I Quit (2)

Jain dodged every one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the hero's attacks with steps that looked like nothing more than playful footwork, snipping away at the hero's hair the entire time. The hero's once-lush locks that had brushed his shoulders were sheared off in seconds, leaving him completely bald. All that remained on his head was one pitifully long strand sprouting from the crown. The instant Jain's cake knife streaked toward that final hair, the hero slammed himself flat against the floor and screamed his surrender. The entire fight had lasted thirty seconds.

"Stop! I lost!"

"Then why the hell did you try to act tough?"

Jain planted his right foot on the now mirror-smooth bald head and let out a long sigh. Elaine stared at the scene, murmuring in disbelief.

"I-it's really true. Dark Sorcerer, everything you said was accurate."

Ignoring her, Jain seized the hero by the collar and hauled him upright. The man's egg-like scalp reflected the chandelier light so harshly it stung the eyes.

"Now what should I do with this son of a bitch?"

Jain's brain cells launched into an emergency meeting. The options rapidly narrowed to three. First: cut off the dick and apply a gender-swap. Second: feed it to the dogs. Third: cut off the dick, feed the dick to the dogs, then apply a gender-swap. His thoughts were tilting heavily toward the third proposal—one even Solomon would rise and applaud—when an arrow suddenly whistled in from behind.

"Stop right there!"

Jain caught the arrow without effort and slowly turned around.

"No matter who you are, you can't hurt a comrade! If you harm a friend, you'll regret it for the rest of your life!"

The speaker was a green-haired elf archer in tight hunting leathers that practically screamed elf. Naelle had her bow trained on Jain, voice ringing out.

"Comrade? Why the hell is this guy my comrade?"

"What?"

"He promised me. He swore he wouldn't touch any of you until we killed the Demon King and that he'd leave every last hymen intact. But he broke that promise. How can someone who breaks a promise be called a comrade?"

"You did all this... for that reason? You're joking, right?"

"Joking? I'm being fucking serious right now."

"M-maybe... if one of us broke your heart or something... we can drink again. I'll buy. I'll listen to everything. Doing something this extreme just over v-virginity or a little romantic trouble is too much, isn't it?"

"What do you mean 'just' virginity? Virginity is a serious goddamn matter. Why are you talking about it like it's nothing?"

It was clear none of the women had truly understood the situation yet. Jain snapped the arrow in his grip with a sharp crack and spoke, putting weight behind every word.

"This is about trust and promises—things you elves value more than your own lives. If you make a promise, you keep it. Break it, and you're the enemy. I don't see what I did wrong here."

His tone held not a trace of humor. Naelle lowered her bow, fidgeting anxiously. Something in her behavior set off alarm bells in Jain's mind. A horrifying possibility he barely dared to imagine began to take root.

No way. She wouldn't have.

In the original story Naelle had been the epitome of pure, devoted love—a 400-year-old virgin. She was a living legend, a thoroughbred in the world of chastity. If a Virgin Ambassador position existed, she would have been the top candidate without question.

She couldn't possibly have thrown away four hundred years of virginity in just a few months... not after promising me dozens of times that she absolutely wouldn't break it.

But the way her face had gone scarlet and how she kept fidgeting made it impossible not to ask.

"Naelle, I'm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠truly sorry if I'm wrong, but..."

"Y-yes?"

Jain's eyes were dead serious. He paused, stroking his chin as he carefully chose his words, then asked in the most refined, literary, and dignified manner possible.

"By any chance... do you no longer possess your hymen?"

Naelle's face flushed crimson like a boiling teapot. She waved her hands wildly, squeezed her eyes shut, and shrieked.

"W-w-what kind of question is that, you pervert?! Are you insane?!"

"Sorry. But this is important to me."

"W-well, um, how it happened was..."

"Have it or not. Just answer that."

Pressed by Jain's firm, deadly serious tone, Naelle hung her head, twiddled her index fingers, and answered in a voice that barely reached his ears.

"I... d-don't."

"What... did you just say?"

The words hit Jain like the sky itself had collapsed. He sank to the floor, face drained of all life. After a moment he rose again and began grabbing each heroine in turn, demanding answers. What greeted him was an even deeper pit of despair. Not one of them said they still had it. They blushed, denied it, stayed silent, or exercised their right to remain silent.

"This... can't be."

When he finally seized Ren by the shoulders and pressed her, even she answered in a tiny, mouse-like voice, "I don't." Jain dropped to his knees, expression one of total loss of faith in humanity.

Elaine, arms crossed and waiting her turn, called out from across the room.

"You're not even going to ask me?"

"Elaine, you're the idiot who keeps mistaking herself for the hidden villainess, so I figured you might have spread your legs for the hero, but..."

"Hey!"

"...But the rest of them... I genuinely believed in you..."

Ignoring Elaine's protest, Jain kept muttering, still looking utterly hollow.

"To think I've been breathing the same air as these sluts this whole time... It feels like every single one of the millions of cells in my hundreds of thousands of alveoli is rotting and festering."

Jain made a genuine retching sound, as if he might vomit. The heroines, suddenly exposed and then insulted, erupted in protest all at once.

"Why are you suddenly obsessed with that v-virgin crap?!"

"You're the weird one for fixating on something like that from the start!"

"Exactly!"

"A-and who cares if someone's got one or not?! Men never understand! Love is all that matters now, isn't it?!"

"You clearly haven't met true love yet. That's why you're so hung up on something so vulgar. When we return, I'll introduce you to a fine woman from the knight order..."

The heroines' complaints echoed through the empty Demon King's castle. The wailing of non-virgins truly sounded the same no matter the world or era, Jain thought.

After listening to their endless excuses about the irreversible loss for a long while, he scratched his head roughly and stood up.

"Shut the fuck up, you goddamn whores."

A massive fireball flared to life above his left hand. At its center, a golden demonic sigil writhed and pulsed.

The overwhelming aura of the highest-level spell silenced the heroines' outcry at once. Jain spun the fireball casually in his palm and spoke in a low voice.

"Shut up and listen. This is why I demanded you all stay virgins."

He hurled the hellflame at the door of the special secret room. The inferno that could melt any fortress evaporated the instant it touched a radiant blue magic circle protecting the door.

Karin stared, dumbfounded.

"It blocked hellflame? What on earth is that room...?"

"It's a hidden room even the Demon King knows nothing about."

Every eye turned to Jain. He continued quietly.

The fact that they had just watched Baphomet's Hellflame vanish gave his words undeniable weight. Five pure women who loved the hero with all their hearts. The moment the heroines heard the condition, their faces drained of color. They were finally beginning to understand why Jain had been so obsessed with their virginity.

"I had to get inside that room. That's why I told you to protect your virginity at all costs."

"W-what's inside the room?" Elaine asked, hands clasped tightly.

Jain simply lowered his head and stayed silent. The hero and the heroines, catching a glimmer of hope, began speaking over one another.

"If it's a treasure, we'll obtain something of equal value with the achievement of defeating the Demon King..."

"That's right. We're all wealthy now. We'll pool ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠every last reward coin if we have to."

After listening to them for some time, Jain finally answered in a quiet voice.

"My hometown."

"Pardon?"

"The way back to my hometown—where my family is waiting—is inside that room."

Elaine's face hardened like stone. The same happened to Ren, Leticia, Naelle, and Karin. All of them.

"Thanks to you, I can no longer return to my family. ...I can't see them. Not ever again."

The atmosphere in the room grew deathly still with those words. Jain had always worn an easy, almost bored smile—even when fighting a wyrm-grade zombie dragon single-handedly or squaring off against a colossal golem carved from an entire mountain. Yet now, for the first time, tears were falling from his eyes.

"My mother always said her only joy in life was giving me massages... My little sister can't even sleep properly when I'm not there. What am I supposed to do now?"

Jain's voice cracked with sobs—something they had never heard before. The sound pierced the five heroines' hearts like a dagger.