23. Let's build a monster farm.
23. Let's build a monster farm.
"He's gone..."
Asagi let out a sigh of relief as she watched Byeong-sun turn his back on her and disappear. That was a close one. If Byeong-sun had asked to lie down in the bed right then and there, she might have died of embarrassment. It seemed like a good idea to quickly go inside and tidy up while Byeong-sun was focused on the Monster Farm. Come to think of it, Ranma was a kid who was supposed to sleep in his own hut, but for some reason, he had slept with Byeong-sun yesterday. Since he was a boy, it might have been awkward for him to sleep with her. He did look like he was at the age where he'd be curious about girls.
Are Ranma and Byeong-sun going to sleep together from now on? Asagi sighed, thinking she could use the hut by herself from now on. She felt relieved, but couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. After all, all she had done since arriving here was fight monsters once at night. Compared to Ranma, who helped chop Oak Trees, and Byeong-sun, who handled everything else here on his own, it was safe to say she wasn't doing anything at all.
It was a position that made her sigh automatically. Here, the woman known as the General Commander of the Taimanin was nothing more than a freeloader who did nothing. At the same time, she even felt a sense of injustice deep down.
'If there were at least a fire and I could cook food properly, I could at least make meals!'
That was the most frustrating part. Right after she heard from Byeong-sun that food here could only be crafted at a Crafting Table or cooked by roasting meat in a Furnace, she had a feeling that a situation where she could show off her cooking skills would never come. But the difficulty of even obtaining food ingredients was at a level of insanity that made it hopeless.
Asagi had been living with her younger sister, Sakura, while taking care of Kou-kun. Of course, she had ended up in an inappropriate relationship with Kou-kun, but back then, Asagi had taken care of most of the housework. Sakura was a clumsy child by nature, so she could only make things like sandwiches.
'Sakura...'
Sakura, who had become a minion of Edwin Black. Sakura, who had died and been brought back to life. Asagi shook her head at the creepy feeling as the memory of Sakura violating her resurfaced. Her libido, which she had already been suppressing, was ready to explode.
'Stop.'
Asagi successfully suppressed it quickly. As long as she didn't smell Byeong-sun—that thick, musky male scent—she could calm down the physical arousal caused by her imagination quite quickly. She had done this often. Before Murasaki brought Kiryu, there were times she had fought orcs while relying only on her mental strength because there was no way to heal the body modifications. This much was nothing.
As Asagi was steadying her breathing to calm her rising body, she saw Ranma walking out of the hut where Byeong-sun said he would sleep alone. As soon as she saw Ranma coming out, Asagi stood up and approached him. Ranma was awkwardly avoiding her; he was probably still bothered by the fact that they had slept in the same hut when the bed was first made on the first day. She didn't think of it that way at all, but it didn't matter.
'In the first place, Kou-kun is about Ranma's age, too.'
Before coming here, the image of Kou-kun, who had fallen for Edwin Black's scheme and turned into a human meatball, briefly surfaced and then disappeared. She had heard that it was now impossible for Kou-kun, who had become a lure to draw her in, to ever return to his original state. Asagi's expression darkened for a moment, but right now, the priority was to tell Ranma what to do, just as Byeong-sun had asked. It wasn't good to get in the way of Byeong-sun and Ranma's work. To escape from here quickly, she had to do her best to cooperate and help them.
"Earlier, he gave me this."
"Ah. Yeah. Did he tell you to chop wood?"
"Right. He moved off to build the Monster Farm now."
"Ah. Thank you. He said he'd finish it within today, so I should work hard so we can finish it by today, right?"
"Hehe. Working hard is good, but make sure you don't break your body, okay?"
Perhaps it was because he was around the same age as Kou-kun, but Asagi found herself speaking gently to Ranma. Ranma was a fascinating kid. She barely felt the typical "dirty" vibe of a male. If you only looked at his personality, he was a mischievous, cheerful, and pleasant boy, but his scent felt more like the body odor of a girl his age. Asagi had never seen a boy who smelled like that before.
Therefore, Asagi couldn't feel any sexual stimulation from Ranma at all.
"I haven't fully recovered yet. I'll rest for a bit and then come back out."
"Ah. Okay. I have to finish the work with that guy by today, anyway."
"Go ahead."
"When shall we spar?"
"Hmm... wouldn't it be better to wait and see how things go first?"
"That's true, isn't it?"
Ranma nodded at Asagi's words and walked toward the Oak Trees that had grown in the meantime, carrying his Wooden Axe. Asagi quickly went into the hut she was staying in and checked the bed first.
"Hmm..."
When she touched the surface of the bed, it was surprisingly very fluffy and dry. Only Asagi knew how much water she had spilled here. Asagi, whose face turned red because of what happened yesterday, thought it was fortunate. Was this also treated as an item? Even though it was narrow, the soft and fluffy bed didn't show any signs of being damp, despite how much she had "sprayed" yesterday. Sniff sniff. When she smelled it, she only caught her own unique scent, and not the fishy smell peculiar to a woman.
It seemed she didn't have to worry about getting caught. Absolutely, absolutely not—Byeong-sun must not know. Contrary to her initial suspicions, Byeong-sun was a very gentlemanly and kind man. However, that didn't mean there was zero lust in the way Byeong-sun looked at Asagi. Byeong-sun was just trying his best not to show it, and he was just trying to maintain his ideals; it was obvious that he was sufficiently lusting after Asagi's body. Even this morning, she had noticed that he was forcibly holding back his eyes from rolling to look at her chest. Byeong-sun probably thought he hadn't been caught, but that wasn't the case at all. Asagi guessed that Byeong-sun didn't seem like someone who had interacted with women that much in his original world.
If a Byeong-sun like that were to find out what Asagi herself had done here yesterday, no one knew what the next situation would be. No, actually, she did know.
Asagi didn't have the confidence to push him away if Byeong-sun were to seduce her explicitly. His scent was the scent of a male that drove Asagi herself crazy. A musky male hormone scent. A scent so thick she could feel it as a fragrance. Not only was the situation one where her sexual desire was surging just from that scent, but the fact that Byeong-sun himself wasn't trying to do anything bad was a problem, and the fact that Byeong-sun was the most necessary person here was also a problem. Asagi judged that in the current situation, she couldn't kill Byeong-sun even if he were a villain. Because Byeong-sun was the only one who had even the slightest possibility of returning from here. If it weren't for him, she and Ranma would die here.
This was a world with nothing. Naturally, many things necessary for survival were lacking, but the most important thing was that there was no public authority here. This was a world where the concept of public order wasn't needed. Byeong-sun would know that, too. However, there were several reasons why Byeong-sun didn't touch Asagi. First, it was probably because Asagi herself was stronger than Byeong-sun, and it was visible that Byeong-sun himself didn't want to abandon his conscience.
But no one knew how long that would last. Would it be faster for Byeong-sun to abandon his morals? Or would it be faster for her to return?
...Or, would it be faster for her own self-control to hit rock bottom?
The anxious future still hadn't disappeared and was continuing. For now, Byeong-sun would complete the Monster Farm today. The Monster Farm was a place where monsters appeared, and Asagi's strength would be needed there. Because Byeong-sun couldn't fight.
Once the Monster Farm appeared, she thought it would be better for both Byeong-sun and herself if she stayed away from him as much as possible, using the excuse of killing monsters there.
Monster hunting would surely start from tomorrow. Byeong-sun had definitely said he was building a Monster Farm where monsters could spawn during the day. She had already confirmed the entrance he had built to some extent. Hadn't he said it was dark inside because there was a ceiling? That was why he said it was a Monster Farm where monsters could spawn sufficiently during the day.
It was obvious that today, he would finish the Monster Farm and go to sleep in the hut. So, today was the hurdle. Today, before going to sleep, Byeong-sun would lie down on this bed. She had heard that was the only way to prevent a monster called a Phantom from appearing. If so, she must not sleep in the bed today. Even if she used the hut with the bed by herself, for today, she had to sleep on the floor, not the bed. That was the only way to ensure she wouldn't be dominated by her sexual desire. Asagi made up her mind. Today, Byeong-sun would enter this hut and come out. Because he had to lie down on the bed. It would be uncomfortable, but it was only for a day. In a day, the scent on the bed would surely fade away completely.
She was certain that if she could just hold out until then, she would be able to endure it again.