella held up four fingers.
But forty seemed far too short a life, didn’t it…?
Were otherworlders really that short-lived—
“Four hundred years. Rarely, depending on the circumstances, even longer.”
“Wh— what?!”
I nearly shouted in shock at what came next.
Four hundred years?
Four hundred years?!
What was she, a turtle…?!
“We’re a race that maintains youth through mana. A century or two is nothing.”
“There’s still a limit to these things… F-for reference, your age is…?”
“That’s a secret♪”
I had the strange sensation of having stumbled onto a secret that wasn’t quite earth-shattering, yet somehow still enormous.
…Was her calling me “Oppa” actually accurate, then?
“Still, we’re basically a high-efficiency race. When a species that evolved in a barren place suddenly arrives somewhere abundant, this is what happens.”
“High-efficiency? Barren and abundant…?”
“Mm, want a simple explanation?”
Seeing the curiosity on my face, Ella cleared her throat.
She seemed to organize her thoughts for a moment, then began.
“For a living creature to survive, it basically needs mana.”
“Right…”
“Mana can normally be absorbed through breathing — unconsciously, without any training.”
It was, as one might expect, the first I’d ever heard of any of this.
It didn’t feel particularly real, but I kept my mouth shut and just listened.
“The absorbed mana accumulates in the blood and is consumed over the course of living. But the place where the first succubi were born is said to have had extremely thin atmospheric mana.”
“…If it’s anything like food, they would’ve starved pretty easily.”
“Correct. So how do you survive in a place like that?”
“You plunder. Ah — so that’s why…”
What surfaced in my mind then was the classic definition of a succubus.
A demon that steals vital essence.
“Correct.”
Ella smiled — looking genuinely pleased.
“Mana is energy stored in the blood. To steal it, you’d need to get close to the blood, right?”
“….”
“Places where the skin is thin and the blood vessels are dense. Mucous membranes against mucous membranes. A race specialized in touching and rubbing to steal another’s mana. That’s what a succubus is. As for the method… shall I explain?”
“Th-… no, I’m good.”
I could figure it out without her saying it.
Honestly, after everything she’d already said, there was no way not to know.
“That’s… quite a species.”
“Which is why we’re specialized for seduction at the genetic level. Always young, always alluring. So that contact comes easily.”
“Then what about just drinking blood directly to steal mana? You said it’s energy stored in the blood…”
“Normally the efficiency is low… but that’s a very good point.”
She lazily extended a finger and pointed at herself.
“Question. What race is the closest relative of the succubus?”
“Uh, um? Demonkin…?”
“Wrong.”
She smiled and shifted the position of her finger.
Lifting one corner of her lip, she pointed at her own fang—
“The answer is the blood-demon race. —Vampires.”
“Ah.”
That was all she said.
Then, to my stunned face, she continued.
“Vampires share the same origin as succubi. Contact versus direct consumption. The only difference is which method they specialized in.”
“That’s… really interesting.”
It felt incredibly, genuinely fresh.
I’d never given a subject like this any thought before…
I’d only ever paid attention to the tails and ears I could see with my own eyes. I’d never once wondered about the internal circumstances.
It was refreshing.
“I’m glad you liked it.”
“Then there’s something I’m curious about…”
And having heard that much, I felt a question surge up in my mind.
Internal information about otherworlders that until now I’d only thought about in the vaguest terms.
…What about beastkin?
“Something about Cecilia?”
“Wh— huh?! H-how did you…?”
“There aren’t many kinds of people who don’t fall for a succubus’s charms. It’s not hard to figure out.”
She laughed with bright, teasing innocence — and still held up both index fingers.
“Distant descendants of the spirits: elves.”
“…Right.”
“Close descendants of the dragons: dragonkin.”
“Right.”
“Beastkin, if you want to classify them, are extremely distant descendants of the dragons. The lineage got mixed with all sorts of things along the way, so it’s not exact.”
As expected of a long-lived succubus.
She had a lot of knowledge.
She talked as much and knew as much as a grandmother spinning gossip.
I kept that particular comparison to myself — she’d probably get mad if she found out — and kept listening.
“Mm, I’ll keep it brief. We really don’t have much time left.”
At that, I glanced at the clock.
Forget being late — first period was about to start.
“There’s all sorts of things about beastkin, too. But the most interesting fact is that, as descendants of dragons, under their chin they have a—”
I’d been loafing around, and before I knew it the hour had grown quite late.
That was my impression of a day I’d already spent more than a day and a half at home.
“Mmm…”
Lying in bed reading a book, I suddenly felt a sweet scent tickle my nose.
Out of old habit I pressed my face into the pillow, and the faint, lovely fragrance came through even more directly.
Cecilia’s scent.
“….”
A cat. A feline beastkin.
A distant descendant of the dragons.
I hadn’t forgotten Ella’s words, delivered with a wide, blooming smile.
Just how would Cecilia react?
It was a stretch of waiting that left me both nervous and eager — a ticklish kind of anticipation.
“Hmm…”
I scratched my cheek for a moment and was about to refocus on the book when it happened.
Footsteps from beyond the door made my ears prick up.
They drew steadily closer, then swelled all at once with the click of the door opening.
“I’m home~.”
Cecilia came in with a bright, lively greeting.
Watching her grunt and struggle out of her shoes — that young, adorable little effort — I found myself smiling without meaning to.
“Welcome home, Cecilia.”
“Oof. …Mm!”
“Hm?”
Shoes off, Cecilia stepped inside.
For some reason, though, she didn’t take off her coat. She simply stood there with both arms spread, looking at me.
“What is it?”
“Will you take it off for me, Eunhyuk…?”
With a flushed face and a “Hehe…” she said it.
That single line sent a thoroughly itchy sensation through me as I rose from the bed.
“Of course.”
“Ehehe…”
I stepped close and set my hands on the front of her coat.
First I drew down the closed zipper.
With a soft zzip I moved my hand… and at the lush curve and spring of her chest I couldn’t help swallowing.
“Mmh…”
The sultry little sound that slipped from her small lips was a free bonus.
Really, keeping a clear head was difficult.
I swallowed again and kept moving my hands.
Zipper open, I took hold of the front once more.
Slowly I slipped one sleeve free, then the other—
“Hehe…”
“Hm?”
“…Your face is close, Eunhyuk♪”
At that I jerked my head up.
And there was Cecilia, looking into me from an extremely short distance.
Her jewel-like sky-blue eyes shimmered with warmth.
“O-oh…”
“….”
One wrong move and our faces would touch.
Knowing that, neither of us moved.
Sleeves half-removed, we simply looked at each other from up close.
“…♪”
I saw Cecilia smile, just a little.
This little rascal — looking at her now, that had been the goal from the start.
“…And what wind is blowing through you today~?”
I eased out of the pose.
I finished slipping free the remaining sleeve, then gently stroked Cecilia’s hair with empty hands.
“Kyah! Hyaaahn. …Mmh. Hehe♪”
A sweet voice spilled out at once.
I savored that coquettish little smile and enjoyed the feel of her hair for a while.
“…Mm♪”
“Feel good?”
“Mm~! Ah, there. My ears…”
A little later I shifted my hands, bit by bit.
This time, the ears.
The moment my fingers touched the soft fur, I could feel her reaction change.
The seductive smile vanished, and all that remained was one thoroughly embarrassed, red-faced cat.
“Mmh…”
And yet her body was honest — with every stroke, her tail and ears gave little twitches and jumps.
Before long she even closed her eyes and began to take in my touch completely.
Stroke for stroke, touch for touch.
The way she quietly, defenselessly offered her head to me held something that went well beyond simple cuteness.
“…Cecilia.”
“Mmh…?”
Which was why I was curious.
What would happen if I tested what Ella had told me?
“Would it be all right if I stroked under your chin a little?”
“Hm? Whatever you want…?”
A hint of puzzlement showed in the sky-blue eyes that half-opened.
I let that reaction pass and brought my hand to the underside of her chin.
“…Hik?!”
As my fingers worked, Cecilia suddenly gave a great full-body flinch.
Looks like I’d found it properly.
“Hyaahn…. …? Eh, hwaah…?”
Cecilia tilted her head, bewildered by her own reaction.
Before she could make any other gesture, I began gently stroking under her chin.
What Ella had told me that morning.
Dragons have a reverse scale under their chin.
And their descendants, the beastkin, likewise…
“—?!♥ Eut, hyaaak…!?♥”
“Whoa.”
The instant I stroked it, the strength visibly drained from Cecilia’s legs.
I caught her with my whole body as she started to fall and held her tight.
I could feel her twitching in my arms.
Trembling all over, Cecilia buried her face against me and gasped for breath.
“Haaah—, nngh—…♥”
The effect was immediate.
Astonishingly so.
“A-are you okay?”
Still, it seemed a little too intense.
I thought it would be better to stop and let her rest—
“E-Eunhyuk…?”
“Hm?”
Cecilia lifted her head just a little.
Then, breathing hot against me, she looked straight into my eyes.
“Just a little more…”
“….”
It was an exceedingly sultry voice.
It even sounded like a plea.
Without another word, I moved my hand back to her chin.