Chapter 9: The Earthling
“…Korean?”
“Eek!!!”
The Hero’s reply burst out as something completely unexpected, and Darin’s mouth fell wide open. She had never imagined that someone from the same country would appear. Or rather, she hadn’t thought it possible for anyone from the same dimension to exist, but this was an unexpected windfall?
“Waaah…”
Completely forgetting that she was a noble lady, the woman’s lips curved into a gentle smile. Like a child who had received a sweet treat, her peach-colored eyes sparkled brightly.
‘Ah! This isn’t it.’
After tens of years, she had finally met a fellow Korean, and the overwhelming emotions she felt were beyond her control. She shook her head to calm herself. Just to be sure, she decided that more detailed verification was necessary.
“Jeju Island specialties!?”
“Tangerine…?”
“Waaah, waaah…”
It really was a fellow Korean! How deeply moved was Darin? The woman, who had two children, was acting like a fool, flapping her hands up and down to regain her composure. And her soft lips kept opening and closing.
*Clap clap clap clap!*
Finally, she even clapped and nodded her head vigorously. If this had been a ballroom, all the attendees would have turned their heads towards her. She was truly out of her mind.
“…Are you also an Earthling?”
But Lucas was also surprised. Perhaps the shock was even greater from his perspective than from Darin’s.
At least Darin had guessed that the Hero was from another world, but from Lucas’s point of view, the appearance of a fellow Korean was truly an unforeseen event.
“Yes! Yes!”
Whatever the answer, it was affirmative. Vigorous nodding. The word “Earthling” proving that the two were from the same dimension.
“Handshake! Handshake! Hehehe…”
Her small, snow-white hands grabbed the man’s right hand and shook it up and down. Lucas, who usually maintained a cool rationality, lost his composure and allowed it.
“Wait, where is your hometown? And I’d like to know how you came here.”
“Ah! I’m from Jeju Island, and in my previous life…”
The two began to talk about their past lives in a remote place where no one else came. Lucas, who had only known her as a woman, acted like a person today. He didn’t make a scene like she did, but his excitement was evident.
‘How did this happen…?’
The moment he crossed over to another world, Lucas had always been the top predator in the category of power. To him, being from another world was like an NPC that he could eat at will. Perhaps his personality had twisted even more because there were no restrictions on power.
But this girl might be the only one he could form a connection with. So she would stand out even more.
“Could it be that when you transmigrated to another world, you didn’t receive any special abilities?”
“Yes…?”
“Most transmigrators who came to another world were usually granted blessed bodies and outstanding abilities.”
“Eh, ah…”
Darin was at a loss for words, her mouth opening and closing. Had there been people like her before? But outstanding abilities? She only had an advantage related to tangerines. From what she heard, this person became the Hero with cheat-like abilities, but her own abilities were so embarrassing that she didn’t even want to mention them.
“W, don’t laugh, okay?”
“Of course not.”
Lucas maintained a serious expression. Since it was a very rare companion, he didn’t want to make her feel bad. He vowed inwardly. Absolutely don’t laugh.
“R, really…”
Had his sincere consideration reached her? Darin started to open her mouth with difficulty. Besides being embarrassed, since he openly told her his abilities, it wasn’t right to hide hers.
“I don’t die even if I eat tangerines.”
“Wait, what did you say…?”
“…I don’t die even if I eat tangerines.”
“…??? Ah, I see, you were joking. I almost fell for it haha.”
Could that be an ability? Normally, people don’t die from eating tangerines. Is this a Jeju Island joke? It’s quite cheeky, but I can’t reject it.
“Darin…?”
Lucas tried to accept it as a joke and brush it off casually. But soon, her face turned red like an apple? Seeing her head lowered, it didn’t seem like a mere prank…
“Could it really be true?”
The Hero’s tone of disbelief made the girl’s ears turn red. Yet she nodded and affirmed.
“……”
If it was a simple ability, she would have affirmed it with some flavor, but this ridiculous, trivial ability didn’t even elicit a laugh. Darin felt embarrassed and hurriedly started to promote her abilities. The content was just as pitiful, but still.
“At first, that was it. Now I can do quite a lot! I can throw tangerines better than others. Or I can promote the growth of tangerine family plants like oranges or yuzu, and! This is a real secret, if I consume all my mana, I can drop 100 tangerines within a certain area! I can’t play with food, so I’ve only used it once, but the aftereffect is severe…”
“Ah, I see. You don’t have to say more.”
“Ah, yes…”
Darin felt like crying. As a fellow transmigrator, the man could fly in the sky and split the earth with a holy sword. What am I? I’ve lived without comparison, but now I feel like I want to kill a goddess.
But she swallowed her frustration and kept a sad face. If she could, tears would flow, but she was a married woman with two adult children. She had already passed thirty. Such a trivial thing… or was it trivial? Anyway, it would be embarrassing to cry easily.
While she felt this embarrassment, Lucas thought it was none of his business. His gaze was already fixed on the woman’s voluptuous breasts.
The girl with vermilion hair, looking pitiful, was so heartbreaking that it was almost fatal to look at. Perhaps because she had made a scene about meeting a fellow Korean, sweat was forming below her neck. A faint peach scent rose from around her chest.
An ominous feeling rose in Lucas’s mind. Even the chest was like that, what about the scent below the breasts where sweat was rising? For a man, it was an impossible palm death.
‘This is really top-tier honey. No, not just honey, I should make her my main wife? Hah, why does she look so pretty? I’m losing my mind like this…’
Including the ominous feeling, he felt the sticky, slimy emotions he had never felt before. Because she was a fellow Korean, complex emotions welled up. Like a dull log hitting his chest. His heart started beating non-stop.
Perhaps, this incredibly lovable woman would feel like a goddess to Lucas. In his view, regardless of her weak abilities, she was the most special woman in the world.
‘Calm down. Calm down, Lucas.’
His chest trembled at times. His lower body hardened more than a rock. If he could, he wanted to pull her into the room right away, strip her dress, and make her his woman, but he had to endure it somehow. Because she was the ‘real connection’ he met for the first time in another world.
“Haha, although the ability is a bit disappointing, it’s okay, isn’t it? With such beauty.”
“…I haven’t really had the chance to enjoy it because my face is good?”
Darin puffed her cheeks and protested angrily, but it didn’t mean she was angry. She just felt a little hurt.
“But how did you get such an ability? I thought goddesses grant powers according to the person’s inner desires…”
“…I died from eating tangerines.”
“Eh…?”
“I died from eating tangerines. Allergic to…”
“Really? Not joking?”
“Yes.”
“…Puhahah!!!”
She hadn’t laughed earlier, but as the content got more interesting, this time her laughter burst out. From the Hero’s perspective, one shouldn’t take others’ deaths lightly, but even so, wasn’t it too absurd? The ability he obtained from it suited her perfectly.
“Don’t laugh! Don’t laugh!!!”
Darin’s composure started to waver. From embarrassment to anger. How funny was this man? Holding his stomach, he bent over with his head on his knees, acting crazy.
“Ah, stop it!”
Darin walked lightly towards the sofa where Lucas was sitting, her hands trembling. No matter how angry she was, it wasn’t right to use violence on the first meeting.
“Stop laughing! Is someone’s death that funny? Do you want to get hit with tangerines??”
She grabbed his sleeve and gave a fierce warning to stop laughing. But the content was the same.
“Kuhahaha!”
Lucas laughed even more boisterously than before. What? He wanted to hit her with tangerines? A perfect threat that suited her ability perfectly.
A gentle breeze came through the open window. The faint fragrance carried by the wind mixed with the girl’s body scent and tickled Lucas’s nose. Lucas felt like he was drinking the scent of his hometown he had forgotten.
Lucas was truly happy today. How long had it been since he laughed like this? Just meeting one person and talking, it was more stimulating than any moment he had faced in another world. While maintaining his laughter, he looked at the girl glaring at him fiercely and vowed inwardly.
‘This woman must never be let go.’
The insidious intention to cast hypnosis evaporated at once. Because if he cast hypnosis, she would become a plain connection like the girls he had lost, and he had a rejection for that.
“Ku, kuh! Sorry. But Tangerine Meteor… If I have excess stamina, food worries would be somewhat alleviated, kuh, wait a moment…”
“……”
Trying to regain composure and praise her, only laughter came out. Lucas thought it was no good and reminded himself several times ‘calm down’. After a few seconds, he barely managed to control his breathing.
Darin was truly a great woman. Lucas had never had such rough breathing even when facing the Demon King.
Lucas raised his head again and faced the girl’s face full of dissatisfaction. She seemed angry, but not sulky. After a few conversations, she seemed to have a laid-back side, and he liked her personality.
The girl, flushed like a tangerine, was wearing a mask, yet she was a beauty that overwhelmed the surroundings. The fact that even half her face was covered by the social mask made it even more striking.
Originally, Lucas had been using his clairvoyance to see her true face for quite some time. It was not a big deal to see it slowly, so he had planned to remove the mask later, but due to impatience to see it as soon as possible, he couldn’t hold back his curiosity.
It wasn’t just that she was beautiful. Although the cause of death was foolish, she seemed to have a good head. She spoke well. There was also a familiar charm that made him keep looking back.
The way her hair ornament in a simple color swayed along with the movement of her vermilion hair was incredibly lovable. The appearance of a woman born to be loved by others? Even the princess he had chosen as his main wife would have to bow her head in front of her beauty.
“U, it seems we should talk more.”
The man who had been turning women for a long time due to tension cut off his words. The two had only met for half an hour, and they had become close quickly, but Lucas still had much to learn about her, so he didn’t want to make a mistake. It felt a bit like he had scored points down by laughing just now.
Lucas wanted to slowly continue the connection in the form of promises and meetings, not by force, and he had become the ‘u’ position without realizing it.
“Haa, okay, then…”
Darin was upset that the fellow Korean she met after a long time didn’t consider her position and acted annoyingly, but she didn’t take it seriously. Because she also had a dominant positive heart like Lucas. This meeting itself was too pleasant.
But besides being pleasant, as a noble lady, she had to maintain her dignity. This time, after making a promise, she would have to get permission from her husband or son when she returned. If she ran to meet her friend like a commoner, it would be like tarnishing her family’s honor.
“I also have to go because I have companions now, so shall we decide on a place to meet next time?”
Or, since it seems like my son’s friend, is it okay to meet together? For now, I have promised my son not to reveal my identity, so I should leave removing the mask for later.
“Of course. Then…”
Lucas took out an artifact that could be a contact method with a raised expression. He couldn’t deny that he was curious about the girl he had met for less than an hour.
As the two men and woman smiled and their conversation ended beautifully.
“What are you doing here?”
A white-haired, burly man with a face twisted like a demon invaded.