Transmigration
The clang of metal rang out sharply at the corner of the alleyway.
“Hey, I’m running away? I’m telling you I’m bolting!”
Even though I was jumping around in plain sight, deliberately drawing aggro, the drug-addled bastard focused every ounce of his attention solely on Alissa. This was bad.
This can’t go on.
Right now Alissa held the upper hand, but the longer the fight dragged on, the more the advantage shifted to him. The proof was right in front of me—her sword aura had grown noticeably thinner compared to the beginning. The constant grinding against that saw-blade edge was draining her mana at an insane rate. The moment her mana bottomed out, it was over.
What the hell do I do?
I’d been through too much in a single day. My brain had officially gone on strike. If I could just create one opening, I was sure I could land a decisive blow, but no plan came to mind. A wave of helplessness washed over my entire body.
I hung my head and stared blankly at a pathetic little pebble on the ground.
Clang!
Alissa poured every ounce of strength boiling inside her into each strike, yet anxiety gnawed at her.
I don’t have much mana left.
She had trained steadily since childhood and rarely felt the sting of mana depletion, but she had already reached her limit. In another ten minutes, she’d be completely dry.
She knocked aside the incoming blade and retreated a step, catching her breath. Her gaze flicked toward the corner of the alley. There stood Luan Priulri, staring vacantly at the ground with empty eyes.
He had been running around earlier, taunting the druggie like crazy, but now that the same tricks no longer worked, it seemed he had finally lost his mind.
I get it.
No matter what Luan Priulri did now, it wouldn’t change the outcome of this fight. He had already done everything he could. If he hadn’t spouted that ridiculous nonsense about needing to have sex, Alissa would have felt nothing but endless gratitude toward him.
That was when it happened.
“Ah!”
Luan Priulri suddenly let out a quiet exclamation and lifted his head. Their eyes met.
“Alissa. I’ll go get help.”
“What?”
“Just hold on a little longer!”
Having delivered his one-sided announcement, Luan Priulri turned and sprinted out of the alley without looking back. The moment he disappeared, the drug-addict let out a delighted laugh.
“Kekeke! What now, little lady? That bastard ran off on you?”
“…He’s just calling for help. All I have to do is hold out. You’re finished.”
“Kyahaha! You really think so? This whole area is nothing but slums! To find anyone who can actually help, he’d have to reach the downtown district. Do you honestly believe you can last that long? You’ve been abandoned, you stupid bitch!”
The druggie’s three-inch tongue rattled Alissa’s mentality. He drew every last drop of mana from his core and poured it into his saw-blade aura. The edge grew far sharper than before, grinding mercilessly against Alissa’s sword energy and sending sparks flying. His momentum was stronger than ever.
No. I can’t hold this.
Alissa instinctively knew it. She hadn’t been certain reinforcements would arrive even if she lasted ten minutes, and now that window had shrunk dramatically. She doubted she could even manage five.
On the surface she showed nothing, but the druggie had been subtly keeping Luan Priulri in check the entire time. Now that he was gone, the man could focus entirely on the fight without holding anything back.
In the end, even though Alissa held the advantage in raw strength, she could no longer meet his sword head-on. The battle fell back into the same pattern as the beginning.
One minute. Two minutes.
The longer it went on, the darker her expression grew. Her mana was truly almost gone. One more crack in her aura and it would shatter. The next strike would cut her down along with her blade.
Part of her even hoped the druggie still held some lingering attachment and would slow his assault. That hope became her fatal mistake. The more she thought, the more her focus slipped, and she finally made an error.
“Ah!”
She failed to watch her footing and stepped into a deep gouge left by his sword aura, losing her balance. It was a tiny opening, but more than enough to decide the match.
“Die!”
His longsword soared upward before plunging down like a hammer.
I’m going to die.
The moment she accepted death, her life flashed before her eyes. The memory of being oppressed by her family, discovering her natural talent for the sword, and receiving genuine praise from her father for the first time. Countless other moments streaked through her mind like streaks of light.
Just before the blade reached her—
BAM!
A rock flew in from nowhere and smashed brutally into the druggie’s head.
“Guhk!”
Caught completely off guard, he screamed and tumbled across the ground. Alissa blankly traced the rock’s trajectory backward and spotted Luan Priulri standing on the roof of a two-story building, waving with an armful of stones.
“Alissa. Are you okay?”
“Why are you still here…?”
“To help you, obviously. We can talk later. First we need to finish this bastard off.”
At Luan’s words she turned her head. The druggie was staggering back to his feet. He looked surprisingly fine. He must have used a defensive skill to protect his head at the last second. Even so, the impact to his brain was unavoidable; he kept swaying unsteadily.
“You fucking insect. Still making trouble? I’ll kill you.”
“Weren’t you planning to kill me anyway? Quit the bullshit.”
“Son of a bitch. I won’t let you die easily.”
Luan Priulri shot back with equally crude curses. The druggie’s already bloodshot eyes burned even redder as he lurched toward him. Alissa stepped in front, blocking his path.
“Where do you think you’re going? You’re not going anywhere. If you want to pass, you’ll have to kill me first.”
“Both of you are just annoying pests. Fine. I’ll kill you both!”
Fueled by rage, the druggie charged at Alissa without even checking his own condition.
The sound of grinding metal filled the air as his sword scraped across her rapier. The damage to his brain must have been severe—his movements were noticeably slower than before.
Whoosh!
A stone shot toward the opening. The druggie clicked his tongue and adjusted his sword trajectory to block it in a hurry. At that exact moment, Alissa struck again, dealing damage. The fine details had changed, but the overall method was the same as before. Simple. Effective.
But effective was all it was. It couldn’t deliver a finishing blow. The battle stretched on.
And then, right around the time the druggie started getting used to the coordinated assault—
Whoosh!
“That shit won’t work anymore!”
He shouted confidently and swatted the incoming stone away. The problem was, it wasn’t a stone.
Splat!
“Aaaargh! What the hell is this?!”
The instant the sword cut into it, a burst of black liquid exploded across his face, completely blinding him. All the previous rock-throwing had simply been a smokescreen for this moment.
While he flailed helplessly, Alissa swiftly exploited the gap.
Shunk!
Her rapier pierced clean through his thigh. Fortunately it missed the femoral artery, so there was no massive bleeding, but his mobility was now crippled. In the end, after enduring a completely one-sided barrage, a hole was punched through his side as well. Only then did he finally drop to his knees.
“Guhk! Cough! Damn… it. If that insect hadn’t been here… Guh!”
His lungs must have been damaged. He coughed up blood along with his resentment. Alissa stood tall before him, breathing hard, and declared:
“You lost. Surrender.”
“Kekeke! Surrender? You’re actually planning to let me live?”
“There are too many suspicious things about you. You’re going to tell me how you knew my location.”
Since Alissa had no idea about the existence of transmigrators, everything was a mystery to her. It made sense to assume he had powerful backers.
“Is that so? Sorry, but I can’t tell you. Looks like I’m about to die. Instead, I’ll tell you about someone else who knows.”
“What? Who?”
“That would be…”
His gaze shifted behind Alissa. A single pebble was reflected in his pupils.
Crunch!
The next instant, a rock hurled with terrifying speed smashed the druggie’s head to a pulp.
“Kyaaaaah!”
Blood and brain matter sprayed into the air.
You have killed the transmigrator drug dealer Dane.
You have acquired the unique skill — Pheromone.
Pheromone — Body fluids will contain aphrodisiac properties. (on/off)
Countless status windows popped up in front of me, but I ignored them and stared down at my palm.
I killed a person.
Human dignity and human life. Which one held greater value? Everyone had their own answer, but there was no debate that both were precious. Therefore, committing murder to prevent the destruction of dignity could be called self-defense.
I placed a hand over my heart.
Thump. Thump.
A calm, steady heartbeat answered. There was no agitation. Despite this being my first murder, I felt almost disturbingly little emotional change. Was I a natural-born killer? Or had something inside me changed when I crossed over into this world?
Strong questions and curiosity surged up, but I shoved them into a corner of my mind. There were other things I needed to do right now.
I jumped down from the building and approached Alissa, who still looked dazed. She turned at the sound of my footsteps. The moment our eyes met, her face twisted and she shouted.
“You! Why… did you do that?”
“……”
“You didn’t have to kill him. If you’d just left him alone, he would have died anyway.”
She was right. The amount of blood he was coughing up was no joke. If he had been left like that for another minute, he would have stopped breathing naturally. But that was exactly the problem.
One minute. No—even one more second and my suspicious behavior would have been exposed. So I had no choice.
“There’s no telling what tricks he might have pulled. That blood he spat out could have been fake for all we know.”
“But…”
“More importantly, keep your promise.”
“Promise?”
“Yes. …The sex, I mean.”
“S…sex?”
Alissa’s pupils shook strangely. She looked at me as if I were some incomprehensible creature, then her gaze turned ice-cold. Soon her face went completely expressionless.
“Why would I?”
“Huh? Wait, we made a promise, didn’t we? You’re not seriously thinking of breaking it, are you?”
When I asked in bewilderment, Alissa seemed to ponder for a moment before lowering her head.
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can have sex with you. That kind of thing should be done with someone you love.”
“I know that too. But we made a promise. You have to keep it. Besides, you don’t seem to understand—this ability isn’t free. If you don’t fulfill the condition, there will be side effects. Your physical abilities will drop drastically. You get it, right? That’s why I set this condition in the first place. So let’s just get it over with. We don’t have time.”
There were less than twenty minutes left on the restriction timer. I had never done it before, so I wasn’t sure, but that should be more than enough time to finish.
Yet no matter how earnestly I explained, her answer remained the same.
“Still… it’s hard for me to accept. I’m sorry.”
“No! I said your physical abilities will plummet! How can you not understand that? You’ll drop straight to the level of an ordinary person in an instant. That would be such a waste! Right? You worked so hard to train—don’t you get it?”
“…No. If my physical abilities weaken, I can just train again. It’s not like my swordsmanship itself will disappear.”
“You really don’t understand, do you? This is practically a curse. It’s not just a matter of starting over from the beginning. Your growth rate will fall behind others by at least ten times. This isn’t the time to be stubborn.”
In truth the penalty only applied to me, but to persuade Alissa I had no choice but to lie. The original story hadn’t even properly begun yet—I couldn’t let her become a cripple.
I was breathing hard from frustration when I saw that Alissa still had nothing to say. I desperately forced my emotions back down.
Calm down. There’s still time.
Remaining time: 18:23
Plenty of time. In fact, getting impatient at this point would be strange. For now, I decided to probe her true feelings. There was no way she would accept such a drastic drop in physical ability just because she didn’t love me. That wasn’t the kind of character Alissa Bretes was.
“Alissa. Do you really dislike me that much?”
“…It’s not that.”
“Really? That’s a relief. Then how about this? We do it once to remove the side effects, and after that we can slowly get to know each other. I know this might sound burdensome, but I think I could really come to love you.”
As expected of a game heroine, Alissa Bretes was flawless—from her appearance and figure to her personality. It was only natural for any ordinary man to feel attracted to her.
At my gentle words, Alissa let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were even colder than before.
“Is that what you said to the maids when you seduced them too?”
“Huh? Maids?”
“You thought I wouldn’t know? It just came back to me earlier. You’re Young Master Luan Priulri, aren’t you? I’ve heard the rumors. Now do you understand why I’m refusing?”
I understood perfectly.