The Fact That the Heavenly Demon Is a Woman Is Recorded in the Ancient Texts (1)
Women were defective creatures.
From Thirin's perspective, human females possessed a profound biological flaw.
This wasn't because Thirin harbored some misogynistic ideology that could be translated as "misandry." She was, in fact, a radical egalitarian who treated men and women with perfect equality—by doubling their bone count whenever the mood struck her.
No, this was a purely rational, practical conclusion drawn from a year of living as an adventurer who slept under the stars, a bounty hunter, and an aspiring practitioner of demonic arts.
Once a month, regardless of her own will, her body forcibly expelled blood.
The most immediate problem was the pain.
Thirin often thought it must feel like having wisdom teeth embedded in her lower half.
Because of this, whenever her period arrived, she had no choice but to cancel all plans, scour the forest, and chew on whatever mushrooms seemed to have analgesic properties.
The constant, unpleasant dampness was another mood-ruining factor.
Beyond the pain and discomfort, there were practical issues as well.
The scent of blood inevitably attracted unwanted guests.
Most serious criminals tended to hide in remote places—dense forests, forgotten caves, that sort of thing. Thirin herself had no problem crawling into such locations when pursuing a target.
The problem was that the smell of her blood drew in wolves, bears, and other beasts that had nothing to do with her actual targets.
They were nothing but nuisances that contributed zero value to her work.
There had been an incident where she'd been on the verge of slitting a serial killer's throat for a hefty bounty, only for a pack of giant wolves to appear out of nowhere and ruin everything.
The wolves had barked their heads off like a malfunctioning alarm system, giving the target plenty of time to flee with his tail between his legs.
Another time, a bear had charged her.
If wolves were security guards, bears were the secret service—quieter, but far more physically capable.
Whenever her work was interrupted like this, Thirin would channel her inner dog-meat vendor and bear-gallbladder specialist, putting on a full anatomical dissection show for the local wildlife.
Not that it was entirely without benefits. On rare occasions, a terrified criminal who had been too scared to run would witness the performance and involuntarily trigger their own digestive regurgitation process, leading to their immediate capture.
Still, from Thirin's standpoint, menstruation was an extremely inefficient and irritating process.
Her desire for Rebirth wasn't solely due to some existential sense of loss—practical problems like this played a significant role as well.
That was why Thirin refused to postpone her plans just because her cycle was approaching.
Especially not now, when it was nearly time again.
The moment she left the guild, Thirin headed straight for the Savior Cult's clinic that Rina had told her about.
Calling it a clinic was generous—it was just a shabby building on the outskirts of the city that they'd rented.
Yet inside, it was surprisingly clean. The faint scent of medicinal herbs somehow had a calming effect.
The priestess who had been treating a patient inside stood up the moment she spotted Thirin.
Blonde hair. Green eyes. A face so warm and friendly that her eyes nearly disappeared when she smiled.
Thirin swallowed.
'Oh...'
It was rare for her to feel genuine admiration.
Thirin had high standards.
When she looked in the mirror and saw a face with a charm stat of 180 staring back at her, women with stats in the 70–90 range barely registered as noteworthy.
On top of that, she was a severe narcissist—the kind who believed simply revealing her face was an act of charity.
One of the reasons she wore a mask was because she felt this cursed medieval fantasy land didn't deserve such random acts of benevolence.
But for the first time, Thirin had encountered someone whose appearance she actually found appealing.
With a little effort, this priestess could probably reach a charm stat of 120.
The kind of face that could charm 80% of men and 40% of women.
'...Why is someone with a face like that stuck in this backwater?'
Lutetia wasn't a backwater by most standards, but it was by Thirin's.
Thirin felt her heterosexual attraction meter rising sharply as she stared at the priestess with slightly dazed eyes.
The priestess smiled brightly at her.
"Please have a seat over here."
"......?"
Offering a seat before she'd even stated her business?
"......"
Actually, thinking about it, that made sense.
Thirin's social skills had been reduced to Swedish levels after falling into this world, but if she thought back to modern times, offering a seat came first, and asking about the purpose of the visit came after. Ideally, you'd also serve tea.
Keeping someone standing while asking their business was basically telling them to get lost.
Thirin reflected on this.
The priestess's appearance was apparently at a level that could make even her self-reflect!
The priestess smiled warmly and spoke.
"It's rare for patients to come here directly. I suppose today is the day my efforts are finally being rewarded."
"......?"
Even while captivated by the priestess's looks, Thirin felt a sense of dissonance.
'Someone talented enough to do medical volunteer work, yet she says patients are rare?'
Thirin recalled the medical system of this world.
Honestly, calling the healthcare in this fantasy land a "system" was an insult to the word.
If you got sick in fantasy land?
First, offer a sacrifice to the gods and pray. Second, if the prayer doesn't work, chew on herbs. Third, if the herbs don't work, drink alcohol. Those were the three great medical principles of the common folk.
Those without money usually entrusted themselves to village elders' "back in my day" folk remedies, drank mysterious "cure-all soups" brewed by shady herbalists, or simply headed to the nearest brewery.
If you couldn't cure the pain, you relied on the magical potion that made you forget it—alcohol. It was the most universal and reliable painkiller in fantasy land.
Side effects included next-day hangovers, empty wallets, and cirrhosis.
Conversely, if you had money? You went to a temple of the gods.
The priests there borrowed divine grace to perform highly effective treatments. Their medical skills were noble, but their invoices were not.
The reason all this nonsense happened was simple.
Among the pantheon, there was a god who governed medicine.
The gods of this world were real, and their personalities were capricious. No one knew what kind of punishment might befall those who dared encroach on their domains.
Yet here was a doctor willing to risk divine punishment, and she had few patients.
It was like hearing that a delicious, generous, and cheap restaurant only ever had flies buzzing around it.
It made no sense.
Thirin had an even bigger question. Was this woman not afraid of divine punishment?
'Ah.'
Thirin realized.
'...She's a quack. Maybe the gods don't get angry because she's a quack.'
Despite Thirin's suspicious gaze, the priestess maintained her friendly smile.
"Judging by your complexion, your menstrual cramps must be quite severe."
"...!"
Thirin stiffened involuntarily. How did she know? Could she tell just by looking at her face?
While Thirin was frozen, the priestess naturally extended her hand.
"Would you mind if I checked your pulse?"
"......"
Thirin dazedly held out her hand.
When the priestess took her wrist, Thirin felt her body stiffen again without meaning to. The sensation of soft, warm fingers wrapping around her wrist felt strange.
The priestess closed her eyes and quietly felt Thirin's pulse for a while.
"......Hmm."
The priestess smiled brightly.
"This isn't normal. Your lower abdomen must ache sharply, and your back probably feels like it's being torn apart. Sometimes your head throbs like it's about to split, and you feel nauseous with all your strength draining away."
"......"
Thirin remained rigid and silent. The priestess continued without concern.
"Menstrual pain usually decreases over time, but there's no sign of that here. Your body isn't recovering on its own—instead, it seems to be learning and worsening the memory of the pain. You must have suffered quite a lot."
It was an accurate diagnosis, as if she'd looked directly inside Thirin's body.
Thirin found herself nodding without thinking.
Menstrual pain was one of the strongest reasons she wanted Rebirth.
The priestess continued.
"Would you mind if I examined you a bit more closely?"
When Thirin nodded again, the priestess moved behind her.
Then, with cool, delicate fingers, she began slowly tracing down Thirin's nape and each vertebra of her spine over her shirt.
"Hup...!"
Thirin swallowed a breath without meaning to. As the unfamiliar touch ran down her back like it was touching bare skin, goosebumps rose all over her body.
The priestess's hands didn't stop.
Starting from her waist, the hands moved forward as if embracing her sides, stopping at her lower abdomen, where her dantian was located.
"......!"
Through a single layer of shirt, the gentle warmth from the priestess's palm. That warmth seemed to stimulate the flame in her dantian, making her lower abdomen twitch and grow hot.
Thirin's ears flushed bright red, as if they might burst.
This position was almost like being embraced from behind...
"Hmm... The flow of your qi and blood is quite unusual. There's a hot energy swirling around... Hmm..."
This time, the priestess removed her hand from Thirin's lower abdomen and gently touched her temples instead.
The priestess paused for a moment, then whispered softly near Thirin's ear.
"There's a very faint trace of malevolent energy in your bone marrow. You must have suffered a serious head injury a long time ago."
"?!"
Thirin was shocked.
Whether Thirin was shocked or not, the priestess continued.
"Have you ever had headaches, or occasionally said the wrong words? Words that came out completely different from what you intended?"
"...!!!"
This time, it was beyond shock—it was outright astonishment.
Thirin stared with wide eyes.
'How is Hua Tuo in fantasy land...!'
Hua Tuo in Fantasia.
The priestess saw Thirin's expression and smiled.
"Shall we start by solving the easier problem first?"
"Y-yes, please...!"
Thirin nodded vigorously.
In front of a master physician, formal speech came out naturally.
The priestess withdrew her hand from Thirin's head and smiled again.
"The malevolent energy that seeped into your bone marrow has left only faint traces now. Your will is so strong that your body seems to be suppressing it on its own. It shouldn't be a major issue at the moment."
"......"
"However, a scar is still a scar."
The priestess added this as if stating the obvious fact that touching an old wound would hurt.
"If you receive a very strong external shock, or experience such extreme pain that you lose control of your mind, this energy might resurface. At that time, the distortion in your head could become even more severe than it is now."
"...!"
Thirin swallowed dryly without realizing it.
She had a feeling about this.
Thirin often found that when she endured terrible pain, the wiring between her brain and tongue would get messed up again.
This woman even knew about that!
"But that's a problem for later. I think we should deal with the urgent issue first."
Thirin nodded repeatedly, not even sure what she was agreeing to.